Actually, in front of this little girl Qiao Shu, mentioning his injury made Feng Xiao feel somewhat embarrassed and hard to bring up.
He had originally told this lie just so his family would know, just to dispel the absurd marriage they had arranged for him.
But who could have imagined that Qiao Shu would find out about it…
And this little girl actually believed it to be true, and with particular kindness, insisted on marrying him…
“Qiao Shu, sorry, I deceived you. I was injured, but it wasn’t serious, and it didn’t affect there.”
Feng Xiao clenched his fists tightly and explained the somewhat embarrassing matter in one go.
Before he could even catch his breath, he heard the little girl excitedly say.
“Regiment Leader Feng, this date paste yam cake I made is so delicious! Quick, try some.”
He saw the little girl hand him another small, dainty white pastry. It looked cute and compact, and carried a faint, fresh sweet aroma of red dates and yam.
“I never imagined the pastries described in Dream of the Red Chamber would be this tasty! Next time, I can try tofu skin buns, sugar steamed crispy cheese…”
Listening to the little girl rattle off dish names like she was reciting a menu, Feng Xiao was momentarily at a loss for words.
He glanced hesitantly at the little girl sitting right beside him and asked in a deep voice.
“Did you hear what I just said…?”
Qiao Shu saw that Feng Xiao hadn’t eaten the food she made, so she blinked her eyes in confusion, unable to understand how he could resist such delicious food right in front of him!
However, she also understood that a tall, mighty, handsome, and wealthy guy like Feng Xiao must feel terrible inside about his injury there, so he had no appetite.
With that in mind, Qiao Shu slightly restrained her foodie nature and said softly and considerately.
“I heard you, Regiment Leader Feng. Actually, I really don’t mind. You don’t need to emphasize those things to me.”
“…”
Feng Xiao instantly understood Qiao Shu’s train of thought. He had confessed the truth to her, but this little girl didn’t believe him and thought he was just lying to save face???
Looking at Qiao Shu blinking her clear, bright watery eyes, staring at him unblinkingly with eyes full of sympathy, Feng Xiao fell silent.
Now, all he could think about was how to explain clearly to this innocent little girl that he really wasn’t injured and didn’t need her to “take responsibility.”
“Qiao Shu, I really wasn’t injured. My body is fine. So you don’t need to feel any psychological burden about marrying me. I hope you can find your own…” happiness.
Feng Xiao’s calm explanation hadn’t even finished when he saw a small hand shove a piece of milky-white pastry into his mouth.
“Don’t talk, eat.”
Qiao Shu’s clear, beautiful watery eyes glared roundly at Feng Xiao, like an angry little cat, full of endearing vitality.
“I said, liking you is my business. I want to marry you, and it’s not because you’re injured. Whether you’re injured or not, I will marry you. It’s my own will, with no reluctance or burden.
So… don’t say these things to me again next time. It’s so annoying. Is liking you some huge crime? I don’t mind, and I don’t despise you. Why are you reacting so strongly?”
Hearing Qiao Shu’s words, Feng Xiao only felt his heart start racing abnormally again.
Subconsciously, he bit into the pastry in his mouth. He had always hated soft, overly sweet desserts.
But now, he found this date paste yam cake in his mouth refreshingly sweet and delicious, as if the sweetness seeped into his heart, making him want to taste it again.
“…”
When Feng Xiao came back to his senses, he realized he had already eaten the two sweet pastries the little girl had fed him.
Instantly, his whole body stiffened, and his lips pressed into a straight line.
“How is it? Isn’t it delicious? If you like it, I’ll make more for you next time.”
Seeing Feng Xiao finish two pieces of date paste yam cake, Qiao Shu happily curved her lips upward.
She had originally thought a tall, mighty, ultra-masculine man like Feng Xiao wouldn’t like sticky, sweet pastries.
But unexpectedly, he had such great contrast cuteness. A man exuding a tough, cold, powerful aura actually loved sweets just like her.
Instantly, Qiao Shu’s favorable impression of Feng Xiao rose even more, and she sighed inwardly, No wonder they’re sisters!
Yes, after learning that Feng Xiao was impotent, Qiao Shu instantly felt he posed no threat. She dropped all her guard against him and treated this future husband like a “good sister.”
So her attitude toward Feng Xiao became even more natural, treating him truly like a friend.
After all, this was the roommate she’d be “living with” for decades~!
“…Thank you.”
Facing Qiao Shu’s sincere eyes brimming with smiles, Feng Xiao didn’t know what to say for a moment.
He realized he seemed to be on a completely different wavelength from this little girl…?
This stunningly beautiful little girl in front of him—maybe it was his imagination—but he always felt she was very relaxed around him, a bit unrestrained???
Unable to figure it out, Feng Xiao simply stopped thinking about it. After all, he was a full eleven years older than her.
He was almost a whole generation older, so there was bound to be a generational gap in thinking.
Thus, from then on, Feng Xiao said nothing more.
Anyway, whatever he said wouldn’t get through to the little girl.
So he simply started eating the table full of dishes the little girl had personally cooked for him.
Once he started, he was once again stunned by this petite, delicate little girl Qiao Shu.
Her hands were fair and tender without a single callus, like a pampered young lady who never touched spring water, yet she had such excellent culinary skills…
Though Feng Xiao had no high demands for food, after tasting such delicious fare, he couldn’t help eating a bit too much.
Watching Feng Xiao eat quietly, with manners even more pleasing to the eye than most, Qiao Shu felt even more satisfied with her future “husband.”
“Is it tasty? I’ll make it for you every day from now on. By the way, do you have any foods you avoid, or anything you don’t like? And what do you love eating…”
After the meal, Qiao Shu earnestly asked about Feng Xiao’s eating habits.
Seeing Qiao Shu so seriously inquiring about his likes and dislikes, Feng Xiao’s heart raced uncontrollably again.
As for this habit of his heart speeding up at every turn in front of Qiao Shu, the highly adaptable Feng Xiao had already grown used to it.
“Alright, now that you’re done eating, rest well and recuperate. From now on, your future wife will take care of your three meals a day and help regulate your body. So if there’s anything you want to eat, just tell me.”
To get the marriage certificate with Feng Xiao as soon as possible and completely thwart the Feng Family Members’ plans to marry her off and set her up with blind dates with strangers, Qiao Shu put all her effort into “strategizing” Feng Xiao, frantically boosting “good impression” points in front of him.
After flashing another sweet smile at Feng Xiao, she picked up the tray and turned to leave. But Qiao Shu didn’t know that every smile she gave him, every earnest gaze she fixed on him, made that man’s muscles tense and heart race.
“Phew…”
Seeing Qiao Shu finally leave, the extremely self-disciplined Feng Xiao, who had been suppressing his emotions, let out a soft breath.
He truly hadn’t expected that he, who was always so self-controlled and good at managing his emotions, would nearly lose control in front of a nineteen-year-old girl and be swayed by her.
Fortunately, the enemy wasn’t a foe.
The big straight guy Feng Xiao sighed inwardly.
But then, thinking of how the little girl kept saying she liked him and wanted to marry him.
Now she even called herself his wife and offered to make his three meals…
As he thought about it, images of little Qiao Shus popped into Feng Xiao’s mind one after another.
His emotions spiraled out of control again, and this time, he couldn’t even control his expression.
Unbeknownst to him, Regiment Leader Feng, who rarely smiled, had his mouth nearly splitting to his ears.
“…”
When Feng Xiao snapped back to reality, the smile still lingering on his face froze instantly.
This couldn’t go on.
Feng Xiao took a deep breath. Thinking of how he lost control whenever he encountered Qiao Shu, and how this young, beautiful girl “liked” him so much…
He should stay away from her in the future. It would be best for both him and her.
Such a young and wonderful little girl shouldn’t marry someone who couldn’t properly care for a family, and even make her a stepmother to two children…
But for some reason, just imagining that girl who liked him so much marrying someone else made his heart feel heavy and stuffy.
…
Qiao Shu was completely oblivious to Feng Xiao’s inner turmoil.
At that moment, feeling she had maxed out Feng Xiao’s favorable impression, she thought she should get to her own tasks!
She put the dishes in the kitchen for Aunt Sun to wash, then returned to her study.
Recently, a sample issue from Happy Children Magazine had arrived, and along with it, her editor Weng Kanya had formally invited her to submit.
This time, they hoped she would write a long serialized fairy tale story for their magazine.
They even analyzed for her how publishing a long fairy tale would better increase reader stickiness and build her fame faster.
Lately, since she wanted to transition to writing fairy tales, she had written many short fairy tale stories for practice.
She had never written a long fairy tale before.
However, regarding Weng Kanya’s cautious mention in the letter that writing long-form might feel a bit unadapted, Qiao Shu felt nothing of the sort.
After all, in her previous life, she had written plenty of long custom novels, so she was actually better at long-form than short.
“Write a long fairy tale novel, huh…”
Qiao Shu propped her chin on one hand and leisurely flipped through the sample issue of Joyful Children Fairy Tales, reading the fairy tales inside.
After flipping through the entire sample, Qiao Shu suddenly felt the fairy tales in this children’s magazine were of somewhat worrying quality.
Not that the stories were poorly written, but… some fairy tales were low quality, and worse, the content was terribly homogenized.
After one read-through, she didn’t want to flip a second time. And many stories, she had skimmed through hastily.
Looking around, she realized her own story was indeed the standout in this fairy tale magazine.
“With a magazine like this… it really won’t go bankrupt???”
Since Qiao Shu had dealt with magazines in her previous life, she had some understanding of how they operated, so she couldn’t help worrying about the magazine she had submitted to.
Because of this, Qiao Shu began reconsidering whether to serialize a long fairy tale here.
What if the magazine went bankrupt halfway through writing!
Maybe… write a mid-length fairy tale first? Put off the long one for now…
Just as Qiao Shu wavered on whether to write a long fairy tale and finally chose to write a mid-length one first.
In fact, just as she thought, this magazine was indeed at great risk of bankruptcy…
As for the reason, it was naturally as Qiao Shu had analyzed as a reader: the fairy tales in this magazine were just too poor.
And if even a reader like Qiao Shu could see it, how could the magazine staff not?
Even if they truly could not tell, the sales figures of each issue clearly made them realize that Fairy Tale Princess Magazine’s fairy tale magazine was getting harder and harder to sell.
“I heard that our Fairy Tale Princess Magazine is going to lay off people.”
“I heard that too. It seems our Fairy Tale Princess Magazine’s sales are getting worse year by year.”
“With Teacher Illusion Butterfly from our Fairy Tale Princess Magazine gone, do you think our magazine can keep going?”
“It can definitely keep going. I heard that Editor Zhu is recently poaching some big-name teachers to boost our sales and fame. I heard Teacher Tiger King has already signed with our Fairy Tale Princess Magazine…”
“What?! Editor Zhu even poached Teacher Tiger King? Our Editor Zhu is really quite capable. Who would have thought that someone who got the editor position through connections actually had some ability…”
…
Weng Kanya, who was reviewing manuscripts, listened to her colleagues’ whispered gossip. She gently curved her lips.
She was not afraid of layoffs, even though she was just a newly tenured editor.
But! She had Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao on her side!
She dared to guarantee that as long as Fairy Tale Princess Magazine had Teacher Qiao Xiaoqiao, their sales would be assured!
After all, the fairy tales written by her Teacher Little Qiao were simply too captivating! Even she, an adult, read them with utter fascination!
So she was certain that once Fairy Tale Princess Magazine published the issue, her Teacher Little Qiao would stun the entire fairy tale world!
And reality indeed turned out just as Weng Kanya had thought…