Chapter 266: The Mature Xiaoxiao

"Do you want a grape?"

"No."

"It's already peeled."

"Then I'll have one."

"..."

Ning Qing pinched a grape and handed it toward Chen Shu.

Her slender fingers, white and tender with a hint of pink, held the peeled grape, which appeared a translucent green and looked succulent; she held it at her fingertips, feeding it right to Chen Shu's lips.

Sunlight lifted the gauze curtains, the afternoon hours inducing sleep.

Chen Banxia sat opposite them, her left hand cradling a handful of grapes, her right hand tossing them into her mouth one by one, chewing and chewing, then spitting out the skins, all while watching the two people across from her; suddenly, she narrowed her eyes and shuddered.

She only heard Ning Qing ask in a low voice:

"Is it sour?"

Her younger brother replied casually:

"Not sour."

Chen Banxia looked down at the grapes in her own hand, thought for a moment, and only then realized that the grape itself was sweet; it was the grape skin that was sour.

Not only sour, but astringent too.

It turned out that what she lacked was someone to peel the grape skins for her.

Chen Banxia turned her head and looked left and right.

Her little friend was much like her, holding a bunch of grapes in her left hand and maintaining the posture of tossing grapes into her mouth with her right, but the scene had frozen—she was staring blankly at the elegant and beautiful woman across from them who was meticulously peeling grapes.

"..."

No counting on her.

She was probably still waiting for someone to peel them for her.

Chen Banxia withdrew her gaze and looked at Xiaoxiao.

The little girl was actually peeling grapes and was using a small bowl to hold them; the small bowl was full of individual grape pulps that had been peeled. However, the moment she sensed her gaze, a look of vigilance rose on the little girl's face, and she turned her head to glare at her, covering the bowl with her hand.

"..."

No counting on her either.

Not eating anymore, it's too sour.

Chen Banxia threw the grapes in her hand back onto the tray, grabbed a piece of paper, wiped her hands clean, and lay down on the sofa: "I'm going to take a nap, call me for dinner."

With her eyes closed, she fell asleep instantly.

Zhang Suannai turned her head to look at her, blinked her eyes, smacked her lips a few times, and continued to aim her gaze to the side.

"Brother-in-law, do you want a grape?"

"Thank you, Xiaoxiao."

"You're welcome."

"..."

Zhang Suannai glanced at her little friend who had already fallen asleep, sat blankly for a few seconds, then she also wiped her hands clean, hugged a pillow, tilted her upper body to the side, and closed her eyes.

The afternoon breeze lifted the gauze curtains, making a rustling sound, and the voices of people talking in low tones nearby gradually became blurred.

In a daze, she had another dream.

In the dream, that silly group owner organized the group members to go out for a meal; they found a restaurant where they didn't know what to eat, and for some reason, Zhang Suannai was late; when she arrived, the others had already arrived, sitting around a large round table, waiting just for her—everyone active in the group recently was there, and she even saw her roommate and a faceless person inside, with the roommate sitting right next to Chen Shu.

Zhang Suannai felt a bit of Joy at the time.

This silly Qingcai, bringing family to a group gathering.

She didn't have any opinion on bringing family to a gathering; who was short on that bit of meal money? Besides, she often sponged meals off them, so rewarding them was only right and proper.

But this was a group member gathering; if it went like this, wouldn't her goddess roommate know that she and this silly Qingcai were in the same group? If she explored further, wouldn't she be able to find out about the not-so-smart things she had done in the past?

How could those dark histories be let known by others? Especially a roommate she had to live with day and night for many years.

Wouldn't she be laughed at for a lifetime?

Just to maintain her image in front of her roommate, the Zhang Suannai in the dream still remained calm, smiling and greeting them, appearing refined and easygoing.

Then that silly group owner stood up and said: "This is our first group activity, there are new faces, everyone do a self-introduction."

The dog group owner spoke first.

The brain-dead Daoist, the mentally challenged monk, the introverted Nameless, and the muscular girl stood up one after another and gave self-introductions that she didn't hear clearly.

Then it was that faceless person, who said his name was Luo Huaian.

So that pretentious Luo Huaian was him.

Zhang Suannai stood up and gave a self-introduction that was so awesome it exploded, making everyone worship her, and her roommate almost became her little fan.

Then it was the turn of that silly Qingcai.

In just a tenth of a second, that silly Qingcai finished his self-introduction, because he sat down as soon as he stood up. Yet everyone seemed to have heard it, and even Zhang Suannai understood his meaning and greeted him, though she didn't know what was said.

That's how it was in the dream; consciousness flowed, the plot was illogical, the dialogue didn't form sentences, and the images weren't clear, but she could understand it all.

After all, she made it up herself.

However, there was one clear and concrete thing in the dream, and that was her roommate.

She saw her roommate stand up.

Zhang Suannai couldn't help but feel puzzled; wasn't she the family member brought by Chen Shu? Why did she stand up to do an introduction, and given her personality, that silly Qingcai should have consciously introduced her instead.

But seeing that everyone was looking up at her roommate, she didn't speak up, and at the same time, her heart began to panic for no reason.

"Thump, thump..."

Her heartbeat began to accelerate.

"Zhao Ye Qing."

Three cold words spilled from her roommate's lips, making her feel as if it were the end of the world.

In a daze, the scene transitioned naturally from Yujing to the middle of the ocean; it turned out they were dining on the high seas, where the ocean waves rose and fell, blinding lightning flashed within the dark clouds in the distance, and amidst the howling wind and torrential rain, a massive wave struck, carrying the power to destroy the world as it crashed toward their large round table.

"Holy crap!"

Zhang Suannai sat up in surprise, covered in cold sweat.

The living room was so quiet in the afternoon.

The little girl was curled up on the floor tiles, diligently doing her homework, the tip of her pen creating a faint rustling sound against the paper. A white cat walked leisurely on the coffee table, making a slight noise as it touched a snack bag.

Chen Shu and Qingqing were nowhere to be found.

The little sister was sleeping soundly.

Another gust of wind stirred the gauze curtains, the peaceful time forming a sharp contrast with the raging storm in the dream.

"Woof?"

The white cat noticed something amiss, turned its head to look at her, and revealed a look of confusion in its eyes.

"Nothing..."

Zhang Suannai responded instinctively, wiping the sweat from her temples.

The little girl was focused intently on her homework.

"Xiao... Xiaoxiao... where is Qingqing?"

"Reading upstairs."

"..."

Feeling that her image had been shattered, Zhang Suannai could not bear to face her roommate for the time being, and she didn't even dare to talk much to the little girl; as soon as she stood up, she took off running outside.

Half an hour later.

Zhang Suannai stepped on an ancient Sword, soaring rapidly through the sky and constantly changing angles.

The low temperature and hurricane-force winds dried her cold sweat, and the thrill brought by high-speed flight and various high-difficulty maneuvers diluted the anxiety in her heart; for a moment, Zhang Suannai seemed to have forgotten everything, and even between spins in flight, she couldn't help but let out bursts of shouts.

Until she saw a small black dot in front of her.

She chased after it and took a look—

What a coincidence!

Zhang Suannai's worry turned into anger, and she shouted:

"Chen Shu!!"

"Eh?"

The person turned his head to look: "Zhang Suannai? Why are you here? Aren't you taking an afternoon nap with Chen Banxia?"

"Don't you dare talk!"

Zhang Suannai gritted her teeth: "Didn't we agree? You aren't allowed to tell Qingqing about the group chat!"

"I didn't tell her."

"Eh?"

Zhang Suannai's anger stuttered for a moment.

It seemed that was indeed the case?

No, no!

Zhang Suannai regained her spirit, her anger level continuing to rise, and she continued to question him: "Why didn't you tell me Qingqing was also in the group!?"

"I didn't know at first either; she joined the group even earlier than I did."

"Eh?"

Zhang Suannai's anger stuttered again.

"Really?"

"Of course, the embarrassment you've experienced now, I've experienced once too." Chen Shu paused, stopping in mid-air, "And you have it better than me; at least Qingqing won't mock you to your face. She'll just act like she doesn't know, but she has genuinely mocked me."

"Eh?"

Zhang Suannai was surprised to find that her anger level actually showed signs of subsiding.

No, no!

This won't do!

This anger must find a vent! It cannot be digested by herself! She can't digest it!

"It's still your fault! Why didn't you warn me sooner!?"

"I warned you a long time ago."

"Bullshit!"

"Believe it or not."

"When?"

"I warned you at least a year ago." Chen Shu stood above the sea of clouds, spreading his hands toward Zhang Suannai with an 'it's not my fault' tone, "Don't you remember one time you came over for a meal, and as soon as you arrived, I had Xiaoxiao take you to play in the garden? Seeing that you didn't notice, when you left, I even specially picked a bouquet of Zhao Ye Qing for you to take back to the Dormitory, but you just wouldn't ask the name of the flower! What could I do then? It wouldn't have been appropriate for me to tell you explicitly, right?"

"This..."

Zhang Suannai couldn't hold it together; for a moment, a thought that "it's all my own stupidity" arose, her mind filled with regret.

"Then... then what do I do now?"

"What do you mean, what do you do?"

"My image in Qingqing's heart..." Zhang Suannai's mind went blank, "Qingqing must think I'm a goofy and stupid funny girl now. Can the image I worked so hard to build still be salvaged?"

"..."

After hearing her request, Chen Shu fell into a deep silence.

Fortunately, Zhang Suannai reacted in time and changed her question: "What about you? When you found out that Qingqing knew you were acting like a 'green tea bitch' in the group chat, how did you handle it?"

"I acted like it never happened."

"Acted like it never happened..."

"Right, just forget about it."

"Forget about it..."

Zhang Suannai murmured softly.

At this moment, she was stepping on a Sword, with a sea of clouds beneath her feet; the high-altitude wind caused her clothes to flutter constantly, and her braided pigtails swayed to and fro, giving her the air of a celestial maiden. However, how could this be easily forgotten? Now, in Qingqing's heart, she was already a joke; that Zhang Suannai—the Sword Sect Sword Master's Personal Disciple, peerless genius, first place in several schools' Martial Body associations, and idol and dream lover of countless junior brothers and sisters—no longer existed.

"I'm going back to make dinner, you play at your own pace."

After Chen Shu finished speaking, he stopped looking at her, tilted his body, and fell downward, simultaneously accelerating abruptly, his figure quickly plunging into the sea of clouds.

Inside the small courtyard.

The little girl sat swinging on a swing, holding a bowl of peeled and chilled grapes in her arms, with a white cat sitting beside her; she was as carefree and relaxed as could be.

Seeing her brother-in-law return, she held out the small bowl toward him while swinging:

"Brother-in-law, do you want to eat some grapes?"

"You eat them."

"I've finished my homework."

"Emmm... Qingqing is truly outrageous! How could she make you do it again!"

"It doesn't matter."

The little girl continued to swing, savoring the grapes, enjoying the autumn afternoon sunshine and the fragrance of flowers in the courtyard, and feeling the first day of adulthood—now she was a mature Xiaoxiao, and from now on, she would never be bullied by her sister again.

Even if she were to be bullied by her sister again, it would be because she was willing to be bullied, because she was letting her sister have her way, and not because she was forced into it against her will.

The world had become a little more beautiful because of this.