Saturday morning, Zhu Niao was the first to wake up in bed.
In her arms was a plush bunny doll, soft and fluffy. She figured there was no way something like that would show up in Gou Yu’s room.
It was probably another thing she’d taken from the Store Manager Lady’s room.
Come to think of it, she only learned the Store Manager Lady’s name last night when she was looking at the photo album with Gou Yu.
What was it again?
Zhu Niao froze, realizing she’d already forgotten.
She wondered if it was because she never actually used the Store Manager Lady’s name in daily life.
Thinking about it, she’d known the other woman for almost three months now, and it wasn’t until last night that she heard her name for the first time.
‘Kind of ashamed, honestly.’
Zhu Niao rubbed against the pillow, then turned to face Gou Yu.
Back in the day, Gou Yu used to snore when he slept. At the time, Zhu Niao and Gou Yu were naturally in the same class and the same dorm.
And they had the closest beds.
Suffering from the torment, Zhu Niao would just shove lemon slices into Gou Yu’s mouth.
Whenever he started snoring, she’d shove in lemon slices. Now Gou Yu doesn’t snore anymore.
Probably because the lemon slices were cheap ones.
Gou Yu’s face was right in front of her.
‘If this guy weren’t always being obnoxious, with his family background, his abilities, and his personality, he’d probably be really popular.’
‘But me… the only thing I have going for me is this face.’
Last night, during dinner, Gou Yu’s family took the chance to bring up the engagement. For a split second, she seriously considered it.
Strange, wasn’t it? She was the one always going on about brotherhood. And now, in this situation, she was the one who wanted to actually think about being with Gou Yu.
‘Total contradiction.’
Then, after thinking it over, the first thought that popped into her head was—
‘Am I really worthy of Gou Yu?’
Gou Yu had held her and said she deserved all the good things in this world.
But she also knew that, aside from what Gou Yu gave her and her roommates, there wasn’t much else in this world that was actually good to her.
She felt she didn’t deserve it, so she couldn’t speak up.
But then Gou Yu said she could put on a fake act and be his fake fiancée.
‘Well, just a brief taste of what it’s like to have the sun shine on me… that wouldn’t be so bad.’
Zhu Niao reached out and gently touched Gou Yu’s cheek.
Then she extended two fingers to poke at Gou Yu’s eyeballs.
After these two tests, she confirmed that Gou Yu wasn’t awake right now.
So she quietly leaned in.
Just like in the photo inside the frame on the nightstand, she swept back her hair that was about to fall onto Gou Yu’s face, and from above, she gently dropped a kiss.
Right on Gou Yu’s cheek.
As if afraid to wake someone in a dream, it was like a dragonfly skimming the water—a light, fleeting touch.
Gou Yu’s expression stayed exactly the same, not even a hint of changing positions.
Zhu Niao adjusted her posture slightly and lay back in the crook of Gou Yu’s arm, pressing against his chest.
Thump-thump. Thump-thump. A strong, fast heartbeat.
‘Is he having a nightmare? This guy.’
After a brief moment of hesitation, Zhu Niao chose to reach out and hug Gou Yu on her own initiative.
Usually, it was Gou Yu who hugged her. Now that he was having a nightmare, it wasn’t a big deal for her to offer herself for a bit.
She didn’t expect him to remember her great kindness—as long as he didn’t act like a jerk and make her angry later.
Hmph. Only she was this good to Gou Yu.
She nuzzled her head under Gou Yu’s chin, then closed her eyes again.
Of course, this time, until her breathing steadied and she fell into a deep sleep, there was no more movement.
So Gou Yu suddenly opened his eyes wide, staring down at the girl in his arms with shock.
He had already woken up the moment Zhu Niao first stirred.
In fact, he had been awake during her two earlier tests too, just waiting to catch her red-handed when she tried to pull some prank.
He thought his reasoning was solid: Zhu Niao had woken up before him and was being cautious.
That meant she was definitely planning some kind of atrocious mischief.
Even he, if he found that Zhu Niao had woken up later than him, would pull out a black marker and draw a pig’s head on her face.
So he assumed the same of Zhu Niao.
Then Zhu Niao leaned in, swept back her hair, propped herself up, and lowered her head.
He thought she was definitely going to whisper “idiot” into his ear.
That sort of wake-up call would rank pretty high on his list of obnoxious tricks.
But she didn’t.
She kissed him.
In an instant, everything in Gou Yu’s mind shattered. He forgot how to be obnoxious.
All he knew was that his heart was pounding, and in his ears, his rationality was letting out a mournful wail.
At that moment, he understood—he had to marry the girl in front of him.
Knock knock. Two knocks on the door.
“Little Sister Zhu? Brother? Are you two awake?”
Gou Yu clearly noticed the movement of the girl in his arms, so he decisively closed his eyes at that moment.
And continued pretending to be asleep.
As for Zhu Niao, who had just drifted off to dreamland, she was woken up again. Frowning, she opened her eyes with some impatience. She glanced at Gou Yu’s big face in front of her and, as if a surge of anger hit her, raised her hand and slapped him down.
—Little did she know, Gou Yu was still daydreaming, hoping he might get kissed by Zhu Niao a second time.
Then he got slapped.
Gou Yu opened his eyes with an innocent expression.
“Hey, why’d you hit me?”
Zhu Niao was stunned.
‘Right… wasn’t I supposed to be a little nicer to Gou Yu?’
“Ah… my hand just accidentally touched you,” she said, gently stroking his cheek. “Does it hurt?”
Gou Yu looked like he’d seen a ghost. He quickly backed away, even falling off the bed and landing on the floor.
Too creepy. Like she’d been possessed by a female ghost.
Suppressing his fear, he put on his slippers by the bed and opened the door.
Standing at the doorway was Gou Wanqing, who hadn’t gotten a response for a while and was about to turn and leave.
“Oh, you’re awake. I was about to go find someone to break the door down.” The Store Manager Lady pulled out her phone and showed it to Gou Yu. “Do you know what meal you’re supposed to be eating right now?”
Eleven thirty.
“Brunch,” Gou Yu said seriously.
“Mom and Dad got busy, so they left first. I have to go out too. You remember to take good care of Little Sister Zhu with meals.”
It sounded almost like a threat—as if Gou Yu would be the first one blamed if Zhu Niao was neglected.
“Got it.”
“Also.” Gou Wanqing glanced at Zhu Niao, who was still rolling around on the bed. “Dad asked if you’d had him look into Little Sister Zhu’s family situation before.”
Of course he had. Back in middle school and high school, driven by curiosity about why Zhu Niao had to survive in the wilderness, he’d already looked into it.
“Dad said it’s the same as before—nothing could be found.”
Poor thing.