Another two months passed, and the new semester was nearing its end.
This also meant that Pearl Academy's housing restrictions for new students were about to end. Quite a few well-off students planned to rent places off campus.
Mu Nujiao and Ai Tutu naturally had the same idea!
"Sister Mu, this is the apartment building! The apartments here are the best near Pearl Academy. The rent is expensive, and the conditions are excellent. It might be a bit difficult for ordinary people, but it's just right for us!" Ai Tutu had an arm around Mu Nujiao's shoulders as she pointed at the magnificent, glittering entrance ahead.
"Mm... let's go up and take a look." Mu Nujiao nodded.
Ai Tutu had contacted the landlord beforehand, so they did not have to wait long.
"I won't claim my apartments are the best in Pearl, but they're definitely second to none around here. I'm sure you'll be satisfied..." The landlord enthusiastically introduced the property as he led the two of them to view it.
But just as they reached the entrance of a small, detached apartment building, the door opened!
Click.
For a moment, they all stared at one another.
"Hm?"
"Hm?"
"Ye Xin Xia?" Mu Nujiao asked in confusion.
"Mu Nujiao, and... Ai Tutu?" Ye Xin Xia was a little surprised too.
"Xin Xia, it really is you! Didn't you have a congenital ailment that left you unable to walk?" Seeing her reaction, Mu Nujiao and Ai Tutu finally confirmed that the person before them was indeed Ye Xin Xia, their classmate from their final year of high school!
"Uh, my condition was cured not long ago. Thank you for your concern."
Ye Xin Xia still had a strong impression of Mu Nujiao. She had shone with dazzling brilliance, radiated charm, and enjoyed great prestige in their class.
Because Ye Xin Xia used a wheelchair, Mu Nujiao had also looked after her quite a bit at school.
"I didn't expect to see you here. What are you planning to do?" Xin Xia smiled sweetly.
"We were just about to..."
"Xin Xia, what's taking so long?" Lu Ling suddenly appeared behind Xin Xia, wearing a ridiculous set of pajamas.
"It's you!" Ai Tutu exclaimed in surprise.
"Lu Ling?!" Mu Nujiao's mouth fell slightly open too.
"Uh..."
What was going on here!? Lu Ling could not quite wrap his head around it. Was Mu Nujiao someone who should be showing up here?
Ye Xin Xia looked at Lu Ling, then at the astonished Mu Nujiao and Ai Tutu. She blinked and suggested:
"Why don't you come in and sit down first?"
They stepped into the living room.
"So, what's your relationship?" The gossip-loving Ai Tutu got to work.
"Siblings," Lu Ling said.
"Not just siblings!" Ye Xin Xia hurriedly added.
Lu Ling raised his hand and gently rubbed Ye Xin Xia's head, saying with a smile.
"Indeed, not just that. I've raised her for over a decade. Calling me her dad wouldn't be going too far."
"Brother!" Ye Xin Xia's face flushed crimson, and she angrily pushed Lu Ling's hand away.
Having suddenly been bumped down an entire generation, Ye Xin Xia wished the ground would swallow her up. That clearly had not been what she meant!
"Hehehe, you really are close siblings." Ai Tutu covered her mouth and chuckled.
"Xin Xia had trouble getting around before... It must have been hard looking after her by yourself for so long," Mu Nujiao said with sincere concern.
Just putting herself in his shoes made her feel that Lu Ling was admirable, and that he had had a hard time too.
"It was all right. She might have been a cripple, but she could still find herself something to eat," Lu Ling said.
"Brother... stop talking." Ye Xin Xia had not given up struggling, but her voice was already weak and listless.
Her appearance made Ai Tutu laugh even louder.
At last, they entered the first living room.
"Wow! What a huge place! Just the two of you live somewhere this big?"
"...Who knows what he wanted to do, renting such a big place?" Ye Xin Xia muttered unhappily.
Renting?
Mu Nujiao keenly picked up on that word.
Farther inside, they reached the area where everyone usually spent their time, which happened to be particularly lively today.
Netherworld, Leng Lingling, and Ding Yumian were leisurely playing Fight the Landlord, with all sorts of snacks beside them. It clearly looked like a gathering.
"Oh my god! A sickly beauty... a gloomy type... a lolicon!!!!!" After seeing the three of them, Ai Tutu turned to Lu Ling in shock again, exclaiming with exaggerated amazement.
Bonk!
"Ow!" Ai Tutu clutched her head and cried out in pain.
"Tutu, stop embarrassing me. That's rude." Mu Nujiao had rapped Ai Tutu on the head, her expression grim.
Honestly, sometimes she really wanted to find a crack in the ground and stuff Ai Tutu into it!
"Everyone, sit down first. We're all students at Pearl Academy." With that, Lu Ling went to get tea for the new arrivals.
"My name is Ling Ling."
"Hello! I'm Ding Yumian. I should be your senior." Ding Yumian greeted the two warmly, not sounding the least bit like a gloomy type when she spoke.
"My name is Netherworld." Netherworld had long since gained intelligence. Handling a self-introduction like this was as easy as reaching out and taking something!
It was just that she kept staring at the playing cards in her hand, making her seem very aloof.
"I'm also at Pearl Academy's Healing Academy. We haven't really seen each other this semester," Ye Xin Xia said then.
"Ah, right. We're from the Plant Academy..." Mu Nujiao and Ai Tutu hurried to introduce themselves too.
Before long, Lu Ling returned with a tray of tea.
The moment Netherworld saw it, her little face turned frosty, and she looked deeply displeased.
"I don't want this. I want orange juice!"
"Go get it yourself."
"Oh."
Then, under Mu Nujiao and Ai Tutu's astonished gazes, the gray-haired girl in the red dress floated into the air. Maintaining a "lying down" posture, she slowly drifted into the kitchen, still studying the playing cards in her hand.
"She isn't human. There's no need to be so surprised," Ling Ling said flatly.
"Not human!?" Mu Nujiao remembered. During their training expedition six months ago, a floating girl had been following Lu Ling!
"I'm the same as Ling. I'm human!"
"No, you're not!" Ling Ling looked fierce, clearly nursing a grudge over something.
"Yes, I am!"
"Sigh, there they go again." Ding Yumian shook her head.
"..."
A while later.
"So you're looking for somewhere to rent."
"Yes, that's right!" Ai Tutu nodded like a chick pecking at grain. "So, Senior Lu Ling, can we live here!?"
"What!?" Ye Xin Xia and Mu Nujiao said in unison.
What was this girl talking about! Did Tutu really have a human brain?
"Sure." Lu Ling agreed without a second thought.
"Brother! How could you just agree like that! Though Mu Nujiao really has been very good to me..." Ye Xin Xia grew less confident as she spoke. Ultimately, Lu Ling still had the final say in this home.
"Isn't it good that she's good to you?" Lu Ling asked with a smile, turning back to Mu Nujiao and Ai Tutu.
"I'll waive the rent too, as long as you help me take good care of Xin Xia."
"Wow, that's way too easy!" Ai Tutu exclaimed at the bargain.
"No, no, that's far too generous." Mu Nujiao pulled her back and hurriedly waved her hands, rejecting the offer.
But she herself had not realized that she had already subconsciously agreed to move in.
"It's fine. Looking after Xin Xia is very tiring."
"I can't be by your side every moment. The more friends you have around you, the safer you'll be," Lu Ling told Xin Xia quietly.
"It's not tiring at all..." Ye Xin Xia pouted. Though she was a little worried, she still agreed to the girls living together.
With that, the number of girls living permanently in the apartment went straight up to four.
Not counting Ling Ling.
PS: Who's a lolicon? The girls he likes just happen to be young, that's all.