A New Housemate

Hearing that the three of us were on Xiao Qi’s side, Big Brother Guo’s brow furrowed even deeper. His blazing eyes swept over the three of us and the fox one by one, then he gritted his teeth and said, “No way. Tianwu University is a den of trouble right now, fraught with danger! Paper can’t wrap fire forever. If she stays in a place like this, isn’t it only a matter of time before someone catches her… catches her…”

Despite his rage, Big Brother Guo still cared about Xiao Qi’s feelings and couldn’t bear to spell out such a cruel truth so bluntly.

I pursed my lips and quickly cut in, “But Big Brother, have you not heard that ‘the most dangerous place is the safest’? Those hunting Xiao Qi would never imagine she’s hiding here of all places! If I’m not mistaken, after last night, the first thing they’ll do now that they’ve lost her trail is to seal off the area around Tianwu University to prevent her from escaping its grounds!”

My voice unconsciously rose, nearly drowning out Big Brother Guo’s momentum. He stared at me, his round eyes wide as brass bells. I clenched my teeth, meeting his fierce gaze fearlessly, and even reached out to steady Xiao Qi, who was a bit scared.

After a long moment, Big Brother Guo’s gaze finally dimmed with defeat. He said in a low voice, “Fine. Before the storm passes, I’ll go along with what you say and let Xiao Qi have her wish. We’ll help search for Xiao Qi’s sister and brother. But once the situation eases, whether we find them or not, we must immediately send Xiao Qi to a safe place!”

At these words, even though the atmosphere remained tense, the three of us and the fox couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Especially Second Brother Yang, who thumped his chest loudly and said to Big Brother Guo, “Big Brother, rest assured. With Yang the Second here, Xiao Qi hiding in our room is the safest place!”

Big Brother Guo’s face was gloomy, and he couldn’t be bothered with false pleasantries. He said bluntly, “Cut it out. It’s precisely because you’re here that I think Xiao Qi hiding in our room is extremely unsafe!”

Linghu the Third and I wholeheartedly agreed and nodded in unison. This left Second Brother Yang in a bind; he had been looking at us with pitiful, pleading eyes…

And so, after the 322 Dormitory Supreme Council’s deliberation, with three votes in favor and one against, the motion to let the little fox girl Xiao Qi temporarily hide in our dorm was passed. In other words, from then on, Xiao Qi stayed on as a temporary member of Room 322.

Naturally, the most worried person was Big Brother Guo, as he had cast the sole opposing vote. Plus, since the night he brought Xiao Qi back, he had witnessed firsthand the stern and brutal scale of the encirclement by those coveting her inner core. So he found it hard to be optimistic about the future.

On the other hand, the busiest person turned out to be me! Specifically, since I was the only one of the same gender as Xiao Qi, the tasks of changing her clothes, washing her, and doing her hair fell to me. This was truly a life-or-death matter! I had only recently become a girl myself and was still a lazybones who didn’t bother with makeup or hair ornaments. Now I had to learn everything from scratch! Besides that, I also took on the job of keeping secrets—namely from Senior Sister Xiao Ru. Although Sister Xiao Ru had been quite close to Room 322 for a long time, she wasn’t really a member of the dorm. While guys like Second Brother Yang harbored hopes of making her a part of the dorm, that sweet dream remained just in Yang Laoer’s imagination. It would take ages for it to become reality, until mountains crumble and the seas run dry. So, since Sister Xiao Ru wasn’t officially a member of Room 322, whether to tell her about Xiao Qi became a crucial question. Big Brother Guo, who led the whole affair, decided: “This concerns Xiao Qi’s life and limb, plus the potential for endless trouble. If we tell Senior Xiao Ru, it might cause complications.” Therefore, he decided to keep it from her. As for how, that fell to me to handle. In short, I had to keep Sister Xiao Ru at arm’s length from the dorm for now.

This gave me a headache. Considering how Sister Xiao Ru was ostracized in the girls’ dorm, I couldn’t bear to say anything to her. Luckily, the Five Absolutes Academy student council had been busy lately, so Sister Xiao Ru was nowhere to be seen and had no time to meddle in the boys’ dorm affairs, giving us a temporary reprieve.

As for how to stop her from coming over to the boys’ dorm for inspections once she’s free again, I didn’t want to think about it now. I’d just take things one day at a time and cross that bridge when I came to it.

The most excited person, of course, was Second Brother Yang. Although he didn’t have a special fetish for beast-eared lolis, he never refused any girl.

But one thing depressed him: although Xiao Qi was close to Big Brother Guo and me, she still kept her distance from him and Linghu the Third. In Xiao Qi’s own words:

“Awoo, you give me the same feeling as that big gray wolf I once met with my sister. Awoo, I don’t like that wolf, so I kind of… awoo.”

Xiao Qi’s words were tactful, but her meaning was clear. Second Brother Yang, crushed by this heavy blow, felt quite dejected.

As for Linghu the Third, who shared the same plight, he was the most conflicted about Xiao Qi. He was a lolicon, but also shy and reserved. So although he was the most attentive to Xiao Qi, from start to finish, he probably hadn’t exchanged more than ten words with her. In terms of relationship with Xiao Qi, he might even be worse than Second Brother Yang, who was always spouting nonsense and lewd remarks.