My Demon Friends-Chapter 708 - 669
"You two, it's already ten o'clock. Your time is up."
"Oh, okay."
"That was quick."
"You're welcome to come again next time."
"Thank you."
Zhou Li bent over with his racket and scooped up the shuttlecock from the ground. Bringing it close for inspection, he saw it was frayed. He casually tossed it up, and the shuttlecock traced a beautiful arc through the air before landing in the corner trash bin.
Two hours had passed, and they had just finished one tube of shuttlecocks—quite economically, at that.
This spoke to the intensity of their match.
The tube of shuttlecocks cost 90 yuan, nearly as much as the court fee. Badminton was turning out to be quite an expensive sport.
"I'm so thirsty."
"Yeah."
Zhou Li glanced at Zhu Shuang. The intense two-hour match had clearly drained his energy; he was practically drifting as he walked. Zhou Li quickly feigned exhaustion as well.
"Let's buy another bottle and drink as we walk. What do you want, Bro?"
"Sprite or Coke."
"Sprite..." Zhu Shuang operated the vending machine, searching for the Sprite. "Since when did you start liking carbonated drinks?"
"It cools you down fast."
"Oh."
CLUNK.
The Sprite dropped out first. Zhu Shuang squatted to retrieve it, handed it to Zhou Li, then bought a bottle of Mizone for himself. They drank as they walked outside.
"Bro, how do you have so much stamina?"
"Brother Nan took me cycling. We rode a hundred kilometers, and she's incredibly fast," Zhou Li made up an excuse. "Your stamina is great too, athlete-level."
"I'm still not at that level."
"Have some confidence."
"Oh!"
It was just past ten. The streets were sparsely populated, and most shops had closed.
Zhou Li and Zhu Shuang walked back slowly, opting not to take a taxi, using the walk to relax their muscles.
They passed a milk tea shop. After finishing his Sprite, Zhou Li bought two cups of milk tea with extra sugar. He indulged comfortably, unconcerned about gaining weight after their recent rigorous activity.
At that moment, he couldn't help but think of his Little Cousin—
She was a girl much like him, one who rarely updated her QQ Space or WeChat Moments. The caveat "much like" and "rarely" was because, occasionally, under Brother Nan's persuasion, he would post a picture or two reflecting his current state and mood. Zhou Li had also seen his Little Cousin post notices for Volunteer Association activities and various links for prize-winning events or group-buying deals. Sharing these was likely a requirement from the association. Typically, no one responded to the 'like' requests or deal links she shared. This created a contradiction in her behavior: she was too lazy to persistently solicit likes through private messages, yet she relentlessly posted these updates, hoping for attention. When they went unnoticed for days, she would delete them.
So, it was hard to get a sense of her current situation.
He'd been back in Chunming for so long, yet he didn't know if she was doing well, or if she still had her daily supply of milk tea, desserts, and fruit.
Zhou Li decided to ask her about it when he got back.
At eleven o'clock, the house was very quiet.
Old Zhou and Aunt Jiang had already gone to bed but had left their bedroom door ajar, signaling the en suite bathroom was available for them to use.
A sliver of light seeped from under Zhu Bing's door.
Zhou Li placed his half-drunk milk tea on his desk, grabbed clean clothes, and went to shower. Thoughtfully, Zhu Shuang had used Old Zhou and Aunt Jiang's master bathroom, leaving the other one for him.
He felt refreshed after washing up.
Zhou Li encountered Zhu Shuang, who had just come out as well. In a soft voice, he asked, "Did you drink your protein powder?"
"I did."
"Then get to sleep early. Don't play on your phone in bed; we have driving practice tomorrow."
"Alright, good night!"
"Mm-hm."
Zhu Shuang walked back to his room in slippers.
Zhou Li turned off the living room light. Almost simultaneously, the light under Zhu Bing's door went out; she had clearly heard what he'd said.
Back in his room, Lord Dumpling lay on the bed watching *SpongeBob SquarePants*. Hearing the noise, he immediately turned his head, as if expecting someone other than Zhou Li to enter.
"Zhou Ni! Have you finished washing up?"
"I have."
Zhou Li glanced at his desk. The half-finished cup of milk tea he'd placed there earlier was gone.
Glancing at the upper bunk, he saw tonight's Old Monster had transformed into a girl again. She was tall and incredibly thin, with a waist so slim it looked like one could encircle it with a single hand. She lay on the bed playing games, her slender legs kicked up. She wore black stockings, black leather shoes, a collared shirt, and a pleated skirt—a getup learned from who-knows-where, and it didn't look good at all.
Zhou Li quickly averted his gaze and focused on Lord Dumpling to calm his mind. "Why did you drink my milk tea?"
"MEOW?"
Lord Dumpling looked puzzled and quickly explained, "Lord Dumpling didn't do it!"
"I wasn't talking to you."
"But..." Tuanzi hesitated, blinking his bewildered eyes at him. "You were looking at Lord Dumpling..."
"Because Lord Dumpling is cute, and Huai Xu isn't."
"Then who were you talking about?"
"I was talking about Huai Xu."
"It's all Huai Xu's fault..."
"I thought you left it there for me. Why else would you put it there?" Huai Xu's voice came from the top bunk. She turned over, poked her head out from the edge, and stretched out a slender, pale hand. She tossed the empty plastic milk tea cup into the trash bin. "Why is there nothing in it? Just the liquid. Did you know I was going to drink it, so you ate all the toppings at the bottom?"
"I didn't add any toppings."
"TSK..."
The Old Monster had a small, delicate oval face, looking to be sixteen or seventeen, yet her expression was full of distrust. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
Zhou Li couldn't be bothered to argue with her and sat down on the edge of his bed.
"Lord Dumpling, scoot over."
"Oh."
Tuanzi obediently moved to the far side of the bed, leaving enough space for him.
Zhou Li glanced at the pillow and the short cat hairs clinging to it. He shook his head silently, then lay down. He soon realized the air conditioner wasn't on, and the room felt a bit stuffy. So, he got up again, closed the window properly, and turned on the AC with the remote.
"Aren't you two hot? The AC isn't on."
"I'm not hot!"
"Lord Dumpling isn't hot either!"
"But Lord Dumpling sheds so much," Zhou Li said softly, looking at Tuanzi. "Isn't it because it's hot?"
"It's not!" Tuanzi earnestly explained. "Lord Dumpling is a Great Demon; he doesn't get hot!"
"Then why does Lord Dumpling shed?"
"Shedding..."
Tuanzi looked down at the fur clinging to the bed, pondered for a moment, then looked up at Zhou Li, his large, bright eyes sparkling. "It just falls out on its own! It's not Lord Dumpling's fault..."
"Are all cats like that?"
"All cats are like that!"
It seemed Lord Dumpling had momentarily forgotten this excuse but remembered it with Zhou Li's prompting. Annoyed at himself for forgetting such a go-to line, he repeated it for emphasis, "All cats are like that!"
Zhou Li nodded repeatedly, completely convinced. He set the AC to a low temperature, turned off its display light, then picked up Tuanzi and lay down. "Maybe it's because Lord Dumpling is a shorthair cat right now. He might feel hot when he becomes a longhair cat."
"Short cat!" Tuanzi repeated blankly.
"No, it's 'shorthair cat'!" Zhou Li said patiently.
"Short-hair-hair!" Tuanzi's tone firmed.
"No," Zhou Li corrected again. "It's short... hair... cat!"
"Short... hair... hair..."
"Shorthair cat!" Zhou Li tried another approach. "Short, as in the opposite of long. See? Lord Dumpling's fur isn't as long as Huai Xu's hair right now. It's short. A cat with very short fur is a shorthair cat!"
"Lord Dumpling is sleepy." Tuanzi turned over in Zhou Li's arms, yawned, and said, "Going to sleep now."
"..."
Laughter came from the Old Monster on the top bunk.
A soft PFFT of laughter, light and pleasant, was heard.
Zhou Li kept his gaze straight ahead, his mind clear. "Then go to sleep, Lord Dumpling."
With that, he leaned against the wall and opened his phone.
He first replied to Brother Nan, letting her know he was home. Then, he found Little Cousin in his contacts.
Zhou Li: Asleep yet?
Zhou Li: How have you been doing since you got back?
The messages had barely been sent when a full address, detailed down to the apartment number, immediately popped up. It included an instruction in parentheses: (Please call, don't knock).
Baozi: Cousin, please get me a milk tea.
Baozi: Any kind is fine.
Baozi: Please, I'm begging you!
Zhou Li: ...
Baozi: Pleeeeease!
Zhou Li: Sounds like you're not doing too well /wipes sweat
Baozi: I'm begging you, please!
Zhou Li: /ok
Baozi: I want Chen Duoduo's strawberry soybean curd, no ice, extra soybean curd, extra taro balls, thanks, Cousin! And if they have osmanthus-infused soybean curd, that would be even better!
Zhou Li: ...
I really am just an errand boy, aren't I?
