「1 p.m.」

As expected, a heavy rain started pouring outside. Consequently, Aunt Jiang and Old Zhou didn't go to the exam center's entrance to wait for Zhu Shuang anymore. They merely said they'd drive to pick him up after the exam was almost over.

Zhou Li was half-reclining on the bed, quietly reading a book.

Lately, it seemed he had developed a habit of reading and studying spells every day, which he also did before he graduated from high school. Once the habit set in, the task became a lot easier, but it was still far from fun. On the contrary, the material remained tedious.

FLIP.

Another page was turned.

Tuanzi carefully concealed herself in the shadows, revealing only half of her small head, eyes unblinking as she stared at him, ready to pounce.

"DING-DONG!"

Zhou Li took his gaze off the book and pulled out his phone.

Tuanzi's eyes narrowed. Perfect timing!

"MEOWW!"

She quickly darted out from under the blanket, straight for Zhou Li's hand, using all four paws to latch onto it and began biting.

Zhou Li ignored her, picked up his phone to check it, and casually lifted her as well.

Li Daimao: Wanna go out and play after it stops raining?

Zhou Li: Sure

Ten minutes later, the rain hadn't stopped.

Li Daimao: Let's go out and play

Zhou Li: Okay

By then, Tuanzi was sitting quietly to the side, her entire feline form radiating a 'don't pay attention to me' and 'my heart is so tired' vibe.

Thinking it over, Zhou Li said tentatively, cradling his right wrist, "My hand hurts so much..."

Tuanzi acted as if she heard nothing, her head buried, motionless.

Zhou Li continued talking to himself, glancing stealthily at the little furball beside him. "It's like someone bit me, oh the pain! It must be because I was too engrossed in reading earlier that I'm only feeling it now!"

Five seconds later, he went silent.

Perhaps it was no use anymore... What was wrong with this little creature...

Zhou Li pondered briefly. He saw a message from Brother Nan saying she had gone out, and then said, "In that case, Lord Dumpling, just stay home comfortably. I'll be going out now. It's raining outside... I'll bring back some fish soup and rice for you."

At his words, the little creature quietly lifted her head a bit, just a tiny bit.

An eye peeked out from beneath her fluffy paws. Eyeing Zhou Li, she said in a tone that was weak yet resolute, "Lord Dumpling wants to go out~"

"It's raining..."

"Wants to go out!"

"Alright then."

Zhou Li then picked her up.

This little creature had such an odd temper. Her anger disappeared in an instant, and now she was perched on his shoulder, whispering in his ear, "Zhou Li, the next time you're looking at your *little books*, Lord Dumpling won't come to play with you anymore! Humph!"

The warmth made his ear tingle.

Zhou Li said seriously, "Those are *books*, proper books. Calling them 'little books' can be ambiguous. For anyone older than an elementary school student, that term can have other meanings."

"Hmm, why?"

"It just can."

"What does 'ambiguous' mean?"

"'Ambiguous' means it has other meanings."

"What other meanings, meow?"

"The point is, don't call them 'little books'."

"Then they ARE 'little books'!"

"They're called *books*."

"Lord Dumpling wants egg yolk pastries," Tuanzi's nose nuzzled Zhou Li's face, cold and damp. "Made with wild duck eggs from the seaside!"

"Okay."

Zhou Li decided he would order egg yolk pastries on Taobao later, as compensation for the little creature.

Although he was also somewhat baffled...

Having put on his shoes and taken an umbrella, with Tuanzi steadily lying on his shoulder through this process... It seemed he had acquired another skill.

"Going out?" Aunt Jiang's voice came, her gaze lowering to the umbrella in his hand.

"Yes, I'm going out for a bit."

"But it's pouring outside!"

"Um..." Zhou Li hesitated, then made up an excuse on the fly, "I'm going to the internet café to play games with Huai Xu."

"Okay," Aunt Jiang didn't inquire further. "Just let me know if you won't be coming back for dinner."

"Okay."

「About twenty minutes later.」

Zhou Li sat dazed in the internet café chair. The startup screen flickered on the computer before him. It was completely unexpected that he really ended up at an internet café. He had thought it would at least be a boba tea shop or a snack bar, something like that.

And next to him—no, wait, it was the seat *after* the one next to him—sat Brother Nan and Huai Xu. Pandemic regulations required them to leave an empty seat between each person.

Believe it or not, the internet café was quite busy.

They had taken some effort to find three seats that were connected, which technically meant six physical seats.

"Enter your password! What are you spacing out for?" Brother Nan's voice came.

"Oh, right..."

"What do you want to drink? I'll go buy something."

"Juice."

"Sprite."

"Imperial Limo thirst quencher, the specially supplied kind. Use a bigger cup and fill it up."

"What did she say she wants to drink?"

"Lemon water."

"Okay!"

Brother Nan took out her cell phone and stood up to leave.

After a good while, she still hadn't come back. Zhou Li turned to look for her but didn't see her at the front desk. He did spot a girl sneaking peeks at them.

Huai Xu's voice sounded nearby, "They didn't have lemon water, so she went out to buy some."

The old demon's ears were too sharp.

Zhou Li sighed to himself and glanced at Huai Xu's computer screen—

Wow! You've bought all the skins, haven't you?!

At the same time, the old demon also seemed to be deliberately showing off in front of him, pulling them out one by one to admire them.

Suddenly, Zhou Li felt the light dim.

The girl who had been sneaking peeks at him had walked up to his side. She placed a can of Coke on his desk, her face reddening as she asked for his contact information.

Zhou Li was also very embarrassed. He could only point to Brother Nan's empty seat and say, "I have a girlfriend. She just went out to buy drinks and will be right back... Oh, she's back."

The young girl turned around abruptly.

A girl half a head taller than her was looking down at her with an expression that didn't seem entirely friendly.

"So—sorry..."

The young girl fled in disarray.

Brother Nan turned to glance at her retreating figure. She didn't say anything, just distributed the drinks to them. Then, she began to complain about Tuanzi, "This little thing is really troublesome! Why did she have to drink lemon water of all things? And just our luck, they were out... I walked under the eaves all the way and got my shoulder all wet!"

"But you still went and bought it." Zhou Li cautiously looked towards Tuanzi. Thankfully, Lord Dumpling was magnanimous and usually didn't take offense to such comments, often pretending not to hear.

"I regret it!" Brother Nan said.

"Is that so."

Zhou Li set his own juice aside and first opened Tuanzi's lemon water, poured out a bottle cap's worth, and placed it on the desk.

Tuanzi left his lap and climbed onto the table.

She stuck out her tiny pink tongue and took a gentle lick from the bottle cap. She immediately squinted from the sourness, shaking her head quickly.

But once the sour burst passed, she licked it again.

Brother Nan watched from the side and suddenly remembered the earlier incident. But one thing sparked her curiosity: "Why did that girl come over to ask for your contact? Huai Xu is much better looking than you, isn't he? Why didn't she ask Huai Xu?"

"Proves that I might be the better-looking one," Zhou Li said.

"That girl thought she wasn't good enough for me," Huai Xu said. "Especially when I logged in earlier, my rank was announced to the entire internet café."

"Makes sense," Brother Nan nodded in agreement.

"Hehe!" Huai Xu was pleased.

"Does it taste good?" Zhou Li leaned closer to Tuanzi and asked. "Which is better, the royal special Limo thirst quencher you used to drink, or this?"

"This one's good!" Tuanzi answered without hesitation.

"This is the Supreme Emperor's special supply that Brother Nan spent a lot of money on and went out of her way to get for you," Zhou Li kept his voice very low. "She just sounds fierce, but she's actually very good to Lord Dumpling. Don't you think so?"

"Lord Dumpling knows," Tuanzi nodded earnestly. "Sometimes you're reluctant to buy me fish soup with rice, but she always does."

"...Right."

Clearly, that was because Brother Nan didn't like the hassle and didn't want to be bothered by her, so she just bought it. After all, it wasn't expensive.

Pausing for a moment, Zhou Li pointed to his own head, "And she's a little off here, so, Lord Dumpling, even if she's harsh to you in the future, you shouldn't take it personally and lower your status by arguing with her."

"Lord Dumpling knows, meow!"

"What are you two whispering about?"

Brother Nan's voice rang out next to them. She frowned and said, "Hurry and get in the room, I've invited you."

Zhou Li was silent.

The game began.

It's worth mentioning that perhaps because they were seated far apart and using QQ voice for communication, Brother Nan found the café too noisy. She didn't want to shout like others, which made it hard to tell they were together. Consequently, another girl came over trying to strike up a conversation with Zhou Li.

It was really odd; no one flirted with Huai Xu.

Brother Nan didn't show any reaction.

Zhou Li had thought for a moment that she didn't care and had even admired Brother Nan's magnanimity.

Until this round ended.

Brother Nan stretched lazily, her hand reaching behind her head, touching her little hair tuft, and naturally pulled the hairband from her tuft.

She looked around, trying to place it on the table. Then she picked it up again, worried about losing it. She tried to put it in her pocket, but it didn't seem to feel right. After this series of meaningless feints, she finally turned around, leaned over the seat next to her, took Zhou Li's hand, and slipped the hairband onto it.

"Hold this for me. Give it back later!"

"Erm..."

"?"

"Okay."

Zhou Li stared at his own arm.

His skin wasn't dark, and the hairband was pure black, very noticeable on his wrist with its two little beads as decoration.

He fiddled with the little beads; nothing happened.

A bit disappointing. He had thought it would jingle.

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