Snow-Kissed Rose (GL) Chapter 86.1

It might seem like Huai Xu had given up after facing Song Yingshi's rejection, but that wasn't actually the case.

In reality, this was how many of Song Yingshi's suggestive interactions with Huai Xu had played out. Looking back on these interactions, Song Yingshi realized that she and Huai Xu rarely used force to compel a response from each other. When they faced rejection, they didn't grow disheartened and give up. Instead, they would change their approach, enacting a subtle dance of seduction like proper adults.

Just like when Song Yingshi guided Huai Xu's hand in the practice room, Huai Xu's simple gesture was now full of suggestions.

Everything a beauty did was inherently captivating. In the case of a beauty of Huai Xu's caliber, even a subtle change in her indifferent expression or a subtle physical gesture was enough to exude a vibrantly sensual charm.

Facing the great temptation before her, Song Yingshi took a moment to compose herself before she said, "Don't be like this, Huai Xu."

"Be like what?" Huai Xu asked.

"You know it," Song Yingshi said, taking a deep breath.

"If you don't clarify, how am I supposed to know what you mean?" Huai Xu asked, smiling as she retracted her hand from the curtains.

Suddenly, a glimmer of light flashed in Song Yingshi's eyes, and she slowly made her way toward Huai Xu as she asked, "Are you really going through with this?"

Huai Xu stayed silent momentarily as her playful mood returned. Then, she chuckled and said, "It seems you're not going to allow it."

Logically, Song Yingshi had no control over Huai Xu's actions. However, they both knew the effects their actions had on each other. Although they would ignore this little detail most of the time, there were times when they had to take it seriously to maintain the harmony between them.

When Song Yingshi arrived before Huai Xu, her gaze shifted around for a moment, looking like she was observing the evening scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling window behind Huai Xu.

Meanwhile, Huai Xu leisurely scanned Song Yingshi from bottom to top and said, "Song Yingshi, be reasonable. You're the one who started things tonight."

Song Yingshi had seduced her, then pushed her away. How could she possibly allow Song Yingshi to get away unscathed?

When Huai Xu considered this point, the ferocious beast that had calmed down within her started to grow restless again.

Song Yingshi looked down and met Huai Xu's gaze. Relaxing her posture, she asked, "Did you have cake just now?"

Huai Xu was briefly stunned by the unrelated question. Then, she shook her head and answered, "No."

Song Yingshi smiled, leaned forward, and pointed to her face.

Although Huai Xu remained confused, she still followed Song Yingshi's finger and saw the cream on her face. Then, before she could react, the scent of roses bloomed before her once more.

Like a pet owner offering a sweet treat to soothe her whining pet, Song Yingshi said generously, "Here, have some of Rong Yi's cake."

Song Yingshi's gaze was gentle as she spoke.

Under this gentle gaze, Huai Xu once again experienced the feeling of total defeat, her mind willingly surrendering to Song Yingshi's sweet offensive without a fight.

While lost in Song Yingshi's eyes, Huai Xu, as if attracted by gravity, leaned forward and carefully licked the cream off Song Yingshi's face.

Song Yingshi held Huai Xu's shoulders for support as she immersed herself in the sticky and ticklish sensation on her face. Chuckling softly, she remarked, "You're behaving like a kitten."

This sentence unfurled with the gentleness and casualness of a warm and indulging lover. However, when Huai Xu heard this sentence, her face flushed, and she couldn't help but feel as if she was regressing with age.

Although Huai Xu still considered herself an 18-year-old after inheriting her past life's memories, she couldn't deny that she had the experiences and mental capacity of a 28-year-old. Hence, to be described as a cat—and a mere kitten at that—was utterly mortifying.

At this moment, the usual sense of hierarchy brought about by the difference in mental age was suddenly reversed, igniting a heart-pounding and inexplicable emotion within Huai Xu.

Huai Xu tried her best to regain control. As their faces separated, she noted that Song Yingshi's gaze remained locked on her face for a long time.

Although Huai Xu had a hunch about what Song Yingshi was looking at, for the sake of her pride, she pretended not to notice.

When Song Yingshi was eventually called away by Dan Silan, Huai Xu walked toward the mirror. There, through the reflection in the mirror, she saw a woman whose face was flushed and whose eyes were brimming with desire.

…

After closing the door behind her, Song Yingshi looked up and saw Dan Silan's face smeared with cream.

"Wow," Song Yingshi whistled in amazement.

Wearing a stiff expression, Dan Silan said lifelessly, "I need numbers for a dare. Is Huai Xu inside? Have her join us."

Song Yingshi recalled Huai Xu's expression when she left and smiled, mumbling, "She's not quite convenient right now."

After saying so, Song Yingshi quickly changed the topic, asking, "What's the dare? Are you guys playing Truth or Dare?"

Dan Silan didn't insist on getting Huai Xu to join. Nodding, she said, "Mhm, we've been at it for quite a while, so we'll disperse after a few more rounds… Quan Yuanyuan dared me to perform the Seaweed Dance in front of 30 people. She's getting too full of herself tonight…"

Song Yingshi chuckled. She followed Dan Silan to the living room, where everyone was already having a blast. When the others saw that Dan Silan had gathered enough spectators, they urged her to start dancing, even demanding she make specific expressions, preferably crying while dancing.

Despite complaining about Quan Yuanyuan, Dan Silan had similarly broken character tonight. After rolling her eyes at her urging spectators, she put on a never-before-seen sweet smile and started singing and dancing to the tune of the Seaweed Dance.

"Dan Silan, you're incredible!" Quan Yuanyuan exclaimed, falling off the sofa from laughter.

Song Yingshi also couldn't help but laugh and applaud for Dan Silan, who was on the verge of mental collapse because of Quan Yuanyuan.

After Dan Silan finished her performance, Song Yingshi got up to return to the bedroom.

Kou Lengyu, hugging a trainee, called out to Song Yingshi, "Where are you hurrying off to? Play with us a little longer. And where's Huai Xu? Why isn't my team leader coming out to play?"

Song Yingshi gave a random excuse, "She's getting ready for bed. I should head back as well."

"Oh." Kou Lengyu nodded, looking like she understood something. However, her next sentence proved that she didn't understand anything: "But what does her sleeping have anything to do with you? Are you her pillow or blanket?"

"Pfft…" Tao Qin choked on her saliva.

"Hahahaha!" Lu Xuewen burst out laughing.

"Don't you mean body pillow? Having someone to hug in bed should help with sleep," a trainee chimed in.

Kou Lengyu chuckled and responded, "I get it. I also like hugging a friend when I sleep. Girls are soft and smell nice."

At Kou Lengyu's straight girl behavior, over half the trainees present thought to themselves: You got nothing!

While everyone's attention was on Kou Lengyu, Song Yingshi snuck back into the deserted small living room. Before entering the bedroom, she poured herself a glass of cold water.

With nobody around, Song Yingshi relaxed her expression and calmed her nerves. Then, she inspected her mission status, finding it was already completed.

Just now, Song Yingshi had exploited a system loophole for the first time in a long while, rejecting Huai Xu's invitation but taking the initiative to offer Huai Xu some compensation. Fortunately, the system didn't regard the compensation as an illegal action.

While Buddha was feeding himself to tigers[1], she offered to feed herself to a cat.

A cat that had its claws retracted was very cute.

Song Yingshi slowly walked toward the bedroom. Although she knew an unsatiated cat was inside the room, she also knew it wouldn't do anything else.

The cat in the room was very obedient and a shrewd predator capable of patience. Because it had a lofty goal, it wouldn't act rashly.

Most importantly, the cat liked her. Even if it extended its claws, it wouldn't truly scratch her. This was Song Yingshi's reliance.

…

The night passed peacefully, and Song Yingshi and Huai Xu slept soundly.

On the morning of July 14, the day of Star of Spring's third public performance, Song Yingshi woke up earlier than usual. Her habit was to wake up earlier whenever she had important events scheduled.

Having gone to bed early last night, Song Yingshi woke up in good spirits. The refreshing morning air invigorated her, and she was fully awake even before washing her face.

Just as Song Yingshi was about to get out of bed, she caught a glimpse of Huai Xu's slumbering visage through the corner of her eyes, realizing this was a good opportunity to revisit the system's gachapon machine. After completing yesterday's mission, she could now afford to spend 100 hours of Life Points on a 10-pull without jeopardizing her life.

After double-checking that Huai Xu was asleep, Song Yingshi hopped out of bed barefoot, crept toward the wardrobe, and retrieved a small container. This container was part of a three-piece set she and Huai Xu had bought to store their belongings. However, as they didn't have a use for the smallest one, it was set aside to collect dust. Now, it was the perfect tool for her to secretly collect her winnings from the gachapon machine.

With the container in hand, Song Yingshi sat back on her bed and activated the gachapon machine.

Song Yingshi first used the second free trial provided by the system. The gachapon machine's response time ranged between one to three minutes. After waiting a little over a minute, she heard a prompt from the system.

System: "Congratulations, Host. You've received [Mystery Item: 12 hours of Life Points]."

Song Yingshi raised her eyebrows in surprise, a joyful smile spreading across her face.

This was a very satisfactory start, infinitely better than the last time. Most importantly, this prize came from a free pull.

After such a good start, Song Yingshi confidently selected the 10-pull option.

Of course, Song Yingshi knew that not all prizes would be jackpots and that most would likely be duds. But seeing as her luck was quite good today, she might get several mystery items.

Speaking of which, what other prizes are in the mystery item category? Song Yingshi wondered as she waited for her prizes.

The 10-pull took much longer to process. Song Yingshi waited three full minutes before she heard the system's prompt. Immediately afterward, items began silently materializing within the container one after another.

Traumatized by her previous experience, Song Yingshi quickly glanced at Huai Xu. Only after verifying that Huai Xu was still asleep did she feel at ease to inspect what she got.

After Song Yingshi did a quick scan of the container's contents, her first thought was: Thank goodness there are no finger cots.

Of course, this wasn't to say that Song Yingshi had anything against finger cots. She was just against the idea of receiving duplicates when she was paying out of pocket for these pulls.

However, Song Yingshi's relief was short-lived. Once she finished identifying the items in the box, she couldn't help but gnash her teeth as she interrogated the system, System.

"Here," the system responded.

Tell me the truth: Did you get this gachapon machine from an adult toy store? Song Yingshi demanded coldly, her gaze sweeping across the assortment of…"devices"—some wired, some wireless, some remote-controlled, and some she had never heard of.

At this point, Song Yingshi was so exasperated that she couldn't even be bothered to get angry.

While running her finger across the four identically sized boxes neatly arranged in a row, Song Yingshi thoughtfully asked, Besides being wired or not and having different shapes and colors, what difference is there between these four things? And even if I need a ro—

Song Yingshi paused, not wanting to utter the device's name. After taking a deep breath, she continued, Even if I need this thing, do I need so many? Or what? Are you telling me I should dispose of one after each use?

The system dared not respond.

Meanwhile, Song Yingshi nearly had a heart attack. After all, she had traded 100 hours of Life Points for these readily available pieces of junk—adult junk at that.

Originally, Song Yingshi thought her single pull was a sign of more good things to come. However, it turned out to be the climax of her day.

Before Song Yingshi popped a vein, she counted the junk in the container and realized there were only eight pieces. Immediately, her hope was reinvigorated as she asked, What are the two other prizes?

At this time, the system finally dared to speak up, "The two remaining prizes are mystery items, Host. You've also received a bonus mystery item for reaching 10 accumulated pulls."

Song Yingshi: !

Well, go on! Song Yingshi urged. So long as the mystery items were incredible, such as the jackpot of 999 hours of Life Points, she could forgive the system for giving her junk.

"Congratulations, Host. You've received [Mystery Item: 0.5 hours of Life Points] and [Mystery Item: 1 hour of Life Points]."

Wonderful. You can uninstall the gachapon machine now. I, Song Yingshi, will never gacha again in this life, Song Yingshi stated calmly.

System: "..."

Before its host took more drastic actions, the system quickly announced the remaining reward, "You have also received [Mystery Item: A Still Frame]."

There's even an image editing tutorial? How comprehensive your prizes are, Song Yingshi sneered.

Instead of trying to correct Song Yingshi's misunderstanding, the system silently displayed an image in her mind.

TL Notes:
[1]Buddha was feeding himself to tigers (舍身饲虎): Reference to a Buddha story.