"I'll just make do. Come, I'll take you downstairs first," Lan Ye said cheerfully, taking the lunchbox and naturally reaching for Qiao Ci's hand, his voice gentle.
"Okay." Qiao Ci knew that even if she didn't let him take her, he would, so she didn't refuse.
The two held hands and smiled at each other, just as a female colleague emerged.
She had initially wanted to be jealous and complain, but seeing such a beautiful girl, they liked her too, didn't they? A handsome man and a beautiful woman, it was too pleasing to the eye.
The female colleague didn't go down to buy drinks anymore. She quickly returned to the office to whisper with other female colleagues.
"Really?" one female colleague exclaimed.
"Really, I'm telling you, that girl is too beautiful. My Chinese isn't good, but I want to recite a poem. Graceful as a startled swan, agile as a swimming dragon; I feel like it describes the two of them. Celebrities on TV aren't even a tenth as good-looking as she is. I was drooling just watching. Believe it or not, the drool is still there! I've decided, I don't like Lan Ye anymore, I've started to like his girlfriend!"
"Ahhh, I like beautiful girls too, I have to go see next time."
"Come, come, the window is right opposite the roadside, maybe you can see them."
"Wow, I see it, Lan Ye and the one beside him with an amazing figure, and most importantly, Lan Ye's girlfriend drives a Lamborghini???"
"Holy crap, it really is a Lamborghini. Definitely a rich and beautiful girl. Sister, let me hug you~"
…
When Lan Ye returned, his colleagues crowded around him, gossiping: "Lan Ye, the one who brought you food was your girlfriend, right?"
"Holy cow, is your girlfriend a low-key heiress from a wealthy family? She's too beautiful."
Lan Ye looked at his colleagues' gossiping eyes and suddenly didn't want to explain that Qiao Ci was his sister.
At this moment, he also wanted… for Qiao Ci to be his girlfriend, not his sister.
It was also at this moment that he saw his true feelings clearly.
He loved Qiao Ci, he always had, from the ignorant innocence of childhood, to the shy and hidden feelings of adolescence, to the passionate but suppressed love of adulthood…
That kind of liking, carved into his bones, felt as if it was innate.
Facing his colleagues' teasing, he didn't explain, just smiled, as if admitting it.
He also wished… that person was his girlfriend.
Now, he had grown up, and he wanted to bravely express his feelings.
When he got home from work, the living room was empty. Lan Ye, who was ready to confess to Qiao Ci, suddenly felt flustered.
He couldn't help but overthink, wondering if she had seen through his impure thoughts and left early.
He walked towards Qiao Ci's bedroom door. It was only when he heard the sound of water getting louder that he managed to calm his wildly beating and disappointed heart.
The corners of his lips couldn't help but curve upwards.
She was still here, that was great.
Qiao Ci walked out of the room, wiping her wet hair with a towel, and saw Lan Ye standing by the door, lost in thought. She greeted him naturally, "You're back."
"Mm, I'm back." A simple greeting was enough to fill Lan Ye's heart with emotion.
He took the towel from Qiao Ci's hand, had her sit on the sofa, dried her hair, and then used a hairdryer.
Everything between them was very natural, showing that Lan Ye had blown Qiao Ci's hair many times.
"What do you want to eat tonight? I'll make it for you." Since understanding his feelings, Lan Ye wanted to take better care of Qiao Ci more than ever, in every aspect, so that she would also depend on him as much as he depended on her.
"Anything is fine." After so many years of being together, Lan Ye already knew her tastes and preferences. As long as Qiao Ci said "anything is fine," he could definitely make a table full of delicious and satisfying dishes.
"Mm, you play on your phone for a while, and dinner will be ready soon." Lan Ye went into the kitchen to get busy.
"Host, don't you feel a pang of conscience?" Little Spoon came out to seek relevance again. For some reason, the kinder Qiao Ci was to it, the more uneasy it felt, as if something it couldn't control was about to happen.
Therefore, whenever it had the chance, it would come out to chat with Qiao Ci and bicker, which would make it feel a little more at ease.
"Mm?" Qiao Ci looked confused. What was Little Spoon acting up about now?
"Host, you're an adult woman, and you've been enslaving Lan Ye since he was little to cook, wash dishes, and take care of you. Little Spoon really envies you," Little Spoon said vaguely, not daring to say too much, but the envy was genuine.
The cubs in every world were so well-behaved that it, a system, wanted to find a system to date.
"Enslaving? Isn't he doing it willingly? And it's like this in every world. I can only say that taking care of me is an instinct etched into his bones. This is probably why I've been able to pursue him through so many worlds," Qiao Ci said, looking at Lan Ye busy in the kitchen, her eyes filled with a gentle and intoxicating tenderness like a sea of stars.
"Ah!" Little Spoon suddenly exclaimed, its voice cracking.
"What is it now?" Qiao Ci found it a bit jarring and frowned slightly.
"Ahhh, Little Fork actually returned 500,000 points to me. It's the poorest among us three brothers~" Little Spoon's voice was both surprised and delighted. "It must have met a powerful host too, hee hee, that's great."
Seeing the innocent Little Spoon, Qiao Ci smiled. She had only been playing around in the first world, but she met Su Mo and witnessed the childlike nature of systems, which led her through these subsequent worlds.
Otherwise, she would have eliminated Little Spoon at the end of the first world. After all, over the years, no system had dared to bind her without her consent.
"Host, why aren't you talking? Let me tell you, Little Fork is so poor it's taken out loans, with a mountain of debt behind it. Hee hee, it was able to return so much to me at once, it must have worked very hard all these years. Hee hee, it still owes me 300,000, but Little Spoon has decided not to ask for it. We three brothers are forever good friends!"
"Mm, that's nice," Qiao Ci commented leisurely.
Seeing that the host praised it, Little Spoon was so overjoyed that it couldn't find its way, giggling and chuckling to itself.
The person and the system didn't continue to communicate, each enjoying their own contentment.
After dinner, Lan Ye stopped Qiao Ci, who was about to return to her bedroom to sleep: "Wait."
"Mm?" Qiao Ci looked at him in confusion.
"Are you sleepy now?" Lan Ye mumbled, biting his lower lip before asking again.
"I'm alright."
"Then can we sit down and talk? I have something I want to tell you." Lan Ye's gaze was a little unfocused. Like all big boys, he was a bit shy and insecure when facing the woman he liked.
Qiao Ci sat on one side of the sofa. Lan Ye didn't sit opposite her. Instead, he moved a cute little wooden stool and sat beside Qiao Ci, looking up at her.
Qiao Ci felt as if this scene was familiar.
"You, what type of boys do you like?" He had planned many preparatory sentences, but what came out was so direct it was like a soul-piercing arrow.
!!!
Qiao Ci felt that this question was also all too familiar.