Snow-Kissed Rose (GL) Chapter 16

Song Yingshi shifted her gaze, looking at the closed faucet and the sink, which was full of water. The water was clear and gentle, reflecting the flickering light of the incandescent bulb. The eerie atmosphere she felt earlier was just her mind playing tricks on her.

Turning on the faucet, Song Yingshi collected some water in her hands and splashed it onto her face. As she took a deep breath through her wet palms, she suddenly reached for the headscarf she had placed by the sink and thought to smash it into the water. But just as the headscarf was about to touch the water, she stopped.

What am I doing?

Song Yingshi realized she had lost control, her mind filled with overwhelming shame and anger.

Looking up, she saw herself in the mirror, her face streaked with water and her damp hair sticking to her temples. Paired with her flickering eyes and heaving chest, she had to admit that she looked somewhat disheveled.

"..."

Song Yingshi closed her eyes, mentally detaching herself from the present and observing herself from a third person's perspective. This was a tried-and-tested method of emotional control she used to "exit" from a character after filming a particularly immersive scene, so she managed to soothe her emotional fluctuation and return to her usual self in no time.

When Song Yingshi opened her eyes and examined her reflection once more, her breathing had already returned to normal. Then, with a thought, her facial muscles moved obediently to reveal a sweet smile.

However, just as quickly as she formed the smile, she erased it from her face and grabbed a cleansing towel from the side, carefully drying the water off her face.

…

After leaving the bathroom, Huai Xu wondered how Song Yingshi would react. She had considered several possibilities, such as Song Yingshi cursing her out or getting angry at her. She had also considered the possibility of Song Yingshi acting pitiful, asking her why she had done such a thing.

However, Huai Xu hadn't expected Song Yingshi to leave the bathroom with a calm expression and playfully say, "You scared me."

After placing the neatly folded headscarf on her desk, Song Yingshi sat on the desk, leaned close to Huai Xu, and whispered, "Why didn't you look at me?"

Huai Xu met Song Yingshi's puzzled gaze and found herself at a momentary loss for words. Then, she asked, "Are you disappointed?"

In response, Song Yingshi nodded confidently, "I'm quite proud of how my back looks. It's a shame you missed it."

As Song Yingshi said so, her pupils were clear and bright, pure and untainted.

Huai Xu stared at Song Yingshi for a moment before she said with a smile, "Next time, for sure."

Huai Xu had learned this line from one of the memes Song Yingshi shared.

Not expecting Huai Xu to repeat this line, Song Yingshi paused momentarily before she laughed and said, "You're learning pretty fast."

After saying so, Song Yingshi glanced at the time and said, "Let's go for an evening run."

"What about Tao Qin?" Huai Xu asked, remembering what Lu Xuewen told her previously.

"You know about that, too?" Song Yingshi asked, surprised.

Huai Xu didn’t respond.

"They're probably having fun right now, so let's not bother them," Song Yingshi said before striding out of the room.

Before Song Yingshi realized it, she had already fulfilled the mood score section of her mission. According to the system log, Huai Xu's mood score reached 95 points at the time of completion. Hence, she now only needed to spend enough time with Huai Xu to complete her mission.

On closer thought, Song Yingshi found this situation strange. Ever since a finite number had been tagged onto her life, she paid incredibly close attention to every detail related to her missions. So long as she was awake, she would never miss any changes to her missions.

But this time, Song Yingshi had failed to notice the change in mood score. It was as if this situation was telling her that, at some point, Huai Xu had gained complete control over her, both internally and externally.

However, Song Yingshi quickly shook this thought out of her head, not interested in dwelling on the topic. She only needed to spend three more hours with Huai Xu to complete her mission, so she wasn’t about to let Huai Xu off now.

…

The sky had fully darkened by the time Song Yingshi and Huai Xu arrived at the field. Since the campus had yet to enter official use, the moon was the field's only illumination.

Song Yingshi led Huai Xu in a warm-up. She couldn’t stand Huai Xu's half-hearted warm-up, so she pulled her through a full set of warm-up exercises on the track before starting her run.

The breeze carried with it a comfortable chill. As it swept past Song Yingshi's face, it took all her gloom, refreshed her mind, and brightened her mood.

The more Song Yingshi ran, the better she felt. Wearing a smile, she turned toward Huai Xu and said, "Had you made it a habit to exercise regularly, you would have long since had a healthy body."

Huai Xu didn’t enjoy running as much as Song Yingshi. As she tried to control her breathing, she replied casually, "My body isn't that bad."

"Uh-huh," Song Yingshi responded half-heartedly. Then, she suddenly said in an excited tone, "Let's run until 10 o'clock! The weather is nice today; it'd be a shame not to run!"

It was currently 7 PM. If they ran until 10 PM, she'd fulfill the remaining three hours she needed to spend with Huai Xu. On top of having an invigorating run, she could also complete her mission. It was indeed the perfect plan.

"...What kind of fitness freak are you?" Huai Xu blurted. Calm as she was, even she couldn't help but be taken aback by Song Yingshi's suggestion.

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Song Yingshi asked.

"As long as we don't run that long, I'll do whatever you ask," Huai Xu said stoically.

When Song Yingshi saw that Huai Xu seemed to be very much against exercising, she completely forgot about the grievance she suffered previously. She also mischievously wondered if she should call Huai Xu out for an evening run every day. That way, Huai Xu would understand what an employer's tough love felt like.

Despite her thoughts, Song Yingshi ultimately concluded their evening run after 40 minutes for Huai Xu's sake. Then, they began strolling along the track, enjoying the evening breeze.

Song Yingshi felt refreshed after working up a sweat. When she turned to look at Huai Xu, she saw that Huai Xu was similarly covered in a fine sheen of sweat. Nonetheless, Huai Xu's aura remained cool, making her sweat seem like droplets of dew coating her pristine skin.

It was hard to stay angry at someone as beautiful as Huai Xu. Moreover, after Song Yingshi vented her emotions through physical exertion, even the last of her grievances had long disappeared.

So what if she got pranked by the little rascal? It was no big deal.

Besides, Huai Xu never even looked at her exposed body. After all was said and done, Huai Xu was a good kid at heart.

As a 24-year-old adult mentally, it would be petty of her to hold a grudge against Huai Xu.

Most importantly, she had fulfilled the most challenging requirement of her mission because of that little episode. It was unnecessary to dwell on such a trivial matter.

Like so, the magnanimous Boss Song decided to let go of the matter entirely.

Huai Xu noticed Song Yingshi glancing at her from time to time. However, due to the lack of lighting, she couldn't make out Song Yingshi's expression, so she asked, "What's wrong?"

Song Yingshi shook her head. Just as she was about to say something, she suddenly touched her face.

"Hmm?" Song Yingshi looked up at the moon and reached for it with her palm, looking like she was trying to pluck it out from the sky. "Is it raining?"

Huai Xu followed Song Yingshi's gaze, and a tiny raindrop just so happened to have fallen on her eyelid as she did so. She wiped the rainwater off her eyelid and said, "Mhm, let's go back."

Song Yingshi nodded, then suspiciously asked, "Are you going back just because you don't want to run anymore?"

"It's raining; we can't continue running," Huai Xu stated calmly.

Song Yingshi had the urge to laugh.

Seeing Song Yingshi holding back her laughter, Huai Xu furrowed her brow and awkwardly averted her gaze, saying, "I..."

Before Huai Xu could finish her sentence, Song Yingshi suddenly grabbed her hand and ran toward the dormitory.

Huai Xu was devoid of thoughts as she ran along with Song Yingshi, her mind filled with only the sound of their breaths. Her body felt light as the wind whistled past her ears and cooled the sweat on her forehead. However, whether she felt this way because of the invigorating exercise or something else, nobody knew.