At the end of the alley, one more turn, and they arrived at the place where Chisa and the others now lived together.
Denia looked at the somewhat old and worn building before her, assessing whether the safety of this place was reliable.
“It looks old, but the safety is still guaranteed.
The main thing is the rent is cheap,” Xiao Ling explained beside her.
“Then how do we get in?” Denia tilted her head and asked.
“Ring the doorbell.”
Xiao Ling gently pressed the doorbell twice with his finger.
A ding-dong rang out with the press.
A rustling of footsteps sounded, then with a click, the door swung open.
Out came a somewhat hunched old granny.
Her cloudy eyes looked at Xiao Ling and Denia before her with some wariness.
“Hello, Granny.
I’m here looking for Chi—”
“Please go back.” The old granny’s voice carried an attitude that brooked no argument.
“You already have a girlfriend and you’re still pestering other young girls.
Truly shameless.”
Denia said nothing.
She only looked at Xiao Ling with eyes tinged with amusement, yet it made Xiao Ling instantly break out in a cold sweat.
“No, Granny Lin, take another look.
It’s me, Xiao Yu?” This time Xiao Ling brought up the surname and called out again, even telling the other party his childhood name along the way.
“Xiao Yu…?” The old granny’s cloudy eyes abruptly lit up.
“Hey, you rotten little brat.
Even as a child you never let your mother rest easy!
Now that you’re grown, you’re still two-timing.
I’ll teach you a lesson for your mother right now!”
“Whoa!
Granny Lin, listen to my explanation!
Damn, put the clothes hanger down!
My girlfriend’s right here, give me some face— waahhh!” Xiao Ling tried to stop her, but solidly took two hits from the clothes hanger, crying out in pain on the spot.
As for Denia?
She was already off to the side, throwing all decorum to the wind, laughing so hard she was doubling over.
…
After a rather intense chase.
Xiao Ling and Granny Lin were finally able to communicate calmly.
The cost was that he’d solidly taken a beating.
“Ahha, hah, I can’t.
So funny.” Denia was laughing a bit breathlessly, even laughing tears out.
“Hey, you’re still laughing!” Xiao Ling was just about to “reassert husbandly authority” when Granny Lin’s single glare scared him back into submission.
“Speak.
What are you here for, boy?” Granny Lin’s voice wasn’t loud and was a bit hoarse, but was sufficiently authoritative. The source of this chapter is g.com.
“Picking people up…” Xiao Ling replied very honestly.
“Here to pick up Chisa?” Granny Lin pressed.
“No?”
“Hm?”
“Er, and Aemeath too…” Xiao Ling broached the topic with Granny Lin, choosing his words carefully.
“You ungrateful wretch…
two boats aren’t enough, you want to jump on a third?!” The clothes hanger in Granny Lin’s hand was already poised and ready to strike.
“Wait, Granny Lin.” The one who spoke this time was Denia.
“We really are here to pick people up.
Chisa and Aemeath are both my friends.
Ling was worried about them and wanted to bring them over to live with me.”
“Really?”
“Really!” Denia leaned in closer, looking at Granny Lin with those adorable, big, glistening eyes.
Granny Lin looked at the utterly adorable Denia before her, then looked at Xiao Ling grinning goofily on the other side.
In the end, she sighed helplessly.
“Heh, so you do still have a bit of conscience, boy.” Her voice was somewhat fierce, giving the silly lad another jolt.
“Come on.
I’ll take you two upstairs.”
…
Although Granny Lin was already in her seventies, her legs and feet were still spry.
No joke — was an old granny who could chase and beat down a young university student like Xiao Ling some kind of simple character?
“There’ve been too many people coming to harass them lately.
Every time those girls come back from going out, there are always some shifty-eyed characters trailing behind them.
They clearly look like upstanding gentlemen, but they go about doing such sleazy things.” As she climbed the stairs, Granny Lin still had the energy to brief Xiao Ling on how Chisa and the others were doing lately.
Xiao Ling found it a bit amusing.
He figured most of the “shifty-eyed characters” Granny mentioned were probably people who thought Chisa and the others were 100%-accurate cosplayers and wanted to grab photos.
Of course, he couldn’t rule out that there might indeed be some with ill intentions among them.
“Speaking of which, how did Granny Lin end up meeting Chisa and the others?” Xiao Ling inquired of her.
“You ask about that.
Truth is, the first one I ran into wasn’t that girl Chisa.
It was that girl called Aemeath,” Granny Lin explained.
“She, I don’t know what happened, just collapsed beside the alley like that, with a circle of people gathered around her.
I only found out after asking — this child appeared out of thin air.
That girl was so pretty.
I was worried about her drifting outside all alone, being targeted by people with bad intentions.
So I took her in.
Come to think of it, that girl Aemeath, she’s just as warmhearted as you.
In the week or so since she’s been here, she’s helped everyone in the alley with a lot of dirty and tiring work.
I originally thought a young girl like her would be a bit unaccustomed to it, but didn’t expect she actually quite enjoyed it.
As for that girl Chisa, she was also brought back by that child. Get faster updates on g.com.
She later brought back two more especially pretty girls.
I think they’re called…
Linae and Sigrika?
Both sound like foreign names.
I figured with them being girls, it’s good for them to huddle together for warmth.
So I took them all in.”
“Granny Lin.” Denia, who had been silent all this while, suddenly spoke up.
“This Sigrika you know — is her hair orange, and does she have it tied in four braids?”
“Hey, that’s exactly right.
What, is she your friend?”
“Mm, yes.
A very, very good friend.” Denia narrowed her eyes and smiled at Granny Lin.
“I still need to thank you, Granny Lin.
And also…
sorry for troubling you again…” Xiao Ling gave his thanks, full of gratitude.
“You two haven’t come too late.
These old bones of mine can’t take much ruckus anymore.
I could protect them for a while, but I can’t protect them for a lifetime.
Even though you, boy, are a bit of a rascal, your heart is good.
I can rest easy leaving them in your hands.”
As Granny Lin spoke, she brought them to the door of the apartment where Chisa and the others lived.
“Alright.
I’ll leave you here.
The rest of the time is for you young folk.”
Granny Lin slowly made her way downstairs.
“So, should I knock?” Xiao Ling turned his head to look at Denia.
Denia gave him a silent response with her determined gaze.
Knock, knock, knock.
Counting the beats of his heartbeat, Xiao Ling knocked three times, steady and firm.
After the sound of knocking faded, what followed was the rustling of footsteps behind the door, and a light and breezy “Coming!” that came through the door panel.
Then, with a click, the apartment door opened.
And there Aemeath appeared, standing so charmingly before Xiao Ling.
She wore a short-sleeved shirt one size too big for her frame and a pair of very loose-looking shorts, with pink Hello Kitty slippers on her feet.
Her waist-length pink hair wasn’t tied up, just casually draped over her shoulders — a little less gallant, but even cuter.
The moment she saw Xiao Ling, her originally somewhat drowsy eyes instantly cleared.
Her eyes couldn’t stop trembling.
“Aemeath.” Xiao Ling’s voice was gentler than it had ever been.
“I’m here to take you all home!”
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