My Demon Friends-Chapter 449 - 445: Lonely Zhou Li

"Where are you headed?" Zhou Li looked at Yin Le.

"I’m going back to the place I rented. However, I’ll head back to school with you guys first since my car is parked outside your school," Yin Le walked with them.

"Doesn’t the Imperial Court allocate houses for you?" Huai Xu asked.

"I don’t know; maybe they will in the future." Yin Le didn’t really care about it. His previous years as a wandering Heavenly Master had allowed him to save up quite a sum of money. Even though the current property prices still pained him, he could afford to buy if necessary. "If they do allocate, it’ll probably be around the university town. The southwestern branch of the Celestial Master Department is based in Chunming, just a bit down there, close to Dian Lake and facing West Mountain across the lake. The southwestern branch will be one of the most important regional branches in the future."

"That makes sense," Zhou Li nodded. "So if human society and Demon society were to integrate, would that drive up the property prices here?"

"Not sure, but just that premise is already incredibly hard to achieve." Yin Le paused. "And property prices are already so high; it wouldn’t be a good thing if they kept rising, would it?"

"My mom just bought a house in Chunming."

"You win..."

About ten minutes later, the group stood outside the school.

Zhou Li and Huai Xu blinked at Yin Le. Brother Nan held Tuanzi and also scrutinized Yin Le.

Yin Le looked around bewilderedly, walked a few steps back and forth, scratched the back of his head, walked a few more steps, and even went to check the bus stop sign, completely befuddled.

"Where did you park your car?" Zhou Li couldn’t help but ask.

"I remember..."

"It wasn’t towed by the traffic police, was it? This looks like a non-motorized vehicle parking zone," Zhou Li noted the lines painted on the ground.

"’It shouldn’t have been towed. It wasn’t obstructing anyone,’ Brother Nan mused. ’It was probably the work of those ’Jinbei’ thieves.’"

"Most likely..."

Yin Le nodded in agreement with Brother Nan’s guess. His face first showed disbelief, then quickly broke into a smile as he shook his head and pulled out a paper airplane, "They’re really asking for it..."

"You’re a civil servant now," Zhou Li reminded him.

"What time is it now?"

"Just past seven."

"I’m already off work." Yin Le’s smile became even brighter. "I’m off then, see you."

"...Be safe."

The paper airplane caught the gentle breeze and soared into the sky. Yin Le jogged after it and disappeared around the corner of the street in an instant.

Zhou Li found the paper airplane quite useful. It was white and flew about ten meters high, making it hard for ordinary people to notice. Even if they did, a paper airplane flying in the sky was nothing surprising.

And it looked fun too.

Unfortunately...

Zhou Li withdrew his gaze.

At that moment, Brother Nan had already jumped onto the wall. She had Huai Xu hand Tuanzi to her while urging Zhou Li, "Hurry up! Stop dawdling!"

Zhou Li hastily began to climb over the wall.

Perched on the wall, he glanced out of the corner of his eye, suddenly noticing two brand-new electric bikes heading their way, speeding up just as they turned the street corner. Yet he was not panicked. He simply looked down at the ground inside the wall and deftly jumped down.

Shouts from a security guard came from outside.

Zhou Li acted as if he hadn’t heard, only saying to Brother Nan, "It seems it’ll be even harder to get out in the future."

"I was just talking about coming out for firewood chicken tomorrow."

"Firewood chicken?" Zhou Li slightly furrowed his brows, picturing a large clay stove simmering with potatoes and chicken, the sides lined with cornbread, the broth bubbling. "Can you light the fire for firewood chicken yourself?"

"Of course not, they use charcoal."

"I see..." Zhou Li then turned his gaze back to the wall. He sensed the security guard standing just outside. From the vibrations and sounds coming through the wall, he could tell the guard was trying to climb over but was having little success due to his limited climbing skills. After thinking it over, he said, "It’s going to get more dangerous to climb over in the future. There’s no need. We should just stop coming out."

"Alright then!"

Brother Nan wasn’t insistent on coming out.

「Twenty minutes later, in the dormitory area.」

Zhou Li looked at Tuanzi, who appeared especially well-behaved and quiet in Brother Nan’s arms, and asked, "Lord Dumpling, do you want to come back with me?"

"No~"

Without a second thought, Tuanzi rejected the idea. "Lord Dumpling still wants to play at Brother Lan’s place for a few more days!"

In that instant, Zhou Li felt the unique agony that was usually reserved for Baozi.

"Is it fun at Brother Nan’s place?"

"It’s fun~~" Tuanzi tilted her head and thought. "And it’s not smelly there!"

"I see."

Zhou Li was quite satisfied with that answer, as he could tell himself that Tuanzi stayed with Brother Nan because his room, 502, had too strong a smell; if she had to choose between him and Brother Nan, she would surely still love him more.

"Then I hope Lord Dumpling has a great time."

"I will, MEOW~~" Tuanzi earnestly stared at Zhou Li. "Brother Lan said he would take Lord Dumpling to beat up all the stray cats around, make them cry, and then let Lord Dumpling be their boss! That way Lord Dumpling won’t have to hide or be afraid of them suddenly popping out of the bushes to attack Lord Dumpling, and can even play with them."

"I thought Lord Dumpling didn’t like playing with stray cats." Zhou Li remembered Tuanzi rarely played with animals outside. "I thought Lord Dumpling found them dumb."

"Not at all!" Tuanzi quickly denied. "It’s because they find Lord Dumpling too smart, too cute to play with, and they even beat up Lord Dumpling... Lord Dumpling is of noble status..."

"Understood."

Zhou Li showed a pained expression. Seeing that they had reached the girls’ dormitory building, he didn’t say more but only reached out to touch Tuanzi’s forehead.

Tuanzi was held against Brother Nan’s chest. This wasn’t a position cats usually liked, but Tuanzi didn’t show any discomfort. The important thing was that her head rested on Brother Nan’s chest, which made Zhou Li feel his own movements were slightly wicked.

He couldn’t help but think—if his hand accidentally shifted slightly to the side... he might have to practice writing with his left hand in the future.

"Goodbye, Lord Dumpling."

"Goodbye, Zhou Ni~~"

"Cough, cough."

"Goodbye to you too, Brother Nan."

"Mhm!!"

Only then did Zhou Li head to his own dorm.

There are staircases at both ends of the dormitory building, but since the main entrance is on the far right, most people choose to use the staircase on the right upon entering. However, Zhou Li liked to walk along the corridor on the ground floor to the far left, then slowly make his way up to the fifth floor using the left staircase. Not many people used it; it was quiet, and usually, he could chat with Huai Xu for a bit.

It had become a habit cultivated by Huai Xu.

But today he was alone, as Huai Xu had already gone home. Zhou Li felt calm inside, silently counting the steps, not thinking about whether he had been abandoned by Tuanzi.

Back in his room.

His phone chimed again.

Xiao Hua: Senior Brother Zhou, Senior Brother Yin is back. He just called us to go to his place for the next two days, so we won’t be coming to see you. /rose

Zhou Li: Alright

Oh no! These two had abandoned him as well.

Zhou Li scratched his head. It looked like he could only focus on studying this weekend—perhaps without Tuanzi’s disturbances, his study efficiency would greatly improve. From that perspective, it was also a good thing. He felt much more at ease.

...

The weekend passed quickly.

As it turned out, he didn’t study intensely.

Because Brother Nan had dragged him into playing games again.

Zhou Li couldn’t refuse.

After the weekend, life wasn’t so dull anymore; at least he could go to class without worrying about what to do. Zhou Li was attentive in class, and as long as Brother Nan wasn’t sending disruptive signals, paying attention made the class go by quickly.

The week also passed quickly. Without Tuanzi, life felt like something was missing, a pervasive sense of discomfort and unease.