Translated by Novice Translations 

Messed around by Snacks 

Arc 4: Fireproof, Burglarproof, Friendzone Proof – 18 

“I Can See With My Fingers.” 

　　Ji Linxi was nervous during the entire journey home. She didn’t calm down until the door opened.  

　　 

　　Ke Li was also a little nervous. She didn’t see anyone in the living room. She thought Mother Ke and Father Ke hasn’t gotten off work yet. She stood up straight and crept upstairs with Ji Linxi. But before she could take a few steps, she saw Father Ke wearing festive underwear. It seemed that he was going to take a bath. When he saw them, he froze and said, “I almost forgot you’d come home now.”  

　　 

　　”…” Ke Li and Ji Linxi looked at each other silently and didn’t speak. Father Ke later realized his current appearance in front of his daughter and future daughter-in-law. He was embarrassed and said, “Go back to your room and have fun.”  

　　 

　　Then he hurriedly turned around and walked away. Ke Li heard his voice talking to Mother Ke the next moment before slipping into her room. She seriously suspect that Father Ke was ready to do something or just finished it and actually didn’t expect them to come home.  

　　 

　　Ke Li pulled Ji Linxi back on the bed: “Let’s stay in the room a little longer before going out.”  

　　 

　　”…” Ji Linxi said silently: “Do you think everyone is like you? Only remember that matter all day long?”   

　　 

　　“By nature, we desire food and sex, what’s wrong with that?” Ke Li said bluntly, “And they are not outsiders, I don’t understand? Let’s put that aside and avoid embarrassment.”  

　　 

　　”…” Ji Linxi suddenly had nothing to say. She didn’t want to go out either right now so she stayed in Ke Li’s room.  

　　 

　　She doesn’t come over very often, but she was very familiar with it. It’s amazing to think about it. The more she saw Ke Li, the more beautiful she looks. She really wanted to bully her again.  

　　 

　　Ke Li was embarrassed. Fortunately, her room wasn’t used often, and she cleans it often. So, the room was neat and tidy.  

　　 

　　Ke Li: “Why don’t we cook?” 

　　 

　　”Can you cook?” 

　　 

　　”I’ll learn from you.” Ke Li didn’t know how to cook. Even though she has experienced several worlds and have lived normal lives for so many years. The food she could make wasn’t very tasty and could only fill the stomach. It simply wasn’t delicious at all.  

　　 

　　On the other hand, Ji Linxi has been with Mother Ji since she was a child. She was able to make good dishes but because of Mother Ji’s virtues, she seldom has the opportunity to personally cook.  

　　 

　　Ke Li supported her on the side. She found that almost every female lead in the world can cook to make up for her own shortcomings. Sometimes she even thinks that they are the same person but have different personalities. Reminiscing about the sporadic memories that she’ll occasionally remember, it’s not difficult to guess what the real memories she has originally forgotten were about. For now, she could only wait to go back and talk about it.  

　　 

　　The two were cooking in the kitchen. They talked from time to time, the scene had a sense of intimacy and harmony. The anxiety in Ji Linxi’s heart also disappeared when she just focused on cooking.  

　　 

　　Once the meal was prepared, Father Ke and Mother Ke came over. Father Ke was very pleased with Ke Li who was willing to cook. The more he looked at Ji Linxi, the more pleasing she was to the eye and even entertained the fleeting thought that someone had come to take over his duties.  

　　 

　　After eating, Father Ke said to Ji Linxi: “Girl, I’ll try to find time to pass on my kitchen’s 18 skills to you.”  

　　 

　　”…” Ji Linxi always knew that Father Ke would be the main cook in the house but didn’t expect he would admit it so frankly in front of an outsider. He also said he would teach her. She couldn’t formulate a proper response to that, instead she nodded and said yes.  

　　 

　　Ke Li leaned over to Ji Linxi’s ear and whispered: “My dad always said these skills were passed over to men and not women. I heard that he only intended to pass this on to his future son-in-law.”  

　　 

　　”…” Ji Linxi silently thanked Father Ke for giving his approval and felt her ears were itchy. She had Ke Li pay attention to herself, so she doesn’t say something unnecessary at this time.  

　　 

　　“Linxi, visit us more often and treat this like your own home.” Father Ke didn’t say anything about them being together but he finished the words he wanted to say. Then he glanced at Mother Ke with a proud expression, indicating that he was very satisfied with Ji Linxi.  

　　 

　　Mother Ke didn’t like playing these bad tricks. She has always liked Ji Linxi. She used to like her as if she was half her daughter, but now she likes her a little more. Compared to Father Ke, who was quicker to accept the fact that they were together. She preferred to have a face-to-face conversation with Ji Linxi and learn more about her.  

　　 

　　After eating, Mother Ke took the initiative to invite Ji Linxi to the study for a chat. The topic was probably about how they weren’t suitable to date now, but since they decided to be together, they must take it seriously no matter what happens in the future. If they were playing around or just being curious, they shouldn’t start a relationship.  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi was so nervous that she listened to her lecture like a good student. Fortunately, although Mother Ke was a teacher, she was a good university teacher. Unlike some high school teachers, she wasn’t rigid or had a strong desire to control, she was rather open-minded.  

　　 

　　Mother Ke saw Ji Linxi’s serious expression and said in a relaxed tone: “Yu Yu usually likes to play around. You help me keep her in line. If I try to control her too much, she will be upset. Now it’s the critical time for you to supervise each other and have a better future.”  

　　 

　　”I will.” Ji Linxi felt that she won’t get lectured anymore as long as she agreed.  

　　 

　　“By the way, are you getting bullied at school?” Mother Ke showed Ji Linxi her cellphone. The general content was a text message that Ke Li was gay. There was also a picture of Ji Linxi and Ke Li holding hands.  

　　 

　　As for the tone, it was similar to a high school student who was complaining to her parents. From a glance it was obviously from the previous second-year student, she didn’t expect her to be so malicious.  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi: “Maybe it’s a misunderstanding. We will take care of it later.”  

　　 

　　Mother Ke said jokingly: “You take care of it. I have to thank this text message, otherwise I don’t know how long I would have been kept in the dark.”  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi: “…”  

　　 

　　After talking with Mother Ke, Ji Linxi saw Ke Li’s head bowed, doing something with great concentration. She walked quietly over to her and found Ke Li was busy practicing physics problems.  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi couldn’t help but really look at Ke Li, she was unexpectedly conscientious. She picked up the scratch paper[mfn]scrap paper used to scribble random notes on, like math equations[/mfn], looked at it casually and said, “Almost all the questions require calculus-based knowledge.”  

　　 

　　She was interested in this before so knew the concept.  

　　 

　　Ke Li hurriedly snatched back the scratch paper and seemed a little embarrassed. She said with a smile, “Just do whatever you want.”  

　　 

　　She found that many questions could be easily solved as long as she applied the knowledge she learned in university. For example, math problems could be solved with a few lines of formula while high school math requires at least one page of scratch paper.  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi sat down, took out her book and said: “Have you been secretly reading university textbooks?”  

　　 

　　If it was normal for others to read university textbooks in advance, then it was amazing for Ke Li to actually be reading them too. After all, she usually copies other people’s homework. Although she was smart, she was never willing to invest her time into studying.   

　　 

　　“I read when I got bored.” Ke Li nearly forgotten most of the advanced mathematics knowledge she learned in University. What she knows is far less than a mathematics major student. She only knows the formula theorem and its proof. Therefore, she tried the formula on Baidu and didn’t expect to solve the problem.[mfn]Baidu is a website like Wikipedia and also a forum to get you questions asked or just have a bunch of random knowledge on the web. I use it to translate, look up slang and to find historical information[/mfn] 

　　 

　　“I really can’t believe it.” Ji Linxi didn’t believe that she read up because she was bored. Obviously, she deliberately spent time into it. She was happy and said: “The answer is almost the same if you want to be lazy. Too bad our scoring guidelines is different. The correct answer you got that way won’t be scored.”  

　　 

　　”I know.” Ke Li thought about this before. The current scoring guidelines stresses standardize answers and step-by-step work to the solution. If you use university knowledge, some questions can be solved in one line, but in the teacher’s eyes you will be deemed brainless.  

　　 

　　Since she was in high school, she had to adapt to the same line of critical thinking as high school students. For her now, her university knowledge only enables her to develop her critical thinking and have more considerations on the topic.  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi: “Just so you know, this question can also be written like this…”  

　　 

　　The two chatted a lot regarding this subject and went to solve the question together. Mother Ke came to remind them it was 11 o’clock and it was time to sleep.  

　　 

　　After washing up and lying in bed, Ke Li felt that such a life was really fulfilling. Every moment wasn’t wasted, and she was extremely happy being with the person she loves. Ji Linxi also felt that love can really change a person and kissed Ke Li’s lips in a rewarding way.   

　　 

　　Ke Li held Ji Linxi and said, “Don’t you think we look like an old married couple now?”  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi narrowed her eyes, pinched her face and said, “Are you trying to say that I’m no longer fresh?”  

　　 

　　Ke Li: “…” 

　　 

　　“How could that be? I just think we’re completely familiar with each other this entire time. We can easily fall in love without having to adapt to each other, it’s as if we were made for each other.” Ke Li casually farts a rainbow.[mfn]spouting nonsense or sweet nothings[/mfn] 

　　 

　　Ji Linxi just released Ke Li and said, “In your dreams. In the future, you’ll find out that we’re actually different and there are many unexpected things in our life.”    

　　 

　　Ke Li smiled mysteriously: “Then I will… …wait.” 

　　 

　　Ji Linxi: “…” 

　　 

　　The two intimately kissed each other again then finally hugged each other to sleep. The next day, Father Ke drove them to school which further strengthened their relationship in front of everyone.  

　　 

　　”Are you really together?” 

　　 

　　“Did you come out to your family?” 

　　 

　　…… 

　　 

　　As soon as Ke Li and Ji Linxi entered the classroom, they encountered many questions like this. They can only choose to answer the ones with no malice. As for those who have nothing to do but pick fights, they ignored them, then sat in their respective seats. They looked at each other like the Cowherd and Weaving maid separated by the Milky Way.[mfn]It’s characters of a folklore store or can be stars in the sky that are separated by the Milky Way. Anyways, basically two lovers that are separated.[/mfn] 

　　 

　　After class, Ji Linxi went to appease Ke Li’s restless heart, then secretly held hands under a thick padded jacket. Fortunately, it was the end of the semester and winter vacation was coming. Next year, they can discuss their seats with the teacher for the next semester.  

　　 

　　The problems at school were basically solved. These days, Ji Linxi goes home but her dad still ignores her and gives her the silent treatment. Ji Linxi didn’t even dare to bring Ke Li home and could only put it off for a later discussion.   

　　 

　　Because whenever she wanted to go to Ke Li’s house, Father Ji would coldly say with a straight face: “Don’t you have a home? Do you need to run somewhere else for a day?”  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi: “……” 

　　 

　　Let alone bring Ke Li back. 

　　 

　　Ji Linxi can only stay at school during the day and stay at home honestly at night. When she and Ke Li were best friends before, her father didn’t say anything. He often said that this social interpersonal relationship was the most important. One more friend, one more road, one more best friend, one more helper.  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi didn’t think about that slap from before. She just thought her father’s tone was somewhat funny and inexplicably sour. 

　　 

　　She and Ke Li still continue to supervise each other’s review in the evening. So, after final exams, Ke Li was exhausted from three days of consecutive testing. She felt that she would suddenly die if it persists for several more days. But she can only study hard for the sake of her grades.   

　　 

　　It wasn’t until the day the results were released that it was discovered that Ji Linxi unexpectedly rank first in the entire school while Ke Li was ranked 11^th, not in her grade but for her class.   

　　 

　　Ke Li: “…”  

　　 

　　She realized while assigning winter break homework, the class teacher had specially looked at her a few times, then sighed. It seemed that she was sighing in disappointment because she was a few points away from making it to the top 10. Ke Li deliberately sagged the corners of her mouth, looking dejected.  

　　 

　　The class teacher didn’t look at her. She praised all the people who should be praised, then also praised Ke Li without hesitation. At least she made progress, although she didn’t achieve the expected goal.  

　　 

　　Ke Li was surprised to discover that she was a little shy. Maybe she really had integrated herself into the high school life.[mfn]She’s a little shy getting the teacher’s praise[/mfn]  

　　 

　　”Teacher, I want to change my seats for next semester.” After she finished assigning homework and announcing winter break, Ji Linxi went to speak with the class teacher. The teacher was always willing to pay attention to the good students, especially Ji Linxi, who won honor for the class.  

　　 

　　The class teacher didn’t ask why she wanted her seat changed, instead she asked, “How do you want it changed?”  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi pulled Ke Li over and bluntly said: “Teacher you know about our relationship. Otherwise, you are deliberately separating us.”  

　　 

　　Class teacher: “…” 

　　 

　　She thought to herself that she was like a stick beating a mandarin duck.[mfn]She’s the stick separating lovers.[/mfn] She explained: “It’s your dad who called me to change your seat. 

　　 

　　”I know, but… …” Ji Linxi’s expression suddenly became somewhat hurt. 

　　 

　　The class teacher thought of her responsibilities as a teacher and immediately softened her tone and empathetically said: “But what…”  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi didn’t answer the question: “Teacher, are you going to discriminate us because of our relationship?”   

　　 

　　Class teacher: “Well…of course not.” 

　　 

　　As a teacher, she has to set an example for her students. How can she take the lead in discriminating students? Although she never imagined she would be directly confronted about this.   

　　 

　　Ji Linxi smiled, then said with a dull expression: “But the people around me look at me with strange eyes and that feeling of isolation…”  

　　 

　　Class teacher: “…” 

　　 

　　Ke Li: “…” 

　　 

　　In fact, their classmates initially thought they were novel and viewed them as aliens. Later on, they got used to it. Then their classmates realized that they were the same as before, almost like ordinary best friends. Even those who couldn’t stand homosexuals couldn’t find fault. After all, they were never intimate in public.  

　　 

　　“Let’s talk about this next semester.” The class teacher turned to Ke Li and said, “If you study hard during winter break, I might consider moving you back.”  

　　 

　　”…” Ke Li was stunned and said together with Ji Linxi: “Thank you teacher.” 

　　 

　　Even this matter was done.   

　　 

　　“You just pretended to be pitiful ah.” Ke Li now has the feeling she was free at last. Although, she inevitably had to review, her allocation of time and place was free for her to choose.  

　　 

　　“It’s all for you.” Ji Linxi had a good relationship with her desk mate. However, every time she sees Ke Li’s melancholic eyes, her heart will feel suffocated. She thought their relationship was the same no matter where she sat, but it’s better to keep Ke Li safe beside her and to save herself the trouble of keeping an eye on her when she sat at the same table.   

　　 

　　”I knew you’re the best.” Ke Li and Ji Linxi went out laughing and talking. Then saw Zhou Lingling and the second-year girl on the sports field… 

　　 

　　Zhou Lingling’s right hand reached for Xu Fei’s head while Xu Fei’s hands and feet flailed about. It seemed that she wanted to extend her hand to hit Zhou Lingling.  

　　 

　　Ke Li and Ji Linxi: “…” 

　　 

　　These days, they were busy preparing for the exam and thought that although this matter made a great impact on them, they didn’t give Xu Fei any trouble since it was useless. But they didn’t expect her to come to their door.  

　　 

　　Zhou Lingling had long limbs. Her height was close to 1.7 meters and wore mature clothes. While Xu Fei was less than 1.6 meters and wore a school uniform. This scene looked particularly funny.  

　　 

　　Ke Li held back her smile: “What are you doing?” 

　　 

　　Zhou Lingling spread out her idle left hand and said with a smile, “Just now, I happened to catch this kid sneakily staring at you from over here.” 

　　 

　　Although she didn’t go to school here, this school was close by. She knew that Ke Li and Ji Linxi was forced to come out of the closet early. So today she specifically came here to invite them out to play.  

　　 

　　”I… I’m going to kill you.” Xu Fei’s face flushed red with anger, totally lacking the domineering appearance she had in front of Ke Li before. However, her personality was the same as before, especially stupid.  

　　 

　　Zhou Lingling instigated: “Don’t worry, you can’t reach.”  

　　 

　　”…” Xu Fei was so angry that she kicked her feet. She clearly didn’t want to be in this position and had enough of Zhou Lingling but Zhou Lingling appeared to be a little persistent in this matter.  

　　 

　　Ke Li and Ji Linxi watched their stalemate for two minutes. They couldn’t bear to watch it anymore but recalled the fact that Xu Fei forced them out of the closet early, then said to Zhou Lingling: “Don’t bully others. Maybe they’re only minors.”  

　　 

　　As soon as Ke Li said this, Xu Fei looked like a cat raising its hackles, glared at her and fiercely said: “You’re a minor, your whole family are minors.”  

　　 

　　”…” Ke Li asked her to first let go of Xu Fei, then seriously asked: “Say, what do you want?”  

　　 

　　Xu Fei smoothed out her messy hair and stuttered: “I…I…” 

　　 

　　“Look, I’m telling you she’s looking for trouble.” Zhou Lingling said resentfully, “In this case, let’s tell her parents first then resolve this privately.”  

　　 

　　”You…” Xu Fei’s eyes were red. It seems that things got blown up big and didn’t know how to say it. There were tears gathering in her eyes and at last, she directly collapsed and stared at Zhou Lingling without speaking.  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi took out a tissue, handed it to Xu Fei and said: “You speak slowly first.”  

　　 

　　“I know you must think I did something wrong, but…” Xue Fei really went to see Shao Yixuan that day and said that Ke Li and Ji Linxi were a couple. As a result, Shao Yixuan only replied: ‘Why do I care if she likes women? It’s not like I’m going to tell her parents? But if her parents knew, would she bend straight back?’  

　　 

　　Xu Fei never thought about it.  

　　 

　　“I’m afraid you don’t have the courage to dare do that.” Shao Yixuan has always been a person who likes to watch a show and didn’t think it was a big deal. Now there was a scapegoat that came to his door and there was no reason to make a big deal himself. He really has no interests in the Lolita and only wanted to send Xu Fei away.  

　　 

　　”…” Xu Fei was inspired by Shao Yixuan and told both pair of parents what she knew.  

　　 

　　Listening to her calmly admit it, Ke Li wasn’t angry and pretended to say in a bad tone: “Then why are you looking for us now? You don’t want to complain about us again, right?”  

　　 

　　”I…I don’t!” Xu Fei said what she knew. She often went to see Shao Yixuan afterwards. After all, he was her male god. On the day when he arrived at school, she thought he was very handsome. He was comparable to an idol she was chasing. However, she didn’t expect to witness the scene of Shao Yixuan rolling on the sheets with someone else in the bar room.  

　　 

　　She was stunned on the spot, and saw Shao Yixuan take out something to snort… 

　　 

　　”Why don’t you protect yourself? Why does a girl go to the bar every day?” Zhou Lingling said after lecturing her, then threatened, “Be careful of your male god killing snitches, oh.”  

　　 

　　”I… I don’t know what to do!” Xu Fei was so scared that she cried out in fear. She came to Ji Linxi because she was worried about this. But she didn’t know what to say. She was scared these days. After all, she was only a 15-year-old high school student.  

　　 

　　”…” Ke Li was aware of this situation from the start. In the end, Xu Fei was seriously stupid, she forced them to come out of the closet and didn’t expect Shao Yixuan, who became a scum, to be a druggie. She also suspected that he hung with the wrong crowd. 

　　 

　　”I’ll leave it to you.” Ke Li finished, then trotted away with Ji Linxi, leaving behind the stupefied Zhou Lingling: “Fuck, why did you leave it to me?”   

　　 

　　Then she squatted besides the crying Xu Fei and handed her tissues. 

　　 

　　Ke Li took care of this matter and was very confident about Xu Fei’s safety concerns. According to the original settings, Shao Yixuan was actually quite pitiful. He was just a misbehaving teenager who was abandoned and wanted attention. Even if he had an accident, his family will settle it for him. But once he became a drug addict, he will have no future later even if he was full of regrets.  

　　 

　　Ke Li told Ji Linxi what she knew and reassured her that nothing would happen. Ji Linxi looked at Ke Li strangely and said, “Go home with me today.”  

　　 

　　Ke Li: “Okay, I’ll go home with you today to have a good relationship with my father-in-law and mother-in-law. Tomorrow, you will return to my house as my wife.”  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi: “…”  

　　 

　　As soon as Ke Li arrived at Ji Linxi’s house, Ji Wendong came out and hugged her leg. He wrapped around her like a sticky rice dumpling. Although he could only say a few simple words, he was very cute. Ke Li greeted Mother Ji and played with him. Ji Linxi also watched them play.  

　　 

　　Mother Ji was particularly pleased to witness this scene. She once had her own dreams and aspirations but later became a housewife. Sometimes she doesn’t think she’s happy, so she can only hope that her daughter can be happy.  

　　 

　　However, Father Ji came to see them, but Ji Linxi didn’t speak. Then he saw Ke Li and Ji Wendong playing and thought about what Ji Linxi said about raising her younger brother like a son. That matter made him angry but he didn’t mean to hit her.   

　　 

　　But on the other hand, he had to admit that he was old, and Ji Linxi will have to shoulder Ji Wendong’s burden. This made him unhappy for a while.  

　　 

　　Ke Li’s mentality was very good. As long as Father Ji didn’t directly scold her, there wouldn’t be a scene. She had to say that coming out of the closet wasn’t that bad.  

　　 

　　If things have already happened for the first time, then there will be a second time. After winter vacation, Ke Li has become a regular visitor of Ji Linxi’s family. Although Father Ji’s attitude wasn’t getting better, it didn’t get worse. At least, he didn’t force Ji Linxi to like men.  

　　 

　　In a blink of an eye, after the college entrance exam, a new beginning was waiting for them. 

　　 

　　That night, Ke Li didn’t turn the lights on and deliberately pressed Ji Linxi on the bed and said, “Do you feel that there’s always a familiar feeling between us, not because we’ve known each other since junior high school, but because of something else, similar to a special feeling?”  

　　 

　　This was a question she always thought about. Now that the college entrance exam was over, she can finally ask this question. Naturally, she didn’t have to restrain herself in some aspect.   

　　 

　　Ji Linxi was pushed down and didn’t resist. She just whispered in Ke Li’s ear: “I don’t know. But I always know there are three strange things in the world, can you guess what?”  

　　 

　　Ke Li thought that Ji Linxi was singing a yellow tune, but after she opened her mouth, she caught and kissed her twice, then said, “Nothing can stop the fact that I’ll be on top today.”  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi licked her lips and slowly said: “First, there is always the sound of marbles coming from upstairs. Second, is that very familiar feeling when we do it. Third, is that before I sleep I just want…to…”  [mfn]The sound of marbles dropping above you-sound is kinda like a ghost thing in asia’s high rise buildings. Stories of a child ghost playing with their marbles etc, but they’re actually pockets of gas in pipes running between floors.[/mfn] 

　　 

　　Although she heard of this before, Ke Li felt her goosebumps rising. She wanted to reach out and turn the light on. But she hesitated for fear of touching something strange, then finally chose to keep pressing against Ji Linxi: “Wh… what?”  

　　 

　　”It’s…” Ji Linxi said and grabbed Ke Li’s armpit while she was caught off-guard. She successfully reversed their position, “That’s…those who wants to counterattack in bed will be crushed.”   

　　 

　　”…” Even if she was recognized by Ke Li, the dark silhouette gave off a sense of oppression. She looked at Ji Linxi’s blurred figure and said, “Let’s turn on the light first then do it?”  

　　 

　　Ji Linxi skillfully removed Ke Li’s clothes and said, “It’s okay, I can still see.” 

　　 

　　Ke Li: “…” 

　　 

　　Ji Linxi said ambiguously: “I can see with my fingers, that’s how I’m always accurate… ” 

　　 

　　Ke Li: “Stop, stop!”