My Demon Friends-Chapter 703 - 664 Gentle Cousin

「On the evening of the 16th.」

Lord Ji Bai's spell had worn off, and Zhou Li and Miss Zheng's eyes naturally switched back.

The world suddenly became clear.

Zhou Li looked around the room, finding the details he had previously ignored wonderfully beautiful: the dust on the floor, the patterns on the ceiling, the texture of the tables and stools, and the white plaster, mottled and flaking from the walls over the years. None of this had been visible in the previous days; the contrast was like two different worlds.

Zhou Li walked to the doorway.

Outside, it was dusk, and crows stood on the tiled roof.

A little girl in track pants stood at the far edge of the yard, on tiptoe, holding her cellphone high. She was focused on finding a signal, unaware of someone approaching from behind.

"Ahem..."

"Hmm?"

The little girl, still holding her hand high, turned her head. She paused for a moment, then nonchalantly turned back and continued what she had been doing.

"Ahem, ahem."

"..."

Baozi then turned her head again, her expression still calm. She paused, then greeted,

"Hello, Cousin."

"Hello."

"Can you see now?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

Baozi stopped talking. She calmly moved a few steps to the side, still holding her phone, as if thinking the signal wasn't in the previous spot, she moved to a different place to continue her search.

But her gaze was no longer on the phone; instead, it flickered, darting all around.

Until her cousin appeared in front of her again.

"Hello, Cousin."

Baozi said with a bow, then took a few more steps to the side, moving away from her cousin.

Then her cousin caught up again, smiling.

"You fed me ice cream?"

"..."

"Ate my chicken leg for me?"

"..."

"You ate the strawberries, and I ate the strawberry butts?"

"..."

"And you added the seasoning to my noodles for me?"

"..."

Baozi's eyes flickered. She finally spoke, her tone uncertain, "You're... you're welcome."

"?"

"!!"

Baozi shivered, quickly put down her phone, placed her hands in front of her, and bowed again. "Sorry, Cousin. I know I was wrong."

"And then?"

"..."

Baozi looked at him silently.

But her expression said it all: I don't want to get hit, but if you insist, there's nothing I can do.

Zhou Li met her gaze for a moment, feeling increasingly helpless and exasperated.

He was annoyed with himself for not being as domineering as Brother Nan. He had planned it all out so well these past couple of days: as soon as his vision recovered, he would grab his Little Cousin and give her a good thrashing. After all, she was tough and wouldn't even whimper when hit. But now, he didn't know how to begin.

Being too gentle isn't good either.

"Sigh..."

Zhou Li pinched and tugged her cheek a little. That was her punishment.

Turning around, he saw Brother Nan and Huai Xu sitting under the eaves, watching him. Both were shaking their heads, casting looks of disdain his way.

"Hmph, how boring!"

"So weak..."

Baozi quietly watched and listened from the side, outwardly calm but inwardly trembling.

「That evening.」

Everyone gathered under the orange glow of an incandescent bulb, wrapping dumplings together.

Baozi saw her cousin blatantly stuffing a lot of bird's eye chili into one dumpling and squeezing mustard into another. He did it openly, completely unabashed even though she was watching right next to him.

After finishing, he even asked Huai Xu to put them in the refrigerator at Chunming's house, saying they would take them out tomorrow—obviously to prevent her from tampering with them.

Actually, Cousin is overthinking it. For things that require extra effort, I'm usually too lazy to bother. Why should today's me go to such lengths for suffering that only comes tomorrow?

「The morning of the 17th.」

Zhou Li and Miss Zheng got up early, boiled the dumplings, and served them in separate bowls on the table.

Zhou Li slid an enamel bowl toward Baozi, "This bowl is for you."

Baozi looked at the bowl filled with plump, white dumplings in a light golden chicken broth, garnished with a few chopped scallions. She hesitated, not reaching for it, and instead looked around.

Brother Huai Xu's bowl is a huge basin; I can't finish that. Lord Dumpling only has two; that's not enough for me. Brother Nan is still asleep and hasn't gotten up. Little Sister Zheng is obviously out of the question. I know without even thinking that if I suggested swapping bowls with Little Sister Zheng, Cousin would definitely refuse. Only Cousin's bowl is the same size as mine.

"Cousin..." Baozi quietly looked at Zhou Li, tentatively asking, "May I have your bowl?"

Zhou Li looked at her as if she were an idiot.

"Oh."

That was her only attempt at struggling.

Baozi silently withdrew her gaze, picked up her bowl, and walked to the doorway to start eating.

Now I have two choices: One, poke each dumpling before eating it to check the contents, or carefully take a small bite to make sure I haven't hit a rigged one before eating the rest. It's troublesome, but it's what a normal person would do. Two, just go for it, eat with my eyes closed, and resign myself to fate whenever I bite into a bad one. Apart from the unpleasantness when I actually get one, I'll be happy the rest of the time.

Baozi hesitated. She picked up one dumpling, blew on it carefully to cool it, closed her eyes, and stuffed it into her mouth.

But I'm also mentally prepared. If the texture feels off, I'll spit it out immediately. I absolutely won't let Cousin get his way!

She hadn't hit a rigged one.

The wild mushroom and meat filling is so savory! Plump and juicy! And because I didn't poke it open beforehand, I put the whole thing in my mouth, and when I bit down, the soup—cooled a bit but still very hot—burst in my mouth! A perfect taste experience! So delicious!

Baozi squinted her eyes in delight for a moment, then nervously picked up the second dumpling. She took a deep breath, braced herself, and again, stuffed the whole thing into her mouth.

Still no rigged one.

This one has shrimp filling—not small shrimp, but chunks of large lobster. I heard Brother Huai Xu asked a kind-hearted demon by the sea to catch them yesterday. There were five in total, each at least half a meter long. We had a great feast yesterday at noon; I've never enjoyed myself so much! Thank you, Brother Huai Xu! Thank you, kind-hearted demon by the sea!

The third dumpling...

Baozi's heart grew more apprehensive.

The more delicious the previous ones were, the more I want the next one to be a tasty dumpling too, and the more I don't want to hit a bad one.

The fifth dumpling...

Still no rigged one.

Baozi even began to feel a bit tormented.

Today's dumplings are too delicious! Compared to them, those two rigged ones seem like they're filled with poison. The most agonizing part is that I don't know when those two will show up. Maybe it'll be when I'm least expecting it, most looking forward to the next bite.

She agonized like this for another ten minutes.

There were only two dumplings left in the bowl.

Baozi stared blankly at the two dumplings. After much hesitation, she decided to use her chopsticks to poke them open.

One had mountain mushroom and meat filling.

The other had wood ear mushroom and meat filling.

"?"

Baozi dazedly carried the bowl inside. Her cousin had already finished eating and was watching Huai Xu wolf down his meal. She wanted to ask something but didn't know how to begin.

Until her cousin glanced at her, "What's wrong with you?"

"N-no..." Baozi looked down at her bowl. "I... I didn't get those two."

Zhou Li laughed, thinking his Little Cousin was adorably foolish. "Oh, that? I was just scaring you. I threw those two out last night. There's no way I'd actually let you eat them."

"..."

Little Cousin looked truly distressed. It wasn't because she had agonized for so long for nothing, but because of a rush of gratitude and guilt.

Cousin is too good to me! He didn't hit me last night, and he didn't trick me today... and I treated him so badly a few days ago...

Baozi kept a blank face, but inside, she felt deeply upset.

"What's wrong now?"

"Cousin..."

"Alright, alright, put the bowl down." Zhou Li looked at her tenderly. "I'll wash the dishes later."

"I'll do it!"

"Huh?"

"I'll do it! I'll wash the dishes!" Little Cousin's tone was extremely firm.

Seeing this, her cousin waved his hand indulgently. "Alright then, you go ahead..."

While Little Cousin was washing dishes, His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, awakened in Brother Nan's body and finished the basin of dumplings left for him. Just as Little Cousin was slowly finishing up, the Prince of Yu handed her his bowl to wash. Afterwards, he plucked a foxtail grass stalk to tease a dog, claiming the grass was made from their tails.

After the dishes were done, the mountain air remained cool and refreshing.

"Let's go."

"Mm."

There was no need for grand farewells. Zhou Li led the draft horse out of the yard, while Zheng Zhilan and Qinghe stood by the edge of the yard to see them off.

Xing Hui and Lord Ji Bai stood at the gate. They first bowed to Brother Nan, who was seated on horseback, "Your Highness, have a safe journey."

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, nodded.

Then, Zhou Li received some fruit wine and, satisfied, continued down the mountain.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Yu, sat upright on horseback, chuckling lightly. "Those two old Jianghu fellows are quite clever. No one told them, yet they figured it out."

"Yes."

Zhou Li wasn't very talkative.

「It was Saturday.」

However, Old Zhou was nowhere to be found, Aunt Jiang was working overtime, and only Zhu Shuang and Zhu Bing were at home. Brother Nan's parents were also at their shop, so there was no one to cook.

The group conferred and decided to head to Zhou Li's house together. By the time they arrived, it was already past noon. Concerned that her older brother and the others might be hungry, Zhu Shuang had cooked a pot of dumplings in advance.

What a coincidence—

They had dumplings this morning as well!

Only, the dumplings they were eating now were made by Aunt Jiang, and they tasted different from the ones Miss Zheng had made.

As she ate, Baozi miraculously discovered that the two dumplings she hadn't gotten that morning had appeared in her bowl at noon.

She was caught completely off guard by their appearance.

Baozi was utterly stunned. Then, a wave of intense spice surged up; she felt like she was about to breathe fire...

"What's wrong, Sister Baozi?" Zhu Shuang, who prided herself on being a friend to other girls, cast a concerned glance her way.

"Nothing..."

For the rest of the day, Baozi didn't speak to her cousin. It wasn't because she was angry. Rather, every time she remembered her morning's rush of gratitude and guilt, her internal monologue, and how she had proactively volunteered to wash the dishes, her face would burn as if it had been steamed.