“Little Bai’s already home, right?”
“Yeah, don’t worry, Sister Liang. Right now, I just stepped onto the floor, my butt just sat on the bed… I mean, I’m home.”
“Hahaha, as long as you’re home~ Little Bai’s gotten funnier and funnier lately, huh?”
Humorous?
You call this humorous?
Ever since Ye Zhibai was reborn, her greatest enemy wasn’t out there—it was right here in this… cough, inside herself!
This honey-coated mouth of hers… whether it was sweet or not aside, it was definitely slippery.
Sometimes the thoughts in her heart—whoosh, they just slipped right out.
When the hell am I going to fully master the art of speaking?!
Little Zhibai had just returned to her room and taken off her shoes, sitting on the edge of the bed when Sister Liang called.
During the casual chat, she hooked her finger into the cuff of her little white sock and tugged it off her crystalline, translucent toes.
Ye Zhibai’s whole body immediately burrowed into the bedding, only half her head poking out as she clutched her phone tightly.
Burrowing into the covers took priority over changing into pajamas.
She’d worry about the pajamas later—ideological struggle could wait.
—Anyway, time to lie down first.
This was surely the attitude of many handsome and outstanding guys, and she hoped to keep it up.
The cool, silky touch of the silkworm silk quilt, along with Cat-shaped Guang Yu who had slipped into the covers ahead of her, her fluffy fur rubbing against Ye Zhibai’s calf—it all brought a comforting impact to Ye Zhibai’s heart.
Nice!
This wave of comfort made her stretch out in the covers involuntarily, her throat letting out a soft, contented moan.
“Haa… mmm…”
“……”
That sound.
It instantly silenced the other end of the call.
Noticing Sister Liang had suddenly gone quiet, Ye Zhibai reluctantly poked fully out of the covers and asked into the phone’s microphone.
Her voice still a bit drowsy and hazy.
“Sister Liang, what’s up?”
“…Nothing, the signal was bad just now, cough… By the way, Little Bai, you didn’t argue with Miss Zhiyun after getting home, right?”
“Nope, I pretended not to know about Yun’er coming to your place to find me. Didn’t say a word to her.”
“That’s right. That’s how you handle things in the world—sometimes you gotta play dumb to keep the family harmonious.”
Wasn’t that the truth.
If I straight-up told Yun’er I knew she was tailing me, who knows if she’d demand some intense ‘punishment’ again!
That wouldn’t be harmonious at all, in every sense of the word.
“Miss Zhiyun isn’t with you right now?”
“She went off to handle stuff. Seems like… the Maid Corps is talking about restructuring, so Yun’er has to go make decisions.”
“Eh… that’s impressive. Miss Zhiyun’s just high school senior age, and she’s already involved in the family clan’s decision-making? I really can’t compare.”
Wahhh, Sister Liang, stop…
If even you’re humbled, then what the heck am I?!
Every time this came up… Ye Zhibai just couldn’t lie still.
She was technically a bit older than Yun’er… but could only lie flat.
Ye Zhibai had thought about helping out. Once, she really went with Yun’er to the temporary office at the villa.
Full of confidence at first.
But when she saw the desk piled high with densely scribbled business documents, Ye Zhibai was dumbfounded.
Little Zhibai frowned once, and Ye Zhiyun immediately decided her big sis must be feeling unwell and pushing herself too hard. She ordered her to go home and lie flat, stay away from that tedious work, and said everything could be left to her.
Fine, let’s just say it was a health issue.
A lack of knowledge reserves could be seen as a kind of disability, understandable.
Only Sister Liang’s gentle voice continuing from the receiver could heal the wounds in Ye Zhibai’s heart.
“Alright~ I won’t disturb your rest anymore. Little Bai, just take a good nap… Oh right! There’s one thing I absolutely can’t forget to tell you.”
“Mm, I’m listening.”
“It’s just… I was thinking earlier… when you left, sis might’ve been a bit reckless with her actions… Sorry, Little Bai. I just felt like there was some distance between us, so I… anyway, sorry. You won’t hold it against sis, right…?”
“Absolutely not.” Ye Zhibai could say that confidently. “I was startled, sure, but I get it. Understanding forever.”
“Mm mm! Thanks, Little Bai! Sis really is reflecting on it.”
Good, as long as she’s reflecting.
Phew… honestly, the kiss landed a bit off-target, but the moment her lips felt that wetness on the side, Ye Zhibai’s heart nearly stopped!
Sister Liang, you can’t keep treating me like a kid!
My age is right there—we should reassess our relationship properly.
“If Little Bai feels it’s unfair, next time you can kiss back.”
You’re not reflecting at all, are you?!
Ye Zhibai was just about to give her a little lecture when Sister Liang spoke even faster.
“Ah… phone’s out of battery, out of battery~ Beep beep beep, Little Bai, I’m hanging up first? Sweet dreams!”
“Hey, Siste—!”
Beep beep beep.
She hung up quick.
Ye Zhibai knew that maturing in Sister Liang’s eyes—at least to match her actual age—would be a long road ahead. She hung up, habitually opening QQ to check.
Besides the 2D Anime Exchange Group endlessly discussing silly new episodes in their usual lonely way, nothing new seemed to be up.
Let’s check the latest messages.
Ah… Little Qiu seems to be muttering in the group.
Autumn Wind Rises: “Some admins never reply to the group owner’s messages. Sigh… heart pain.”
Autumn Wind Rises: “I’ve already private messaged her, maybe Yezi’s just busy and hasn’t seen…”
Autumn Wind Rises: “Don’t @ Yezi, it’s annoying. It’s not urgent anyway. Hey! Why are you all asking so much? Just some trivial stuff, nothing nothing, disperse disperse! I’m going for a nap!”
“……”
If it were before, Ye Zhibai would’ve seen Little Qiu’s posts like this and felt nothing—just typical dead otaku water-cooling the group.
But ever since meeting Little Qiu in person.
Looking at these mutterings now felt totally different!
She could almost see a pink-haired loli pouting, big headphones on, shooting little glances your way with displeasure while kicking roadside pebbles, muttering under her breath, ‘Why hasn’t she replied yet?’
This vibe was completely different!
Folks, I’m not a lolicon or anything—it’s just, you can’t refuse a loli’s muttering.
Little Qiu complaining in the group definitely meant something urgent.
Ye Zhibai quickly switched back to the main screen, finding the private chat with Little Qiu.
—The little red dot for unread messages showed a whopping 15!
Hiss… Ye Zhibai reflected: she really needed to build a habit of checking messages promptly.
Why didn’t she have that habit before?
Obviously because basically no one messaged her back then!
With guilt, she tapped the chat box and took a close look.
Wrapped in cute pink cat chat bubbles.
Was Little Qiu’s message content.
—”Yezi, look at kitties.”
Look… look at kitties?
Ye Zhibai blankly scrolled to the bottom.
A dozen photos of all sorts of cats playing.
Garfield the orange tabby, the Golden Tabby.
A cute little hand holding a cat teaser wand in frame.
Ye Zhibai remembered—that was Little Qiu’s hand.
After looking… Ye Zhibai fell into thought.
Mm.
Look at kitties.
Well, how to put it.
In short.
Lolis really are peculiar creatures, huh?
Ye Zhibai felt surprisingly healed inside, so she lightly typed a reply.
“Sorry sorry, was busy earlier and just saw. Mm, saving the pics! All good kitties, shiny and bright.”
Little Qiu’s replies were always super fast.
Unreasonably fast, like she was always waiting by the chat box ready to type.
Little Qiu was always like that.
“Yezi you’re here, ‘shiny and bright’ lol that’s not how you describe cats! Well… whatever, thanks for the compliment! They’re happy.”
“You can tell if the cats are happy or not?”
“Animals have feelings too, ya know. If you get along well with them, you naturally sense their moods. Pfft… but Yezi, you can forget about it.”
“Why say that.”
“You said it in the group before, right? Picked up a stray kitty and it scratched you right away. Hard to empathize in that case, huh. Heh heh, you totally struck out when we met! But this is my greatest pride! By the way… Yezi, does your cat play with you usually?”
“Yeah.”
“It’s okay, Yezi. I get it—cats get shy in new environments, hide from you for a bit. No need to act tough, I can teach you how to get along with cats?”
“No need. My cat and I get along great.”
—[The other is typing…]
The characters vanished; no message came.
Ye Zhibai frowned accordingly.
Until a full minute later.
This reply that might as well not have come… finally arrived.
“Fine.”
—《Fine》.
This was totally being looked down on, treated like a stubborn duck mouthing off!
“Guang Yu!!!”
“Meow?! What’s wrong what wrong! What’s up with you what’s up with me, sky falling ground caving, Ye Zhibai are you crazy?!”
Sorry.
Got excited and used Mind Transmission.
Since I startled you, we’re even on the cursing front now.
Ye Zhibai pulled Cat-shaped Guang Yu out from the covers, grabbed her under the armpits, and lifted the trash cat in front of her.
Ye Zhibai, never inferior to anyone in her life. (Maybe)
“Come on, Guang Yu.
Next, I’m going to prove to Little Qiu just how unbreakable our friendship is!”
