I endured the humiliation and humiliation while being besieged by the ghost story elder sister.

Listening to what Honoka and her mother said, Arisa couldn't help but nod, indicating that the current situation was indeed for the best.

The three of them tacitly chose to keep this matter to themselves and not tell Ximiao, so as not to hurt him.

Just as the group was pondering how to face Nozomi after learning about this matter...

After resting, when she realized that none of the others were in the living room, Xi Ling couldn't help but ask.

"Arisa, Honoka-nee? Why is Aunt Ami outside too? What are you all talking about?"

"No, it's nothing. We were just talking about dinner later. By the way, Mio, didn't you say you were going to take a bath? Come on over, let's take a bath together."

Arisa immediately dodged the question and changed the subject to taking a bath, which successfully blew her away and made Nozomi no longer care about what had just happened.

"Okay, I'll go find some clean clothes right away. Wait for me a moment."

After saying that, Ximiao ran upstairs, returned to her room, and started looking for clothes in the wardrobe.

Arisa went straight to the bathroom and filled the bathtub with hot water to prepare for a bath with Nozomi later.

As soon as Nozomi carried her clothes into the bathroom, Honoka and Ami, who had been silent for a long time, looked at each other in the living room, as if to confirm whether the other was also thinking about what they were thinking.

"Speak up. You're practically a parent to Ximiao, and with his family all out of the picture, it should be up to you to decide, right?"

Ashi couldn't help but chuckle and said jokingly.

However, Fanxia was clearly not in the mood for that. After learning that Ximiao's family had all left and their whereabouts were unknown, her desire to meet the parents was dashed.

She said irritably, "I just provided accommodation for Xiaoling and happened to attend the parent-teacher meeting. How can I be considered a parent?"

"Don't say that~ I can tell from her, Miss Yasushi really wants to have a chat with you."

"..."

That night.

After finishing her day's work at the shop, Hachiko rubbed her sore shoulders and returned home. Looking at the brightly lit house, she realized it was no longer the same place where she was all alone.

She felt really good, at least she wasn't all alone like before...

Now, Xi Ling has returned, bringing three women she doesn't know with her, but she can accept the existence of a competitor.

Upon entering the living room, Hachiko saw Himiko wearing an apron, busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, while the other three were leisurely sitting by the kotatsu, watching television.

"Was it like this when you were in Xijing?"

Ba Zi couldn't help but ask this question.

What are you talking about?

Not quite understanding what she was asking, Fanxia turned her head to look at Yasuki and asked, wanting to have a conversation with her.

"I was talking about Mio making dinner in the kitchen... Back in Xijing, was it always Mio who made dinner for the three of you by herself?"

As she spoke, she walked towards the kotatsu, then sat down cross-legged, picked up an orange, and began peeling it in front of her.

Although she was supposed to be checking out the shop, it wasn't too hot inside because of the air conditioning, and since she left early and returned late, she naturally didn't sweat much.

After learning that this was what Ms. Yasuie was worried about, Honoka couldn't help but smile and explain to her.

"No, that's not it. Mio is in Xijing, and he only cooks dinner for me. Although his girlfriend, Arisa, sometimes comes over for dinner."

"I see... Well, that's not unacceptable then."

She now understood why Xi Ling's cooking skills had improved so quickly.

After getting the answers they wanted, the group chatted idly in the living room until Ximiao asked them to bring the food to the table.

During dinner, because they were too tired from the long journey on the first day, and because they had gotten up too late on the second day, Ximiao took the opportunity to talk to the other three.

"How about we go to the beach tomorrow? Sister Baqi, after you finish your work tomorrow morning, just call us and we'll come over to find you. Then we'll go back before we start working in the afternoon, okay?"

After all, it's a rare trip to Okinawa, so he couldn't just stay in an air-conditioned room all the time. Besides... he was quite interested in seeing the girls in their swimsuits.

This might have been partly due to his own selfish motives, but after hearing Mio's suggestion, everyone sitting at the table agreed.

In no time at all, the activities for tomorrow were decided.

Did you bring Chapter Nine?

"Swimsuit, swimsuit... I remember buying a swimsuit and putting it in my closet before, but I can't find it."

Inside the room, Yasushi was rummaging through drawers and cabinets, trying to find a swimsuit she had bought a long time ago. Perhaps it had been so long that she had forgotten where she had casually thrown it away.

Just then, there was a knock on her door. It was the middle of the night, and she didn't know who was looking for her...

then.

Yashi put down the clothes she was holding and called out towards the door, "Who is it?"

"Sister Baqi, it's me. Is now a convenient time?"

Outside the door, Xi Ling, wearing a shark-themed pajama, knocked on the door and tentatively called out into the room.

Immediately afterwards, he heard a series of clanging and banging noises coming from Sister Ba's room, which startled him.

As the commotion gradually subsided, the door was opened from the inside, and a tall figure appeared before Xi Ling, forcing him to raise his head to look over the mountains and see the pretty face of Sister Ba.

She poked her head out, looked around, and confirmed that only Xi Ling was in the empty corridor. Her heart, which had been hanging in suspense, was at ease. She asked with some doubt.

"Mio, is there something you need that you came to see me so late?"

"Hmm? According to what you're saying, Sister Baqi, I can't come to see you unless there's a reason?"

"Eh?"

Before Hachiko could answer, Himiko took advantage of her momentary daze, slipped under Hachiko's fair, slender arm that was bracing against the doorframe, and entered Hachiko's room.

This was the first time he had ever been to Yashiro's room, as far as he could remember. Ximiao looked around curiously and found that the room's decor was very simple.

A girl's room usually has a dressing table, a wardrobe, and a large, soft bed, but he understood why the bed was so big.

Given Baqi's height, if she lay on a regular bed, her legs would probably be dangling in mid-air, which would be very uncomfortable.

Apart from Sister Ba's bed being rather unique, everything else in his room was even more monotonous than his own, and there wasn't even a cushion.

then.

Ximiao plopped down on the soft bed, swinging her legs, and looked innocently at Hachiko-nee, who was slowly closing the door not far away, as if she had something to say to her.

"Um... Sister Ba, didn't the school call you not long ago?"

"Telephone?"

Upon hearing what Xi Ling said, Ya Shi thought for a while, and then remembered that a month ago, a school in Xijing had called her.

However, since she was outside minding the shop, she only heard a voicemail message and didn't pay much attention to it.

But now that Ximio has brought this up, it seems there's something important that she missed...

I saw that Sister Baqi threw the clothes that she had casually placed on the bed back into the closet, and then sat down next to Ximiao. Her tone became unusually gentle as she asked.

"Did something happen? The school only left a message on the phone saying that something happened to you at school and that a parent needs to come over..."

"Well, I asked Honoka-nee to go and make things easier. After all, it's impossible for you, Hachiko-nee, to travel all the way from Okinawa to Saikyo."

As she spoke, Nozomi patted the empty seat to her right, gesturing for Hachiko to sit there.

Although she didn't understand why Hio was doing this, she still slowly got up and sat down on the other side of Hio.

Then she saw Xi Ling's body suddenly fall down. Just as she was about to reach out and catch him, she found that his little head had landed precisely on her lap.

Immediately realizing what Hio was trying to do, Hachiko was stunned for a moment. After reacting, she couldn't help but smile slightly and reached out to place her hand on Hio's smooth, light golden hair, gently stroking it.

Then, she said softly, "So, Mio, what exactly happened to you at school?"

"Hmm...it's about some delinquent girls, but Aunt Ami handled it very well, so you don't need to worry about it~"

"Then what are you..."

If that's the case, then what did Himiko come to see me for? Hachiko couldn't quite figure it out.

Xi Ling, who was lying on her lap, seemed to have guessed what she wanted to ask, and continued to speak.

"But there are some things I feel I need to let you know, so I came over."

"Eh?"

Over the next ten minutes or so, Ximiao recounted little by little what had happened to him in Xijing to Hachi-nee.

Although he really wanted to see what kind of expression Baqi had on her pretty face, unfortunately, his view was blocked by two wicked little balls, so he couldn't see how Baqi reacted.

Right after he finished speaking, Sister Ba sat blankly on the soft bed for a long time.

Soon, Ximiao grew a little impatient and called out softly a few times, "Yasu-nee? Yasu-nee, are you not asleep?"

"Of course not, but such a big thing, didn't you even think to call me to tell me?"

Now it was Xi Ling's turn to fall silent. To be honest, he felt a little ashamed, as he couldn't remember what Sister Ba's phone number was.

This was one of the reasons he came here in the middle of the night, but Ximiao also came up with a very good excuse.

He took his phone out of the pocket of his shark pajamas and handed it to Sister Ba.

"I just got a new phone~ I've forgotten all my old phone numbers, could you please just enter them back into my contacts, Sister Baqi?"

"I just can't do anything with you..."

a long time.

After saying goodbye to Ximiao and wishing her goodnight, she watched the boy leave, then closed the door, and the room returned to silence.

Upon seeing this, Yayu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. You see, when she heard Xiling say that she was being bullied by delinquent girls at school, she couldn't help but sit up straight and her heart was pounding.

But after she learned that someone had come to her rescue and everything was alright, she relaxed a little.

"I didn't expect that Xiaoling would run into trouble in Xijing... I was really careless."

She muttered to herself, turning her head to focus her gaze on the wardrobe she had rummaged through and made a mess of.

Swimsuit, still haven't found one...

The next day.