Chapter 27: The Price of Misunderstanding

The door had not been fully latched. Ellis carefully pushed it open, her gaze immediately falling upon Meixia, who sat on the bed with her knees drawn up.

As Ellis entered, Meixia glanced at her, letting out a sigh that seemed a mix of disappointment and relief. She then forced a smile and said, “Oh, it’s Ellis. Where have you been? You’re back so late.”

“I went to gather some information.”

Seeing Meixia’s dejected face, Ellis couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

Ultimately, Ellis bore some responsibility for how things had escalated. She had been fully aware of Larry’s awkward personality yet had actively interfered, causing Meixia and the others to become entangled.

At that time, she was still Larry’s ‘brother,’ and her perspective was entirely skewed towards him.

The girls in the adventure team each possessed distinct attributes, unique skills, and varied beauties.

Ellis’s intention then was to find a woman for Larry, who had remained single and chaste, to help him understand the joys of intimacy. She had, therefore, helped suppress and conceal Larry’s ‘iron-straight’ personality, attempting to overwhelm him with both quantity and quality.

However, the endeavor ultimately ended in failure.

Until today, Ellis had never regretted her past actions.

Larry was her most cherished ‘brother’ in this world; their karmic bond even stretched back to a previous life. For his sake, anything was permissible, even if it violated morality and righteousness.

Now, however, things were different. Perhaps it was because she had transformed into a woman, but looking at her past self and Larry from Meixia’s perspective, Ellis genuinely felt she had been a complete jerk, leading this innocent girl astray. She also found herself complaining about Larry’s stubbornness.

Ellis sat on the edge of the bed, gently stroking Meixia’s head. “I’ve heard everything,” she said. “I apologize on behalf of my rather excessive ‘brother’ and Larry. How about I help you beat up Larry later? You’ll see, I’ll make him cry.”

Ellis playfully waved her fists in the air, appearing remarkably comical and endearing.

Meixia let out a soft laugh at the sight, then patted her own cheeks and stood up. Looking down at Ellis, she declared with renewed vigor, “Alright, I’m fine now! Phew, it feels good to finally say goodbye to the past.”

Ellis, witnessing Meixia’s sudden shift from melancholy to cheerfulness, paused in slight surprise. “Are you truly alright?” she asked.

Meixia hopped off the bed and sat beside Ellis, taking her hand. “Yes!” she affirmed. “While it’s a bit of a shame to let go of a good man like Larry, he’s made his feelings clear, and he even has an fiancée like you, Ellis. I won’t bother him anymore! I’ve decided: once Daisy is rescued, I’m going to begin my ‘feminine charm’ cultivation! I’ll learn from you, Ellis!”

Ellis: ()

“May I ask, learn what?”

“Feminine charm!”

Meixia looked at Ellis with admiration. “From you, I see a role model for a girlfriend, even a wife! I wish you and Larry a lifetime of happiness and harmony.”

Meixia’s blessing was so sincere, her wish so pure, yet why couldn’t Ellis feel even a flicker of joy?

Ellis felt a lump in her throat, even on the verge of tears.

Just a few days prior, she had been a dignified, formidable man, bursting with masculine vigor, determined to navigate the world of romance without getting entangled, a true pillar of strength.

And now, her image had transformed into that of a virtuous wife and loving mother in the eyes of others?! To be used as a role model, no less?!

‘I could just scream!’

With Ellis’s old temper, she would have already demonstrated her ‘eighteen martial arts’ to make anyone who dared utter such words understand why flowers were so red. Yet, Meixia’s unique, innocent eyes held Ellis’s hands and feet captive.

‘If you had shown me this adorable, pure side when we were still adventuring together, wouldn’t I have held you in my palm and cherished you like a treasure?’

‘Now I’ve become a woman, and *now* you act like this.’

‘Heavens! This isn’t just closing one window and opening another; it’s closing the window, sealing the door, and then telling me there’s a group of beautiful women skinny-dipping outside!’

Ellis managed a strained smile, then stood up. “That’s good, that’s good. I’ll go to Larry’s room for a bit. You can come find me after you’ve packed your luggage.”

With stiff movements, a pale face, and sluggish thoughts, Ellis left the room.

“Feminine charm, ha ha ha, Meixia actually said I have feminine charm, ah ha ha ha!”

In Larry’s room, Ellis buried her head in a pillow, letting out a laugh that sounded worse than crying.

“Uh, is that enough?”

Larry watched, speechless, as his ‘best friend’ suddenly burst into his room, jumped onto his bed, buried their head under the covers, and began wailing like a ghost.

He had been about to change his clothes, about to take off his boxers, when this oblivious individual so rudely barged in.

Burying her head in the pillow, with her backside sticking up… ‘Damn it, doesn’t she realize she’s wearing a skirt now?!!’

Larry pinched his nose and averted his gaze, repeatedly chanting in his mind, ‘This person is a man,’ ‘She’s been my best buddy for nearly 20 years,’ ‘I’ve seen everything since childhood,’ and any other phrase that might quiet his eager ‘little brother.’

Ellis had only been temporarily struck by Meixia’s words.

While her body had transformed into that of a female, an unavoidable fact, at least her mind shouldn’t change. This had always been Ellis’s bottom line.

But now, it seemed her bottom line had been unknowingly breached.

Alright, she admitted that to impersonate Larry’s fiancée, she had intentionally mimicked some feminine behaviors. However, she believed this was only a small fraction of her entire being, just a tiny part. So why was she being called ‘very feminine’? It was completely incomprehensible!

From an angle Ellis couldn’t see, Larry was quite tempted by the view beneath the skirt, his nose itching, feeling as if some red liquid was about to flow. This damned restlessness.

So, Larry eventually said, “By the way, how long are you going to writhe on my bed like a worm? We need to leave.”

Hearing Larry’s disrespectful remark, Ellis’s temper flared.

He wasn’t even considering who she was trying to help, ending up being called ‘feminine’ because of him.

Ellis turned, glaring fiercely at Larry. “So, you should hurry up and find a girlfriend,” she stated.

Larry looked at Ellis, puzzled. “I’m curious, it feels like in this life, you’re exceptionally invested in me finding a girlfriend. Have you lost your mind?”

“I think *you’re* the one who’s lost your mind!”

Ellis eyed Larry suspiciously. “Could it be that… you’re not capable?”

Larry’s eye twitched. He threatened, “Coincidentally, you’ve become a woman. Want to try?”

Ellis scoffed. “I have no interest in toothpicks.”

“Alright then. It seems not only is your mind a bit off, but your eyesight has regressed to that of a Supersonic Bat.”

(Supersonic Bat: A bat from another world, with extremely poor eyesight.)

Larry intentionally stood straight, hands on his hips. “We’ve gone to the bathroom together more than once, haven’t we? Don’t you have a clear idea of my ‘level’? On the other hand, I haven’t seen *your* current ‘thing’ yet, hehehe. Now’s a good time for me to get a look.”

“You’d probably go blind prematurely then.”

Ellis pouted, still lying on the bed, and said helplessly, “It’s not that I *want* to worry about this, but I don’t want to be misunderstood by your father or anyone else anymore.”

Larry asked, perplexed, “What do you mean? What did my father misunderstand?”

“This happened in a previous life. Because of someone’s lack of enthusiasm in finding a girlfriend, even actively rejecting blind dates arranged by the family, and always running to my place every other day, your family misunderstood. As for what they misunderstood, if your intelligence is intact, you should have already guessed.”

Ellis spoke with anguish, “As a result, unbeknownst to you, your father contacted me and had bodyguards ‘invite’ me to your house for a private conversation. Your father earnestly told me, ‘Our family is quite open-minded, and we now advocate for freedom in love. We don’t want to interfere, but our family needs someone to carry on the lineage. How about this, I’ll find a woman, and you let my son spend one night with her. As long as she gets pregnant, everything else is negotiable. I can even arrange for you two to go abroad and get married.'”

Larry’s mouth gaped wider than a duck egg. He asked in disbelief, “That happened?”

Ellis pounded the bed, shouting in pain, “Do you know how much my mind was reeling when I heard that? Even *I* almost doubted your true intentions for always running to my place! And there were two bodyguards, wearing sunglasses and suits, standing on either side of my sofa. I even suspected that if I didn’t agree, your dad might just ‘take care’ of me. I talked to your dad for an entire night before I could clear up that misunderstanding and make them believe it was purely due to your personal reasons, not because I had a problematic sexual orientation.”