I Deduce the Female Lead Likes Me [Transmigration into a book] - Chapter 25: Xiaodie
Kou Shuang’s foot wasn’t a major injury. Coupled with Song Muxue’s proper “nursing,” after applying ice packs all night at home, it was basically fine.
When she woke up in the morning, Kou Shuang said she was going to work. Song Muxue was in the kitchen cooking porridge and didn’t respond; she must not have heard.
Kou Shuang could only raise her voice and continue: “I—am—going—to—work—”
This time, Song Muxue poked out halfway, her face serene, and said: “Heard you. No.”
“…” Kou Shuang was choked. She asked: “Why?”
“Your foot isn’t fully recovered. Rest properly.”
Kou Shuang, wearing her pajamas, climbed up and bounced twice on the bed, saying: “See? My foot is perfectly fine. Yesterday’s ice pack was super effective!”
Song Muxue looked at her without speaking, a faint smile on her face, as if watching a monkey show.
Kou Shuang said: “I just started my internship at the company. If I slack off now, who knows what kind of impression I’ll leave. I need to work hard so I can support myself later.”
Song Muxue said: “Your health is more important. Working actively isn’t urgent at this very moment.”
Kou Shuang grew anxious and said: “When you just woke up from the hospital, you were also clamoring to go to your internship! I respected you; I didn’t object, and I even moved in to take care of you, right?”
Song Muxue paused for a moment and said: “I respect you, but I also have a responsibility to take care of you. I have one condition.”
“What?”
“I’ll drive you to work first, then go to the law firm.”
“…” Kou Shuang was a little helpless. She never knew Song Muxue was so rigid.
“Don’t you need to get to work early? Aren’t you busy?”
“The last case has been handled; the next one hasn’t arrived yet. Don’t worry about me; worry about your foot.” Song Muxue said, bringing out steaming millet porridge from the kitchen, and said: “Go wash up.”
Both companies were close, practically downstairs from the apartment building, so Kou Shuang didn’t object further. She quickly rushed to the bathroom to wash up, then quickly sat down at the dining table, enjoying the nutritious breakfast provided by Song Muxue.
She didn’t continue objecting because the millet porridge smelled so good!
Song Muxue accompanied Kou Shuang to work, quietly walking by Kou Shuang’s side. In the short five-minute walk, the two barely even chatted. Kou Shuang truly didn’t quite understand the meaning of this “escort.”
Upon reaching the company entrance, Song Muxue admonished Kou Shuang: “If your foot hurts and you can’t do outdoor work, just take leave directly. Don’t get too close to that colleague from yesterday. Call me if anything happens.”
Kou Shuang felt a little helpless and said: “Got it, got it, just like my mom. Do you still care about your aloof goddess image?”
Song Muxue’s face held a faint smile. Hearing this, she ruffled Kou Shuang’s hair and said: “There’s no such thing.”
When she got to the office, Kou Shuang was still thinking about how to explain to her junior colleague that she had just taken leave yesterday but came in this morning. But when she arrived at the company, she found that her junior colleague wasn’t there; she had taken leave herself.
Kou Shuang was a little surprised and asked the deputy department head: “Is she sick?”
The deputy department head said: “I heard she twisted her ankle and needs to rest at home. How did you feel about the work yesterday afternoon? Can you try working alone today?”
Kou Shuang: “…”
So the junior colleague went back to the company and just used that excuse to take leave for herself. It seemed she would have to go it alone today.
Kou Shuang was silent for a while, wanting to ask about her own leave cancellation, when she heard the deputy department head continue: “Oh, right, HR told me you didn’t clock out yesterday. You just started, so your salary won’t be deducted this week, but remember next time.”
Kou Shuang: “…………”
Oh.
Carrying a paint bucket alone under the overpass, Kou Shuang felt quite indignant. This junior colleague was unreliable; she really needed to distance herself from her in the future, lest she be secretly sabotaged without knowing.
The graffiti in the area near the company had been completed, so Kou Shuang’s assigned area became an overpass two stops away.
Under the overpass was a wall covered with small advertisements, mostly seeking surrogate children with high rewards, which greatly affected the city’s appearance. The government was too lazy to send people to tear them down, so they simply had Jana Advertising paint a layer of graffiti over them.
After finishing one bucket of paint, Kou Shuang went to the toolbox to pour out more spare paint. When she turned around, she found a little girl squatting beside the paint bucket, staring motionless at the inner wall.
The little girl’s hair was messy, like Mei Chaofeng’s (a character from a martial arts novel known for her disheveled hair). She wore thin clothes, looking forlorn in the December weather. Her ankles were exposed, completely bloodless from the cold.
Having learned from yesterday’s experience, Kou Shuang quickly walked over, and as the little girl cautiously extended a finger to scrape the paint from the inner wall of the bucket, she caught the girl’s hands.
“What are you doing?” Kou Shuang asked as gently as possible.
The little girl didn’t turn and run like yesterday’s homeless man. Instead, she stared at Kou Shuang with wide eyes for a while, even blinking. Her hands were caught by Kou Shuang, yet she was still trying hard to pull that hand back to put it in her mouth.
Kou Shuang sighed and asked her: “Are you hungry?”
The little girl paused for a long while, then nodded.
“Mm.”
••••
Kou Shuang paused her work, took the little girl to a convenience store, and bought several loaves of bread and a row of Yakult. The little girl couldn’t move once she saw the Yakult. While waiting for the clerk to check out, she hugged the Yakult tightly and even glared at Kou Shuang, as if afraid she would snatch her drink.
Kou Shuang smiled and said to her: “If I want to drink it, I’ll buy another row. I won’t steal yours, don’t worry.”
Kou Shuang didn’t touch the Yakult in the little girl’s arms. Instead, she took another row from the shelf and handed it to the cashier, saying: “Scan this one.”
After checking out, Kou Shuang directly picked up the paint bucket and continued graffitiing the large mural designed by Zhang Zhiruo. The little girl sat on the steps not far away, tearing off pieces of bread and watching Kou Shuang.
“What’s your name?” Kou Shuang asked, trying to strike up a conversation while painting.
The little girl was dressed shabbily, not like a child from an ordinary family—to put it harshly, she seemed to have been born without a mother’s care.
Swindler? Con artist? Beggar? Homeless?
She can accept the food I give her, so she must truly be thirsty and hungry.
The little girl swallowed a bite of bread and said: “Xiaodie.”
Kou Shuang nodded, then pointed to the paint bucket at her feet and asked: “When I saw you just now, you wanted to eat this?”
Xiaodie watched Kou Shuang warily for a while, then nodded.
“Why did you want to eat this?”
Xiaodie said nothing.
Kou Shuang sighed and said: “You can’t eat this. It’s paint, paint. See, I’m using it to paint.”
To ensure the health of employees while graffitiing, the company specifically purchased new types of paint that were colorless, odorless, and easy to wash off the skin. Kou Shuang wondered what was wrong with Xiaodie that she mistook it for food. If she hadn’t discovered it in time and the girl had actually swallowed it, she really wouldn’t have known what to do.
Speaking of this, Kou Shuang couldn’t help but remember the homeless man she encountered yesterday. He also put paint to his mouth. Although she stopped him at the time, she didn’t know what he did after he ran off.
Xiaodie stood up and walked to the wall Kou Shuang was graffitiing. She reached out, carefully touched the wall, then looked at her fingers. They were completely clean; the paint in that area had already dried.
Xiaodie then took a deep breath, finally stuck out her tongue, closed her eyes tightly, and slowly approached the wall.
“Hey!” Kou Shuang quickly grabbed her hand and loudly said: “What are you doing!”
Xiaodie looked at Kou Shuang with wide eyes for a while, then suddenly shook off Kou Shuang’s hand and ran away.
“Why are you running…?”
Xiaodie ran, occasionally looking back at Kou Shuang. The bread and Yakult in her hands clattered to the ground. Kou Shuang sighed, picked up the food, and resignedly chased after her.
Xiaodie looked no older than ten, but she ran as if her life depended on it, so fast that Kou Shuang could hardly keep up.
Kou Shuang knew her stamina was poor, but she never imagined she couldn’t even outrun a child. She felt a certain despair.
Just as Xiaodie was about to disappear from Kou Shuang’s sight, the girl suddenly bumped into someone ahead and fell to the ground.
Taking advantage of the time it took Xiaodie to get up, Kou Shuang finally caught up to her, while also stuffing the food and drink she was carrying into Xiaodie’s arms.
“Don’t run… phew… I won’t do anything to you…” Kou Shuang held her knees and said to the person Xiaodie had bumped into: “Sorry, sorry, she didn’t do it on purpose. You weren’t hit, were you?”
Because she saw Xiaodie running towards her, she instinctively felt she had an “obligation” to look after Xiaodie.
To her surprise, the person directly pulled Xiaodie behind her and said in a very deep voice: “Why are you chasing her?”
Kou Shuang looked up in surprise and saw a pair of bright, wary eyes, a resolute gaze full of power. Only then did she notice the person’s appearance and attire.
No Adam’s apple, it was a woman. She was dressed very much like Brother Xili (a famous homeless man in China, known for his “stylish” vagrant look), a similar vagabond style to Xiaodie, but on closer inspection, her clothes were actually quite clean, just messy and mismatched. There were some unknown dark substances on her face, but based on Kou Shuang’s intuition, this face could score at least an 8 out of 10.
The homeless woman adopted a protective stance, so Kou Shuang felt it was inappropriate to overstep. Instead, she explained: “I bought her some food, but she ran like crazy… I was just bringing the food over.”
Kou Shuang pointed to the bread and Yakult she had forced into Xiaodie’s arms. The homeless woman glanced at them, then directly took the food from Xiaodie’s arms and stuffed it back into Kou Shuang’s, saying: “No need.”
The homeless woman took Xiaodie’s hand and said: “Let’s go.”
Xiaodie obediently held the homeless woman’s hand. The two turned a corner and soon disappeared from Kou Shuang’s sight. Just before turning the corner, Xiaodie looked back at Kou Shuang.
Kou Shuang looked bewildered. Was she… disliked by the homeless woman? She thought homeless people would eat anything when they were hungry… like paint, for example.
Moreover, the food was bought from a convenience store and wasn’t poisoned. Why was that homeless woman so wary?
Were they mother and daughter? They didn’t try to scam her, so at least they weren’t a begging or con artist gang.
Kou Shuang stood there in a daze for a while, eventually slowly walking back under the overpass.
She still had work to do; no time to waste any further.
Sigh.