"How is it?"

"It's, it's okay."

"Just okay?"

"You look like a female gangster now..."

"I am a female gangster." Brother Nan's lips still retained a strange feeling, so she didn't dare to look into Zhou Li's eyes. Instead, she lowered her head and stared at Zhou Li's T-shirt collar. "Ever since I was little, my classmates, teachers, and even my parents have said so. They also called me a 'female hooligan'."

"That shows they're honest," Zhou Li whispered.

"Then do you know who doesn't say that?"

"Your Little Brother."

"How do you know?" Brother Nan raised her head and looked at him in surprise.

"Because they're gangsters too."

"..." Brother Nan was somewhat at a loss for words. She fell silent for a moment, then continued to stare at Zhou Li. "Want more?"

"Okay."

「About two minutes later.」

"SMACK!"

Brother Nan slapped Zhou Li's hand away, mumbling indistinctly, "Don't randomly touch! If you can't control your hands, I'll chop them off..."

"Those two just now..."

"That was them."

"Then you still touch me..."

"I can!"

"..."

Zhou Li felt utterly inferior.

A moment later, their lips parted again. They looked at each other, somewhat reluctant to let go.

Swallowing, Brother Nan asked, "Satisfied now?"

"Erm..."

"Greedy."

"I was thinking..."

"What were you thinking?"

"How about we switch positions?" Zhou Li asked tentatively, subtly sizing Brother Nan up.

Their current position still had him with his back against the wall while Brother Nan stood in front of him, but they were closer now. The hand Brother Nan had been using to support herself on the wall was now down; instead, she had grabbed Zhou Li's shoulders. Yes, grabbed, and tightly at that, which allowed Brother Nan to easily pull him in or push him away. At first glance, it looked a bit like Zhou Li was being forced.

No matter how you looked at it, Brother Nan was the one in control.

Zhou Li also wanted to take control for once.

At his words, a puzzled yet curious expression emerged on Brother Nan's face. She cocked her head and asked, "Isn't this fine?"

"It's fine."

"Then why switch?"

"To see the world from a different angle," Zhou Li said after a moment's thought.

"I get it!" Brother Nan said with a teasing look, sizing him up from head to toe.

"..."

"If you can turn me around, I'll let you take the lead!"

"..."

"Putting in effort already!? Sneaky!"

Brother Nan's playful expression vanished, replaced by a serious one, then intense concentration. She braced herself, ready to give it her all. Thus, the two began wrestling in the darkness-enshrouded corner by the wall.

Zhou Li gradually increased his effort.

Brother Nan felt increasingly pressured, but she kept talking non-stop—

"You're really strong!"

"Whoa!"

"Hmph..."

"This is bad, this is bad..."

"Hey, hey, hey... give your big bro some face!"

"Not listening, are you?"

"I'm losing, I'm losing..."

Zhou Li was holding back, but he still slowly and firmly switched positions with Brother Nan.

And since Brother Nan was continuously exerting force, to steady them, he inadvertently pressed Brother Nan against the wall.

By then, Brother Nan had given up and was instead blinking at him.

They looked at each other again.

Just as Zhou Li started to get a little excited, quietly taking deep breaths to calm himself and preparing to lean in closer, a soft, curious voice suddenly came from behind them—

"Huai Xu, what are they doing?"

"!!"

Zhou Li spun around sharply.

Two figures, one large and one small, stood at the edge of the rubber track, both facing their direction. The smaller figure was clearly just a young kitten, curiously staring at them, its eyes reflecting a fluorescent glow.

He was momentarily stunned.

Meanwhile, Brother Nan's suppressed chuckles came from behind him.

Then Huai Xu lowered his head, saying in an affected tone, "I don't know. Maybe they're doing things only adults do. Lord Dumpling and I are just Little Demons, after all. How would we know!"

"Lord Dumpling is an adult!" Tuanzi declared confidently, looking up at him. "Look, I'm even called Lord Dumpling!"

"But you're still just an immature, silly cat," Huai Xu retorted.

"Then you… silly Huai Xu! Haven't you grown up either?"

"Nope, I'm just a Little Demon." Huai Xu grinned. "For all you know, we might be about the same age."

"Lord Dumpling is a Great Demon!"

"PFFT!"

"Hmm… Lord Dumpling will go ask Zhou Li!"

So Tuanzi scampered forward, her short little legs pattering quickly, not stopping until she reached Zhou Li. She looked up at him. "Zhou Li, what were you two doing just now? Were you fighting?"

"..."

Zhou Li had no choice but to pick Tuanzi up, a helpless expression on his face. "Didn't Lord Dumpling go back to the dorm? How did you end up here?"

"Lord Dumpling had Huai Xu bring her out to play." Tuanzi said, glancing back. "There are so many people here, it's so lively! Lord Dumpling planned to come jump around and play with them, but then she smelled Zhou Li."

"I see."

"What were you doing just now?"

"...We were fighting."

"Why were you fighting?"

"...To practice our combat skills."

"Oh! Lord Dumpling knows about that!" Tuanzi's eyes sparkled. "Lord Dumpling does that too when she's bored. But Lord Dumpling only practices with her stuffed animals. That's also very fun."

"Why not with other kittens?"

"I don't dare."

"Afraid of getting beaten up?"

"Lord Dumpling's status is too noble..."

"So you're just scared of getting beaten up, right?"

"Of course not..."

"Yes, you are!"

Zhou Li sighed in relief as he spoke, having finally managed to change the subject. Just then, Brother Nan came to his side. He caught a glimpse of Brother Nan looking extremely happy, which made him feel particularly awful.

There was no chance today.

He sighed again, carrying Lord Dumpling towards the crowded area. "I'll take Lord Dumpling to play."

As he passed Huai Xu, he saw the Old Monster with an 'I didn't see a thing' expression, looking very calm. Yet, a voice only the two of them could hear faintly echoed in the air, "Nice, you actually managed to shake off the nickname Zhou Lili for a bit..."

The voice was somewhat indistinct, but audible.

Zhou Li glanced at him carefully. Indeed, he couldn't tell at all that Huai Xu was speaking. This Old Monster really knew a lot of tricks!

So he pretended he hadn't heard anything.

「...」

Their hotpot videos and photos had indeed gone viral.

Not nationwide, but definitely all over campus.

The school forums and message boards were filled with their photos and videos. Many people were begging for the contact information of one or another of them. Many others racked their brains trying to figure out where their hotpot came from, or marveled at how cute the cat on the table was. Even more people expressed their envy, jealousy, and resentment.

Even last night, while scrolling TikTok in Brother Nan's dorm, her dormmates had stumbled upon the video of their hotpot group. They even took a screenshot and showed it to Zhou Li—it had hundreds of thousands of likes.

Reasons for going viral:

Good-looking guys and girls;

It was a closed campus, everyone else was eating cafeteria food and struggling, yet this group was having such a blast—a stark contrast;

Plus, it rode the wave of pandemic-related buzz.

It really was easy to go viral.

Zhou Li looked down at his Little Cousin and said, "Should we tell everyone that one of the girls in the video has a stall behind Qiu Yuan? Otherwise, if Lord Dumpling doesn't show up tomorrow, you'll be back to square one and won't sell a single postcard all day."

At that moment, Baozi was sitting on a small stool, staring blankly.

Tuanzi, meanwhile, was sitting primly in front of the stall, diligently lifting a small paw and waving it, tilting her head to look cute. Two people were at the stall choosing postcards, occasionally sneaking glances at Tuanzi. Another five or six people had also been drawn over by Tuanzi. Although they hadn't yet shifted their attention from her to the stall, based on previous experience, it was only a matter of time.

A small stall, surrounded by seven or eight people.

It was a stark contrast to its previous desolation.

Moreover, because the postcards were high quality, the customer conversion rate was also high; the earnings in the last half hour had already exceeded all previous earnings combined. Of course, it might also be that they had been 'air-petting' the cat from afar for too long and felt too embarrassed not to buy something, especially since the postcards weren't expensive.

Baozi was pondering why this was happening.

Coupled with what Zhou Li had just said, her mental load increased again.

After a long while, she finally turned her head, frowning at Zhou Li. "Why do you guys always have so many ideas for making money?"

Almost simultaneously, Tuanzi also turned her head. Waving a small paw, she asked him, "Zhou Li, am I doing it like this? Why does Lord Dumpling's paw feel a bit sore?"

"If your paw is sore, stop and rest for a while," Zhou Li said to Tuanzi. "Don't tire yourself out."

"How can I be like you guys?" Baozi continued to ask, her face serious.

"It's not very sore~" Tuanzi said in a soft voice.

"Just rest for a bit," Zhou Li reiterated.

"MEOW~"

Tuanzi indeed stopped, then shook the paw she had been waving and began to lick it.

The surrounding onlookers were once again amazed.

A few girls got starry-eyed. Two of them even completely ignored the 'Please Do Not Touch the Cat' sign next to the stall and reached out, trying to forcibly pet Tuanzi, but Tuanzi dodged them.

Baozi, however, remained half-turned, her head tilted, looking at Zhou Li who was behind her, earnestly waiting for his answer.

Waiting...

Waiting...

Waiting...

「Minutes passed.」

She silently turned her head back and resumed staring blankly.

She was so focused on staring blankly that she didn't notice: the two people who had been choosing postcards earlier, feeling too awkward to stay any longer, haphazardly grabbed two postcards from the stall, paid, and left, glancing back every few steps.

Then, another two people squatted down in front of the stall.

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