Chapter 53: I’m Going to Sleep~ Goodnight, Junior Brother~

It wasn’t until six in the evening that Jiang Miao finished writing.

In about an hour, he had written just over 2,000 words.

For someone like him who wasn’t a fast writer, this efficiency was extremely high.

Jiang Miao was surprised by how much he managed to write.

So, just holding hands has such a good effect? He looked down at his left hand. If I can hold hands once a day, won’t I be able to transform into Writing Jam?

At this moment, his phone vibrated.

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: Are you done? I’m starving.

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: Haven’t you eaten yet?

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: I’m waiting for you.

Jiang Miao immediately felt a bit embarrassed.

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: You didn’t have to wait for me.

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: As your girlfriend, it’s the least I can do~

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: … Senior Sister, it’s just pretend.

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: The essence of pretending is making it seem real. If you keep thinking this is fake, how can the effect of gathering material turn out well?

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: Comrade, your awareness needs improvement. You have to work harder, understand?

Jiang Miao: “…”

What Senior Sister said made so much sense that he couldn’t even argue.

But if pretending became indistinguishable from the real thing, what was the difference between the two?

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: So, are you done? Come downstairs for dinner.

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: Almost. I still have about a thousand words left. I’ll release one chapter first and write the rest when I get back.

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: 2,000 words in one go?! So fierce today?

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: So the material was pretty useful, huh?

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: I guess…

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: It’s good that it’s useful. Hurry up and come downstairs.

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: Okay, coming.

After turning off his laptop, Jiang Miao tidied up his desk, grabbed his phone, and headed out of the dorm room.

While walking on the stairs, he couldn’t control his hand when he thought about how Senior Sister had become his girlfriend and he might even have a chance to hold her hand later.

Even though it was just pretend.

But Senior Sister had said it herself: in order to get material, they had to blur the lines between real and false.

Yes, everything is for the sake of material! Jiang Miao reminded himself.

They weren’t actually dating, and this wasn’t a romantic relationship.

It was just like doing homework wasn’t the same as taking an exam, and reviewing wasn’t the same as doing homework.

What they were doing was, at best, simulating a relationship. It wasn’t the real thing.

But…

Jiang Miao still felt that something was off.

[Peach Jam]: Boss, can I ask you a question?

[Congee Boss]: What’s up?

[Peach Jam]: If a very, very beautiful girl offered to pretend to be my girlfriend to help me get material, do you think it’s normal?

[Congee Boss]: ?

[Congee Boss]: I think your brain isn’t normal.

[Congee Boss]: Have you lost your mind from writing too much?

[Peach Jam]: No! I’m just asking.

The entire situation of Senior Sister volunteering to pretend to be his girlfriend was too bizarre.

No one would believe it.

But telling Congee Boss would be an invasion of her privacy.

So he could only keep his question vague.

[Congee Boss]: Who has nothing better to do that they’d help you get material? You should be grateful that no one’s chasing you down with a kitchen knife to get you to release faster.

[Peach Jam]: But what if there really is someone?

[Congee Boss]: Then there’s definitely an ulterior motive. Maybe she’s after your body.

[Peach Jam]: …

[Peach Jam]: Forget it. Pretend I never asked.

Jiang Miao put his phone away and descended the stairs to the first floor.

Boss was indeed unreliable. He even talked about someone wanting his body.

If Senior Sister really had her sights on his body, she could just throw herself at him, and he wouldn’t be able to resist.

There was no need for a roundabout tactic.

Forget it. Jiang Miao shook his head. I’ll just take things one step at a time.

With this thought in mind, he walked out of Building 31 and saw Senior Sister walking out of Building 30.

She was wearing the same outfit from the afternoon—a black T-shirt tucked into cropped pants. Her slender waist, reminiscent of a valley, made him uncontrollably want to follow the incline up to the peak.

This had to be an instinctual drive in human genes, an obsession for people to climb.

It wasn’t his problem alone. At least that was what Jiang Miao thought.

After gathering downstairs, he deliberately maintained a distance from Senior Sister to prevent her from throwing another curve ball at him and holding his hand.

Although he was eager to gather more material, doing so in Xiuye Commons, especially at the entrance of Building 31, would be too easy for his classmates to spot him.

… Even though, so far, he could barely recognize ten of his classmates.

But according to Xun Liang’s reliable information, it seemed that a surprising number of girls recognized him.

Okay.

Being too handsome was indeed a problem.

Jiang Miao had grown used to it since childhood.

“Junior Brother, why does it feel like you’re afraid of me?” Su Huaizhou noticed his behavior and turned to him with a playful smile.

“Uh…” He cleared his throat and suggested, “Senior Sister, I think it’s best if we try not to let others discover our current relationship. After all, we’re just pretending. In the future—”

“I know,” Su Huaizhou interrupted. Smiling, she tilted her head. “Have you noticed? You’re always thinking for me like this. It’s really charming.”

Being struck in the heart by Senior Sister’s attack, Jiang Miao was immediately rendered speechless. He turned his head to avoid her gaze and looked at the flowers and plants by the roadside.

Finally, they arrived at the cafeteria. After getting their food, he followed her to a corner to sit down.

As they ate, they chatted about classes, this week’s debate topic, and even his book.

“How many reading lists are you at now?” Su Huaizhou asked curiously.

“Seventeen thousand.”

“So fast!” Su Huaizhou exclaimed in surprise. “I remember you just hit the ten thousand milestone last weekend, right?”

On the details page of Xidian novels, there was a button in the lower left corner of the cover that linked to badges of milestones and achievements.

Clicking on it let people view the badges of milestones and achievements of the novel.

‘10,000 Reading Lists’ was one of the milestones.

Unexpectedly, on the third day of Category Spotlight, the number of reading lists for Jiang Miao’s novel went from just over 10,000 to 17,000!

“It mainly increased on the first two days,” Jiang Miao explained. “With the boost from Similar Works Recommendations, it increased by about 5,500 in two days. The effect in the following three or four days won’t be as good.”

“That’s still really impressive.” Su Huaizhou smiled, clearly more excited than Jiang Miao. She picked up a piece of stir-fried pork with her chopsticks and placed it on his plate. “Here, your reward~”

“…” Jiang Miao looked down at the stir-fried pork on his plate and then at Senior Sister, who was resting her chin on her hand and waiting for him to eat. He said hesitantly. “Um, Senior Sister…”

“We’re a couple now. Don’t forget.”

“Uh…”

Her words silenced him, and his gaze landed on the tempting piece of stir-fried pork.

Even though the school’s stir-fried pork tasted ordinary and looked average…

This piece of pork was different. Senior Sister had placed it on his plate with her chopsticks!

And those chopsticks…

Jiang Miao’s gaze landed on Senior Sister again and saw her picking up another piece of stir-fried pork and putting it into her mouth. The tip of her chopsticks lingered on her rosy lips, lightly pressed between them.

He could imagine the scene of her pink tongue entwined with the chopsticks.

With this thought in mind, Jiang Miao carefully picked up the piece of stir-fried pork in front of him with his chopsticks and put it into his mouth under Senior Sister’s smiling gaze.

“How is it? This is my favorite stir-fried pork.”

“It’s okay.”

In fact, the taste was very ordinary, but the thought that it might have some of Senior Sister’s… He felt a strange emotion rise uncontrollably.

Is this an indirect kiss? Jiang Miao chewed slowly, reluctant to swallow.

But chewing for too long would seem strange, so he finally gulped it down.

“So, what should you be doing now?” Su Huaizhou hinted when he saw him finish swallowing.

“Huh?” Jiang Miao was stunned. Ever since Senior Sister held his hand in the afternoon, his brain had been a little scrambled.

“Um, ahem…” Her eyes drifted to his plate as she whispered, “I feel like eating chicken.”

If Jiang Miao still didn’t understand, he might as well find a piece of tofu to bang his head against it until death.

His gaze fell on his plate, which had two dishes: stir-fried chicken with vegetables and winter melon, corn, and spare ribs soup.

Senior Sister’s meaning couldn’t be clearer.

Jiang Miao gulped, picked up his chopsticks, and lifted a piece of chicken.

Then he quickly glanced around from the corner of his eye to make sure no one was paying attention to them.

Only after confirming this did he continue to move the piece of chicken to Senior Sister’s plate.

But just as Jiang Miao thought the matter was about to end, Su Huaizhou smiled slyly and leaned her head forward towards the chopsticks.

Before he could react, she opened her mouth, said ‘ah’, and bit the piece of chicken.

Jiang Miao: “?!”

Whoa!

He nearly jumped out of his seat. The force from Senior Sister’s mouth passed through the chopsticks to his hand.

When he returned to his senses, she had already chewed and swallowed the chicken, looking satisfied.

Jiang Miao watched Senior Sister eat with relish and then silently lowered his head and stared at his chopsticks.

The bright incandescent lights in the cafeteria illuminated the tips of his chopsticks, reflecting a glistening arc of moisture.

He didn’t know if it was his own, the chicken oil, or Senior Sister’s…

Damn it, I can’t keep thinking about this! Jiang Miao adjusted his sitting posture and buried his head to continue eating, determined to finish his dinner as soon as possible.

Otherwise, he felt that Senior Sister would eat him.

“So, how was it?” Su Huaizhou asked like a teacher quizzing a student. “What did you feel just now? Have you noted it down?”

Jiang Miao: “…”

“Nothing?” Su Huaizhou tilted her head. “In TV dramas, when girls do this, boys will be moved, right?

“Was I too sudden? Maybe we should try it again.”

Jiang Miao opened his mouth, reason telling him to refuse.

But he really wanted to agree.

What should I do?!

What else could he do?

I-it’s just for material… Doing it one more time won’t hurt, right?

“Then… let’s try it again?” Jiang Miao cautiously probed.

“Okay, sure~” Su Huaizhou was interested. She giggled, picked up a piece of stir-fried pork, and brought it to Jiang Miao’s mouth. “Okay, open your mouth. Ah~”

Jiang Miao: “???”

Wait! Isn’t there something wrong with this situation?!

Looking down at the stir-fried pork near his mouth, he felt his scalp tingle, and it seemed his curling toes were about to tear through the soles of his shoes.

“Junior Brother, my arm is getting tired from holding the chopsticks,” Su Huaizhou urged with a teasing smile. She said mischievously, “And if you don’t eat it soon, the people around us might start noticing.”

With her reminder, Jiang Miao finally snapped out of it. He closed his eyes, opened them again, and bit down on the stir-fried pork.

However, afraid of being disliked, he carefully avoided touching Senior Sister’s chopsticks and only bit down on the stir-fried pork, making sure his lips didn’t come into contact with the chopsticks.

“How was it this time?” Su Huaizhou asked curiously, resting her chin on her hand. “Did you feel anything?”

“Yes, yes, I did.” Jiang Miao quickly nodded, afraid she might come up with something else.

If something like this happened a few more times, his poor heart would really not be able to take it.

A few minutes later, the two finally finished their meal.

Jiang Miao claimed he needed to get back to writing, quickly said goodbye to Senior Sister, and hurried back.

Su Huaizhou stood at the entrance of the dormitory building and watched Jiang Miao’s retreating figure. She stroked the corner of her lips thoughtfully, lost in thought as though she was still savoring something.

After returning to her senses, she smiled and walked briskly into the dormitory building with her hands behind her back. Her ponytail bounced back and forth, echoing her current mood.

…

12:30 a.m.

Jiang Miao lay in bed, opened his eyes, and sighed.

Every time he closed his eyes, he could vividly recall the feeling of holding hands with Senior Sister in the afternoon and the scene of them feeding each other in the evening.

I can’t sleep at all! Forget it. I’ll just read a novel for material.

He read until 1 a.m.

He glanced at the time and felt it was time to sleep.

But he wanted to read a bit more. Just five more minutes, and then I’ll sleep. It’s only five minutes. It won’t matter if I sleep five minutes later.

Therefore, Jiang Miao was still awake at half past one.

He had only slept at two o’clock yesterday. If he slept now, he might not be able to sleep right away.

In any case, he had already stayed up this late, so what was another half an hour?

And so, he continued reading until his eyelids grew heavy, and then his phone slipped out of her hand and hit his face, jolting him awake.

He looked at the time. 2:10 a.m. It was much later than he realized. Sleep! Sleep!

But the next second, his phone vibrated.

Jiang Miao hesitated and looked at his phone to see a message from Senior Sister.

He instantly felt energetic and wasn’t sleepy anymore.

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: [Voice Message]

It was a three-second voice message.

Jiang Miao was about to play it, but then he remembered he was in the dorm room.

He fumbled around the bed for a while but couldn’t find his earphones. They seemed to be on the desk below.

So Jiang Miao decided not to sleep and quietly climbed down from his loft bed. He pretended to go to the bathroom and locked the door after entering.

He played the voice message.

[Voice Message]: I’m going to sleep~ Goodnight, Junior Brother~

Maybe because Su Huaizhou was secretly sending a voice message in bed, her voice was very soft.

So to Jiang Miao, Senior Sister’s voice seemed to have an extra layer of sweetness and tenderness.

For some reason, he replayed it several times.

It felt a bit addictive.

Finally, he hesitated, paced back and forth in the bathroom, pressed the voice button, and then canceled it.

He recorded several snippets such as ‘Goodnight’, ‘Goodnight, Senior Sister’, and ‘Yeah, I’m going to sleep too. Goodnight, Senior Sister’ and listened to them several times.

After confirming that there was nothing wrong with the voice and content, he mustered his courage, opened WeChat, and pressed the voice message button.

But as soon as he opened his mouth, he stumbled over his words. “G-g-goodnight, Senior Sister.”

The message was already sent before he could cancel it.

Just as he was about to withdraw it, he saw that Senior Sister had already replied at the speed of light.

[Zhouzhou Loves Congee]: Okay! Sleep early, Junior Brother~

Fuck! Jiang Miao hit his head against the wall.

He wanted to die.

But he still quickly replied.

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: Yeah, you too, Senior Sister.