Chapter 54: How Do You Know She Sleeps Quietly

Li Xingming’s remark sounded somewhat familiar. After a brief moment of reflection, Jiang Qianqian tracked down its origin.

It was probably something an art class classmate had said, complaining that her parents paid less attention to her after having a second child. When she threw tantrums, her mother would comfort her by saying, "As the older sister, you need to be more broad-minded..."

Ahhhhh!

Jiang Qianqian wailed inwardly. This was bad; she had a feeling she now understood how she was categorized in Li Xingming's mind.

Should she blame her strategy of acting like a little kid for being too successful, or was Li Xingming’s aesthetic preference for women naturally inclined towards mature, aloof, ice-queen types, causing him to automatically classify loli-types into the "daughter" zone?

That was simply ridiculous, you damned childhood friend!

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Li Xingming pinched her cheek.

"You didn't even consult me about inviting Sheng-sheng to live with us!"

"Isn't that because I have confidence in you? Besides, it happened so suddenly." Li Xingming chuckled. "I figured you quite like Sheng-sheng."

"As a friend, yes... but... um..."

"I figured you were pretty lonely anyway, so this is just me finding you a companion. Aren't you going to thank me?"

"Then I really must thank you so much!"

Jiang Qianqian was torn between laughter and tears. True, she did occasionally sigh and lament that she couldn't find any friends other than Li Xingming, but by comparison, having her private space invaded by a third party made her feel far more unsettled.

As everyone knows, cats are creatures with an extremely strong sense of territory.

"Besides, didn't we discuss the team stuff a long time ago? Back when we talked about a new female member joining us to live and eat together, you were heavily in favor of it." Li Xingming suddenly started digging up the past.

"I—Is that so?" Jiang Qianqian froze.

"Of course it is. You even said that if it were a girl lacking love, you would definitely make her feel the warmth of the team's big family."

"..."

That was actually true.

It was a conversation from a long, long time ago, but fortunately, Jiang Qianqian had an exceptional memory for the trivial everyday moments between her and her childhood friend.

When they had first moved in, Li Xingming had discussed this very issue with her. To begin with, the reason they rented such a spacious apartment, apart from wanting roominess, was because Li Xingming had mentioned that perhaps before high school, the third member of "North of Dawn" would come into their lives. The guest room in this apartment had originally been reserved for "North of Dawn No. 003."

Yet, in all fairness, how could Jiang Qianqian have foreseen all of that back then? She had assumed that this so-called team member was just a distant abstraction, and if whoever they recruited happened to be female, she naturally had to accept the team-style arrangement of "living and eating together."

On second thought, the bond between her and Ah-Ming was so deep that this newly arrived vixen shouldn't pose much of a threat. Who could have predicted that someone like Ye Sheng—a freak of nature who already had an online emotional foundation—would show up?

So infuriating and depressing. Is this world even salvageable? Why is the difficulty setting for being a childhood sweetheart so absurdly high?

"Fine, then I'll accept her~" Jiang Qianqian swallowed her frustration. Mainly, she had no choice; Li Xingming might seem easygoing, but he was actually an unyielding autocrat whose decisions no one could ever change.

And yet, Jiang Qianqian was hopelessly fond of his arbitrariness, loved being ordered around by him, and loved being controlled by him... Ah! She had only herself to blame for being a masochist who just had to go and fall for such a bizarre freak of nature!

"Rest assured, even with Sheng-sheng here, she won't steal my attention away from you. I'm much fairer than a burnt-out parent who has a second child after messing up the first one."

"What are you saying? Ah-Ming, you're talking nonsense again." Jiang Qianqian was so annoyed she laughed. "I haven't been a little kid for a long time."

"Haha."

"I'll hit you~"

Jiang Qianqian’s fists pounded weakly against Li Xingming's chest as she leaned lazily against him, only to watch Ye Sheng, who had finished her phone call, walk over and stare at the two of them thoughtfully.

Honestly, the way Sheng-sheng looked at people was a bit funny—somewhat like a cold-blooded animal locked in a zoo cage, rationally and objectively observing the unfamiliar world outside.

It was filled with the vibe of an alien scrutinizing a native.

For some inexplicable reason, Jiang Qianqian’s inner drama queen flared up, and she suddenly blurted out, "Hey, the guest room at my place is a bit small, you know? Sheng-sheng, would you find it uncomfortable sleeping in the small room? How about I switch with you?"

Ye Sheng shook her head. "It's fine."

"That's enough out of you. Sheng-sheng sleeps as quietly as can be, not like you tossing and turning and writhing all over the place, sleeping in shapes stranger than a British Shorthair Golden Chinchilla. Why do you think the master bedroom was assigned to you in the first place?"

"..."

Li Xingming retorted, watching Jiang Qianqian turn red with embarrassment and scratch at him playfully as they bickered.

Jiang Qianqian first protested that her sleeping posture wasn't actually that bad, and then demanded of Li Xingming, "How do you even know how quietly Sheng-sheng sleeps?"

"She told me herself, back when we were playing games together..."

"Lies, it's all lies!" Jiang Qianqian refused to concede, puffing out her cheeks like a goldfish as she stared at Ye Sheng. "Tonight, I'm going to see for myself whether your sleeping posture is really as elegant as Ah-Ming described."

Ye Sheng imagined the scene: while she was fast asleep, a Jiang Qianqian would materialize in the darkness, tiptoeing to the edge of the bed holding something like a *Sleeping Posture Evaluation Form*, brandishing a pencil and frantically grading her...

It was truly amusing.

When Ye Sheng smiled, it was genuinely breathtaking, so much more dazzling that the hostesses at the front desk of the bone broth hotpot restaurant were completely bedazzled.

Yet she seemed entirely unaware of her own beauty, simply feeling that the atmosphere before her possessed a genuine sense of home.

"Home."

Such a truly rare thing.

In many cases, if the parents went mad, home for a teenager would simply transform into a psychiatric hospital disguised as a home.

Still, Sheng-sheng had successfully flown over the cuckoo's nest and escaped to a warm harbor, hee hee.

...

The family housing compound near the No. 1 Municipal High School.

Walking along the concrete path of the residential compound and looking at the somewhat old-fashioned five-story apartment buildings, Ye Sheng felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.

She offered a sharp critique: "Actually, it's pretty much the same as the subsidized pool housing from schools in the capital, except the walls are a bit thinner."

"True that."

"Wait, you can actually tell the walls are thinner just from looking at the outside?!" Jiang Qianqian was shocked.

"Help Sheng-sheng tidy up her room later. Ouyang is calling me out; we're meeting at the teahouse near the school." Li Xingming opened his chat history and flashed it in front of Jiang Qianqian.

This inevitably gave Jiang Qianqian a potent sense of superiority. *Ah, see? Ah-Ming always has to report his schedule to me after all. That means, by comparison, you, Ye Sheng, are still just an outsider.*

Jiang Qianqian stole a glance at Ye Sheng, only to find the girl's face completely devoid of any fluctuation, which left her feeling somewhat bored.

Come to think of it, it was quite absurd, but Jiang Qianqian really did harbor a tiny fraction of palace-intrigue scheming deep down in her bones... It was just that Ye Sheng’s personality didn't seem suited for playing a role in a palace drama at all.

"Oaf, mission guaranteed!"

"Remember to get her a thicker quilt, and help her draw warm water for a foot soak before bed. The newly bought foot basin is in the storage room; you don't need to add the herbal packets this time. As for adjusting her other daily habits, we can talk about that another day."

"Got it~"