Chapter 14: Time to Find a Girlfriend?
"Ding dong~"
"Ding dong ding dong ding dong..."
When no one answered the door, An Yuan sighed, reached into the shoe cabinet by the entrance, and pulled out the spare key to Chen Cheng’s apartment. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
The room was pitch black. The curtains were tightly drawn, and there wasn’t a single source of light.
Carrying the rouyan he brought, An Yuan carefully made his way toward the guest bedroom, calling out softly, "Chengzi? Chengzi?"
He frowned with concern. Even though he felt like he had been checking in on his friend a lot these past few days, it still didn’t seem enough. Just hearing that slight shift in tone during their phone call had been enough to make him rush upstairs.
At the end of the day, he was the one who dragged Chen Cheng into this whole mess. If not for him, Chen Cheng wouldn’t have time-traveled, and definitely wouldn’t have ended up as a woman.
Standing outside the bedroom door, An Yuan knocked lightly. "Chengzi?"
He could hear some faint noises inside. After hesitating for a moment, he pushed the door open and peeked inside.
What he expected was Chen Cheng curled up on the bed like a shrimp, clutching her stomach, looking utterly miserable. Maybe groaning. Maybe crying in silent despair.
What he actually saw was Chen Cheng sitting cross-legged in front of her computer, bobbing her head to the music with her headphones on. On her screen? A very, very inappropriate website.
"......"
Welp. Guess he worried for nothing.
Without a word, An Yuan walked up and knocked her on the head.
"AHH! Who—? What the hell?!"
Chen Cheng yelped, jerking so hard she almost fell out of her chair. In a panic, she frantically switched tabs, changing the explicit website to a gaming livestream.
One second. That’s all it took. Switch tab. Take off headphones. Turn to check who it is.
When she saw it was An Yuan, she let out a sigh of relief.
"I thought my mom came back. You scared me to death."
"Didn’t you tell me to come up after my shower?"
"I thought you weren’t coming, so I was just gonna watch a drama, take a shower, and sleep."
Chen Cheng grabbed his arm excitedly. "Look what I found! You can find all kinds of spicy stuff online now! No restrictions at all! It wasn’t this easy before!"
An Yuan leaned down to look at her screen.
A whole page of explicit images stared back at him.
He turned to look at Chen Cheng. With her glasses on and her soft, youthful face, she looked like an innocent, well-behaved girl. Anyone who didn’t know her would never guess she was a certified pervert.
But An Yuan had known her for years. He still vividly remembered the time back in elementary school when he first introduced her to this world...
Back then, she had covered her eyes, pretending she couldn’t bear to look, but her fingers had gaps wide enough to see everything.
"Uh... Just, um... make sure you stay clean."
"Huh?"
An Yuan lifted the bag in his hand. "I brought rouyan. Want me to cook it for you?"
"Yes! Okay, I’ll keep listening to music then!"
Chen Cheng put her headphones back on, pulled her legs up, grabbed her ankles, and started swaying to the rhythm again.
A few moments later, though, something clicked in her brain.
Wait! Why did he tell her to ‘stay clean’?!
Her face twisted. "The hell?! Not everyone is as dirty-minded as you!"
She turned to yell at him, only to see that An Yuan had already left for the kitchen. Her expression softened. She glanced down at herself, looking thoughtful.
"...Maybe I should take a shower..."
She grabbed a set of pajamas, rushed into the bathroom, and locked the door.
Her mind was racing.
They say it’s ten times better for women than for men!
And there’s no cooldown at all!
But...
Doing anything to this new body still felt kinda wrong. Besides, she was on her period.
...Yeah. Never mind.
Her excitement died instantly.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, An Yuan started preparing the rouyan, a local specialty that was similar to wontons but had a completely different texture.
He used to get sick of eating rouyan as a kid, but now, as An Yuan stood by the stove, the familiar aroma actually made his mouth water a little.
Like Chen Cheng, he hadn’t spent much time at home since starting college, only coming back for the New Year. But while he was genuinely busy, she was just avoiding her nagging mom’s constant pressure to get married.
The sound of running water came from the bathroom.
An Yuan rubbed his nose, and before he could stop himself, an image of Chen Cheng showering popped into his mind.
With a sigh, he pulled out his phone, distracting himself with a novel.
No wonder people say men and women can’t have purely platonic friendships. He and Chen Cheng were so close they practically wore the same underwear, and yet... these thoughts still crept in. It was instinct, something he couldn’t change no matter how much willpower he had.
Chen Cheng showered fast. In just ten minutes, she came running into the dining area in a T-shirt and shorts, shouting—
"An Yuan! Is it ready?!"
"Yeah."
...She still wasn’t wearing a bra.
An Yuan’s eyes flickered for a split second at the way her loose T-shirt moved, but he quickly lowered his head, calmly scooping out the rouyan into bowls.
But honestly, she had just showered and wasn’t planning on going out. Not wearing a bra made sense.
...So he really had nothing to say about it.
"Here." He handed her a bowl.
Chen Cheng poked at the soup suspiciously. "Are you sure this is edible? You once burned an egg. And now you expect me to eat this?"
"That was ages ago. I cook all the time now."
"Really? I just order takeout. Can’t cook at all."
She scooped up some broth, blew on it, and took a sip. Satisfied, she relaxed and dug in.
Then, she looked at An Yuan, who had sat down across from her. A whole two meters away at the dining table.
Without hesitation, she picked up her bowl, slid over, and plopped down right next to him.
She sat comfortably, one foot casually propped up on the chair.
Her loose knee-length shorts naturally shifted, sliding up to reveal her fair, smooth thighs.
"An Yuan, what do you think we should do in this life?"
She continued, "We can’t just repeat our old lives, right? You are working a soul-crushing job, me writing novels. That’d be a total waste of this second chance!"
An Yuan forced himself to keep his eyes on his bowl. "Let’s take things one step at a time. Right now, we should just focus on the college entrance exam."
Chen Cheng immediately pouted. "Ugh, do we really have to take that stupid exam?"
Her expressions were so much more animated now that she was a girl. And kind of cute, actually.
Her skin was so fair, she smelled nice, and even without a bra, her chest still looked so...
An Yuan quickly averted his gaze. "I’m heading out after this."
He felt disgusted, not at her, but at himself. He wished he could slap some sense into his own damn brain.
"Leaving so soon?" Chen Cheng nudged him. "You’re already here, play a game with me! Has [It Takes Two] come out yet? I’ve been dying to play it, but no one to co-op with! And you’re always ‘busy’!"
"Not out yet. And I don’t want to risk your mom coming home and making things awkward."
"Pfft! Why do we sound like we’re sneaking around having an affair?"
"???"
Could she at least think before speaking?!
An Yuan barely held it together and just rolled his eyes. "You done eating? I’ll do the dishes."
Chen Cheng shoved her empty bowl toward him without hesitation. "Go ahead. I can’t touch cold water on my period."
This friendship was getting harder and harder to handle...
An Yuan sighed deeply, deliberately slowing down as he ate, hoping she’d leave first. Otherwise, the moment he stood up, everything would be on full display.
But Chen Cheng stayed put, just casually playing on her phone.
"You can go play on your computer. No need to wait for me."
"Okay, I’m going." She got up, but then paused. "Oh yeah, before bed, use a night pad or those sleep shorts, or else you’ll wake up to a bloodbath again."
"Night pad? Ohhh, I saw those in ads. I’ll go find one."
Watching her mutter to herself as she left, the anxiety that had been gripping An Yuan's heart gradually subsided.
...Maybe he really should get a girlfriend.
At the very least, it might help him stay sane around his ‘brother’.