Chapter 64: Tree Deity (1)
A week passed in a blink of an eye.
Today, when Mi Wan emerged from the exercise room, she was surprised to find her usual plain breakfast had become rich and abundant. Gone was her fried dough, replaced by a translucent soup dumpling. Her white porridge was upgraded with added seafood, and there was even an extra plate of meat in the side dishes.
“Are we celebrating something today?” Mi Wan asked suspiciously as she sat down in front of the table.
“Nope.” Auntie Zhang smiled as she served a soup dumpling to Mi Wan and kindly reminded, “Careful, it’s hot.”
Mi Wan took a small bite, the nostalgic taste of deliciousness was so blissful that her eyes squirmed. Not that you couldn’t buy a soup dumpling anywhere else, but Auntie Zhang’s soup dumplings were somehow slightly better than those one could get from food stalls.
“Does it taste good?” Auntie Zhang asked.
“Mmhmm. This is the most delicious soup dumpling I have ever had. Auntie Zhang, how did you make it so yummy?” Mi Wan gushed without holding back on her praises.
“It’s not some special technique. The main thing was marinating the crab roe and then making it according to my little secret recipe.” Auntie Zhang could not help but brag a little.
“Auntie Zhang, if we aren’t celebrating anything, then why are you preparing so much food for me?” Mi Wan was not prepared to suddenly see an extravagant meal after having a diet breakfast for over a month.
“Butler Ye said our Young Miss has worked hard in her weight loss, and should occasionally take a break.” Auntie Zhang explained.
Adding her previous 20 Kg weight loss, Mi Wan had lost almost 40 Kg this month. 40 Kg presents a huge change no matter how fat a person is. The present Mi Wan was showing visible changes in both her figure and face shape.
“Young Miss, this is for you.” At this time, Butler Ye entered and handed Mi Wan a silver credit card.
“This is?” Mi Wan looked at the colorful symbols on the card and found it rather familiar.
“This is a shopping card for Times Mall. Since today is Saturday and you don’t have classes, you should go buy some clothes for yourself.” Butler Ye noted the baggy clothes on Mi Wan’s body and felt guilty.
How could he forget to prepare clothes for his Young Miss, and even allowed her to go to school in clothes that no longer fit her for a whole month?
“No need. I’m still on a diet so I will lose more weight. If I buy some now, they will be too big again. We should buy some after my weight stabilizes.” It won’t take long. Just one more month and she could be skinny enough.
“Young Miss, this isn’t much money.” Butler Ye grinned as he reminded his Young Miss that she came from a rich family, “And your mood hasn’t been good lately. Shopping can raise a person’s spirits.”
“My mood hasn’t been good?” Mi Wan froze.
“Young Miss hasn’t spoken much these days, nor have you complained about being hungry, and you also have not been picky about breakfast.” Butler Ye listed out the changes he observed in Mi Wan for the last few days before finally asking, “Did something bad happen to you while you were out?”
“…” Mi Wan was definitely not in the happiest of moods these days, but she didn’t think Butler Ye would take notice, “No. I just had a falling out with one of my friends.”
“So it was a quarrel with a friend. Was there a misunderstanding?” Butler Ye asked caringly.
“Not a misunderstanding per se, it’s just… We have different beliefs.” Mi Wan wasn’t sure how to explain her situation with Fan Chen so suddenly.
“Does the Young Miss value this friend?”
Value?
In the beginning, she was intentionally acting nice because she knew she was no match for him. Then she discovered this tree demon had a pretty easy-going personality. Though she consistently broke his magical barriers whenever she leapt over his wall to sneak out, he never got angry or stopped her, and even helped her on several occasions. Maybe this whole pretense of peace between demons and humans after 500 years has made her delusional. She actually thought she could be friends with Fan Chen.
“Kinda. He helped me on several occasions.” It was not a matter of value in the end, but about the irreconcilable differences that stemmed between her as a human and Fan Chen as a demon, “Our beliefs are different. It was a matter of time before we severed ties.”
Butler Ye could not imagine how different a college student’s beliefs could be that would lead to breaking friendships.
Was it because they don’t like the same idols?
After making a few wild guesses, Butler Ye decided to rely on his experience as advice, “Young Miss. You have a long life ahead of you. You have many chances to find better friends.”
“You’re right. I’m going to go out and make some friends after breakfast.” Mi Wan had thought it through. It was just a severed friendship, doesn’t mean one can’t live without the other.
After breakfast, Mi Wan went to the shopping mall.
Kang city’s weather had been consistently gloomy, with rainstorms spanning for multiple days. Now that it was winter, the rain felt colder than snow, which caused people to be reluctant to leave their houses, so the mall traffic had decreased exponentially.
Mi Wan purchased a cup of warm milk tea from the ground floor before making her way through the levels of the shopping mall. She had no specific goal; stopping occasionally in a store whenever she saw something fun or interesting. After window shopping for the whole morning, she came to learn more about new electronics but did not buy a single piece of clothing. When she grew hungry from shopping, Mi Wan randomly chose a restaurant. Just as she was about to finish her meal, she suddenly received a call from the class president, Han Xiao.
“Class President?” Mi Wan picked up the call.
“Mi Wan, are you free tomorrow?” Han Xiao asked.
“Tomorrow? I’m free. What’s up?” Tomorrow was a Sunday and she didn’t have anything scheduled.
“Let’s do our on-site research tomorrow.”
“On-site research? What research?”
“It’s homework for Soil Studies. Did you forget that? It’s due next week.”
“Oh, of course, I remember. Totally remember.” Mi Wan repeated herself guiltily.
Ok fine, that research assignment on Soil Studies was long tossed in the outer recesses of the heavens.
“Then tomorrow at eight, let’s meet at the north entrance. Oh yeah, our other groupmates are my dormmates, Jin Mingxuan and Liu Gu.” Han Xiao said.
“Ok, got it.”
After hanging up, Mi Wan was overcome with another sense of melancholy. Soil studies research was another area she was lacking in. If she were to appear tomorrow and showed her ignorance in the subject by asking too many questions, would she be shunned?
No, she would have to prepare to bribe her way through this.
But what do boys in the modern-day enjoy?
Recalling the rejected snacks from last time, Mi Wan scrolled through her phone to find someone who might have suggestions, but her contacts were nothing but demon hunters or demons. The one who could be considered a slightly normal human being was Han Xiao.
Who would ask a giftee what kind of gift they want?
Mi Wan hesitated for a moment, before finally dialing the number for her younger brother.
Though a few years younger, baby bro Mi was at least a normal human boy.
Mi Wan: (Do you know what kind of gifts guys might like these days?)
Younger brother: (Are you dating?)
Baby brother Mi seemed extremely excited seeing that a text was clearly insufficient because a phone call immediately followed. When Mi Wan picked up, she was instantly interrogated, “Are you dating?”
“Go away.” Mi Wan cringed.
“Then why are you asking about gifts that guys like? Don’t tell me you are planning to get a present for a guy you are secretly admiring?” Mi Zhao believed his guess to be quite logical.
“Why am I the secret admirer and not the other way around?” Mi Wan was bitter.
“Oh, it’s your appearance. Can you be a bit more self-aware?”
“I dare you to repeat that.” Mi Wan was about to explode in anger.
“Ahem…then, at least let me know what kind of relationship you have and why you are giving them presents, so I know what to suggest.” Sensing Mi Wan getting angry, Little Brother Mi quickly changed the topic.
“It’s for my classmates. I wish to bribe them a little so I can cheat off their homeworks in the future.” Mi Wan replied.
“… How dare.” This is not anywhere close to being a secret admirer.
“I’m hanging up!” Mi Wan hung up viciously and felt a deep sense of regret for picking up her younger brother’s call. Just as she was about to buy something random, Little Bro Mi sent over a helpful WeChat text.
Little Brother: (Most guys enjoy exercise equipment or electronics. Just buy those that are commonly used. Also, don’t give a classmate something too expensive. Our family is wealthy, but you don’t want to make others feel inferior in the process. They might resent your status and forbid you from copying their homework.)
“Damn kid, I’ll deal with you later.” Regardless of the course of events, she had obtained direction. After paying for her meal, she hurried to the electronics store on the third floor and with the help of the staff, bought three high-performance exercise earbuds that were ranked most popular amongst young adults.
After buying the gifts, Mi Wan began shopping for clothes. Considering she was intending on losing another 30 Kg within the next month, Mi Wan did not put a whole lot of thought into shopping for clothes. When she entered the store, she allowed the store clerk to pick out a few matching pieces, tried them on, and when she found them acceptable, she made her purchase and left while still wearing her new outfit.
When she reached home, upon seeing the makeover on Mi Wan, Butler Ye wiped few tears off the corners of his eyes and could not help but call the First Young Master “Young Master, our Young Miss has become beautiful. You can see her waist now.”
“…” First Young Master Mi.
Discussion for Chapter 64:
TL: Mi Wan’s talking to boys her age. Who wants to miss that?
ED (sasha): Yes, so true.
TL: I mean, her “age”.
ED (sasha): Oh I did get that. Boys that are either 500+ years old or 20 years old. ¬‿¬
TL: Yeah cradle robber or jail bait. No one knows.
ED (sasha): Wait, what?