After the Soul Swap Between Love Rival AO - Chapter 19

Song Qiuchi thought she misheard. “What did you say?”

Cheng Luanxin, already embarrassed, buried her face. “Nothing! You heard wrong!”

Song Qiuchi frowned. “You want me to coax you?””

Cheng Luanxin’s face burned. “If you heard it, why repeat it? You think my pride is as unshakable as yours?”

Song Qiuchi furrowed her brows slightly. “How do you want me to coax you?””Mortified, Cheng Luanxin blurted out, ‘If you don’t even know how to coax someone, why are you on a dating show?””

Song Qiuchi paused, then hesitantly reached out and patted Cheng Luanxin’s head. “There, there. Don’t be mad. Like this?”

Cheng Luanxin blushed and dodged away, “Are you trying to coax a puppy? Go away, don’t get my hair greasy.”

Bullet Comments:

Su Ling: “Wow, Qiuchi is shy!”

Lin Zhiyun: “Secret affection between Chi and Xin is so sweet!!!”

Bian Ning: “But honestly, Luanxin’s awkward way of comforting is kind of charming. Heart fluttering~”

Liang Shengxia: “Oh no, I don’t know how to comfort people either. Am I going to get kicked off the dating show?”

Song Qiuchi had no choice but to say, “Alright, alright, I misspoke. Don’t be upset. Get up and let’s keep mixing the colors.”

Cheng Luanxin also knew it wasn’t the time to be unreasonable, so she pretended not to care and changed the subject. “But how do we make the filled ones? The tutorial only shows the plain version.”

“Layering the molds should work. We can try baking a few first.”

“What if it fails?” Cheng Luanxin asked.

“If it fails, it’s on me. I’ll eat them.” Song Qiuchi reached out to her. “Come on, let me help you up.”

Cheng Luanxin placed her hands in Song Qiuchi’s and stood up from her seat. This time, she’d learned her lesson: “We don’t need to mix too many colors, right? Pink, green, and cream yellow should be enough. Most store-bought ones only come in those colors anyway.”

Song Qiuchi didn’t want to say the wrong thing again. “Whatever you prefer.”

The two stopped talking and focused on their work.

Soon, the first batch of strawberry-filled donuts was placed in the oven.

One by one, the donuts began to rise in their molds, filling the air with the sweet aroma of cream.

Cheng Luanxin’s moods always came and went quickly. Now, brimming with a sense of accomplishment, she shook Song Qiuchi’s arm excitedly. “I think we actually succeeded! Smell that—it’s so fragrant!”

Song Qiuchi nodded. “Let’s see after we unmold them. The smell is right, but we don’t know about the texture yet.”

“It’ll definitely be good! We followed the tutorial step by step—no way it’ll go wrong!” Cheng Luanxin was full of confidence. “What should I do? I feel like I could open a shop now!”

Song Qiuchi thought back to how Cheng Luanxin had sifted flour with all the grace of a decade-long Parkinson’s patient but decided not to dampen her enthusiasm. She opened the oven and carefully pulled out the tray. “Time for your favorite part—drizzling the chocolate and sprinkling the sugar pearls.”

“No problem!” Cheng Luanxin picked up a piping bag and meticulously coated the donuts with chocolate. “First, I’ll make you one with white chocolate and iridescent shells. Let me write your name on it—I want to live out my baker fantasy.”

She carefully piped “Cheng Luanxin” in dark chocolate, but the donut was too small, and as a beginner, her pressure was uneven. The character “Cheng” was barely recognizable, while “Luan” turned into a black, indistinguishable blob—it looked more like mold than anything else.

Song Qiuchi: “…”

For a moment, she didn’t want to eat it.

Cheng Luanxin was a little embarrassed too. “Beauty lies not in appearance but in the heart. I suggest you ignore how it looks and savor the sincerity of my feelings.”

Bullet Comments:

Su Ling: “HAHAHAHA would you really want this ‘sincerity’ though?”

Duan Mengshu: “Didn’t expect donuts to qualify as dark cuisine.”

Bian Ning: “But honestly, it probably tastes fine.”

Lin Zhiyun: “But it’s seriously ugly.”

Zhuang Mingchu: “I hope they go easy on the ‘heartfelt intentions’ when making ours later…”

The donuts were placed in the freezer, and soon the chocolate glaze solidified, securing the sugar pearls and freeze-dried fruit slices in place. Cheng Luanxin used tongs to pick out the specially made donut for Song Qiuchi: “Quick, try it! See if it’s good!”

Aside from the three black globs, the donut actually looked quite presentable—smooth and refined on the surface, with the jam filling neatly contained in the middle.

Cheng Luanxin pulled out her phone, ready to take a photo of Song Qiuchi, instructing: “First time making donuts—it’s memorable! Take one big bite to get rid of the dark chocolate parts, leaving only the pretty sections. When I count down from three, smile. Got it?”

Song Qiuchi hesitated: “Are you sure? If I take a bite big enough to get all the dark chocolate parts, it’ll be hard to smile at the same time.”

Cheng Luanxin urged: “Just try! I think it’ll work!”

Live comments:

Liang Shengxia: “Hahahaha, that’s asking too much! Who can smile with their mouth that wide open?”

He Ran: “I’m dying of laughter watching these two.”

Bian Ning: “Why not take the photo together?”

Su Ling: “Because Luanxin’s job is to test the poison for Qiuchi, hahahaha!”

Song Qiuchi took the donut, examining it from all angles. The three black blobs seemed impossible to bite off in one go. After some internal struggle, she figured since she was using Cheng Luanxin’s body anyway, she might as well go all out and opened her mouth wide.

Cheng Luanxin was thrilled: “Perfect, perfect! Now, look at the camera. I’ll count down—three, two, one. Tilt your head a bit more. Three—wait, the lighting isn’t great. Let me adjust the angle. Okay, three, two, one, smile! Wait, I haven’t taken it yet—why’d you finish smiling already?”

Song Qiuchi, her mouth still stretched wide, felt her facial muscles stiffening: “You said to smile at ‘one.’ How was I supposed to know you’d add an extra ‘smile’ prompt?”

Cheng Luanxin scrutinized the photo, unsatisfied: “Hmm, it doesn’t look great. Want to try again?”

Song Qiuchi had no intention of retaking it: “It’s fine. It looks good. I’m happy with it.”

“Emmmm…” Cheng Luanxin debated for a moment before relenting. “Alright then. Now hurry up and eat it—tell me how it tastes!”

Her eyes sparkled as she watched Song Qiuchi expectantly.

Song Qiuchi’s heart softened. She took a small bite of the blackened section. The dough was soft and delicious, the chocolate glaze smooth and rich, while the filling inside, not fully cooled, carried a hint of warm sweetness.

“Is it good? Is it good?”

Song Qiuchi broke off a piece and handed it to her: “Try it yourself.”

Cheng Luanxin popped it into her mouth, chewed for a moment, and her eyes lit up: “It’s really good! Even better than I expected!”

Song Qiuchi wasn’t usually a fan of sweets, but since she’d made it herself, it tasted slightly different somehow: “We could mass-produce these.”

No sooner said than done. The two got to work—one handling the pre-mold preparations, the other decorating after unmolding. In less than an hour, they’d made over forty donuts.

They packed the donuts into bags, sealed them, and placed them in the stainless steel basin Cheng Luanxin had bought.

Cheng Luanxin gloated: “Told you it was a good idea. Even a small basin isn’t enough to hold them all.”

Song Qiuchi suppressed the urge to comment, too embarrassed to say that even the donuts seemed cheapened by being served in this stainless steel bowl.

Cheng Luanxin held the stainless steel bowl with a smile for the camera: “That’s a wrap! The date segment is officially over. We’ll be delivering these soon!”

Live Comments:

Duan Mengshu: “You two worked hard!!”

Su Ling: “Hahaha the stainless steel bowl is killing me. Can’t wait for the delivery!”

Bian Ning: “Great job! Come rest in the lounge soon!”

Soon, the two groups met in the lounge. As Cheng Luanxin and Song Qiuchi entered, the other guests applauded:

“Finally done! You two must be exhausted.”

“Watching this was totally worth it—learned a lot.”

“Haha, that bowl looks even bigger in person.”

Cheng Luanxin stepped forward with the bowl. “Take your pick, everyone! Whatever flavor you like, grab as many as you want. Today’s donuts are all-you-can-eat!”

Su Ling reached out with a grin. “Then I won’t hold back. I’ve had my eye on that star-crown one for a while.”

Bian Ning leaned in too. “I’d like the freeze-dried strawberry one.”

Cheng Luanxin waved her hand generously. “Go ahead, take more! Want kiwi? Or lemon? Banana? We’ve got every flavor!”

As she looked up, her eyes met Du Zhiruo’s.

Cheng Luanxin lifted the bowl toward her with a bright smile. “Zhiruo, which one would you like?”

Du Zhiruo smiled faintly. “Lemon-citrus, please. It’s always been my favorite.”

Cheng Luanxin froze. She had made freeze-dried lemon and citrus donuts, but hearing it from Du Zhiruo’s lips made it different.

After all, lemon-citrus was the scent of her pheromones.