“Haaah Waking up naturally like this feels so good”
Bai Qiuchen stretched greatly.
He scratched his belly, went to wash his face first, then sat down in front of the computer and turned it on, planning to first check if there was any news worth paying attention to.
The current time is 6:42 PM.
He logged into Bai Qiu’s account and checked the private messages.
The top one was a private message sent to her by “Magical Girl Dongyue_official.”
“Dongyue? What is she sending Bai Qiu a private message for?”
Bai Qiuchen opened it to check.
[Dear Lady Bai Qiu.]
“Pfft! What era is this, still using an opening like that.”
He couldn’t hold it in when he saw the first sentence.
[I apologize in advance for the sudden intrusion causing you trouble.]
[It’s like this, I saw the rental information you posted on your feed, and the room described suits my preferences very much, especially since the landlord is Master Bai Qiuchen, which is very reassuring, I wonder if it is no longer for rent.]
[Perhaps you are resting right now, or perhaps this private message has been buried among your fan letters, but that is all fine.]
[If you are able to see it, I hope you can reply to me when you do.]
[I will visit the rental property in the coming days.]
“Hiss……”
Even though it was just cold text, Bai Qiu felt a strange sense of discomfort.
Those five little lolis coming to find him was understandable, after all, he was the only one who had taught them all at the same time, and the president might have wanted him to take them on long ago.
But Dongyue and he didn’t have much interaction, and by the time he joined, Dongyue no longer needed to participate in instructor training.
He had indeed received her care when he first joined, but a senior looking after a junior was normal, right.
Bai Qiuchen picked up his phone and took a look.
It was just as he thought, Dongyue really had sent him many messages, and the call block list had over 12 entries of the same number.
His phone was set to automatically block all unregistered numbers.
As things stood, aside from the few little lolis at home, his sister, and the president, no one could get through to his phone.
The messages she sent were all things like “Are you there?” “Can you reply?”
She clearly lived together with her group’s friends, so why was she thinking of renting a place here?
Did she have a falling out with her friends?
Or did their leader do something?
“Knock knock knock.”
While Bai Qiuchen was thinking about what Dongyue actually wanted, the room door was knocked on.
He could guess who it was, it definitely couldn’t be his sister, his sister would just open the door directly after knocking, she wouldn’t wait for him to respond.
“Coming.”
He opened the door, and Li Ai was standing outside.
“Is something the matter, Li Ai?”
Li Ai, beaming, reached out her hand in invitation: “Master, I baked a chocolate cake and wanted to invite you to taste it.”
“Chocolate cake? Then I must try it.”
He liked chocolate way too much.
Bai Qiuchen took Li Ai’s hand and let her pull him to the dining table.
Aside from Bai Qiumu not being there, everyone in the house was present.
In front of each person was a piece of chocolate cake that looked delicious, and in his usual seat was placed a piece bigger than everyone else’s.
Bai Qiuchen furrowed his brows, sensing that things were not simple.
Something was off, ten or even nine points off.
Normally Li Ai would deliver it directly to the room, but now they were actually eating together, this was too deliberate.
Very off indeed.
“If there’s something, just say it directly, no need to be so polite with me.”
Bai Qiuchen sat down.
In front of them, he still needed to establish his persona as a caring good older brother.
He could let Bai Qiu release his suppressed true nature.
“It’s like this, Master, do you know Zhuang Zhilian?”
Li Ai sat beside him, getting straight to the point.
“Zhuang Zhilian huh…… that name sounds a bit familiar, is there any more specific characteristic?”
Bai Qiuchen used his fork to pick up a small piece of cake and put it in his mouth.
“She has long cyan-blue hair.”
“Her attitude is very bad.”
“And a white beret, meow～ it looks really cute, I want one too, meow～”
“Mm……”
Bai Qiuchen closed his eyes while eating, matching the people he knew in his mind with the characteristics they described.
There was indeed one person who matched the characteristics they described.
“Oh, you mean Ice Archer.”
Bai Qiuchen opened his eyes and sent the last bit of cake into his stomach.
“Ice Archer?”
The little lolis blinked, puzzled by the name.
“Magical Girl Dongyue, a senior with even more seniority than Bai Qiu, you definitely know of her, right.”
Dongyue was a veteran who had been famous for a long time.
Although her popularity had declined somewhat in recent years, the 3-person group she belonged to had 5,230,000 followers and ranked 7th on the fan rankings, no matter how you put it, a dying camel is still bigger than a horse, their fame in the association and online was not small.
But offline they weren’t that famous, it was rare to see them fight monsters.
The little lolis nodded.
“I didn’t expect it to be Senior Dongyue, meow～”
……Meow?
Bai Qiuchen secretly glanced at Shang Mengyou, why was she still using meow?
Could she really not go back?
Was he going to become a war criminal?
Would he be wanted by her fans?
Cold sweat couldn’t help but seep from his back.
“She’s completely different from how she looks in the association……”
Jiu muttered with lingering fear.
“Hmph, a two-faced woman who’s not what she appears.”
“Don’t say that, Xilalite.”
Bai Qiuchen gently stroked Xilalite’s head, soothing her displeasure, “She’s always seemed quite normal in my impression, I don’t know what kind of her you saw that gave you this idea, but talking bad about others behind their backs is wrong.”
“Why is she called Ice Archer?”
Li Ai asked.
“Well……”
Bai Qiuchen scratched his face awkwardly, “Because she uses a bow, and her Miracle is also ice-related, so…… it’s hard not to make the association. But you must absolutely not call her this name to her face, or you’ll be taught a lesson by her.”
This nickname had once been popular in the association for a while, until someone called her this to Dongyue’s face, and then…… now aside from Bai Qiuchen, no one dared to call her that anymore.
Although he didn’t think Zhuang Zhilian could beat these juniors, he still gave a reminder, to avoid any misunderstandings and conflicts that would require him to step in and mediate, he didn’t want to waste time on such things.
“We understand.”
Li Ai nodded, got up and went to the kitchen, then came back out carrying a latte and pushed it in front of Bai Qiuchen, “This question might be a bit presumptuous, I want to know what kind of relationship Master and Senior Dongyue have.”
“……”
What was with this feeling of using delicious food to lure a criminal into confessing.
“Relationship huh……”
Bai Qiuchen picked up the latte and took a sip.
He had to admit, it was even better than the coffee shops outside, the texture was very rich, he didn’t know what was added.
“Actually there’s no real relationship. When I first joined I received some care from her, and afterward we maintained an on-and-off contact, often running into each other when out shopping…… that’s about it.”
“Then do you like her?”
“……Huh?”
Bai Qiuchen’s brain short-circuited for a moment.
“Li Ai-chan……!”
Jiu tugged at Li Ai’s clothes, looking at her as if blaming her for asking so directly.
But Li Ai only smiled back, as if saying “Don’t worry, Master won’t notice.”
“How could that be.”
Sure enough, Bai Qiuchen laughed as if he’d heard a joke, “Let me think, I remember she’s about the same age as Xiao Mu, right? So she’s only 16 now, and I’m already 23!”
“Age is one aspect, personality is another. I’m not very comfortable interacting with her, maybe because she cares about me too much, sometimes there’s no sense of distance.”
Bai Qiuchen gave his conclusion on his relationship with Zhuang Zhilian: “In short, if I had to put it, we can barely be considered friends and senior-junior. That’s right, that’s how it is.”
“That kind of relationship is quite nice.”
Li Ai tilted her head and smiled in relief.
“Is that so?”
Bai Qiuchen paused, “Well…… it really is quite nice.”
Not having to deal with troublesome interpersonal relationships, not having to be too polite…… thinking about it this way, this kind of relationship really did seem quite nice.
“If there are no other questions I’ll go back to work.”
Bai Qiuchen wanted to get up and leave, but suddenly remembered the private message Dongyue sent to Bai Qiu……
“Has she already come to our house?”
“Uh……”
Xilalite and Shang Mengyou turned their heads to the side, not daring to meet Bai Qiuchen’s gaze.
“Y-yes……”
Jiu lowered her head and answered in a small voice, “She said she also wanted to rent a place, we…… I saw her attitude wasn’t very good, thought she was here to cause trouble for Master, so I drove her away……”
Jiu cautiously raised her eyes, looking at Bai Qiuchen with a gaze that seemed to say “Did I do something wrong?”
“Jiu……”
Li Ai and Alice looked at Jiu, wanting to say something, but Jiu grabbed their hands left and right, gently shaking her head.
“If her attitude really was very bad, then driving her away was correct.”
Bai Qiuchen showed a gentle smile, came to Jiu’s side and stroked her head, “You did well, Jiu.”
But Jiu shook her head vehemently: “N-no, it wasn’t me, it was Li Ai-chan and little Alice…… they were the ones who drove Senior Dongyue away, Master please praise them!”
Jiu escaped from Bai Qiuchen’s stroking.
“Is that so?”
Bai Qiuchen looked at the two of them.
“It was all of us together.”
Alice answered steadfastly, “If it hadn’t been all of us together, Li Ai and I wouldn’t have dared to confront Senior Dongyue.”
“That’s right♪”
Li Ai chimed in, “It’s everyone’s credit together.”
“I see. Then as a reward for you all being so united”
Bai Qiuchen stood up, “Tomorrow, let’s take a day off.”
“You just want to slack off yourself, Master.”
Xilalite looked at him with dead fish eyes, seeing right through his inner thoughts with 1 sentence.
“What are you saying, you little rascal.”
Bai Qiuchen smiled and pressed her head, shaking it back and forth.