Chapter 226
If I reveal the truth now, there's a chance the Dream Weaver Rabbit will discover it, thus exposing my identity.
As for fabricating some background and reasons? That would be easy, of course, but the official story about the [Witch] trainees will be revealed sooner or later. Why bother telling a lie that will be exposed eventually?
Therefore, the best option is to leave it at that and let everyone fill in the blanks themselves.
Chu Wangshu was slightly disappointed upon hearing this, but she obediently didn't ask any more questions. Her heart felt itchy, as if being scratched by a cat's claws, and she couldn't help but start brainstorming. She then asked softly:
"Will Xiao Qing still be an idol with us?"
There was a reason why this sentence came to the Little Cotton-padded Jacket's mind.
Magical Girl are so dazzling and cool, yet they seem to be bound by rules that force them to remain hidden from the public eye. My time with them is destined to be short-lived, and it would be perfectly normal for Qing Bao to choose not to participate in the competition one day in order to fight monsters.
Chu Yuanqing sensed a hint of loneliness in his voice; she knew the child had developed an attachment to her.
The Pure White Witch's expression softened as she gently stroked her daughter's head with her small hand. A bittersweet feeling welled up inside her. Her eyelashes drooped, and the emotions in her eyes were unspoken. She knew she would have left him long ago, whether as a father or a friend.
This was something I already knew. Staying by Xiao Shu's side in this capacity meant I would inevitably face this kind of problem sooner or later, but... I still couldn't help feeling sorry for her.
A smile forced a shape at the corners of the girl's lips, and she said, feigning nonchalance:
"Of course I will. I won't withdraw from the Withdraw from Competition voluntarily. As long as neither of us is eliminated in the later stages of the competition, we will definitely debut together."
Although the shame of competing with her daughter for a debut Debut Spot or debuting together still lingers, if it makes Xiao Shu happier, then she doesn't mind enduring it a little longer.
Moreover, ever since she learned that Flash Dance was involved in a world-saving plan pioneered by the New Era, she could not possibly give up and leave this quagmire on her own.
Chu Wangshu was unaware of all this. Upon hearing the other party's assurance, she immediately became happy, snuggled into the Pure White Witch's arms, and embraced her slender waist openly like a koala, enjoying the gentle comfort like a mother's without any impure thoughts.
"Yay! I'll work hard to debut with Xiao Qing!"
Chu Yuanqing indulged in this sudden hug. Unlike the Social Anxiety Cat full of mischief and the Golden Haired Doggy with its lewd thoughts, her own Little Cotton-padded Jacket was so pure and innocent, what was wrong with giving her a hug?
Rather, she really wanted to hug her daughter, but her mindset hadn't changed yet. Even though she was a beautiful girl who was pursued by many, she was still not good at having any intimate physical contact with her daughter, who was already a grown woman.
As for now...
Following her heart's tenderness, the Pure White Witch hugged the Little Cotton-padded Jacket that had snuggled up to her. She swallowed the bitterness and sorrow, deciding to savor this moment of warmth. For a moment, even the lantern that had been taken over behaved itself, obediently staying still and letting the other girl cling to it.
At this moment, the wind blowing in from outside the window swirled, and the sunlight it brought sprinkled on them, creating a hazy and beautiful golden veil, casting mottled silhouettes on the light-colored solid wood floor.
Time slows down in a healing emotional state.
Kiriwake Yayoi found it strange that, instead of feeling jealous or bitter, she felt a sense of relief and joy as she watched her beloved embrace other girls.
Little Sakura's heart was filled with complex emotions. After being washed away by memories several times, she had become increasingly confident in her intuition, learned to ignore external logic, and began to rely on her feelings to find the answer. At that moment, she murmured to herself:
"Xiao Qing's eyes are so gentle."
"Perhaps... just like Xiao Qing's Magical Girl identity, there's some strange causal relationship between her and Xiao Shu?"
Upon seeing this, Tang Liuli seemed to have seized an opportunity to defeat her rival. She struggled to break free from the twisted and dark cat-like insect state, blinking her eyes and looking left and right, secretly hoping for the best.
Hmph, those two idiots don't know that Qing Bao and Xiao Shu are related by blood. Seeing them hugging and cuddling in public, they'll definitely think it's ambiguous, then they'll get jealous, unhappy, and their defenses will crumble. In the end, they'll show their bad-woman side and lose a lot of points with Xiao Qing!
Green Eyed Cat was clearly not in a good mood. She was indulging in a false fantasy and had already enjoyed the thrill of victory. She gradually became arrogant with shouts of "win win win" until... Xie Qingxuan next to her dragged her to play rock-paper-scissors.
Seeing this, Tang Liuli began to doubt whether her inner thoughts had been seen through, and immediately felt guilty and wanted to pretend to be dead on the spot. She couldn't help but put on an embarrassing and cowardly appearance.
Although she called him a pervert in her heart, when Xie Qingxuan, who always had a strong aura and an indifferent expression, really got close, the first impression that occupied her mind was still that Great Demon King, super scary!
Xie Qingxuan tilted her head in confusion, blinked, and poked the Social Anxiety Cat's cheek with her fingertip. After being poked, the cat trembled as if its fur had stood on end, but refused to show any weakness, and turned its face away proudly, which was very cute.
The Golden Haired Doggy seemed to have found a fun switch, and poked Tang Liuli's soft cheeks a few more times. Watching her different reactions each time, it found it very amusing, and for a moment it forgot about its original goal of playing rock-paper-scissors.
Kiriwake Yayoi felt that someone was bullying the small animal, and immediately spoke up for justice:
"Qingxuan, bullying within the team is forbidden! You are not allowed to bully Liuli!"
Upon hearing this, the Green Eyed Cat, disregarding any sense of shame, immediately hid behind Little Sakura. Avoiding the Great Demon King's gaze, she began skillfully self-comforting, confidently hypnotizing herself.
Hmph, it's just a tactical retreat. Hiding behind the Sakura Girl is just a noble plan to use one enemy against another. It's not that they're really afraid of that wicked woman!
On the other side, after absorbing enough of Qing Bao's maternal energy, the Little Cotton-padded Jacket also belatedly began to feel ashamed. Her pretty face flushed red, and she no longer relied on that soft and elastic warm bed. She obediently sat back on the sofa and watched the farce between her teammates.
Chu Yuanqing took out her phone and, as usual, glanced at Charlotte to see if she had sent any messages. After finding more than a dozen unread messages, she quickly typed a reply, agonizing for a moment over which emoji to send.
Well, this old-fashioned guy who doesn't surf the internet much is clearly not used to this kind of online chatting.
After replying, the girl looked at the large Little Cotton-padded Jacket on the sofa and made a decision in her heart.
If...
If Charlotte still had any memories of the previous Worldline, she would risk everything, even her own life, to confront Xiao Shu and reveal some things to him.
That way, even after she passes away, her daughter will at least have relatives to help take care of her.
Although the idea of having a mother the same age as Charlotte is a bit ridiculous,... as long as Charlotte has memories, age isn't a big problem!
Chu Yuanqing understood that this decision also meant that she had to confess all the truth to Xiao Shu before she died, otherwise no normal person would believe that her biological mother was the same age as her.
Well, this even goes beyond what Magical Girl can explain.
As for whether the daughter can accept this shocking reality, whether she can still call Chu Yuanqing, who was originally a friend, "Dad," and whether she will obediently call Charlotte" Mom," thus completing the cross-time family reunion...
All these various matters concerning the overgrown vegetation should be put aside for now.
Chu Yuanqing felt that, in any case, Xiao Shu had the right to know the truth. She was about to die, and it was a better choice to tell her everything than to take Charlotte and the past of the previous era to her grave.
Even if the price is the complete loss of his dignity as a father, it is nothing compared to his daughter's happiness.
Of course, before that, I need to do some mental preparation.
Chu Yuanqing sighed inwardly. To confront her, she would at least need to use a clone to engage in several parent-child activities with her Little Cotton-padded Jacket in the guise of a father. Otherwise, what if she never heard her daughter call her "Dad" again? She would truly be heartbroken.
The retired Savior, preoccupied with these family matters, became somewhat anxious and uncertain, completely losing the calm demeanor he had displayed while fighting the Calamity Beasts. He was terrified that his daughter would dislike him.
And a short while later,
Chu Yuanqing decided to stop thinking about it. She glanced at the time on her phone; it was 11:30 a. m. Because of the suddenness of the incident, everyone hadn't had lunch on Carinth Avenue. They still had training in the afternoon, so they needed to solve this problem.
The Pure White Witch looked around and suggested:
"I guess nobody's in the mood to go out right now, so how about we just have lunch at the hotel?"
"Or, how about we negotiate with the hotel to borrow their kitchen and ingredients and cook a meal ourselves?"
Upon hearing this, everyone unanimously chose the latter.
Although the hotel restaurant's food was good, how could it compare to the meal Qing Bao cooked herself?
Kiriwake Yayoi said earnestly:
"How about everyone cooks a dish? This kind of segment is a bit like a variety show, it's great material for vlogs. I'll ask Sister Chen to discuss it, it should be included in the program budget."
Upon hearing this, Xie Qingxuan honestly replied:
"I can't cook."
Tang Liuli could cook, but her skills were quite average—enough to barely survive. She thought she couldn't give the Sakura Girl a chance to show off her femininity, but she also didn't want to embarrass herself like a clumsy golden Stupid Dog. After much hesitation, she stammered out a lame excuse:
"I... I'll cry from the fumes!"
No, isn't that even more embarrassing?
The Green Eyed Cat realized what it meant as soon as it finished speaking and wished it could suffocate on the sofa.
Chu Wangshu thought for a moment. She was a good cook and knew how to make some common dishes, but if she cooked a dish herself, wouldn't that mean she would miss out on eating one of Xiao Qing's dishes?
The Little Cotton-padded Jacket isn't very good at lying, so she simply acted as a repeating machine:
"Me... me too!"
Chu Yuanqing didn't seem to care much; she smiled and said:
"Then let Yayoi and I cook together."
Kiriwake Yayoi felt a little excited after hearing this. Cooking with someone she liked... it felt a little ambiguous, didn't it? Could it be considered another kind of romantic time together?
The Social Anxiety Cat was deeply shocked upon hearing this.
Wait, wouldn't my withdrawal mean I'd be handing over the opportunity to have them cooking together all the time?
Waaaaah, why did it have to turn out like this? This part was still supposed to be included in the vlog! Just thinking about the comments those "Wu Zhong Jian Qing" CP fans made after seeing the two of them cooking together made her grit her teeth in hatred!
Tang Liuli was extremely sad. At this moment, she suddenly recalled the emoticons those mean things sent when she was playing against them on her smurf account.
--???
The Green Eyed Cat was immediately overwhelmed with emotion, its eyes welling up with tears, and it wanted to wail and roll around on the ground in tears.
Well, this sadness only subsided after I ate the salmon grilled by the Pure White Witch, the herb-baked lobster, the Rosemary potatoes, and the roast lamb.
As for the dishes that Little Sakura made, one was pasta topped with Japanese octopus sausage, another was baked baguette slices with shredded cheese, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, and other seasonings, and the last was a classic Vienna beef soup that she learned on the spot from a tutorial.
Although the food tasted pretty good, Liuli decided to leave all the room in her stomach for the Pure White Witch.
The reason is simple: only Qing Bao can fill her belly!
In contrast, the golden Stupid Dog is very disloyal. She's a bad woman who eats whatever anyone cooks, so she should give me today's Magic Replenishment day!
Well, she didn't know that Xie Qingxuan actually owed her a day to Magic Replenishment days when she was thinking those words to herself.
From this perspective, she is indeed confirmed to be a bad woman.
Kiriwake Yayoi, on the other hand, was somewhat melancholy. She felt that she was completely outmatched in terms of feminine strength by Qing Bao's wifely charm.
Although... although Qing Bao looks very attractive in an apron and with braided pigtails, and her delicious cooking is a huge plus, it does make Little Sakura feel a sense of defeat, as she feels she can't even cook something presentable for him.
Xie Qingxuan didn't think too much about it. She learned from the choreographer in this regard: just eat and eat without thinking about anything else.
As for Ji Shuzhu and Chen Yining, photos of them on In East Flow Island have already spread to Great Xia. Currently, due to the explosive nature of the photos, they're trending in the top 10 of search results, with the hashtag "What are Ri Yi Yue Shu doing every day?"
Once you click in, all you see are fantasies of infatuated women, strange fanfiction, and even shocked comments from casual observers.
As for the reason, the place where the two of them appeared is called - Your Majesty's のデパートエムズ.
Hmm, the adult department store, O Enmus, is the largest adult products store on East Flow Island. It's seven stories high and looks quite green and environmentally friendly. I wonder what those two childhood friends are doing inside.
However, judging from the photos, their teammates Liang Xiaoxiao, Ruan Wutong, and Lin Bao'er were not with them. Coupled with their childhood friendship and some ambiguous past, CP fans exclaimed that they had actually shipped them, almost to the point of being overwhelmed by the sweetness, which led to a rapid increase in fan-made videos featuring the two.
The most ridiculous thing is that, since East Flow Island is very close to Great Xia, many proactive fans have already boarded planes there, trying to capture the character cards of this pair of childhood sweethearts with <Shine Front>, and are lingering in this adult store, which can be described as chasing the traces of Pokémon from afar.
Incidentally, this phenomenon also occurred in "Qing Cheng Qing Guo". Xie Qingxuan's comment from that day has not been deleted, or rather, she has no intention of deleting it, which has led to this more popular Stage Tyrant being almost confirmed as a female prostitute, and the number of video clips of her and Chu Yuanqing has increased dramatically.
Meanwhile, because their team has four A-Class contestants, their total number of fans, excluding overlap, has easily exceeded 100 million—half of which is thanks to a certain child prodigy.
Furthermore, with the exposure of the Green Eyed Cat rollerblading video, their team's activities in Vienna were no longer a secret online. As a result, they attracted many fans, or even die-hard players of <Shine Front>, who traveled from afar to catch "Pokémon".
Because of this, Tang Liuli was very vigilant when shopping during the day, afraid of being caught by fans.
If we disregard the girls' ulterior motives, the meal was very enjoyable.
Although limited by the availability of ingredients, Chu Yuanqing's dishes tend to be based on local Vienna cuisine, but her seasoning habits and techniques are more in line with the tastes of the Little Idol.
As for Chen Xiaoxiao, who was invited to dinner, she would probably be happy even if Chu Yuanqing cooked her a bowl of instant noodles, let alone such delicious and visually appealing dishes. She felt a sense of fulfillment, and took dozens of photos before eating, posting them on her WeChat Moments.
Finally, the assistant asked the Pure White Witch for a few photos and autographs for the first time, revealing her true fangirl nature. When she received them, she was so excited that her hands trembled, and she couldn't help but silently pray for her Qingmen and let out a sigh of bliss.
Chu Yuanqing also signed autographs for the other staff members who accompanied her. She looked serious and tried hard to use a different font.
This wasn't to prevent the Little Cotton-padded Jacket from noticing anything amiss.
After all, my daughter is only in elementary school, and she only saw her own handwriting when her homework and test papers needed her signature. She has most likely forgotten everything.
Chu Yuanqing was wary of the official handwriting experts.
Although her identity was exposed by her phone, the authorities will most likely come up with other reasons for such an absurd situation, such as that she has a relationship with Chu Yuanqing, that she is his illegitimate daughter, and so on.
Therefore, we still need to be careful about other details.
The Pure White Witch finished signing the last name with her pen, capped it, and wondered to herself, "The <FlashDance> team hasn't contacted me after an hour. Are they just going to pretend they didn't see it?"
Just then, the phone vibrated, and an icon of a red-eyed rabbit appeared on the screen.
It is indeed -- the Dream Weaver Rabbit.
Volume 1: Chapter 217. Silver-haired, red-eyed beauty— Dream Weaver Rabbit, I am [Lighthouse]. (5K2)
Chu Yuanqing thought for a moment and then turned off her phone screen.
Subsequently, the surreal Dream Weaver Rabbit icon did not weld itself to the screen like a virus, but rather seemed to be obediently sealed away, remaining silent.
Chu Yuanqing understood that with Dream Weaver's permissions and capabilities, it could completely control such electronic devices at will, and there was no possibility of eliminating them simply by turning off the screen or shutting down the device.
So...
Is FlashDance's decision to provide communication channels and then relinquish control over them?