Chu Yao was mortified. Wasn’t this exactly what happened yesterday when he farted in the car?!

Could this guy really be Chuanzi? No way. Maybe she was his little sister or some distant relative? He’d found girls’ underwear in Chuanzi’s bag before. Maybe the girl standing right in front of him had left it there...

One look at Chu Yao told Mo Zhiyuan he still didn’t believe her, so she gave up trying to explain for now.

“Weren’t you the one who insisted on coming to my place? Come with me.”

Mo Zhiyuan led Chu Yao toward her home, taking special care to check their surroundings and make sure that annoying guy from earlier hadn’t quietly followed them. That would’ve been a real hassle.

Huff, huff... One, two, three... One, two, three... Hup! Made it to the first floor~

Silently chanting to psych herself up, Mo Zhiyuan began the grueling journey up the stairs with Chu Yao.

As a side note, Mo Zhiyuan lived on the eighth floor. There were two flights of stairs per floor, with eight steps in each flight.

And there was no elevator.

They’d planned to install one last year, but the residents on the first and second floors were fiercely opposed. They said an elevator would lower the value of their apartments, and the issue had remained unresolved ever since.

The old Mo Zhiyuan could’ve climbed all eight floors without stopping. At the very least, she wouldn’t have been too tired. Her university classrooms were on the sixth floor, after all, so she was used to it.

But in her current body, by the time she reached the fourth floor, she was already curled up like an exhausted little squirrel.

“Hey, hey. Want me to carry you?”

Chu Yao saw that even this cute girl was exhausted. And since she was related to his good buddy, he felt like a real jerk if he didn’t do something to help. So he offered to carry her.

Pah!

“I don’t need your help!”

Mo Zhiyuan puffed herself up and charged a little farther ahead, feeling like her pride had been trampled.

Seriously, I need help just to climb some stairs?

Even though I’ve become a girl, and I don’t mind being one, there are some things I can’t give up—like my dignity!

She charged ahead in one burst of effort and somehow made it to the fifth floor. But by then, Mo Zhiyuan really didn’t have a drop of energy left (that is, stamina). Her legs gave way, and she collapsed onto the floor in a sit with her knees bent outward.

“Hah... hah... hah...”

Mo Zhiyuan couldn’t hold it in anymore. She panted in great gasps, letting out cute little sighs with a hint of allure.

Chu Yao froze for a moment. The cute sight of the girl in front of him stirred something in his heart, but he’d noticed something else, too.

His good buddy had always been just as stubborn. They’d just picked plenty of the wrong things to be stubborn about.

Chu Yao scratched his head, looking a little helpless. “I’m just saying, don’t push yourself over something pointless...”

“It’s not pointless.” Mo Zhiyuan immediately wrote it in her little notebook.

This is about my dignity and my pride!

If I need someone’s help just to climb some stairs, life’s only going to get harder from here. Am I going to need help with everything?

Once she entered the real world, no one would go out of their way to accommodate her.

After resting for a while, she gritted her teeth and got back up. Holding the handrail, she climbed one step at a time, much more slowly now.

Hah—hah—

Her lungs felt like they were burning. Every breath dried out her throat and left it faintly stinging.

Mo Zhiyuan’s vision had turned into a blurry mess.

Ugh... This is exhausting... Once I find a job, will I have to make this trip every day?

“Phew—!”

They’d made it.

Mo Zhiyuan wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her pretty face was flushed a rosy red, and her slightly parted lips released soft, sweet breaths.

Chu Yao looked at Mo Zhiyuan with admiration. For the first time, he found himself respecting this delicate girl.

He knew just how high eight flights of stairs were. Sure, he was a grown man, but he was carrying three boxed meals, and they weren’t light. His arms were already aching.

Strength... No, perseverance? ...No, that’s not it, either. Maybe it was... sheer struggle?

She could’ve gotten plenty of favors just by relying on that face of hers, yet she insisted on doing things herself. It made her seem strangely charming to him.

Maybe it was reckless to reach that conclusion when he’d known her for only a few minutes, but Chu Yao could see that quality in her.

“Can you keep going?” Chu Yao smiled and held out a hand to Mo Zhiyuan.

“Hmph!”

Mo Zhiyuan shot him a sideways glance and gave a little huff, then started toward her front door on legs that still felt wobbly.

On the way, she noticed that all kinds of luggage had been left in the corridor near her apartment. Someone must’ve moved in—and it looked like they were right next door.

There weren’t any cameras in the corridor, and the building’s security cameras were due for maintenance over the next couple of days. They were basically useless. This new resident sure was careless.

Still, Mo Zhiyuan didn’t want to stick her nose into other people’s business, even if the new resident was her neighbor.

She’d always been rather withdrawn. Unless someone else started a conversation, she was firmly on the silent side.

For her to greet a neighbor she didn’t know? She’d sooner die.

Mo Zhiyuan took a key ring from her pocket. The QQ character charm on it caught Chu Yao’s eye.

That charm... He’d definitely seen Mo Yuchuan use one on campus...

Click—

The front door opened, revealing Xiaoxiao kneeling by the entrance like a pet waiting for its owner to come home.

Huh?!

Σ( °△°！！！)︴

When Xiaoxiao saw her big brother transformed into a soft, girly beauty—his face flushed, his whole body slick with sweat, looking delicate and panting sweetly—her eyes instantly sharpened.

Had her brother already been pinned against the wall, held in that man’s arms, pressed onto the bed, and...?!’

You swine who defiled my brother, die—!

In an instant, Chu Yao felt as if the Grim Reaper had his eyes on him. His body went rigid. The silver-haired girl before him had a delicate face and doll-like cuteness, but right now she was weighing him down with a crushing sense of impending death.

He gave an awkward laugh and poked Mo Zhiyuan in the back. His voice came out dry as he said:

“Hey, hey... Is it just me, or is she looking at me in a really scary way? ...Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s that?!”

The girl suddenly pulled a gleaming silver object from behind her. Was it a knife? It had to be a knife, right?! No, no, no, that wasn’t the point—she was charging straight at me—!!!!!!

“Xiaoxiao!”

Mo Zhiyuan, who’d been silent until now, hurriedly called out to her. It worked instantly: Mo Xiaoxiao froze in place.

Chu Yao let out a shaky breath of relief. He wasn’t sure how, but it seemed he’d just narrowly escaped with his life.

Meanwhile, Mo Zhiyuan’s face fell a little. She’d let something slip again by accident, so she wrote in her little notebook:

“What have I taught you? Wash your hands first.”

Xiaoxiao nodded expressionlessly. Then again, that was the only expression she ever seemed to have. She obediently dashed into the bathroom.

Before she disappeared, Chu Yao finally got a clear look at the silver object in her hand.

“Huh? A... a spoon?” Chu Yao stared blankly at the silver object Mo Xiaoxiao was holding. It was just a spoon...

Th-then her target had been... the pork cutlet rice in his hands...

Chu Yao drew a deep breath. Damn, that was embarrassing. He’d been scared out of his wits by a girl with a spoon. Was the heat making him hallucinate?

With the danger past, he suddenly realized his back was soaked in cold sweat. Mixed with the sweat from the scorching heat, it sent a shiver through him.

Noticing that Mo Zhiyuan was writing something again, Chu Yao turned to look.

“She’s my daughter. Her name’s Mo Xiaoxiao. Cute, right?”

Chu Yao still hadn’t grasped how serious this was. He gave an absent-minded, awkward laugh and said:

“Haha... Cute, cute... She’s a rare beauty, and you’re both so cu— Huh?! W-w-w-wait, your daughter?!”