(Alright, this is a big problem.)
Jiang Lingwei lay in bed wearing her little tiger pajamas, listening to the rushing water from the bathroom.
Her hands nervously rested on her lower abdomen as she thought to herself:
(Why did it suddenly turn into the shower segment…)
—— Jiang Cheng said he was afraid of dirtying the room, so he decided to take a proper shower before going to sleep.
That was reasonable.
Although Jiang Lingwei honestly didn’t feel that he was dirty or smelled like he hadn’t bathed.
But who knew from which corner the Dark Fairy might have summoned him out of, so taking a shower was definitely the safe bet.
Yet, this situation sparked some strange imaginations in her mind.
A man showering in the bathroom, a woman lying on the bed waiting.
(Wait, normally in the story, it should be the other way around, right? I should be the one taking the shower.)
(Or maybe we shower together?)
(Ah, why am I thinking about this!)
(Hmph, hmph, hmph ahhh…)
As she realized all this was because of her own decision, the screams in her head gradually weakened.
Jiang Lingwei had to admit, the root of the matter was mainly her moment of softness, plus not fully realizing her current situation.
Before, Jiang Cheng didn’t seem bad, which made her subconsciously treat him as a brother in her heart.
Besides, what they usually did with Jiang Yao wasn’t much different from taking care of comrades.
—— It was even more relaxed.
Though Mudong City had been uneasy recently, it was still much easier compared to the one or two months before the decisive battle, when the Dark Side launched furious attacks almost daily.
Well, for Jiang Lingwei’s memory, that was only three months ago.
She had thought the frequency of incidents in Mudong City was too high, but that was based on the assumption that this place shouldn’t have much value.
In contrast, the provincial capital Tange City of her home province, Tianji, clearly had more value for dark invasions.
And this wasn’t just her own judgment; previously, Mudong City was under the jurisdiction of Tange City’s magical girl squad, the [Star of Justice], led by the captain [Night Bat].
If it weren’t for the [Ancient Weapon] here that attracted dark enemies, this small city really wouldn’t need a permanent magical girl presence.
In short, when Jiang Lingwei asked if they should live together, she didn’t think too much about it.
She simply felt sorry for Jiang Cheng, who would have to clean up for a long time alone, and even with her help, it would still take a while before he could sleep.
He even guarded his food while eating, which suggested that whatever Jiang Cheng had experienced wasn’t a good life.
Moreover, this was Jiang Cheng’s home to begin with!
Jiang Lingwei didn’t feel she could comfortably enjoy everything.
She didn’t even know how much she could contribute from the perspective of human society.
If it was about making money, besides part-time work, the only thing she could think of was using her magical girl abilities to steal something, which was obviously out of the question!
Everyone had lived daily lives as ordinary high school students before, without much thought about operational expenses, and the arrival of Wen Yanquan conveniently filled that gap, allowing the old man to argue that he wasn’t completely swayed by Wen Yanquan’s unlimited chips.
(Though it was almost the same as being swayed by money power.)
Other than cheating with magic, Jiang Lingwei couldn’t think of any other money-making talent she had.
Her diploma wasn’t even a high school graduation, probably only a middle school certificate.
So this house was most likely arranged by Jiang Cheng.
Imagine, the son of a family who spent a lot of money, alone in a guest room that was quite large compared to the cramped dorm room she used to live in, but still small compared to the whole grand house, tidying up until midnight, laying down a barely usable emergency mattress, then taking a shower and falling asleep exhausted.
Meanwhile, she lay on a few square meters of soft big bed, lulled by a gentle lullaby, rolling over a few times before falling sound asleep.
How could Jiang Lingwei feel at ease?
Even if not out of sympathy, then out of human dignity, she wouldn’t watch Jiang Cheng curl up alone in the guest room with peace of mind.
“Splash, splash.”
At that moment, the water flowing from the bathroom gradually stopped. After a while, Jiang Cheng’s well-built upper body appeared.
Jiang Lingwei immediately widened her eyes slightly to look.
Looking closely, Jiang Cheng’s figure was really good — even better than when she was a young guy herself back then.
That broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted inverted triangle shape was visually striking, the lines of his back flowing smoothly like a carefully polished work of art.
There was neither the clumsiness of excessive muscle nor the frailty of thinness — every inch of his body radiated the perfect amount of strength and balanced beauty.
And because he had just showered, a few drops of water slid down his skin between the muscles, like an ancient Greek statue in the square after the rain, exuding a special kind of beauty.
“Gulp.”
Jiang Lingwei stared intently, her small hands nervously clenched together, and her Adam’s apple subtly moved without her noticing.
They say moderate exercise attracts the opposite sex, but excessive exercise attracts the same sex. If Jiang Cheng went out bare-chested now, he’d surely be swarmed by a bunch of men and women.
“小薇.”
Jiang Cheng waved an arm toward her.
“What… what are you doing?”
Jiang Lingwei sat up a little and pulled the blanket up higher.
“Something came up.”
Jiang Cheng said awkwardly:
“I… I have a small problem.”
“What is it?”
“I wanted to ask… is there any clothes in the wardrobe that I can wear?”
“Umm…”
Jiang Lingwei recalled:
“I don’t think so… I checked before, and it should all be stuff I can wear, nothing for you.”
“Uh… that’s a bit of a problem.”
Seeing Jiang Cheng gradually shrinking backward until only his head was visible, Jiang Lingwei suddenly asked with a puzzled expression:
“Didn’t you buy new clothes? You’ve only worn them for less than a day. You can just wear those… You wouldn’t have washed the new clothes and pants directly, would you?”
“No, not that…”
Jiang Cheng’s head peeked out:
“It’s just… you might not believe it, but actually… it’s not just clothes and pants that I’m lacking.”
“?”
Casting a confused look, Jiang Lingwei asked:
“What else? Shoes? You have those, just wear slippers at home. It can’t be socks, right?”
“No, I mean…”
Jiang Cheng hesitated for a second before quietly saying, “That thing inside… could you help me find a replacement?”
“…”
Alright, Jiang Lingwei immediately knew what he meant.
“Huh?”
She pointed at Jiang Cheng in disbelief: “So you’ve been wandering around all this time with nothing below?”
“Sort of, yeah…”
Jiang Cheng shyly admitted: “You know, without armor, I don’t have anything underneath either.”
“This… this… why didn’t you say so earlier!”
“I just hadn’t worn it before, and for a moment, I forgot that normal people wear it…”
Jiang Lingwei was helpless. She waved her hand:
“…I’m at a loss for you. You go back inside and wait. I’ll think of a solution.”
“Okay!”
Watching Jiang Cheng obediently withdraw his head back into the bathroom, all the various imaginations in Jiang Lingwei’s mind vanished.
(This idiot!)
She silently lifted the blanket and walked straight to the wardrobe.
“Tsk.”
After rummaging for a bit, she clicked her tongue softly.
There wasn’t a single piece of clothing Jiang Cheng could wear.
On the other hand, she had plenty of clothes prepared for herself, from underwear to outerwear, and she hadn’t even noticed before that a few of the clothes were actually made for her [Aurora] form!
Besides looking a bit old-fashioned in style, the sizes were obviously for [Aurora], which were too small to wear now but would fit perfectly after transformation.
Who exactly had been putting clothes in the wardrobe? Her daughter didn’t know about her other identity, so it couldn’t have been Jiang Cheng’s doing before, right?
“48…”
Putting that question aside, after some inner struggle, Jiang Lingwei finally decided she couldn’t just let Jiang Cheng stand dumbly in the bathroom.
She squatted down and pulled out a clean blanket from the drawer below.
“Chengzi.”
“Eh!”
Jiang Cheng’s head immediately popped out.
“Wrap yourself up with this. Wrap it tight, like a dumpling, then come out.”
“Got it!”
Finally able to come out, Jiang Cheng energetically stretched out his arms to take the blanket from her. Jiang Lingwei continued:
“When you’re ready, come to bed, and remember to wrap up tight!”
“Huh?”
This time Jiang Cheng was dumbfounded:
“I haven’t even laid out the floor mattress yet. If I wrap up tight, how can I lay it out?”
“Sleep on the floor mattress?”
Jiang Lingwei shrugged:
“Come on, wrap yourself up tight and get in bed. The left side is yours… What are you looking at me like that for?!”
Seeing Jiang Cheng’s expression, she couldn’t help but blush and say shyly:
“What are you looking at? I’m not going to make you sleep on the floor. Hurry up and wrap up tight, then come. We’ll handle this with boundaries!”
“Roger that! Loyal and ready!”