".."
"We don't necessarily have to climb to the top of the mountain. If you get tired, we can find a place to sit down anytime."
".."
Chai Qianning smiled and said, "Why do you suddenly want me to go?"
Sheng Muxi responded swiftly: "Because you're familiar with this area."
"or.."
“Okay, then I’ll go with you tomorrow,” Chai Qianning agreed.
Sheng Muxi swallowed, her throat moved, but the words that were about to come out were swallowed back down.
She agreed already? She hasn't even finished reciting her lines yet!
"Or what?" Chai Qianning rested her chin on her hand, looking lazy and relaxed.
"It's nothing." Sheng Muxi squeezed the handle of the fan.
——
When Chai Qianning returned to her room that evening, she saw a pile of bright yellow plush toy chicks, and her jaw almost dropped.
There were two large plush toys, almost the size of a person, placed on her bedside table and Chai Shuqing's bedside table respectively.
There were also a bunch of tiny chicks, each the size of a palm, on the bedside table, the desk, and even on the bed.
The bright yellow color was very eye-catching, and it was hard for Chai Qianning to ignore it.
Chai Shuqing had already finished showering and was sitting at her desk with her hair down, humming a song and doing her homework, completely absorbed in her own world, unaware that she had returned.
Chai Qianning stared at it for a few seconds, then walked to the desk and tapped her fingers on the surface.
Hearing the noise, Chai Shuqing took off her headphones and flashed a big smile: "Sister, you're back!"
"Hmm." Chai Qianning pointed to the pile of chicks of all sizes: "Where did all those chickens come from?"
Chai Shuqing turned her head and glanced at it, as if asking for praise: "How is it? Don't I make the room cozy?"
"It's cozy, but the moment I opened the door, I almost thought I'd walked into a chicken coop."
As soon as she finished speaking, Chai Qianning felt an itch in her nose and sneezed.
Chai Shuqing pouted, picked up a plush chick from the table, held it in her hand, and waved it in front of Chai Qianning: "The chick is so cute..."
"Okay, put away those plush toys, I'm going to take a shower." Chai Qianning said as she went to the wardrobe to find clothes.
Watching the bathroom door close, Chai Shuqing blinked, got off the chair, and went to tidy up the plush toys on the bed.
The large chicks took up a lot of space, so they were placed on the headboard. Her bed and Chai Qianning's bed faced each other, with the large chicks on either side, which was quite symmetrical.
She gathered the chicks on the bed, picked them up, opened the wardrobe, and when she couldn't fit them all, she stuffed them into the cabinet under the desk.
Then I took several of those transparent bags that are used for storing blankets, poured all the chicks into them, and pressed them down tightly.
After thinking it over, she filled a row of the extra chicks that wouldn't fit on her bedside table and desk, and then sat back down at her desk to do her homework, satisfied.
After taking a shower, Chai Qianning saw several tightly packed bags of plush toys standing against the wall and teased, "Are you planning to sell toys at the entrance of the scenic area tomorrow?"
Chai Shuqing shifted her body slightly while sitting in the chair.
"Where did these come from? There are so many!"
"Today I went to buy goods with my grandpa. One of the bosses saw me staring at that big plush toy and gave it to me."
Chai Qianning picked up a chick from her desk, tossed it in the air, and caught it again: "Is the boss having trouble selling his goods? He's giving you so many."
"He was a toy factory owner. He asked me how many I wanted, and I just casually said the more the better. I really like fluffy things, so the owner gave me a whole truckload of chicks."
"Pfft." Chai Qianning leaned against the desk, looking at the summer homework spread out on her desk: "You're moving all of this into your room too?"
Chai Qianning counted and found that, apart from the two adult chicks, there were several hundred chicks left.
Okay, I can open a plush toy store now.
Chai Shuqing swung her legs: "My grandparents don't like these plush toys, so I'll definitely move them to my room."
Perhaps feeling that it was a bit too much, Chai Shuqing thought for a moment and then said, "Among the guests staying at our guesthouse, there seem to be quite a few children, right?"
Chai Qianning raised her eyebrows.
Chai Shuqing stroked the fluffy chicks with her fingers: "I can give some of these toys to the children, or give them to the guests as souvenirs when they check out."
“Other guesthouses offer souvenirs like wood carvings, bracelets, and hair ties, but ours is the most unique – we give away little chicks.” Chai Qianning stared into the chick’s eyes and tapped its head with her finger.
Chai Shuqing smiled and pulled her to the bedside, patting the large, all-yellow plush toy: "Sis, try it, it's very comfortable to lie on."
Chai Qianning knelt on one knee on the bed, leaned her body and nestled into the large plush toy, her whole body enveloped in softness.
She let out a satisfied sigh, then crossed her legs and played games on the bed, but she could feel the gaze of the chicks scattered throughout the room from time to time.
Chai Qianning: "..."
She looked around the room and saw that, apart from a few bags placed against the wall, Chai Shuqing had squeezed in a few chicks wherever possible, except on the floor.
The most extravagant item was Chai Shuqing's bedside table, which was completely filled with items.
People with trypophobia would have a heart attack after seeing this.
"Qingqing," Chai Qianning called out to her.
"What?" Chai Shuqing was engrossed in reading a novel on her desk, and when she turned to look at her, the corners of her lips still had a slight smile.
Chai Qianning's eyelids twitched: "Could you please stop filling the room with chicks?"
“I think this arrangement will make the room feel cozier and also make me feel safer.”
The two had different understandings of what constitutes a cozy room.
For example, Chai Qianning couldn't stand having plush toys everywhere in her room. It wasn't a matter of whether they were childish or not; she just felt that waking up in the middle of the night would bring a surprise.
She didn't like plush toys much when she was little, and she didn't like to display plush toys in her room, but Chai Shuqing was the complete opposite.
Chai Qianning blinked, stared at her, her throat moved, and she opened her mouth and said, "I'm scared."
"No one would believe that." Chai Shuqing ruthlessly exposed her and said coldly, "Sister, don't forget, this is my room."
In other words, this was her room, and it was her business how she wanted to decorate it. Her tone was extremely smug, even a little irritating.
That makes sense, but since Chai Shuqing is the youngest, she inevitably suffers "suppression" from the older ones.
Chai Qianning wrapped her arms loosely around her neck, gently locking her throat with a light touch, her voice as soft as her strength, and "threatened" her in her ear: "Say that again?"
"Ahhh, this woman is trying to kill her own sister."
"Family newspaper, this is a family newspaper!"
.
The two sisters played around for a while.
Finally, Chai Shuqing made a suggestion: "Why don't you sleep in Teacher Sheng's room? There shouldn't be any chicks in Teacher Sheng's room."
"Is it suitable?" Chai Qianning pointed at the phone case.
She couldn't guarantee that she could control herself the same way the first time she shared a bed with Sheng Muxi.
"Who told you to give up your room?" Chai Shuqing said.
"Aren't there too many guests? Are all the rooms full?"
"I've never seen you so enthusiastic about attracting customers before."
Just as Chai Qianning was about to speak, she glanced at the novel spread out on the table.
Her gaze swept across the page casually, then fell upon a line of text: "The Pinnacle of Life at Eighteen: How to Make a Female CEO Fall in Love..."
Chai Qianning read it out word by word.
Chai Shuqing: "..."
She immediately closed the book and put it away.
Chai Qianning raised an eyebrow: "Let me see, what have you fallen in love with?"
Chai Shuqing covered the book with both hands: "No."
What novel are you reading?
"A campus-themed inspirational and positive coming-of-age novel."
"Oh—you're determined to make a female CEO fall in love with you by the time you're eighteen?"
Chai Shuqing: "..."
——
Because she was going to get up early the next day to watch the sunrise at Yuding Mountain with Sheng Muxi and the others, Chai Qianning went to bed early that night.
In the middle of the night, Chai Qianning was awakened from her sleep by the urge to suffocate. She opened her eyes and found herself in complete darkness, with a heavy, stuffy feeling on her face.
She raised her hand, tugged at it, and sat up, breathing heavily. Turning her head, she saw that the large plush toy on the bedside table had fallen over and was pressing down on her face.
Moonlight streamed in from outside, adding a soft, veil-like filter to the entire room.
Chai Qianning glanced at Chai Shuqing, who was fast asleep on the opposite bed, her eyes half-open, and tiptoed out of bed to go to the toilet.
After using the toilet, she leaned against the bed and fell asleep immediately. But a loud crash came from the windowsill, the sound of a potted plant falling to the ground and the crisp sound of a porcelain basin shattering, which brought Chai Qianning back to her senses.
She frowned.
Chai Shuqing, who was on the opposite bed, seemed to be disturbed by the noise as well. She turned over and went back to sleep.
Chai Qianning couldn't sleep anymore. She reached for her phone on the bedside table, turned it on, and saw it was 2:30 a.m.
She should have continued sleeping, but Chai Qianning was not sleepy at the moment and had a sudden appetite. Once the idea of having a midnight snack came to mind, it was hard to get rid of it.
Although eating late-night snacks now seems a bit out of place.
But the toy chicks in the room surprised her.
Under the dim moonlight and in the dim light, the chicks appeared to Chai Qianning as fragrant chicken cutlets.
My stomach rumbled—
Yes, she was hungry.