Cui Jinqi felt really wronged.
It's like that kind of childhood friend you've grown up with, only to suddenly find out she has her own small circle outside, and she refuses to let you join... That feeling of betrayal is just too unbearable.
Facing Wang Wanrou's rejection, Yang Wangshu was smug, probably wearing a "I told you so" expression under her mask.
Cheng Jinyang wanted to say something, but since he's not the one in charge, he's at a loss for words on how to comfort her.
Young Miss Cui pursed her lips, then stood up and silently pushed the door open.
"Hey, you should talk less." Xiao Wangshu was still laughing heartily, so Cheng Jinyang tapped her on the head, "Mocking and ridiculing others isn't a nice behavior."
"You're actually taking her side!" Yang Wangshu exclaimed incredulously, punching him wildly, "She's only been here for a short time, and you're already taking her side!"
"You have to treat everyone fairly, and stand up for what's right, not just your friends, understand?"
"I don't!"
"That's because you're still a child, you'll understand when you're older."
He left the bedroom and saw Cui Jinqi sitting on the bench in the courtyard, hugging her knees, her profile in the moonlight looking lonely and desolate.
"What's wrong?" Cheng Jinyang came over to her, bending down to ask, "Why suddenly interested in me?"
"I'm not interested in you, I'm interested in the secrets you're hiding!" Cui Jinqi said irritably, finding his ambiguous remarks distasteful.
"Everyone has secrets," Cheng Jinyang said.
"But not every secret can catch Wang Wanrou's interest and attention," Cui Jinqi said.
"It sounds like you care a lot about her," Cheng Jinyang said with a smile, "Or, sensitive? Are you implying something about your orientation... Ahem, it's okay, you can tell me, I won't discriminate against you guys."
"My orientation is perfectly normal, I like handsome guys," Cui Jinqi gritted her teeth, then her tone softened, "Wanrou... she's my first friend."
"When I was young, because of always lying, no one around me liked me, only she could naturally get along with me."
"Miss Wang, no matter who she's with, always has that calm and composed demeanor." Cheng Jinyang mused.
"But that's different," Cui Jinqi tightened her arms around her knees, continuing, "Friendship, for you guys, might be commonplace, but for me at that time, it was precious."
"Wanrou, she could easily recognize my lies, so she wouldn't be annoyed, or even distant and disgusted with me, because she wouldn't be deceived by me in the first place."
"But as you said, she's actually like that with everyone, it's not that I'm different, it's just not friendship at all." She rested her chin on her knees, curling up like a big squirrel, "So I want to try harder."
"I've never seen her interested in anything, so even when we're chatting, most of the time I'm the one talking, and she just absentmindedly goes along, only talking more when she's in a good mood—we don't even have any common interests."
"So you found me." Cheng Jinyang understood.
"She sees you differently." Cui Jinqi looked at him jealously and stubbornly, "I don't care about the secrets you have, I care about what qualities of yours have won her favor, and I'll find out."
"Have you ever thought that this secret might be crucial?" Cheng Jinyang made a chopping motion with his hand, "Once you know, we might have to silence you?"
"Impossible," Cui Jinqi said without hesitation, "Wanrou was initially investigating you, and later she finally learned your secret. Why didn't you silence her?"
"Because she's useful to me," Cheng Jinyang said with a smile, "And you?"
"Why am I not useful?" Young Miss Cui retorted angrily.
"What use do you have? Can you be a pillow or keep the bed warm?" Cheng Jinyang taunted her deliberately.
"Don't you want the down payment for the loan anymore?"
"...Sorry."
"If you don't want to tell me, then forget it." Cui Jinqi hopped off the bench, untied her ponytail, and shook her hair. "Since Wanrou can find out, of course, I can too. You better not show any flaws!"
"Then, good luck to you, Miss Detective Cui."
"Hmph, I'm going to bed."
With anger, Cui Jinqi stormed back to Cheng Jinyang's bedroom, only to see Yang Wangshu, wearing a mask, sitting on her bed, enthusiastically playing her handheld game console.
"Who allowed you to touch my stuff!" She pounced over with her fangs bared, "You, this... Huh? How did you defeat this monster?"
"It's simple." Xiao Wangshu paused the game and typed, "When it attacks, press the defense key, counter with the shield, enter bullet time, quickly double jump at a 60-degree angle upwards to its front, shoot an arrow downward to break its headshot, or else you'll get hit."
"After shooting the arrow, immediately backflip and land, just behind it. At that moment, it's in a backward motion due to the headshot, so follow up with a backstab and a decapitation, done."
"Do you have a chip implanted in your brain?" Cui Jinqi asked incredulously.
"...Huh?"
"Otherwise, how could you do so much in such a short time!"
"Heh, it's just basic operations. Practice makes perfect."
So, when Cheng Jinyang returned, he saw Cui Jinqi and Yang Wangshu wearing headphones, holding controllers, playing games together. The two girls even found the handheld screen too small and projected it directly onto the TV screen.
"What are you doing?" he asked feeling puzzled.
Yang Wangshu couldn't type as she was busy with the controller, so Cui Jinqi, with her eyes fixed on the TV screen, impatiently replied, "Stop bothering us, Wangshu is helping me kill this monster... Hey hey hey hey hey hey!!!"
She made a mistake due to being distracted by Cheng Jinyang and her game character fell off a cliff, causing her to angrily slam the controller on the bed.
"It's normal, this scene has narrow space, it's easy to fall if you don't position yourself properly," Yang Wangshu put down the controller, typing, "Wanna try again?"
"Let's go again!" Cui Jinqi gritted her teeth, picking up the controller again.
Cheng Jinyang: ...
Wasn't you supposed to investigate my secrets? How did you suddenly got addicted to gaming?
Don't you want to sleep with me anymore?
"Well, you guys continue playing," he glanced at the time, it was already 1:00 in the morning, he sighed, "It's too late, I need to sleep."
Cui Jinqi didn't respond, just waved her hand forcefully, indicating he should go do whatever he wants - Xiao Wangshu would help her defeat this monster.
Cheng Jinyang yawned and climbed into bed.
It wasn't until the next morning at 9:00, after battling in the nightmare all night, that he woke up.
Getting out of bed, he saw Cui Jinqi and Yang Wangshu lying on the other bed, peacefully sleeping like two young deer, with the game controllers casually thrown aside.
Helping them to adjust their postures and covering them with the quilt, Cheng Jinyang couldn't help laughing when he looked at the two sleeping girls.
One by one, they are not people who can be taken care of.