Peach-Orange! – Chapter 359 – Writing a Novel About Two Girls

Buying groceries, washing vegetables, simmering a nutritious soup, then stir-frying dishes for dinner… since returning from the hospital, life at home for the two of them hadn’t been much different from usual.

After eating, they snuggled on the living room couch, each holding a cat, not saying much but quietly watching TV, enjoying the somewhat silent yet warm atmosphere together.

When TV became boring, they returned to their room.

The early spring weather was typically cold in the morning and evening but warm at noon. Though the air conditioner wasn’t needed, Chi Xiaocheng, who was slightly more sensitive to the cold, still put on her orange hoodie.

Her fair, slender legs tucked under the blanket, she looked up to see Su Tao practicing drawing on their only old, worn-out laptop.

She seemed to have a natural talent for drawing. After just a few days of self-study, purely in terms of anime-style art, she was already capable of decent imitation.

Especially when it came to linework.

For most beginners, just drawing clean lines takes a long time.

But Su Tao, after casually trying a few strokes with a pencil, seemed to grasp it effortlessly, as if she were self-taught.

Chi Xiaocheng felt that, within a month, Su Tao’s drawings would be good enough to take commissions on various platforms.

After all, her character setting was that of an all-around female lead.

Having always thought of Su Tao as slow and dull, Chi Xiaocheng had overlooked the many strengths she had hidden away due to her own pressure.

No matter what, Su Tao was still the kind of top student who could publish academic papers as a freshman.

As Chi Xiaocheng watched the girl practicing, she suddenly heard her ask, “Xiaocheng, have you thought about what I mentioned last time?”

Chi Xiaocheng snapped back to attention. “Uh… Tao-Tao, what are you referring to?”

“You writing a novel, and me drawing the characters for it.” Su Tao didn’t expect Chi Xiaocheng’s novel to make money. She just wanted her to write what she liked.

But drawing characters for her novel was something Su Tao was highly motivated to do.

Whether as practice or to make Chi Xiaocheng happy, she felt it was better than copying other people’s characters.

Rеαⅾ οո КαtRеadіոgСαfе

Yet these words made Chi Xiaocheng’s smile freeze.

She really didn’t want to write a novel.

A life with no days off for 365 days a year, working while others were on vacation… she truly disliked it.

Regular job: “It’s New Year’s, here’s your annual bonus. Take a good rest, and keep contributing to the company next year!”

Writing novels: “Author, it’s the New Year! Aren’t you going to update more?”

But the money she had saved through her hacking skills did need a plausible explanation.

Since she had already brought it up before, Chi Xiaocheng had no choice but to reluctantly nod. “Then… I’ll give it a try?”

“Sure! Do you have any ideas for what to write, Xiaocheng?”

“Em… Not yet. Do you have any suggestions, Tao-Tao?”

“How about a love story between two girls?”

Su Tao turned around, her gaze intense.

Chi Xiaocheng knew exactly what she was hinting at, but she could only play dumb for now. “Then… I’ll try that.”

In her past life, or rather, when she was living in the small world, she had written novels for a while.

Without exception, they all flopped.

Her imagination wasn’t strong enough to extend into better plotlines.

Writing this kind of story….

Chi Xiaocheng thought for a moment, looking at Su Tao’s back. Maybe she could just record their daily lives and pass it off as an autobiography?

Rеad oո КаtRеαdiոɡСαfe

It wasn’t like anyone would read it anyway. She could just tell Tao-Tao she made money from it and leave it at that.

With this lazy idea in mind, Chi Xiaocheng used it as an excuse to slack off.

After lying in bed for an hour, she noticed it was already 9 p.m. and said to Su Tao, “Tao-Tao, I’m going to shower first.”

“Mhm, go ahead. Be careful not to slip.”

“Okay~”

Chi Xiaocheng hopped off to the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar. On purpose, she didn’t bring a change of clothes. When she was almost done, she shouted, “Tao-Tao, I forgot to bring my clothes! Can you get them for me?”

“Really, Xiaocheng, you’re always so clumsy.”

Su Tao opened the wardrobe, grabbed a simple set of clothes, and walked to the bathroom. Before she could say anything, she heard Chi Xiaocheng’s voice from inside.

“I’m still drying off. Just bring them in.”

Amid the thick steam, her figure was faintly visible, enough to spark imagination.

But Chi Xiaocheng was disappointed.

Su Tao really just brought the clothes in, set them down, and left.

Worried Chi Xiaocheng might get cold, she even closed the door tightly behind her.

Leaving Chi Xiaocheng standing there, stunned.

She looked down in confusion.

Though she could see her cute little toes….

“I’m not completely flat-chested, am I?”

Drying her damp hair with a towel, Chi Xiaocheng couldn’t help but mutter, “Weird. Xiao Hei, you think I’m cute too, right? Do I really have no appeal?”

Rеαԁ οո KαtRеαⅾіոgСаfе

“Don’t ask me.”

A voice came from the air, though Xiao Hei’s figure was nowhere to be seen.

“System, what do you think?”

[Host, you’re asking the wrong entity. I’m just a ball. I have no emotions.]

After some thought, Chi Xiaocheng could only conclude that Su Tao’s sense of gender boundaries hadn’t completely disappeared yet.

She was sure their affection level was high. Whether it exceeded 90% or not, she couldn’t say, but one thing was certain:

Su Tao was no longer the same girl who once said, “I’m just pretending to like Xiaocheng.” Her feelings were undeniably genuine.

But if she liked her so much, why was there no reaction at all?

“Guess I’ll have to keep showing off my cute side?”

After changing into her Winnie the Pooh pajamas and putting on a warm coat, Chi Xiaocheng left the bathroom and returned to the room, sitting at the dressing table.

“Tao-Tao, help me dry my hair~”

Feeling the warm breeze behind her and a hand gently gathering her tea-colored locks, Chi Xiaocheng lowered her head to scroll through her phone.

Had she looked up, she would have seen the scene reflected in the mirror—

Su Tao, nearly burying her face into the nape of her neck.

Quietly savoring the warmth and moisture still clinging to her smooth skin.

And, of course, that faint, sweet fragrance unique to girls.

Drying hair, chatting, then Su Tao’s turn to shower. By 11 p.m., the two were lying in bed together.

Rеаԁ oո КаtRеаⅾіոɡСafe

“Xiaocheng, sleep early. We have to get up early for school tomorrow.”

“Okay~”

Nestled in the girl’s embrace, enveloped in endless tenderness, she soon drifted off to sleep.

Everything today felt perfectly normal to her.

After leaving the hospital, even Su Tao’s attitude.

What Chi Xiaocheng didn’t know was that Su Tao, having inherited her actress mother’s talent for performance, was rapidly improving in acting.

With professional guidance and her own relentless effort,

Her natural talent surpassed even her hundreds of reincarnations.

The girl wasn’t asleep.

Late at night, she gently turned over, pinning the smaller girl beneath her.

Over and over, she whispered apologies.

It wasn’t that she felt nothing for Chi Xiaocheng.

Only that all her deepest affections were locked away in her heart.

…

The next morning, when Chi Xiaocheng woke up and sat at the dressing table to comb her hair, aside from a lingering sweetness on her lips, she noticed something else.

Reaching up, she touched a small red mark on her collarbone.

“Hey, Tao-Tao, were there mosquitoes in our room last night?”