After the breakup, I was taken in by a group of trendy young women.

Lin Ye leaned back on the sofa, crossed his legs, and held an unlit cigarette between his fingers.

The new sofa is the same one that Sister Zhou bought for 12,000 yuan. The cushions are full and the pillows are neatly arranged, but tonight only he is sitting on this sofa.

The other girls were all in the inner room—the one with the tattooed arms and legs was helping Qi Liu fold clothes, the green-haired and pink-haired girls were huddled on a yoga mat playing games on their new phones, and the sisters Shen Qing and Shen Na were washing their faces in the bathroom, the faucet running loudly.

The living room was so quiet that only the hum of the fluorescent light tubes and the buzzing of the old refrigerator compressor could be heard when it started.

When Huang Mao came out of the inner room, he was barefoot on the floor, and his footsteps were very light.

She changed out of the authentic Lolita dress and into a white floral print slip dress—the same one that had the tattooed man at the bathroom door saying she "almost broke the law."

The skirt hem barely reached her upper thighs, the thin straps hanging on her slender shoulders, and the pale pink tinge from the hot water in her collarbone still lingered.

Her honey-brown hair wasn't completely dry yet, with a few damp stray hairs sticking to her forehead and the sides of her neck. The scent of strawberry shampoo mixed with the fresh fragrance of Liushen floral water filled the air.

She walked to the sofa, but instead of rushing over as usual, she stood there, tilting her head and looking at Lin Ye for a while.

His deep brown pupils shone brightly under the fluorescent light, and his lips curved into a small, enigmatic smile.

Then she bent down, placed her hands on her knees, leaned close to Lin Ye, and whispered, "Brother, did you think I was joking downstairs just now?"

Lin Ye took the cigarette out of his mouth and looked at her.

A drop of water still clung to her eyelashes, swaying gently as she blinked.

"What are you joking about?"

"It's just that—my little sister is fully automatic."

Huang Mao spoke these words very softly, so softly that only the two of them could hear them. His voice rose slightly at the end, carrying a hint of probing and an barely concealed nervousness.

After she finished speaking, she didn't back down. Instead, she bent over, placed her hands on her knees, and looked up at Lin Ye, waiting for his reaction.

Lin Ye leaned back on the sofa, a cigarette dangling from his fingers, and looked at her.

Her slip dress drooped down a bit as she bent over, revealing a small patch of fair skin below her collarbone and the edge of her light-colored underwear.

Her breathing was a little rapid, and her chest heaved more than before, but she did not avoid his gaze.

"Then start your fully automated system," he said.

The blond-haired man's face flushed red.

The fever started from his neck and spread all the way to his ears, even turning his collarbone pink.

But she didn't back down. She straightened up, took a deep breath, and then knelt on the floor in front of the sofa.

Her knee made a very slight thud when it hit the floor. She reached up and tucked the stray honey-brown hair that had fallen across her face behind her ear, then looked up at Lin Ye.

The arrogance and mischievousness in his eyes were gone; instead, they were filled with seriousness, a willingness to go all out, and a resolute determination to stake everything on the outcome.

Then she lowered her head.

Lin Ye felt her fingers gently rest on his knee, her fingertips slightly cool and carrying the dampness of her recent shower.

Then her hand slowly moved upwards, very gently, as if she were unwrapping a beautifully wrapped gift.

Her breath sprayed onto his legs, warm and damp through the thin fabric of his casual shorts.

She paused, looked up at him with her deep brown eyes, her lips moved slightly, and she said in an extremely faint voice, barely audible to the two of them, "Brother—I'm starting—"

Lin Ye reached out and ran his fingers through her still-damp honey-brown hair, gently pressing down.

Huang Mao let out a very soft groan, much like the feeling when she stole a kiss from him in the KTV room last time—she really didn't have much experience and was just relying on a desperate courage to hold on.

But that seriousness is more exciting than any skill.

Her fingers gripped the fabric of his trousers at his knees, her knuckles turning slightly white from the force, her nails leaving several crescent-shaped marks on his skin through the thin cotton fabric.

The buzzing of the fluorescent light tubes filled the quiet living room.

A rumble of thunder rolled past the window, then receded into the distance. The rain hadn't started yet, but the air was getting increasingly damp.

The bed sheet and curtains by the balcony door billowed and fell back down in the night breeze, while the underwear on the clothesline swayed gently.

After a while, Huang Mao was panting heavily, each breath filled with a greedy sense of relief after surviving a disaster.

Her eyes were red, and a few drops of liquid, indistinguishable as physiological tears or water droplets, clung to her eyelashes. Her lips were also swollen.

But when she looked up at Lin Ye, her deep brown pupils were filled with an excited light, a morbid, burning excitement, an excitement that showed she was fearless after going all out.

"Brother—just now—"

Her voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping against a wooden board, but the corners of her mouth turned up high as she spoke.

"Didn't you say your sister is fully automatic?"

Lin Ye looked down at her.

She knelt on the floor, the thin straps of her slip dress slipping down to reveal her thin shoulders, the hem of the dress crumpled into a rag piled up at the base of her thighs.

Her face was still wet, her lips were swollen, her eyes were red, and her voice was hoarse, but the way she looked up at him was as if she had just won a tough battle.

He pulled her up from the floor and made her sit next to him.

The blond-haired man obediently leaned closer, resting his head on his shoulder, his whole body limp as if he had no bones.

Her breathing hadn't completely calmed down yet, and each rise and fall of her chest gently tugged at her white floral print slip dress.

"elder brother."

Her voice was muffled in the hollow of his shoulder, hoarse but resolute.

"Did I do a good job?"

Lin Ye reached out and patted the back of her head. The honey-brown hair in his palm was as soft as freshly dried cotton. "Not bad."

"What do you mean by 'not bad'? You'd rate me—out of ten, what score would I give you?"

"Seven points."

"Only seven points?!" Huang

The blond-haired man sprang off his shoulder, glaring at him with resentment in his deep brown eyes.

"My voice is hoarse and you're saying 70%? Where did you deduct the 3%?"

"It was set to fully automatic, as you yourself said, but it stopped three times in the middle."

Huang Mao opened her mouth to refute, but found that she couldn't utter a single word in her defense.

Because she did stop three times. She was silent for a while, then rested her head back on his shoulder and muttered, "Then I'll try not to stop next time."

Lin Ye chuckled but didn't say anything.

His hand was still on the back of her head, his fingers unconsciously stroking the black stubble at the roots of her hair—a small section of new black hair had grown under her honey tea brown dye, and it felt softer and finer than the dyed part.

The wind outside the balcony picked up, and the sycamore leaves rustled in the night. Another rumble of thunder rolled by in the distance, this time even closer than before.

The door to the inner room opened a crack, and half a head of a tattooed man peeked out. The koi fish on the tattoo gleamed with a faint blue light in the dim light.

She glanced at the two people leaning against each other on the sofa. The blond guy was still wearing that white floral print slip dress, his eyes were red, his lips were red, and he looked like a rag doll that had just been crumpled and flattened and then unfolded.

The tattooed man took the cigarette from his mouth, his tongue flashing briefly between his lips, and then said in a tone that said, "I knew this would happen," "Blonde, why is your voice hoarse again?"