380. Brother’s Little Home
“Ning Chu, Hei Dou, time to get up!”
Mom gently knocked on the locked bedroom door, and Ning Chu, sitting in front of the computer playing games, suddenly realized it was already eight in the morning.
She paused her single-player game, stretched her arms, but didn’t really feel tired at all.
“Got it!”
“Ning Yuan is leaving; aren’t you going to see him off?”
“Leaving so early?”
Ning Chu hurriedly put on her shoes, opened the door, and peeked into the living room.
Her brother had already packed his laptop and bags, dressed in his outdoor clothes and a scarf, standing at the door putting on his shoes.
“Bro! Can I go hang out at your rental apartment?”
“What’s there to hang out about?”
“It’s not that far anyway.”
Mom entered the room with her arms crossed, grabbing the sleepy little cat by its ears to wake it up, saying, “It’d be better if he lived at home; I could cook for him every day instead of him having takeout all the time—it’s not healthy.”
“Exactly!”
Ning Yuan nodded with a pained expression but didn’t budge: “Living outside is convenient; it’s close to the company.”
Or rather, living alone means more freedom.
During breaks, he could sleep as late as he wanted, skip meals whenever he liked, have late-night snacks when the mood struck, and even throw a party in the rental apartment without anyone around to stop him.
Okay, maybe not a party; he hadn’t even had a girlfriend yet, and the only women he’s ever held hands with were probably Mom, Hei Dou, and Ning Chu.
And Ning Chu could only be considered half since, back in the day, she was still his younger sister.
“Wait for me!”
“What’s so great about a rental apartment…?”
Sighing, Ning Yuan finished putting on his shoes and stood at the door mat, waiting.
If it were Mom, he would have refused without hesitation, but Ning Chu was different. Even though she was now a girl, she had grown up alongside him.
There was really no need to hide anything from Ning Chu… what she ought to know and what she shouldn’t, she was probably already fully aware of.
Less than ten minutes later, that petite girl had bundled herself up in a thick, snow-white outfit, resembling a plump penguin, and rushed out of her room.
“Mom! I’m having lunch outside with Bro!”
“Comb your hair!”
“No need! I’ll do it in the car!”
Ning Chu casually snatched a small handbag from the shoe rack— it was a gift from her uncle, and it looked nice, so she kept using it.
“Off we go!”
Clutching the bag, she dashed out, looking up at Ning Yuan, who was already waiting by the elevator, teasing, “You don’t have any embarrassing stuff in your rental apartment, do you?”
“Nothing like that at all.”
“Great~”
As long as Ning Chu doesn’t go snooping around…
Ning Yuan thought about any embarrassing items he hadn’t shown Ning Chu yet.
There shouldn’t be anything, right? Even if Ning Chu did find something, it was probably something she already knew about.
“Get in the car.”
Ning Chu excitedly hopped into the passenger seat, looking around.
This car was quite old, a second-hand one passed down from Grandpa. If he sold it now, it probably wouldn’t fetch more than a few grand.
But for her brother, it was a decent enough ride.
With the Spring Festival holiday coming to an end, there were significantly more vehicles and pedestrians on the streets than usual.
Zhang Shaoqing should be on the train by now. This spoiled rich kid couldn’t withstand the grind of working—spending money extravagantly; last night, he tricked Wen Yang into treating him to late-night snacks.
Ning Chu paid! Over two hundred!
He probably drank a lot; how could street stalls be so expensive?
But thinking back, Zhang Shaoqing often treated everyone to meals when they were in the school dorm, so it somehow balanced out in Ning Chu’s mind.
Ning Yuan drove steadily, but there was a faint smell of gasoline in the car that made her feel a bit queasy. She kept swallowing, afraid she might accidentally throw up, looking down and sniffing the scent on her scarf.
“We’re here.”
The car stopped in the underground parking lot, and upon hearing her brother’s voice, Ning Chu eagerly hopped out, grimacing: “I’m taking the subway back later; I feel like throwing up…”
“Car sick?”
“The gasoline smell is so strong!”
Ning Yuan had already gotten used to it and nodded as he walked straight to the elevator.
“Your place is pretty fancy!” After calming down, and the queasiness gradually fading, Ning Chu caught up with her brother’s pace, curiously asking, “How much is your rent?”
“An apartment, thirteen hundred a month.”
“That’s pretty cheap…”
“Suburbs.”
This was already the most remote area; even driving smoothly, it would take more than an hour to get to the city center. Nearby house prices were at least ten to twenty thousand, which felt reasonable compared to the four thousand starting price in the city center.
Ning Chu followed her brother up to the tenth floor of the apartment complex.
Each floor housed dozens of families but only had six elevators; the hallways felt a bit cramped and oppressive, but overall, it was quite clean and tidy.
“We’re here.”
Ning Yuan unlocked the door, and before he could step inside, Ning Chu had already excitedly darted in.
“Do you need slippers?”
“No, why are you asking that after I’ve already walked in?”
Ning Chu surveyed the place, letting out exclamations of awe: “It’s even two floors! I want to live in a place like this someday!”
“The second floor doesn’t have a bathroom; it’s a real hassle at night.”
Her big eyes sparkled as she examined everything inside: “No wonder you don’t like coming home; you live in such a nice place!”
Right at the entrance were the kitchen and bathroom, and deeper inside was a living room of more than ten square meters; the second floor was simply a bedroom with just a bed and a bedside table.
Though this rental apartment was a bit small, at least it had one bedroom, one living room, one bathroom, and one kitchen—compared to Wen Yang’s current living situation, it was a significant upgrade.
Ning Chu sat down at the computer desk: “You bought a new computer too?”
“Yeah, bought it a while ago; didn’t I tell you?”
“Oh~”
She casually moved the mouse, and the screen lit up in the next moment.
On the desktop background was an 18X risque image of an anime girl!
Whoa! Isn’t that a bit too much?
She froze, staring blankly at the wallpaper.
The slideshow switched to an even racier image.
Ning Yuan rushed over, snatched the mouse away, and quickly changed the wallpaper to a landscape picture, looking down at Ning Chu’s innocent big eyes, blushing deeply.
“There are several wallpapers I got from you! Stop pretending!”
Still, the thought of Ning Chu seeing such wallpapers made him lose his calm!
If she were still his younger brother, the two of them could share any recently discovered resources and wallpapers, but now that his little brother had turned into a sister…
Even knowing that Ning Chu might have even more risqué stuff than him, having that kind of image in front of his cute little sister just made him panicked, and sweat started to trickle down.
“I didn’t know your computer was still on…”
Ning Chu turned her head away shyly, wanting to ask Ning Yuan for a pack of images but not knowing how to bring it up.
Gotta keep some girliness, after all.
