"It was… someone from the Public Security Bureau…"
The corner of Ye Qingfeng's mouth twitched as he told a half-truth.
"Ah, Qingfeng, rest early. I'm going to bed now, yaaawn—!"
Without a trace of hesitation, Nicole turned and walked away, covering her mouth as she yawned dramatically.
"..."
Unbelievable.
Better take a shower and get to sleep. Today really had been a rough one, but at least it taught him a lesson: the smaller the person, the harder they seemed to hit…
After a long, soothing shower, he happily snuggled into bed and pulled out his phone to see if there were any messages.
First was one from Zhu Yuan, asking him to let her know when he got home, reminding him to rest early and to remember to apply the medicine.
Reading her text, a warm feeling spread in Ye Qingfeng's chest. He quickly replied, then opened his chat with Wise.
He was a little surprised to see a message from Wise.
The gist was that Wise had finished watching the video tape he'd lent him, was very satisfied, and invited him over to hang out sometime.
Ye Qingfeng agreed promptly. After all, aside from raising favorability, Wise was also a Proxy. Getting on good terms with him was definitely more beneficial than not.
There was also a friend request from someone named "Belle." He remembered her quite clearly—the nosebleeds, fainting spells… maybe she wasn't in the best of health.
Without overthinking it, Ye Qingfeng casually accepted. Just as he exited to browse the Proxy Network for a bit, a message from Belle popped up.
After reading it, his mind was flooded with question marks…
Meanwhile, at the video store on Sixth Street, Belle was watching a tape but kept glancing at her phone with unnerving frequency.
Ding!
Belle suddenly snatched up her phone and saw that her friend request had been accepted. She rushed into Wise's room, shoved the door open, and excitedly called out,
"Bro! Look! He accepted my friend request!"
"How many times do I have to tell you… knock first, please…"
Wise said, sighing in resignation.
"That doesn't matter right now! Look, look! Qingfeng accepted!"
Belle excitedly thrust her phone toward Wise's face, but the moment the screen left her own sight—afraid she might miss a reply from Ye Qingfeng—she instantly yanked it back and stared at the screen with intense focus.
"I didn't see anything… and I'm the one who gave you Qingfeng's contact, little sister. What's your point?"
The phone had been in front of Wise for less than two seconds before being snatched away—what could he have possibly seen? Besides, Qingfeng adding people wasn't exactly breaking news.
"By the way, Qingfeng just replied to me."
Wise waved his phone casually in front of Belle, his tone full of poorly concealed smugness. Qingfeng had replied to him first, and only afterward had his sister come barging in.
Anyone could tell who was more important in Qingfeng's eyes!
"What?!!"
Belle had been pondering how to craft the perfect, memorable first message to Ye Qingfeng when she heard this. She immediately lunged, trying to grab Wise's phone to see their chat history—and maybe get some reference material.
"I'm not letting you see my private chats with Qingfeng that easily!"
As if expecting this, Wise sidestepped Belle's lunge, pressed a hand against her forehead to keep her at bay, and held his phone high above his head, leaving her no chance to reach it.
Belle windmilled her arms for a moment but, seeing that Wise had no intention of backing down, finally gave up.
"Meanie! I'm not talking to you anymore! Hmph!"
Belle pouted, turned her head away, and plopped down on the bed, crossing her arms with an exaggerated huff.
"I won't show you, but little sister, what exactly did you want from him?"
Wise still didn't let his guard down, worried Belle might try a sneak attack. He simply locked his phone in the safe—the same safe where he kept all the Denny he'd saved over the years. To prevent his sister from spending it all, he'd never told her the combination.
In short, his chat history with Ye Qingfeng was now perfectly secure!
"You're no help at all… By the way, why hasn't Qingfeng replied to me yet?!"
While Wise was locking up his phone, Belle had already drafted and sent a message to Ye Qingfeng. She was now staring intently at her screen, terrified of missing a reply.
"Let me see what you sent." Wise leaned over curiously to look at Belle's phone.
Belle: Senpai! Oops… I mean, Qingfeng! I bought you a white suit. When can you come try it on? Let's see if it fits! [Belle chibi shy emoji]
Ye Qingfeng: ?
Wise: ?
"Little sister… do you maybe… have a crush on Qingfeng?"
Wise asked as delicately as possible.
"Huh—! How did you know?!" Belle covered her cheeks, her face flushing bright red. "But why hasn't he replied yet…"
Ye Qingfeng: Uh… trying on clothes might not be necessary, but I'll find time to visit. Sorry for the trouble…
Belle: No trouble at all! Just message me whenever you're coming! I'll pick you up!! [Heart emoji heart emoji]
"She likes me, doesn't she? Are girls these days always this direct?"
The sleepiness he'd felt moments ago vanished instantly. He'd had his suspicions, but this was practically confirmation!
Of course, asking her directly was out of the question. What if Belle hit him with a, "You wish! Why would I like someone like you?"
And bothering Nicole at this hour wasn't a good idea either…
That left only one option!
'System, System! Tell me…'
[Disturbing me at this hour… you have a death wish, don't you?!]
'C-cool down! I've got good news!'
Ye Qingfeng broke out in a cold sweat, trembling as he formed the thought.
He suddenly realized that having such a human-like system wasn't always a good thing…
[It better be good! Otherwise… hmph!]
'Belle seems to like me! But I'm not 100% sure…'
[Tell me! What happened?!]
The corner of Ye Qingfeng's mouth twitched. He really hadn't expected the system to flip from homicidal to gossip mode so quickly.
He explained the situation and even held up his phone to show the system his chat history with Belle.
'So? Did you figure it out?! Don't just go silent on me!!'
Seeing the system stay quiet for so long, Ye Qingfeng's heart jumped into his throat.
[There's definitely a chance! But a word of warning: if you're too direct, be careful it may backfire against you. You still need to build up favorability gradually. Though since she already likes you, it shouldn't take too long.]
'Got it! Hehehe! My irresistible charm strikes again!'
Ye Qingfeng lay in bed grinning like an idiot, not even noticing the bit of drool at the corner of his mouth.
[Heh…]
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A/n: New content and stories posted on my patreon go check it out!
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