Chapter 179: Visiting

Long Ziyi and her boyfriend lived in an apartment building right next to the subway station, not far from the vegetable market on Commercial Street.

The building looked sleek and glamorous from the outside—exactly the kind of trendy, middle-class housing Bai Yao imagined for white-collar workers.

After all, she had grown up either in a countryside row house or a rented room in an urban village.

She had never lived anywhere this upscale, the kind of place you only saw in movies and TV dramas.

The senior couple lived in a two-story loft.

The first floor had a kitchen, a dining-living room, and a bathroom.

The second floor was the bedroom.

It was cleaned spotlessly, the floor so shiny it almost reflected your face.

Although things were a little messy, everything was still in order.

75

“No need to take off your shoes. Come in.”

That’s what she said, but Bai Yao still removed her shoes and slipped on the slippers by the door.

Qiu Ye followed her inside and put on the slippers.

Only the front of his feet fit, which felt awkward.

Meanwhile, the senior was already prepping ingredients at the sink.

Even though he was a man of few words and hadn’t said a single word to Bai Yao yet, he worked efficiently.

Bai Yao entered the room, feeling shy and full of envy.

She tugged the corner of Qiu Ye’s shirt and whispered, “Let’s rent something like this too someday. It must be expensive, right?”

Long Ziyi overheard and complained, “Don’t rent it. If you need to go to the bathroom at night, you have to run all the way downstairs. It’s such a pain. I even fell once.”

“Plus, in summer, the air conditioner can’t cool the second floor properly. We still have to use a fan—it’s so hot.”

“Really? Then forget it.”

That’s what she said, but Bai Yao still pressed on, “How much is a place like this?”

“Sixteen hundred. That’s pretty cheap.”

“Oh…”

“I’ll show you around! Seriously, don’t rent a place like this.”

Qiu Ye watched the two girls wander off together and felt like he was in the way.

He walked over to the kitchen.

“Senior, let me help.”

Neither Qiu Ye nor Bai Yao cooked much.

Their culinary skills topped out at fried rice, so this was a good chance to learn.

The senior thought for a moment.

“You wash the vegetables?”

“Sure.”

There wasn’t much to see in the apartment.

As soon as you walked in, you could see everything.

So Bai Yao slowly followed Long Ziyi up to the second floor.

“During morning and evening rush hour, you have to wait forever for the elevator.”

Long Ziyi kept complaining about her rental.

“The second floor is really low. My boyfriend has to stoop or he’ll hit his head. For me, it’s just right.”

“I think it’s just right too.”

Bai Yao was only 5’5.

Even standing straight, she wouldn’t hit her head—as long as she didn’t stand on the bed.

“Sit!”

She sat stiffly on the bed, her knees unconsciously pressed together.

She looked around the room, and her gaze eventually landed on a balloon on the nightstand—still unopened.

“?!”

Long Ziyi casually tossed the balloon into the drawer as if nothing had happened.

But in that brief moment the drawer opened, Bai Yao’s keen eyes noticed it was stuffed full of toys she’d seen online.

“Your senior’s cooking is really good,” the senior said, as if nothing had happened.

“After dinner, want to go shopping at the mall together?”

“Mm, sure.”

Bai Yao was still a bit distracted. Her eyes kept drifting to the nightstand.

Seeing this, the senior switched topics and teased her.

“Speaking of which~ How far have you and your boyfriend gone? Are you living together now?”

Bai Yao was a single-thread thinker.

She immediately forgot about the nightstand.

She looked away nervously.

“We’re not living together, right? When school starts, he’ll stay in the dorm.”

“Oh! So that means before school starts, you are living together?”

The senior leaned in and nudged Bai Yao’s arm with her shoulder.

“Your senior here has plenty of experience. Tell me secretly~ What have you two done? Kissed? Slept together? Or—”

“No, not at all.”

Bai Yao denied it outright.

“You’re so beautiful… so it can’t be that nothing’s happened, right? Really? You’re living together and nothing at all?”

Long Ziyi looked at her with a skeptical expression.

Then the senior suddenly poked Bai Yao’s chest.

Bai Yao nearly jumped.

“What are you doing!”

“Seriously? I thought they were padded.”

“Then that’s even weirder, right? Your body’s pretty good.”

Long Ziyi pondered and speculated, “Is your boyfriend no good?”

“How could he be no good!”

They had practically rubbed the skin off, and she had begged for mercy for ages before it was over…

Bai Yao put on a serious face.

“We’re both freshmen. We’re not considering that kind of thing right now.”

She put on a cold expression, looking at first glance like a pure, innocent ice maiden.

“I almost believed you.”

Long Ziyi rolled her eyes.

She had already picked up on Bai Yao’s pervy vibe.

“I think you’re both just too shy. Could it be that you’re both first-timers?”

“Uh…”

When two perverts chatted, admitting she was a first-timer felt kind of embarrassing.

It was also the lingering mindset of her former male self—grown men never claimed to be virgins; instead, they bragged about being popular.

So Bai Yao changed her excuse.

“I just got my period.”

She felt that letting this little girl keep attacking her made her look too weak.

Could this legal loli, barely over five feet, really bully her?

Bai Yao mentally rehearsed a line, but just thinking about the dirty joke made her blush.

She stammered and couldn’t get it out.

“Time to eat!”

Qiu Ye’s voice came from downstairs.

Bai Yao quickly stood up.

“Time to eat, time to eat.”

“Let’s go, let’s go! Hurry and taste my man’s cooking!”

On the coffee table in the dining-living room downstairs, four dishes were already laid out, filling the table.

When the two came down, the senior wiped his hands and, still wearing an apron, went back to work.

“Two more dishes and a soup. You two start first.”

“Isn’t this enough?”

“It’s rare to have guests!”

The senior pulled out a bottle of red wine from somewhere.

“Come on! Let’s have a drink!”

Bai Yao looked troubled.

She said quietly, “I told you I’m on my period…”

“Red wine is good for the skin! A little won’t hurt!”

She couldn’t resist the senior’s enthusiasm, but Qiu Ye spoke up for her.

“She has dysmenorrhea. How about I drink for her?”

“Aww~ You’re so sweet together~ My man never drinks for me.”

Bai Yao subconsciously looked at the senior.

The senior was terrible with words.

Flustered, he defended himself, “She can drink way more than me.”

“Little Bai Yao~”

The senior lowered her voice and whispered in Bai Yao’s ear, “Back then, I pretended to be drunk and barely managed to trick him into coming to my place! Then you know~”

“I don’t know, I don’t know.”

Bai Yao shook her head repeatedly and quickly picked up her bowl to shovel in two mouthfuls of rice.

“A good man needs to be snatched up right away! Why are you dragging your feet?”

“Drag… dragging my feet?”

Bai Yao’s face turned even redder.

“Bai Yao actually managed to hit it off with a girl so quickly.”

Qiu Ye was surprised to see them whispering together.

“Aren’t you the type who gets nervous around pretty girls? Is it because you’ve been a girl for so long now?”

“Braised prawns in oil. Try some.”

He put some prawns in both their bowls.

“These are really good!” Bai Yao took a bite and asked curiously, “Did you make them?”

“I cleaned the legs and heads.”

“Then why were you acting all chef-like? So the senior made everything after all?”

“Not bad, right?”

Long Ziyi asked smugly, her nose almost in the air.

“Yeah, delicious!”

“Come eat more often when you have free time! Cheers~”