Chapter 43: An Extra Set of Dishes
“That’s it? That simple?”
After hearing her good buddy’s explanation, Lin Muqing even started to doubt her ears. This plan sounded way too easy.
Just keep doing what she always did: go to school, go to work, and if they ran into anyone they knew, just play along a little.
And her good buddy had made it clear, whatever came up, he would handle it. He wouldn’t let her do too much.
As for the photo incident and the maid cafe situation, he would take care of those too.
He promised her confidently that nothing would be exposed, and she could keep attending class like normal.
“Yep, that simple.”
Ye Ziming nodded as he looked into her eyes, hiding the flash of emotion in his own so she wouldn’t notice anything strange.
After all, every boss tells new employees the same thing before they start, ‘This job is easy, no overtime, great benefits.’
Classic capitalist move.
“That’s good, then.”
Hearing that, Lin Muqing relaxed a lot. She didn’t notice anything odd about her good buddy and was happily enjoying the moment.
Now that all her problems had been solved, she felt much better and leaned back on the couch, comfortably watching TV.
“From now on, just have lunch here every day.”
After talking about her “work responsibilities,” Ye Ziming figured it was time to mention the benefits, like food and housing.
“Huh? That’s not necessary…”
She had just reached for her phone but paused, turning toward her good buddy a bit awkwardly.
Crashing a meal once or twice was fine, but doing it every day? That felt kind of shameless.
“It’s fine. It’s just one more pair of chopsticks.”
Ye Ziming glanced at her, then at the clock on the wall. He picked up the remote and turned off the TV.
“And besides, as my girlfriend, eating lunch together with me is perfectly normal, right?”
He turned his head to look her in the eyes and said it before she could speak.
“Uh…”
She opened her mouth and froze for a second, squinting like she wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say.
Something about that sentence didn’t feel right. Weren’t they just pretending to be a couple?
But she couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong. After a short moment of eye contact, she realized she couldn’t say no to this.
“It’s getting late. Go take a rest.”
Seeing the change in her expression, Ye Ziming knew she had already decided to go along with it. He stood up from the couch.
He pointed at the clock on the wall and smiled at Lin Muqing.
“Emmm… Still the guest room?”
Standing up too, Lin Muqing asked with a bit of hesitation.
“Yeah.”
He nodded and pointed toward the guest room. It already had clean bedding, all prepared just for her.
With no more doubts, the two of them went to their own rooms to rest.
But just before entering the master bedroom, Ye Ziming looked at the closer side room, then glanced at the farther guest room.
He couldn’t help but fall into deep thought. Should I fix this room up a bit? It did seem more comfortable than the guest room.
A strange idea popped into his head—
What if I decorated this room… and let Lin Muqing live here instead?
The room had been unused for a long time anyway. Spending a little “pocket money” to fix it up didn’t seem like a big deal.
…………………………………
On the other side...
As soon as Lin Muqing entered the guest room, the very first thing she did was lock the door.
She definitely wouldn’t wear her jade pendant while taking a nap. It would press against her and make it hard to sleep well.
No need to ask how she knew that. She just knew.
“Ahh~ free meals and free housing... this job is way too nice.”
Thinking back on what just happened and imagining her future “benefits,” Lin Muqing couldn’t help but sigh with satisfaction.
She took off her slippers and lay comfortably on the bed, casually picking up the remote and turning on the air conditioner.
Her movements were so natural, like she was in her own home.
She pulled a nearby blanket over her stomach to keep from getting cold while she slept.
Just as she was about to close her eyes, she suddenly remembered something: the issue of her family’s house being torn down.
At the same time, she also realized that her good buddy basically lived alone, and if she moved in here, she could save a lot of money.
“Emmm…”
She rolled over while thinking and happened to see the jade pendant sitting on the bedside table. Right then, she completely rejected the idea.
Living with her good buddy? That would blow up in seconds!
She quickly shook her head and rolled over again to face the wall, then burrowed under the blanket and shut her eyes to rest.
Even though she had rejected the idea (for now), the little money-lover inside her wasn’t ready to give up. She was already thinking…
What if I could have the best of both worlds?
In other words, keep her secret and save a huge amount of money.
After her nap, it was time for afternoon classes.
This time, Lin Muqing learned her lesson. She put on the jade pendant before leaving the room, not waiting for her good buddy to come wake her up.
Then she grabbed her phone, which had been charging, and followed him to school.
The apartment was close to the school, you could even see the school from Ye Ziming’s place. In theory, it was just a short walk away.
But the gate was on the far side of campus, and that was the killer.
She followed her good buddy all the way to the school gate. Just as he was about to go inside, Lin Wenbin suddenly stopped him.
“What is it now?”
Lin Muqing glanced at her good buddy, who had already entered the classroom, then looked at Lin Wenbin blocking her way, and asked in confusion.
“I’m jealous. After all these years, I’ve never had the chance to eat at Brother Ye’s place every day.”
Leaning on the door frame with one hand, Lin Wenbin squinted as he looked her up and down, teasing her with a grin.
“Oh really? Then I’ll go tell Brother Ye right now that some dummy wants to eat at his place.”
In response to his teasing, Lin Muqing gave him a polite eye-roll. She then pretended she was about to walk into the classroom and actually go tell her bro.
“Wait, wait, wait—please don’t!”
Lin Wenbin quickly put on a nervous smile and stopped her, wiping that silly grin off his face.
He switched to a slightly more serious expression.
“Ahem... I want to ask you about two things. In return, I’ll give you a limited-edition figure of Eromanga Sensei. Deal?”
As he spoke, he held up two fingers and waved them in front of her.
“What kind of things?”
Lin Muqing’s eyes widened right away. She opened her mouth in surprise and looked at Lin Wenbin.
She had to admit, that reward totally got her attention. She almost said yes without thinking.
Luckily, she was smart enough to ask what the favor was before agreeing.
If it turned out to be something hard… well, she’d still try her best to do it.
All for the sake of true love: the limited-edition Eromanga Sensei figure.
“These two things are really simple for you,”
Seeing her reaction, Lin Wenbin knew he had her halfway convinced. Then he continued.
“First, find out who Brother Ye’s girlfriend is. Second, figure out who the cafe manager is.”