Stick Together

The little figure in his arms grew sleepier and softer, making Shen Nian feel too bad to even move.

Maintaining the most comfortable posture, he took a cozy afternoon nap. When Shen Nian woke up, a certain someone in his arms was still burying her face and sleeping soundly.

Not knowing what time it was, Shen Nian didn't want to check either. They had already taken the day off anyway, and tomorrow was the weekend. If they didn't take any more days off in the future, today was probably going to be their most relaxing day.

After lying there for a while longer, Xia Yanchun finally woke up slowly, murmuring indistinct words with sleepy eyes.

The air conditioning temperature was just right, and being held by the person she liked the most made it hard for the young girl not to linger in bed. She lay there blankly for quite a while before finally swatting Shen Nian's hand away from her chest.

"It's been a whole afternoon... That's enough from you..." Xia Yanchun muttered softly. Even though she had just woken up, her face was tinged with a faint blush.

Shen Nian scratched his cheek awkwardly. "I was taking a nap."

"That's still a whole afternoon."

Just like a mother coming back from an outing to see her son playing on his phone and assuming he had been playing all day, that was exactly how she thought of Shen Nian.

"Whatever you say." Shen Nian didn't argue with her. In matters like this, Xia Yanchun was always right no matter what she said.

"I'm going to your house for dinner tonight."

"Is that so? Looks like your bro is going to have to show off his skills tonight!"

"I want to eat New Orleans roast chicken."

"Then the McDonald's employees are going to have to show off their skills!"

"Hmph, you're actually not going to cook it for me."

"That thing is a bit troublesome to make. It needs to be marinated, and the homemade version might not even taste as good as the store-bought one."

"Makes sense. What you make doesn't taste as good as the food outside anyway."

"Reverse psychology won't work on me, Chunbao." Shen Nian wagged his finger.

New Orleans roast chicken required an oven, which sounded troublesome enough. Even though Xia Yanchun loved eating it, she had never tried making it at home herself because it was too much of a hassle.

Wasn't the small twenty-six yuan one outside delicious enough?

Although she was wide awake now, Xia Yanchun still didn't want to get out of bed, so she turned her attention to Shen Nian.

With a younger brother (slave) she could boss around right next to her, why should she do it herself?

"You, go pour me a glass of water and bring my backpack over." She nudged Shen Nian with her elbow, still huddled under the thin blanket herself.

"Why are you so lazy?"

"Hurry up and go, or I'll kick you."

"Alright, alright, alright."

Shen Nian had no choice but to sit up from the comfortable bed to pour her water and fetch her backpack.

He glanced at the time in passing. It was only four in the afternoon. They could still go to the supermarket later to buy some fresh produce and snacks to stock up at home.

In the room, Xia Yanchun also sat up.

Even though she had taken a leave of absence to go home, she would still find time to study properly. But before that, she wanted to check her phone.

At this hour, school had already let out, and the class group chat was getting lively. Someone had asked Su Kexi for the original file of the graduation photo and sent it to the group, saying they wanted to edit themselves and use the edited version as their base photo.

Xia Yanchun tapped it open to take a look. There were two rows of girls in the front, two rows of boys in the back, while the homeroom teacher and the rest of the subject teachers were on the far sides of the first row.

They were all incredibly familiar faces. The thought of graduating soon made a trace of reluctance well up in her heart.

Looking at Shen Nian in the back row... Yeah, he looked silly.

"The water you wanted."

"Mhm." Taking the disposable cup Shen Nian handed her, Xia Yanchun drank half of it in one sip and handed the other half back to Shen Nian. "Rinse your mouth."

"You want to kiss me?"

"Ew, don't overthink it. I just purely want you to rinse your mouth. You have morning breath right after waking up."

"It's fine. If you won't kiss me, I'll kiss you." Shen Nian got back into bed, holding Xia Yanchun as he looked at her phone.

Xia Yanchun couldn't be bothered to care. She scrolled through the class group chat history bit by bit. Many girls jokingly sent their edited graduation photos to the group. The boys did too, but their edits were very obvious.

Like drawing a pile of cow dung on some boy's head, drawing a single wing, or drawing two bandages.

There was also one where they photoshopped a Yasuo head onto someone, accompanied by the text: "Of all the weapons in the world, the past hurts the most."

The boys' side was mainly focused on being abstract.

Scrolling up further, she saw Ma Mingfan's masterpiece: he had photoshopped the character for Danger over Shen Nian and Chen Dong's heads.

"What does this Danger mean?" Xia Yanchun was dazzled by the sight and asked curiously.

"It means someone's going to get beaten up."

"I don't get it."

Xia Yanchun also saved the original image, zoomed in on Shen Nian's face, switched to edit mode, and scribbled over it right in front of him, drawing anime-style blush on his cheeks.

"This is what you look like."

"I'm not blushing. You're the one who's blushing, that's for sure." Shen Nian hadn't forgotten how a certain someone started acting shy the moment she woke up.

"That's all because of you."

"True." Shen Nian admitted it openly. There was no point in denying it; as the person involved, Xia Yanchun knew a ten thousand times better than he did.

Just glancing lightly at Shen Nian, Xia Yanchun raised her little head, put her phone away, and picked out a checklist of chemistry points for the college entrance exam.

"You're not allowed to move."

She poked Shen Nian, turned around to sit in front of him, and her small body softened as she leaned against him completely defenseless.

"Chunbao..."

Shen Nian held Xia Yanchun's arms, adjusting her posture. He leaned against the headboard himself, acting as a comfortable human backrest for her.

But he needed to pad it with a pillow.

At home, Xia Yanchun didn't have many reservations. She did whatever she wanted. If she wanted to lean on Shen Nian, she could lean on Shen Nian, and Shen Nian definitely wouldn't dare say no.

"Chunbao..."

Shen Nian nuzzled the top of Xia Yanchun's hair. His large hand exerted a little force on her short sleeve, pulling it down slightly to the side, revealing the young girl's smooth shoulder and collarbone, as well as a mysterious pure white camisole strap.

"Don't mess around, I'm studying." Xia Yanchun pulled her collar back up.

"Can't you focus a bit more? You're just lying to yourself like this. You can only learn things if you throw yourself into studying wholeheartedly."

"I can't learn anything because you keep bothering me."

"You're so thick-skinned." Shen Nian narrowed his eyes. "Sitting in someone's arms and then accusing them of bothering you, refusing to take any losses. You're just taking advantage of the fact that I like you."

"Yes, yes, I'm taking advantage of the fact that you like me. No messing around now."

"Alright."

Shen Nian had no choice but to rub Xia Yanchun's stomach instead.

Reading her materials while lounging in Shen Nian's arms, Xia Yanchun felt incredibly comfortable. Sometimes, when she could clearly feel Shen Nian's increasingly rapid breathing, she would also become shy.

But Shen Nian didn't make any out-of-line moves.

At most, he just squeezed her leg. It wasn't a big deal, so she didn't mind. The squeezing actually felt a bit nice, and Xia Yanchun couldn't even tell if he was trying to take advantage of her or give her a massage.

Shen Nian's face felt a little hot. He lowered his head and took Xia Yanchun's earlobe in his mouth, releasing his desire to cuddle closely with her.

If she really wanted to study, how could she possibly lean against him like this?