Free Web NovelChapter 52: Chapter 52: Gift Controversy
Shi Lan sighed in frustration, finally patting Xiao Du’s head and saying encouragingly, "Xiao Du, I’m counting on you."
Xiao Du snuggled comfortably in her arms, stretching contentedly. Hearing her words, it nuzzled its head against her palm. "Okay, Master, I’ll do my best~"
Shi Lan gave a worried smile.
This latest attempt had completely extinguished any thought she had of using Basic Healing on the men.
After all, how could men who couldn’t even tolerate a female getting close to them possibly be at ease while being healed by one? She was afraid their spiritual power would collapse the moment she stepped into their cells, and this would happen more than once or twice.
Shi Lan channeled her sorrow and indignation into her appetite, eating a huge pile of snacks. It wasn’t until it was almost time to clock out that she finally made a trip to the prison.
Inside the prison, after the men finished their meals, their butler robots would automatically place the lunchboxes at the delivery hatch. She just had to collect them on her next trip.
Usually, Shi Lan would collect them when she brought them dessert, but today she had only just returned to work and was preoccupied with the healing issue, so she had completely forgotten about it.
And so, inside the prison, Jiang Xia slapped his bowl angrily. "See? Females stop caring once they get what they want! She thinks we’ve all accepted her pursuit, and now she doesn’t even bring us dessert! I can’t stand to look at this gift for another second."
The others didn’t say anything, but they inexplicably shared his suspicion. The main reason was Shi Lan’s shocking track record of giving all five of them the same perfume at once.
Jiang Xia was just about to ring the bell when he heard footsteps. He immediately wiped the angry look off his face, deliberately tossed the gift box aside, and sat down on his Snowfall Chair at a distance, pretending not to care at all.
Shi Lan walked in slowly. Just like always, she announced that she was about to get off work and that they should speak up now if they needed anything. While she was collecting the lunchboxes, she was surprised to see that aside from the food she had made herself, no one had touched the meat prepared by the robots.
The others were one thing, but even Jiang Xia, who usually ate the most, had left a full bowl.
She stood in front of cell number four, a puzzled look on her face. "Lord Jiang, was the meat not good today?"
Jiang Xia scowled. "I’m already full of anger. What’s the point in eating?"
Shi Lan: "???"
"What’s wrong?"
she asked softly. Her fair, jade-like face looked as innocent, considerate, and gentle as ever, showing no trace of the shamelessness she’d displayed just a short while ago when she gave five men the same courting gift at once.
’She... How could she possibly ask ’What’s wrong’?’
Jiang Xia was furious, yet a bitter sense of being wronged inexplicably welled up inside him. His golden eyes subconsciously darted toward the gift box not far away.
Shi Lan followed his gaze. He was clearly supposed to be angry, but when he noticed her looking, he grew nervous and guilty, worried that Shi Lan would be upset at how he’d treated her gift.
His mouth moved slightly as if to explain something, but Shi Lan had no grasp of the complex source of his emotions. She only sensed that he seemed unhappy, and putting that together with the gift tossed on the floor, she thought she understood. She quickly said, "I’m sorry. It’s my first time giving someone a gift, so I didn’t know what would be best. The shopkeeper recommended this. If you don’t like it, just tell me what you want, and I’ll buy it for you."
Hearing the two words "first time," Jiang Xia’s ears twitched, and he felt a little better.
The others felt the same way. At least this proved that for now, Shi Lan was only interested in them and had only given this gift to them. She wasn’t the type to fall for every man she met.
As for the possibility that she simply didn’t understand the perfume’s meaning, none of them even considered it.
Shi Lan saw that Jiang Xia’s expression seemed to have softened a bit, so she continued, "If you don’t like this gift, I can take it back for now. I’ll buy you something you like instead. How does that sound?"
Jiang Xia’s fur instantly stood on end. He ran over, pulled the gift into his arms with his paws, and completely forgot what he’d said earlier. With great difficulty, his short little paws dragged the box under his Snowfall Chair where he kept his treasures. He huffed, "What kind of logic is that? You can’t take back a gift you’ve already given."
Shi Lan thought that made sense. Remembering how they had saved her life before, she was especially tolerant of the five of them. "In that case, I’ll just buy you all new gifts that you’ll like," she said.
She thought for a moment. "Since you all have my contact info, you can think it over and send me a message tonight. I’ll buy the gifts and bring them to you tomorrow, okay?"
She addressed the last part to everyone.
This time, they all murmured their assent one after another. As for the gifts they had originally wanted to return, the matter was tacitly dropped by all five of them after she mentioned it was her "first time" giving a gift.
’Oh well,’ they thought. ’It’s Shi Lan’s first time, after all. She probably didn’t do it on purpose. As males, we naturally can’t be petty with a female.’
That exact thought passed through each of their minds in perfect unison.
Just as Shi Lan was about to leave, Yan Huoshui added one more thing. "Shi Lan, we all understand your intentions, and we’re all familiar with each other. But in the future, it’s probably better not to give this kind of perfume to other males. A lot of them don’t like it."
For example, in the past, they had never accepted Jasmine perfume from any other female. freeweɓnovel.cøm
Shi Lan froze for a moment. ’But... that’s what the shopkeeper at the specialty store told me...’
Her gaze subconsciously flickered to He Hanshi, the one she trusted most, seeking confirmation. His ice-blue eyes met hers, and he gave a slight nod as well.
’It’s true that some people don’t like it. He himself, for instance, had never accepted it from other females.’
Seeing this, Shi Lan finally agreed. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
"Okay, I understand."
’No wonder Jiang Xia was in a bad mood,’ she thought. ’I probably really did give him something he doesn’t like.’
Although Shi Lan didn’t understand why he would keep it if he disliked it, she was already determined to choose the next gifts for everyone very carefully.
As for Grandpa Lu and the others, the thought of picking out gifts already gave Shi Lan a headache. She decided to make some snacks that didn’t exist in this world and mail them over to thank them for helping her capture the man in the trench coat.
With the gift matter settled, Shi Lan finished collecting the lunchboxes and clocked out. After she left, Mu Tangfeng suddenly asked, "Jiang Xia, weren’t you going to return it? How come you accepted it after all?"
Jiang Xia’s face turned beet red with embarrassment. "None of your business! If you want to return it, return it yourself."
Mu Tangfeng retorted with a deadpan expression, "I never said I was going to return it. You were the only one who said that."
’He had only thought about it, and it’s not like a person’s mind can’t change, right?’
At his words, Jiang Xia’s face grew even redder. Luckily, the biggest advantage of his beast form was its thick fur, so no one could see him blushing.
He stopped responding to Mu Tangfeng and instead, very carefully, spritzed a little of the perfume on himself.
Having never used perfume before, Jiang Xia sprayed himself several times in a row, then couldn’t help but let out a few sneezes. Mu Tangfeng laughed at him. "There’s the karma for being a liar, huh?"
Jiang Xia froze, then guiltily capped the perfume bottle and put it back in its place, pretending nothing had happened.
Although the prison cells here weren’t soundproof, they were excellent at containing smells, so no one else could smell the perfume he’d sprayed. He had simply forgotten about Ye Ming in the cell across from him, nor did he notice that Ye Ming, hidden in the darkness, had also quietly spritzed some on himself.
...
Shi Lan had intentionally given everyone extra time to think, but unexpectedly, they were all quite fast.
That very night, just after she finished washing up, she received messages from every single one of them.
’But why,’ she wondered, ’are all these gift requests so strange?’
