Butterflies Fly Over Winter Chapter 7
byChapter 7: Balanced Nutrition
Meng Yike fell silent for a moment. “The first one to laugh loses?”
“I have a question.” Yu Nianxi silently raised her hand. “Can Xi Ai not participate?”
Xi Ai: “…?”
Sensing the threat from the group’s alpha, Yu Nianxi lowered her voice. “She’s a Movie Queen. What if she insists on acting?”
Xi Ai finally understood what it meant to be so speechless that you actually started laughing. “So what you’re saying is, if I lose, it’s just because my acting is bad?”
[Hey, hey, hey, Xi Ai, stop bullying our Yu Nianxi.]
[Xixi: I didn’t! It wasn’t me!]
Meng Yike tried to mediate helplessly. “No, what does this have to do with acting? Alright, let’s draw lots for teams. I’ve finished writing them. One group goes first, while the other two groups write the punishments. Whoever loses has to draw one later.”
[Haha, Meng Yike really feels like she’s babysitting.]
[Cherish her, she’s the only normal person in the whole team.]
[When will I ever stop laughing at this ‘Immune Department’ joke? (Yes, it’s Xi Ai’s fault again.)]
[Can someone explain?]
[Did you hear that? Big sister is calling you, Ai Ai!]
Xi Ai glanced over and didn’t rush to answer. Instead, she said, “Wait, let me draw a ‘1’ first.”
“Give up on that thought. I’m the ‘1’.” Shi Yunshan stared at her calmly.
“No, you’re not.” Xi Ai coldly rejected the possibility.
But when Xi Ai picked up her slip of paper and looked at it, her expression instantly froze.
[Hahaha, Ai Ai didn’t get it, did she?]
Xi Ai curled her lip. “So I didn’t get it. Big deal.”
“Look at this. What’s this?” Shi Yunshan waved the slip with the number ‘1’ in front of Xi Ai’s face repeatedly.
Xi Ai: …
Nie Chuiying pursed her lips and whispered, “Maybe you just supplement whatever you’re lacking.”
Shi Yunshan: …
Turning to see that Chu Yiqi had also drawn a ‘2’, Xi Ai suddenly became happy again. She hummed and said quite cheerfully, “Who knows? Anyway, what does the number you draw have to do with who you are as a person?”
Xi Ai was happy, but Chu Yiqi stared at the number and dazed for a moment, her fingertips feeling slightly numb.
After the numbers were announced, the bullet comments moved as if they were on fast-forward. The six of them stared intently, only managing to distinguish a few lines.
[Little Chu… if Qiqi loses, she loses. It’s fine.]
[I think my CP must have been fated in a past life.]
[I’ll bet a red envelope that Qiqi wins.]
[I’ll follow that bet.]
[I can’t imagine how Meng Yike could lose.]
[Go Xixi!]
[To the sister above, Meng Yike losing would be like a vegetable garden not reading fanfiction.]
[Ugh… she reads things with names I’m too embarrassed to even mention.]
Xi Ai and Chu Yiqi inexplicably paused at the same time. They read that specific comment aloud and then looked at Nie Chuiying with complicated expressions.
Nie Chuiying felt a pang of guilt but stiffened her neck and said, “What are you looking at? If you keep looking, should I read some for you two?”
Chu Yiqi immediately looked away. She didn’t expose the CP in front of outsiders, only saying cryptically, “Reading everything will only harm you.”
“No, it’s called balanced nutrition!”
“We just ate breakfast, don’t just eat anything.” Xi Ai also turned back, suddenly remembering she hadn’t explained the ‘Immune Department’ joke. She pushed the segment along. “First group, get ready. I’m going to quietly explain ‘Immune Department’ to them.”
Shi Yunshan and Nie Chuiying silently stood up.
Xi Ai muttered on the side, her pen not slowing down at all. “In the early days, we were talking about fan names and playing with abbreviations. After picking for a long time, we thought ‘Immune Department’ (Mianyike) sounded like Meng Yike, so now we call her fans ‘White Blood Cells’.”
Yu Nianxi watched and commented, “I’m reporting her. Qiqi was the one who suggested ‘White Blood Cells’.”
In the position directly facing the camera, Nie Chuiying started first. With a serious face, they stared at each other, tried making funny faces, and did everything they could, but nothing worked.
When it was Shi Yunshan’s turn, she pulled out her phone without a word. Under Nie Chuiying’s confused gaze, she opened a side account that only she knew belonged to Nie Chuiying.
Shi Yunshan pursed her lips and began to read a passage with great solemnity and vividness: “Her eyes were filled with emotion as one hand lifted the beaded curtain slightly, slowly…”
Nie Chuiying’s mouth twitched. She held back her laughter, but only for a split second, because she suddenly remembered what came next.
The person behind the beaded curtain held a pipa. As for the person who entered, they had been staring at the person’s back from the start without moving, while the fan in their hand spun round and round until the song ended…
Of course, this time they were just listening to a song and flirting. Later on, after some back and forth, they would be deeply in love and inseparable.
Cough, that wasn’t the point. The point was that the protagonists of the story Shi Yunshan was reading were Xi Ai and Chu Yiqi!
Question: What does it feel like to read fanfiction about the actual people right in front of them after they’ve broken up?
Answer: I don’t know. It’s a bit awkward, but let me laugh first.
Chu Yiqi hadn’t heard Shi Yunshan read the names yet, so she didn’t know the story was about her, nor did she know she was portrayed as a seductive and alluring character…
Xi Ai, however, had clearly read the rest of it. She kept laughing on the side. As for what she was laughing at, she wouldn’t say even when Yu Nianxi asked. She just laughed while watching Chu Yiqi’s expression.
Nie Chuiying really couldn’t hold back her laughter after just a few sentences. Partly, she was afraid that if Shi Yunshan kept reading, what little was left of her image would be completely gone…
Nie Chuiying turned to look at Xi Ai and suddenly couldn’t laugh anymore. Wait? Why did she look like she had read it before? Does she know she’s on camera?
Chu Yiqi looked at Xi Ai, feeling a bit dazed. But Qiqi, who was determined to avoid suspicion, just sat leaning against the sofa, using her peripheral vision to look at Xi Ai’s profile.
Xi Ai’s gaze swept over, and she raised her hand to brush back her side bangs. As expected of the person who had spent the most time in front of a camera, she knew exactly which angle looked best for that movement.
Tsk, I really am a calculating woman.
Chu Yiqi blinked and silently criticized her own bad behavior of being distracted by beauty. She looked away to cue the process. “So now, let’s have our rapper draw a punishment.”
The group ignored the rapidly scrolling bullet comments and focused on Nie Chuiying, who was picking and choosing in the box for a long time, unable to make up her mind.
[No, I’ve actually read this fanfic. It’s a ‘Final Review’ one. The kind where there’s a beautiful, seductive bottom and a cross-dressing, cool but sickly and black-bellied top.]
[But I’ve always shipped Qiqi as the 1…]
[Plus one. Someone like Ai Ai should be the one pinned down.]
[Is this something we’re allowed to say? (Twiddles fingers) (Evil grin)]
Seeing this, Chu Yiqi seemed to realize why Xi Ai was laughing. She probably changed her expression out of sudden embarrassment. Xi Ai slowly lowered her head to bite her straw…
Seriously, you guys will say anything.
She was doing so well being a bit dazed and well-behaved.
[Wait? What is Xi Ai laughing about over there!!]
[Hahahahaha, let’s appreciate the moment the solo fans’ defenses break.]
[What a great way to read a fanfic about your CP in public. I’ll try it next time.]
[Cold knowledge: Your CP is too niche; there is no content.]
[…You’ve crossed the line. We’re just internet strangers.]
Xi Ai couldn’t take it anymore and whispered a threat, “If you don’t pick one, I’m going to expose your new side account.”
“How do you know about that?” Nie Chuiying suddenly understood a bit of what Xi Ai was laughing at. She squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth and took a slip of paper with aggrieved decisiveness.
But soon, Nie Chuiying felt that Xi Ai’s threat was nothing. After all, that was just talk, but this was truly wicked. “Excuse me, who wrote this? This is so mean!”
Xi Ai spread her hands innocently, but Nie Chuiying didn’t believe her.
Just as Nie Chuiying was about to go after Xi Ai, Chu Yiqi spoke up calmly, “I wrote that one.”
[I want to know what a sweet baby like Qiqi could write.]
[Qiqi is so well-behaved, what could she possibly… Wait, Qiqi, did you turn into a piranha after going abroad?]
“Naming ten types of red wine in thirty seconds—can you even do that yourself?”
Chu Yiqi bit the straw of her yogurt and blinked innocently, looking like she was saying ‘so what?’. “You can choose to send ten two-hundred-yuan red envelopes in the group chat instead.”
Xi Ai smiled, suddenly thinking that it was actually quite nice that Chu Yiqi had changed a bit.
How interesting.
Nie Chuiying was silent for a moment before saying, “Start the timer.”
“Go.” Meng Yike immediately pressed start.
“Uh, Chateau Lafite…”
[So sorry, so sorry, my head is just full of ’82 Lafite’.]
[You’re not the only one.]
Countless images flashed through Nie Chuiying’s mind—all pictures she had saved while writing other fanfics—but why were the names so hard to remember…
“Romanee-Conti.”
Xi Ai was enjoying the chaos and even tried to distract Nie Chuiying. “Oh, how extravagant of you to start with that one.”
[The Young Miss: Wow.]
[This punishment should really have gone to Xi Ai.]
[No, what’s the fun if she does it?]
“Chateau Cheval Blanc! Heidsieck! Sassicaia… caia, Petrus…”
Nie Chuiying actually managed to stumble through eight names. Seeing that things were going wrong, the others quickly started to interfere. “Five!”
Nie Chuiying was going crazy. “Don’t distract me!”
“Four—”
“Mouton, and then, and then…”
“Two.”
Right at the last second of the deadline, Nie Chuiying saved herself. “Screaming Eagle!”
Xi Ai nodded with some regret, sat down silently, and then looked at Chu Yiqi. “You first?”
“You go first.”
Having survived her own ordeal, Nie Chuiying wanted to drag Xi Ai down with her. “Qiqi goes first!”
Xi Ai raised her chin. “The voice of the people is loud and clear.”
“…Fine.”
Chu Yiqi looked at Xi Ai, thought for a moment, and said, “Ready?”
Xi Ai nodded. Chu Yiqi added, “It’s three words.”
“Are you sure?” Xi Ai looked at her, her eyebrows lifting slightly.
[No, that look from Xi Ai… I’m dying.]
[Qiqi, are those three words going to be ‘I love you’?]
[No joke, if she actually says it, Xi Ai will laugh for a whole day.]
Chu Yiqi leaned closer to Xi Ai, almost in an embracing posture. Xi Ai lifted her hand slightly but didn’t move, waiting quietly to hear what she would say.
Chu Yiqi’s hand also froze in mid-air before she slowly lowered it. After saying the three words, Chu Yiqi pulled back and stood properly, looking at Xi Ai without blinking.
It was hard to say if it was a bit of feigned expectation or just a habitual reaction.
But Chu Yiqi herself leaned toward the former. She told herself it was just a bit of expectation forced out by her competitive spirit.
It was determined by the contest and the wins and losses that had been part of their relationship since they first met.
So, this one sentence of truth was spoken in a game environment with a tone that was both provocative and joking.
That was all, she thought.
Xi Ai was initially a bit dazed, but the moment she saw Chu Yiqi, she suddenly felt like laughing.
It seemed like it didn’t matter if she lost.
In that moment, Xi Ai even felt that the little bit of charm she had deliberately projected was nothing; unconscious beauty was the best kind.
The two of them had different types of looks. Just like in Nie Chuiying’s fanfiction, Chu Yiqi was more like a young lady who had been well-protected in a manor; no matter how gorgeous her appearance, she remained gentle and elegant, yet she always exuded an alluring aura, whether intentionally or not.
Her temperament was cold, like a plum blossom covered in snow—vividly beautiful, yet naturally looking down on everything else.
It was a strange description, but Xi Ai had never been able to think of a more fitting one.
After a brief moment of eye contact, Xi Ai’s eyes crinkled. She took half a step back and said with a smile, “No need to cue me. I’ll draw a slip.”
[Ahhh, Qiqi’s mama wants to give her a rub. I’m absolutely obsessed with that look.]
[Qiqi: Not allowed. Don’t come near me.]
[What! Did! She! Actually! Say!!]
[I! Don’t! Know!!]
“Qiqi, what did you two say?”
Chu Yiqi sat down somewhat unnaturally, took a sip of water, and then said, “Guess.”
Yu Nianxi obviously wasn’t going to guess, because the next moment, everyone’s attention was on the slip of paper Xi Ai had pulled out.
The requirement was simple and clear: Mimic a scene focusing on eye acting. If the mimicry is too poor, do another one or give everyone a hundred-yuan red envelope.
Meng Yike smiled helplessly. “Why is everyone so obsessed with money?”
No one claimed responsibility for the prompt. Finally, Xi Ai held the slip with a look of disdain and said, “Me.”
[Hahahahahaha]
[Ai Ai: I don’t know? How did I end up doing my own task?]
[Vegetable Garden: I don’t know either. Is this ‘reaping what you sow’?]
Xi Ai thought about it. After all, this was her profession. It would be fine!
“Then let the bullet comments pick one. What should I act?”