I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 300

Chapter 300: I Should Prepare Some Tenderness for You

 

In the world of June afternoons, there wafts the hot waves of summer and the slightly intoxicating scent of summer breeze everywhere. Personally, I seem to prefer warmth over cold.

 

It’s said to be related to one’s constitution. Thin people tend to like hot weather, while those who are overweight can’t bear the heat and would rather skip directly from spring to autumn, heading straight into winter.

 

But I feel that my fondness for summer isn’t due to my constitution, but rather… something related to life itself.

 

*Da-da-da-da.*

 

Walking on the tranquil streets of Nanqi in a maid uniform with small shoes, I feel the gentle breeze brushing against my cheeks and skirt hem, giving me a sense of comfort within.

 

It’s hard to describe this feeling. It’s like those high school students in anime who often wear school uniforms and knee-high socks, engage in fights and use superpowers outside, and exude confidence. The audience watching such a protagonist would feel a pleasing sight, and at this moment, I seem to have become the protagonist, experiencing the whole world from a first-person perspective…

 

It’s a bit shy, but also very joyful.

 

“How much for the watermelon? Is it sweet?”

“It’s sweet, boss. They’re all home-grown melons. If it’s not sweet, you can come back and exchange until you find a sweet one!”

“Lao Liu! Hey, unexpectedly running into you here. Striking it rich, huh?”

“Where’s the wealth? The economy’s been bad lately. My son… working on the construction site, his wages have been cut a lot…”

 

In the scorching summer day, Nanqi District, as a relatively remote and obscure area, those appearing on this pathway during this time are mostly middle-aged or elderly men from nearby.

 

There are also quite a few children like Li Denghua and Zhou Xiaofei, who are on vacation, with parents too busy to look after them, running out alone.

 

If one doesn’t consult a map, a newcomer to Nanqi District might mistake it for a small county town. After all, both the architecture and street style here are ancient, so old that they bear the imprint of a bygone era of innocence.

 

There’s a small repair shop for bicycles on one side, and on the other, a store with an old signboard reading “Wangji Noodle Shop.” Here, a dim sum shop about to close, there, a fishing tackle store.

 

These shops, whether in terms of their facades or their interiors, look incredibly aged. Just like the roadside greenery—there are hardly any young trees in Nanqi District, mostly towering old trees, clearly having stood for at least two or three decades.

 

Among them, almond and pineapple trees are the most abundant. Each tree stands over ten meters tall, and it’s currently the season when these trees bloom and bear fruit. When you raise your head, you can see the tiny flowers on the almond trees, just like the gardenia flowers we use to make yellow sticky rice, falling down like snowflakes with a gust of wind.

 

The almond tree is a unique plant in the southern part of our country. Especially these tall trees, over ten meters high. When I was young, there were many of these trees planted in the medicinal botanical garden.

 

Its biggest feature is that it’s easy to care for. When the fruit is ripe, a group of us friends would shake the tree vigorously, and then a bunch of small mango-like fruits would fall down with a patter.

 

The size of the almonds is similar to that of small mangoes, but theoretically, they are not mangoes. Their seeds are also very large, with not much flesh. However, because these fruits are so fragrant, everyone would eagerly wait under the tree for the fruits to fall, and then carry home a bag full.

 

In addition to almonds, pineapples here are also very famous. The wood pineapple, sugarloaf pineapple, pineapple trees can also grow very tall. When the fruits are ripe, someone will bring a ladder to climb the tree and pick the wood pineapple.

 

At that time, sugarloaf pineapples were still differentiated into “dry-pack” and “wet-pack”. Dry-pack is like the pineapples sold in fruit shops now, without much moisture, while wet-pack is the whole sugarloaf pineapple being sticky, looking like slime but very delicious.

 

These trees along the streets of Nanqi District all bear some “traces of time” on their bark, such as the smoke marks left by barbecue stalls, or a few rusty nails, or some carvings.

 

Walking on such streets every day always gives me an inexplicable sense of peace, I don’t know why.

 

“Phew—”

 

Because it’s a bit too hot to be under the sun with a bun head, I found a relatively shady place by the roadside, took off the satin ribbon used to fix my hair, and let my long hair naturally fall behind me. Then I shook my head and quickly tidied up my hair. I’ll do another hairstyle when I get back.

 

Having roughly tidied up my bangs, I resumed my pace towards the Starry Garden community. My current appearance… if people don’t look at the shape of my ears, I actually resemble Shiro from “No Game No Life,” a bit. Both are loli with white long hair.

 

“Sister.”

 

On the way back, as I passed by a small shopping mall, two children seemed to have come out of nowhere. One of them seemed to gather courage and asked, “Are you playing cosplay?”

 

“Hmm?”

I snapped back to reality and casually replied, “Yeah…”

 

“See, I told you it’s cosplaying anime!”

 

This child immediately said to his companion, “It must be from ‘King of Glory’!”

 

“Nonsense!”

 

The other child argued, “It’s definitely from ‘Genshin Impact’!”

 

Haha…

I carefully walked around the two children.

Actually, I wasn’t sure if I was cosplaying or not. It just seemed like Nahida was wearing a maid outfit.

 

With the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, there are more kids around here now. Starlight Elementary School should be very quiet, right?

 

In the tranquil afternoon, wearing my eccentric attire, I quickly walked along the road between the café and Ai Luodi’s rental house, arriving at the Starry Garden community downstairs.

 

At this time, the breakfast stalls at the back door of the community were almost closed, with only a few old men and women who had come early to sell vegetables and handmade products chatting.

 

“You know? We’re going to build a sea bridge, on the side of Nanqi Sea, oh, it’s going to be a long bridge.”

“Old lady, where did you hear this from again?”

“The newspaper said so, didn’t it? We’re preparing to build a new District! It’s called… Mianyun, the Mianyun District. Haha, life is getting better and better.”

“That’s right. When I was young, there was nothing to eat. At that time, my husband and I fled here. Our hometown… was flooded…”

 

The old men and women were speaking in the local dialect of Shenzhen City, but I understood.

 

Having grown up in an orphanage, I not only ate “communal meals” but also heard “communal conversations.”

 

Back then, there weren’t so many concerns. Working at the welfare institute was a job, but it was also a kind of “belief” profession, similar to how some teachers are willing to go to mountainous areas to teach children.

 

Over here at the welfare institute, there are many “teachers” and “nurses” from around Shenzhen City. Besides Mandarin, they also taught us various dialects. Gradually, I learned to speak some of the dialects around Shenzhen City, at least enough for daily communication.

 

“The weather is getting hotter.”

“Yes, it’s getting hot. You don’t know, in that snow disaster years ago, so many people died…”

“Yeah, let’s not talk about the past. We should look forward.”

“Look at this girl…”

 

In the gaze of these old ladies and grannies, I smiled slightly at them, then walked into the community from the back gate as gracefully as possible.

 

“Is it that girl on the rooftop of Building 3?”

“There are so many girls there, all fresh and lively, I don’t know where they come from to work…”

“Hmm? Isn’t she a friend of the Ai family’s girl?”

 

Like most of the old men and women, the people selling vegetables here also seemed a bit gossipy. They probably thought I couldn’t understand the dialect, so they discussed things very casually.

 

Ah… I really do prefer it a bit warmer.

As I rode the elevator, I quietly thought to myself.

 

After all, in my impression, cold sometimes meant “death”.

And it seems I’m very sensitive to topics related to life.

 

“……”

 

I stretched out my hands, looking at my own pair of snow-white, delicate girl’s hands.

 

Despite having been doing manual labor for the past two months, thanks to the unique nature of my physique, my hands still remain as white as snow, with skin as smooth as porcelain, and joints as soft as boneless meat. They are as delicate as jelly, and it feels like a touch of them would lift anyone’s spirits.

 

Elf.

 

That word felt somewhat playful and mischievous.

 

Lowering my head, I glanced at my slightly swollen chest. On the clothes, which carried a hint of fragrance and laundry detergent, I could see a few strands of cat hair. Further down were my slender legs wrapped in white thigh-high stockings.

 

I remembered dreaming about something related to the elf race while sleeping on the ride back with Xiao Mo.

 

Xiao Mo had mentioned that she didn’t have much connection to the elf race, and she seemed unaware of the existence of this “boundary” of elves. Perhaps this should be regarded as proof that I am “ahead” of her, right?

 

With a “ding dong,” the elevator door opened. I took out the key from the pocket of my skirt and unlocked the door to the house. Dragon milk, dragon milk, I remembered leaving it in the kitchen fridge after drinking it in the morning… there it is. I walked straight into the kitchen, and inside the fridge here, I found the milk pot that still had quite a bit left after I drank it in the morning.

 

Then I faced a dilemma with this milk pot. It’s a style specifically for children, with a nipple attached. I don’t know what Xiao Mo and the others were thinking, keeping it like this. It’s fine for me to drink it at home, but for Ouyang Xue… I can’t just take this over to her, can I? And even if I pour the milk out into a cup, how do I persuade Ouyang Xue to drink it?

 

“If I saw milk being sold on the way, I would have bought a small bottle, but I didn’t finish it. Sister Ouyang, could you help me finish it?”—If I say this, will Ouyang Xue think I’m a rude, bad child?

 

Hmm… After hesitating in front of the fridge for a while, I took out a carton of milk from inside, cut open the packaging, poured out all the milk, and carefully poured the dragon milk into it. This should be fine, right?

 

Later, I’ll say I was worried that Ouyang Xue wouldn’t be able to replenish her nutrition if she fell ill, so I brought some milk from home. Anyway, she won’t know when the packaging was cut.

 

With that in mind, I grabbed the box containing the dragon milk, closed the fridge door, hurried out of the house, entered the elevator, and went downstairs. Just like when I came back, I attracted a lot of attention from people on the way to the café, and even a few passersby recognized me as “the maid from the café over there” and greeted me, to which I responded.

 

“Marathon long run! The Nanqi District Street Office is holding the annual Nanqi District Marathon on June 9th!”

“Marathon enthusiasts can register on-site tomorrow until ten o’clock in the morning. There will be no extensions, and the rewards are plentiful!”

 

Coincidentally, when I was on my way back, I saw a promotional stand by the street that seemed to be promoting the “Marathon” event in Nanqi District. So, June 9th is the annual marathon long run event in Nanqi District?

 

Out of curiosity, I took a flyer from the staff here as I passed by this small pavilion.

 

“Little sister, are you going to participate in the long run tomorrow?”

 

“Ah… I, I’ll pass.”

 

I smiled and said, “Just looking, just looking.”

 

So, is it true that the legendary troublemaker, the centaur girl “Dolly,” is coming tomorrow?

 

Saying goodbye to the staff here, I quickly walked towards the small hill of the café and soon arrived on the ground floor.

 

“Sister Ouyang!”

 

Holding the dragon milk, I pushed open the door of the staff lounge according to the pre-prepared lines.

 

“I brought some milk for you from home… huh?”

 

Then I was dumbfounded by the scene in the staff lounge.

 

Li Chen, the café’s temporary truck driver and employee, was inside the room helping Ouyang Xue with medicine.

 

“After you finish eating these, you’re coming to the hospital with me. If you don’t go, I’ll tie you up and carry you there.”

 

Saying this in a domineering tone, Li Chen turned around as if he noticed me standing outside the door.

 

“Oh, Nuo’er, you’re here. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of Ouyang.”

 

“I can’t stand it anymore. She has to be dealt with using brute force.”

 

“……”

 

……