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Chapter 69




“Ah, cub,” Li Shuoxing calmly said. “Don’t be fooled by the names of these novels. The just have exaggerated names. The contents are quite well written, not so domineering or black-hearted…”
Su Mingqian nodded. “I understand. If they weren’t well written, you wouldn’t have put them on your bookshelf.”
No, you don’t understand at all!
Li Shuoxing explained again, still calmly, “No, actually I don’t really like reading these novels. I’m just… picking their faults. Yes, picking their faults. After all, I have a professor right by me. I know what a real professor is like, so I’m more concerned about some professor novels!”
Once Su Mingqian heard this, his eyes fell to the comment record again.
Li Shuoxing followed suit.
They looked back at the various comments Superstar had left about the deliciousness of the novels.
In an instant, a proverb flashed through Li Shuoxing’s head.
The more one tries to hide, the more one is exposed.
He pondered deeply.
How about I say I lent this account to a friend, and this friend left the comments?
Su Mingqian then gave a small cough.
He turned around, his back to Li Shuoxing, and said, “Alright, Ximu. I’ve been out for quite a while. I should go back. Goodbye.”
Before Li Shuoxing could say anything, he saw the little person slapping the wallpaper with his hands and moving towards the Love Bar app, dropping a favourability with each step.
+5+10+5+15…
Adding favourability the entire way.
By the time the little person disappeared into the app, he had dropped at least 150 favourability points.
Li Shuoxing blankly watched this scene for a while and fell silent.
This…
So…
Could it be…
Cub likes me reading domineering professor novels?
***
Li Shuoxing was still a little lost as to what Su Mingqian was thinking.
He wanted to observe more and study what was going on in the cub’s head, but sooner, a new problem appeared; the cub had found the takeout apps on his phone.
Ele.me, Meituan, DianPing, KFC, McDonald’s…
When he found the first one, Su Mingqian didn’t feel much.
But right after that, he found one, and another, and another. After silently wandering back and forth between these apps, he climbed out, turned on the camera and had a serious face-to-face conversation with Li Shuoxing.
“Ximu.”
“Huh?”
Su Mingqian took a look at his palm and read, “You damned man.”
Li Shuoxing: “?!”
Li Shuoxing thought he’d misheard and subconsciously called out, “Cub?”
Su Mingqian took another look at his palm and continued to read, “Don’t call me that. You won’t soften me like that.”
Li Shuoxing was sure he hadn’t misheard this time. He was full of agitation. “Cub, what’s wrong with you…”
Su Mingqian pointed out, “What’s wrong isn’t me, it’s you. Ximu, I’ve seen your takeout app bills. You spent 5000 yuan on takeout last month. It’s only the 9th of this month, and you’ve spent 2000 yuan on takeout. Do you order takeout three meals a day?”
Li Shuoxing: “Uh.”
Su Mingqian warned in advance, “Don’t lie to me.”
Li Shuoxing immediately thought of the unexplained Domineering XXX misunderstanding and gave in. “Takeout is convenient.”
Su Mingqian: “But not healthy enough. Ximu, you should try cooking your own food.”
Li Shuoxing refused, “I won’t.”
Su Mingqian tried to explain, “Cooking your own food isn’t complicated.”
Li Shuoxing: “I just won’t.”
Su Mingqian persuaded again, “And you can make dishes that best suit your taste.”
Li Shuoxing: “I absolutely won’t.”
Su Mingqian was a little worried. In his worry, he said, “But Ximu, I want you to treat your body well. I’ll worry—”
Halfway through, Su Mingqian suddenly lost his words and quickly lowered his head.
The bullet screen suddenly appeared.
[Su Mingqian looks at the words on his palm.]
[Su Mingqian is quite upset.]
[Su Mingqian looks up again.]
Su Mingqian’s voice once again turned into emotionless reading. “Man, your objections are meaningless. You must listen to me.”
Li Shuoxing: “…”
He was sure of it. Something really was wrong with his cub!
What’s going on?
Why’d my soft and cute cub disappear in the blink of an eye?
System, what have you done to my cub? Did you show my cub something weird!
Li Shuoxing had beaten the system to death in his mind.
It was no use beating it to death. The key was still the cub.
In order to figure out what had happened, Li Shuoxing quickly gave in and pretended to go along with it. “Cub, don’t be so fierce. You’re making me a little nervous. Isn’t it just not eating takeout? I promise.”
Su Mingqian confirmed, “Really?”
Li Shuoxing: “Really, I promise. I won’t eat takeout for lunch today.”
“Then…” Su Mingqian’s one request was fulfilled. He wanted more and cautiously probed, “Try not to eat takeout after that as well.”
Li Shuoxing didn’t hesitate. “Okay.”
Almost the same moment Li Shuoxing’s voice fell, Su Mingqian couldn’t contain his emotions.
A little happy expression popped up on his head, followed by favourability numbers. He was back to his previous soft and cute self.
Li Shuoxing quietly let out a sigh of relief.
It seems he hasn’t been completely influenced.
Regardless, I have to correct the cub immediately!
But before that.
Li Shuoxing must first fulfil his promise to Su Mingqian to not eat takeout for lunch.
There were always loopholes in these policies.
Isn’t it just not ordering takeout?
Easy.
Li Shuoxing went downstairs in person and packed two dishes and one soup home from the small restaurant downstairs. Then he found a few plates and bowls from the cupboard, poured the dishes and soup into them, laid out the mats, and set them on the table. It immediately looked no different from making it at home.
After doing all that, Li Shuoxing turned on his phone camera and pointed it at the table. “Cub, I’ve made lunch. Take a look.”
Su Mingqian came over for a look. He was pleased and his voice softened. “Ximu, you’ve made it well. Keep it up.”
Substitution success!
Li Shuoxing, unflustered, switched the front and back cameras of his phone and pointed the camera at himself. “Since I made it well, is there any reward?”
Ximu is very concerned about my opinion.
Su Mingqian felt that he really should give Li Shuoxing a little reward. “What do you want?”
Li Shuoxing: “Anything’s fine. I’m looking forward to any reward from my cub.”
Su Mingqian looked at Li Shuoxing, then lowered his head for a moment before raising it again.
He hesitated.
But not for long.
Su Mingqian spoke up. His voice was quiet and seemed nervous. “Then, I’ll mu…ah you?”
Li Shuoxing didn’t expect such a good thing. He was instantly delighted. “Okay!”
After answering, he sat upright on the sofa and stared at the little person on the screen, waiting for him to give him a “mu…ah”.
But the little person didn’t say that.
After getting Li Shuoxing’s answer, Su Mingqian silently climbed the screen, from the top all the way to the centre of the screen, and finally stopped by Li Shuoxing’s cheek.
He pressed one hand on the screen and the other hung down, his whole body dangling in the air very close to Li Shuoxing’s cheek. It looked very tiring.
Li Shuoxing felt something wrong. He shifted his body to see the little person’s expression from the side, but was met with a protest.
Su Mingqian: “Ximu, don’t move. I can’t aim.”
Even more wrong.
But Li Shuoxing stopped obediently. “Oh…”
The next second.
Su Mingqian leaned in and pressed his lips on Li Shuoxing’s cheek.
Delicate and gentle, a light kiss.
Li Shuoxing froze.
He instinctively raised his hand and touched his face.
It was clearly across the screen, clearly not touching.
But a little bit of burning heat, at that moment, flashed up his cheeks.
Li Shuoxing seemed to have been suddenly filled with flustered emotions, causing his heartbeat to be out of balance.
“Cub…” he said, “you…”
“Huh?” Su Mingqian looked at Li Shuoxing.
He blinked, his long eyelashes trembling and his eyes twinkling.
Li Shuoxing suggested, “You did a great muah. How about another one? Just on the left, now on the right?”
Su Mingqian didn’t reply. He turned his head.
The bullet screen narration appeared at the right time, explaining Su Mingqian’s behaviour to Li Shuoxing.
[Su Mingqian turns his head.]
[Su Mingqian purses his mouth.]
[Su Mingqian doesn’t purse his mouth. It curls up.]
Su Mingqian: “…Okay.”
His answer sounded like a vague cough.
But his actions weren’t vague. He adsorbed the wallpaper with his adsorption gloves again and worked his way across the screen to Li Shuoxing’s right cheek, giving another kiss.
A tiny person.
A sweet kiss.
Li Shuoxing again felt burning heat climb up to where Su Mingqian had touched his cheek.
He heard it this time.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
His heartbeat like a drumbeat.
Strong and powerful.
***
One left and one right kiss ended in Li Shuoxing’s reluctant departure.
Li Shuoxing entered the kitchen and drank three large glasses of water to calm down. While eating, he took advantage of the time when the little person went to write his monthly diet list to quietly touch the game, open the system narration and observe the record.
He was really curious.
What the cub had been doing in private the past two days, and why he changed in two completely opposite directions of good and bad at the same time.
Then he saw…
The day before yesterday, 03:00pm
[Su Mingqian collects books such as Domineering Professor XXX , Cold Professor XXX , Romantic Professor XXX , Devilish Professor XXX .]
[Su Mingqian reads them very seriously.]
[Su Mingqian continues to search for “Professor” novels.]
[Su Mingqian takes out his notebook.]
Yesterday, 09:00am
[Su Mingqian has finished the word frequency analysis.]
[Su Mingqian has extracted common vocabulary.]
[Su Mingqian has finished the sentence pattern analysis.]
[Su Mingqian has extracte common sentence patterns.]
[Su Mingqian…]
The system narration revealed everything.
Li Shuoxing had a strange expression as he followed the clues provided by the narration and found Su Mingqian’s notebook in the room.
He opened it.
It really was a very serious notebook. It divided the content into categories, gave examples and made summaries. It was written clearly and concisely at a glance, simply a different kind of writing summary.
[Vocabulary Analysis]
①:
Examples: “woman”, “cold”, “contempt”, “emotionless”, these words appear very frequently, on average once every five chapters.
Summary: The simple vocabulary is broadly applicable and can be left as is, with the exception of “woman” which should be replaced with “man”.
Note: Contempt has a strong derogatory connotation and should be used with caution.
②:
Examples: ‘You can’t escape’, ‘You’re mine’, ‘Who gave you permission to do this?’ and more.
Summary: Short sentences that strongly enhance the male lead’s presence are also highly favoured.
Note: Being tough all the time is a subject to study.
…
[Plot Analysis]
①:
Example: The female lead escapes and the male lead confines the female lead between his arms and the wall.
Summary: This is called ‘kabedon’ and is very popular and standard for the male lead.
Note: How do I kabedon?
②:
Example: The female lead goes against the male lead’s will and the male lead fiercely kisses the female lead.
Summary: Kissing always solves a lot of things.
Note: Can I try?
…
[Character Analysis]
①:
Example: The domineering professor throws a lot of money to pay off the female lead’s debt of one hundred million and buys her off.
Summary: …
Note: …
②:
Example: The romantic professor dances in the flowers and captures the female lead’s heart.
Summary: …
Note: …
There was a lot of content under the first two categories. Just in this category, not only were there few examples, but the summaries and notes were completely occupied by ellipses. It seemed Su Mingqian’s heart had been completely closed in this section.
Fortunately, there was more content after turning another page.
It was just that this content had all been crossed out and couldn’t be read clearly.
Li Shuoxing was struggling to discern the text from the crossing out when a prompt popped up from the system.
[System: Deleted text detected. Do you spend 200 favourability points to reproduce it?]
Li Shuoxing: “…”
System, you’re good.
He spent the money.
The crossed-out text in the notebook remained unchanged.
But above the notebook, lines of translucent text emerged.
“…The money in my hand is the salary that Ximu pays me every month. I’ve spent 1300 of this month’s salary to buy small clothes and furniture for Xingxing. Some of it is paid by Ximu. I can’t be a domineering boss.
“Ximu seems to have a lot of money. He probably can’t be one hundred million in debt. I can’t be a domineering boss in the future either.
“…At present, I still have a 2D chibi appearance. I can’t be a romantic.
“My original appearance also isn’t romantic. I can’t be a romantic in the future either.
“Money and appearance are completely inaccessible. That leaves only everyday conversation.
“Conversation is very important.
“While I’m not too skilled, I can start by making a cheat sheet of the sentences I need to use and keep it in my palm.
“I want to put out the perfect response to meet Ximu’s expectations.
“This is Ximu’s wish!”
In the last sentence, in addition to the heavy exclamation mark at the end, Su Mingqian circled heavily with a red pen and marked with an asterisk, showing its emphasis.
After reading all this, Li Shuoxing finally understood why Su Mingqian had repeatedly looked at his palm before.
He silently went offline, as he had done when he went online, and came to the app where Su Mingqian was to watch his little self diligently add to his diet list.
Li Shuoxing wiped his face.
Ximu.
You should behave yourself.
For your wish, the cub is working so hard.
You actually bought food from outside and put it on a plate to fool him.
Are you willing to fool him?!
…
But.
The core issue in this matter is…
Domineering Professor’s Crazy Love is really a little OOC <sup>1</sup> Out of Character . Soft Professor’s Crazy Love is clearly more exciting.
I have to find a time to clarify it to the cub so that he can just focus on being himself without becoming weird.
But how can I clarify it to the cub?
…How about this?
The cub always makes requests.
When I work hard to complete his next request, I’ll ask for a reward from the cub.
The reward is for the cub to roleplay as a pure/alluring/iceberg professor.
After playing a few times, not only can I wash away the cub’s misconception that I like domineering bosses, but I’ll also get to see more styles of the cub…
Killing two birds with one stone.
Perfect.
Li Shuoxing applauded himself for his intelligence and wit!
***
After the day ended, the Love Bar app launched its first update since version 2.0.
As usual, the update was scheduled for the next morning from 3am to 5am.
Li Shuoxing slept comfortably. When he woke up, the sky was bright and the game was updated.
He went on the game and saw the update email.
From: System
Topic: Love Bar v2.02 update
[New Content]
(1) Subway entrance pay gate passage officially opens
(2) Store has been updated with a variety of fashionable mobility items
[Update Explanation]
(1): The player can use subway cards to pass through the gate and access electronic devices other than the player’s mobile phone.
When using a subway card, please ensure the mobile phone is connected to another device.
Either: Connected to the same wifi, Bluetooth or data cable.
Subway cards are divided into single subway cards and monthly subway cards.
Single Subway Card: 3–15 contributions per trip
Monthly Subway Card: 100 contributions per month
(2): New mobility items have been added to the store. Please promptly check it. Your lover has not purchased equipment.
Thank you for your patience in waiting for the system to complete the update. The system has prepared a small gift for you. Please accept:
[Small Travel Backpack × 1]
The new email ended here.
Li Shuoxing read it line by line and was greatly heartened. Although he had a vague idea when he saw the pay gate passage, it felt very different when this speculation was actually realised.
This meant the cub could reach his computer from his phone.
Not just his computer.
The cub could also reach his tablet and his television, surrounding him from all angles.
Li Shuoxing couldn’t wait to try it out. He found the subway experience card the system had sent last time, took a look at it and noticed that the note had changed after this update.
[Name]: Subway Experience Card
[Note]: When the mobile phone is connected to another device, the lover can access the device through the subway gate entrance.
“Cub!” Li Shuoxing called out. He handed the subway card to the cub and briefly told him the situation. “That’s about it. Let’s try it out and see if you can get on my computer.”
Su Mingqian looked at the subway card in surprise and immediately agreed, “Okay.”
As Su Mingqian headed to the subway entrance, Li Shuoxing sat down at his computer, checking that his computer and phone were connected to the same wifi while turning on the camera, so that when the cub came to the computer, he could see him straight away—
With a “beep”, Su Mingqian swiped the card at the subway entrance and a message popped up on the gate.
[Destination search in progress. Please wait patiently and do not leave. Initial transmission countdown 05:00…]
There’s even a five-minute countdown?
Li Shuoxing thought about it. Instead of wasting the five minutes, he searched the game and tapped on the small backpack the system had just sent.
[Name]: Small Travel Backpack
[Note]: The backpack is small, but has a large capacity. Familiar items can enhance the quality of life and happiness of the lover. The lover will be able to bring some small things through the backpack when they go to other devices. For example, small snacks, small toys, a cold-resistant coat and a pair of adsorption gloves.
Li Shuoxing was a little shocked after seeing the item sent by this system.
“How come the items given after the recent update are getting more and more conscientious every time? System, are you really still the same Zhou Bapi <sup>2</sup> 周扒皮 [zhōu bā pí] is an evil landlord from the short story 半夜鸡叫. system from the past?”
The system was silent and indifferent, not making a sound, as always.
Li Shuoxing muttered. After reading the backpack note again, he suddenly remembered the second update mentioned in today’s update email.
Although the adsorption gloves allowed the cub to move freely on the screen, it was so hard for him to climb on the small screen of the phone. If he were to get to the big screen, wouldn’t the cub have to climb until the end of time?
That was no good.
He had to buy some new convenient mobility equipment to use.
Li Shuoxing opened the system store and found the store had indeed been updated with a new [Mobility] category.
He opened it and was dazzled.
Small brooms, small flying saucers, small wings, small cloaks, small magic shoes, all kinds of mobility equipment were lined up in the store, the style as beautiful as the price.
After a couple minutes of shock, Li Shuoxing lamented again, “Sure enough, I said so. How could the system change? It must still be the same old pay-to-win party.”
Then, he took a screenshot and sent these items to the cub.
Li Shuoxing: “Cub, it’s too tiring to climb with the adsorption gloves. See what you like and we’ll buy a new item.”
Su Mingqian was slightly stunned, then he picked up the picture and browsed attentively.
He wasn’t particularly interested in items like brooms and wings. He took a long time looking at the round little flying saucer and magic shoes, but he finally chose a brightly coloured blanket.
[Name]: Magic Flying Carpet
[Price]: 328 contribution points
[Note]: When riding it, the sky is your second home.
After buying the blanket, the five-minute countdown just finished.
The red light at the gate entrance turned green, changing from a closed state to a passable state.
Su Mingqian took a step forward and disappeared into the passage entrance.
Li Shuoxing quickly shifted his eyes from his phone to his computer.
He saw that within two seconds, the Love Bar app design appeared in the centre of his computer screen.
Then, the pink heart opened.
A corner of the coloured blanket poked out… then more and more, until it appeared in the middle of the screen with Su Mingqian on board.
Su Mingqian’s body had changed from the phone to the computer.
He was no longer the tiny fingernail body inside the phone, but had become a little thumb person, and many details of his figure were revealed.
He stared at Su Mingqian’s small flying carpet, small backpack and small face, and thought to himself.
Is the camera working? Can he see me?
Li Shuoxing tried poking. “Cub?”
The next second.
Su Mingqian raised his hands. He stroked the empty space, stroking a strand of hair sticking up on Li Shuoxing’s head.
Then he took back his hands and held Li Shuoxing’s fingertip poking up.
Su Mingqian: “Ximu~”
1
Out of Character 2
周扒皮 [zhōu bā pí] is an evil landlord from the short story 半夜鸡叫.