Xiao Yuyu reclined against the fluffy down pillows, her two thick thighs crossed casually over the edge of the bed.
Her oversized T-shirt, printed with a cartoon cat, was rolled up to her waist, revealing a section of snowy-white skin.
A 1.5-liter Coke bottle stood lopsidedly on the nightstand, its surface covered in a thin layer of condensation, the straw bitten flat.
She propped her left elbow on a pillow, her fingertips idly tugging at the zipper of a nearby cushion while the soda made a gurgling sound inside the bottle.
The light from the cell phone screen in Xiao Yuyu’s right hand reflected on her face, casting fine shadows of her eyelashes onto her lower eyelids.
The remaining ice cubes clinked softly in a glass.
As she turned over, an empty Coke can rolled into the middle of a messy pile of bags of chips.
“Damn it, I played games too late yesterday and missed the call Su Li made this morning.”
Xiao Yuyu was filled with regret as she looked at the missed call Su Li had sent.
The thought of Su Li desperately calling out to her, wanting to hear her voice, only to receive no response time and after time, filled her heart with guilt.
‘Su Li must have been eager to hear my voice first thing in the morning, but I was fast asleep.’
‘I’m such a sinner!’
What made Xiao Yuyu even more guilty was that she had originally planned to start her day’s exercise to the sound of Su Li’s beautiful voice.
She wanted to succeed in losing weight sooner so she could finally have a meetup with Su Li.
Instead, she hadn’t woken up until the afternoon, and she still hadn’t gotten out of bed.
‘I’ve let Su Li down!’
She had promised to be Su Li’s knight, yet she had been so lazy that she wasn’t prepared for a single day of training.
‘Will Su Li forgive me?’
Xiao Yuyu looked at the chat interface with Su Li, her pudgy fingers gripping the cell phone tightly.
Their relationship had only just taken a step further yesterday.
Now that she had failed Su Li’s expectations, her favorability should have dropped, according to the progress of a typical dating sim.
[Su Li, are you there?]
Xiao Yuyu nervously sent a message to Su Li.
She didn’t receive an immediate reply.
Xiao Yuyu’s heart felt a pang of bitterness as she imagined Su Li staring at her phone screen, unwilling to respond.
‘Su Li must be angry!’
‘If someone else failed to do what they promised me, I would definitely be angry too.’
Xiao Yuyu felt a bit melancholy, but she soon remembered the chat companion service Su Li had mentioned before.
‘If I pay for the service, maybe I can get Su Li to forgive me?’
Thinking this, Xiao Yuyu quickly sent a WeChat transfer of 1,000 yuan to Su Li.
The screen casting on the TV had not ended.
After playing two rounds of the game, Mao Mao began to re-watch the instructional video Su Li had just sent her.
After playing the game herself, Mao Mao quickly gained a new understanding of the character she was playing.
Su Li didn’t pay much attention to the message Xiao Yuyu sent.
However, her eyes caught the notification for the transfer.
“Mao Mao, work is here.”
“Eh?”
Mao Mao’s ears twitched at Su Li’s words, and she felt a bit nervous.
Nonetheless, she sat down beside Su Li and looked at the TV screen with a serious expression.
“Okay.”
Mao Mao said to herself that she had to do a good job to repay Su Li!
Su Li handed the cell phone to Mao Mao and glanced at the time in the upper-right corner: 19:39:29.
A 10-minute companion chat would end at 19:49:29.
[Su Li, Su Li, what are you doing?]
“Right, Mao Mao, remember to add ‘baby’ at the end of the chat.”
Su Li offered a reminder. When chatting with a client, the right form of address could help the client feel more immersed.
It was just like some fan-fiction novels she had read before; using lines that characters from the original work had said could make the persona more consistent with the setting.
Mao Mao nodded and looked at Su Li. To be honest, she didn’t know how to answer.
When chatting with Su Li’s client, she was Su Li.
“Just type whatever you think. I’ll correct you if anything is wrong.”
Su Li watched Mao Mao. She believed that once Mao Mao got through the rookie phase, she would adapt quickly.
“I am chatting with you, baby.”
Mao Mao read the words out loud like a machine, devoid of any emotion.
After reciting them, she looked at the content in the chat box and then at Su Li.
“Just click send,” Su Li said while watching the screen casting on the TV.
She felt like she was guiding Mao Mao through a game.
Mao Mao looked at her after completing the action, as if asking if she had done it correctly.
Mao Mao nodded, sat by Su Li’s side, and said happily, “Su Li, Su Li, I’ve been learning Pinyin lately. I don’t think it will take long before I can use the keyboard on the cell phone to type!”
Mao Mao shared the news with Su Li excitedly.
“I know Mao Mao is very smart.”
[I’m sorry, Su Li, I… I overslept this morning. I didn’t mean to ignore your messages! I’m sorry, baby!]
Seeing Su Li’s reply, the corners of Xiao Yuyu’s mouth curled into a happy smile.
However, she wasn’t sure if it was just her imagination, but she felt like Su Li’s tone in the reply was a bit cold.
‘But Su Li called me baby!’
That meant Su Li might not be angry after all.
Mao Mao began to read Xiao Yuyu’s reply word by word, like a primary school student reciting a textbook.
She glanced at Su Li from time to time while reading to see if she was getting it right.
She discovered that with Su Li by her side, she could identify her mistakes very quickly!
She didn’t even need to click the chat box to play the voice message; Su Li could correct the meaning of what she read.
“This client ordered a wake-up call package from me, so I called her this morning. I made four or five calls, but she didn’t pick up,” Su Li explained.
Since Mao Mao was now primarily dealing with Xiao Yuyu, Su Li wanted to clarify exactly what kind of services the client had purchased.
Mao Mao nodded.
She looked at Su Li with watery eyes, feeling that Su Li’s work was very similar to that of her former pooper-scooper.
She had seen her pooper-scooper work before.
Sometimes, when she wanted to be near her, she would be carried into the room.
Other times, the pooper-scooper would work while letting Mao Mao sit on her lap.
Mao Mao was somewhat familiar with the fields her pooper-scooper had been involved in.
“It’s okay, baby. After all, getting up in the morning is a very difficult thing right now. It doesn’t matter if you couldn’t get up today; just try hard tomorrow!”
Mao Mao continued to read with an expressionless face.
Her pooper-scooper used to chat with people like this, so she felt she was doing a pretty good imitation.
“Su Li, Su Li, is this okay?”
Mao Mao blinked as she looked at the content in the chat box and then at Su Li.