Page 18

Was she a "housekeeper" or a "kindergarten teacher"?

No, who knew whether that thing she'd said about graduating with straight A's was even true? She had to get someone to look into it.

Ah, so noisy. Could this noise machine go to sleep already?

Yu Qing had one cheek buried in the pillow. She raised a hand to cover her other ear with the blanket, wearing an anguished expression that said life was meaningless—though no one could see it.

Xiang Changge glanced at Yu Qing's movement, then continued reading the poem in her hands.

Compared with being afraid of getting eaten by zombies in her sleep or having to sleep with one eye open so no one could steal from her, providing someone with bedtime service was easy and even a little fun.

As for what the person being forced to accept the service thought, that was none of Xiang Changge's concern.

But what was this poem even trying to say?

Too lazy to think about it, Xiang Changge read on mechanically, without understanding a word.

As she read, the bed fell quiet. Xiang Changge couldn't help sneaking in a yawn.

Well, it was pretty soporific.

She checked the time. She'd been reading off and on for over half an hour.

The person on the bed had been quiet for a while, and her breathing was steady. Xiang Changge asked the system hopefully, "Is she asleep?"

System: "No."

"..."

Those two brief words plunged both people in the room into the next stage of their ordeal.

Xiang Changge kept reading. Yu Qing kept being forced to listen.

When she heard Xiang Changge stop for a bit, Yu Qing had been secretly delighted, thinking Xiang Changge was tired or had assumed she'd fallen asleep and was about to call it a night. Who would've thought she'd keep reading!

Read, read, read. She might as well poison herself. At least that would be over with faster.

After holding out for another five minutes, Yu Qing couldn't take it anymore. She stopped pretending to sleep, turned to glare at the person beside the bed, and asked, "How long are you planning to read?"

Wasn't she tired? Yu Qing was exhausted from listening.

Xiang Changge looked up from the book, her eyelids drooping. "Until you fall asleep."

She'd come all this way, and her job was to help Yu Qing develop a normal routine. How could she just leave halfway through? Yu Qing was going to sleep, whether she liked it or not.

Yu Qing: "..."

Yu Qing turned back around, once again facing away from Xiang Changge.

The image she'd glimpsed when she turned around lingered in her mind.

Xiang Changge had been sitting properly in the chair at first, but now she was slouched against it, as if she had no bones. Weariness showed in her eyes, too.

Yu Qing didn't understand.

Xiang Changge looked so tired and bored reading poems to her, so why was she still carrying on?

Yu Qing didn't want to listen, and Xiang Changge was wasting her effort. Couldn't they just go back to their own rooms and sleep in peace?

Why was she doing this?

After all, Yu Qing was the only person in the Yu Family now. No one would know whether Xiang Changge did a good job or took her duties seriously. She could just do what she was supposed to, like the previous housekeepers. Why go out of her way to hold herself to all these standards?

Was it a sense of responsibility? Or did she think that since she'd promised Yu Qing's parents, she had to do a good job?

Yu Qing didn't know. Just as she didn't know why her heart felt so heavy at that moment.

A flat, slightly hoarse voice read poem after poem, slowly and gently. The person reading didn't know what she was reading, and the person listening wasn't paying attention.

The rain outside grew heavier. A few rumbles of thunder seemed to sound as well, but the people inside didn't care.

The rain outside couldn't soak the two of them indoors.

Yu Qing hadn't thought she was sleepy, but that voice was simply too boring. Before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep without realizing when.

The steady breathing in the room grew long and even. This time, Xiang Changge didn't need to ask the system to know Yu Qing had fallen asleep.

She silently closed the book and set it on the bedside table.

She stood up, raised both hands above her head, and stretched. Glancing at the time, Xiang Changge saw it was twenty past eleven.

She'd been reading for almost an hour.

But she'd read slowly, taking the occasional break, so she didn't feel especially tired.

She looked at the person lying soundlessly in bed, wrapped in her blanket, then slipped out of the room without a sound.

Once she was out of the main house, Xiang Changge started planning in her head. Tomorrow, she'd have to find a camp bed or some kind of folding chair. Sitting like this was hard on her backside. It'd be better to lie down while providing Yu Qing with bedtime service.

System, which had heard her thoughts: "...Why not just lie in the supporting female lead's bed and read to her?"

Xiang Changge was starting up the sightseeing cart to head back to her dorm when she looked surprised. "Wouldn't that be a little inappropriate?"

It was her employer's bed, after all. Even if Xiang Changge could accept it, Yu Qing probably wouldn't agree.

Besides, Yu Qing wasn't a child. Was Xiang Changge supposed to hold her in her arms, pat her back, and gently soothe her to sleep?

The system, which had been mocking her: "!"

"You really would, wouldn't you!"

Rain pattered against the windshield. As Xiang Changge drove, she suddenly thought of something. "But, well, it's not impossible..."

The book said the supporting female lead had never felt any warmth, and that was why she thought the male lead, who occasionally came to see her, made her feel like she had a family.

Why not find her a few older or younger sisters, to keep her company, play with her, eat and drink with her, and sleep beside her...so she could truly experience what it meant to be warmed by a body at 37 degrees.

Xiang Changge made a note of it, planning to hire a few suitable people along with the other servants tomorrow.

The system, which had thought it inappropriate for Xiang Changge to lie down while providing Yu Qing with bedtime service, fell silent. It even started to think that Xiang Changge's idea of "37-degree warmth" might actually work.

-

At half past two in the morning, the room was silent except for the faint sound of the central air conditioning.

When Yu Qing woke up, she lay there with her eyes open, confused for a while before she finally came to her senses.

She turned over.

As expected, the person who'd been sitting beside the bed and reading the poetry collection line by line was gone. The book lay on the bedside table, and even the chair she'd sat on had been put away.

It was as if no one had ever been in the room, insisting on providing her with bedtime service.

Yu Qing stared at the ceiling for a long time before reaching for the phone beside the poetry collection to check the time.

Why was it only half past two?

Suddenly, she had no idea what to do.

What did she usually do at this hour?

Read, play the piano, or just zone out?

Probably all of those.

The lonely late-night hours were so quiet it felt as though she were the only person in the world.

Maybe it wasn't just a feeling.

Life was so pointless. What was the meaning of being alive?

After lying there, her thoughts wandering, Yu Qing listlessly picked up her phone. She didn't know what she wanted to do, so she opened each app at random, then closed them again, bored.

When she opened WeChat, she suddenly noticed a new unread message in her contacts.

A voice suddenly rang in her mind.

—"I've already added you. Remember to accept it. I'll send you your daily schedule then."

Yu Qing had felt as though her heart were trapped in a bog, dragging her down into the mire. But suddenly, her eyes widened.

She opened the friend request.

Someone whose profile picture showed a penguin sitting in front of a hotpot had sent her a request.

There was no message with it, but not many people knew this WeChat account of hers. And someone had already told her a friend request was coming.

There was no need to think twice. This had to be Xiang Changge.

Yu Qing reached out with one finger and jabbed the button marked "Decline."

The next second, the screen changed. The words "Added" appeared beside the other person's request on the friend request page.

Yu Qing: "?"

Something felt off. Shouldn't it say "Declined"?

She opened the other person's profile, and then, to her horror, found an option that said "Send Message."

Yu Qing refused to believe it. She tapped it, and on the chat screen that opened, a line of small text appeared at the top.

—"You've added One Meal Eight Bowls of Rice. You can now start chatting."

Yu Qing: "?!!"

Was she seeing a ghost? Hadn't she pressed "Decline"? When had it turned into "Add"? Had she tapped the wrong thing? No way. She'd pressed it so carefully. How could she have gotten it wrong?

Without time to think, and as if afraid the other person might suddenly come back to life, Yu Qing quickly and decisively deleted her.

Only after deleting her did she breathe a sigh of relief.

Hmph. Whatever that daily schedule was, there was no way she'd let Xiang Changge send it to her.

She might not be able to fire Xiang Changge, but no one had said she had to listen to everything she said.

With that thought, Yu Qing ignored the fact that it wasn't even three yet, scrambled out of bed, and quickly locked the door again.

That wasn't all. She found two earplugs and set them beside the bed for later. Only then did she pick up the poetry collection, open it, and happily resume reading.

Hmph. Let's see what Xiang Changge could do this time.

Tomorrow morning, she'd plug up her ears and let Xiang Changge knock herself silly outside.

Author's Note:

Little Yu: She's so annoying [sob][sob]

Xiang Changge: You want warmth, huh [question mark][question mark]

-

The comment section is open, and I've got a pretty new cover, too [rabbit head with drooping ears]

Who was it that called her Sausage Bro? [clown][clown]