Chapter 163: Becoming a Steam Princess
After that chat with Mother Ye, Meng Yue finally understood why Lin Muqing had “given herself up” so quickly.
Although she didn’t know the full details, she could guess that during the time when Lin Muqing was feeling the most lonely and helpless, Ye Ziming was the one who appeared and helped her. She also noticed that whether they were eating or talking about sleeping arrangements, Lin Muqing would always glance at Ye Ziming.
This showed just how important Ye Ziming was to her daughter, probably more important than anyone else right now. That was why Meng Yue changed her attitude and didn’t try to stop the two from sharing a room like before.
Now what she needed to do was work hard to raise her own place in Lin Muqing’s heart, so she could naturally bring her home as her daughter.
“Hair dryer is here! Let me open the box first.”
While Meng Yue was still praising Lin Muqing, Mother Ye came out of the storage room with a box. She sat down on the sofa, took out some scissors, and opened the box to take out the new hair dryer.
“Thank you, Auntie.”
To Lin Muqing, Mother Ye’s return was like being rescued. She almost wanted to hug her out of gratitude.
While Mother Ye was gone, Meng Yue had been showering her with compliments nonstop, and it made Lin Muqing feel overwhelmed. It wasn’t that she didn’t like it, it just made her really shy and embarrassed to keep hearing how “pretty” and “cute” she was.
She reached out her hand, thinking that as soon as she got the hair dryer, she’d head straight back to her good buddy’s room to stay away from Meng Yue a bit.
But just as she was about to grab it, Meng Yue suddenly reached out and took the hair dryer first.
“?!”
Lin Muqing looked completely confused and shocked. She had no idea what Meng Yue was trying to do.
“Why is your face red?”
After putting the box away, Mother Ye noticed the redness in Lin Muqing’s cheeks. She reached out and gently touched her little face while asking softly.
As she did, she thought in her heart, My son really has good taste. He actually brought back such an adorable daughter-in-law.
“I...”
Lin Muqing flinched a little when she felt her face being touched, but once she saw it was Mother Ye, she stopped herself from pulling away.
She opened her mouth like she wanted to explain something. But didn’t know how to, and only ended up feeling more embarrassed.
“All that just from a few compliments?”
Meng Yue laughed and reached out to gently pat Lin Muqing’s head too.
“Well then, let me say a few nice things too…”
“Actually, it’s not really praise. It’s just the truth.”
“Exactly! Our little Lin Muqing is so beautiful and cute. She’s way better than all those other girls, by a mile!”
Poor Lin Muqing was now sitting between the two women, being complimented and having her head patted nonstop.
Soon enough, she became a total Steam Princess, the kind with steam rising from the top of her head.
Not long after, Ye Ziming finished his shower and came out of the bathroom. He was planning to look for Lin Muqing and grab the hair dryer, but the moment he stepped into the living room, he was stunned by what he saw.
He didn’t even know what to say.
Especially when Lin Muqing noticed him, turned her head, and looked at him with big, pleading eyes.
Sweat started to form on Ye Ziming’s forehead. Her beautiful eyes were wide open, looking at him like she was silently saying, ‘Boss, save me!’
Understanding the message, Ye Ziming responded with a look too. He gave her a look of encouragement and a silent ‘you got this.’
At that moment, Meng Yue was holding the hair dryer and helping Lin Muqing dry her hair, while Mother Ye sat beside them helping out. They were still talking about how nice her hair was, how fair her skin was. Just saying all kinds of nice things.
To Ye Ziming, it looked like they were giving her compliments.
‘Ughhh... Boss, don’t you love me anymore?’
Because they were so in sync, Ye Ziming could clearly understand what Lin Muqing was trying to say just from her eyes.
He felt a bit helpless. He could tell that the little cutie didn’t hate Mother Ye or Meng Yue.
It was purely because the two adults were being too enthusiastic, and Lin Muqing found it hard to handle. She even felt a little scared.
And if Ye Ziming guessed correctly, what Lin Muqing wanted the most right now… was probably to find a place to hide.
After thinking for a moment, Ye Ziming couldn’t stand that pitiful look in her eyes anymore, so he walked over to the sofa.
"Ahem… I think that’s enough now."
He gave a couple of soft coughs in front of Mother Ye.
Since he was talking to elders, Ye Ziming didn’t want to say too much directly. But he still wanted to “rescue” Lin Muqing a little.
“Pfft, alright then.”
Seeing Lin Muqing’s red little face, then glancing at Ye Ziming standing in front of her, Meng Yue gave a small smile and turned off the hair dryer.
As two mothers, they could both tell what Ye Ziming meant. So after smiling knowingly, they finally let the girl go.
While letting her go, the looks in their eyes were a little… suggestive. You could almost see the word “flirting” written on their faces.
"Aunt Lin, Mom, I’m heading upstairs."
Ye Ziming picked up the hair dryer with one hand, gently grabbed Lin Muqing’s hand with the other, and said goodbye to the two women before getting ready to take her back to the room.
"Alright, go on. Get some rest," Meng Yue said with a soft smile.
"And don’t forget to take proper safety precautions," Mother Ye added with a teasing grin.
"Uh… okay."
Ye Ziming felt a bit awkward but still nodded and agreed. Then he took Lin Muqing away.
Finally free, Lin Muqing turned to glance at the two women sitting on the sofa. Her cheeks were still red, and she felt too shy to say anything. In the end, she just waved her hand and followed her good buddy toward the stairs.
As they walked up the stairs and were just about to be out of view from the living room, Lin Muqing couldn’t help but turn her head once more and glance back at Meng Yue downstairs.
She didn’t really know why, maybe she didn’t want to leave just yet, or maybe she just wanted to look at her one more time.
Phew~
After Ye Ziming brought her back into the room and closed the door, Lin Muqing finally let out a big sigh of relief. She raised her hand and patted her small chest as she exhaled deeply.
"Is your hair dry now?"
Seeing her do that, Ye Ziming found it funny and couldn’t help but reach out and pat her head. He only thought of asking about her hair after touching her, so he asked the question casually.
"Yeah, yeah, no need to blow it anymore."
Lin Muqing also reached up and touched her own hair while answering. Then she turned to talk to her good buddy.
Besides answering him, she also looked carefully around his room. She noticed the setup was pretty similar to his room in the southern part of the city, but this one was bigger.
Since his room was pretty simply decorated, it looked quite spacious and empty.
Then she walked over and gently sat on the bed. She noticed there were two pillows, two blankets, and an extra mattress placed nearby. It looked like Mother Ye had prepared everything ahead of time.
She understood why there were two pillows and two blankets, one for each person.
But what Lin Muqing didn’t understand was… if there was already a sheet spread out on the bed, why was there another mattress placed on a chair nearby?
That part confused her.