“Whoosh… whoosh… splash splash splash…”
…So, so noisy.
Listening to the endless and rhythmic sound of the ocean waves outside the window, Su Wanli couldn’t help frowning.
She rolled over on the bed and covered her ears with both hands.
That action did make the sound around her ears much quieter.
However, it would have been better if she hadn’t turned over at all.
The moment she did, sunlight shining through the gap in the curtains landed directly on her eyelids, causing the drowsiness that had already been fading away to evaporate almost completely.
A gentle voice sounded by Su Wanli’s ear at just the right moment.
“Good morning, Miss Su.”
“…Morning… not good.”
Su Wanli silently pulled the soft white blanket on her body upward, blocking the sunlight in front of her eyes while also covering her head.
“Don’t make noise. Let me sleep a little longer…”
“Mmm, but at this hour, we really should be getting up already, shouldn’t we?”
A gentle force lightly patted Su Wanli’s shoulder.
Then, the owner of that voice slowly moved closer to Su Wanli’s body.
Pressing close to Su Wanli’s ear, she softly whispered—
“Miss Su, if we keep sleeping like this, the amount of time we can spend sightseeing today might be reduced by more than half.”
“The sightseeing time… will be reduced by more than half!?”
The moment she heard the words “reduced by half,” the last traces of sleepiness disappeared from Su Wanli’s mind.
Her entire body jolted, and she flipped over and sat up on the bed.
Sitting beside her was that delicate girl with messy brown hair, dressed in a thin nightgown.
Meng Wange was supporting her cheek with one hand, lying sideways on the pillow while smiling at Su Wanli.
Several strands of light brown hair casually rested against her pale and smooth skin, glowing faintly under the sunlight.
The scene looked exactly like something that would only appear between a deeply affectionate newlywed couple on their honeymoon…
Su Wanli froze for a moment and silently rubbed her temples, recalling how things had somehow ended up like this.
—Hotpot, arguing, protesting, compromise…
Ah, I remember now.
I remember everything!
Last night, after Meng Wange went downstairs to take a self-heating hotpot from the trunk of the car and shared it with her, she once again invited Su Wanli to stay in the same room for the night.
Of course, having just been teased by Meng Wange earlier, Su Wanli suspected this was another prank by the heroine meant to toy with her.
So she decisively rejected the invitation and aggressively stormed downstairs, where she found the inn owner, Li Yunsheng, yawning behind the front desk.
“Hm? Really? You two want separate rooms? Did you have a fight?”
As a villainess, Su Wanli had no obligation to answer a stranger’s questions.
She simply rolled her eyes at the owner and firmly demanded that Li Yunsheng open another room for her.
“Don’t try using ‘we’re fully booked’ as an excuse. I already saw it. Forget Yunsheng County, there are barely any guests even on this street!”
Li Yunsheng, who had originally intended to open another room for Su Wanli, immediately stopped moving after hearing that.
Then she shut the computer screen in front of her.
“Oh my? What’s this? It seems my computer suddenly broke. Looks like I can’t open another room for you anymore. Dear guest, please bear with it and sleep together with classmate Meng Wange instead, okay?”
“Hah? As if that’s possible! I literally saw you turn off the monitor! You were just playing Solitaire!!”
“Ah, apologies, that was my mistake. The real reason I can’t open another room is because our internet suddenly disconnected. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be sitting here playing Solitaire.”
Li Yunsheng responded politely, then sized up Su Wanli and Meng Wange, who had followed her downstairs.
“My, what a pity. Both of you are such precious customers out here in the middle of nowhere, but it seems I won’t be able to earn this extra money.”
Faced with such an unreasonable inn owner, Su Wanli had no choice but to give up.
The only thing she managed to request was an extra blanket for Room 203.
…Staying in the same room was one thing.
Sleeping on the same large bed was already pushing it.
But between herself and Meng Wange… at least for now, they definitely weren’t close enough to sleep under the same blanket, right!?
And so, things ended up like this.
—Su Wanli and Meng Wange had no choice but to wrap themselves in separate blankets and lie on opposite sides of the bed, peacefully falling asleep while listening to each other’s breathing.
More precisely, the only one who peacefully fell asleep was Meng Wange.
Whether because of exhaustion or something else, shortly after the lights were turned off, steady breathing came from Meng Wange’s side of the room.
Meanwhile, Su Wanli barely slept the entire night.
W-Well, there was nothing she could do about it, right?
After all, with just a slight turn of her head, she could see Meng Wange’s beautiful and charming side profile, along with that completely defenseless soft expression…
Don’t say things like “then why did you keep staring.”
Anyone who wouldn’t secretly take a look at such a sight would be the strange one, okay!?
Damn it.
She had wanted to spend the day energetically sightseeing around Yunsheng County, but instead things turned out like this.
She definitely wouldn’t have enough energy later…
After grumbling indignantly in her heart for a while, Su Wanli rubbed her eyes and stretched lazily toward the sunlight.
Looking at the seemingly energetic Meng Wange beside her, Su Wanli was just about to close her eyes again—
But at the exact moment her eyes shut, a force suddenly grabbed onto her wrist.
“…?”
And that wasn’t all.
That force smoothly pulled the unprepared Su Wanli into a soft embrace.
Feeling the pale, cool, and smooth skin touching the side of her ear, Su Wanli silently widened her eyes.
“M-Meng Wange, wh-what are you…”
“This is a hug exchanged between friends as a morning greeting, Miss Su.”
Meng Wange’s cool voice descended from above Su Wanli’s head.
“This comes from… mm, perhaps from some ancient custom in my hometown.”
“Hey, you hesitated just now, didn’t you? That’s obviously just an excuse you made up on the spot!?”
“No, I simply forgot where exactly the custom originated from. But it definitely exists somewhere in this world.”
“…Hah? Aren’t your excuses getting more and more careless!? Don’t think I—”
Before Su Wanli could finish her protest, a chaotic knocking sound suddenly came from the door.
Knock knock, knock knock knock—“Morning room service—”
Along with the knocking came Li Yunsheng’s signature lazy and carefree voice.
“You two students awake yet? Do you need me to help replace the bedding?”