Bubble Maker

On the third day after Gu Yue recovered from her illness, Shrek City was blessed with a rare stretch of good weather.

For most people, it was a perfect day to go out, enjoy the spring scenery, or undergo high-intensity training. But for Gu Yue, it was practically a cruel joke played by fate.

Recovering meant her confinement had been lifted.

More precisely, Ye Xinglan's "confinement" had been lifted. After confirming that Gu Yue could eat normally and no longer staggered when she walked, the blonde "taskmaster" immediately resumed her decisive ways. Without mercy, she kicked Gu Yue out of her warm bed and threw her into the morning training lineup.

"Move. Stop playing dead. You think skipping a few days of training means you can fly now with that pathetic foundation of yours?" Ye Xinglan sat astride a sleekly designed soul-powered bicycle, one foot on the ground. Her golden ponytail drew a sharp arc behind her head as she pointed at Gu Yue with the precision of a conductor's baton.

Gu Yue wore a miserable expression as she wrapped her coat tighter and trudged along behind her. She now had a deep psychological trauma associated with the word "move."

"Xinglan, I request reduced training." Gu Yue made one final attempt at resistance, her voice carrying a hint of weak, coquettish pleading.

"Denied. Didn't someone solemnly swear yesterday that she would 'make up for her mistakes' and catch up on all the training she missed?" Ye Xinglan pushed her bike forward and replied expressionlessly, "Don't think I don't know."

Gu Yue was left speechless and could only resign herself to quickening her pace.

Up ahead along their morning training route, a tall figure was warming up, drenched in sweat.

Tang Wulin wore a blue tracksuit and was wrestling with a roadside pull-up bar. He had clearly heard their conversation. When he looked up and saw Gu Yue's expression of grim determination, he immediately gave her a knowing, slightly ingratiating goofy grin.

Gu Yue responded weakly, but her gaze drifted uncontrollably toward the sports bag Tang Wulin had placed nearby.

The bag was open, revealing a corner of colorful packaging. Those were the spoils Tang Wulin had brought back after "happening to pass by" the shopping district this morning—no, last night.

Ever since Gu Yue's "ice cream disaster," Tang Wulin had carried a heavy burden of guilt.

He always felt that if he had kept a closer eye on her at the time, or called Ye Xinglan over, Gu Yue would not have suffered so badly.

Under Ye Xinglan's death glare as she said, "If you don't work harder, Gu Yue might not just get diarrhea next time. She might end up in the ICU," that guilt had been magnified infinitely.

Thus, a terrifying thought took root in Tang Wulin's heart and rapidly grew into a towering tree—Gu Yue had gotten sick because she "hadn't eaten well," so from now on, he had to make sure she "ate well" and thoroughly build up her constitution so she could withstand every risk.

The logic was simple, crude, and full of the concern typical of a straight man.

From that day onward, Tang Wulin's "feeding plan" officially began.

Gu Yue had merely complained in passing that her sickbed meals were bland and that she missed the kick of carbonated drinks. The very next day, Tang Wulin hauled home an entire case of imported sparkling water: white peach, lime, grape, cola flavor—everything. It filled half the storage cabinet at home.

When Gu Yue said she wanted something sweet, Tang Wulin ran through three streets and returned with a pile of low-sugar mousse cakes and handmade cookies, thoughtfully including stomach-soothing tea.

Gu Yue had not even gotten around to saying she wanted to try that newly opened viral hotpot restaurant before Tang Wulin had already booked a table on his phone and prepared digestive tablets and room-temperature bottled water.

His principle was this: as long as Gu Yue spoke up, or her eyes lingered on something for more than two seconds, it was a "necessity."

This all-encompassing pampering suddenly turned Gu Yue into a fully cared-for "person with impaired life skills," and the contrast was huge. But... she had to admit, it felt kind of good.

Especially after her body had fully recovered, the happiness of being filled with delicious food was simply the best compensation for the hellish suffering of the past few days.

So, when their morning training was halfway through, with Ye Xinglan urging them to accelerate their physical training up ahead while Tang Wulin served as a "mobile supply station" in the rear, the scales in Gu Yue's heart finally tipped completely.

Taking advantage of the moment when Ye Xinglan turned to check the afternoon training schedule with Tang Wulin, Gu Yue moved with lightning speed. From the shadows of the roadside bushes—where she had hidden half a case of sparkling water yesterday—she pulled out a bottle and expertly twisted off the cap.

"Hiss—"

The faint sound of escaping gas was nearly inaudible in the morning park. Countless tiny bubbles rushed out of the liquid, making a pleasant fizzing sound.

Gu Yue tilted back her head. The cold liquid, carrying an aggressively sweet aroma, poured down her throat. In that instant, carbon dioxide burst across her tongue, and the faint numb, prickling sensation shot straight to her brain, instantly awakening every dormant taste bud.

"Ha..." She exhaled contentedly, feeling as if even her soul had become a little lighter.

That single mouthful of sparkling water became the beginning of sin.

One bottle went down, but she still wanted more. Then came the second bottle, the third...

Tang Wulin was still shouting loudly up ahead, "Gu Yue, keep it up! Only two laps left! Hang in there! Once we finish, I'll treat you to those new soup dumplings!"

Gu Yue answered him aloud, but her feet seemed rooted in place. Hiding behind a thick tree trunk, she quickly finished off the "stock" in her hands under its cover.

She told herself there were only a few bottles left. Once they were gone, they were gone. Morning training was almost over anyway. When she saw Ye Xinglan later, as long as she did not confess on her own, who would know?

Thus, when Ye Xinglan and Tang Wulin finished their morning training and prepared to stretch and relax, they saw a sight they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

Gu Yue emerged from behind the tree. Her complexion was rosy—one could even say radiant—and every trace of her previous sickly appearance had vanished.

Her steps were light, and a faint, satisfied smile hung at the corners of her lips. She looked full of energy, as though she had just enjoyed a top-tier spa treatment rather than endured an extreme workout.

"Finished running?" Ye Xinglan wiped away sweat, her sharp gaze immediately catching the unusual flush on Gu Yue's face. It was not the red of exertion, but an odd glow that seemed to come from within, nourished by sugar and gas.

"Mm, I'm done." Gu Yue nodded, her voice crisp and even slightly excited.

"How do you feel?" Ye Xinglan asked casually as she rolled her ankles.

"Fantastic! Clear-headed and refreshed! I feel like I could run another ten laps!" Gu Yue patted her chest with utter sincerity.

Ye Xinglan's brow lifted almost imperceptibly. She knew Gu Yue too well.

This woman had extremely strong emotional control. She usually thought carefully before speaking and rarely used such "overly excited" language. Unless...

"Is that so? Looks like you've recovered well." Ye Xinglan calmly withdrew her gaze and said to Tang Wulin, "Tang Wulin, accompany her for another two slow laps. Help her digest. I have something to do, so I'm heading back first."

After saying that, she did not give Tang Wulin or Gu Yue time to react. She mounted her soul-powered bicycle, her golden hair cutting a decisive arc through the air as she sped away without looking back.

"Huh? What's wrong with Xinglan?" Tang Wulin asked blankly.

Gu Yue's heart skipped a beat, but her face remained composed. "Maybe... she has other arrangements. Come on, let's go for a walk."

However, fate's judgment was never delayed just because someone tried to avoid it.

The two slowly walked along the park path. Gu Yue was in a good mood. Looking at the blooming roses by the roadside, she could not help humming an off-key tune. Tang Wulin, meanwhile, enthusiastically planned their upcoming soup dumpling trip, practically drooling already.

Then, something suddenly went wrong.

Perhaps she had breathed in too much cold air while running, or perhaps the half-case of sparkling water had undergone some chemical reaction in her stomach after all that vigorous exercise. Gu Yue suddenly felt a strange squirming in her lower abdomen. Then came a short, loud—"Burp!"

The sound was not loud, but it was especially abrupt on the quiet wooded path.

Tang Wulin froze and stopped walking, looking at her with concern. "Gu Yue, are you okay? Did you get a cramp?"

Gu Yue's face reddened. She waved a hand. "I'm fine. It was just a burp."

Just as she tried to take another step forward, her body convulsed again beyond her control. This time, it was no longer merely a sound. Along with that "Burp—," a large mass of crystal-clear white foam with a faint sweetness erupted from her mouth without warning, like an evil flower briefly blooming and exploding in the air.

"Pfft—"

The popping bubbles sounded crisp and pleasant, but to Tang Wulin, they were no less shocking than a bomb.

Gu Yue's face instantly turned from rosy to deathly pale. Her mind went blank as she watched more bubbles scramble out of her throat, gathering and floating up around her lips beyond her control. She wanted to hold them back. She wanted to endure it. But the force was so powerful that it felt as though her stomach had become an out-of-control soda factory.

"Urgh... urgh..." With her mouth open, she looked like a child learning to blow bubbles, except all she could produce were strings of uncontrollable bubbles carrying the smell of food residue. Some were large, some small. Mixed with saliva, they dribbled down the corners of her mouth. The scene was both embarrassing and bizarre.

Tang Wulin's jaw nearly hit the ground. Stunned, he stared at his girlfriend—the calm, wise Gu Yue who could always turn the tide at critical moments—who now looked like a leaking inflatable doll, burping and spitting bubbles at the same time.

"Gu... Gu Yue... you..." He stammered helplessly. He wanted to pat her back, but was afraid of touching those bubbles.

"Don't come over!" Gu Yue was so humiliated she wanted to die. She wiped the foam from her face wildly, tears nearly spilling from her eyes. "Shut up! Don't look!"

But this was merely the beginning of the nightmare.

Perhaps her psychological collapse worsened her physical loss of control. Over the next full minute, Gu Yue transformed into a walking "bubble maker."

Every three steps, she burped.

Every burp came with a string of bubbles.

At first, she could barely keep it contained within her mouth. Later, the bubbles became more numerous and larger, even producing a chain of crackling pops amid her hurried breaths. The air filled with the cloying smell of carbonated drinks, mixed with a faint trace of stomach acid.

Worse still, as the bubbles continued to form, her stomach began cramping and churning violently. That familiar downward, sinking pain began to surface again.

"I can't... I can't..." Gu Yue felt as if all her internal organs were protesting. The world before her began to spin. Those floating bubbles split and reformed in her vision, turning into faces that mocked her.

"Gu Yue!"

A furious shout exploded beside her ears like thunder, instantly drowning out every burp and popping bubble.

Gu Yue jolted, and the terrible urge to burp was forcibly interrupted. She raised her head dazedly and saw that Ye Xinglan had somehow returned. She stood before her, her usually icy pretty face flushed a deep liver-red from extreme fury.

Ye Xinglan's eyes were fixed on Gu Yue's mouth, still stained with a few stubborn bubbles, before moving to her slightly hunched body as she struggled to suppress the urge to vomit.

"What... are... you... doing?" She squeezed out the words through clenched teeth. Every word was like a chunk of ice that would shatter into fragments upon hitting the ground.

"I... I..." Gu Yue wanted to explain, but the moment she opened her mouth, another loud burp escaped. Then an even larger string of bubbles flew out with a "pfft," straight onto the tip of Ye Xinglan's nose, where it burst with a pop.

Time seemed to freeze at that moment.

Ye Xinglan's pupils suddenly constricted. In those golden eyes, fury, disbelief, and a profound despair of why do I even know you people intertwined into an energy storm powerful enough to burn someone to ashes.

She could practically hear the sound of her reason snapping.

"Gu! Yue!" Ye Xinglan finally exploded. She slammed a fist into the nearby tree trunk, sending leaves rustling down. "Are you fucking a pig?! Huh?! I fucking told you to do morning training, not open a soda factory!!"

"I... I couldn't hold back..." Gu Yue shrank her neck and defended herself quietly.

"Couldn't hold back?!" Ye Xinglan trembled with rage. She pointed at Gu Yue, her finger shaking. "Look at the state you're in! Do you know how stupid you look?! Huh?! You're not a three-year-old playing house! You... you..."

She failed to catch her breath. Her vision suddenly went dark as a powerful wave of dizziness hit her. Her body swayed uncontrollably, and she nearly toppled headfirst onto the ground.

"Ye Xinglan!" Tang Wulin was terrified out of his mind. He lunged forward and firmly caught the swaying Ye Xinglan.

"I... I'm fine..." Ye Xinglan closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before barely suppressing the urge to vomit. When she opened them, she glared viciously at Tang Wulin, as if she wanted to skin him alive and swallow him whole.

"Tang! Wu! Lin!"

Those three words were an accusation soaked in blood and tears.

"What! Are! You! Still! Doing! Here!" Ye Xinglan nearly roared. Using all her strength, she forced out each word through her teeth as though she wanted to cut Tang Wulin into a thousand pieces. "I told you to help her digest! I told you to keep an eye on her! I told you not to let her eat random things! How the fuck did you do your job?! Huh?! Are those eyes of yours just decorations?! Are you fucking dead?! Look at her! Look at the state she's in!!"

Tang Wulin was scolded bloody, shrinking his neck and not daring to breathe too loudly.

He looked at Ye Xinglan's beautiful yet terrifying face, twisted by rage, then at Gu Yue in the distance, desperately trying to swallow the bubbles back down and failing, leaving her face covered in foam. His head felt twice its usual size, and he had no way to defend himself.

"I... I was wrong... I really was wrong..." He admitted it with a stammer, feeling more wronged than Dou E. He had wanted to be good to her, but he truly had no idea how to judge the proper limits of that "goodness." Who could have imagined that a living person could burp up so many different tricks just from drinking soda?

"Wrong? What exactly were you wrong about?!" Ye Xinglan refused to let it go. She pointed at Gu Yue, then at Tang Wulin, speaking as rapidly as a machine gun. "You were wrong for not watching her! You were wrong for indulging her! You were wrong for treating her like an ancestor to be worshipped!

Do you know what she'll become because of your completely unprincipled spoiling? She'll become a useless person who only knows how to eat, drink, and have fun, with no self-control at all! A... a joke who can't even walk steadily and only knows how to burp and spit bubbles!"

"I'm not... not useless. I just... just like to eat a little too much."

"You still dare talk back?!" Ye Xinglan's gaze instantly shifted to Gu Yue. Her eyes were sharp as blades, as though she wanted to dissect her. "Gu Yue, let me make this clear today! If you keep indulging yourself like this, I won't take care of you next time! I'll throw you into the gravity room and let you spit bubbles until you're dehydrated! Let's see if you dare do it again!"

After delivering that harsh threat, Ye Xinglan was probably truly furious. Or perhaps the combination of physical exhaustion, emotional agitation, and low blood sugar had gotten to her. Clutching her chest, she turned and left. This time, her back was no longer decisive. It was filled with panic and exhaustion.

"Xinglan! Wait!" Tang Wulin still wanted to chase after her and explain.

"Don't chase her!" Gu Yue grabbed him. Exhausted herself, she dropped onto a roadside bench. Looking in the direction Ye Xinglan had vanished, then down at her foam-covered hands, she suddenly burst into tears with a loud wail.

It was not because she hurt, nor because she was afraid, but because of a deep grievance with nowhere to hide.

Tang Wulin stood beside her helplessly, wanting to comfort her but not knowing what to say.

He could only awkwardly pull out a handkerchief, crouch down, and gently wipe the tears and remaining bubbles from Gu Yue's face.

"There, there... don't cry... Look at you, you even blew bubbles out of your nose..." He held back a laugh and spoke quietly.

Those words were like a needle, precisely popping Gu Yue's balloon of sorrow.

She raised her head, her face streaked with tears, and glared at Tang Wulin. But seeing his cautious, utterly sincere, foolish expression, the grievance and anger in her heart miraculously faded by more than half.

"You're still laughing..." she said in a thick nasal voice, then burped again. This time, she did not spit out bubbles, only a faint puff of moisture.

Tang Wulin hurriedly covered his mouth and pretended to be serious. "I wasn't laughing! I absolutely wasn't laughing!"

The two sat on the park bench for a long time. The sunlight remained bright, and the birdsong remained clear, but the mood had fallen to rock bottom.

Until Gu Yue's stomach protested again with a thunderous growl.

This time, it was neither diarrhea nor bloating. She was simply—hungry.

All that crying and exercise had consumed a huge amount of energy. Her stomach was empty, burning with pain.

Tang Wulin asked tentatively, "Um... Gu Yue, how about... we get something to eat first? Didn't you say you wanted soup dumplings?"

Gu Yue's eyes were red and swollen as she rejected him without thinking. "No! Just looking at buns makes me want to throw up!"

"Then... soy milk and fried dough sticks?"

"Too greasy!"

"Then... noodles?"

"No appetite!"

Cold sweat appeared on Tang Wulin's forehead. She would not eat this or that. Was he supposed to perform an "instant petrification" act for her?

Gu Yue was silent for a while. Then she suddenly lifted her head and looked pitifully at Tang Wulin with eyes still shimmering with moisture. Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz. "I want... I want the mango crepe from that dessert shop you mentioned last time."

Tang Wulin froze for a moment, then nodded in wild delight. "Okay, okay, okay! No problem! Mango crepe! I'll go buy it right now! Double cream! No, triple cream!"

He got up to run, only for Gu Yue to call after him.

"Wait!"

Tang Wulin stopped, turning back with eager anticipation.

Gu Yue looked at him seriously and said, word by word, "Next time... if there's another 'limited-edition happiness' like this, can you... discuss it with me beforehand?"

Tang Wulin scratched his head and revealed an honest, dazzlingly bright smile. "No problem! Definitely next time! I'll absolutely make sure you eat happily and without worries!"

He turned and ran off, his back full of energy.

Gu Yue watched him leave and laughed through her tears. She took out her phone and sent Ye Xinglan a message: [Xinglan, I won't drink it again next time.]

After a while, her phone vibrated.

Only two words appeared on the screen, carrying Ye Xinglan's usual brevity and awkwardness: [Just wait.]

Looking at those words, Gu Yue could practically see the blonde woman gritting her teeth in fury while being completely helpless.

She sighed, slipped her phone back into her pocket, and looked up at the sky.