Love Apartment: Yifei is my junior aunt

Chapter 574 Midnight Echoes (Part 2)

By the time Nanfeng and his group returned to the apartment, it was already quite late.

The group of people who had witnessed and imagined the whole drama between Guan Gu and Youyou from the car were extremely anxious and wished they could rush to Guan Gu's bedroom to ask him what he meant by "just a little something".

However, considering that they didn't know what would happen next, and that if Guan Gu and Youyou's "little something" tonight was really that interesting, they might rush in and find a surprise full of white things on the bed.

Even if they're incredibly gossipy, they wouldn't go so far as to appreciate such messy and nonsensical scenes.

So Nanfeng and his group of five returned to their respective suites, and after a quick wash, they prepared to go to sleep.

For Ziqiao and Meijia, their current state is indeed not suitable for taking a bath.

But as a normal person, even in winter, you can't go three whole days without showering, let alone after they've been busy these past two days, covered in sweat and stench. If they don't shower soon, their bodies will start to ferment.

Although they could only take a shower together in the bathroom, fortunately there was a thick curtain separating the wet and dry areas. They could still take a shower as long as they stood separately inside and outside the curtain.

The only thing to consider with this method of bathing is the character of the other person while they are bathing.

Meijia would never peep at Ziqiao while he was taking a bath. As for Ziqiao... he may not be a very good person, but he is just lecherous, not a pervert. Ziqiao would never stoop to doing such a lewd thing.

Besides, what's so good about Chen Meijia's figure?

Ziqiao crossed his arms and turned his back to the curtain, revealing an impatient expression.

Women just take their time showering.

Listening to the pattering water behind him, his gaze slowly began to wander.

……

After they finished washing up, they cautiously pushed open the bathroom door, and their two heads peeked out furtively.

Seeing that no one was in the living room, they rushed out of the bathroom in a hurry.

The first thing Meijia said when she entered the living room was, "I'm exhausted. This is the first time I've ever felt like I'm being robbed while taking a shower."

"Hey, who are you calling a thief?!"

Ziqiao immediately protested, "I didn't look to the side the whole time, and I didn't even move my head once, okay?"

"so what?"

Meijia rolled her eyes at him, still sounding annoyed, and said, "So should I praise you for having lustful thoughts but no courage, a true moral exemplar, a model man?"

"Prejudice, blatant prejudice!"

Ziqiao was too lazy to say anything more to Meijia, and the two of them spread out their blankets on their respective sofas.

Ziqiao plopped down on the sofa, closed his eyes, and let out a pleasurable groan.

"Awesome~~~"

Meijia sat on the other sofa, looking down at her phone, completely ignoring Ziqiao.

"Are you still playing on your phone?"

Ziqiao patted the sofa, acting like a young master, and said, "Go to sleep now, we still have to chase girls early tomorrow morning."

"And he's going to pick up girls too?!"

Meijia's eyes widened: "Teacher Xian, isn't he meeting Lisa tonight? And now there's no one to compete with you for the title of the king of picking up girls in the apartment."

"Lu Ziqiao, don't you think I haven't been embarrassed enough by following you these past two days?"

"Can't you just give up for a while?"

"Sorry, this is called 'life goes on, and so does chasing girls.'"

Zi Qiao said eloquently, "The key to picking up girls is perseverance and persistence. It's like water dripping on a stone, grains of sand forming a tower, and an old horse still wanting to gallop a thousand miles. Only in this way can you be invincible, conquer all, and ride like a dragon with its tail wagging and a horse galloping."

"cut."

Meijia said disdainfully, "You're not very cultured, but you use quite a lot of idioms."

"In short, you have to go by yourself. I will absolutely not go with you and embarrass myself."

"If I go out with you to pick up girls again, rumors might start circulating in bars that a brother and sister with incestuous relationships are looking for a threesome."

"Hey, you're not going to chicken out like this, are you?"

Ziqiao advised, "At worst, you can help me seduce pretty girls first, and then I'll help you seduce handsome guys."

"Get lost, I'm busy!"

Seeing that Mika resolutely rejected his idea and continued to play with her phone, he immediately leaned back on the sofa and groaned.

"If you won't let me chase girls, you have to let me do something to pass the time, right?"

Ziqiao's eyes lit up, and he started coming up with another bad idea: "How about we throw a party in 3602 tomorrow and invite a bunch of handsome guys and beautiful girls to have fun together?"

"Handsome guy? Party? Happy!"

Upon hearing this, Meijia's eyes lit up, and a lovestruck smile spread across her face, as if she was about to agree without hesitation.

Indeed, that was the case. She excitedly reached out to Ziqiao, her eyes seemingly transcending time and space to see the handsome guy at tomorrow's party.

Ziqiao was puzzled when Meijia reached out her hand to him: "What?"

"Give me the money! Give me the money for the party!"

Mika, unable to contain her excitement, said with a trembling smile, "Give me the money now, and I'll contact Joey right away to reserve the drinks and other things for tomorrow's party."

"You and Joey don't get along, so if you make a reservation through him, he definitely won't give you a discount. I'll handle it instead."

"hehe……"

Upon hearing this, Ziqiao thought about his wallet, and the smile on his face instantly turned into something more like a grimace.

When Meijia saw Ziqiao's embarrassed smile, she knew he was short of money. Meijia waved her hand and said, "It's okay, we have ways to make do even if we don't have money."

"I'll cover the basic expenses for the party; you can pay your share by doing manual labor."

"Tomorrow morning, you'll first go to the wholesaler to pick up the drinks, then go to the supermarket to get more supplies. Setting up the party and the post-party cleanup are also your responsibility..."

Seeing Meijia rambling on about a lot of troublesome and tedious things, Ziqiao's smile became increasingly stiff.

He shrank back and muttered in a barely audible voice, "Can't we just throw a party first and then collect everyone's money as gifts?"

"cut."

Meijia expressed her contempt for Ziqiao without reservation: "You are unwilling to spend money or put in any effort, and all you do is expect others to pay for your happiness."

"Lu Ziqiao, you've really grown up, acting like a young master?"

Ziqiao was embarrassed by Meijia's words, and he quickly said, "Okay, okay, I won't have this party, alright?"

Dejected after his party failed, Zi Qiao leaned back on the sofa and began to sigh deeply.

They can neither pick up girls nor throw parties. Given the side effect of their inseparable relationship, they won't have any fun unless Mika cooperates.

Ziqiao suddenly felt that his life in the next few days would be absolutely dull and lifeless, with no beautiful women, no parties, and no excitement.

All that's left is endless boredom, boredom, and more boredom.

He glanced listlessly at Mika, who was still engrossed in her phone: "What have you been doing these past few days, glued to your phone? If you're looking for fun, include me!"

Mika instinctively covered her phone and said nonchalantly, "It's nothing."

"oh."

Ziqiao nodded silently, then after a while, he suddenly exclaimed in horror, "Lisa? How did you get here?!"

Meijia was startled by what she heard. She quickly turned her head to look, and then Ziqiao snatched her phone away with lightning speed.

"Lu Ziqiao! Give him back to me!"

Meijia shouted angrily, but Ziqiao just chuckled and said, "Let me see what's so fun on your phone."

His gaze swept across Meijia's phone screen, and then he froze.

Ziqiao looked at Meijia with a strange expression: "You're actually looking for a job?"

Mika snorted and snatched her phone away: "What's wrong with looking for a job? Can't I look for a job?"

"But weren't you doing a pretty good job as Guan Gu's personal assistant?"

"Oh……"

Ziqiao suddenly realized: "Is it because Guangu started spending too much money after he started dating, so he's planning to fire you to save on paying your salary?"

Before Meijia could reply, Ziqiao stood up and said, "This is outrageous! Meijia, don't worry, I'll go and talk to Guangu. He definitely won't fire you!"

"sit down."

When Meijia saw that Ziqiao was going to stand up for her without even thinking, she felt helpless but also a little amused.

She pulled Ziqiao down to sit and explained earnestly, "It's not that Guangu wants to fire me, it's that I'm planning to find a new job."

"Are you looking for a new job?"

Ziqiao suddenly realized again: "I know, it's because you're upset that Guangu isn't giving you a raise?"

"It's okay. I'll go and talk to Guan Gu for you."

"no."

Mika said, half-laughing and half-crying, "It has nothing to do with what you're thinking. I just want to find a new job."

Ziqiao was completely bewildered: "Why?"

Meijia turned her head and glanced at Guangu's bedroom, then covered her mouth and whispered her thoughts to Ziqiao.

"Oh, I see."

Ziqiao finally understood what was going on, and then he reached out and touched Meijia's forehead: "You don't have a fever, so why are you confused?"

"What are you doing? What are you doing?"

Meijia patted Ziqiao's hand dismissively.

"No, Mika, are you sure you're not having a brain fart?"

Ziqiao looked at Meijia with the eyes of someone who was mentally ill. This was the first time in his life that he had heard someone complain about their job because it paid too much and had too little work, and then planned to change to a new job.

Isn't this just plain crazy?!

"Meijia, I remember your wish used to be to marry a good man and live a life of plenty, where you could eat and drink without worry, just laze around and have money and love, right?"

"Although marrying a man and choosing a boss are different, why would you go through all that trouble when you have the chance to just coast along?"

"People always need to make progress."

Meijia looked down at the job search app on her phone, muttering to herself, "Back in the day, I was rich and extravagant, but when I was broke, I was starving. My biggest wish was to live a life of ease, to find a good man to marry."

"Now that we've moved into an apartment, we have enough to eat and wear, and we don't have to live in fear anymore."

"Most importantly, with everyone in the apartment, I feel that even if I do poorly, I will never be able to live the same life as before."

"At times like these, people always want to pursue something higher."

"Something more advanced?"

Ziqiao moved closer to Meijia and glanced at the job postings on her phone.

"Formaldehyde purifier, negative review remover, water quality tester... these random jobs don't seem very prestigious."

He reached out and tapped on the job postings for these professions, and was surprised to find that people actually applied for these ridiculous jobs.

"Why is it that all these part-time job applicants are from the same person named Du*? Is he short of money?"

Ziqiao looked at Meijia and asked, "So these are the higher-level things you're pursuing?"

"Oh dear, I wasn't talking about a high-level profession."

Meijia put her phone away. Actually, she also thought these professions were too brainless, but what could she do? She had no education, no ability, and no background. The companies she wanted to work for didn't want her, and the companies that wanted her to work for were all traps.

However, when she thought about how most college students are in the same situation as her when looking for jobs, Meijia wasn't so depressed anymore.

She said in a serious tone, "Actually, it doesn't matter to me whether I have a lot of money or a little, as long as I earn enough to live on, enough to buy clothes, comics, dolls, snacks, lollipops, cosmetics, and so on..."

Meijia's voice trailed off as she spoke, and she suddenly realized that the money she earned was truly worthless.

She coughed lightly, trying to save face, and said, "What I really want is to find a job that allows me to realize my value, a job that makes me feel that what I do is useful, instead of being like Guan Gu's personal assistant now, where it doesn't really matter whether I'm there or not."

Ziqiao frowned. He still felt that Meijia's decision to not want to be Guangu's personal assistant and instead want to find other jobs was incredibly stupid.

How come I didn't know that Mika was also an idealist?

He spoke up to advise, "Meijia, whether there's a difference or not isn't up to you to decide. Since Guangu didn't fire you, it proves you're important to him."

"Um."

Meijia nodded: "If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have changed so many pairs of pants."

Ziqiao looked puzzled upon hearing this: "Huh?"

"...I've accidentally ruined dozens of pairs of pants for him over the past year."

"oh."

Ziqiao was immediately embarrassed. He racked his brains for a long time but could only say dryly, "At least, at least you should cook for him."

"But even if I don't become Guan Gu's personal assistant, I will still cook for him just like you would for me. It's not like I'm not charging you for your meals."

"How much is the food expense worth?"

Ziqiao said in a deep voice, "Meijia, I think you shouldn't think so much. Just focus on your work, be a good assistant to Guangu, and making money is the most important thing."

When Ziqiao got to this point, he sighed silently. He found it hard to believe that one day he would be advising others not to overthink things and to work diligently.

But for Mika, who has retired from the entertainment industry, this is the best choice.

After all, the skills she learned in the martial arts world were more socially oriented and not very suitable for doing serious work.

Most importantly, she and Curry Sauce are two human error-making machines; whatever they do, they are likely to create unexpected mistakes and oversights.

Otherwise, given Meijia's exceptional housework skills, how could she possibly have ruined dozens of pairs of Guan Gu's pants by burning them?

Despite Ziqiao's attempts to persuade her, Meijia still shook her head.

"Even if I were willing to continue working as Guan Gu's personal assistant, this job wouldn't last long."

"I would support Guan Gu and Youyou being together a thousand times over, but they will eventually get married, have children, and start their own family."

"I'll still be Guan Gu's personal assistant then, just cooking all day long, and then I'll feel at ease letting Guan Gu spend money to support me. What kind of situation is that?"

"Guan Gu will eventually not need a personal assistant anymore. Rather than putting him and Youyou in a difficult position later, I might as well take advantage of the fact that I'm still useful as a personal assistant and look for a better job while I'm still doing this."

"impossible."

Ziqiao said firmly, "You're our friend. Neither Guangu nor Auntie will mind. If all else fails... you can work as their nanny."

"I'll spray you to death with a mouthful of salt soda!"

Meijia spat at Ziqiao: "Tell me yourself, is this the kind of idea a human being could come up with?"

He shrugged. "I don't think there's anything wrong with it."

Meijia pouted: "I think Nanfeng is right. If the foundation of a job is friendship rather than ability, then that relationship will change sooner or later."

"I want to be Guan Gu and Youyou's best friends for life, instead of being a nanny who lives off their friendship."

"It's Nanfeng again; he always has a whole set of grand principles to share."

Ziqiao snorted coldly, then asked irritably, "Since he's so good at talking, did he help you find a job?"

Meijia blushed upon hearing this and said embarrassedly, "Actually, Nanfeng had asked me to go to his dubbing studio to see if I could handle the operations or front desk positions."

"and then?"

"Then, while I was sitting at the front desk playing on the computer, I accidentally got a computer virus. All the computers in the studio crashed, and the data from the operations team was also lost."

Ziqiao's lips twitched uncontrollably upon hearing Wanjia's words.

He suddenly stopped worrying that Mika would quit being Guan Gu's personal assistant and go do other work.

With her destructive work skills, she can only handle minor daily matters in Guan Gu's area, because even if she messes things up in the end, it won't be too bad.

As for Nanfeng, even if he doesn't expect the dubbing studio to make him much money, as the boss, he still has to ensure that the studio can make money for the people under his management.

One Curry Sauce in a voice acting studio is enough; if a small studio could handle Mika and Curry Sauce, this pair of brilliant talents...

It's getting cold; let the south wind go bankrupt.

Seeing Ziqiao's expression, Meijia pouted and muttered, "Oh dear, I know I'm not very good at these things, but I still want to improve."

Ziqiao raised an eyebrow: "Improvement?"

"yes."

Meijia counted on her fingers: "In the year or so since we moved in, Nanfeng and Zhanbo are now preparing to start a company together, Wanyu has become a fashion editor, and Curry Sauce has become a voice actor."

"Yifei being a counselor is just a transition; she will eventually be promoted to a full-fledged lecturer."

"Teacher Zeng has already been promoted from a radio program host to a TV program host, but Teacher Xian is still not satisfied. Tonight, he wants to invite Lisa to dinner to encourage her to make further progress."

"Guan Gu's Love Amateur" has been successfully published and is now ready to launch a new track in digital comics.

"Youyou has signed with a new agency, not to mention Yumo."

"Zhang Wei, Zhang Wei, Zhang Wei... Zhang Wei hasn't passed the bar exam yet, but he's working very hard."

Meijia talked about everyone in the apartment one by one, and then she concluded: "You see, everyone is changing and making progress. None of them are satisfied with the status quo."

"Everyone is becoming more and more outstanding, and I can't stay in the same place and watch them go further and further away."

Ziqiao was taken aback when he heard Meijia's words, and then a few beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Before he could say anything, Mika continued, "Don't even mention it's me; haven't you been worrying about these same things these past few days?"

Upon hearing this, Ziqiao instinctively denied it, saying, "How could I possibly worry about something so trivial? Are you crazy?"

Meijia rolled her eyes at Ziqiao: "You can fool others, but do you think you can fool me?"

"The reason you went crazy chasing girls after Teacher Xian stole your thunder is because you think there might be someone among you who is more charming and better at picking up girls than you."

"You're worried that you'll be replaced by Teacher Xian, so you're trying your best to prove that you're the king of love in Love Apartment."

"That way, even if you don't know anything, at least you can help everyone with dating and relationships, so you won't be left behind."

Ziqiao immediately fell silent, and silence often signifies a guilty conscience.

Seeing that Yan Yan, whom he had tried to chat up two or three times without much success, was easily taken away by Teacher Xian, and that he had inadvertently become his wingman.

At that moment, Ziqiao felt an indescribable panic.

You should know that he's good for nothing; all he's ever done is lie and pick up girls.

If even your proudest, or even your only source of charm and appeal, is overshadowed by someone else, then what is the point of living in this apartment?

If one's charm and attractiveness aren't the best in the apartment, then he really doesn't have any redeeming qualities at all.

However, Ziqiao mistook his panic and unease for his own overly strong competitive spirit. He absolutely refused to allow Teacher Xian to treat him as a wingman and trample him underfoot.

But it wasn't until Mika said this that he realized that his foolishness and absurdity these past few days were mostly out of fear of being replaced and eliminated.

Ziqiao has figured these things out, but he will never admit them to Meijia.

"I think you're just worrying unnecessarily, thinking everyone should be like you."

He snorted and said, feigning toughness, "I don't care about that, because I'm the number one womanizer in the apartment."

"Fine, fine, say whatever you want."

Meijia pouted. She felt it was rare for her to have a heart-to-heart talk with Ziqiao, but this guy was just being stubborn and acting like she was an outsider.

This made Meijia feel very bored. She put down her phone, pointed at Ziqiao's nose, and warned, "I'm warning you, you absolutely cannot tell Guangu and Youyou what I told you tonight. I don't want them to think that they did something wrong."

"I understand, I understand."

In his panic, Ziqiao had no desire to argue with Meijia and simply gave a perfunctory reply.

"That's good. Turn off the lights and go to sleep."

Meijia patted Ziqiao, signaling him to come with her to turn off the lights.

The two got up, turned off the lights, and lay down on their respective sofas in the dark.

After a while, Meijia rolled over and said, "Ziqiao."

"Um."

"Actually, you don't need to worry about those things at all, because even if one day you are no longer the most dashing and womanizing playboy among us, everyone will still like you."

Mika's comforting words echoed in the dark living room, and apart from that, only the two of them could be heard breathing heavily.

One minute, two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes...

In this dark, blind, quiet, and reassuring little world, the passage of time seems to become blurred, and everything around seems to no longer matter.

Only two hearts gradually began to beat in unison.

After an unknown amount of time, Ziqiao's voice suddenly rang out.

"Mika..."

Mika's long, thick eyelashes trembled slightly: "Hmm?"

"I……"

"I……"

"I……"

"I need to use the restroom."

Meijia opened her eyes, her gaze flashing with a fierce intensity that seemed to want to devour Ziqiao alive.

"The atmosphere's already this tense, and you actually need to go to the bathroom?!"

Nanfeng glanced at 3602, giving him the look of an old man on the subway looking at his phone: "Pah, coward!"

He shook his head helplessly, then turned around and knocked on Yu Mo's door.

I'm coming

I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I feel like my ability to punctuate sentences is improving.

Hahahaha.

(End of this chapter)