Chapter 118: Tangled Feelings

Haha, well, I really like myself too…

Faced with Jijige’s advance, Menglinna chose to laugh it off.

In their previous life, they were good friends who drank heavily together, but nothing ever happened, so Menglinna had long since categorized Jijige as someone unrelated to romance.

Jijige wagged her finger in front of Menglinna’s face and said, “The like I’m talking about isn’t that kind of like!”

Menglinna turned her head away. “What other kind of like could it be? It’s not like you want to get in my pants, right? Haha, that’s unthinkable. I’m just too narcissistic, sorry!”

As she spoke, she pressed her palms together in apology.

But Jijige didn’t answer directly. She just stared intently at her.

A flicker of unease crossed Menglinna’s mind. “You’re not…”

At that moment, the other girl suddenly broke into a smile and directly changed the subject. “Xiao Meng, your file says you’re only a low-level priest, but it seems you’ve grown a lot stronger now. How about I arrange a position for you based on your current strength?”

Despite the warm smile, Menglinna felt a chilling, predatory coldness. “Why do I feel like this position is more like a selection process?”

“Exactly!” Jijige clapped her hands. “The School of Nature needs a reliable successor. If you agree, we’ll become the Twin Stars of the School of Nature!”

Menglinna couldn’t help but step back. “I think I’ll pass. I know nothing about the School of Nature and have no interest in it.”

She inexplicably felt that this so-called ‘Twin Stars’ was just looking for a child bride or something.

“Sigh—” Jijige drew out the syllable. “Really not coming?”

“Really not coming,” Menglinna shook her head firmly. “And could you stop pretending to be young like an old lady?”

Under Jijige’s intense gaze, Menglinna had no choice but to flee.

****

At night, Menglinna sat quietly alone at her desk.

Ever since Jijige returned, her life had been thrown into chaos. Like a catfish thrown into a ship’s hold, she stirred up Menglinna and Nanaya’s lives into a mess, even making Nanaya act strangely.

“Would it be better to talk to Nanaya first?”

Menglinna bit the cap of her pen, looking irritably at the book in front of her.

Just then, a knock came at the door. Menglinna put down her pen and went straight to open it.

“Who is it?”

Asking while opening the door was one of Menglinna’s strange habits.

“It’s me.” Nanaya’s face appeared from behind the door. “Can I come in for a chat?”

“Alright then.”

She had just been thinking about whether to talk to Nanaya, and now the other girl had come to her. That was convenient.

Thinking this, Menglinna invited her in.

The medicine cabinet on the sofa had just been sent out, so Nanaya sat directly on the sofa, curiously looking around—more precisely, at the notebook on the desk.

“Please have some tea.”

Taking the tea Menglinna handed her, Nanaya couldn’t help asking, “Writing your diary this late?”

“Diary? You mean this notebook.” Menglinna picked it up and glanced at it. “It’s just my personal notes on inspirations. You know, sometimes wonderful potion recipes come from a flash of insight, so I have a habit of jotting things down.”

Nanaya couldn’t help asking, “Can I take a look?”

“Of course.” Menglinna handed over the notebook, but quickly added, “But I have to warn you, these are just random notes, so they might look messy! Some things don’t have any real meaning.”

“Mm-hmm.”

This notebook was a prime material for studying Miss ‘Scumbag,’ so Nanaya naturally wouldn’t pass it up. Under Menglinna’s nervous gaze, she began flipping through it.

At first, as Menglinna had said, there were just hastily scribbled names of herbs, as if she were researching new potion formulas, with some formulas Nanaya couldn’t understand written beside them.

Then there were some simple numerical calculations, as if estimating the profitability of some product. The final result seemed to be negative, clearly a money-loser.

Perhaps because the money-loser had ruined her mood, there were later some meaningless phrases. ‘Can’t figure you out,’ ‘Heavy drinking,’ and ‘Feeling like giving up’ were the most frequent.

Nanaya quickly flipped to the last page, which read ‘Feeling very annoyed, better to have a talk.’

This sentence seemed freshly written, the ink not yet completely dry.

“Well?”

Seeing that the other had apparently finished reading, Menglinna couldn’t help asking, actually hoping to quickly retrieve her notebook.

“It’s just some ordinary notes.” Nanaya handed the notebook back, and couldn’t help asking, “That ‘have a talk’ on the last page—are you referring to me?”

“Eh?” Although it was true, Menglinna couldn’t help being stunned by her sudden directness.

“So it is me, right?” Nanaya smiled, surprised that her guess was correct. “Then tell me, what are you troubled by, you…”

The nickname that would have come naturally got stuck in her throat. Jijige’s words had made Nanaya hesitate.

“Ah, right, what should I call you now?”

Nanaya took a sip of tea, her clear eyes fixed on Menglinna. “The old nickname doesn’t seem appropriate anymore. How would you like me to call you now?”

“Even if you ask me…” Menglinna showed a troubled expression. Thinking of a nickname for herself was really difficult.

“Looks like you don’t know either. Then should I just call you ‘Better’ like the notebook said?” A smile suddenly appeared on Nanaya’s face.

“Xiao Meng?”

In that instant, Menglinna could almost hear her own heart pounding wildly.

A white-haired loli with a gentle smile calling her in that tone—it was like a loli mother or something.

In that moment, a soft part of Menglinna’s heart was touched.

“Of course, it was just a moment.” Then Menglinna averted her gaze and muttered, “I’m older than you, after all. Please don’t call me like I’m a little girl!”

But the blush on her face gave something away, and Nanaya could read it. “Alright, Xiao Meng’s little sister?”

“I told you not to call me that!”

Seeing Menglinna’s apparent displeasure, Nanaya just smiled. “Okay, since Sister Xiao Meng doesn’t like it, I won’t call you that.”

“Heh.”

‘Sister Xiao Meng’ was barely acceptable. Although the combination of ‘Xiao Meng’ and ‘Sister’ felt a bit off, it was acceptable.

But seeing the blush completely fade from Menglinna’s face, Nanaya felt she had found a good way to deal with this girl.

Seeing the smug expression on Nanaya’s face, Menglinna felt annoyed but had to suppress it. Pretending not to care, she asked, “What did you come to me for?”

Finally getting to the point. Nanaya put down her teacup, slightly reining in her scattered demeanor, and looked seriously at the other. “I want to ask, what do you think of Jijige?”

“Little Ji is a relatively honest person. Although inexperienced and not very mature, that child has the church’s interests at heart.”

Hearing Menglinna’s mature critique, Nanaya couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “So you think highly of her?”

“She hasn’t done anything wrong to us, has she?”

Menglinna naturally assumed the earlier confession was just a prank. After all, in her previous life, Jijige, being a, er, had no special feelings for her. This life should be the same.

Nanaya looked at her in surprise. “Are you sure?”

“Mm, if anything, it was just a prank on me.” Menglinna said casually. “Just saying she likes me—haha, she just wants to see me flustered. I’m not some easy-to-dupe little girl!”

“Wait, wait, what did she say to you?”

Nanaya realized the seriousness of the matter.

Menglinna said lightly, “She lied and said she likes me!”

“Heh…”

Nanaya felt her blood run cold. She was very clear that Jijige’s words were no joke. Given her recent behavior, it was definitely sincere!

For some reason, just thinking about Menglinna possibly falling into that girl’s arms made Nanaya clench her fists.

“This won’t do…”

“What won’t do?”

Menglinna looked at Nanaya in confusion, completely unable to understand what she was talking about.

With things having come to this, Nanaya had to get serious. She looked firmly at Menglinna. “Hey, you. Do you remember the relationship between us?”

Suddenly asked this, Menglinna had to answer honestly. “Superior?”

“And?”

“Teammate?”

“And?”

“Redemption target?”

Seeing Nanaya’s increasingly displeased expression, Menglinna raised her hands in surrender. “I really don’t remember!”

“What a player.” Nanaya took another sip of water to wet her throat. “You used to call me ‘darling,’ don’t you remember?”

“Ah, that happened?”

Menglinna thought about it. Indeed, for a hunting commission earlier, she and Nanaya had pretended to be a couple. Although they didn’t continue the act after the commission ended, they also never clarified it to others.

So in the eyes of Miaomiaonia and Shiya, the two were still…

…in the heat of their romance, despite neither of them being aware of it.

Nanaya also recalled this and planned to use it to attack Jijige. That was why she had come tonight.

A drop of sweat trickled down Menglinna’s forehead. “You know that was fake, right?”

“It was indeed fake,” Nanaya nodded. “But we never clarified it to the outside world, did we?”

“So you mean…”

“I’m a Saint candidate, and you’re my girlfriend—at least on the surface. According to the Goddess’s teachings, pure love between two people is paramount.”

Watching Nanaya grow more serious, Menglinna couldn’t help retorting, “There’s no pure love between us, is there?”

Nanaya glared fiercely at the other before continuing, “Regardless, Jijige, as a third party, wants to intrude into our pure love. Whether as your nominal girlfriend or as a Saint candidate who believes in pure love, I absolutely cannot tolerate this blasphemous behavior from Jijige.”

For some reason, Nanaya said the words ‘nominal girlfriend’ very softly.

Faced with Nanaya’s rising fervor, Menglinna couldn’t help stepping forward and grabbing her wrist. “Don’t do anything stupid!”

“！”

As luck would have it, Menglinna happened to grab the Flame Evil God’s totem hidden under the clothes. Although it looked normal on the surface, the totem’s surface temperature was strangely high.

But Menglinna didn’t notice this. Instead, it was Nanaya who couldn’t help pulling her hand back.

“Sorry.” Realizing her action had been a bit rough, Menglinna apologized. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I won’t do anything stupid.” Nanaya slowly stood up and moved closer to Menglinna. “As your girlfriend, I hope to show off the pure love between us in front of that girl tomorrow. That’s not too much, is it?”

Menglinna couldn’t help refusing loudly. “That is indeed too much!”

“No, not at all.” Nanaya didn’t indulge Menglinna. She stood up and walked to the door. “If you don’t cooperate with me tomorrow, I’ll truly retaliate against you. Remember, it won’t be a joke.”

Without waiting for Menglinna’s reply, Nanaya closed the door, leaving Menglinna standing alone in the room, stunned.

“Huh?”

Menglinna couldn’t understand.

****

“Next!”

Yushi quickly dismissed the patient in front of her and hastily tidied up her belongings before the next patient arrived.

“Ah, Doctor Yushi!”

The voice sounded familiar. Yushi looked up and saw that it was Menglinna.

“Since it’s her, no need for formalities.” Yushi gave up the idea of touching up her makeup and put the powder puff aside.

“I remember it’s not payment day, and that heart hasn’t been fully processed yet…”

Yushi almost directly said, ‘What are you here for?’

“I said I’ve been having some trouble lately and wanted to ask you. Is that okay?”

Regarding the issues with Jijige and Nanaya, Menglinna felt she was in a situation where she couldn’t see the forest for the trees. If possible, it would be better to ask an outsider.

Shiya and Kaili were out today, and Miaomiaonia was too annoying. After thinking it over, among her acquaintances, only Yushi remained.

📚 Also on NHV Novels

Marrying My Ex’s Uncle

ChildcareMale ProtagonistPossessive Characters

Read Now →
Not interested