When Chen Zhenzhen came out of the shower, she felt like the sky had fallen.
Zhang Zhaomu was spreading the winter quilts neatly on the bedroom floor, while Xiang Qing was standing next to her holding a sheet, looking ready to help at any moment.
"What are you all doing..." Chen Zhenzhen asked, enunciating each word clearly, "What tricks are you playing?"
Xiang Qing, looking pleased with herself, said, " Zhenzhen, we've come up with a great idea! Zhang Zhaomu can sleep on a makeshift bed on the floor in the bedroom, so she won't have to sleep on the sofa, and we can even chat together until we fall asleep!"
Chen Zhenzhen really couldn't see what was so good about this idea.
Why does this Little Mute guy always manage to pull off some crazy things?
Couldn't we just let this long night end peacefully?
" Zhang Zaowan, what's your reason?" Chen Zhenzhen had learned her lesson and felt that she had no way to break Xiang Qing's invincibility, so she turned her attention to Zhang Zhaomu.
"You agreed to sleep on the sofa, so how come you actually put your filthy hands into the bedroom when I wasn't looking?"
"First of all, this is my bedroom." Zhang Zhaomu stated clearly, "It's only natural that I sleep in my own bedroom."
Seeing that Chen Zhenzhen was about to argue, he raised his hand to interrupt her and continued, "Secondly, I did promise to sleep on the sofa, but the objective conditions don't allow it; there's not enough room on the sofa."
"Then you can set up your sleeping mat in the living room!" Chen Zhenzhen finally chimed in.
"That's the last point," Zhang Zhaomu said matter-of-factly. "The living room air conditioner consumes more electricity! If I sleep in the bedroom, I only need to turn on the bedroom air conditioner."
"It will save me at least an hour of internet fees!"
Chen Zhenzhen: "... You're really short of a few dollars? One more makeover job and you can run the air conditioner all summer."
"You obviously don't know the value of money when you're not in charge of the household!" Zhang Zhaomu scoffed. "A few dollars isn't money? If I save a few dollars a day, I can save over a thousand a year, and over a hundred thousand in my lifetime! Enough to buy a car!"
"Over 100,000 yuan? You've been saving money since you were born, haven't you? You stingy bastard!" Seeing that she couldn't change the situation, Chen Zhenzhen could only warn, "Don't let me find out you sneaking into our bed in the middle of the night!"
Zhang Zhaomu: "First of all, this is my bed." Stop! Chen Zhenzhen really didn't want to listen to Zhang Zhaomu's long-winded explanation anymore.
With that kind of mouth, even if three people were sleeping together under the same quilt, he could still come up with several plausible fallacies.
Xiang Qing helped Zhang Zhaomu make up the bed on the floor, then cautiously asked, " Zhang Zhaomu, can I get into your bed now?"
"
Chen Zhenzhen: "?"
What inappropriate and offensive language are you using?
"You don't need to ask me about this. Just go for it if you want," Zhang Zhaomu said calmly, already used to Xiang Qing's style.
"Okay." Xiang Qing pressed down on Zhang Zhaomu's mattress and muttered, "It's a bit firm."
"It's an old mattress left by the landlord, just make do with it," Zhang Zhaomu said.
"It's okay, the beds in the dorm are harder, I can get used to it." Xiang Qing plopped down, her face full of curiosity. "Is this a boy's bed?"
She even bent down to smell it and commented, "It smells like Zhang Zhaomu."
Chen Zhenzhen shuddered. " Little Mute, can't you be normal for once? You actually went to smell Zhang Zhaomu's bed, how disgusting!"
If the other person didn't have such a good-looking face, Chen Zhenzhen would have called him a pervert.
No, even if the modeling is incredibly advanced, this kind of behavior still falls completely into the category of perversion, right?
Does the Little Mute have some kind of hidden fetish?
"It's not disgusting," Xiang Qing explained earnestly. "It smells quite nice, a very refreshing grapefruit scent. I could faintly smell it when I sat next to him, but it seems to be stronger on the bed."
"Great taste!" Zhang Zhaomu gave a thumbs up. "The shower gel I use is grapefruit scented."
In the past, Zhang Zhaomu would definitely have been ashamed of Xiang Qing's behavior, after all, his bed was probably filled with the smell of sweat and other indescribable odors back then.
But since acquiring the Refined Persona, Zhang Zhaomu has absolute confidence in his hygiene, which is the source of his ability to act so confidently.
However, in the past, I probably wouldn't have been able to become friends with Xiang Qing, let alone let her stay overnight at my house.
Chen Zhenzhen opened her mouth, but after all the trials and tribulations tonight, she realized she had no interest in complaining about this level of difficulty.
"That's just how the Little Mute is, you'll get used to it," she silently comforted herself.
Although it was still early, Xiang Qing was already lying in bed, even covering herself with a thin blanket, only her head showing, and looking at the two of them expectantly.
So the two of them could only silently turn off the lights and lie down.
The room was dark, and the sound of rain continued outside the window.
"Hey," Xiang Qing broke the silence, "What are your dreams?"
"Let me guess," Chen Zhenzhen said calmly, "You suddenly brought this up because it was a topic you'd already decided on in your past expectations of lying in bed chatting with friends, right?"
It took Xiang Qing a moment to process what she had just heard, and then she exclaimed in surprise, " Zhenzhen, how did you guess that?"
"Perhaps it's because I'm gradually understanding everything." Chen Zhenzhen sighed. " Zhang Zaowan, are you interested in discussing this topic?"
"Absolutely not." Zhang Zhaomu was scrolling through his phone, answering absentmindedly, "This kind of topic is outdated."
"Hmm..." Xiang Qing's voice sounded pitiful, like an abandoned little animal. "But shouldn't the first step in understanding friends always start with dreams?"
I want to know you all better!
The Little Mute used his innate skill to win people over with sincerity!
A brief silence fell between them.
"I never thought about things as far away as dreams," Zhang Zhaomu said, speaking up first. "For me, living in the present is the most important thing."
"Me too," Chen Zhenzhen chimed in. "If we're talking about goals... maybe like most high school students, to get into a good university?"
"Alright, it's your turn, you Little Mute."
Xiang Qing already had a plan in mind, and said without hesitation, "I want to become an independent and outstanding career woman! I want to earn lots and lots of money, live a very good life, and then take care of my mother!"
Another brief silence followed.
"Is there a problem?" Xiang Qing asked, puzzled. "Why aren't you responding?"
"There's no problem," Zhang Zhaomu said. "Your dream is good, and quite... realistic."
"It's just..." He paused, struggling to find the right words.
Although they haven't known each other for very long, in Zhang Zhaomu's mind, Xiang Qing is someone who particularly enjoys novelty and excitement. Although she appears to be a well-behaved and good student on the surface, she is actually not conventional at all.
Zhang Zhaomu even felt that this person was more rebellious than himself.
However, even Xiang Qing herself may not have realized this.
The dream she talks about is more like a form of moral blackmail, so deeply ingrained after being indoctrinated with the same concept for a long time that she herself has come to believe it.
Of course, such analysis was too sharp and too presumptuous, so Zhang Zhaomu didn't say it aloud.
"This doesn't sound like a dream you'd actually talk about." He ultimately chose to phrase it more tactfully. "I thought your dream was something like completing your life's to-do list."
"A life checklist?" Xiang Qing's attention was diverted. "I don't have anything like that."
"You seem to have a lot of...," Chen Zhenzhen interjected, "Like watching horror movies with friends, having late-night talks with friends in bed..."
"And skipping classes, staying up all night..." Zhang Zhaomu added, "Anyway, all the things you really want to do are on your life's to-do list."
"You mean these little everyday expectations? I have so many!" Xiang Qing laughed. "For example, I want to dye my hair, try bungee jumping, find out what it feels like to be drunk, and try some sashimi!"
"Please cross out that last item!" Zhang Zhaomu quickly reminded him, "Don't believe what you read online about seeing little people after getting Boletus luridus poisoning. Mushroom poisoning is a very serious matter."
"Can't we even eat near the hospital?"
"No!"
"They went specifically to the hospital entrance in Yunnan? They're professionals!"
Xiang Qing always seemed unusually stubborn about her little expectations.
"That won't do either!" Zhang Zhaomu said firmly, leaving no room for negotiation.
"Okay, then I'll cross it out." Xiang Qing was a little reluctant, but she still followed the advice.
"Besides eating sashimi with green leaves, I hope everything else can come true!"
She paused for a moment, then said very seriously, "With you all."
Chen Zhenzhen couldn't help but roll over and hug Xiang Qing: " Little Mute, you're so cute!"
"No way~" Xiang Qing's voice seemed muffled by something. " Zhenzhen, I can't breathe, you're so big."
Chen Zhenzhen quickly let go, her tone extremely embarrassed. "Don't say that!"
Oh no, Zhang Zaowan overheard us.
Although this is an unspoken truth, and Zhang Zaowan even blurted it out last time, it's really frustrating in this kind of environment!
"I'm sorry! I didn't realize!" Xiang Qing quickly apologized.
At that moment, a soft snoring sound came from the side of the floor.
"Huh? Zhang Zhaomu fell asleep so quickly?" She looked up and said, " Zhenzhen, don't worry, he probably didn't hear anything."
Chen Zhenzhen: "... That's good."
That's ridiculous! Zhang Zaowan doesn't snore at all when he sleeps!
Oh well, at least he got himself out of that predicament, and besides, it's about time to end this late-night conversation.
She let out a long sigh, closed her eyes, and prepared to drift off to sleep.
I can't sleep.
Her attention had been completely focused on Xiang Qing, leaving no room for random thoughts. Now that she had calmed down, she suddenly realized that she was sleeping in Zhang Zhaomu's bed.
She couldn't help but sniffle softly.
It has a refreshing grapefruit scent.
For Xiang Qing, that was the scent of Zhang Zhaomu. When she met Zhang Zhaomu, he was already different.
However, it felt very unfamiliar to Chen Zhenzhen.
Zhang Zhaomu's flavor... isn't like that.
For a very long time, Zhang Zhaomu had that unpleasant smell—a mixture of cigarette smoke, instant noodles, and sweat—that inevitably comes from spending a lot of time in internet cafes. It wasn't pleasant, but it was something people were used to.
However, the Zhang Zhaomu of that time, the unremarkable one who only thought about playing games with me all day, the Zhang Zhaomu who seemed to belong only to me, seems to be gone forever.