My Demon Friends-Chapter 641 - 609 How do you want it?

"Let's talk about it later. She's rather shy."

"Oh?"

"Well, not exactly shy. She's very competitive. Sister, you're beautiful and wealthy. I'm afraid she can't compare to you and might feel inferior."

"Why so sweet-talking?" Hong Ran's tail swayed beneath her horse-face skirt. "Have you been eating your girlfriend's lipstick too much?"

"Of course not."

"Never tried it?"

"Don't lead me astray..."

"It's better for me to lead you astray than for you to stay too innocent and have your girlfriend do it," Hong Ran said gently, her tone earnest and profound. "It's quite embarrassing."

"..."

Zhou Li didn't think there was anything embarrassing about that.

Another game of chess ended, and he won.

Zhou Li breathed a sigh of relief, then asked, "Without Your Highness, there must be a huge impact on Yu Country, right? Sister, you and Your Highness were close. You must be very sad to hear this news?"

There was a flicker of concern in his eyes.

Hong Ran didn't look at him. She was still staring at the chessboard, replaying the game in her mind, as she spoke, "The impact might seem significant, but it's not really. Your Highness had already arranged everything. If the news that Your Highness is no longer here spreads, it would actually help me firmly grasp power... As for myself, I'm doing alright. Your Highness hadn't wanted this position for a long time. And honestly, with her personality, no matter how outrageous her actions, I wouldn't be too surprised. She hasn't woken up for so long, so we've already considered many scenarios. Being prepared makes it much easier to accept."

"Haven't you thought about bringing her back?"

"Bringing her back..."

Upon hearing this, Hong Ran looked up at him with a faint smile. After a moment, she said, "Wait till you've grown up, then you can help me bring her back."

Zhou Li made a sound of acknowledgment.

It seemed Hong Ran didn't have much desire to do so. Perhaps she didn't harbor much hope. Bringing back Your Highness wasn't as simple as just finding her. It would be useless to find her if her memory couldn't be restored. There were also other factors: perhaps based on her understanding of Your Highness, some speculation she had, or out of respect for Your Highness's decisions and trust in her.

In any case, Zhou Li breathed a little easier.

"I need to leave now."

"Leaving already?"

"Going back to be with my girlfriend."

"Oh, now that you have a girlfriend, you're not as close to your sister anymore," Hong Ran pretended to be angry, unconvincingly. "Am I not as beautiful as your girlfriend?"

"Sister is the prettiest," Zhou Li said sincerely.

"I'm getting more and more curious about your girlfriend," Hong Ran laughed. "She must be quite something."

"Just a fool… I really have to go now."

"I'll see you out."

Hong Ran stood up with him, naturally walking to his side and placing her hand on his shoulder. Together they walked outside while she teased, "Are you satisfied with the information you've gathered?"

"It's alright," Zhou Li replied boldly, "I'm just worried you might be lying to me."

"Demons don't lie."

"But you do."

"Hmm..."

Hong Ran's smile grew brighter, so much so that she covered her mouth with her hand. Then, using the hand that was on his shoulder, she reached over to pinch his cheek and said, "I wouldn't lie to you. Although you're a little brother who hides many secrets and won't tell your sister, what can I do? I like you so much. I can only pretend I don't know a thing."

"..." Zhou Li felt awkward. "You could try to make your act a bit more convincing."

"Definitely next time." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

"Oh, by the way—"

Zhou Li suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Is Master Ming dead?"

"He has been for some time."

"Oh..."

An expected answer. Indeed, being prepared makes things much easier to bear.

After seeing Zhou Li onto the Ladybug Monster, Hong Ran twirled the short staff in her hand and said, "Next time you come to see me, remember to bring your girlfriend."

...

「As May approached, it was already crawfish season.」

Brother Nan found a crawfish restaurant with decent ratings on a review site and invited Baozi, Zhou Li, and Huai Xu for a feast—of course, including Boss Tuan, who was in charge of paying the bill. They indulged in a satisfying meal.

Boss Tuan had worked hard for over a week without even a weekend off, earning a few hundred dollars, and this one meal took a good chunk of it.

As they were settling the bill, Zhou Li held her in his arms. She watched Brother Nan scan the QR code with pleading eyes. After scanning, Brother Nan said to her,

"The money you earned from working is almost used up."

"MEOW~~"

Tuanzi blinked.

She wasn't particularly sensitive to numbers and didn't have much of a concept of money, but she did grasp that the rewards from her many days of hard work seemed to be vanishing quickly. Yet, seeing Brother Nan so happy, she couldn't feel sad at all. Instead, she felt a peculiar sense of pride and gratification. She seemed to have found another kind of pleasure—not spending other people's money or having others pay for her, but earning money herself to spend on others, exchanging her own efforts for food and everyone's happiness. It was as if she could support Brother Nan!

Just then, Zhou Li, who was beside them, praised her, "Lord Dumpling is so impressive, able to earn money to treat us to a meal!"

"MEOW!"

Tuanzi immediately lifted her chin.

Upon leaving the shop, Zhou Li suddenly felt a twinge of regret about bringing Little Cousin along. Because Little Cousin had short legs and a frail physique, she couldn't scale walls on her own. If he hadn't brought Little Cousin, he could have gone back to his little cabin with Brother Nan. But with Little Cousin present, he had to take her back to school, thus losing a good opportunity to connect more deeply with Brother Nan.

Luckily, Little Cousin was sensible enough. After climbing into the school grounds, she silently returned to her dormitory. Zhou Li and Brother Nan then went for a walk on the sports field.

A fair number of people came to the sports field at night primarily to check out attractive girls and handsome boys; exercising or walking was secondary. Zhou Li and Brother Nan attracted many gazes, but since they were walking together, those looks often didn't linger on them for long.

"I feel like I'm learning spells really fast! I picked them up in just a couple of tries!" Brother Nan told him. "I must be a genius!"

"Could it be because..."

"I suggest you don't interrupt my genius moment!"

"Alright."

"Are you learning quickly?"

"Very slowly."

"Trash."

Brother Nan immediately felt a strong sense of superiority.

When she thought about how, despite being so excellent herself, she was still devoted to this trashy boyfriend, even someone as humble as her couldn't help but feel proud of her own virtuous character.

"HEHEHE..."

Seeing her grinning foolishly, Zhou Li fell silent, not having the heart to interrupt.

After a while, he hesitated. "Yesterday, when I went to my sister's place, she said I should bring you along next time..."

"Then let's go!"

"Huh?"

"What's with the 'huh'? Am I supposed to be afraid of her or something?"

"I'm not sure if she'll recognize..."

"So what if she recognizes me? ... Wait! What's this about recognizing? It's not like... I'm not anyone! I'm just myself!" Brother Nan's tone was firm and fearless. "I, the great Child of Destiny, am I not stronger than her and that Demon King?"

"I'm afraid."

"Don't be." Brother Nan turned and patted his shoulder. "Big Bro even let you feel my pecs. What more do you want?"

"...Lord Dumpling is still here!"

"?? Don't you have pecs?"

"..."

"Anyway, Big Bro will always be your Big Bro."

"..."

Zhou Li didn't want to talk to this fool anymore. He quietly asked Tuanzi, who looked bewildered, "Lord Dumpling, do you like Brother Nan, or do you like Her Highness?"

"Her High..."

Tuanzi paused, then turned her head to look up. Reflected in her eyes was the image of Brother Nan with grass sprouting from her head—

"I like Brother Nan!"

Zhou Li thought Tuanzi was quite astute. So he leaned close to Tuanzi's ear and asked in a voice Brother Nan couldn't hear, "Lord Dumpling, do you like Brother Nan or Her Highness? Brother Nan can't hear us."

Then he bowed his head deeply, bringing his ear close to Tuanzi's mouth.

"Her Highness, of course..." Tuanzi whispered back ever so softly.