Chapter 105: This Is Just Gathering Material

Jiang Miao stood there, stunned, watching the elevator door close.

At this point, he wouldn’t mind walking hand in hand with Senior Sister around campus. He was no longer afraid of acquaintances seeing him.

In fact, he wished for it.

But it was different this time!

He appeared in the same small condo as Senior Sister and only ordered one delivery meal…

Tsk, tsk, what else could this look like other than living together?

Could he claim that it was late and the dorms were closed, so he had no choice but to stay at Senior Sister’s place for the night?

But that would only work for one night. He had stayed for two nights!

Was he supposed to say that Senior Sister had insisted on keeping him for another day?

Others might still buy his story, but Chen Haoshang already knew about his relationship with Senior Sister.

… Although this relationship had only been confirmed around noon today.

Moreover, thanks to the whole Congee Boss fiasco, Senior Sister had torn up the agreement, so Jiang Miao wasn’t even unsure if their relationship was actually confirmed.

But before she could give a proper confirmation of their relationship, Chen Haoshang had seen them together…

So, in Chen Haoshang’s understanding, his relationship with her was always one step ahead of reality.

Bro, your version of events is moving too fast!

I’m still at the beta stage with her, but you’re already out here thinking it’s in full release.

He hadn’t even slept in her bed yet, but someone thought they were living together. Having the reputation without the reality felt like such a loss.

What was even more awkward was that when Chen Haoshang asked to borrow his laptop, Jiang Miao had said he had gone home.

Now, here he was, having just said he had gone home yesterday but appeared at Senior Sister’s condo today. Wasn’t this a slap in the face?

If not for the fact that Chen Haoshang wasn’t the type to care about these details, anyone more nitpicky might think Jiang Miao was a liar with questionable character.

“That guy just now, he’s your roommate, right?” Su Huaizhou, still wearing her mask, hid her flushed face underneath.

Jiang Miao turned to meet Senior Sister’s eyes with a helpless expression. “Senior Sister, my roommate must have misunderstood that we’re living together. You have to be responsible for me.”

“Li-li-living together!” As soon as Su Huaizhou heard these words, the blush on her face quickly spread to the back of her ears. Flustered, she snatched the takeout bag from his hands and turned to escape. “Be responsible, your head!”

He was just about to close the door when he saw Senior Sister dash towards her bedroom, too late to stop her.

When she passed by the dining table, she even reached out to take away the plate of stir-fried pork that he had made.

“Hey, wait…” Jiang Miao quickly called out. “Don’t you have your own stir-fried pork?!”

Bang!

The bedroom door slammed shut.

From inside, Su Huaizhou’s proud voice rang out. “So what? Alternating between two different stir-fried pork sounds pretty good~”

Jiang Miao: “…”

Senior Sister, you took my dinner away. What am I supposed to eat now when it’s so late?

Perhaps thinking of this, Su Huaizhou opened her bedroom door.

She placed a neatly packed takeout container of stir-fried pork on the floor. “Here, I’ll graciously give you this.”

Thud.

The door closed again.

Jiang Miao looked at the takeout container, which was supposed to be Senior Sister’s meal, and the corners of his eyes couldn’t help twitching.

Where did my graceful and gentle Senior Sister go?!

Please bring her back!!!

Feeling helpless, he picked up the stir-fried pork and made do with it for dinner.

After dinner, he saw that there was already a plate and an empty takeout bag outside Senior Sister’s door.

Jiang Miao shook his head with a smile. He felt like he didn’t gain a girlfriend but more like a disobedient and temperamental kitten who needed feeding.

After washing the dishes and cleaning the dining table, he stood with his hands on his hips and looked around the living room. He unexpectedly felt a sense of home. Is this what it feels like to settle down and start a family with Senior Sister someday?

Although the condo was small, it had all the essentials. For two people, the size was enough. Moreover, it looked cozy, unlike large houses that often felt empty and cold.

But with Senior Sister hiding in her room like this, Jiang Miao felt a little down.

He headed towards the guest room, planning to continue writing at night.

But when he reached the door, he turned back and went to the door of Senior Sister’s bedroom.

He knocked gently. “Senior Sister, can you help me proofread later?”

“No way!” Su Huaizhou shouted from inside, though her tone betrayed her true feelings.

“Then how about helping me dry my hair after I shower?”

“In your dreams!”

“Then how about I sneak into your room tomorrow morning to practice confessing?”

“Get lost, get lost, get lost!!!” Su Huaizhou, being poked at her sore spot by Jiang Miao, immediately lashed out in panic.

Just the thought of the confession plan she had formulated for Junior Brother and how he had actually known all along that she was behind it made her feel like fainting.

She was already this ‘angry’, but he still had the audacity to rub salt in the wound!

Outside the door, Jiang Miao wasn’t the least bit annoyed at being scolded by Senior Sister. He was even a little happy. Senior Sister is cute even when she’s scolding me.

Lost in thought, he subconsciously pressed the door handle.

He thought the door would be locked, but to his surprise, it opened with a simple press.

Jiang Miao: “?”

So the door wasn’t locked the whole time?

He pushed the door open and peeked inside. Senior Sister was sitting in front of her small desk, holding a drawing tablet and drawing on her laptop.

It looked like she was drawing two people hugging?

From his distance, he couldn’t make out the details.

The next second, Su Huaizhou noticed him and immediately closed her laptop in a panic, not letting him see anymore.

“W-what are you doing?” Su Huaizhou, who had taken off her mask, hurriedly put it back on upon seeing him enter and stared at him warily.

“Senior Sister, are you drawing?” Jiang Miao walked over to the bed, sat down, and looked at her desk curiously.

“I’m not showing you.” She pounced on her laptop to prevent Junior Brother from snatching it away.

Seeing her guarded expression only piqued Jiang Miao’s interest even more. “Senior Sister, you’re not drawing something lewd, are you?”

“Of course not!”

“Wasn’t the female lead’s character design you sent me before like that?”

“You still have the cheek to say that?” Su Huaizhou shot him a glare. “Who was so perverted that they even asked me for an uncensored version?”

“Ahem…” Jiang Miao felt a bit embarrassed but quickly regained his composure. “But didn’t you end up drawing it anyway?”

“Hmph! I’m not arguing with you.” She pushed his shoulder. “Go out and write. You haven’t finished your ten thousand words for today!”



“No hurry.” Jiang Miao took the opportunity to grab one of Senior Sister’s hands and knead it gently in his palm. “I’ve already written six thousand words this afternoon. Another four thousand tonight will be a breeze.”

“Then what are you doing now?” She struggled slightly and pretended to be stubborn. “I never agreed to be your girlfriend, so don’t get carried away.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.” He nodded repeatedly. “Senior Sister, you didn’t agree to be my girlfriend, but you agreed to help me gather material. I’m just here to gather material now.”

“Oh… I see…” Su Huaizhou thought about it and felt it made sense, so she naturally held Junior Brother’s hand in return. “I-I really can’t do anything about you… But it’s just for gathering material.”

“Yeah, just for material.” Jiang Miao was not satisfied with merely holding hands to gather material. With a light pull, he drew the sitting Senior Sister into his embrace.

“Ah~” Su Huaizhou ‘accidentally’ fell into Junior Brother’s arms and immediately wrapped her arms around him. “… Is this part of gathering material too?”

“Yes, it’s part of gathering material.” He held her waist tightly, buried his face in her hair, and took in her pleasant scent.

She had waited for this moment for a long time. After confirming with Junior Brother that it was just for material, she leaned into his chest and hugged his back tightly. Junior Brother’s hug… is so comfortable…

She immersed herself in his presence, feeling as though her entire body was light and fluttery.

Their bodies pressed close together… Their breaths intertwined… After hugging, neither wanted to separate again.

It’s just for material… I’m not agreeing to be his girlfriend. Su Huaizhou kept convincing herself in her heart, trying to make her actions feel justified.

Until she noticed Junior Brother’s head slowly lowering—

His lips first brushed against her forehead, then slowly trailed down to her nose. Through the mask, they finally reached her lips. Feeling his hand fiddling with the strap of the mask by her ears, she immediately returned to her senses and pushed him away.

“What do you want to do?!” Su Huaizhou covered her mouth over the mask and sat back on her chair, staring at him with a flushed face.

Realizing that Senior Sister had discovered his intentions, Jiang Miao looked at the ceiling guiltily. “Ahem… gathering material… It’s just gathering material.”

Senior Sister simply smelled so good. It was impossible for him to resist.

If she weren’t wearing a mask, he would have kissed her just now.

“N-no way! We aren’t a couple!” Su Huaizhou was still stubborn, but her mind couldn’t help fantasizing about kissing Junior Brother. The very idea sent a shiver through her.

“Senior Sister, isn’t it almost the protagonist’s birthday?” Jiang Miao said in all seriousness. “The main couple is going to kiss on his birthday, but I’ve never had that kind of experience in my life.”

“That’s still not okay! It’s not so soon!” She stomped her feet in embarrassment, then finally turned her back to him. “At most, we can hug! Nothing more!”

He knew he’d crossed the line a bit and was just teasing her. Sёarᴄh the novel(F~)ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

After all, even though she had agreed to his confession at noon, they had just gotten together.

Kissing… would at least have to wait until their relationship deepened, right?

In his novel, the male and female leads were childhood sweethearts, with feelings that had grown over time. Even after confirming their relationship, it would take them over a month before their first kiss, which would happen on the male lead’s birthday.

Jiang Miao wasn’t in a hurry about this, preferring to let nature take its course.

Otherwise, before he could make Senior Sister happy, he would make her angry. That would be counterproductive.

With this thought in mind, he got up and walked out of her bedroom. “Senior Sister, I’m going to write.”

“… Oh.”

Hearing the door close, Su Huaizhou turned around in frustration. She yanked off her mask and threw it onto the desk huffily.

If I had known, I would have never worn this thing!

If I hadn’t been wearing it… would I have kissed Junior Brother just now?

Junior Brother is so clueless!

He shouldn’t have tried a little harder!

How could he let me slip away like that?

Too useless!

And even if I escaped, he could immediately have pulled me back.

A forceful kiss…

Hmm…

Su Huaizhou blushed as she reopened her laptop. While her mind was wandering, she looked at the drawing she had been working on earlier.

On it, a man and a woman were hugging each other. In the background was a small balcony, a small couch, and a small coffee table. Beside them was a dining table with a plate of stir-fried pork still steaming.

Looking longingly at the scene, Su Huaizhou let out a soft sigh.

Then her eyes lit up. She erased the heads of the two figures and redrew their outlines.

The boy lowered his head… The girl raised her head… They moved to the middle…

…

Meanwhile, Jiang Miao returned to the guest room and started writing again.

From six to ten in the evening, he managed to crank out over 4,000 words. After uploading the new chapters, he finally breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his chair with his mind completely blank.

He picked up his phone, only to see the usual hateful readers in the comments at the end of the latest chapter complaining again about how short it was.

Ten thousand words is still short?

All he could think was that the morals of the world were declining day by day, and people’s hearts were no longer the same as before.

Back in the early days of web novels, updates were nothing like they were now. It was normal for weekly updates to be 2,000 words or even monthly updates to be just a few thousand words.

Then one big shot started the trend of daily updates, forcing every author in the web novel world to push themselves harder if they wanted to compete.

Now, a trend of writing 10,000 words a day had become mainstream, all thanks to a few inhuman authors who had led everyone astray.

As a result, the readers’ appetites had grown. Now, even 10,000 words a day didn’t seem to impress anyone anymore. Instead, they looked at you in disdain and said, “That’s it?”

Jiang Miao sighed, stretched his stiff body, and thought about going next door to find Senior Sister for material. But before he could get up, he noticed a new message on WeChat.

[No Tears in the Wind]: Sorry.

He was stunned, not sure how to react. What’s going on with Chen Haoshang? Why did he suddenly apologize? Is it about what happened earlier in the evening?

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: I’m not living with Senior Sister. I’m just staying at her place as a guest for a few days. I didn’t mention it before because I didn’t want to make things awkward.

Jiang Miao took this opportunity to clarify the situation.

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: You don’t have to apologize about what happened earlier. Just don’t tell anyone.

[No Tears in the Wind]: It’s not about that.

[No Tears in the Wind]: Something else happened last night. I wanted to tell you in person after you returned to the room, but after thinking about it, I figured I’d tell you now.

[Miaomiao is Deep in Thought]: Huh?

Jiang Miao was taken aback by Chen Haoshang’s words, wondering what could have happened last night.

Wasn’t it just borrowing his laptop?

[No Tears in the Wind]: It’s like this.

[No Tears in the Wind]: Your laptop was still on when I opened it, and there were two programs on the screen…

[No Tears in the Wind]: The fonts were pretty big, so I read them.



[No Tears in the Wind]: Sorry, I really didn’t mean to…

Jiang Miao stood frozen in place, feeling as if a bolt of lightning had struck him.

The sky seemed to have collapsed…

===

One roommate down!