Chapter 55: The Unforeseen Transformation

Almost fleeing, Su Mian rushed back to the second bedroom. She slammed the door shut with a “bang,” leaning her back against the cool door panel, her heart still pounding wildly.

She raised a hand to her cheek, finding it scorching hot to the touch. Without needing a mirror, she knew her face must be crimson, ready to drip blood.

Not only had she sleepwalked in the middle of the night and climbed into her rival Xiao Moyuan’s bed, but she had also… clung to him like an octopus, sleeping in his embrace the entire night!

This was simply… utterly preposterous! It was beyond absurd, a level of ridiculousness that defied all logic!

Even the most melodramatic novels wouldn’t dare to write something so outlandish!

Waves of shame, like a tsunami, crashed over her rationality. She felt an overwhelming urge to dig a hole and bury herself on the spot.

The only silver lining was that, judging by Xiao Moyuan’s indifferent and weary appearance this morning, he didn’t seem to have noticed any abnormality in her body… or so she hoped.

As this thought flickered through her mind, Su Mian instinctively placed a hand on her chest, intending to calm her racing heart.

However, the sensation beneath her palm instantly froze her. Her blood seemed to congeal at that very moment.

This feeling… this full curve… this substantial weight…

Something was wrong! Terribly wrong!

Su Mian’s heart skipped a beat, then pounded even harder. A premonition of dread seized her.

With trembling hands, she cautiously pulled her collar open slightly. Filled with immense fear and a sliver of hope, she carefully lowered her gaze—

The moment her eyes landed on the distinctly swollen area, which stretched her bra to its fullest, Su Mian’s mind went blank. A buzzing sound filled her head, and her brain completely crashed.

“Wh-what’s going on…”

She mumbled distractedly, her voice trembling with disbelief.

“It’s only been one night… why… why has it grown so much?!”

If before it had been merely a ‘tiny bud just peeking out,’ a subtle change requiring careful attention to notice, now it was like ‘a spring breeze suddenly arrived overnight.’ It was already taking shape, its presence too distinct to ignore.

She rushed to the dressing mirror, anxiously scrutinizing her reflection.

Fortunately, she usually wore loose T-shirts. From the front, if she didn’t deliberately pull the fabric tight against her body, the astonishing change was still concealed beneath the baggy clothes, not particularly obvious.

But the moment she pressed her shirt slightly against her chest, the full, eager-to-burst curves were undeniable. They formed a stark, unsettling contrast with her still-youthful, delicate face.

Su Mian clutched the sink, feeling her legs turn to jelly.

She racked her brain, utterly perplexed. Even during puberty, no girl experienced such a ‘qualitative leap’ overnight, did they?

This speed defied the laws of nature!

She had originally believed, based on her mother’s words, that this process would be slow, giving her several months to adapt and find ways to conceal it.

But at this terrifying rate of growth, another instance—perhaps even the very next ‘sudden growth spurt’—and her body’s secret would be completely exposed to everyone, impossible to hide any longer!

‘Could this… also be part of our family’s strange constitution?’ she thought, her mind in disarray. ‘So my growth rate is also different from the slow development of ordinary girls; it’s this… leapfrogging kind?’

This realization filled her with panic and helplessness.

***

After a drawn-out wash, Su Mian steeled herself. It took considerable mental preparation before she finally, with great reluctance, walked out of the second bedroom.

Xiao Moyuan was already impeccably dressed, waiting on the living room sofa. His posture remained composed, though the dark circles beneath his eyes betrayed the poor quality of his sleep last night.

“I… I’m ready,” Su Mian murmured, her gaze lowered, not daring to meet Xiao Moyuan’s eyes. Her voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, as if hoping to minimize her presence.

They silently exited the hotel, entered the familiar black car, and began their journey back to N University.

The car smoothly merged into the morning traffic, yet Su Mian felt as if she were sitting on pins and needles.

She was utterly uncomfortable, her heart pounding as if it would burst from her chest.

The most vexing part was the seatbelt stretched across her body.

Her usually loose T-shirt, when tightened by the seatbelt, clung to her form, clearly outlining the undeniable, significantly more pronounced curves of her chest than the day before.

This wasn’t even the most embarrassing part.

What tormented her more was the constant friction and pressure from the seatbelt’s position, brought on by the car’s slight bumps, which elicited an indescribable sensation, making her face flush crimson.

She squirmed uncomfortably, trying to adjust the seatbelt’s position or to let her clothes’ wrinkles offer some concealment, but it was all in vain.

“Don’t tamper with the seatbelt.”

Xiao Moyuan’s cool voice suddenly broke the silence in the car, carrying an undeniable authority.

“There are many cameras on this stretch of road. Whose license will get points deducted for a violation?”

Su Mian hadn’t even gotten her driver’s license, so she naturally had no points to lose.

Her movements stiffened. She stopped her hands awkwardly, ultimately resorting to crossing her arms tightly over her chest, attempting to shield the unsettling curves with her elbows and slightly alleviate the direct friction from the seatbelt.

However, this was merely burying her head in the sand.

The strange and intense sensations emanating from her body, combined with the immense risk of being discovered by the person beside her, felt like two brushes repeatedly scrubbing at her rationality, leaving her in a state of high tension, on the verge of breaking down.

“H-how much longer until we arrive?” Su Mian finally couldn’t help but ask, her voice trembling slightly with nervousness, tinged with a hint of a whine.

She regretted it terribly. If only she had known, she would have sat in the back!

Yesterday, she had habitually sat in the passenger seat. Who could have imagined she would endure such ‘torture’ today!

Xiao Moyuan gazed straight ahead, stating the facts in a calm tone: “However long it took us to get here yesterday, it will naturally take the same amount of time to return.”

In truth, not long after they started driving, he had acutely sensed Su Mian’s abnormality.

Her restless posture, frequent small movements, and the flush on her face, a mix of discomfort and shame, combined with the changes happening to her body, allowed Xiao Moyuan to roughly guess the reason.

Watching this little fox suffer ‘torment’ and appear flustered beside him, the vexation he felt from not resting well last night due to her actions surprisingly dissipated. Instead, a malicious desire to continue teasing her arose within him.

Hearing that she still had to endure two more agonizing hours, Su Mian let out a silent wail, on the verge of tears.

She tightly closed her eyes, desperately trying to distract herself.

She began to imagine the most painful things: Xiao Moyuan stealing her childhood friend, Xiao Moyuan humiliating her.

Then she imagined happy things: successfully getting revenge on Xiao Moyuan, making him fall madly in love, then kicking him to the curb.

She tried to use mental concentration to fight against the waves of shameful sensations emanating from her body.

However, just as she was beginning to find a sliver of composure, barely suppressing her body’s odd sensations, the car suddenly lurched violently, as if it had driven over a rough, uneven patch of road.

“Ah—!”

This sudden, intensified friction and vibration caught Su Mian off guard. A sweet, soft, trembling gasp involuntarily escaped her lips.

The moment the sound left her, Su Mian herself was stunned, then blushed furiously. She quickly clapped a hand over her mouth, her heart pounding uncontrollably, almost leaping from her throat.

Xiao Moyuan appropriately turned his head, a perfectly calibrated look of confusion on his face, and subtly raised an eyebrow:

“Why are you shouting?”

His gaze seemed to casually sweep over her arms, which were tightly crossed over her chest.

Su Mian felt a chill run through her at his gaze. She instinctively tightened her arms further, trying to hide the ‘abnormality’ more thoroughly, and stammered in response:

“Wh-why did you drive onto such a bad road?”

No wonder it was suddenly so bumpy, causing her to lose her composure!

She nervously stole a glance at Xiao Moyuan’s expression.

Seeing that he looked normal, not betraying any unusual reaction, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief, inwardly grateful that he seemed to have noticed nothing and hadn’t detected the oddness in her voice.

“Taking the normal route back would make us late for morning class. This shortcut is quicker and saves a lot of time.”

Xiao Moyuan’s explanation was perfectly reasonable. He then tossed the question back at her, his tone carrying a hint of inquiry.

“Rather, you’ve been startled and agitated the whole way. What exactly is wrong?”

“N-nothing at all!”

Su Mian reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly denying it. Her voice, elevated by guilt, quickly dropped again, and she almost buried her entire face.

“You… you just focus on driving…”

Seeing her obvious attempt to hide something, a flicker of an almost imperceptible smile crossed Xiao Moyuan’s eyes.

He didn’t press further, refocusing on the road ahead. He even… subtly, while ensuring safety, maintained a speed on certain sections of the road that caused slight, continuous bumps.

For Su Mian, the next nearly hour of driving on the small road was an excruciating and prolonged torture.

She mentally replayed every extreme experience, both painful and joyful, she could think of, over and over, desperately trying to distract herself. This was the only way she managed to avoid losing her composure again.

But her forehead was already covered in fine beads of sweat, and she felt as if she had been pulled from water, soaked through.

Through the rearview mirror, Xiao Moyuan watched the little fox, her face flushed, eyes moist, and teeth clenched, visibly enduring her ‘discomfort.’ The irritation he had felt because of her completely vanished, replaced by an indescribable sense of satisfaction and pleasure.

Hmm, seen this way, the spiritual energy and sleep he lost last night didn’t seem entirely unacceptable after all.

When the car finally came to a steady stop in the N University parking lot, Su Mian almost immediately unbuckled her seatbelt. Like a startled rabbit, she abruptly pushed open the car door and leaped out, quickly blurting out:

“I-I’m going back to the dorms to shower first! I’ll go to class later!”

With that, without waiting for Xiao Moyuan’s response, she bolted toward the dormitory building without a backward glance, her retreating figure full of panic and disarray.

After a few steps, she seemed to remember something. She stopped, her face red, and shouted back as an addition:

“You… you’d better wash your car too! I’ll pay for the car wash!”

Xiao Moyuan watched her disappearing figure at the end of the treelined path. Only then did he slowly turn his head to look at the passenger seat.

The backrest of the leather seat was visibly darkened by a small patch of sweat, and even the seat cushion felt distinctly damp.

“So much sweat…”

Xiao Moyuan murmured, a curve forming on his lips that he himself didn’t even notice.

“No wonder she was in such a hurry to shower. This little fox is quite fond of cleanliness.”

Though he had been bothered throughout the journey, at this moment, looking at Su Mian’s panicked retreat and the ‘evidence’ on the seat, he felt utterly content and pleased.

His spirits lifted significantly, and the lingering fatigue from last night seemed to vanish completely.