My Demon Friends-Chapter 714 - 675: Comprehension Ability

Baozi picked up an old T-shirt of hers and noticed a mung bean-sized hole at the lower back, its origin unknown.

She held it higher, looking at the small hole against the window, from which a bright light shone.

Luckily, it was on the back. Luckily, it was very, very small.

Baozi didn't mind at all. She quickly folded it and placed it into an enormous suitcase in front of her.

Inside the suitcase, a layer of clothes was already placed. One could see two small, bowl-shaped or triangular undergarments, all in very girlish colors. After laying down the T-shirt, Baozi patted it, then put all her cameras and lenses beside it, and continued to stack more clothes and miscellaneous items on top.

Her mother's voice came from behind, "Whose charging cable is this?"

"Mine."

"Are you taking it with you?"

"Yes."

"You better grab it now! Or you'll forget again!"

"I'll remember."

"You'll remember..." Her mother seemed slightly skeptical but didn't say much more, quickly asking again, "You're starting your junior year of college this year, right?"

"Yeah."

Baozi nodded lightly as she folded a pair of overalls.

"Junior year already..."

Her mother seemed a bit sentimental and then changed her tune. "Have you found a boyfriend yet?"

"Ah... what?"

Baozi was startled for a moment and turned her head to look at her mother, her expression blank and confused.

"I'm asking you."

"No, I haven't."

"You're already a junior; it's time to find someone. In the blink of an eye, you'll be graduating. There are some nice young men you know; try to interact with them more," her mother said earnestly. "Don't just focus all your energy on these trivial things. Look at your cousin, your Brother Nan—how happy they are."

"..."

Baozi still stared blankly at her mother, unable to snap out of it.

In her heart, she still felt like a young girl, hardly any different from her high-school self. She hadn't realized she had reached the age where people would pressure her to get married.

Was it really that fast? Thinking about it, it wasn't fast at all; it was just unexpected.

"I'm talking to you!"

"Oh, oh..."

Baozi didn't have the guts to object, so she just nodded, mumbling her agreement as she continued folding clothes.

"Did you hear me?"

"I heard."

"Did you take it to heart?"

"I did."

Baozi acted very obediently, truly lacking the confidence to refute her mother.

Soon, the suitcase was packed full. She stood up, looked around the room, lifting and replacing the quilt, picking up and setting down pillows, opening and closing dresser drawers to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Then she went back to the suitcase, crouched down, and with a WHOOSH, pulled the zipper shut.

Turning her head, she blinked at her mother. "Mom, I'm all packed up."

"I've transferred the money to you."

"Oh."

Only then did Baozi feel confident enough to challenge her mother.

The pity was that by then, the previous conversation had already passed, and arguing now would seem abrupt.

Regretfully, Baozi pulled out her phone, ready to check her funds for upgrading her camera body. But upon seeing the amount, she froze again, looking up at her mother.

"Two thousand?"

"Yes, that's for your first month. This year, it won't be like before when I gave you money once a year or once a semester," her mother explained. "Your cousin told me you often spend a whole semester's living expenses on photography equipment, and then end up with nothing to eat but steamed buns and plain boiled water in your dorm."

"?"

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing…"

Baozi bowed her head deeply, gripping her phone a bit tighter—she had already added her desired camera body to her shopping cart.

Her cousin was really terrible! Even though they weren't living together, he had still managed to set her up!

Baozi silently lifted her suitcase and walked out with her head drooping. "Then I'm leaving."

"Can you manage it? That suitcase is so big."

"It's difficult."

"I'll have your dad drive you."

"No need. It's crowded with new students today, and it would take a lot of time..." Baozi paused, her eyes darting around. "Just give me money for a cab."

"I'll call you a cab."

"..."

"What's wrong now?"

"Thank you, Mom."

Baozi gripped the suitcase handle harder, and her other hand formed a small fist.

「An hour later.」

Baozi ran into Brother Nan and Zhou Li at the dormitory entrance, just as they were about to head out for a meal. She looked up blankly at the two of them, her gaze settling on Brother Nan as her expression slowly cleared. "Brother Nan, are you, Lord Dumpling, and Zhou Li going out to eat?"

"Yeah, have you eaten?" Brother Nan asked.

"Call me Cousin," Zhou Li interjected.

"No..." Baozi replied.

Baozi sneakily glanced at Zhou Li but only responded to Brother Nan, as if she hadn't heard her cousin's words.

"Right, it's early. Do you want to join us? We'll wait for you," Brother Nan offered.

"Where are you going to eat?"

"The cafeteria."

"The cafeteria..."

"Not coming?"

"I..." Baozi hesitated. "My meal card is in my suitcase, right at the bottom."

"No worries, use mine," Zhou Li said.

"Then, thank you, sister-in-law," Baozi said to Brother Nan.

"It's just a few bucks!" Brother Nan exclaimed.

"Wait for me..."

Baozi, pulling her massive suitcase, quickly dashed into the dorm building, her two braids flying up and down behind her.

「Twenty minutes later.」

The cafeteria wasn't very crowded. Zhou Li and Brother Nan sat together. Little Cousin sat alone opposite them, but to her delight, Lord Dumpling was sitting next to her, eating from a disposable dish.

"Cousin."

"Hmm? What is it?"

Since she'd used Zhou Li's meal card, which also got her an extra fried egg and a skewer of duck hearts, Zhou Li was reinstated as 'Cousin.'

Baozi, chewing on a duck heart she had slid off a wooden skewer, stared eagerly at her cousin. She waited until she swallowed the duck heart before asking, "How did you and Brother Nan start dating?"

"?" Zhou Li was confused.

"Ooh!" Brother Nan also showed interest.

"How did you and Brother Nan start dating?" Baozi patiently asked again.

"Why are you asking this all of a sudden?" Zhou Li countered.

"Because I've grown up," Baozi said seriously.

"PFFT!" Brother Nan laughed out loud.

"..." Zhou Li paused, also somewhat confused. "What kind of answer is that? Are you planning to date someone?"

"No."

"So why ask? Is this an emotional survey or something?"

"This morning, while I was packing to come to school, my mom told me that I'm already a junior and should be dating," Baozi explained, her expression still serious. "After hearing that, I spent a long time thinking about it on the ride here. I realized I've never considered this before, which doesn't seem normal. So, I thought I'd ask you two and reflect on it to figure out where the problem might be."

"Hey! There's no issue..." Brother Nan said, picking a piece of chicken from her bowl. "It's just that your mind isn't on that, that's pretty normal."

"Normal?" Baozi asked sternly.

"Normal, very normal," Brother Nan assured her. "Don't worry about it at all."

"Then how did you and Cousin start dating? I need to learn from your experience," Baozi persisted, with an attitude of academic inquiry, while slightly pushing her meal tray back.

"Let Zhou Li tell you!" Brother Nan said.

"Well..."

Zhou Li thought for a moment and then hesitantly said, "Brother Nan and I have known each other for a long time. We were high school classmates, even deskmates..."

"Is that the key point?" Baozi earnestly inquired.

"No, that's just the foundation, I suppose. But I can't really pinpoint the specific reason. Perhaps it's for reasons that are hard to articulate; we just naturally got along very well," Zhou Li said, opening his hands innocently toward Baozi. "Not every question needs a specific answer, right?" 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Oh..."

Baozi understood. She didn't have that kind of experience, no high school deskmate who also became a college classmate, no affection that had developed over time. Therefore, she concluded, she didn't need to date.