“Ning Chu, Black Bean, time to get up.”

Ning Juan knocked gently on the locked bedroom door.

Sitting at her computer, caught up in a single-player game, Ning Chu suddenly realized it was already eight in the morning.

She hit pause, stretched her arms, though oddly she didn’t feel tired at all.

“Got it!”

“Your brother’s leaving. Aren’t you going to see him off?”

“He’s leaving this early?”

Ning Chu hurried to put on her shoes, flung the door open, and peeked toward the living room.

Her brother was already packed up—luggage and laptop case by his side, bundled in a scarf, shoes half on as he stood by the door.

“Big Brother! Can I come check out your rental place?”

“What’s there to see?”

“It’s not that far anyway.”

Their mother came into the room, arms crossed, tugging sleepy little Black Bean up by the ear. She grumbled as she went, “Better he just live at home. At least I could cook for him every day, instead of him living on takeout. That’s not healthy.”

“Exactly!”

Ning Yuan pulled a bitter face but didn’t budge. “Living outside’s more convenient. Closer to the office.”

What he didn’t say was that living outside also meant more freedom. He could sleep in on his days off, skip meals if he wanted, have midnight snacks when the craving struck. Drinks, alcohol, cigarettes—no one around to nag. He could even host an orgy at his rental if he wanted, and nobody would interfere.

Well… not that he would. He’d never even had a girlfriend. The only women whose hands he’d ever held were his mom, Black Bean, and Ning Chu. And Ning Chu only counted as “half”—back then, his little sister had still been his little brother.

“Wait for me!”

“What’s so interesting about a rental…” Ning Yuan sighed, shoes now tied, waiting at the door mat.

If it were their mom asking, he would’ve refused without hesitation. But Ning Chu was different. Even though she was a girl now, she’d still grown up alongside him. There was nothing he needed to hide from her… truth be told, Ning Chu probably already knew everything worth knowing, whether she should or not.

Barely ten minutes later, his petite sister came rushing out of the room, bundled head to toe in snowy-white winter clothes, round like a waddling penguin.

“Mom! I’ll have lunch with Big Brother outside!”

“Brush your hair first!”

“It’s fine! I’ll do it in the car!”

She grabbed the little shoulder bag from the shoe cabinet—the one that her mother's boyfriend had given her—and slung it over her arm. It was decent-looking, so she’d been using it ever since.

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

She trotted out with her bag, raising her head toward Ning Yuan, who was already waiting by the elevator. With a mischievous grin, she teased, “Your rental doesn’t have anything I shouldn’t see, does it?”

“Nothing like that.”

“Good~”

‘As long as she doesn’t go snooping…’

Ning Yuan mentally ran through the list of things he hadn’t exposed to Ning Chu yet. Probably nothing. And even if she did stumble on something, odds were she already knew about it anyway.

“Get in.”

Ning Chu hopped excitedly into the passenger seat, eyes darting around curiously.

The car was an old, worn-down model—a second-hand hand-me-down from their grandfather. It wouldn’t sell for more than a few tens of thousands now, but for Ning Yuan, it was already a reliable means of getting around.

With the Spring Festival coming to an end, the streets were busier than usual, full of cars and pedestrians.

By now, Zhang Shaoqing should’ve already boarded his train. As expected, that rich kid couldn’t handle the grind of working life. Careless with money, too—last night he even tricked Wen Yang into buying him a late-night meal.

And it’s on her dime! More than two hundred yuan gone!

He must’ve ordered a lot of drinks—there’s no way a roadside stall cost that much.

Still, Ning Chu thought back to how Zhang Shaoqing often treated everyone to food back at the dorms. With that in mind, her sense of balance returned.

Ning Yuan drove steadily, but the faint smell of gasoline inside the car made her nauseous. She kept swallowing, afraid she’d throw up if she relaxed even a little. Lowering her head, she buried her nose in the scent of her own clothes and scarf.

“We’re here.”

The sedan rolled to a stop in the underground parking lot. At her brother’s voice, Ning Chu quickly got out of the car, face full of disgust.

“I’m taking the subway back later. I feel like throwing up…”

“Carsick?”

“That gasoline smell was so strong!”

Ning Yuan was already used to it. He just gave a short response and walked straight toward the elevator.

“Your place is pretty fancy~” She had calmed down a bit, the sick feeling in her throat slowly fading. Catching up to her brother, she asked curiously, “How much is the rent?”

“Thirteen hundred yuan a month.”

“Wow, that’s actually not bad…”

“It’s in the suburbs.”

This was already the outermost part of the city. Even driving with no traffic, it took over an hour to reach downtown. Housing prices around here were just ten to twenty thousand per square meter—dirt cheap compared to the forty-thousand starting price in the city center.

Following behind her brother, Ning Chu went up to the tenth floor of the apartment building.

Each floor had dozens of households, with only six elevators. The corridors felt narrow and a little oppressive, but overall the place was fairly clean and well-kept.

“Here we are.”

Ning Yuan unlocked the door with his key, but before he could even step inside, Ning Chu had already darted in, eyes sparkling with excitement.

“Do I need to take off my shoes?”

“You already ran in, and now you ask?”

Ning Chu looked around the apartment, letting out little cries of amazement. “It’s even two stories! I wanna live in a place like this someday too!”

“The second floor doesn’t have a bathroom. Going at night is a pain.”

Her big eyes rolled around, taking everything in. “No wonder you don’t like going back home. You’ve got such a nice place here~”

Right by the entrance were the kitchen and bathroom. Farther in was a small living room, about ten square meters. Upstairs was nothing but the bedroom, just a bed and nightstand.

The place was a little cramped, sure, but at least it had a proper one-bedroom, one-living room, one-bath, one-kitchen layout. Compared to Wen Yang’s current hole-in-the-wall, it was leagues better.

Ning Chu plopped down in front of the computer desk. “You even bought a new PC?”

“Had it for a while. Didn’t I tell you?”

“Oh~”

She casually wiggled the mouse. The screen lit up instantly.

The desktop wallpaper was an 18+ anime girl, bent over with her butt sticking out, a but-plug with a jewel attached to the end of it on her back hole.

Uhhhhh! Way too lewd!

She froze, staring blankly at the screen.

The slideshow rotated, and another even raunchier image appeared.

Ning Yuan suddenly darted over, snatched the mouse, and quickly changed the wallpaper to a scenic photo. His face flushed red as he glanced at his sister’s innocent wide eyes.

“Half of those wallpapers are ones you sent me! Don’t play dumb!”

Even so, having Ning Chu see that kind of wallpaper completely shattered his composure.

If she were still his little brother, the two of them could’ve just shared new finds and swapped wallpaper packs. But now that his little brother had become his little sister…

Even though he knew Ning Chu was filthier than him deep down, showing those kinds of pictures in front of his cute, pretty sister made him panic. He was even breaking into a sweat.

“How was I supposed to know you didn’t shut down your PC…”

Ning Chu guiltily turned her head away. She kind of wanted to ask him for the whole image pack, but didn’t know how to say it.

She still had to maintain a bit of girlish restraint.

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Link for character illustration:

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Latest Chapter in Ko-Fi: Volume 2 Chapter 116 / Chapter 397: Morning

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