The cafeteria job required starting at 11:30 AM and 5:30 PM, with two meals included.
Well, okay.
All the courage she had mustered instantly deflated.
Emerging from the cafeteria, Bai Yao felt the determination she had built up over two days completely vanish, replaced only by a sigh filled with worry.
If she took this job serving food in the cafeteria, she’d have to leave half an hour early at noon and in the afternoon to make it on time.
And while it included meals, the pay was so low.
Honestly, she couldn’t really bring herself to want it.
[Interview Completed. Task Reward: One Hundred Cash!]
The interview task was finished, but she couldn’t feel happy about it at all.
Completing one simple task earned a hundred bucks, while two months of part-time work wouldn’t even make a thousand.
The gap was too big, and Bai Yao found it hard to accept.
This is what happens when you get used to easy money.
Qiu Ye finally sauntered out from the small shop next to the cafeteria.
Seeing Bai Yao’s unhappy face, he grinned cheekily and sidled over, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
“Looking for excuses and justifications, huh? Well, finals are almost here anyway. You can look for a winter break job after that.”
“That works too,” Qiu Ye agreed, going along with her.
“You really don’t plan on going home for winter break?”
“Nope.”
“Then I’ll hire you to come back with me and deal with my parents!”
“Isn’t that just meeting the parents then!”
Bai Yao shot Qiu Ye a glare, the last of her earlier anger and displeasure dissipating.
“I’m going back.”
She headed straight for the school gate, planning to go home and lie down for a bit.
“Together, together!”
Qiu Ye shamelessly stuck to her side.
“I’ll help you get your packages, do some cleaning, take out the trash.”
“Not needed.”
“I think it’s very needed. I can even help you review your homework, warm your bed.”
Bai Yao had never been good at refusing.
Once Qiu Ye decided to be shameless, she was utterly powerless.
The two went to the package pickup station first, collecting a whole pile of parcels, big and small.
Coincidentally, all the various things she’d ordered online over the past couple of days had arrived.
They also stopped by a school snack shop to buy some sizzling iron plate tofu before finally returning to Bai Yao’s rented room.
As soon as she entered, Bai Yao put her things down, pulled off her pants, tossed them on the sofa, and comfortably revealing her fair legs, she ducked into the bathroom.
Qiu Ye glanced over, subtly adjusted his jacket lower, and silently began opening the packages.
‘Feels like I can’t come over too often. Too much, and my body might not be able to take it.’
He was only eighteen, at the peak of youthful vitality and energy.
Just one more look at Bai Yao’s legs was enough to set his mind wandering.
It used to be fine.
He saw Bai Yao as a guy, a roommate, a friend.
No matter how suggestive things got, Qiu Ye wouldn’t overthink it.
But now Bai Yao was a girl, his girlfriend.
And she really had bought a bunch of stockings.
Qiu Ye opened the first package to find several pairs of stockings in various colors—from pantyhose to thigh-highs, from black silk and white silk to nude, even a cute cat-themed pair.
He couldn’t help but imagine Bai Yao wearing them.
He opened the second package: facial towels and a bath towel.
They felt soft and fluffy, decent quality, probably.
The third package contained a broom, dustpan, and mop, all needing assembly.
By the time Bai Yao came out of the bathroom, she saw Qiu Ye sitting cross-legged on the floor, following the instructions to assemble the broom for her.
She walked over, gathered up the stockings and towels, then sat down cross-legged beside him and started assembling the mop.
“Wanna go out this weekend?”
Qiu Ye, always restless, asked casually.
“Maybe check out places for winter break jobs while we’re at it?”
“Is your drive to execute a bit too strong?”
Bai Yao had just used the winter job as an excuse, and now Qiu Ye was already planning to drag her out to look.
As usual, she felt a bit reluctant, not really wanting to go out.
“Is there even anything fun to do?”
Qiu Ye enthusiastically pulled out his phone.
“There’s a pet shop where you can handle reptiles! Look! I want to check it out. They have cats and dogs, but also lizards, snakes, spiders, stuff like that.”
While she wasn’t exactly against reptiles, spiders were absolutely out of the question!
“Or we could check out a maid cafe! I’ve only heard about them, never been!”
“That… seems okay?”
Bai Yao had also only heard of them, never been, especially in various anime where maid cafes seemed so wonderful, something to yearn for.
“You could ask the cafe owner if they’re hiring for winter break while we’re there?”
“So that’s what you’re thinking.”
Bai Yao rolled her eyes.
“I don’t want to call anyone ‘master’ or anything like that.”
“Calling me is fine then?”
Bai Yao lowered her head and continued assembling the mop, not bothering to respond to Qiu Ye.
Qiu Ye took it as tacit agreement.
“Then I’ll buy you a maid outfit to try~”
“Do we have to?”
“No problem, no problem. Just wear it at home for me to see.”
[Romance also needs maintenance, requiring freshness, romance, and fun! Your boyfriend has expressed an interest. As his girlfriend, how can you bear to refuse? Besides, you’ve already worn bolder outfits in front of Qiu Ye before!]
[Maid Outfit! Reward Cash: 100!]
“Eww—that time with the even more shameless outfit was because you tricked me, System!”
Who knew the system-rewarded skirt would actually change form, turning into a miniskirt!
Bai Yao glanced at Qiu Ye, who was already looking at maid outfits online, pretended not to see, her face slightly flushed as she placed the assembled mop in the bathroom.
With nothing to do in the middle of the day, after tidying up all the packages and having a few bites of the iron plate tofu, Bai Yao curled up on the bed, burrowing under the covers for a nap.
Qiu Ye used the bathroom and then, with thick skin, climbed onto the bed too.
“Together, together. Scoot over.”
“Don’t get handsy.”
“Definitely won’t.”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than Qiu Ye slipped under the covers and wrapped his arms around Bai Yao’s waist from behind.
Bai Yao’s body stiffened slightly for a moment but quickly relaxed.
Actually, she quite liked being held while sleeping.
Especially as the weather got cooler, Qiu Ye’s body temperature was a bit higher than hers, like a comfortable heating pad.
“Lift your head a bit, my arm has nowhere to go.”
Bai Yao lifted her head, and Qiu Ye slid his left arm under her neck as a pillow.
This was even more comfortable.
She closed her eyes, feeling completely enveloped in warmth, as comfortable as basking in the winter sun.
She could smell Qiu Ye’s scent with each breath—that warm, body-heat-infused aroma, rich with intoxicating hormones, warm and reassuring.
“Are your parents easy to get along with?”
Qiu Ye hadn’t expected this question.
He thought for a moment.
“Average. Pretty controlling. We’ll definitely live on our own in the future, not with them.”
“Mine too. Mainly my mom is very domineering, it’s annoying. My dad is a big guy, over six feet tall, but he gets domestically abused by my mom every day, beaten up pretty badly.”
“Really?”
“My dad told me to find a gentler wife so she doesn’t beat him up too.”
Qiu Ye rested his forehead against Bai Yao’s slender shoulder, taking a few deep breaths like someone sniffing a cat, and let out a satisfied sigh.
“Are you a pervert?”
Bai Yao moved forward disdainfully, but Qiu Ye immediately pressed close again.
“Not as perverted as you, secretly buying such big…”
Bai Yao, embarrassed and annoyed, threw an elbow back, hitting Qiu Ye squarely in the waist.
He gasped sharply in pain.
He pitifully complained, “You weren’t this violent before we started dating.”
“Let’s be fair. You weren’t this… ‘little man’ before we started dating either?”