Chapter 187 – Pure-Love Loyalist or Harem Enthusiast?

Having failed to learn the secret to fishing, Lin Xi left Yang Shanshan’s team and moved on to “inspect” Shi Yu’s group like some visiting leader.

Shi Yu was fishing. Lu Yi… Where was Lu Yi???

Lin Xi looked around until she finally spotted Lu Yi dozing beneath a large tree, her back against the trunk.

“Well, look who it is-” Shi Yu noticed Lin Xi. “How did you ever tear yourself away from Zhao Xinning and Xia Xun to come see me?”

Lin Xi smiled faintly. “I’m here to inspect your work.”

“You’re fishing. Lu Yi is slacking off.”

Lu Yi snapped awake at the sound of Lin Xi’s voice. “Lin Xi~”

Lin Xi let the greeting pass.

She sat down at Lu Yi’s fishing spot. Lu Yi settled beside her and laid her head across Lin Xi’s thighs.

“Lu Yi, go sleep in the tent.”

“I don’t know how to put up a tent,” Lu Yi mumbled sleepily.

“I’ll put it up for you. You’re not fishing anyway, so go back and sleep.”

“Are you going to sleep in the tent too?”

“No. I’m going to fish.”

Lin Xi had spent the entire morning teaching Zhao Xinning and Xia Xun. That afternoon, she absolutely had to cast a few lines herself.

“If you’re not going, then neither am I. I’m staying right here on your lap.”

“Wait, what? You’re making it really hard for me to fish like this.”

“Which is more important, me or fishing?”

“You weigh more.” Lin Xi’s legs were going numb beneath her. “Behave, or you won’t get any fish for dinner.”

Faced with a choice between eating and sleeping, Lu Yi chose food.

She obediently returned to her tree.

She didn’t want to sleep in the tent or the car, because Lin Xi wouldn’t go with her…

…

Plop-

A ball of pink groundbait hit the water. Lin Xi had thrown it in to lure fish to the spot.

Ripples spread across the surface.

Lin Xi picked up the rod Lu Yi had never touched, sat beside Shi Yu, and began fishing with her.

She told Shi Yu she planned to spend the whole afternoon there.

She had already taught Zhao Xinning and Xia Xun the basics that morning. Her two pupils shouldn’t need any more guidance that afternoon.

“We both claim to be expert anglers,” Shi Yu proposed. “How about a contest?”

“No.” Lin Xi shook her head. “Just hearing the words fishing contest gives me a headache now. If I ever agree to compete with anyone again, I’m a dog.”

The morning’s contest had left Lin Xi traumatized.

Shi Yu laughed. “Yang Shanshan’s win was so absurd it shouldn’t count. I wonder what secret technique she used.”

“I asked her. She and Little Sister Tongtong wouldn’t tell me.”

“Throw out Yang Shanshan’s top score and Lu Yi’s zero, and everyone in between is what normal fishing skill looks like.” Shi Yu was still trying to coax Lin Xi into a contest.

Lin Xi continued to refuse. “Let me make this clear: I’m not rejecting the idea because it’s you. I genuinely don’t want to compete.”

“Fishing is supposed to be relaxing. Why does everyone insist on turning it into a contest?”

“And why are you so determined to compete with me, anyway?”

“Because I’d make the loser grant the winner one request,” Shi Yu said. “Then I’d win and ask you to kiss me.”

“You would obediently comply.”

“Little by little, you would discover how wonderful kissing me feels and grow hopelessly addicted to my lips.”

“Things between us would get so heated that we’d forget about fishing, forget that we were out in the wilderness, and lose ourselves completely…”

“At last, we’d do it right here and explore the mysteries of life together.”

Lin Xi covered her face. “You’re unbelievable, Shi Yu. I only just sat down beside you, and you’ve already imagined an entire adults-only scene.”

So this was what people meant when they said a pervert never changed her spots…

Shi Yu answered honestly, “I was thinking of turning it into the script for a short erotic comic and putting my H-manga artist skills to use. What do you think?”

“If you dare draw it, we’re never speaking again. I refuse to be friends with a pervert.”

“Uh, fine. What a waste of a good script…”

“What part of it was good?!” Lin Xi had so many retorts bottled up inside that she didn’t know where to begin. “Didn’t you go legit? Weren’t you planning to draw wholesome, pure-love cuddle manga? Why are you still itching to work as an H-manga artist?”

“Occupational habit.”

Lin Xi had no answer for that.

A fish taking the bait cut their conversation short.

Lin Xi had caught her first fish of the day.

It was a pale chub, the most common fish in waters like these.

“Ha! That’s more like it.” Lin Xi removed it from the hook and tossed it into the keepnet.

After replacing the bait, she flicked the rod, sending the hook back beneath the water to wait.

“So…” Lin Xi asked Shi Yu, “what were we talking about?”

The joy of landing a fish had knocked the conversation clean out of her head.

“We were talking about the two of us passionately doing it on this grassy bank,” Shi Yu said. “You said once wasn’t enough, and I said, very well, then let’s continue-“

“Get lost!-“

Lin Xi no longer blushed the instant Shi Yu started spouting perverted nonsense the way she once had.

“Fine.” Shi Yu amended her answer. “We were discussing whether you’re a pure-love loyalist or a harem enthusiast.”

“I remember us talking about manga,” Lin Xi said.

“Same thing.” Shi Yu asked, “So which are you, a pure-love loyalist or a harem enthusiast?”

Lin Xi answered without hesitation. “Pure love, obviously.”

“Then why did you build a harem?” Shi Yu asked.

Lin Xi stared at her in confusion.

“What harem?”

“You’re still denying it?” Shi Yu said. “Isn’t this weekend’s fishing and camping trip just you taking your entire harem on an outing?”

“They’re all my friends!” Lin Xi snapped.

“Are you sure they’re friends? Or are they all… your wings?”

“Of course they’re friends!” Lin Xi felt the need to make herself perfectly clear.

“I, Lin Xi, will never have a harem!”

“Excellent. I’m a pure-love loyalist too,” Shi Yu said. “So which one of us will you choose as your girlfriend?”

Lin Xi needed a moment for that one.

“What kind of question is that?”

“Besides you lot, neither Shanshan nor Xinning even likes me that way.”

“It’s easier to see from the outside,” Shi Yu replied. “I think both of them like you too.”

“Nonsense.”

Lin Xi ignored Shi Yu’s absurd claims.

Shi Yu pressed on. “You’re devoted to pure love, and you don’t want a harem. So who will you choose? Or is the person you like not here? Do you have even more harem members somewhere else???”

“Do you seriously think I’m the King of Ten Thousand Females?!” Lin Xi was speechless. “There aren’t that many people in love with me.”

“Fine. Then choose one of us.”

“Choose, my ass.” Lin Xi refused to continue this pointless conversation. “I don’t like anyone. Being friends with all of you is already more than enough for me.”

“It isn’t enough for us,” Shi Yu said. “Every one of us wants you all to herself.”

Pressure descended on Lin Xi in an instant.

Girls are terrifying…

“You’re talking nonsense,” Lin Xi replied flatly. “As far as I can tell, you’re the only pervert who thinks that way.”

When Lin Xi refused to answer directly, Shi Yu tried another question.

“Of everyone here, who do you care about most?”