Chapter 180: The Secret Base is Ready!
In a fruit tea shop.
Dragon Brother was sitting in a chair, waiting for his fruit tea to be packed.
Suddenly, everything in front of him went dark, and an icy touch grazed his face, accompanied by a faint, enchanting fragrance lingering in his nose.
“Guess who I am?”
“Who are you?” Dragon Brother chuckled, playing along.
“I’m the big bad wolf, are you scared?”
“Oh, I’m so terrified! Please don’t hurt me!” Despite the words, his emotions were as flat as a pancake.
Nearby, the spectators couldn’t help but smirk at the playful banter between them.
Lin Wan Ning drew her hand away from Dragon Brother’s eyes and sat down next to him, propping her chin up and staring at him intently. “You’re lying; you’re not scared at all!”
“Don’t be fooled by my calm demeanor; I’m quaking in my boots inside!” Dragon Brother thought to himself, confused about his feelings for Lin Wan Ning.
She said, “Let’s just keep things as they are, then.”
And indeed, it seemed like the earlier kiss had been wiped from her memory.
Maybe he didn’t have a heart as big as Lin Wan Ning’s. Sometimes, he would think about…
After a brief silence, Lin Wan Ning tugged at her shirt. “What are you thinking about, staring off into space like that?”
“Nothing much.” Just then, his fruit tea was ready.
He handed one cup to Lin Wan Ning and ordered another, realizing he hadn’t expected to run into her here.
“Bro, why are you ordering so much? Are you taking it somewhere?”
“Yeah, Hu Yu Ying and Li Qing Xue.”
Upon hearing those names, Lin Wan Ning merely nodded in acknowledgment. “Oh.”
She remembered hearing about their connection from her brother the other night.
Deep down, she was a tad envious of Hu Yu Ying, but only a tad, because she wasn’t Hu Yu Ying and hadn’t met her brother sooner.
In a way, she felt grateful to Hu Yu Ying; without her, she might not have met her brother here.
Li Qing Xue was the second friend her brother made, a bit like a quirky girl dealing with a much older guy.
She brought joy to her brother, and even though they often bickered, their friendship was resilient enough to withstand anything.
On the other hand, her own time knowing her brother was way shorter. A little flutter of encouragement surged inside her; it didn’t matter. Sooner or later, she’d carve out her own spot in his heart.
So she looked at Dragon Brother and said, “Bro, I also want to meet Yu Ying and Qing Xue.”
…
“Bro, is that your roommate?” Lin Wan Ning observed Dragon Brother uncomfortably shielding his forehead with his hand and whispered.
Dragon Brother tilted his head to see Wang Li Juan, who was awkwardly trying to keep a low profile, and Xu Shuai, who was nervously debating whether to approach him.
Xu Shuai was in a rather embarrassing situation—well, not exactly embarrassing, but… challenging.
He had promised Wang Li Juan to keep their date a secret because being in the same class added a layer of awkwardness. Nobody wanted to be teased, and if things didn’t pan out, that would be even more cringe-worthy.
As luck would have it, they ended up on the same subway train as Dragon Brother.
At that moment, Xu Shuai recalled something Dragon Brother once said: “If you’re looking for a girlfriend, it’s best to go for an upperclassman or someone from another class. Avoid your own class if you can; you don’t want things to get awkward later.”
So, there it was. Xu Shuai had an ‘aha’ moment—because this was indeed a tad awkward.
Fortunately, the awkwardness didn’t last long.
Before long, Dragon Brother reached his stop and walked past Xu Shuai.
“Yo, Old Dragon, you’re here?” As soon as those words were out, Wang Li Juan looked alarmed, while Xu Shuai was internally scolding himself for his loose lips.
Dragon Brother hadn’t anticipated that. He’d been pretending not to notice, but once it was time to disembark, this fluke occurred.
“Old Dragon? You’ve got the wrong guy. I don’t know you!” He grabbed Lin Wan Ning and bolted out the door as it opened.
In that split second, he vaguely caught sight of Xu Shuai giving him a thumbs up.
With a smile in her eyes, Lin Wan Ning watched as Dragon Brother pulled her along and, just as they exited, she returned a thumbs up to Xu Shuai as well.
As the doors closed, Dragon Brother and Lin Wan Ning shared a moment of eye contact, both chuckling.
“You didn’t see wrong; Xu Shuai is indeed my roommate. He asked us to keep it under wraps while we were in the dorm.”
“That’s pretty awkward.”
But then Lin Wan Ning realized they were at the subway station she and her brother had passed when looking for apartments earlier.
“Bro, did you end up renting that place?”
“Yup.”
“Did you even listen to what I said last time? It’s not worth it!” Lin Wan Ning genuinely believed he was making a poor investment.
“Maybe your brother is onto a goldmine!” Dragon Brother shrugged off her worries and continued toward the subway exit.
As she watched his back and the way he held her hand, Lin Wan Ning decided to stay silent.
Though their time together had been short, she trusted that this little brother wasn’t making this decision on a whim.
Once outside the station, they soon spotted Hu Yu Ying and Li Qing Xue.
Handing them the fruit teas, Dragon Brother remarked, “Didn’t think to look for some shade, did you?”
Li Qing Xue took a drink and responded, “Yu Ying’s scared of you, you big dumbass! When you didn’t show up, we were worried!”
Dragon Brother turned to Hu Yu Ying.
She innocently shrugged her shoulders, looking adorably clueless. “I’m very obedient!”
With that sweet and naive little face looking all innocent, Dragon Brother felt an overwhelming urge to pinch her cheeks until they turned rosy. He could just imagine her wide-eyed and mousy saying, “Please don’t bully me…”
When she acted this cute, she was so easy to mess with.
“Let’s go, I’ll take you to our secret base!” Dragon Brother dramatically waved his arm, leading the trio toward the courtyard.
They opened the big gates.
Inside, the weeds and junk had been cleared out by workers, making the place look a lot better than when it was a chaotic mess.
Lin Wan Ning wasn’t surprised; she had already known.
But Hu Yu Ying and Li Qing Xue looked astonished as they stared at the proud and smug expressionless Dragon Brother.
“Dragon Bro, did you rent this place?”
“Of course! We just cleaned it up a bit for now; renovations are still to come.”
Li Qing Xue tiptoed and touched Dragon Brother’s forehead. “You’re not sick, so what are you thinking? Renting such a big place and spending your own money on renovations—how much is that gonna cost?!”
“Hey, don’t jinx me!” Dragon Brother pushed her hand away.
As he walked inside, Lin Wan Ning glanced at Hu Yu Ying and Li Qing Xue with a resigned shrug, as if to say, “I tried to warn him; no point in it now.”
The trio stared at Dragon Brother’s overly confident back, and given the circumstances, they decided to help him tidy up.
【Give the vulture some face, don’t make me beg you for some electricity.】
【Come on, throw the kid a bone, would ya?】
