"On the shoe cabinet by the door," Fang Bai said, walking towards the bathroom. "I'll go adjust the water temperature for you."
In older residential areas, the doors have those old-fashioned locks without passwords or fingerprints. Once locked from the inside, the door can't be opened except with a key.
Actually, when Fang Bai opened the door and entered the house, Ji Yuning saw that Fang Bai had put the key on the shoe cabinet. The reason she asked the question was to test whether Fang Bai really wouldn't leave or was lying to her.
Although Fang Bai told her where he kept the key without hesitation, Ji Yuning still wanted to lock the door from the inside just in case.
Ji Yuning walked to the door.
The lights were too dim when she opened the door, and Ji Yuning only glanced at the key, not even noticing what it looked like.
Ji Yuning stood in front of the shoe cabinet, looking down at the keychain on the wooden board.
A familiar cat keychain came into view.
It was the one she gave to Fang Bai in Qing City, with its upturned tail, very much like Fang Bai's cat keychain.
Ji Yuning's indifferent eyes were covered by a layer of soft light.
Picking up the key, Ji Yuning noticed a clear crack and glue marks on the cat's upturned tail. Several scratches on the cat's body indicated that its owner had been using it all along, and even when it broke, it wasn't thrown away but rather the damaged parts were glued back together.
Does Fang Bai's fondness for it mean he really likes it?
A hint of tenderness flickered in Ji Yuning's eyes.
Even so, Ji Yuning did not hesitate at all when locking the door.
Fang Bai came out of the bathroom and bumped into Ji Yuning taking a key out of the lock cylinder.
Ji Yuning turned around, her gaze meeting Fang Bai's in mid-air.
Fang Bai saw Ji Yuning naturally put the key into her pocket and looked at her, saying, "That way, Auntie won't be able to leave."
The moment Ji Yuning asked for the key, Fang Bai had already guessed what she was thinking. She wasn't surprised, but simply flicked her nose and said, "I already told you I didn't want to leave."
In short, only the last two words are true.
Ji Yuning hummed in agreement and said, "I'm going to take a shower."
"Go ahead~" Fang Bai said as he sat down on the sofa.
When Ji Yuning saw Fang Bai playing on his phone, casually munching on a handful of sunflower seeds, she paused and asked, "Do you have a spare key?"
Fang Bai looked at her: "There are two keys in total, both on the keychain."
Ji Yuning nodded; she did indeed see two identical keys.
Seeing that Ji Yuning was treating him like a thief, Fang Bai found it amusing and asked in a petulant tone, "If you're not comfortable with that, Auntie will wash with you?"
Fang Bai thought Ji Yuning would give her a cold look, pretend she didn't say anything, and then turn and go into the bathroom. But Ji Yuning frowned, as if considering for a few seconds, and then said, "Okay."
Fang Bai was startled: "...I was just kidding."
Ji Yuning said calmly, "Me too."
After Ji Yuning entered the bathroom.
Fang Bai also put the melon seeds back into the plate.
After the sound of water had been heard for a while, Fang Bai got up and walked to the door. Although she saw Ji Yuning take out the key, she took a chance and tried to turn the lock.
The result was predictable.
Fang Bai returned to the sofa after failing to achieve his goal.
There was no sense of loss, just a feeling of bewilderment at the unknown.
Ten minutes later, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped.
Ji Yuning's voice rang out: "Auntie."
Fang Bai responded softly, "What's wrong?"
As he spoke, he got up and walked to the bathroom door.
“I don’t have any change of clothes,” Ji Yuning said.
"Where's your luggage?" Fang Bai asked, then paused, realizing she hadn't seen Ji Yuning with her luggage.
The person in the bathroom said, "No."
Fang Bai asked, "Then what do you need?"
"Pajamas..." the voice inside paused, "that's fine."
Fang Bai didn't miss the pause and replied, "Understood."
A minute later, Fang Bai arrived at the bathroom with the clothes. The sound of water could be heard again. Afraid that Ji Yuning wouldn't hear him, Fang Bai knocked on the door twice and said, "I've brought the clothes."
Ji Yuning said, "The door wasn't locked."
Accompanied by the sound of water, Ji Yuning's voice was somewhat unclear, but it didn't affect the overall clarity of the audio.
Fang Bai's hand, which was knocking on the door, froze in mid-air.
Does "the door isn't locked" mean... let her push the door open and come in?
Isn't this a bit inappropriate?
Fang Bai couldn't help but picture Ji Yuning standing under the shower, covered in foam... or perhaps the foam had already been rinsed away...
While he was imagining things, Fang Bai didn't notice that the sound of water in the bathroom had stopped.
When Fang Bai called her to stop in time and cleared the images from her mind, she hesitated whether to open the door or not. Then she saw the door being slowly pulled open from the inside.
The moment the light leaked through the cracks in the bathroom, Fang Bai suddenly closed his eyes tightly.
She didn't see that the door was only opened a crack the size of a fist.
A hand first reached out from under the door, and before the person outside could put the clothes in her hand, Ji Yuning looked out.
Fang Bai didn't know why she closed her eyes; she was simply following her heart.
Ji Yuning's slightly cheerful voice rang in her ears: "Why is Auntie closing her eyes?"
Fang Bai replied in a low voice: "Do not look at what is improper."
Ji Yuning recalled what Fang Bai had said during dinner, and she put it into practice: "Aren't I Auntie's child? What is Auntie afraid of?"
Can they be the same?
"Don't you know shame?" Fang Bai retorted, then raised his hand, "How about the clothes I found for you?"
Fang Bai and Ji Yuning have different dressing habits. Ji Yuning is relatively conservative, such as wearing long sleeves and pants, but unfortunately, she has none of those, only a slip dress.
Fang Bai had no choice but to find Ji Yuning a loose-fitting cotton short-sleeved shirt to use as pajamas.
“Okay,” Ji Yuning said.
Taking the short-sleeved shirt from Fang Bai, Ji Yuning noticed a dark blue stain mixed in with the slightly disheveled clothes.
It was a pair of dark blue lace panties.
She was definitely trying to say "underwear" during that pause.
Ji Yuning raised an eyebrow: "Underwear—"
“I just bought it, I haven’t worn it yet,” Fang Bai said, then added, “It’s been washed.”
Ji Yuning responded with an "Mmm," and then finished her sentence, which had been interrupted: "Very sexy."
Fang Bai had his eyes closed, so he couldn't see Ji Yuning's expression, but he could hear her voice.
Ji Yuning's voice was cool and her tone was calm. She spoke as if she was seriously praising how sexy the underwear was.
But even so, it brought a strong sense of contrast to Fang Bai. After turning around, Fang Bai opened his eyes, his eyelashes trembling, and his cheeks slightly warm.
When Ji Yuning complimented her on her sexy private clothes, she felt a flustered twitching sensation.
Fang Bai thought Ji Yuning would close the door, but the next second he heard Ji Yuning's voice: "Auntie likes it—"
Fearing that Ji Yuning might say something else that would make her uncomfortable, Fang Bai fumbled for the bathroom doorknob and closed the door, cutting off what Ji Yuning was about to say.
Seeing the door closed, Ji Yuning swallowed her words back down her throat.
As her gaze swept over the clothes in her hand, Ji Yuning's lips curled into a slight smile.
Ji Yuning came out of the bathroom and met Fang Bai, who was carrying a blanket as he walked out of the bedroom.
Looking at the person with hair draped over their shoulders and wearing an oversized white short-sleeved shirt that barely covered their buttocks, Fang Bai tightened his arms and said, "I'll sleep on the sofa."
Fang Bai had this plan when he agreed to let Ji Yuning stay overnight.
Ji Yuning said softly, "Didn't Auntie say the sofa was too small and uncomfortable?"
Fang Bai said, "The bed is small, it will be too crowded for us to sleep in."
Ji Yuning dismissed it: "It's nothing."
She said, "It's okay if it's crowded. Doesn't Auntie like to hold me while I sleep?"
Who likes to sleep while being held?
Fang Bai paused for a moment before explaining, "I just have a bad sleeping posture, it's not that I like to hug... people while I sleep."
Because she had just taken a shower, Ji Yuning's expression wasn't as cold and stern as before; instead, it was like a clear mountain spring, shrouded in a gentle mist.
She gently took the blanket from Fang Bai's arms and said, "Go take a shower."
His voice was calm, but Fang Bai had no room to refuse.
Author's Note:
Xiao Ji: Hmm~
Chapter 78
The blanket was taken away, but Fang Bai didn't try to take it back. Ji Yuning didn't mind sleeping with her, so Fang Bai stopped worrying about it and took her pajamas into the bathroom.
As he closed the door, Ji Yuning's words, "The door isn't locked," echoed in his ears, and Fang Bai unconsciously bolted the door shut.