A beautiful girl with long cherry-white hair, cute and well-endowed, sat quietly on the car back to school, looking calm and composed—but in her mind, a lively conversation was raging.
She looks so reliable, but in reality, she can’t do anything without you.
Su Xiao Nuo puffed up her cheeks.
What would she do if you weren’t there?
This morning and afternoon, Lin Yingluo enjoyed her holiday at home, lying on the sofa and barely moving.
Whenever something came up—
“Nuo Nuo, I’m hungry.”
“Nuo Nuo, I’m thirsty.”
“Nuo Nuo, I want some wine. Not tea.”
“Nuo Nuo, I want to take a nap.”
The last one wasn’t about wanting to sleep with her, but wanting her to turn down the air conditioning, switch the music to classical jazz, and help cover her with a blanket.
Su Nuo recalled all of this, her small face tense.
It was all true.
But it was normal—after all, Lin Yingluo was in a “online shopping mentality” mode, making Su Nuo do whatever she could, the more the better.
That was just how Big Sister thought.
“But doing these things is easy,”
Su Nuo sighed in her mind.
Much easier than working or doing chores.
Xiao Nuo had never worked or done chores either, so she couldn’t relate—after all, the thing she’d done most in her life was herself.
Anyway, when Su Nuo left Lin Yingluo’s house, it was already getting dark.
When the summer sky begins to dim, it means it’s already late.
By the time she returned to the school dormitory, opened the door to Room 514, and looked up, she saw Lin Chu Xi sitting on a chair staring at her.
In her eyes was a faint, indescribable grievance.
“Why… are you only coming back now?”
Between the two questions “Why didn’t you come back last night” and “Why are you back so late,” Lin Chu Xi chose the latter.
She realized she had no right to ask the first.
“I went to look for work,”
Su Nuo answered honestly.
“I told you before—yesterday morning I left for that reason.”
It was just job-hunting, but she ended up at Big Sister’s house.
Still, as she said, flexible employment is work too.
There was an interview, an internship assessment, job requirements, and pay—how could it not count?
“So you were job hunting…”
Lin Chu Xi felt strangely relieved.
“Did you find a job?”
Su Nuo closed the door, walked in, sat by the bed, and unbuttoned the clasp under her collar’s butterfly bow.
“I did. I’ll work on weekends and during summer vacation.”
This time, Lin Chu Xi didn’t deliberately look at the snow-white line beneath her bow, but she also didn’t remind her about it.
If you see it out of the corner of your eye, it doesn’t count as intentional.
Su Nuo waved her hand inside her collar, fanning herself for a bit of cool air.
“By the way, Lin Chu Xi, do you know if there’s a mall or gift shop nearby? I want to buy some things for work.”
“When?”
“Before the weekend, if possible.”
Lin Chu Xi thought for a moment.
“There are gift shops nearby, but most of them sell cute things students like—nice to look at but not practical. If you have time, I suggest taking the metro to the Super Mall. You can go on Tuesday.”
Because there was only one class on Tuesday, and it was in the afternoon.
Su Nuo nodded.
“Okay, I’ll go on Tuesday then.”
She turned to tidy up her bed and get ready to rest.
She’d done a lot today—it wasn’t tiring, but it still felt like she’d worked hard.
Then, Lin Chu Xi’s voice came from behind.
“I’ll go with you. Summer vacation is coming up, and I need to buy some things to take home too.”
In her mind, Su Xiao Nuo was the first to agree.
“Good, good! Make her treat you to a meal!”
She could already smell the money.
“Okay.”
Su Nuo answered Lin Chu Xi out loud, then silently reminded Su Xiao Nuo.
“I have the account Lin Big Sister gave me. All expenses will come from there—no need for anyone else to pay.”
“That’s true,”
Su Xiao Nuo finally realized.
“With Lin Big Sister’s money, there’s no need for Younger Sister Lin to treat us.”
“Lin… Younger Sister?”
“Yeah, she’s a few months younger than me. Hmph, didn’t see that coming, did you?”
Su Xiao Nuo thought you couldn’t tell age by face alone—in this dormitory, the bigger chest wins the title of big sister.
No one thought of them as real sisters.
After all, Lin was a common surname.
Just at Mo Hai University, there were dozens, even hundreds, of people with the surname Lin.
As night deepened, the two girls in Room 514 lay down, each lost in their own thoughts.
“Su Nuo, is there anything you want to do, or any place you want to go?”
As soon as she closed her eyes, Su Xiao Nuo dragged her into a chat.
“Things I want to do and places I want to go?”
Su Nuo didn’t quite understand.
“I mean, now that you have a ‘job,’ and you’ve earned quite a bit with this deal, how will you reward yourself? Like, maybe travel or something?”
Su Nuo thought for a while, then shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
“Eh?”
“I used to be busy all the time—busy coping with life, busy coming up with ways to survive, busy worrying about tomorrow. I never thought about those things.”
“I see,”
Su Xiao Nuo gave her a sweet smile.
“Well, wherever you go, I’ll be with you, so it’s fine. You can take your time and think about it.”
After all, it was a lifetime thing!
Su Nuo felt a warm feeling in her heart and smiled too.
“Thank you. If I have to say, there are places I want to go, though I don’t know if they count as travel, since they’re in this city. Like various theme Happy Valleys, expensive amusement parks, high-tech experience centers, scenic beaches, or upper-class banquets.”
These were the reasons she chose to stay here and work hard instead of going back to her small hometown.
Neon lights, wine, and luxury might be tacky, but they were enjoyable.
“That sounds great!”
Su Xiao Nuo expressed her approval.
It sounded wonderful!
Although she was a local of Mo Hai, Xiao Nuo’s family wasn’t wealthy, so she hadn’t been to those places either.
“What about you? Where do you want to go?”
Su Nuo asked her in return.
“Emmmm, for me…”
Su Xiao Nuo scratched her head, smiling awkwardly.
“I usually like, um, that—after I’m done, my mind goes blank, I can’t think of anything, and I can’t get up from bed. So I never thought about it.”
Though the reasons were different, the results were the same.
Maybe that’s the bond of sharing a soul.
“It’s okay. You can think about it slowly. If we have time, I can take you with me.”
“Su Nuo, you’re the best! Oh right, if you just want to reward yourself, I can teach you,”
Su Xiao Nuo said proudly.
“I’m a ten-year pro at self-care!”
“…Thanks, but I’ll pass.”
When the moon reached its brightest point, one girl and one soul fell asleep together.
Zzzz
“What? You two are going on a date?”
On Monday morning, while eating breakfast in the cafeteria, Zhao Xue heard the news—a thunderbolt on a sunny day.
Lin Chu Xi frowned.
“We’re just going shopping at the Super Mall together. I’m taking her and picking up some things myself. That’s not a date. If you want to come… you can.”
Heaven knows how hard those last few words were to say.
She didn’t even know why she didn’t want to say them.
“I’m not going. I have club activities on Tuesday.”