My Demon Friends-Chapter 609 - 583: Take Care, Little Cousin

PFFT...

Brother Nan couldn't help but laugh, revealing a few white teeth as she rubbed her eyes and chuckled.

Zhou Li saw her laughing and couldn't help but join in.

Suddenly, he noticed her gaze shifting to a point behind him. He subconsciously turned and saw an unassuming old man standing there.

The old man was their new biochemistry teacher for the semester and, apparently, also the vice dean of the college. He was smiling warmly at Zhou Li.

Zhou Li immediately felt awkward.

The vice dean gave him a satisfied smile and, pointing at Zhou Li, said, "This student is attentive in class."

Then he pointed towards Brother Nan and shook his head. "But what about this other student? I saw you sleep through the entire last class. This is the very first class of the semester, and you're already so unwilling to listen?"

"You two are sitting together. Are you dating? Or just good friends? The boy is so studious, yet the girl is so lazy?"

"You should learn from each other's strengths to make up for your weaknesses, and have a positive influence on one another!"

"Being good-looking is an asset, but isn't it even better to be both good-looking and knowledgeable?"

"Um, Teacher..."

Zhou Li glanced at Brother Nan. He saw her blinking, seemingly unprepared for the new teacher to say so much right off the bat. Knowing Brother Nan's personality—she would likely disdain lying—he feared she might offend the old gentleman, so he braced himself and explained on her behalf:

"She just returned to Chunming and isn't used to the new environment. She got sick, so that's why she was sleeping."

"Sick? Where is she sick?"

"Her brain."

"Huh?"

Instantly, Zhou Li was met with two questioning gazes. He quickly added, "Her head... she's dizzy..."

"Oh..." The vice dean indicated he understood.

"Oh..." Brother Nan also understood. So, I'm dizzy.

"Young people should take care of their health." The vice dean looked at Brother Nan. Seeing her perfectly healthy complexion, he couldn't help but shake his head; with decades of teaching experience, he heard such excuses dozens, if not hundreds, of times a year. "You are not to sleep in the next class."

"Okay!" Zhou Li answered for Brother Nan.

Brother Nan didn't appreciate it. She scratched her head, sending strands of hair flying, and said to Zhou Li, "I had insomnia last night. It was already morning when I finally fell asleep..."

The implication was clear: she still intended to sleep later.

Feeling helpless, Zhou Li grabbed her wrist. "No more sleeping. This is the first class; acting like this is too disrespectful to the teacher. If the teacher takes issue with it, you'll fail the course, no matter how lucky you get on the final exam."

"And whose fault is that? I said I wanted to sit at the back, but you insisted on the front," Brother Nan retorted. "Sleeping at the back is tacitly allowed."

"Well, I want to pay attention in class."

"You'll last a week at most."

"...Anyway, no more sleeping."

"It's so boring."

"..."

Zhou Li thought for a moment, then reached into his pocket and pulled out a lollipop. "Here. This is to bribe you."

"Hmm..."

Brother Nan took the lollipop and looked down at it. "Dried tangerine peel flavor?"

"It's delicious."

Zhou Li said to her, "Today is Women's Day. This is your Women's Day gift."

Brother Nan paused, a helpless expression on her face. She stuffed the lollipop back into his hand. "I told you last year, I don't celebrate Women's Day! I don't celebrate Women's Day! How can you be so forgetful? Take it back. Keep it and give it to me on Father's Day."

"..."

Baozi, in the row ahead, turned around and silently glanced at Zhou Li, his expression seemingly tinged with mockery.

"Fine, if you don't want it."

Zhou Li decided to eat it himself.

But just then, Brother Nan's hand shot out—quick, precise, and decisive—and she snatched the lollipop back. She said cheerfully, "Alright, alright. Seeing as you're so endearingly foolish and utterly loyal to Brother Nan, I'll reluctantly accept it."

"If you eat the candy, you can't sleep in the next class."

"Fine, I won't sleep then, I won't sleep..." Brother Nan grumbled, looking utterly adorable.

After unwrapping the candy, she popped it into her mouth, clearly having no intention of saving it as a memento. In her eyes, food was for eating; any other treatment was a waste.

"It's sour."

"It's supposed to be."

"It's alright."

Brother Nan gave it a decent review, then sucked on the lollipop a few more times, her movements rather suggestive. She then leaned close to Zhou Li's ear and whispered, "Why didn't you ask me why I couldn't sleep last night?"

"Don't you often play games until dawn? What's so unusual about that?"

"This was different."

"Oh?"

Just then, Little Cousin turned her head again. "Cousin, I want a festival candy too!"

Brother Nan smiled sweetly. "Turn back around."

"Okay."

Little Cousin didn't dare to disobey.

Brother Nan continued in a low, alluring voice, "It's mainly because for many nights in a row, this idiot was hugging yours truly while I slept, and it wasn't comfortable at all. Then suddenly, I felt so light, free to toss and turn as I pleased. Ironically, I found it a bit hard to get used to. Strange, wouldn't you say?"

"Is that so..."

"Strange, isn't it?"

"It is."

This was probably Brother Nan's way of saying she missed him.

It was just that her way of expressing it was... truly something else.

If any other girl had said it, she might have complained about 'a pig' hugging her to sleep, which would still sound rather sweet. But coming from Brother Nan, 'a pig' became 'an idiot,' and 'me' became 'yours truly.' No matter how Zhou Li tried to interpret it, it just sounded peculiar.

The class bell rang.

Brother Nan clenched her jaw and bit clean through the lollipop stick, then tucked the candy into her cheek to avoid attracting the teacher's attention again.

As a result, the cheek closer to the window puffed out, making her look like a little hamster.

"In the last class, I briefly introduced the basic structural units of nucleic acids. Let's review that now."

The vice dean glanced at Zhou Li and Brother Nan sitting in the front row. "Since this is my first time teaching this class, I'd like to do a spot check on your comprehension. Alright, how about the student who claimed they absorbed so much knowledge in the last class that it was about to spill out? You, tell us the components of a nucleotide."