NOVEL NEXT 174: To Do Something… Fun
Still tired to the bone, Lin Songmei and Yan Mingqing trudged through their breakfast, cooking and eating it with robotic motions. With their breakfast done and dishes washed, the two settled back into bed together, cuddling up as they stared out the window making up two entire walls of their bedroom.
Running her hand through Mingqing’s hair, Songmei squeezed her in a long hug as they both laid there with blank eyes. With a dull pain just radiating through her body, Songmei had no intention of moving for the next few days.
Her new profession? Snail sitting on the same rock in an undiscovered cave for thousands of years subsiding on the drip of nutrients from the stalactite hanging from the ceiling.
Watching the hustle and bustle of the morning rush hour taper into a slow drizzle, Songmei and Mingqing were numb to the time passing as they spent the entire morning draped in a comforting silence.
It wasn’t until around lunch when the two spoke again. Debating whether they wanted to return to the kitchen or take a nap, the two—after about three exchanges no longer than ten words each—dozed off and let the afternoon sun continue its journey across their window.
With their afternoon passing in a blur of naps, sparse conversation, and nutritious lychee jelly snacks gifted by Han Youhong, Songmei and Mingqing sat back up in bed as the evening hours began creeping up on them.
“We... really just stayed in bed all day...” Songmei yawned, booping, poking, and fidgeting with Plum. Deciding to give up on sitting up, Songmei let herself slide back down, her head back onto the pillow as the blankets twisted and turned in a messy battlefield around her legs.
Propping her own head up on one arm, Mingqing laid beside Songmei with a tired smile. Running her hand through Songmei’s hair like Songmei did hours before, Mingqing trailed her fingers down Songmei’s back. “Yeah... yeah, it has been all day.”
Laughing as she shared a yawn with Songmei, Mingqing ignored the soreness for a second and pushed herself forward to envelope Songmei in a hug.
Returning Mingqing’s hug, Songmei relaxed into her arms, pulled up the blankets, and decided to fall back into the land of dreams. Welcoming Mingqing and Songmei with open arms, sleep claimed the two as they passed through the last hours of the afternoon and into the evening.
Deep in their sleep though, just a couple hours past their normal dinner time, Songmei and Mingqing didn’t notice as the door of their apartment was cracked open. With oiled hinges maintained on the regular by the sect, Songmei and Mingqing’s door swung open without a hiss of a sound.
Slipping in like a trio of phantoms, the three figures destroyed any semblance of suspicion, eeriness, and creepiness as they took off their shoes at the door and hauled a long folding table into the apartment. Dressed in some random, normal outfits, the three figures made sure to keep the lights off as they closed the door and checked to make sure the two apartment occupants weren’t on the couch. The first out of the three figures dropped a ton of takeout bags on the dinner table before returning to the other two to help them carry the table upstairs.
Stylish as always, Zhao Liying, the oldest of the group raised her hand to pause the two boys outside of Mingqing and Songmei’s bedroom. Tapping her foot, Liying looked over to Wang Taigang, hissing “Do they even have space in their room?” under her breath.
“I swear they do,” Taigang nodded with enough confidence to replace the sun in the sky. “Space for us to have chairs too! I’ve been there!”
“Why were you in their bedroom...?” Youhong ventured with a befuddled stare, raising his hand as he made a motion. “Like... whatcha doing in the bedroom of two girls... you know?”
“Shut up, you know I’m only into guys,” Taigang shook his head with a stare that seemed to say ‘stop trying to stir up trouble annoying-ass.’ “I was in there because they asked me to get something for them while I went up to grab my cup.”
“Likely story,” Youhong teased as the light of interest disappeared from his eyes. Popping some lychee jellies, he motioned for Liying to open the door as they kept all the lights off in the apartment.
Cracking the door open, Liying handed the front of the table off to Youhong as she flipped over the railing of the second floor. Landing in the middle of the living room of the first floor, Liying rushed over to the table, grabbing the food before sprinting back upstairs.
Setting up the table at the foot of Songmei and Mingqing’s bed, Youhong—the stealth expert of the friend group—hid his presence with Qi as he set up the table. Taigang, unable to conceal his sounds very well, stood outside and pulled some folding chairs out of his storage ring.
Coming out to take the chairs one by one, Youhong arranged the chairs to sit on the other side of the table, making the foot of the bed a long bench of sorts for Songmei and Mingqing. With Liying back with the food, Youhong took it as well, setting it up with speedy efficiency as Liying and Taigang watched from outside the room.
Youhong set up everything. From unwrapping the takeout, to plates and utensils, to a tablecloth and candles to set the mood.
“Good to go?” Liying displayed on her terminal from outside the room after expanding it to the size of a tablet.
Giving a thumbs-up, Youhong snuck his way back out of the bedroom. Standing with Taigang behind Liying, they closed the door. Counting to three, Liying began rapping on the door before opening it and turning the lights on.
“““Goood evening!””” Youhong, Taigang, and Liying cheered, waking up Songmei and Mingqing with a bang as they dimmed the lights back down to a half-on level.
“How are you two?”
“Are you feeling better?”
“We have a lot to update you two on!”
Getting flooded with comments from Youhong, Taigang, and Liying, Songmei blinked her eyes back into the realm of the material world. Almost flipping the blanket onto the three intruders, Songmei’s muddled brain processed the situation with the clarity of a drunk toddler trying to understand quantum physics.
Which meant she didn’t process the situation.
“W... what?” Mingqing groaned, propping herself up on one arm as Youhong, Taigang, and Liying took their seats and lit the candles.
Pausing as she lit the candles with her finger, Liying tilted her head. “What up? Everything alright you two?”
“...Yeah... we’re fine,” Mingqing coughed as she and Songmei scooted their way to the foot of the bed.
“I just... didn’t expect a whole formal dinner! To appear at the foot of our bed!” Songmei cried out with a laugh as energy came flooding in as she woke up and began socializing with her friends. “How... how did you three get in? I thought you three returned your keys.”
“Xueli gave us a key yesterday, telling us to do something fun.” Liying shrugged with a grin. “This counts as something fun, right?”
“Definitely...” Mingqing trailed off as she rubbed the last bits of sleep out of her eyes.
