novelraw Chapter 266 : Sprite
Chapter 266 : Sprite
The weather had been gloomy and oppressive lately, the sky remaining gray all day long with hardly any sunlight visible, yet no rain fell either.
The car window was cracked open, and the winter wind ruffled Lin Nan's hair, turning the hairstyle she had carefully styled before leaving into a bird's nest.
She hadn't dyed or permed it at all. Her hair relied solely on a comb, so even a slight breeze completely destroyed her hardwork.
However, Lin Nan didn't really care about this. During the epidemic, everyone was staying home anyway, so being a bit messy didn't matter since hardly anyone would see. Even if someone did see her, they'd probably just touch their own month-old uncut hair and wonder who was more unkempt.
It had been over half a month since she'd seen Uncle as well. His hair had also grown quite a bit, with his bangs already covering his eyebrows, his vitality completely hidden beneath that thick fringe.
"How have things been with Chen Yao lately?" Wu Guodong asked.
They'd already covered half the journey in silence when Wu Guodong finally couldn't resist his curiosity.
"Pretty good. Uncle and Auntie take good care of me," Lin Nan said, leaning against the car with her hands folded on her lower abdomen, continuing to stare expressionlessly out the window.
Wu Guodong glanced at where Lin Nan's hands were positioned, his eyebrow twitching.
"You two haven't already..."
"Hmm?" Though the sentence was only half-finished, Lin Nan understood what Wu Guodong meant after a moment. She turned her head and curled her lip disdainfully. "Men."
She had been exposed almost exclusively to males throughout her life, and basically all the males she'd encountered had dirty minds, whether it was Chen Yao or the other guys in the dorm, without exception. Even her former self had just been more reserved and rarely showed it openly.
"???"
I'm concerned that you're inexperienced and got fooled by some scumbag!
Wu Guodong was infuriated hearing that brief response. He felt inexplicably scorned, and he couldn't even explain himself.
With a light sigh, he stopped pressing his niece. Ever since his nephew had completely transformed into his niece, he always felt Lin Nan seemed harder to connect with than before.
It was mainly that feminine aura emanating from within her that left him, a shut-in with virtually no interaction with women, at a complete loss.
Before, although Lin Nan had looked like a girl, her behavior and tone of speech still carried obvious masculine characteristics, allowing people to subconsciously treat her as male, like a sister with a rather masculine personality, similar to Liu Xinyi.
But now, there was no trace of the "him" from before.
The two people in the car fell silent. In less than half an hour, the vehicle stopped in the clearing in front of Grandfather's house.
Lin Nan pushed open the door and got out. Looking up, she saw her cousin Liu Xinyi had moved over a small stool and was chatting and laughing with another cousin while smoking.
Lin Nan frowned imperceptibly. She really wasn't used to the smell of cigarettes.
"Cousin's back!" Liu Xinyi exclaimed.
Seeing her figure, Liu Xinyi tossed away her cigarette butt and came bouncing over. She grabbed Lin Nan's arm and hugged it to her chest, dragging her along.
"Where have you been the past month?"
This girl had originally followed Cousin Wu Jiaming because she wanted to hit up KTVs and nightclubs every day. But after playing for just a couple days, word came down from above that all entertainment facilities had to close. So they could only return here and spend over half a month with nothing to do.
In the past without TV or internet, even little kids could run wild all over the mountains, and tormenting flowers and grass counted as entertainment. But as they grew older, the group had lost the interest of their childhood. Every day they stayed home without stepping outside, only able to hold their phones for amusement.
Liu Xinyi's enthusiasm always left Lin Nan somewhat at a loss, mainly because this girl was a lesbian, and Lin Nan hadn't had much physical contact with females either.
"Sis, what did you do there every day?" Liu Xinyi asked, hugging her arm as they sat in the corner of the living room sofa, whispering in Lin Nan's ear. "Were you playing fun things with your boyfriend?"
Lin Nan's ears were sensitive. Being blown on by the breath that accompanied Liu Xinyi's words immediately made her ears turn red.
"Just playing games every day..." Lin Nan didn't refute the "boyfriend" designation.
"Playing games, huh~" Liu Xinyi smiled meaningfully. "I get it, I totally get it."
You understand nothing!
This girl's mind was also full of dirty thoughts, and she made no effort to hide it.
Wu Guodong came inside carrying the backpack and white cat. Afraid Cola would run away again, he closed the door while opening the backpack.
Cola leaped out of the backpack. Emerging from the cramped space, she was about to stretch when her gaze suddenly froze on the white cat.
Why did she have the illusion of encountering a natural enemy?
The white cat also observed Cola with interest through those deep blue eyes, tentatively taking two steps closer, but Cola unhesitatingly backed away.
"This is the husband I found for you," Wu Guodong said, patting Cola's small head. He forcibly picked her up and pressed her in front of the white cat. "Stop running away when you're in heat!"
"By the way, let's give this white cat a name, shall we?" He ignored Cola, who was struggling and running away again, and looked up to ask.
Wu Jiaming had no interest in cats and was slouched on the sofa playing on his phone. Liu Xinyi immediately raised her hand with a suggestion. "Let's call it Sprite! That way they make a perfect pair!"
Lin Nan was terrible at naming things. Though she felt the name Sprite was a bit too perfunctory, she had no major objections.
"Then Sprite it is!" Wu Guodong forcibly pressed the two cats together. "Get along nicely and don't fight. If you fight, you'll both get neutered."
Tch. Cola trembled all over hearing this familiar threat, and Sprite looked down at his own little hook and shook his small head rapidly.
Both cats seemed to understand human speech, which immediately piqued the interest of Wu Guodong, who already liked cute things. He sat at one end of the sofa, elbows on his knees, bending down to observe the interaction between the two cats.
For some reason, Cola seemed quite afraid of Sprite.
After chatting with Liu Xinyi for a few sentences, Lin Nan suddenly remembered her mother. She looked up to ask Wu Guodong, "Where's my mom?"
"The factory stopped work because of the epidemic. Your mom is staying at your eldest aunt's place now."
"Eldest Aunt's place?" Lin Nan had a realization. "You mean at Eldest Uncle's house where he was confirmed positive?"
"Yeah, she originally just wanted to pay a New Year's visit, but your uncle had just returned from out of town and was confirmed positive. Your mom got quarantined over there. By my calculations, she should be getting out soon."
Lin Nan didn't know why her mother's luck was so terrible.
"Am I still sleeping on the third floor with my cousin?"
"Obviously. Who else would you sleep with?"
Having learned the situation, Lin Nan dragged her suitcase upstairs.
Liu Xinyi followed behind her, quietly asking with curiosity: "Sis, what does that kind of thing feel like?"
"What?"
"That kind of thing!" Liu Xinyi made an obscene gesture with both hands.
Lin Nan's face darkened. "You're asking me? Maybe find someone with experience instead?"
"I thought you and your boyfriend had already... mm, never mind, never mind." She looked sheepishly at Lin Nan's surging anger and immediately took a step back. "Should I sleep on the floor again tonight?"
"Whatever you want."