Chapter 362: Sister Suannai, You've Grown Up Too

"I think we shouldn't go to my brother's room first. If he really is staying in the same room as Qingqing, we might make him angry if we disturb them," Chen Banxia said thoughtfully. "To know if Qingqing is staying in the same room as my brother, we only need to know if Xiaoxiao is staying alone."

"Are you afraid of your brother?" Zhang Suannai raised an eyebrow at her.

"How could that be! I'm his older sister; there's no reason for an older sister to be afraid of her younger brother," Chen Banxia puffed out her chest reflexively.

"Then why are you so worried?"

"I just don't want to disturb him!"

"Tch! Isn't that just being afraid!"

"Aren't you?"

"Why would I be afraid of your brother? With my strength, I could totally beat him up, alright?" Zhang Suannai twitched the corner of her mouth.

"In case he gets angry and stops letting you play along."

"Hmm?"

Zhang Suannai was stunned for a moment, instantly grasping the main point, and retorted: "Isn't it you who is taking them to play, and bringing me along as an afterthought?"

"Oh, oh, that's right!"

Chen Banxia's heart tightened instantly—

She had almost exposed the fact she had painstakingly fabricated!

Facing her little friend's suspicious gaze, Chen Banxia rolled her eyes: "Aren't you afraid of Qingqing getting angry?"

"Emmm..."

Zhang Suannai indeed fell into deep thought, and only after a moment did she say: "But if we go to disturb Xiaoxiao, won't Xiaoxiao get angry too?"

"Don't worry, I watched my brother raise them from childhood. Based on my understanding of them, Xiaoxiao's temper is much better than Qingqing's," Chen Banxia lowered her voice to tell her little friend. "We can go out and buy some fried potatoes; the fried potatoes here are quite famous. We'll bring some to Xiaoxiao."

"Good idea!"

The two quietly arrived in the hallway.

Zhang Suannai even stopped in her tracks as she passed by, revealing a listening expression.

Seeing this, Chen Banxia also stopped in tacit agreement, holding her breath, and only asked after a moment:

"How is it?"

"Can't hear a single sound; they both turned on a Soundproofing Array," Zhang Suannai answered solemnly. She paused, and her expression softened, "But since we can't hear the sounds inside, they can't hear what we're discussing out here either."

"They even turned on a Soundproofing Array..."

"What kind of decent person turns on a Soundproofing Array."

"Do you turn on a Soundproofing Array?"

"I don't."

"I don't either."

The two looked at each other and walked outside.

About ten minutes later.

The two carried a box of fried potatoes and pressed Xiaoxiao's doorbell.

The door had a switch, and the ringing device was inside the room, so standing outside, they couldn't hear the doorbell, but those inside could.

The two looked at each other, winking and nudging one another; neither was willing to stand at the front to deal with Xiaoxiao. In the end, Chen Banxia, who thought "I'm the older sister, they wouldn't dare get angry at me," stood at the front.

"I have a premonition that Xiaoxiao has already come to the door and is secretly observing us through the camera," Zhang Suannai said without moving her mouth, her voice muffled. "Hurry up and hold the fried potatoes up to show her, otherwise, based on my understanding of her, she'll pretend she didn't hear and ignore us."

"..."

Chen Banxia smiled, held up the fried potatoes, and aimed them at the camera.

"Click!"

The room door opened a small crack.

The little girl only poked half of her small head out, staring at them with a serious face: "What are you doing?"

"Bringing you something to eat."

Chen Banxia smiled: "Fried potatoes. Potatoes on the plateau have a long growth cycle and taste especially good. They're fried crispy on the outside and soft on the inside; we thought you'd definitely love them!"

"Thank you, Sister Banxia."

The little girl reached her hand out from the small crack in the door to take the fried potatoes.

Chen Banxia pulled her hand back instead and leaned her head in to look: "Why are you guarding against us like we're thieves? Is Sister taking a bath inside?"

"!"

The little girl, who hadn't received the fried potatoes, withdrew her hand and continued to guard the crack in the door, the expression on her face gradually changing from serious to vigilant.

"It's nothing..."

Chen Banxia put on a smile she thought was full of friendliness: "We just wanted to come to your room to visit."

The little girl glanced at Chen Banxia outside, and then at the sneaky-looking Zhang Suannai behind Chen Banxia, rolled her eyes, and only said:

"It's not convenient."

"Why is it not convenient?"

"Because it's not very convenient."

"Is Qingqing inside?"

"She is."

"Perfect, we also bought some sour papaya; we'll send some over for Qingqing too."

"You can just give it to me."

"Xiaoxiao, this defensive attitude of yours makes Sister very sad. Could it be that I would go in and harbor evil intentions toward you?" Chen Banxia began her sob story. "Sister watched you grow up since you were little. Every time we ate at home, I specifically instructed your brother-in-law to make potatoes for you, and sometimes I even saved potatoes for you. Now I've brought fried potatoes to come play with you, and you've shut me out."

"It's useless."

"What?"

"I have no emotions."

"..." Chen Banxia fell silent for a moment, "Then I'm taking the potatoes."

"!"

With a creak, the bedroom door opened.

The little girl turned and walked into the room.

The two of them hurriedly stretched their necks to look inside.

Inside were two 1.5-meter single beds; only one was slightly messy, while the other remained tidy, with Xiaoxiao's backpack, snacks, and personal items on it, clearly unused for sleeping.

Taozi stood at the very edge of the foot of the bed, poking her head out to stare at them.

The bathroom was dark and quiet.

The two of them exchanged a glance.

Zhang Suannai couldn't help but ask: "Xiaoxiao, didn't you say your sister was in the room?"

"I lied."

The little girl admitted it with extreme bluntness.

"..."

Zhang Suannai was choked up.

Immediately, the two of them exchanged another glance.

Chen Banxia placed the potatoes on the desk in the room and gave her little sister a look that said, "See? I told you so." Seeing that her little sister still seemed unable to believe it, she asked again:

"Then where did Qingqing go?"

The little girl didn't speak, just pointed toward the room next door.

"Why would Qingqing go to your brother-in-law's room?" Zhang Suannai felt anxious inside, but pretended to be casual, "To tutor your brother-in-law on his winter break homework?"

"..."

The little girl looked at Zhang Suannai expressionlessly. After a moment of silence, she said to her indifferently: "Sister Suannai, you aren't young anymore..."

"Boom!"

Zhang Suannai felt as if she had been struck by lightning.

In contrast to her, Chen Banxia wore a look of Joy, thinking, "My Lao Chen family has successors."

Zhang Suannai wanted to ask something more, but the little girl had already opened the package of fried potatoes and was eating them intently with Taozi, while her little sister began pulling her hand to lead her outside, and she was dragged out, stumbling along.

The two returned to their room.

Zhang Suannai felt her imagination was nearly exhausted—

Aren't they not dating yet? Why would Qingqing be staying in the same room as him? Was it him being thick-skinned and forcing it? Or was Qingqing willing? If they stay in the same room, will they sleep together at night? Or in separate beds? Will Qingqing let that man hold her? Will she let him kiss her? Will they...

She absolutely could not imagine such a scene.

Chen Banxia, however, remained cheerful, starting to calculate in her heart that once they got married, she would have to make them have two more kids, and she would take one to play with.

A Cultivator's life of several hundred years is very boring; having a child to play with could pass the time for many years.

By then, she would name the kids Chen Pi and Chen Cu.

"Hahaha..."

Chen Banxia laughed out loud.

The joys and sorrows of people are not shared.

Zhang Suannai sniffed and smelled a faint fragrance, finally remembering that, just in case, the two of them had also bought sour papaya for Qingqing.

So she held up the sour papaya in her hand and said blankly to her little sister:

"Should I still give this to Qingqing?"

"Suit yourself."

"Suit myself..."

"Why do you look like you've gone stupid?"

"Uh..."

"Just ask in the group chat."

"Just ask in the group chat..."

Zhang Suannai mechanically took out her Mobile Phone and typed out a question, not even knowing what she had said herself.

Ning Qing: Yes.

Zhang Suannai turned her head: "She said yes."

"Then take it to her."

"Then I'll take it to her..."

So Zhang Suannai stood up with the sour papaya and walked outside.

Right now, she was a machine without emotions.

A moment later.

Zhang Suannai stood at the door of Chen Shu and Ning Qing's room.

The scene inside was much quieter than she had imagined; the sheets and quilt were tidy, with no signs of anyone having lain there. Her roommate, who she previously thought would never touch the mundane world, sat quietly on the sofa by the window. That man was lying in her arms, his head resting on her lap, seemingly asleep, while she lowered her head, her eyes filled only with him, one hand gently stroking his hair as if caring for a small child.

In this instant, Zhang Suannai felt her roommate was full of tenderness.

Besides tenderness, there was even some...

Maternal radiance?

Yet another version she had never seen before.

"Sour papaya..."

"Put it here."

Ning Qing's voice was very soft.

It seemed that person was indeed asleep.

Zhang Suannai walked in blankly, set down the sour papaya, and then left just as blankly.

Her little sister was waiting for her in the room.

Although she prided herself on being the older sister and felt embarrassed to peek at her younger brother and his girlfriend dating, that did not mean Chen Banxia was uninterested; gossip was human nature, so the moment she saw Zhang Suannai return, she asked, "How was it? What did you see?"

She had seen a goddess who had fallen to the mortal world.

Zhang Suannai thought this to herself, but said aloud, "That younger brother of yours is so effeminate..."

Chen Banxia was full of confusion.

The twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.

De County was filled with wind and snow throughout the city.

Because it was located too far west and due to its altitude, it no longer possessed the spring-like climate of Yuanzhou all year round, and it was extremely cold—damp and cold.

The alarm clock rang.

Chen Shu woke up in the warm quilt.

Last night, he had turned on the electric blanket with the goal of drying out the damp sheets and quilt cover, but he had turned it off by the time he went to sleep, because as a Sixth Stage cultivator, he and Qingqing were themselves large heat sources; they neither feared the cold nor had any trouble maintaining the temperature inside the quilt using their own body heat.

Yes, he and Qingqing were sleeping in the same bed again.

Indeed, the first day was an exception... but since there had been an exception, having a few more exceptions afterward was only reasonable.

Chen Shu opened his eyes.

It was very early now, and outside the window, it was still dark; only a bedside lamp was glowing with the faintest light, and as expected, just like the previous few days, Qingqing's face was mere inches from his, and she was wide awake, staring at him.

Chen Shu did not mind; he simply rolled over and wrapped his arms around her waist, feeling how slender, soft, and warm she was to the touch, then shifted to press his body against hers, hugging her tightly as if stretching.

"Mmm~~~"

She dragged out a long tail note.

Chen Shu asked in her ear, "Have you not been sleeping?"

"I slept."

"When did you wake up?"

"Two hours ago."

"Peeping tom."

"... You're poking me." Ning Qing reached out a hand to press against his chest, pushing him away, and even while saying this, her tone remained indifferent, then she pursed her lips, "Sunrise is in half an hour, let's get up."

"Alright."

Chen Shu planted a smack on her face and rolled out of bed.

Ning Qing remained expressionless, only reaching out to wipe away the saliva.