My girlfriend is from the future!

"Ah, Paimon, you don't need to change it, it's fine as it is."

"Watch out or I'll bump into you! Say it again, who is Paimon!"

Just as Jiang Xixi was bending over and hanging her head, chasing He Tianran around the room to bump into him, and Wen Liang actually picked up clothes and started gesturing, Cao Aiqing's patience had reached its limit. Her hands, which were originally hanging down, unconsciously clenched into fists.

Wen Liang was willing to change clothes because she had her own way of manipulating He Tianran, but it would be a miracle if Cao Aiqing agreed to use the same method...

Weird, so weird!

This was the strange atmosphere Cao Aiqing felt as soon as she entered the room and interacted with "He Tianran".

Although she knew that this "teenager" personality was fixed at He Tianran's sixteen or seventeen years old, in Cao Aiqing's memory, when she was in high school with her boyfriend, he wasn't like this. At most, he was just a shy, taciturn, and easily embarrassed person. Isn't this a very common characteristic during adolescence?

Not to mention that it didn't seem like anything at the time, even looking at it now, it doesn't seem abnormal at all.

But the "young man" in front of me was completely fearless and spoke without thinking. Was He Tianran like that back then?
Cao Aiqing felt her memories were becoming confused, and she began to wonder if she had developed a bias against He Tianran after knowing him for so many years, causing his personality to revert to that of ten years ago, and that she hadn't gotten used to accepting him like this.

Regardless, Cao Aiqing was indeed angry looking at He Tianran, who was ordering everyone in the room to revolve around him.

Hearing the constant sounds of playful fighting around her, Cao Aiqing finally couldn't help but utter the man's full name, word by word—

"He, Tian, ​​Ran... Stop fooling around!"

For a moment, the whole room fell silent.

He Tianran and Jiang Xixi stopped in their tracks. Wen Liang, who was about to get some clothes to change, also looked over at her nervously.

"What do you mean we have to change clothes before we can talk? You think we're playing games with you? Haven't you caused enough trouble yet?!"

Cao Aiqing's blunt question stunned He Tianran, who had just relaxed. His shoulders trembled as if he had regained some clarity, but a terrible scene unfolded. The trembling did not stop but spread throughout He Tianran's entire body. He closed his eyes in pain, clutched his head, and squatted on the ground...

"Brother He—!"

The sudden scene startled Jiang Xixi, who was closest to him, and she quickly crouched down to check on him.

"natural!"

Wen Liang quickly went over to check as well.

Cao Aiqing was stunned by this sudden turn of events. She knew without a doubt that her earlier warning had triggered He Tianran's condition. She was at a loss, unsure what to do, as she listened to He Tianran babbling incoherently—

"Look what you've done—are you mentally challenged? Huh!"

"Mind your own business! I don't want your business! Since they're willing, why can't I order them around?"

"They were concerned about you, and you actually ordered them around! What do you take them for? Your maids and servants?!"

"Hey, stop arguing, 'writer,' just treat this as a bit of fun... It's a rare opportunity like this, I'm actually quite interested in watching, how about... I watch?"

"None of you can control me! This body is mine! You all have to listen to me! And don't think I don't know what you two have done. 'Writer,' you were with Yu Naoqiu in the office, and 'Lead Singer,' you were with Wen Liang on the variety show. One of you is into SM, and the other is into PUA. You two have gone way too far than I have! Don't think I don't know! I just wanted to see what's wrong with them doing cosplay!"

"No, do you bite anyone when you're angry?"

"Why should I? Huh? I'm asking you why! Why do you think the whole world should revolve around you like some idiot?! If you keep this up, you're going to cause trouble sooner or later!"

"You're so great! You're so arrogant! If you're so capable, why didn't you dare come out this morning! Now that I've taken care of what you couldn't handle, you're only thinking of coming out now that things have calmed down!"

"Alright, alright, all of you, shut up a bit..."

……

……

He Tianran's expression shifted dramatically, from rebellious to angry, and then back to muttering to himself as if he had regained some rationality. The three girls were all stunned, witnessing this split personality of He Tianran for the first time. The scene was both bizarre and hilarious; no one would believe it if they told others.

Fortunately, Wen Liang, as an actress, had experienced situations where one second she was alone and the next she was someone else. Even if the circumstances were different, the scenario was similar. She reacted first, pulled Cao Aiqing, who was still standing to the side worried, and stuffed the clothes in her hands into Cao Aiqing's arms. Before Cao Aiqing could react, she said to He Tianran:

"Calm down, He Tianran. If you keep making noise, we won't change our clothes, okay? Calm down! We're going inside now. If you keep making noise, we won't be able to see you!"

After saying that, she gave Cao Aiqing a wink, and the other immediately understood and replied:
"Yes, Tianran, I...we'll go inside to change. You wait quietly outside..."

Sure enough, as soon as these words were spoken, He Tianran became like a donkey that had been stroked, and his nonsense immediately decreased. He gradually calmed down. Then, Wen Liang made a comforting gesture to Jiang Xixi and pulled Cao Aiqing into the house.

"Brother He, they've gone inside. Don't get agitated. Nobody's blaming you now. We'll all listen to you."

Jiang Xixi stroked He Tianran's back. Those few strange gestures just now had indeed frightened the little girl quite a bit.

……

……

"Sigh, Ai Qing, I'm not trying to be mean, but you know He Tianran isn't in a good mental state, so why are you taking this so seriously?"

In the bedroom, Cao Aiqing sat on the edge of the bed, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.

Wen Liang deftly took off her down jacket in front of the full-length mirror, revealing a close-fitting black undershirt underneath. Her beautiful curves were faintly visible in Cao Aiqing's eyes. This bedroom felt more cramped than the living room. The walls were covered with anime posters, and the wardrobe door was half open, revealing that it was crammed full of cosplay costumes and wigs.

“I’m not trying to argue with him…” Cao Aiqing’s voice was muffled, “It’s just that I’ve never seen him so natural before. Right now, he feels like a smug kid. This isn’t the same guy he was in high school.”

Seemingly to verify her memory, Cao Aiqing asked her high school classmate another question:
“Wen Liang, Tian Ran wasn’t like this in high school, right?”

"Hehe, um...you're asking me?" Wen Liang seemed to laugh in exasperation: "I wasn't close to you guys back in high school."

Wen Liang draped the outer robe of the Eightfold Divine Child over his body, paused slightly in the act of dressing, and turned to look at her:
"However, after listening to the nonsense he just said, I can understand his current state of mind."

What kind of mentality?

"First of all, I don't understand psychology, but I know how to analyze a character. Just like when I act, you can put yourself in the role. Imagine you are sixteen or seventeen years old and suddenly you are twenty-five or twenty-six, without having experienced any harsh realities of life."

Then you don't need to study anymore, you don't need to take the college entrance exam, you have a billionaire father, a mother who returned from overseas, and whether your family is harmonious or not is another matter. Anyway, the white moonlight you once had a crush on is now your girlfriend, another beauty in your class is an artist under your management, you now own a brokerage company valued at over 2 billion, a top film and television production company in the industry, and even recently opened an investment company to better spend your money. As for your social status, people who know you call you "Director He," "President He," or "Young Master He," and even people in the industry who don't know you have to give you some respect. But your mentality is only that of a sixteen or seventeen-year-old. So, if you were in that situation, Cao Aiqing, would you be arrogant?

Cao Aiqing was speechless for a moment. Wen Liang turned her head back to look in the mirror. She didn't seem to care much about the other person's answer, because she already had a very clear answer of her own.

"puff--"

Seemingly enjoying the hypothetical scenario too much, Wen Liang suddenly laughed out loud, her fingers deftly tying her belt: "Anyway, if it were me... I think I would have been even worse than He Tianran back then."

Cao Aiqing was taken aback, and murmured:
"I just... I've never seen him like this before."

"So, Cao Aiqing..."

Wen Liang adjusted her collar in front of the mirror, her tone carrying a complex mix of emotions:
“You are a lucky person. He Tianran never shows you the immature or pathetic side of himself. He is afraid that you will not like or accept him. It is like a peacock showing you its tail feathers but not its backside. Although there is nothing wrong with this during the relationship, after a long time... he also feels tired.”

Cao Aiqing recalled her long-term relationship with He Tianran over the years, when she suddenly heard Jiang Xixi's soft, sweet voice coming from outside the door:

"Brother He, your face is so red. Would you like some water?"

The two women in the bedroom exchanged a glance. Cao Aiqing's tense shoulders relaxed slightly, and she chuckled softly, saying:

"That little one you asked about outside..."

"Ok?"

"I used to have a natural crush on him."

"You mean..."

Wen Liang frowned, and Cao Aiqing shook her head:
"It wasn't that bad. Xixi is a lovely person and admires He Tianran a lot. At that time, Tianran and I hadn't established any relationship, so it can't be called a third party. But we did have feelings for each other back then. His womanizing made me very angry, so I ignored him for more than a year. By the time we reconciled, it was time for me to go abroad to study..."

Looking back now, attributing Tianran's attraction to Xixi entirely to his womanizing is too simplistic. Tianran's actions today—whether it was a subconscious reaction or an externalization of his personality—along with Wenliang's perspective, have given me a different understanding of what happened back then.

As Cao Aiqing was deep in thought, Wen Liang suddenly tossed something into her hand.

That was a knot in a garment.

"Do me a favor..." Wen Liang turned around, her back to her, revealing the complicated knots behind her back. "This design is so inhumane."

Cao Aiqing took the rope and walked behind the other person. Her fingertips inadvertently touched the cool, smooth back, and she then noticed the fine beads of sweat on the back of the other person's neck...

It turns out that beneath the other person's composed demeanor, there was also a subtle tension.

"You're actually just going along with his nonsense."

With meticulous attention to detail, Cao Aiqing spoke softly, her hands carefully tidying the knots.

Wen Liang winked at her in the mirror: "Otherwise what? Do you really want to scare him into having a personality split live like some people do?"

Cao Aiqing's hand trembled, and the knot almost became a dead knot.

"I……"

"Relax, don't imagine your boyfriend... no, don't imagine your ex-boyfriend to be so mature. He's always just pretending to be mature for you. Admittedly... that's how he shows his love for you, I don't deny that, but..."

Wenliang turned around, her wide sleeves tracing an arc:
"However, our lives are multifaceted, and you can't just love one side of someone, right? If you haven't seen his childish side yet, it's not too late to experience it now~"

As she spoke, she suddenly leaned closer, and a faint, sweet fragrance mingled with the scent of the new fabric of her cosplay outfit wafted towards me.

"Besides, when dealing with these kids who act like seasoned veterans but are actually just two-faced, sometimes going along with them is more effective, you country bumpkin~"

"Hey, who are you calling a country bumpkin!"

The sudden closeness startled Cao Aiqing, and Wen Liang also spun back before the other party could push her away.

She crossed one hand across her chest and used the other to support her chin, looking Cao Aiqing up and down:
"Country girl, that's the character you're playing. That's what my character calls her in the game, not Cao Aiqing... You really don't play any games at all?"

"Let's play!"

Cao Aiqing retorted, seemingly finding the current atmosphere less unbearable:
"I've reached level 556 in Happy Match."

"Hey……"

Wen Liang sighed, rubbing her forehead, unsure of where she had gone wrong...

But just a few minutes later, she would clearly understand just how terrifying her formidable rival's hidden fighting power truly was...

……

……

Twenty minutes later.

"Young" He Tianran and Jiang Xixi, one tall and one short, stood straight at the bedroom door, tacitly maintaining the same posture, arms wrapped around each other, feet shoulder-width apart.

Both of them wore black sunglasses with mosaic-patterned squares, and Jiang Xixi even pulled up the hood with cat ears, looking adorable.

"They're so slow..."

Jiang Xixi muttered to herself. She tilted her head, trying to peek through the crack in the door, but couldn't see anything.

He Tianran pushed up his sunglasses, feigning a profound expression:
"Xixi, you don't understand. Great works need time to mature, just like instant noodles need three minutes, and magical girl transformations need forty-five seconds plus a background music. What they are doing is... an epic-level costume change!"

"Brother He, do you think it's possible that my size is too small, making it inconvenient for them to wear the clothes?"

After saying this somewhat awkwardly, Jiang Xixi added a sentence to save face:

"Ah, but apart from custom-made ones, cosplay outfits are usually one size fits all, so there shouldn't be any problem..."

"Dong dong dong dong dong dong..."

She waited a few seconds and seemed to hear something jumping around, like a faint engine sound. She wasn't sure, so she turned her head to look at He Tianran, who remained in the same position, hiding all his expressions behind his sunglasses. He didn't seem to be acting strangely.

Could it be that I heard it wrong?

Just then, the sound of the doorknob turning could be clearly heard in the quiet living room—

"Click."

The bedroom door was slowly pulled open a crack. (End of Chapter)