Chapter 16: You Can Feel Free to Tease Him

Because I still had my twin tails tied up, they poked the back of my head, making it a bit hard to fall asleep.

After all, Gu Fan is a boy, so he probably doesn’t consider these little details very carefully.

By the way, what is Gu Fan doing? He’s been so still.

I slowly turned over, only to see Gu Fan lying on the edge of the bed, fast asleep.

“Hmm…”

I stared, carefully studying Gu Fan’s face.

This was a rare sight—Gu Fan letting his guard down and showing me his sleeping face.

Gu Fan was cool even as a kid.

Many girls liked to hang around the easygoing him.

Now, his looks haven’t faded; if anything, they’ve improved.

He’s still perfect—only when he’s asleep does a trace of vulnerability show.

Heh heh, I’ll take a photo now.

I’m a girl after all, with a perfectly good reason to do so.

I slowed my movements and, like a true cat, silently stepped on the floor, moved to my backpack, and took out my phone.

Then, I took photos of Gu Fan’s sleeping face from various angles.

Hmm, my photography skills aren’t great, but luckily Gu Fan’s looks are so good that no matter how I shoot, he won’t look bad.

It even makes me feel like I took great photos.

* * * * *

“Please enjoy, please enjoy. My cooking is really good, not worse than Gu Fan’s.”

Gu’s Mom said with a smile as she brought out the last dish.

I was a little curious about what she said at the end.

“Gu Fan… can cook?”

“Yep! Much better than me. Isn’t it great to have a guy who can cook?”

Why does this feel like a sales pitch?

But if Gu Fan can cook, then his charm has definitely reached a whole new level.

“Mom, didn’t you put too much salt in this dish again?”

Gu Fan picked up a bite of cabbage and ate it, frowning deeply.

“Hehehe, sorry sorry, it’s been a long time since I cooked. You should blame yourself for not preparing the food last night in advance. Otherwise, I could have just heated this up and tricked Zhi Nian into thinking I cooked it myself.”

Hmm… Gu Mom is surprisingly… cheerful and fun.

Obviously, Gu Fan felt speechless about his cheeky mother.

He shrugged and sighed heavily.

“Got it. Next time, I’ll give you a chance to amaze the world.”

Although it looked a bit noisy, there was no real tension in their conversation.

Instead, they playfully ‘battled’ each other with teasing.

Even though Gu Fan’s evaluation of Gu Mom’s cooking was pretty low, after tasting it myself, I thought it was quite good—maybe even better than some small restaurants outside.

Maybe I just haven’t tasted anything better before, so I don’t really know what the difference is.

If I ever got the chance to eat a meal made by Gu Fan… hmm, would it be too soon to say that I could die without regrets here?

After lunch, Gu Fan promptly led me back to the bedroom, not giving Gu Mom a chance to chat with me.

As we entered the hallway, I faintly heard Gu Mom sighing in the dining room about how her son had grown up and was hard to manage now, but her tone was strangely relieved and… playful?

Once inside the bedroom, my body, colored in shades of blue, immediately let down its heavy guard and felt much lighter.

“Uh, Gu Fan, where are you going to sleep?”

He had mentioned before that he was used to taking naps.

The bed in front of me was quite large; even if Gu Fan and I both lay down, there would be plenty of space to roll around.

But… no matter how I thought about it, Gu Fan didn’t seem like the kind of jerk who would take advantage of a girl, though I did have a tiny bit of hope.

“Hmm… would you like to sleep with me?”

“Huh?!! Stop teasing me!!!”

I forced myself to keep my voice from rising uncontrollably, my cheeks burning so hot it felt like steam would come out.

Damn Gu Fan, don’t keep using these lines to tease me.

“Heh heh heh, I’m not joking. I’ll sleep in the spare room—it hasn’t been cleaned for a while and is a bit dirty, so I’m letting you sleep here.”

“Mm… thank you.”

For Gu Fan’s thoughtful consideration in every little detail, all I could do was hold sincere gratitude and hope to repay him someday.

* * * * *

Mmm~

So comfortable, surrounded by warmth, and the fresh scent of grass tickled my nose.

I glanced at my phone—somehow I slept until three-thirty, which was rare since my naps usually lasted at most an hour.

Sleeping so deeply at someone else’s place was quite surprising—though it probably only worked with Gu Fan.

I was a bit worried about whether I snored; if Gu Fan heard it, he’d probably think it was hilarious.

After sending a quick follow-up text to my teacher, I stretched my soft body, tied my hair back into a simple low ponytail with the hairband I’d taken off before sleeping, smoothed my floppy cat ears, and my tail happily twitched.

Hmm… time to go out and see if Gu Fan was still home—it was pretty late.

Before I reached the living room, I heard Gu Fan and his mother talking.

Should I eavesdrop for a bit?

That wouldn’t be right, though.

Also, they were speaking quietly, so I couldn’t really make out what they were saying.

I hesitated for a moment, then stepped into the living room in my little white socks.

“Hmm, good afternoon, Gu Fan. Good afternoon, Auntie.”

“Hello, hello, come sit down.”

Gu’s Mom warmly invited me to sit beside her.

I glanced hesitantly at Gu Fan.

After he nodded, I quickly tiptoed over and sat down.

“Here, try this. It’s sour plum juice that Gu Fan made. It tastes great.”

I took the full glass of sour plum juice and sipped it.

Hmm?

Pretty tasty, I took another sip.

Glug glug glug…

Finished it all…

“See? See? Isn’t it delicious?”

“Yeah! It’s great! Can I have another glass?”

I had been a little thirsty after waking up, and this perfectly balanced sweet-and-sour plum juice fully quenched my thirst.

I quickly drank two big glasses, feeling much refreshed and invigorated.

“So sour plum juice can be made this delicious…”

My mom occasionally cooked but never made drinks like sour plum juice or mung bean soup for leisure.

And when eating out, I wouldn’t order those kinds of drinks—they don’t fill you up, and you can’t be sure if they taste good, so I don’t want to waste money.

Gu Fan held a straight face, calmly smiling as he watched us enjoy the drink he’d made.

“Gu Fan’s grown up now. Without being asked, he actually took the initiative to make some refreshing sour plum juice.”

“…I made it specifically for Zhi Nian to drink. Mom, you’re just a bonus.”

“Gulp! That hurts—”

Gu’s Mom theatrically wiped the corner of her eye, as if wiping away tears that didn’t exist.

“I still miss little Fan when he was so well-behaved and obedient, none of this now deliberately annoying Mom stuff.”

“…It’s getting late. Zhi Nian and I are going out to play.”

Gu Fan completely ignored his mother’s tone, glanced at the clock in the living room, stood up, and waved at me.

“Huh? Could it be that my Gu Fan is going to revive his bad kid behavior from middle school? Maybe even worse?”

Only Gu’s Mom would tease Gu Fan like this.

I was sure he wouldn’t want to do that.

“Goodbye.”

Probably used to it by now, Gu Fan replied faintly, then grabbed my wrist, took his backpack into the bedroom, and only then did we walk out together.

Gu’s Mom opened the front door.

Gu Fan went down the stairs first. As I followed behind, Gu’s Mom patted my shoulder and pulled me aside.

“Even though you guys haven’t been in touch much lately, I promise Gu Fan isn’t the rebellious kid he was in middle school anymore. You can feel free to bully him.”

“Uh, um… okay…”

I originally wanted to say I wouldn’t bully Gu Fan, but then thought, why take such a simple reminder so seriously?

So I just responded casually.