Chapter 10: The Scent of a Junior is Reassuring

The stars shifted through the night, and morning light revived the world.

Warm morning sunlight sprinkled onto Li Chunsheng’s face, tickling him awake.

“Ha—slept really well…” Li Chunsheng rubbed his eyes and sat up in bed.

It had to be said—doing some “exercise” before bed really helped with sleep.

“Speaking of which…” His eyes slowly moved downward toward the floor.

Yet he didn’t see what he expected…

“I remember throwing the tissue here last night, right…”

The sleepy expression on Li Chunsheng’s face instantly sharpened. He shot up from the bed.

“No, where’s my tissue? The tissue holding my precious treasure?” He hurriedly got on the floor and searched for that balled-up tissue.

Not under the bed, not under the desk…

It shouldn’t be! He had tossed it right beside the bed yesterday!

“Wh-where… where did my big tissue go?” Li Chunsheng couldn’t help exclaiming.

“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Outside the bedroom, Liuxia—who had heard Li Chunsheng getting up—pushed open the door and looked curiously at him sprawled on the floor.

“Chunsheng, what are you doing? Crawling on the ground first thing in the morning?” The girl, wearing an oversized shirt with an apron over it, tilted her head and asked.

Noticing Liuxia enter, Li Chunsheng’s face changed. He thought: “Oh no, I’m used to living alone—I forgot to lock the door!”

He broke into a cold sweat but acted nonchalant on the surface, laughing heartily: “Hahaha—good morning, Senior! Actually, I, Li Chunsheng, have a morning workout habit!”

“That’s right, morning workout!” As he spoke, he did a few perfect push-ups on the floor.

“I see… Chunsheng is really disciplined~” Liuxia didn’t show any doubt. She looked at his well-defined yet not bulky muscles, a hint of envy in her eyes.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been honest with each other. Chunsheng has gotten so strong.” The girl felt envious. She knew very well how much effort or money it took to build such a physique.

After all, when she was still a man, Liuxia had put in serious work and money to train her body, hoping the girl she liked would approve more.

But… in the end, it hadn’t gone as she wished.

Now that she had become a goblin, there was no need to effort in that direction anymore.

“Forget it, no point thinking about sad things…” Liuxia sighed inwardly, then smiled at Li Chunsheng: “Hungry, right? Senior made breakfast—come eat!”

Though he still wanted to search for Tissue-chan, with Senior present, Li Chunsheng couldn’t continue looking.

“Right, this morning Senior got up early and did a big cleaning of the place.” On the way to the dining room, Liuxia casually brought up the topic.

“??!!”

Li Chunsheng’s expression froze. His voice trembled slightly: “Tha… Sen… Senior, you did cleaning early in the morning too?”

“Yeah, and I even went into your room to tidy up~” At this, Liuxia showed a proud smile: “You didn’t wake up at all, right? That’s Senior’s housekeeping skill honed over years!”

“Wow—amazing.” Li Chunsheng’s face turned ashen, his tone almost robotic.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no! From the sound of it, the tissue I threw in the room… has probably been discovered!”

Li Chunsheng stealthily observed Liuxia’s expression, trying to spot any clues about whether this senior-girl had uncovered his secret.

“Please let it just be swept away as normal trash, please let it just be swept away as normal trash…” He prayed silently.

But fate wasn’t kind. As if remembering something, Liuxia’s pretty face flushed slightly. She cleared her throat and said: “But… Chunsheng, even though you’re a guy, you should still be a bit more… careful in daily life…”

“What do you mean?” Li Chunsheng suddenly noticed Senior subconsciously glancing at his pants.

The instant he realized this, he felt struck by lightning—his whole face drained of color.

Seeing her junior’s pitiful look, Liuxia felt a bit soft-hearted. She hadn’t really wanted to bring it up. After all, she had once been a man and understood men well. Especially young guys with abundant energy who occasionally needed to do some “manual labor.”

If possible, Liuxia would have preferred to turn a blind eye.

“But…” The girl couldn’t help recalling the scene when she entered her junior’s bedroom to clean that morning.

A rich floral scent had hit her immediately. What would normally be an unpleasant smell now felt… refreshing and heartwarming.

Her senses had been strengthened countless times after degenerating into a goblin. Scents imperceptible to ordinary people were very clear to her.

If not for the fact that her junior had fed her some blood during last night’s “experiments,” satisfying much of her appetite, even then—upon seeing those traces…

At the thought, Liuxia shook her head hard, trying to shake off the rising appetite.

Fortunately, she had enough rationality to flush everything down the toilet. Otherwise, the last shred of her male pride would have vanished this morning.

“But… as long as Chunsheng is still a guy, this kind of thing… is unavoidable and will happen again eventually.” The girl thought.

However, a certain philosopher once said the best way to overcome a temptation isn’t to learn to endure it, but to never let it appear in your life in the first place.

Liuxia deeply agreed, so she decided to gently remind Li Chunsheng—at the very least, to manage his body better.

Or perhaps, do his “manual work” in the bathroom…

And so, the two brothers—one distracted, one preoccupied—sat at the dining table enjoying a simple breakfast: two bowls of egg noodles.

“Right, Senior, I’m planning to find some channels later to get you an identity…” While slurping noodles, Li Chunsheng suddenly remembered something important and mentioned it casually.

“…” Liuxia’s heart tightened. She forced a smile: “That… actually… there’s no rush.”

“Doing something like that would make Chunsheng deal with some white or black forces, right? It’s pretty dangerous.” The girl advised.

For some reason, Liuxia didn’t really want to hear Li Chunsheng talk about this. Logically, regaining an identity should be a good thing for her.

“Senior, I’ll be careful.”

“…Alright, then… be very careful, okay.” With no real reason to refuse, Liuxia could only nod.

After breakfast, Li Chunsheng tidied himself up and prepared to head out for work, just like usual.

But as he opened the apartment door, Liuxia suddenly called from behind: “Wait, Chunsheng, take this…” She handed him something.

“This is…” Li Chunsheng caught it and looked closely—a black box.

The small box was wrapped in white cloth and felt heavy. Clearly a lunch box.

Li Chunsheng’s pupils shrank, his hands trembling.

“This… could this be the legendary love-wife bento!”

Having lived two lifetimes, this was the first time Li Chunsheng had received something that only existed in legends from a “woman.”

Though it was made by Senior… but! But Senior’s appearance now was a beautiful girl! Li Chunsheng could allow himself a little self-deception.

“Thank you so much… Senior!” Tears welled in Li Chunsheng’s eyes as he bowed deeply to Liuxia.

“You’re exaggerating~” Liuxia laughed helplessly and straightened his slightly messy collar: “Alright, hurry to work.”

“If you leave late, you’ll miss the bus~”

“Yes!” Li Chunsheng stood at attention, saluted Liuxia, and dashed off. From his joyful bounce, all traces of morning embarrassment had vanished.

“This kid…” Liuxia chuckled as she watched her junior leave until he was out of sight, then slowly returned inside.

Seeing the small apartment already cleaned by her efforts, Liuxia patted her head.

“Oh no… I was too enthusiastic earlier and left nothing for myself to do.”

“Now that Chunsheng’s gone, what can I do?”

Liuxia sat lightly on the sofa. Endless silence enveloped the entire apartment, pressing down on the girl who had just escaped disaster.

“A house without my junior feels… a little lonely…” Unknowingly, Liuxia entered Li Chunsheng’s room and lay on his bed, still warm from his body.

“Chunsheng’s scent…” Surrounded by her junior’s smell, the girl inexplicably felt secure: “It smells nice, but doesn’t make me want to eat—it’s comforting…”

Truth be told, sleeping on the sofa hadn’t been comfortable, especially with worries on her mind.

“Just… take a short nap? I’ll get up before Chunsheng returns…”