NOVPUB"Let’s run a dungeon," said Xu Qingfan as he left the room and created a monster instance himself.
After defeating the Octopus Brother boss, the map burst with a screen full of gold coins. Xia Xiaoxiao couldn’t wait to control her character to pick them up, "Xu Qingfan, don’t take the gold coins, I’m almost able to buy clothes!"
"You’d better be fast enough to get them!" Xu Qingfan didn’t compete with her for the lower half of the gold coins, steering his character across the upper half of the map.
The second level’s boss was a bad penguin that could be cornered to silence the monster and kill it on the spot. Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao had played it many times, cooperating flawlessly, one hitting the boss and the other clearing the troublemaking minions.
There was also a seal boss that had to be hit like kicking a soccer ball when the bomb was about to explode, a robot boss that combined one yellow and one green like a rice cooker, and a green-haired turtle boss that spun while it turned red...
Because there were no adults at home, the two completely lost track of time, playing gleefully.
"Ah! It’s so late already." Xia Xiaoxiao glanced sideways at the time on the bottom of the computer screen, noticing it was nearly twelve o’clock.
Xu Qingfan stood up and stretched, "Still playing? It’s almost twelve."
Xia Xiaoxiao looked at the time, then at the game, and again at Xu Qingfan, hesitating for a moment before saying, "I’ll take a shower first!"
"Sure." Xu Qingfan got up to find some clean clothes in the wardrobe.
Seeing Xia Xiaoxiao still standing there looking at him, he asked in confusion, "Aren’t you going to take a shower? Why are you still looking at me?" n𝚘vp𝚞𝚋.com
Xia Xiaoxiao bit her lip, just staring at him quietly, appearing hesitant to speak.
"If you don’t speak, I’m going to shower."
"Xu Qingfan!" Seeing Xu Qingfan was about to leave the room, Xia Xiaoxiao called out to stop him.
"What is it?" He turned around, puzzled.
"Can you... can you keep me company while I shower?" Xia Xiaoxiao’s face turned bright red as she asked in a mosquito-like voice.
"Pfft—" Xu Qingfan spat out a bunch of spittle, "That’s not... appropriate, right? How old are we, still showering together?" Although he didn’t mind, Xu Qingfan worried he couldn’t control himself around the little girl, leading to some trivial tales best left at sea, and ruining his reputation for life.
"Get lost! Who wants to shower with you, you pervert!!!" Xia Xiaoxiao blurted out angrily.
Xu Qingfan: ???
"Why are you turning things around? It was clearly you who asked me to keep you company while you shower!"
"I meant for you to keep me company talking at the bathroom door. I definitely wouldn’t allow you in!" Xia Xiaoxiao said, her face still red.
"Oh, right." Xu Qingfan nodded his head, feeling relieved but also slightly melancholy about something that he couldn’t share with others.
"Afraid of the dark, huh? Xiao Xiao, you’re really chicken!" he teased.
"Hmph~" Xia Xiaoxiao pouted angrily, tilting her little head to one side to ignore him, but when she left, she still didn’t forget to grab Xu Qingfan’s hand.
"It’s all because of you, making me watch that ’Spirit Detective’..."
’Spirit Detective’ is the Jade Channel’s latest prime-time TV drama. In one investigation, the protagonist got struck by lightning on the head, resulting in a severe blow, which gave him "clairvoyant empathy." Whenever Zhu Zilang came into contact with the deceased’s belongings, he would get clues for solving the case.
This type of supernatural gift plus suspense and detective elements in a TV series would not be outdated even twenty years later. Xia Xiaoxiao was immediately drawn to the TV series’ narrative, but due to the large-scale Hong Kong style, many of the corpse scenes were incredibly frightening, and the young girl was both scared and eager to watch.
However, the aftermath was that at night, she dared not bathe, climb stairs, or sleep alone.
"Xu Qingfan?" The sound of water trickling came from the bathroom. With Xu Qingfan quiet for too long, Xia Xiaoxiao worried he might have run away and couldn’t help calling out.
"Here, hurry up with your shower, it’s almost twelve," said Xu Qingfan as he yawned in front of the bathroom door.
"I’ll be quick, don’t sneak away!"
"I can’t believe you got scared by ’Spirit Detective’ and now you can’t bathe alone. What if you watched a horror movie? What then?" Xu Qingfan mocked.
Listening to the voice outside, Xia Xiaoxiao felt at ease. She smiled sweetly at her reflection in the mirror.
"Thank you."
"What did you say?"
"If you can’t hear it, then never mind!"
"Every day with these riddles."
Soon, Xia Xiaoxiao finished her shower and came out of the bathroom. Now it was Xu Qingfan’s turn to shower.
"I’ll also keep you company at the door. That makes us even!" After Xu Qingfan closed the door, Xia Xiaoxiao sat on the stool he had been sitting on earlier, drying her hair as she spoke.
"Ha-ha! You should go dry your hair properly first; I don’t need your company," laughed Xu Qingfan.
"The TV says using a hairdryer isn’t good; you should let your hair dry naturally!"
[No wonder her hair is so smooth; she’s been taking care of it since she was a child], Xu Qingfan thought to himself.
He glanced at the pink cartoon underwear Xia Xiaoxiao had left soaking in the basin, "Your mom isn’t at home, and you’re not washing your underwear yourself?"
Xia Xiaoxiao’s face turned red: "It’s all because you rushed me; I’ll wash them tomorrow!"
Xu Qingfan always threw his own underwear in the washing machine, but he found that many girls hand-washed theirs, claiming machine washing could lead to the growth of bacteria.
For a while, he got influenced by some sensationalist marketer’s accounts and decided to hand-wash his underwear too. However, because he didn’t rinse them out well, with laundry detergent residue remaining, he ended up with many small bumps on his behind. After that, Xu Qingfan went back to machine washing all his underwear.
When he finished showering and came out, Xia Xiaoxiao was indeed still blocking the doorway. Xu Qingfan, holding his dirty clothes, patted her head and asked, "Are you hungry?"
"I am!" Xia Xiaoxiao nodded repeatedly.
"Do you want instant noodles, or..."
