Chapter 131: Looking for a Place to Live
They stayed in the restroom a bit too long, so as soon as they got back to the classroom, the bell rang right on time. The teacher happened to walk in right behind them. If they had been just a few steps slower, they might have been marked late.
Back at her seat, Lin Muqing tried to tidy herself up a bit, at least to look like nothing was wrong on the outside. Right now, her head was full of the words her best buddy had just said to her.
While thinking, she couldn't help but quietly turn her head and sneak a look at the buddy sitting next to her. He had just taken out his book and pen. After hearing the teacher’s instructions, he began flipping through the book.
“Page 30.”
Halfway through turning the pages, Ye Ziming noticed something and suddenly turned to whisper to Lin Muqing—
“Ah? Oh.”
She was startled and quickly turned her head back, then started flipping through her own book.
Getting caught sneaking a look was super embarrassing, and just thinking about it made her cheeks turn red again. She was actually really thankful for how he comforted her earlier and had wanted to say “thank you.”
But for some reason, those two simple words just wouldn’t come out. It made her feel really awkward. Eventually, she gave up and thought, "I'll say it another time."
After the college entrance exams, once she had saved enough money, she would leave the south side of the city with her backpack, go investigate the origin of that jade pendant, and find a way to turn herself back.
For now, she had to study hard and save up as much money as possible.
The more, the better.
Thinking that, Lin Muqing’s eyes became clearer and more determined, because she now knew what she needed to do.
“Hm~”
At the same time, Ye Ziming noticed the change in her eyes and let out a small sigh of relief, though he was a bit surprised too. If she could show that kind of expression, then even though the problem wasn't solved yet, it must not be too serious anymore.
In this slightly subtle atmosphere, the morning classes passed quickly, and lunchtime finally came.
“Whew~ Finally done.”
As soon as the teacher said class was over and left, Lin Muqing flopped down on her desk with a long sigh. At that moment, if you looked over, you’d see her best buddy packing up his desk.
She thought about what he said earlier, how he’d “protect her like a big bro looking after his little bro”, and couldn’t help but smile.
“What are you smiling about?”
Ye Ziming suddenly turned to look at her, just a few seconds after she started smiling.
Every time Lin Muqing secretly looked at him, he would always have a strange feeling, which somehow let him catch her in the act, and see her big, cute eyes.
“I just thought of something happy.”
She giggled. This time she wasn’t doing anything sneaky, so she wasn’t nervous at all. She confidently met his eyes.
“That joke’s way overused.”
Raising his eyebrows, Ye Ziming smiled when he saw how happy she looked.
“Aren’t you supposed to ask me what happy thing I thought of?”
“~Nope.”
“Aren’t you even a little curious?”
“Not curious.”
“Hmph~”
Faced with Ye Ziming who just wouldn’t play along, Lin Muqing puffed up her cheeks and looked a little upset. She had really wanted to share something with him, but he didn’t seem interested at all, so annoying! (˶˃⤙˂˶)
Pfft.
Seeing her puffed-up cheeks like a pufferfish, Ye Ziming couldn’t hold it in and let out a small laugh.
People who didn’t know him probably wouldn’t even notice that was a laugh, but Lin Muqing definitely noticed, and it made her even more annoyed!
“Hmph.”
Not wanting to talk to him anymore, Lin Muqing took out her phone, opened a housing app, and started looking for a place to live near the school.
What she had actually wanted to tell Ye Ziming… was that her house was about to be torn down, and her family was going to receive a big payout for it.
But behind the good news, there was a piece of bad news. She was about to be homeless. Soon, she wouldn’t even have a place to stay.
As for buying a new house, she didn’t know anything about that kind of stuff, so she decided to put it on hold for now and just find a place to rent for a while. But then she found out that the housing prices near the school were all really expensive.
And the cheaper ones were far away and in inconvenient locations, definitely troublesome.
“Looking for a place to rent?”
While Lin Muqing was busy playing on her phone, Ye Ziming leaned over a little out of curiosity, then asked in surprise.
But he didn’t notice one thing, he was very close to Lin Muqing’s ear. So when he spoke, he startled her.
“Wah!”
She let out a small scream, turned her head sharply, and stared wide-eyed at Ye Ziming.
Her eyes showed a little complaint, she was clearly blaming him for suddenly getting so close and scaring her.
“You’re looking for a place?”
After sitting up straight, Ye Ziming gave her an apologetic look, then pointed at her phone and asked again.
“Yeah.”
She pouted and looked away, turning her focus back to her phone.
She was still feeling a little upset. Since he didn’t seem interested, she decided not to tell him about her family’s house being torn down. But then she suddenly had a new idea, maybe she didn’t need to go out and search for a place at all.
“Ahem.”
She closed the rental app and casually put her phone into her pocket. Then she turned to look at her good buddy again.
When Ye Ziming saw the expression on her face, he raised an eyebrow, guessing she had something she wanted to say.
So he stayed quiet, just sitting there and waiting patiently.
“Boss, I want to talk to you about something.”
With a smile and a playful expression, Lin Muqing leaned closer and whispered.
“Yeah? Go ahead.”
He smiled slightly. That look in her eyes? He knew exactly what it meant.
Saying she wanted to “talk about something” was just a polite way of asking for help. She was clearly too shy to say it directly, so this was her way of easing into it.
“I remember you said earlier that you’d always look out for your little brother, right?”
She blinked again after saying that, totally unaware of how cute she looked right now, or how much impact that little blink had on Ye Ziming.
“That’s right,” he replied with a soft smile and a nod.
“Hehe... Well, your little brother here has run into a bit of trouble lately, and I was hoping my big boss could help out.”
Just like Ye Ziming had guessed, because she was embarrassed, Lin Muqing kept beating around the bush.
“I’m guessing this has something to do with your neighborhood being torn down?”
He smiled helplessly, partly amused by how adorable she was, then said with a small laugh.
“Eh? You knew?”
Lin Muqing was surprised. She wondered was the thing she wanted to say not even a secret?
Now that it had come to this, she was completely caught off guard and suddenly didn’t know how to continue the conversation.