A Young Woman's Heart

Duanmu Ji, who was sleeping on the lower bunk, turned over and covered his head with a pillow to block out the increasingly loud sounds of fireworks and firecrackers outside.

It only offers a little psychological comfort.

"Xiao Ji~" Duanmu Bi said softly from under the covers, her tone and voice so charming that it made one's bones melt.

However, Duanmu Ji seemed to have already become immune to it, and continued to sleep soundly with his head covered by the pillow.

"It's the first day of the new year! Get up!" Duanmu Bi knocked on the bed board. Seeing that her younger brother below did not react, she suddenly crawled out of the quilt and quickly jumped to the lower bunk, crawling into Duanmu Ji's quilt.

In that instant, her spring-like skin was exposed, making it seem as if Duanmu Bi was wearing nothing at all.

"Little Jiji~" Duanmu Bi pressed her face close to Duanmu Ji's ear and breathed on it, "Quickly~ get~ up~"

"Ugh—" Duanmu Ji turned over in disgust, his back to his sister, "Sleep a little longer..."

"If you don't get up now, the sun will be high in the sky!" Duanmu Bi pressed herself against Duanmu Ji and pinched his face hard as she spoke.

"Sis, can you please leave me alone?" Duanmu Ji growled like a wild beast, "It's so noisy—!"

"Hmph, what's wrong? Getting angry on New Year's Day? Don't you want to live?" Duanmu Bi hugged Duanmu Ji, who was dressed neatly even while sleeping, from behind. "If you don't get up, I'll keep holding you like this~ Let me see if little Ji is reacting~"

Duanmu Ji, who was always gloomy and quiet at school, jumped out of bed like a cat with its fur standing on end, shivering as he put on his clothes in the cold air: "Sis, are you ever going to stop?"

"Hmph, Xiao Ji has grown up, he won't even let his older sister get a checkup anymore~" Duanmu Bi licked her lips and said with a resentful look.

"Check my ass."

"Let's see how it's developing?"

"Sis, can you be serious for once?"

"What's so serious about it? Unlike you, always putting on airs, you're just being a hypocrite~" Duanmu Bi yawned, got out of bed, and without any clothes on, she naturally put on her clothes in front of Duanmu Ji.

She has a really great figure, and her whole body is as alluring as a peach.

But Duanmu Ji had absolutely no interest, because he had seen far too much of that since he was a child.

So much so that he now finds his older sister quite distasteful.

He turned his back to his sister, picked up the socks, and walked into the living room.

The living room isn't big; it's more like a small dining room than a living room. Besides a small dining table and chairs for two and a small sofa that can only seat one person, there's not much room for anything else.

There was a three-tiered iron shelf nailed to the wall. At the bottom was a Wan Yan brand DVD player, on the second tier was a small color TV, and on the third tier was a large number of VCDs in boxes, mostly movies and a few long TV series.

Although the house is small and old, it is kept very clean, and there are no leftovers on the table—it was all cleaned up after dinner yesterday.

"Xiao Ji, put the porridge on the stove—" Duanmu Bi yawned widely, sat on the sofa, and casually turned on the TV.

The TV was replaying yesterday's Spring Festival Gala, which suddenly made the quiet room lively.

Since Duanmu Ji started elementary school, he has been doing almost all the housework at home, and his older sister, who is five years older than him, has become a hands-off manager, no longer even cooking.

Duanmu Ji had never met his parents since he was a child and had always lived with his older sister. Usually, his sister would seem more like their mother, but many times he felt that she was more like his younger sister...

Mischievous, willful, and fond of playing pranks.

"What should we eat today? Egg pancakes? Poached eggs? Fried rice noodles? Fried rice with eggs?"

"Stir-fried rice cakes," Duanmu Bi said casually. "Xiao Ji, pour me a cup of tea."

"Sis, after you get up, would you like to wash up first?"

"You go first, wash up!"

"I just finished washing up."

"Then I'll wash it later."

"Can you please stop going a whole day without washing your face and brushing your teeth? How will you ever get married like this?"

"Hehe, Xiao Ji is actually starting to worry about my marriage? Don't worry, if you can't get married, you can marry~ Xiao Ji~"

"Hey, what awful things are you saying?"

"Hehe, just kidding, just kidding." Duanmu Bi curled up on the sofa. "But I don't want to move. How about Xiao Ji helps me wash up?"

"Wash it yourself!" Duanmu Ji's forehead was covered in black lines, completely different from his usual silent and gloomy appearance at school.

He could probably only talk so much if it were his own older sister.

Duanmu Bi is a special worker, but not in the conventional sense; she is just relatively special compared to the average person.

She is a model.

They are not runway models, but nude models for painting.

He is quite well-known in Hangzhou and is often hired by universities or private art studios to serve as a model for students' paintings.

What's even more special is that she's a professional nude model.

So I'm quite used to not wearing clothes, and I often walk around the house without clothes, especially in the summer...

Although the salary was high, Duanmu Ji didn't really like his sister doing this kind of work because it felt too strange.

But it's hard to say it out loud.

After all, he's still being supported by his sister's salary.

A monthly salary of about five thousand yuan is a very high income in this day and age.

Most white-collar workers don't earn as much as she does.

The reason I'm still living in a small rented room is simply because I'm saving up money to buy a house.

"Xiao Ji~ Let's go for a walk outside after breakfast."

"casual."

"How about going to Lingyin Temple?"

"casual."

How about we have vegetarian food for lunch?

"casual?"

"How does Xiao Ji look in girls' clothes?"

"Whatever...!" Duanmu Ji replied impatiently, then suddenly paused.

He then saw his older sister, sitting on the sofa, give him a malicious smile: "I heard everything you just said~"

"I refuse."

"Hmph, if you wear it, I'll reward you with... a kiss?"

"We should refuse even more."

"Then I'll sleep with you every day!"

"…Sis, can't you be normal for once?" Duanmu Ji helplessly plugged in the rice cooker. "I can't stand you anymore."

"Tch, speaking of which, does Xiao Ji have a girl he likes at school?"

"Uh, no."

Really?

"I said no, that's no." Duanmu Ji was a little nervous. "What are you doing, sis? I'm all grown up now, this isn't considered puppy love, is it?"

"So you do have one? Hmph, I've got it. Xiao Ji has a crush on someone. Deduct fifty points, and you're punished by sleeping with me for five nights!"

"It's like hell..." Duanmu Ji rolled his eyes and said with some pain.

"Then how about you give me a back scrub five times? Or wash my feet five times?"

"Let's just wash our feet; a short, sharp pain is worse than a long, drawn-out one."

"So you mean my feet stink?! I've got it. Insulting my sister, deduct 10 points!"

"Why is it that insulting my older sister deducts fewer points than having a crush on someone?!"

"Well, it's okay to insult your older sister once in a while, it can be quite fun."

Duanmu Ji rolled his eyes. On the first day of the new year, he no longer wanted to talk to her.

……

Chapter Fifty-Six: Zhuang Lianlian's New Year

New Year? Spring Festival?

That's someone else's holiday.

At least that's true for Zhuang Lianlian.

She spent the New Year's Eve in a van.

Although fireworks were lit up the city, they only made her feel cold.

The blazing sun, rising slowly like fire, brought her little warmth.

On the 28th of the lunar month, Grandma Jin closed her shop for the holidays. She asked Zhuang Lianlian again if she wanted to spend the New Year with her, but Zhuang Lianlian refused.

It's unclear what her feelings were, but she chose to spend the Lunar New Year in this small van.

In winter, a van is practically a giant refrigerator; even with the blankets Chen Cheng brought, it didn't get much warmer.

She was woken up by the cold.

"Phew..." She rubbed her hands together, quickly combed her hair, and got out of the car.

Actually, the outside temperature was a bit higher than inside the van.

In the flower bed next to it, potatoes had already sprouted tender shoots, and even in winter, they seemed to be growing vigorously.

The small basin in the car contained some small potatoes that she had dug up yesterday. She didn't know if it was because she had grown them herself, but they tasted better than the ones she bought—even though she could only cook them into soup with firewood now.

The New Year gave her a sense of unreality.

In previous years, the New Year was always a lively and bustling occasion. If you celebrated the New Year at home, many people would come over for a meal together. If you celebrated the New Year outside, there would be even more people chatting enthusiastically.