My Demon Friends-Chapter 586 - 560 Freshman Year 2

Compared to Zhou Li's demureness, Brother Nan seemed quite arrogant.

With her hands clasped behind her back, she swaggered over with a bow-legged stride to Fourth Uncle and Big Cousin, who were sitting together, and leaned in as if to examine them closely.

"AH!"

Both Fourth Uncle and Big Cousin avoided her gaze.

Seeing this, Brother Nan laughed, a brilliant smile on her face. "What's this all about?"

As she spoke, she touched her own mouth, which had rapidly healed overnight thanks to her robust constitution. "Why are both your lips swollen? I understand Fourth Uncle's, but weren't you mocking me and Fourth Uncle just last night? Fourth Uncle's lips aren't that big; yours are the really big ones... HISS... AH... Don't tell me you got stuck too?"

Her face was pure curiosity.

Fourth Uncle snorted coldly. "Get lost! Don't block my view of your boyfriend!"

Big Cousin furrowed his brows tightly. "What do you want?"

"What do I want?"

Brother Nan shook her head helplessly, deeply hurt by his attitude, but she still maintained her patience. "You misunderstand, cousin. Your little sister is just concerned about you... You got stuck and didn't even tell me. I could have brought my phone to see what you were up to."

Big Cousin's face darkened.

This 'little sister' of his usually referred to herself with the arrogant "Laozi" in front of him; she only called herself "little sister" when she was being sarcastic.

Glancing sideways towards Zhou Li, Big Cousin said, "Spare me some dignity."

"HEH HEH..."

Brother Nan took the hint and sat down too, pulling Zhou Li to sit as well. "Are you going back to Li Family Bay today?"

"No."

"Not going back."

"So what do you feel like eating today?" Brother Nan asked. Unable to help herself, she glanced over at Big Cousin. "I mean, you're not too bright and can't cook. It's a miracle someone like you managed to find a wife and have kids."

"When have I ever not been bright?"

"I got stuck, Fourth Uncle got stuck, and yet you still dared to eat? You're truly bizarre," Brother Nan clicked her tongue in amazement.

"Shut your mouth!" Big Cousin's face turned red, but he didn't forget to retaliate. "Believe it or not, I'll tell your mom and dad that you didn't come home at all last night, and this morning you brought your boyfriend home first thing! Guess what they'll think?"

"They'd certainly be delighted."

"Damn..."

"COUGH COUGH!" Fourth Uncle coughed twice. "Let's have something light, to cut through the grease."

"Fourth Uncle is right..."

"You two can't eat spicy food anyway!"

Zhou Li sat by and listened to their conversation, chuckling inwardly as if he were watching a sketch comedy, but he dared not show it on his face.

He had been very nervous when he first arrived. Big Cousin was tall and burly, with a tattoo peeking out from his wrist; he looked like a bad guy. Fourth Uncle was also a well-built man, sitting upright with bushy eyebrows, dark skin, and an intimidating presence.

Perhaps this was Brother Nan's doing, sacrificing Big Cousin's dignity on purpose, Zhou Li thought.

"Have you had breakfast?"

"No."

"There's milk here."

"I'll take it."

"Sigh..."

Brother Nan sighed and shook her head, patting Zhou Li to signal him to get up. "Then let's go out and see what groceries we can find. You'll have to make do for lunch."

Zhou Li quickly picked up Tuanzi and followed. Heading down the stairs, he said, "Your family has a nice vibe."

Brother Nan answered nonchalantly, "That's because aside from me, they're all idiots. I find it easier to get along with idiots."

"I think so too."

"Right?"

"Right."

"The wet market probably won't have many people today. Let's go straight to the supermarket. The supermarket will definitely be... eh?" Brother Nan turned her head to look at Zhou Li, frowning deeply.

"What's wrong?"

"I suspect you're calling me an idiot."

"Don't suspect," Zhou Li freed a hand to grab her arm, nudging her forward. "Brothers should trust each other."

Brother Nan was speechless.

The malls were operating as usual. Yan City's malls generally weren't faring well; these few days were their busiest time of year. The supermarket was stocked with fruits and vegetables as usual. Brother Nan bought some oranges and half a durian, along with tomatoes, winter melon, bell peppers, and some meat, then headed back to Brother Nan's home with Zhou Li.

"Are you sleepy?"

"I slept for half the night yesterday."

"If you're sleepy, you can take a nap in my room," Brother Nan said. "If you feel up to it in the afternoon, let's go watch a movie, or we can go in the evening."

"What about you?"

"I certainly can't sleep next to you."

"I..." Zhou Li was speechless. "I meant, are *you* sleepy... Your mind is so filthy."

"I'm not sleepy."

"You didn't sleep last night."

"I did sleep. I slept with you."

"You pretended to sleep with me, but once I lay down and fell asleep, you got up to play games. Just before dawn, afraid I'd wake up, you turned off the game and played on your phone. When I woke up, you quickly stuffed your phone in your pocket, pretending to be asleep," Zhou Li said calmly. "Don't think I was fooled just because I woke you."

"Then..." Brother Nan hesitated, then quickly said, full of feigned confidence, "Yeah! I *did* sleep with you! For a little while!"

"Hmph..."

"So cute! Hmph again for me to hear!"

"You don't need to sleep at all?"

"I am the Child of Destiny."

"I can't be bothered with you," Zhou Li muttered.

"Then let me check for movie tickets."

"We're walking, watch the road. Check when we get back," Zhou Li said. "If it's mostly full, Huai Xu will need a ticket too."

"You guessed it, they're packed."

"We'll check when we get back."

"Oh."

Only then did Brother Nan put away her phone and they left the mall.

They dawdled on their way back to kill time. Once at Brother Nan's home, they started cooking.

Zhou Li helped out.

During this time, Big Cousin sneaked over several times to take stealthy photos. He hid behind the wall, only extending his phone's camera lens. Zhou Li had obviously noticed but pretended not to. He just felt his face heat up whenever he thought about how all the pictures Big Cousin took might end up in Brother Nan's family group chat.

Brother Nan, while handling the main cooking, told him about her trip back to her hometown these past few days.

There were a lot of people at her family home, and it was very lively. She learned how to make steamed pork with preserved vegetables and red-braised pork from her dad. Unfortunately, during the New Year, her dad mostly cooked elaborate dishes, not the simpler side dishes Zhou Li preferred.

They went out to shoot birds for a day and only got three, all of which they grilled and ate.

They caught a lot of fish in the neighbor's fishpond.

Her clothes ended up with three holes, all burns from setting off fireworks. She showed each one to Zhou Li, pulling at the fabric to give him a good look.

The usual mischief also included egging on the village kids to blow up cow dung, breaking her little nephew's toys, and going up the mountain to roast sausages and make bamboo-tube rice.

Zhou Li listened carefully while chopping vegetables. It was as if he could sense the festive New Year atmosphere of her hometown through Brother Nan's stories, feeling as if he'd experienced it himself, or at least, he knew it was a wonderful feeling.

Only...

Big Cousin was recording a video from behind.

It really is a bit of a mood killer, Zhou Li thought.

So, Zhou Li lowered his voice and discreetly called out, "Brother Nan, look behind you."

"Hmm?"

Brother Nan turned around and, after a brief silence, said, "Li Xuqiang, you're not eating lunch today! Your food goes to Pumpkin!"

SWISH!

Half a phone instantly retracted. Silence fell behind the wall, as if no one had ever hidden there.

A plump orange cat jumped onto the windowsill, looked at Brother Nan with confusion, received no response, and then jumped back out, completely oblivious to the fact that there was another 'cat' in the house.

Zhou Li smiled.

「In the afternoon, they went to see a movie.」

Detective Chinatown 3.

They turned down Big Cousin, who offered to pay for everyone if he could come along, and bought only three tickets. The old monster, Huai Xu, exclaimed what a loss it was.

Luckily, they still bought three buckets of popcorn—the unlimited refill kind.

To their surprise, Detective Chinatown 3, which had been hugely popular before the New Year, had more available tickets than Li Huanying, which was completely sold out.

After the movie, Brother Nan expressed some disappointment with the script but said the movie was lively, and the funny parts were genuinely funny, especially since her threshold for humor was low. As a New Year's film, Brother Nan felt it was passable and competently made. It wasn't as good as the previous two, but she thought it deserved more than a mere five or six out of ten.