Wen Nan knocked on the neighbor's door again.
Lin Xuemei opened it and saw Wen Nan standing there with the pants he had changed out of, neatly packed up and held out to her.
"Aunt Mei, I... I'm not very good at doing laundry. Could you wash them for me instead?" Wen Nan asked tentatively.
Lin Xuemei paused for a moment, then smiled.
She took the bag of clothes and stepped aside to clear the doorway. "Qiqi went inside to do her homework. She said there's a new set of problems that's really hard, and she can't solve them. She wants you to take a look. Why don't you go find her? I'll take the pants."
Wen Nan nodded and headed inside.
The apartment wasn't large. It had two bedrooms and a living room. Lin Xuemei usually slept in the main bedroom, while the guest room doubled as Qiqi's bedroom and study.
A desk ran along the entire wall opposite the bed, with two chairs side by side.
As soon as Qiqi saw Wen Nan come in, she pulled out the chair beside her. "Bro, come sit."
Just like at school, Wen Nan sat down beside Qiqi. She sneakily pulled a booklet out of the drawer beneath the desk, leaned in close, and lowered her voice. "I just got this. It's the collector's edition. Here, for you."
Wen Nan glanced down and caught sight of the explicit cover and its eye-catching title: The Testament of Sister New Devil.
Wen Nan was startled. He gave Qiqi a meaningful look, seeing his childhood friend in a whole new light...
"So this is the difficult new set of problems you wanted me to help with?"
Qiqi giggled without answering. She simply stuffed the book into Wen Nan's hands. "Take a look at it."
Wen Nan opened the book, about to give it a thorough look, when the system's notification rang in his mind.
9527: [Main Quest 2, current completion: 62%]
Wen Nan: ?
He'd brought the pants back and handed them to Aunt Mei. Why hadn't his quest completion gone up? Why had it dropped by another 1% instead?
Was it because he'd come into the room and left Aunt Mei alone?
At the thought, Wen Nan told Qiqi he'd be right back, set the book down, and got up to head out. He went to the bathroom.
"Aunt Mei, is there anything I can help with...?"
As he spoke, Wen Nan opened the bathroom door.
Lin Xuemei hadn't expected him to suddenly barge in. She hurriedly dunked Wen Nan's pants back into the sink, then turned and smiled. "Why did you come out? There's nothing I need help with. You and Qiqi just focus on your homework in the room. Don't worry about me."
Wen Nan was confused—
When he'd come in just now, Aunt Mei had been standing by the sink, clutching the pants she'd washed halfway. She'd stood stock-still like a statue, lost in thought.
She'd been staring at his pants, and that had made the quest completion drop by 1%?
That was bizarre.
But if Wen Nan insisted on washing the pants himself, the completion would drop even further. After thinking it over, he leaned against the glass door and looked earnestly at Lin Xuemei. "Auntie, is something on your mind? Can you tell me?"
Lin Xuemei lowered her lashes. After a moment's thought, she smiled again. "No. You hardly ever come home on the weekends. I'm just happy you're here. What could be on my mind?"
"But..."
"All right, go do your homework. Don't get in the way. I still have to make dinner when I'm done washing these." Aunt Mei raised a hand and gently ushered Wen Nan out.
At dinner, just as he had at lunch, Wen Nan volunteered to help Lin Xuemei in the kitchen.
The kitchen was so cramped that they inevitably bumped into each other as they moved around. Whenever Wen Nan accidentally brushed against one of her soft, full curves, the quest completion shown by the system would briefly rise by two points. But Aunt Mei would soon turn away to avoid him, and then the completion would drop by one point again.
It went up and down like that all evening, and by the end, the quest completion was stuck at 68%. It wouldn't rise any further.
It was getting late. At this rate, they would be going back to school by noon the next day without completing the main quest.
But Lin Xuemei's attitude kept changing, and Wen Nan couldn't figure out what was going on.
After midnight, Qiqi was so tired her eyelids kept drooping. She went to take a shower first, then said good night to Wen Nan and Aunt Mei before flopping into the big bed in the main bedroom and falling fast asleep.
Only Lin Xuemei and Wen Nan remained in the living room. The atmosphere fell quiet.
Lin Xuemei said softly, "Xiao Jiu, do you want to shower first?"
Wen Nan shook his head. "I just remembered I have to go out for a bit. You go ahead, Auntie."
Lin Xuemei wanted to ask what he could possibly be going out to do so late, but in the end, she kept the question to herself. She simply handed him the key and told him to come back soon.
Wen Nan went down to the fruit shop and returned not long after.
He had just opened the door when he froze at the sight before him.
Lin Xuemei had just come out of the bathroom. Wrapped in nothing but a white towel, she stood a short distance away, still damp from her shower.
She probably hadn't expected Wen Nan to be back so soon. Lin Xuemei stood rooted to the spot, momentarily at a loss for a response.
Her long hair fell over her shoulders. Droplets kept sliding from the damp ends, tracing a path down her collarbones before gathering in the hollow between her breasts and soaking the towel there into a dark patch.
Wen Nan followed the droplets with his gaze. His throat bobbed, and for some reason, he felt a little thirsty.
After a moment of awkward silence, Lin Xuemei forced a calm smile. "Y-you're back so soon? I'll go change into my pajamas..."
"Mei."
Wen Nan called after her, using a different form of address.
9527: [Main Quest 2, current completion: 69%]
Wen Nan froze, then continued, "Mei, you don't have to go change. It's just the two of us here. There's no one else."
Lin Xuemei turned back and gave Wen Nan a gentle smile. Her curved brows hid the flustered look in her eyes.
Wen Nan walked over to the sofa and sat down. Looking completely sincere, he said, "There's something on my mind, and I want to talk to you about it. Could you sit with me for a while?"
Faced with the young man's honest, handsome eyes, Lin Xuemei couldn't possibly refuse. Holding the edge of her towel, she carefully walked over and sat beside Wen Nan. "What is it?"
Wen Nan opened the fruit platter he'd brought back and held it out to Lin Xuemei. "The fruit shop downstairs was about to close, so they only had two kinds of fruit platters left. Would you like a banana or a navel orange? Pick one."
Wen Nan sounded so certain that Lin Xuemei didn't even realize she could refuse.
A banana or a navel orange?
After thinking it over, Lin Xuemei chose the navel orange.
She picked up a peeled orange segment and put it in her mouth.
9527: [Detected that player used item—Truth Serum—on target Lin Xuemei.] 9527: [Item taking effect. Please wait...] 9527: [Item use successful!]
Wen Nan turned slightly and looked straight into Lin Xuemei's eyes. "Mei, what is it you truly want, deep down?"
Lin Xuemei gazed back at Wen Nan. Her heart was suddenly pounding, hard and fast.
She didn't want to answer, but the thoughts in her heart spilled from her lips.
"I want you to... fuck me."
Before you continue