You Are Not Allowed to Say

Shen Nian had always treated Xia Yanchun's home as his own.

It was a case of "it takes one to know one," after all. Xia Yanchun showed him no respect either, barging into his room and sitting on his bed whenever she pleased. Given her own behavior, her saying "boys can't just casually enter a girl's room" was the height of hypocrisy.

She was the quintessential top-tier Little Red Book user—formidable and subtly cunning.

Luckily, Shen Nian was a Tieba user. It was a true clash of titans.

Seeing Shen Nian enter her room, Xia Yanchun muttered a complaint but couldn't be bothered to deal with him further.

There was nothing incriminating in her room anyway. Things like underwear were all tidied away in the wardrobe. She didn't believe Shen Nian was perverted enough to specifically open the wardrobe doors.

Even shamelessness had its limits. What kind of person would do that? She would genuinely get angry, okay!

As Shen Nian passed by, she could clearly smell the scent of shower gel on him. He must have taken a bath. So even if he ended up slinking onto her bed, she couldn't be bothered to say anything.

In the past, she wouldn't let him on the bed for fear he'd "stain" it. Boys were like that—they sweated a lot, showered haphazardly, probably just rinsing off certain areas...

She didn't know about other girls, but when she showered, she definitely used a loofah to lather every inch of herself with shower gel for a thorough clean.

Now that Shen Nian showered both morning and night, he was undoubtedly much cleaner. If he wasn't going to "stain" anything, it didn't really matter if he lounged on the bed.

Xia Yanchun put half of the Sunlight Green Grapes into a fruit bowl, stored the rest properly in the fridge, and then carried the bowl into her room.

Just as she expected, Shen Nian was indeed lying on her bed. He had even used her small blanket to cover his waist and thighs, and he was holding her phone, trying to guess the password.

"If you keep violating people's privacy like this, you'll end up in jail one day, locked up for a week or two."

"Would you call the police?"

"Just because I wouldn't doesn't mean others won't."

"Then it's fine. Other people's privacy is none of my business. I don't violate their privacy."

"So you just target me, is that it?" Xia Yanchun placed the fruit bowl on the desk, put her hands on her hips in a huff, and said irritably.

"I'm not violating your privacy. I haven't even gotten into your phone. Wrong password five times, gotta wait thirty minutes," Shen Nian said innocently, having clearly seen nothing.

"Shen! Nian! You've gone too far!"

Xia Yanchun couldn't take it anymore. She grabbed a pillow and whacked it against Shen Nian's face repeatedly. The fluffy pillow left his face covered in fuzz, mixed with a couple of long, fine hairs.

Shen Nian covered his head and rolled around on the bed. The damage was zero, the humiliation was also zero—he was just putting on a show to let Chunbao vent.

Once she stopped, Shen Nian handed the phone back to her. "Just kidding. It's actually only locked for a minute. That was just the fourth try."

"You still deserved it." Xia Yanchun snorted, quickly unlocking her phone, then said gloomily, "I haven't changed my phone password. How could it lock for a minute?"

"I did it on purpose." Shen Nian grinned. Xia Yanchun had just come in too fast; he hadn't had time to enter the wrong password a fifth time for the thirty-minute lock. Hehe.

"We're not that close. I order you to roll off my bed, promptly."

"No." Shen Nian wrapped the small blanket tighter around himself. Anyone unaware would think this was his bed.

"Then just stay there forever. Let's see how long you can loiter."

"Really?"

"..." A vein twitched at Xia Yanchun's temple. Unbelievable.

She was genuinely afraid this guy would use that statement as an excuse to never leave. With Shen Nian's boundless energy, he might actually loiter until two or three in the morning.

Having nothing more to say, Xia Yanchun simply clammed up. She sat at the desk, opened "Youth Digest," and began reading while plucking green grapes to eat.

She liked to eat fruit slowly, the better to savor the flavor and enjoy the sweet aftertaste. Paired with some leisure reading, it gave her an indescribable sense of relaxation.

"Even though we have class tomorrow, you're still studying tonight? You, Haki Chun..." Shen Nian stared at her with dead-fish eyes.

"Just accumulating material for essays. You can't stop me from striving for a better life, can you?"

"Whoa, that line right there reeks of 'fairy princess.' Scares a humble rat like me."

"Can't have it, so you slander it?"

"Uh... psycho."

Shen Nian got up from the bed, moved to the edge, sat at the desk, and also picked up a green grape, popping it into his mouth. He made loud smacking sounds with his mouth.

Clearly on purpose.

So gross. Xia Yanchun felt like hitting him with a plushie again.

"We have exams on Tuesday. Aren't you going to review?"

"I did. After dinner, I blasted through three practice tests."

"Color me impressed."

"Glad you know it... What's this?"

Shen Nian noticed the thick booklet placed by the edge of the desk, its clasp not yet fastened. Without waiting for Xia Yanchun's consent, he reached over and took it.

"The family photo album. I brought it with me when I moved here before," Xia Yanchun glanced at it and said indifferently.

"How come I've never seen you take it out before?"

"I almost forgot about it... Shi Yan found it when she came over to play."

Shen Nian flipped through it.

On the inside back cover of the album was a printed inscription:

[Fold memories into warmth in the heart, let companionship crystallize into the sweetness of home. May our home forever be a gentle harbor.]

It was a family photo album.

The first page was a group photo of Xia Yanchun's family. Even though it was laminated, it had still yellowed somewhat with age.

Back then, Xia Yanchun was just a little kid, with an angelic appearance. Only Shen Nian knew what kind of soul lay beneath that angelic exterior.

"Don't judge a book by its cover" was right on the money. Ancestral wisdom for the win.

Further on were photos from elementary and middle school. Occasionally, he even came across photos of himself. Shen Nian had vague, hazy memories of those times, not very clear. At a glance, it really looked like one of those "loving family" scenes from TV dramas.

They were indeed quite loving, but there was no guarantee that the young Xia Yanchun back then hadn't seen him as a dog.

There was precedent for that. When they played house as kids, he not only had to be the dad and the son, but he also played the family dog.

Sweat emoji, folks. Almost got conditioned by the scheming woman. Good thing this bro was one step ahead.

After the middle school graduation photo, the next page jumped straight to the photo booth pictures taken just today, with no transition in between.

The scheming Xia Yanchun, still in her youthful, naive phase, had suddenly transformed into the lovely young woman she was now. Shen Nian, too, had grown from a little jerk into a... legend.

Shen Nian smiled a relieved smile. "Heh heh heh."

Your laugh is disgusting," Xia Yanchun snarked.

"So you were already this pretty in middle school. Looking at it almost turned me into a lolicon."

"Ew!" Xia Yanchun moved away slightly, a look of disgust on her face as if looking at a pervert. "I think you are a lolicon. I'm calling the police."

Shen Nian closed the photo album and pressed his eyelids.

"I was just kidding. Do I need to tell you what type I like?"

"..."

Xia Yanchun's long eyelashes trembled slightly. The motion of turning the page abruptly stopped. In a corner of her heart, unreachable even by her own consciousness, a small peony quietly bloomed alongside the morning star on the horizon.

Hiding a flush of crimson, Xia Yanchun leaned forward, placed her hands over Shen Nian's mouth, and said,

"You're not allowed to say it..."

Shen Nian grabbed her hand and pulled it down, clasping both her small hands in his own.

"Fine, don't say it then."

He didn't need her to say it to know.

Yan Xi reminds you: Due to Tomato's request for over three million daily visits causing excessive server pressure, it is now recommended that you use sources from other major providers.