The milk tea shop was quiet in the morning.

Baozi sat in the corner, her upper body leaning against the wall, and her legs tucked inward, making her look quite small. She had a clear understanding of her role—after mooching a cup of Brown Sugar Pearl from Brother Nan, she quietly took out her phone and started playing Candy Crush.

Brother Nan had a glass of lemon water in front of her, tapping a tea egg on the table, noticeable dark circles under her eyes.

"Did you play games again last night?" Zhou Li ordered a Mango Pomelo Sago and sat down.

"Yeah!" Brother Nan grunted.

"Didn't Ultra Rapid Fire end?"

"Played chess."

"It's almost finals, and you're still not studying, playing games every day..." Zhou Li felt helpless about this internet-addicted girl. "How are you going to handle the English exam this afternoon?"

"I'll just write it."

"What does 'just write it' mean?"

"Patch it together, and it's done."

"Don't fail your exams." Zhou Li was a bit worried about her vocabulary. "Should I help you write it?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"I want to write it myself!"

"..."

So Zhou Li stopped bothering her, lest she later complain about him nagging.

Brother Nan peeled the tea egg, turned her head, and asked, "Hey, why didn't you bring your beloved Little Cat Girl today?"

"Now you remember her." Zhou Li was speechless.

"Huai Xu isn't here either."

"..." Zhou Li spread his hands. "Give it to me."

Brother Nan chuckled and passed him the yolk.

The noodles at the nearby noodle shop weren't tasty, but the tea eggs were quite good. Brother Nan and Zhou Li often bought one or two, ostensibly to replenish protein. But both of them only liked eating the egg whites, not the yolks. That's where Tuanzi came in handy—one only needed to verbally embellish the tea egg's appeal and show her some comments from people across the strait. Once she realized the tea egg's value, Lord Dumpling would gladly eat the yolks and even guard them jealously from anyone who tried to take them.

And compared to the whites, she seemed to like the yolks a bit more.

If Tuanzi wasn't there, Huai Xu was also an option, as this old monster would eat anything without being picky.

At that moment, his peripheral vision caught something—

Three boys were pushing and shoving at the entrance of the milk tea shop, occasionally glancing their way.

Two of them were laughing; one looked conflicted.

The one with a conflicted expression was a fashionably dressed boy. He seemed to notice Zhou Li's gaze and paused. Then, deciding to go for broke, he immediately adjusted his expression and walked into the milk tea shop towards them.

The other two stayed outside, their faces eager to watch the drama unfold.

Zhou Li blinked, watching him approach.

Brother Nan also noticed. She raised her eyes and questioned him before he could speak, "What's up? Need something?"

The boy suddenly became a bit timid.

He stopped in his tracks, quickly glancing at Brother Nan.

Brother Nan was very pretty, exceedingly so—so pretty he dared not look for long. She was also quite tall, likely not shorter than him. Her raised eyebrows gave off an intimidating air. Thus, his gaze couldn't linger and gradually moved sideways, towards the corner.

Zhou Li and Brother Nan followed his gaze and noticed Baozi huddled in the corner.

Baozi was still pressed tightly against the wall, hands clutching her phone, her eyes glued to the screen.

Her Brown Sugar Pearl milk tea sat at the very edge of the glass coffee table. When she wanted a sip, she would stretch her head forward, then stretch it a bit more, open her mouth to naturally catch the straw, take a small sip, and then retreat—all without her eyes ever leaving the phone.

Naturally, she hadn't noticed the approaching boy.

"Are you looking for her?" Zhou Li asked the boy.

"Yeah." The boy nodded, his gaze still on Baozi, and called out, "Classmate, classmate..."

"Want me to call her for you?"

"Thank you..."

So Zhou Li tapped his Little Cousin's shoulder.

Baozi quickly raised her head. "Is it over?"

As soon as she spoke, she lowered her head again, her fingers swiping on her phone. "You guys go ahead, I need to finish this level."

"Someone is looking for you."

"Oh."

"Someone is looking for you."

"Hold on a second."

"That's just how she is," Zhou Li said, glancing at the somewhat embarrassed boy. "She has some... issues."

"Mmm..."

About a minute later.

Little Cousin's face showed a hint of regret; she had failed the level. She quickly took a sip of her milk tea to compose herself, then turned her head, her gaze shifting between Zhou Li, Brother Nan, and the boy who was pretending to browse the milk tea menu nearby.

"Who's looking for me?"

"Me."

The boy turned around. He was quite attractive, dressed fashionably, and with a subtly made-up face, he looked like a "pretty boy." "I bought some postcards at your stall yesterday..."

"All sales are final. No returns."

"Uh..."

"These are my cousin and his wife," Baozi said, pointing at Zhou Li and Brother Nan with a calm expression. "If you're looking for trouble, talk to them."

"No, that's not it. I mean, you take great pictures, and I really like them. I saw the video of you guys eating hotpot, and I just... suddenly felt I really liked you. I don't even know how to describe it." The boy, flustered by Zhou Li and Brother Nan's scrutinizing gazes and Baozi's unexpectedly placid expression, continued, "I didn't expect your photos to be so good too. I also like photography, and I was wondering if I could get your contact details to ask you for some tips."

"...I don't take apprentices," Baozi said after a moment's thought.

"No, I mean, hey, then... then can we just get to know each other?" The boy felt like she had misunderstood his intentions.

"I'm very busy."

"Then... okay... maybe another time."

The boy, taking advantage of his milk tea being ready, quickly grabbed it and hurried away.

Watching his retreating figure and the teasing looks from his companions, Zhou Li withdrew his gaze and said to Baozi, "See how awkward he was? Wouldn't it be nice to add him on Alipay, secretly collect his 'green energy' every day, and plant a Populus euphratica in the Great Northwest?"

"No time."

"Are you really that busy?"

"Yes."

Baozi then opened her game again, deciding to retry the level.

She wasn't lying.

These past few days, she had finally managed to win over Lord Dumpling with her fish soup over rice. Coupled with the end of term, business was booming. She was too busy running her stall every day to have the energy to teach someone else photography. Even when she wasn't running a stall, she had no interest in teaching a stranger. She didn't need to show off, nor would anyone pay her for lessons.

Besides, she was indeed very busy—

Sleeping;

Daydreaming;

Sunbathing;

Lying in bed, not wanting to get up;

Fantasizing about eating good food and drinking milk tea later;

Running her stall and dreaming of a windfall;

Playing Candy Crush, Zuma, Tetris, Rhythm Master... tackling increasingly difficult challenges.

Sometimes, because a certain two were too embarrassed to go out on dates every day, she even had to accompany them for meals and milk tea...

It all took up too much of her time.

...

Soon, she was absorbed in Candy Crush again.

Zhou Li and Brother Nan exchanged a look.

Brother Nan: Your cousin will never get married.

Zhou Li: Agreed.

Zhou Li took another sip of his milk tea. He smelled the apple fragrance wafting from the fruit shop next door and said to Brother Nan, "Let's buy some fruit on the way back. I think I'm out of fruit in my dorm."

"I want bananas and apples," Brother Nan said.

"Maybe buy some strawberries too?" Baozi's voice chimed in.

"You can hear us?"

"Buy some?"

"..."

Zhou Li pondered this carefully. He figured Baozi must have a sophisticated and fully functional voice-filtering system in her brain. When this system was active, sounds would first be filtered, and only the useful ones would actually reach her consciousness.

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