Yours Still Looks Better / Tonight, We Hunt Tigers~ ...

As she spoke, Qin An even sent a blushing emoji.

This was also the first time Qin Xiangyi had felt how wonderful power and status could be. Even if she didn't want them, she had to want to hold on to them if she hoped to survive in such a chaotic world.

Chapter 73: Yours Still Looks Better

WeChat — Qin An: What, are you scared?

As if worried Qin Xiangyi might think they were some kind of monsters, Qin An sent a pitiful-looking emoji.

Qin Xiangyi naturally wasn't scared. Even if she really was, she couldn't possibly say so.

WeChat — Qin Xiangyi: I'm just really surprised. After all, we didn't know each other at all before, and now you've helped me so much.

WeChat — Qin An: I did have a bit of a selfish motive. Helping you doesn't do us any harm.

Qin An sent another mysterious message, further confirming Qin Xiangyi's suspicions. The twin siblings had indeed seen her future, but judging by their attitude, they didn't seem to consider her and Hua Linglong, whom she had created, to be the same person. They treated them as two separate people.

Though she had no idea what this future would be like, Qin Xiangyi stayed alert and tried to fish for information. Unfortunately, Qin An wasn't a fool, and Qin Xiangyi couldn't get anything out of her. After chatting for a while and deciding there was no chance of learning anything, Qin Xiangyi told Qin An she was going to sleep and ended the call.

Shuxuan was already asleep beside her, looking as if even her dreams were painful. Qin Xiangyi gently tugged at her clothes and caught the smell of smoke and alcohol clinging to them. After a moment's thought, she decided to take a shower first.

She got up and left the bedroom, where she found Hua Nu and Shaoyao sitting nearby watching television. They both seemed to be constantly learning about the modern world. When Qin Xiangyi came out, they didn't seem to think she needed them, so they continued watching the screen.

Qin Xiangyi went into the bathroom, glad to have a little freedom for the moment.

Wait, she was still wearing the Flower God Ring. That meant Huangquan, the Flower God inside it, could still see everything if she wanted to. It felt as though someone were watching her. Qin Xiangyi couldn't see a thing, yet she was being seen all too clearly.

Qin Xiangyi: Huangquan, are you there?

Huangquan: Speak.

Qin Xiangyi: Could you not watch me while I'm showering?

Huangquan: Why would I watch?

With that one sentence, Huangquan choked off the lecture Qin Xiangyi had prepared. That was true—Huangquan was a stunning beauty, the kind whose beauty could topple kingdoms. Her body must be perfect. If she wanted to look, she'd probably rather look at herself.

Qin Xiangyi: Fair enough. You do look better.

Huangquan: ...

Huangquan said no more. Qin Xiangyi felt her flattery hadn't quite worked, but couldn't think of anything else to say to keep the conversation going, so she started undressing and showering.

But it had to be said: after coming to this world, not only had her looks improved dramatically, her figure had also continued to develop. Her skin was smooth and delicate, and her figure was graceful and perfectly proportioned. She was only five foot three, but her proportions were already close to perfect.

"I wonder if I can change my height in the future. At this height, people will spot right away that I'm the same person as Hua Linglong." To distinguish herself with glasses from herself without them, Qin Xiangyi, who couldn't be bothered to come up with names, decided to differentiate between the two by name.

She looked at herself in the mirror, enjoying a moment of leisure.

Huangquan: I have a secret technique here.

Suddenly, Huangquan's voice rang out again.

Qin Xiangyi jumped and instinctively covered herself. Then, realizing the gesture was pointless, she awkwardly replied in her mind.

Qin Xiangyi: My dear Huangquan, couldn't you make a sound first? You nearly scared me to death.

Huangquan: Oh. I thought about it, and your aptitude is too poor. I'll teach you in a few years.

As if her mood had shifted, Huangquan suddenly changed her mind. Qin Xiangyi hurriedly apologized, but the Flower God stopped responding to her.

Qin Xiangyi gritted her teeth in frustration. Huangquan was really asking for it, treating her, her own author-mother, like this.

But there was nothing she could do. In this world, every character was equal, and she couldn't change anything that already existed on the computer with a few strokes of her pen.

But...

Qin Xiangyi quickly thought of the Flower God Ring in her hand. Mischievously, she filled her toothbrush cup with water, took off the ring, and dropped it into the cup.

"I'll give you a nice little bath," Qin Xiangyi said with a bright smile. It was a way to get back at Huangquan.

Even so, Huangquan made no sound. Instead, the ring glowed faintly, and the water in the cup vanished before Qin Xiangyi's eyes.

Unconvinced, Qin Xiangyi kept pouring water into the cup, and the Flower God Ring absorbed it without complaint. Rather than a ring someone lived in, it was more like a magical ring that could store anything.

After a little while, Qin Xiangyi got bored and put the ring back on before continuing with the rest of her shower. She could have taken it off to bathe, but she realized she'd grown attached to it. Without the ring, she worried she might not make it to chapter one hundred.

After showering, Qin Xiangyi waited for her hair to dry before going to bed. When she woke up the next day, Shuxuan had already left. She had left a cooled breakfast on the table, along with a note that said "Thank you."

Qin Xiangyi had expected to face a storm, but Shuxuan's hangover had helped her escape it. The corners of Qin Xiangyi's mouth curled up slightly. She opened her phone and started thinking about her plans for her last few days in Ocean City.

Xia Shang and Shuxuan were both such high-level targets that she had no hope of getting a kiss from either of them. Even if she did, getting a second kiss would take far too long, so Qin Xiangyi decided to stop pursuing them.

She had already gotten one kiss from Muning, and with all the recent changes, now was a good time to pursue her. Qin Xiangyi decided to focus on Muning.

As for Zhang Mou, the unexpected person who had become a flower fairy, Qin Xiangyi planned to get a second kiss from her as well. She didn't have the nerve to go any further, though. Besides, Zhang Mou was her adoptive mother. If the truth came out, it would be unbelievably awkward.

Once she had her plan, Qin Xiangyi messaged Muning first and asked what she'd been up to lately.

After waiting about ten minutes without a reply from Muning, Qin Xiangyi went out to a shop to buy a new phone.

To keep anyone from seeing her face, she bundled herself up completely. She even sent Little Grass to possess the shopkeeper and register a phone number under the shopkeeper's identity.

If the number ever got traced, Little Grass, still inside the shopkeeper, could tell Qin Xiangyi what was happening right away and help her pass it off without trouble.

Most importantly, Qin Xiangyi didn't have much spending money at the moment. The shopkeeper, with Little Grass possessing them, paid for the phone out of pocket and gave it to Qin Xiangyi.

Chapter 74: Tonight, We're Hunting Tigers~

It was much more advanced than the phone Qin Xiangyi was using now, and better suited to Hua Linglong's identity.

After inserting the SIM card, Qin Xiangyi began setting things up. She entered Zhang Mou's phone number and the twin siblings' WeChat account.

Thinking the phone number would be more convenient, Qin Xiangyi tried entering Zhang Mou's number too. To her surprise, she found an identical WeChat account and added it as a friend.

While Qin Xiangyi was sorting all this out, neither Zhang Mou nor the twin siblings replied. Muning, however, did.

WeChat — Muning: You haven't contacted me lately. I'm almost done with my homework.

Muning still didn't seem ready to tell Qin Xiangyi that she was leaving. Instead, she casually brought up the summer homework she'd mentioned last time.

WeChat — Qin Xiangyi: I've been a little busy lately. I forgot.

WeChat — Muning: Mm-hmm. Busy with what? Building a relationship with your Sister Shuxuan?

Muning's tone was tinged with resentment. It seemed that Muning and Shuxuan both felt a bit hostile toward each other.

WeChat — Qin Xiangyi: I've been working hard to catch up on my homework these past few days. Didn't you say last time that you'd come stay at my place for one night? If you came over, it's not like we'd spend the whole time doing homework.

Qin Xiangyi patiently explained why she'd been out of touch. The real reason was that the past few days had been so eventful that she'd had no time to think about Muning.

WeChat — Muning: Hmph. At least you have some conscience. But summer vacation is almost over, so you'd better focus on your homework.

Muning sounded helpless, as if she were deliberately ignoring the promise she and Qin Xiangyi had made.

Qin Xiangyi began to feel uneasy, but she couldn't make Shuxuan suddenly leave on a business trip. That meant she had to find another place where she and Muning could be alone together.

The word "hotel" popped into Qin Xiangyi's mind, making her feel a little wicked.

After thinking it over, Qin Xiangyi tried asking Muning anyway, just in case the fear of hotels from last time still lingered.

WeChat — Qin Xiangyi: She isn't going on a business trip now. How about I get a hotel room, and we study there?

WeChat — Muning: No! I'm never going to a hotel again!

Muning sent an emoji shaking her head vigorously. She'd had a traumatic reaction last time, so it seemed there was no way that would work.

But Qin Xiangyi was currently without a stable place to live and didn't plan to waste her energy in Ocean City. If she wanted to keep things going with Muning, she needed a decent place for them to spend time together.

Qin Xiangyi was at a loss. For the moment, she didn't reply and started wondering if she could rent a place for a day, like a bed-and-breakfast, somewhere Muning might feel more comfortable.

Just then, Qin Xiangyi suddenly heard her phone ring. She jumped, startled by the unfamiliar ringtone, and saw that Zhang Mou was calling her on video.

Qin Xiangyi took a look at herself, then hurried into a nearby alley to take off her glasses and let her tied-up hair fall over her shoulders. Hua Nu quickly fixed her hair a little, and then Qin Xiangyi answered the call as Hua Linglong.

A moment later, Zhang Mou appeared on screen. She seemed to have just woken up and was sitting on her bed in her pajamas, gazing at Qin Xiangyi's flawless face with interest.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

They greeted each other. Zhang Mou seemed happy, but once they'd finished saying hello, she didn't know what to say.

"I'm on my way to work," Qin Xiangyi said when Zhang Mou fell silent. She took a few steps outside as she spoke.

"I see. You must have a lot of work. I was thinking that if you didn't add me today, I'd go back to Ocean Hotel to find you." Zhang Mou covered her mouth as she smiled. It was hard to believe she was already forty.

She looked thirty at most, and her appearance was impeccably maintained. With every movement, she showed off all the charms of a woman. Since they were both women, and Zhang Mou's intentions were far from pure, she didn't hold back.

It was just that there was no love involved. Zhang Mou had simply realized she had needs. A woman suited her current situation better than a man.

Qin Xiangyi could more or less guess what Zhang Mou was thinking, but she hadn't expected Zhang Mou to have those thoughts about her. It was a strange feeling.

"Sorry, I lost the writing on my hand yesterday, and it took me a while to remember." Qin Xiangyi apologized. Zhang Mou didn't seem to mind. She got out of bed, apparently looking for somewhere to sit while she chatted with Qin Xiangyi.

But Qin Xiangyi had only intended to make brief contact, and Zhang Mou's enthusiasm was more than she could handle. She was about to hang up and get back to thinking about Muning, when a different idea suddenly occurred to her.

Shuxuan only needed to be away from home for one night. Even if she wasn't going on a business trip, she could go anywhere. Zhang Mou and Shuxuan were so close that if Zhang Mou asked her to stay overnight, Shuxuan definitely wouldn't refuse.

But what could Zhang Mou do to get Shuxuan to stay the night?

A few key words immediately came to Qin Xiangyi's mind. It was as if her reasoning skills had improved along with her strengthened body and Eidetic Memory.

The keywords she thought of were: Prince Qin, a dark room, and fear.

If Zhang Mou was afraid of dark, enclosed spaces, then why not...

A sly smile crept onto Qin Xiangyi's lips, but then she remembered the video call was still connected. Fortunately, Zhang Mou didn't seem to have noticed her wicked intentions. Thinking she'd already kept Qin Xiangyi busy for quite a while, she was about to end the call herself.

"But remember to decide what you want to eat in the next few days."

"Why in the next few days?" Qin Xiangyi asked, confused. Zhang Mou twirled a lock of hair around her finger and replied helplessly, "I'm going away in a few days. If I wait until I come back, I feel like you'll have forgotten what it felt like."

Qin Xiangyi let out an "oh" and calculated the date. Zhang Mou must have meant when Qin Xiangyi went to Heaven City. Even if Zhang Mou didn't want to go, she seemed to have no choice but to accompany Qin Xiangyi as her guardian.

That was also why Zhang Mou was so eager to see Qin Xiangyi for a second time before then.

Qin Xiangyi didn't clear up the misunderstanding. Instead, she said, "I'll check my schedule and get back to you in the next few days."

Zhang Mou smiled, suddenly leaned close to the screen, and said, "Okay, I'll wait for you." She gave the screen a light kiss and quickly ended the call.

Qin Xiangyi stared at that gesture, bewildered. She worried Hua Nu and Shaoyao might misunderstand, but when she looked around, she saw that they were both watching her phone. They looked as if they'd been listening for a while.

It was hard to tell whether they were curious about how video calls worked, or about how easily Zhang Mou seemed willing to flirt with Qin Xiangyi.

Chapter 75: Sister, You Look Just Like My Grandma~

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Qin Xiangyi asked awkwardly after ending the call. She didn't know how to explain to the two flower people why she was in contact with Zhang Mou.

"Flower Master, are you really going to do that thing?" Shaoyao asked suddenly. Even though her heart was still a blank slate, Shaoyao had grown quite a bit from watching all those TV dramas over the past few days.

"No way. My goal is just to get a second kiss. Once I get a flower person, I'll cut off contact. Besides, as you saw, I need to deal with Zhang Mou before I have a chance to spend a night alone with Muning." Qin Xiangyi analyzed the situation rationally. She didn't think she would cross that line.

Shaoyao seemed relieved, then smiled. Her smile made Qin Xiangyi's heart skip a beat, though she didn't know why.

No matter what, she wouldn't have those kinds of feelings for anyone. Staying alive was all that mattered. Qin Xiangyi quickly pulled herself together, leaned against the wall, and thought about how to persuade Zhang Mou to have Shuxuan stay over at her place for one night.

After all, Zhang Mou and Shuxuan were both locals in Ocean City. Shuxuan was a homebody, and Qin Xiangyi, her deadweight of a dependent, was still at home. The chances of Shuxuan staying overnight at Zhang Mou's place were practically zero.

"Hua Nu, can Little Grass possess a flower fairy?" Qin Xiangyi thought of using Little Grass as a convenient means to an end. A flower fairy of Zhang Mou's level should have weak willpower and be easy for Little Grass to possess.

"No, Flower Master. Although Zhang Mou's flower fairy has only just come into being, judging by her behavior, she definitely isn't weak-willed. It would be difficult for Little Grass to possess her and make her do your bidding. Even if it worked, she would lose the ability to become a flower fairy and wouldn't be able to create flower people." Hua Nu explained the relationship between Little Grass and flower fairies in detail, leaving Qin Xiangyi with no choice but to give up on her first idea.

Soon enough, Qin Xiangyi came up with a second plan. Zhang Mou was afraid of the dark, so if Hua Nu and Shaoyao used their ability to turn invisible, they could scare Zhang Mou into asking for help. As her future daughter-in-law, Shuxuan was obviously the best person Zhang Mou could turn to.