Steam rose in the bathroom, where a curvaceous figure moved about within it, cheerful singing occasionally drifting out.
More than ten minutes later, Xue Xi slowly emerged while rubbing her wet hair. The bathrobe wrapped around her body revealed faint, indistinct curves, while Ai Chen peeked at her from behind the pages of her book with a furtive gaze.
Xue Xi ignored that slightly heated stare and, with practiced familiarity, took incense and other prayer implements from the bedside drawer. She sincerely lit the incense and prayed, "Jade Emperor, Great Sage Equal to Heaven, Jehovah, whichever great deity can bless me with a golden page, I would be endlessly grateful, endlessly grateful. Consider this stick of incense my offering to you. Bless me, bless me, please, please~"
She pressed her hands together. She normally neither worshipped Buddha nor paid respects to Daoist deities, so her movements were somewhat clumsy, but surely the great deities would forgive such a tiny flaw.
Once the ritual was complete, Xue Xi excitedly rubbed her little hands together. Then, under Ai Chen's astonished gaze, she slipped beneath the covers, closed her eyes expectantly, and went still.
Curiously, Ai Chen reached out and poked Xue Xi's cheek. Her freshly washed skin was like mutton-fat jade beneath the evening glow, soft and tender against Ai Chen's fingertip.
As though she had found an amusing new toy, she started poking and prodding Xue Xi. "Hehe, little Xue Xi looks way too adorable like this. Flick, pinch, poke!"
Immersed in her mindscape, Xue Xi could still feel those mischievous fingers on her face. She rolled her eyes. Once she finished the draw, she would slowly teach that ignorant birdwoman a lesson! Oh, no, angel. After all, she herself was technically a bird too—cough, cough. Not civilized.
Casting aside those