"Ugh!"

Brother Nan finally woke up.

Before opening her eyes, she remembered that she should be lying on Zhou Li's bed at the moment, but she didn't care, even letting out a groan.

She opened her eyes.

The first thing that caught her sight was Zhou Li's face.

The two were really too close to each other.

What made Brother Nan somewhat annoyed was that this guy actually shifted his gaze elsewhere. Was he pretending he hadn't been looking at her just now?

Is the ceiling that interesting?

Then, something even more annoying happened—

This guy slowly moved his gaze back from the ceiling, turned his head to look at her, "You're awake?"

Brother Nan: ...

Idiot, she thought.

The two looked at each other for a few seconds.

Zhou Li saw Brother Nan glance down at the blanket. Instantly, she grabbed the blanket and pulled it up hard, covering his head. Only then did he feel Brother Nan pull one of her legs from between his.

By the time he pulled the blanket down, Brother Nan had already gotten up. She was scratching her messy hair while yawning and shuffling toward the bathroom in her slippers.

The two long legs beneath her shorts were very appealing.

Her voice came from the bathroom, "Are you not up yet? Get ready, go out to eat braised meat rice noodles, then head back to Chunming."

Zhou Li frowned deeply.

Brother Nan didn't seem to care at all.

He couldn't help but be somewhat silent.

From her current behavior, it's clear Brother Nan is the one taking advantage, he thought. And that means I'm the one at a loss. A big loss, at that.

「Ten minutes later.」

Brother Nan came out of the bathroom.

She had finished washing up, with a few droplets of water still on her face. Her hair was also combed, looking much tidier than before, but a small tuft of hair on top of her head was still incongruously sticking up.

"You're not up yet?"

She stopped by Zhou Li's bed, facing him, her hands reaching behind her head, intending to tie up her hair.

At the same time, she blinked at him.

This action was very graceful, showing off her waistline—youthful, yet with a hint of femininity. The latter was particularly noteworthy, as femininity was a rare trait in Brother Nan.

Quickly, Brother Nan finished tying her hair. She saw Zhou Li staring at her unblinkingly with a complex expression, as if deep in thought, which made her chuckle.

"What are you thinking about?"

"How did you... end up sleeping on my bed?"

"What? Did I crush your invisible wings?" Brother Nan retorted.

"No, not really."

"Did I disturb you and your Little Trash Cat?"

"No, I didn't."

"Then what are you complaining about!"

"Nothing..."

Zhou Li was still staring at her.

Brother Nan began to move closer to him, closer and closer, until she blocked most of his view. Then, she suddenly bent over and kissed him on the lips. Instantly, he was enveloped in the fresh scent of toothpaste.

The morning was awakened.

Brother Nan straightened up, smacking her lips, and shouted again, "Come on, get up! Hurry and wash up. I've changed my clothes too."

"Okay."

Zhou Li then started to get up.

He glanced at the pajamas Brother Nan was wearing. If I'm not mistaken, this must be a new set she bought, actual pajamas. She used to just wear light shorts and comfortable T-shirts to bed. This set is also very light and cool, with thin straps. The fabric is thin, especially thin. After last night, I can say it feels quite nice, he thought.

So, as he picked up Tuanzi to head to the bathroom, he remarked, "Those pajamas look pretty good on you."

"Good! I'll wear them again next time!"

"..."

This person has no subtlety at all, Zhou Li grumbled internally. No sense of romance.

As soon as the bathroom door closed, Brother Nan's voice came again from outside, "I'm changing clothes! For your own safety, you better not come out."

Zhou Li couldn't be bothered to respond.

WHOOSH.

Tuanzi wriggled out of his arms onto the floor and transformed into a cute Little Cat Girl. She then tiptoed and stretched her arms to grab a toothbrush from the rack. Due to her height, this task was somewhat difficult for her.

After getting a hold of it, she waited for Zhou Li to squeeze toothpaste for her. She lifted her head, staring at him with big, shiny eyes, looking a bit wronged.

"Zhou Li, that nasty person threw Lord Dumpling onto another bed last night! So mean!"

"How did she throw you?"

"Like this, like this, and then like this..."

The Little Cat Girl, holding the toothbrush, demonstrated, vividly depicting Brother Nan's misdeed of grabbing her by the hind legs, lifting her up, and tossing her aside.

Zhou Li empathized, "So mean!"

Then he squeezed toothpaste onto her toothbrush.

Tuanzi had her own special NAIS children's toothpaste—sweet orange-flavored, fragrant, sweet, and super delicious.

Tuanzi wanted to say more, but the toothpaste was already on the brush, and it seemed Zhou Li couldn't afford to provoke that "nasty person" either. She blinked her big eyes a couple of times and then had to silently start brushing, her mouth quickly filling with lots of little bubbles.

"PFFT..."

"PFFT..."

The human and the Demon spat out the foam one after the other.

Then Zhou Li rinsed his mouth with water. Tuanzi waited by his side for him to finish so she could have the cup, imitating him by rinsing her mouth as well.

Zhou Li spat out the water; she did the same.

Zhou Li pulled off some toilet paper to wipe his mouth, and she still blinked, waiting to use the paper Zhou Li had used to wipe her own mouth.

"We're going back."

Zhou Li wiped her face with a towel.

As the towel rubbed her face, Tuanzi shut her eyes tightly, her face constantly contorting, but she still mumbled repeatedly, "Goen back..."

"Back to Chunming," Zhou Li corrected gently.

"Back to Shunming..." Tuanzi tried again.

"You haven't seen Huai Xu for a few days. Do you miss him?" Zhou Li wet the towel, rinsed it, wrung it out, and placed it back in the travel toiletries bag.

"Miss him..."

"Hm?" Zhou Li was somewhat surprised by this answer. "Don't you two always argue?"

"Lord Dumpling loves Huai Xu very much when he's not making Lord Dumpling angry," Tuanzi said with a serious face.

"Is that so?" Zhou Li smiled. He found her mature tone created an endearing contrast, so he ruffled the top of her head. "Lord Dumpling sounds like a big sister when you say that."

"Lord Dumpling *is* a big sister!"

"Then Huai Xu is like a naughty little brother."

"He's a little sister!" Tuanzi declared.

"Huh? How do you know?"

"Because Lord Dumpling heard other people say it." WHOOSH. Tuanzi transformed back into a little cat, turned her head to Zhou Li, and said, "Little sisters are cuter than little brothers."

"Is that so."

After eating tender pork rice noodles in the city, they returned to Chunming.

The return trip wasn't rushed, so they didn't sneak onto the highway but instead drove slowly along the national road.

The scenery along the way was still quite familiar. Xia Wei and Jin Qiu were distinct, as was the experience of riding a bike versus sitting in a car. Their relationship had also changed a lot since last year. They reminisced about the previous autumn: stopping to rest on that mountainside, how cheap the meals were in that small county town, Zhou Li sneakily watching Brother Nan's TikTok videos in that pavilion, and being chased by dogs in the village up ahead. Laughter was hidden in their eyes.

Even though they weren't together at that time, the memories were sweet.

「As dusk fell.」

Brother Nan drove into Chunming and said, "The new student registration starts tomorrow. Let's go join the fun and see what this year's freshmen look like. It's definitely going to be very crowded and lively on the first day."

"They'll just have two eyes, like everyone else," Zhou Li commented.

"Oh, come on, let's just go and take a look!"

"Okay."

"Right, Mianmian and Qian Qian from our dorm are already back at school." Brother Nan thought for a moment. "I might as well go back tonight too."

"Why not go back tomorrow?" Zhou Li suggested after a pause.

"What's up?" Brother Nan glanced at him. "You still want me to hold you while you sleep?"

"Yeah."

"In your dreams!" Brother Nan laughed, then said, "Last night I was just muddle-headed. Good things like that don't happen every day!"

"I could hold you instead," Zhou Li sincerely offered.

"I'll chop you to bits!"

"..."

Zhou Li didn't dare make another sound.

It was Tuanzi in his arms who turned to hug Zhou Li weakly and said, "Don't sleep next to her! She'll toss Lord Dumpling away. Sleep next to Lord Dumpling. Lord Dumpling can even give you a massage!"

This little creature feared neither heaven nor earth, only Brother Nan, because Brother Nan was the only one who would actually hit her.

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