Chapter 48
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Chapter 48: So Ugly
“Want some?” Gloria dangled a donut in front of Mi Xiaoliu’s face, swaying it left and right.
Mi Xiaoliu’s head followed the donut’s movement in perfect sync with Circle (Quanquan), who was sprawled across her lap.
They watched as Gloria took a deliberate bite.
“Even if you want it, I won’t give you any.”
With theatrical slowness, Gloria ate every last donut from the bag in front of Mi Xiaoliu—because she’d bought them herself.
This alone would have been bearable, but the true offense was how she’d interrupted Mi Xiaoliu’s homework session (Assigned by Heli) specifically to drag her over and force her to watch this culinary performance.
The kid’s reactions were hilarious.
Serves him right. Who told him to mess with me first?
“Where’d you buy those donuts?” Heli asked.
“The bakery at the crossroads. Since when do you like pastries?” Gloria tossed the empty bag at Mi Xiaoliu, who instinctively reached inside only to find nothing.
“Stop bullying him.” Heli frowned, stroking Mi Xiaoliu’s forehead consolingly. “Those make you fat. Look how fat she is.”
She pointed at Gloria’s modest yet perfectly proportioned assets.
Gloria straightened proudly, causing said assets to bounce slightly—then remembered there was a male present and shot Mi Xiaoliu a glare. “What’re you staring at, you little pervert?”
“Go finish your homework.” Heli steered Mi Xiaoliu back to her room, handing her Circle (Quanquan) along the way. “She won’t have room for dinner after all that, so no one will steal your food tonight.”
Like all math beginners, Mi Xiaoliu needed fingers, toes, and cat paws within reach to feel secure while solving problems.
After closing the door, Heli gave Gloria a look tinged with faint disdain. “How old are you?”
“Three years and one hundred, seventy months.” Gloria stretched, answering honestly.
Heli opened her mouth, then thought better of it.
She slipped on her shoes by the entrance. “I’m going out. Don’t bully him, or you’ll regret it.”
“Getting more donuts?” Gloria tilted her chair back precariously, balancing on two legs while staring upside-down at Heli.
“Yeah.”
“…Is he actually your son?” Gloria blinked.
“No.”
The moment Heli left, Gloria counted to sixty in her head—then marched straight to the bedroom door, eraser in hand, fully intending to sabotage Mi Xiaoliu’s homework.
My head still hurts from yesterday’s bump. Can’t I get a little payback?
Just as her hand touched the doorknob, the doorbell rang.
“Tch.”
She yanked the door open. “Forget your wallet—?”
But it wasn’t Heli (Who had keys).
Yiwen launched into her pre-rehearsed greeting: “Hello, Auntie—”
“Are you blind?” Gloria barely resisted spitting on his pretty face.
“I’m here to see Mi Xiaoliu. Rang his doorbell but no answer.” Unfazed by the misaddress, Yiwen beamed with angelic radiance—a smile that usually worked wonders on girls, but Gloria seemed immune.
“He’s not here.”
Yiwen’s smile didn’t waver as she pointed behind Gloria.
Turning, Gloria found Mi Xiaoliu peeking through a crack in the bedroom door.
SecretlyObserving.jpg
With a click of her tongue, Gloria let Yiwen in and stormed out for some air.
Like she’d stick around for some brat’s boring playdate.
Yiwen made a beeline for Circle (Quanquan). “Where’s the kitty?”
“Inside.”
Circle (Quanquan) was useless—couldn’t even help with math problems.
After a thorough face-burying session with the cat, Yiwen felt marginally better.
She hadn’t gone home… and didn’t plan to anytime soon.
Before her father disappeared, their family had been happy. Her mother never held her abilities against her back then. When cyberbullying started, they’d moved cities together. Everything changed after her father vanished…
Even as the household soured, Yiwen had never snapped like yesterday.
That classic line—”It’s just a doll, aren’t you too old for this?”—had been the last straw.
After taking out her rage on some criminals, she slept at her school desk until noon.
Today’s aimless wandering had somehow led her here—and to Mi Xiaoliu’s cat.
Truthfully, she hadn’t planned to visit, but the thought of Mi Xiaoliu hanging out with Lu Mingxue without inviting her made her feet move on their own.
He’s basically my only friend besides Barrett. Dropping by is normal, right?
Heli’s room mirrored Mi Xiaoliu’s in layout but was far more furnished. Academic books crammed the shelves beside the wardrobe, their worn spines suggesting frequent use. Yiwen wondered why Mi Xiaoliu stayed with the school nurse—but given the daily lunch deliveries, treating Heli as family wasn’t unreasonable.
Mi Xiaoliu’s phone lay on the desk, streaming a haphazard playlist of algorithm-recommended songs—some decent, others butchered by amateur DJ remixes.
“Homework?” Yiwen peered at the elementary-grade textbook.
Doodles defaced the illustrations: faces colored in, swirl-eyed expressions, even a cat painted to resemble Circle’s panda-like markings.
Mi Xiaoliu hastily covered the pages—Heli had pinched her cheeks for these “masterpieces.”
Yiwen grinned. She’d done worse in middle school, once rewriting an English comic’s dialogue into a murder mystery.
But why second-grade material?
Memory gaps, perhaps…
She pulled up Heli’s tutoring chair and opened her own textbook. Having slept through morning classes, she had catching up to do.
When was the last time I studied with someone?
Back then, it had been with female friends—until study sessions devolved into gossip about cute celebrities, crushes, and impromptu singalongs.
Those days were gone. And she didn’t miss them.
The silence now was absolute. Without Yiwen’s prompting, not a word would be spoken—a far cry from those rowdy gatherings.
“Mi Xiaoliu, why did you stay at Lu Mingxue’s place at that time?”
“Raining.”
“Oh. Did she make you sleep on the floor?”
“She slept on the floor.”
“…Oh.”
Yiwen’s gaze drifted across the same textbook page for ages. Recent troubles made concentration impossible—normally, music would calm her.
“Do you like listening to songs while studying?”
When Yiwen spoke, Mi Xiaoliu quickly shielded her textbook again, revealing two fresh doodles in the gaps between her fingers.
“Heli plays them.”
“Can I see your playlist?”
Yiwen took the phone just as a particularly awful DJ remix started.
After checking the homepage recommendations, she navigated to Mi Xiaoliu’s personal playlist—where a single track by “Silence” sat alone.
A pang of disappointment.
“Let me add some good songs for you.”
“Mmm.”
Yiwen got to work.
First song: “Silence”
Second song: “Silence”
Third song: “Silence”
…
How narcissistic.
After favoriting every addition, she returned the phone—just as Mi Xiaoliu set down her pencil.
“Finished your homework?”
Mi Xiaoliu shook her head and tore out a page—a random sketch.
Heli would pinch her for doodling, but Yiwen hadn’t, lowering her guard.
Unfolding the paper, Yiwen found a bunny-eared cat.
<img src=”https://c1.kuangxiangit.com/uploads/chapterimgsnew/997/74725/221124/1669254684-100344963-109621509.jpg” alt=’Xiao Liu’s drawing’>
So ugly.
But actually well-drawn.
Still ugly though.
Yet… oddly charming the longer you look.
Mi Xiaoliu watched helplessly as Yiwen folded and pocketed the artwork—though she’d never intended to give it away.
