Chapter 551 : Sleeping Together!
"How should I put this? It does feel kind of surprising~"
Curled up in the kotatsu, Ling Ning muttered about the surprise, but her expression betrayed no hint of actual surprise. In truth, when Bai Yiyue called her earlier, she had a hunch that her clingy, lovestruck childhood friend would surely pull some sort of stunt.
And as expected, Bai Yiyue had done just that—although Ling Ning hadn't anticipated her showing up so late at night.
Seeing Ling Ning’s indifferent reaction, Bai Yiyue pouted, casually kicked off her shoes, and immediately squeezed herself next to Ling Ning under the kotatsu. Feeling the warmth, Bai Yiyue's expression involuntarily softened.
Her actions caught the attention of Xia You and Ling Ye, who both furrowed their brows in unison. To be fair, they were here first—why did it suddenly feel like they'd been overtaken?
Ling Ning sighed helplessly. "There’s space across from me, isn’t there? Why do you insist on squeezing in here? Isn’t it uncomfortable?"
"Not at all. It’s actually pretty cozy~" Bai Yiyue giggled. She wished she could stay glued to Ling Ning like this all day, but, of course, Ling Ning would never allow that.
Ignoring the darkening expressions of the two nearby, Bai Yiyue leaned on Ling Ning’s shoulder and began recounting amusing anecdotes from her recent filming sessions—like a certain celebrity who kept tripping on flat ground or another whose aura was a little too "green."
Though Ling Ning wasn't particularly interested in celebrities, she couldn’t help but be a little intrigued by these behind-the-scenes tidbits.
"Are you sure it’s okay to share all this?"
"Of course! A lot of people in the industry already know, and you’re not the gossiping type, right? Even if you did spill, who’d believe you anyway~" Bai Yiyue replied nonchalantly.
Ling Ning raised an eyebrow. Since Bai Yiyue seemed so eager to share, she decided to let her. Watching Bai Yiyue’s excited demeanor reminded her of a prisoner just released from jail.
"By the way, when’s your concert happening?"
"The concert? If nothing changes, it should be next Sunday~"
"What!? That soon?"
Ling Ning was visibly surprised. She had only just heard some murmurs about it, and now it was already happening next week? No wonder there was such a tense atmosphere at school.
"I couldn’t help it. You guys have exams coming up, don’t you? If it’s delayed any further, it’d interfere with your tests~"
Ling Ning nodded thoughtfully. That did make sense. Time was flying—it felt like an entire semester had passed in the blink of an eye. Once her first year of university was over, maybe things would ease up a little in her sophomore year.
Probably.
Shaking her head lightly, Ling Ning decided not to dwell on it. She also ignored Bai Yiyue, who was still chattering beside her, and focused on her arduous task at hand. To put it plainly, she was trying to write.
After a recent bout of procrastination, her hard-earned stockpile of drafts had nearly been wiped out. With no other option, she had to switch into writing mode, even though her original plan for the evening was to play PUBG with Xia You.
"Could you quiet down a bit? Ye Ye, I need to write!"
While Ling Ning could tolerate the noise, Ling Ye clearly couldn’t. Listening to Bai Yiyue’s incessant chatter—especially about topics she found interesting—had left her with barely a hundred words written in over half an hour. And she had a goal of writing eight thousand tonight!
Noticing Ling Ye's frustration, Bai Yiyue shot her an apologetic look and promptly fell silent. Though Ling Ye might be a potential rival, she was also Ling Ning’s daughter. Even if she couldn’t win her over, she needed to maintain some goodwill.
Left with nothing to do, Bai Yiyue initially considered watching Ling Ning write, but the densely packed characters on the screen quickly dissuaded her. Instead, she closed her eyes and rested, cautiously inching further into the kotatsu. Eventually, she lay down, wrapping her arms around Ling Ning’s waist and inhaling her scent as she drifted off to sleep.
"Clack!"
The strange, sudden sound made Ling Ning pause her writing. She instinctively turned toward the source and saw Xia You sheepishly raising her head. "Sorry, my mouse broke. I’ll go get a replacement."
With that, Xia You crawled out of the kotatsu and returned to her apartment to grab a spare mouse.
Ling Ning glanced at the broken mouse—it was completely shattered. How much force did it take to break a mouse like that?
She knew why Xia You was like this, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. She felt rather hopeless herself.
After Xia You left, Bai Yiyue wore a cryptic smile, though no one noticed.
When Xia You returned with her spare mouse, she re-entered the kotatsu, took a deep breath, and resumed her game—an older one, Overwatch.
Both Xia You’s teammates and opponents soon noticed her sudden shift from a clumsy newbie to an unstoppable force. Her teammates were thrilled, but her opponents suffered terribly.
As time ticked by, Xia You finally exhaled in relief upon seeing the words "Victory" flash on the screen. She crawled out of the kotatsu and quietly said to Ling Ning, "It’s getting late. I’ll head home now."
"Mm. See you tomorrow."
Hearing their exchange, Bai Yiyue’s eyebrows twitched slightly before she slowly opened her eyes. As expected, she always slept well when near Ling Ning—and deeply, too.
"Huh? It’s already this late? Looks like I can’t make it home. Ling Ning, I’ll just sleep here tonight~"
At Bai Yiyue’s words, Xia You and Ling Ye both frowned. Ling Ye didn’t overthink it. Instead, she moved closer to Ling Ning and said, "Mom, I want to sleep with you tonight!"
"Ling Ning, I just realized my sheets are still wet from washing. Can I crash here tonight?"
"Huh!?"
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Author’s Note:
Caught a cold. Feeling terrible. :(