The Accidental Girlfriend

Li Chunsheng’s gaze was fixed intently upon the soft valley where the pendant lay concealed, and he swallowed with noticeable difficulty. He parted his lips, as if on the verge of speaking, yet the words seemed to catch in his throat, ultimately swallowed back down. His entire demeanor was one of profound hesitation and inner turmoil, as though caught between an urgent desire to speak and an inability to do so. Observing his conflicted state, Liuxia’s elegant brows arched ever so slightly. She refrained from immediately articulating her suspicions, wary that a partially informed Li Chunsheng might inadvertently invite monumental trouble. Nevertheless, to preempt any resentment or lingering doubts in the junior’s mind, the young woman inquired with an exceptionally gentle tone, “Chunsheng, do you have something on your mind? It’s quite alright; please speak freely.”

Upon hearing Liuxia’s question, Li Chunsheng scratched his head, stammering, “Actually… Senior, this pendant, I had originally intended… to give it to the girl who would be my lifelong companion…”

“After all, this pendant appears quite valuable… and I lack the funds to purchase things like diamond rings or gold…”

“Presenting it as a token of affection would certainly save a substantial amount of money…”

“Ah?” Liuxia gasped in surprise. The pendant, which she had just tucked into her breast, suddenly felt scalding and impossibly heavy, prompting an unconscious urge to retrieve it and return it to Li Chunsheng at once.

‘So… Chunsheng had already envisioned such a distant future? If it was indeed a preparation for marriage, then this item held immeasurable significance for him. Yet… the implications behind this object were likely too profound, making it perilous to expose it carelessly to the world. It was probable that the old dean had harbored this very concern, entrusting it to Chunsheng only on his deathbed. However, the old dean might also have deemed the full ramifications unsuitable for Chunsheng at that time, which explained why Chunsheng remained utterly oblivious to the true situation even now. After all, Chunsheng was merely a Black Iron rank; should he stumble upon certain truths, even partially understanding them, and naively involve himself in the fierce struggles of the upper echelons, he might very well meet a tragic, unceremonious end.’

In that fleeting moment, Liuxia’s mind raced with a myriad of thoughts. Ultimately, she steeled herself, deciding to brazenly keep the pendant—an object potentially fraught with deadly peril—temporarily in her possession.

A faint blush crept across the young woman’s cheeks as she spoke in a barely audible voice, “Th-that… Chunsheng, I still believe it would be more suitable for me to safeguard it…” She gently bit her lower lip, then added with a touch of embarrassment, “Perhaps… perhaps when you truly find the girl you love in the future, Chunsheng, you can come and ask for it back…?”

“I, your senior… certainly wouldn’t covet such a minor possession of yours… Do you, Chunsheng, not have faith in me?”

‘To delay for as long as possible,’ she thought, ‘at least until Chunsheng possesses sufficient means to protect himself.’ The young woman silently resolved this in her heart.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you…” Li Chunsheng offered an awkward smile, then, as if recalling something important, he pressed further, “Right… Senior, you just mentioned ‘Mu Shengling’s token’… what exactly did you mean by that?”

“N-nothing at all! It was merely a trick of my eyes, Senior, I must have mistaken it…” Liuxia chuckled, brushing it off dismissively. “Upon closer inspection now, I realize it doesn’t resemble it in the slightest!”

“Oh, right! Let’s not dwell on that! Instead, I’ll teach you how to use that Black Iron artifact you just acquired from the Head of Security!” The young woman abruptly steered the conversation in a new direction.

‘Highly suspicious,’ Li Chunsheng mused, his suspicion instantly piqued. ‘Mu Shengling’s token? It must refer to that woman’s personal jewelry, then.’ Utterly unfamiliar with the upper echelons of this world, Li Chunsheng possessed no comprehension of the supposed “token’s” true significance. Consequently, his conjecture inevitably veered towards a different path, one he considered entirely rational:

‘Alas… it seems Senior truly cannot forget that woman. Her eagerness to keep my pendant, I suspect… is merely a way to gaze upon an object and recall a person. If that’s the case, then I’ll let Senior wear it for a bit longer, as a memento.’

Despite Li Chunsheng’s profound sympathy for his senior’s predicament, a flicker of exasperation simultaneously stirred within him, a ‘hate iron for not becoming steel’ frustration at what he perceived as her indecisive, ‘simp-like’ behavior. Consequently, a playful impulse to ‘tease’ his senior, just a little, surged forth uncontrollably.

“Hmm… Senior, let’s not change the subject so quickly… Tell you what,” Li Chunsheng suddenly adopted a roguish, carefree expression, grinning broadly as he proposed, “From now on, Senior, whether we’re out in public or here at home, you must treat me as if I were your ‘girlfriend’. If you can agree to this condition, then I’ll permit you, Senior, to keep wearing this pendant indefinitely~”

He had fully anticipated his senior would immediately flush crimson and reject the notion outright. After all, his senior was, at heart, a ‘steel-straight man’; how could she possibly agree to such an absurd request? Feigning it for a performance in public was one thing, but to maintain such a charade even when alone at home, just the two of them, struck him as excessively demanding. Still, it mattered little; he was merely jesting, intending only to playfully tease his senior.

To his utter surprise, Li Chunsheng did not encounter the anticipated outright refusal. Instead, upon hearing his words, Liuxia grew visibly flustered, her gaze beginning to dart uncertainly.

“Th-this…” the young woman stammered, her voice barely a whisper, “I… I suppose that would be… acceptable…”

In that instant, the ambiance within the room shifted, becoming subtly charged with an undeniable ambiguity.

“Eh?” Li Chunsheng’s heart gave a sudden lurch, feeling as though his expectations had veered off course by a considerable margin. ‘Uh, what’s happening? She… she actually agreed? Senior! How could you possibly agree? You’re making me quite flustered!’

As for Liuxia, what thoughts were swirling in her mind? Her thoughts were, in fact, quite straightforward: ‘Regardless… to avoid becoming a goblin and causing trouble for Chunsheng, I’ve already resolved to strive to embody his ideal woman. Chunsheng’s current proposition merely serves to formally place this matter on the table… In reality, it doesn’t appear to deviate significantly from my original intentions.’

Nevertheless, after a moment of consideration, the young woman deemed it somewhat imprudent. She lifted her gaze, looking earnestly at Li Chunsheng, and appended an ‘insurance clause’: “Then… it’s agreed, until you, Chunsheng, encounter the true mistress of this pendant, I, your senior, will indeed act as you’ve requested! However! This is merely an act, understood? It’s not real! Therefore, Chunsheng, you mustn’t take it too seriously! No matter how convincingly I portray your girlfriend, Chunsheng, you must absolutely never truly fall in love with the ‘girlfriend’ character I’m playing, alright? If you, Chunsheng, cannot agree to this, then I, your senior, will not consent to your request either.” ‘I mustn’t, because of myself, impede Chunsheng from finding his true love!’ Liuxia gazed at Li Chunsheng with utmost seriousness, awaiting his response.

‘Senior… do you truly desire that pendant, the one identical to Mu Shengling’s? Fine then…’ Li Chunsheng observed the young woman’s clear, earnest red eyes, remaining silent for a brief moment before suddenly bursting into laughter. “Hahaha… Senior, you truly are a joker! How could I possibly fall in love with you? Senior, I agree to your condition! Are you relieved now?” Li Chunsheng looked at Liuxia with genuine sincerity. Seeing a faint, relieved smile finally grace her lips, he too exhaled a silent breath of relief.

‘Indeed, I mustn’t allow my senior, already burdened by her predicament, to feel any further distress. But truly fall in love with Senior? Impossible! At most… it’s merely some primal, physical sensation towards her current form… Behold, I shall suppress it completely with my unparalleled will!’

Both ‘brothers’ present, therefore, harbored expressions of supreme confidence within their hearts. They each believed that, having forged this ‘unbreakable’ consensus, their agreement was nothing more than a harmless, perhaps even amusing, game of make-believe. Neither of them, in that precise moment, could have possibly imagined that in the not-too-distant future, they would genuinely and irrevocably fall in love with one another.

“Right… let’s return to the topic of that Black Iron artifact.” Seeing the matter settled, Liuxia promptly guided the conversation back to its original course. “To wield it effectively, it would be prudent to first grasp its fundamental principles… At its core, a transformation-type Black Iron artifact instantly materializes the gold coins within your body into substances possessing corresponding properties, all according to a predefined structural blueprint…”