“Someone came over?” Xu Qinghuan stood outside Lin An’s room and gently knocked on the door.

“Yeah…” Lin An shot Xiao Chacha a fierce glare before hurrying to open it. Xu Qinghuan leaned over to take a look, and her eyes met Xiao Chacha’s for a brief moment.

“Hi,” Xiao Chacha said.

Then she tilted her head in confusion.

With Xu Qinghuan’s loli-like appearance, that greeting felt… slightly out of place.

But when Xiao Chacha noticed the large, rounded shape beneath Xu Qinghuan’s sweater, she suddenly felt that it wasn’t out of place at all.

Good grief. How could there be such a ridiculously cute, curvy girl?

“Hello, I’m Xu Qinghuan.” Xu Qinghuan gave Xiao Chacha a gentle smile, then tilted her head and looked toward Lin An. “It’s been a long time since you brought a girl home. Is she your girlfriend?”

“Just a regular friend. A regular friend,” Lin An answered hastily, meeting Xu Qinghuan’s eyes for a moment.

A murderous intent only he could understand filled her gaze.

“Oh.”

Xu Qinghuan deliberately drew out the final sound. “Since we have a guest, you can cook dinner.”

She handed all the groceries she’d just bought to Lin An. Like an obedient lackey, he quickly accepted them and glanced inside.

There were eggplants, tomatoes, minced meat, and six large hairy crabs.

“What kind of flavor do you want, sis?”

“Ask the guest.”

“It’s fine. She eats anything.”

“…”

Xu Qinghuan could clearly sense Lin An’s intense desire to survive. She couldn’t help giving a small laugh.

“Whatever you want is fine.”

Xu Qinghuan sat down on the sofa and casually turned on the television. Her hair was still slightly damp. Lin An quickly brought her a dry towel.

Xu Qinghuan accepted it, dried her hair, and tossed it back to him.

Xiao Chacha, meanwhile, made herself at home and sat down beside Xu Qinghuan.

Rain poured outside the window. After thinking for a moment, Xiao Chacha cautiously spoke up.

“Hey, are you really a few months older than Lin An?”

“Three months older,” Xu Qinghuan replied flatly.

Xiao Chacha knew they weren’t biological siblings. But they were running out of topics, so she brought it up anyway.

“Hm?”

“We met at an orphanage and were adopted together. I’m not his biological sister.”

“Oh, I see.”

Xiao Chacha nodded. Her dark eyes shifted as she wondered what to make of that.

Xu Qinghuan, however, lazily reclined on the sofa. She slipped off her coat and undid two buttons of her shirt.

Her slender collarbones and a hint of her pale chest became visible.

Xiao Chacha stared.

“How come I’ve never heard Lin An mention you?” Xu Qinghuan asked casually.

“Hm? Isn’t it normal that he’s never mentioned me?”

“He did talk quite a lot about a girl named Su Yuejin.”

“Huh? Haha… They used to date. They broke up just yesterday.”

“I know.”

Xu Qinghuan nodded. But in that instant, she suddenly turned her head and studied Xiao Chacha’s face.

Her gaze didn’t waver at all. Yet for some reason, it made Xiao Chacha uneasy. She didn’t dare meet her eyes.

“Will you be the next one?”

Xu Qinghuan’s smile was clearly gentle.

Xiao Chacha couldn’t sense any malice from her. Even so, she suddenly had no idea how to answer.

How could she have expected Xu Qinghuan to be so direct? She’d always suspected that Lin An’s so-called crush was actually her.

Now that she’d finally met her, she realized Lin An’s crush was… unexpectedly adorable.

Xiao Chacha really loved cute, curvy girls.

“Who knows?” Her gaze drifted away. “The fun part is that you never know what’ll happen next.”

Xu Qinghuan didn’t seem to care. She crossed her slender legs and looked especially relaxed.

“Then I’ll give you a piece of advice.”

She let out a soft sigh.

“Hm?”

“Protect yourself wisely, and cut your losses in time.”

Xiao Chacha carefully considered the meaning behind those two sayings, then nodded.

“Okay.”

After that, they chatted about ordinary things.

Only then did Xiao Chacha remember that Xu Qinghuan was in the class next door. They occasionally saw each other every day.

Xu Qinghuan was quite famous, too, because she was cute and clever.

But Xiao Chacha was a complete troublemaker.

After only five or six minutes, she moved right beside Xu Qinghuan and pressed close to her. Then she draped an arm over Xu Qinghuan’s shoulder and leaned toward her ear.

“Qinghuan sis?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re so curvy. Is there some secret to it?”

Her tone was flippant, with a joking edge.

Xu Qinghuan didn’t react with the embarrassment or shyness Xiao Chacha had expected. She simply answered in the same calm tone.

“Maybe a little massage helps.”

“Hm? I massage mine plenty.”

Xiao Chacha had absolutely no shame.

“Maybe it works better when someone else helps.”

As she spoke, Xu Qinghuan suddenly turned and pushed Xiao Chacha down onto the sofa. She reached beneath the edge of Xiao Chacha’s shirt and gave her side a quick, playful squeeze.

She was very close. Her breath brushed against Xiao Chacha’s cheek.

“Hey, Qinghuan sis! That’s not fair!”

“That’s debatable.”

Xu Qinghuan didn’t stop immediately. A few seconds later, Xiao Chacha’s face was flushed with embarrassment and indignation.

She felt like she’d been teased.

With a quick twist, she reversed their positions. Xu Qinghuan let her sit up obediently.

“I want to try too!” Xiao Chacha said, wiggling her fingers.

“I’ll call Lin An.”

Xu Qinghuan tilted her head and smiled brightly.

Xiao Chacha immediately lost her nerve.

“Let’s exchange WeChat, Qinghuan sis.”

Xu Qinghuan added her on WeChat. After they exchanged nicknames, the two girls continued chatting on the sofa.

There were plenty of things for girls to talk about. Perfume, clothes, television shows, novels—there was always some shared interest.

So when Lin An finished cooking and carried the dishes out, he saw Xu Qinghuan and Xiao Chacha laughing and chatting together.

He even rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things.

But after thinking about it, he decided it was actually normal. Xu Qinghuan got along well with almost everyone.

He’d made spicy crab, minced meat with eggplant, and tomato-and-egg soup. He’d even served rice for both girls.

The two of them obediently took their seats at the table.

The meal was ten thousand times more harmonious than Lin An had expected.

After lunch, Xu Qinghuan returned to her room to draw. Xiao Chacha curiously followed her in to watch, and Xu Qinghuan didn’t stop her.

Lin An stayed in his own room, typing at his computer while listening to the heavy rain outside.

Every so often, the sound of the girls playing around drifted from the next room. They seemed to be having an especially good time.

Lin An scratched his head. Something about it felt strange.

He wondered whether Xu Qinghuan was setting Xiao Chacha up.

After all, he’d lived with his little loli for so many years. He knew exactly how bad she could be.

The gentler and more harmless her smile looked, the more likely she was secretly thinking of ways to mess someone up.

Back in middle school, Xu Qinghuan had been a truly awful girl.

There had been a girl in another social circle who half-joked and half-mocked her because of her figure, calling her a “walking dairy farm.”

Xu Qinghuan had somehow managed to make the entire grade isolate that girl.

When an immature boy failed to win her over and started badmouthing her behind her back, Xu Qinghuan contacted a few older girls she knew outside school.

Without leaving any obvious trace, she had them provoke him and beat him up badly.

Lin An tried to think of something even more outrageous.

Then he shuddered.

Back in middle school, there had also been a girl who occasionally bullied Xu Qinghuan.

It wasn’t anything serious. She simply loved making jokes Xu Qinghuan didn’t like.

Every time, Xu Qinghuan would look soft and fragile, as if she’d been deeply hurt.

Two months later, that girl’s private photos spread through the school like wildfire.

…Xu Qinghuan had pretended to be a boy and tricked her into sending them during an online romance.

The worst part was that Xu Qinghuan had done all those terrible things while everyone still saw her as a gentle, obedient, adorable girl.

No one ever noticed the slightest hint of what she was really like.

That was the most terrifying part.

Thinking back to those days, Lin An had stood behind Xu Qinghuan and watched her calmly type away, pretending to be a boy while flirting with that girl.

From then on, Lin An firmly believed in one rule:

Never provoke the girl from his family.

Fortunately, Xu Qinghuan never hid any of it from him.

After finishing his writing, Lin An grew bored. He brought over his guitar, sat by the window, and played for a while.

Xiao Chacha came over, too. Her face was still slightly flushed, but she sat quietly beside him and listened.

She was probably blushing because of all the fooling around she’d done with Xu Qinghuan.

“You’re… really clever,” Xiao Chacha said softly.

“What makes you say that?”

“She really knows how to get along with people. We’ve only known each other for an hour or two, but I already feel like we click perfectly.”

She paused.

“But when I think about it, something feels off. Maybe she’s simply being patient with me because I’m younger and more immature.”

“Even so, I can’t feel the slightest bit of dislike toward her. She’s so cute, so cute! If I hadn’t fallen for you, I’d be worshiping her nonstop!”

“…You’re crazy,” Lin An said flatly.

Speaking of which, he’d forgotten to mention the lesbian who had confessed her feelings for Xu Qinghuan before.

When Xu Qinghuan cut off contact with her, she hadn’t hesitated at all. She blocked whoever needed blocking and deleted whoever needed deleting.

The last time, Lin An had even seen that girl call Xu Qinghuan while crying and apologizing.

Xu Qinghuan had casually blocked her new number, too.

Lin An had thought that girl was a player the last time they met. How had she suddenly started acting like a devoted lovesick puppy?

Something must have happened afterward, but Lin An had no desire to find out.

“Come on, don’t be so cold. Can I request a song?”

“What do you want to hear?”

“‘Qingcheng.’”

“I can sing it, but I’m not very good at playing it.”

“I’ll still listen. I won’t make fun of you.”

Xiao Chacha looked at him gently.

Lin An called Xu Qinghuan’s name toward the next room. Xu Qinghuan soon came out.

“Come on. Help me with this.”

“Huh?”

Xu Qinghuan sat down beside the bed with a helpless look, her pale legs swinging lightly.

Lin An handed her the guitar. Xu Qinghuan knew how to play, so she held the large guitar in her arms while Lin An sang.

Xiao Chacha sat there happily with her chin propped in her hands, making no attempt to hide the tenderness in her eyes.

Xu Qinghuan’s gaze wasn’t cold at all.

She was simply smiling.

And her smile was warm.