I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 335 - 261: Woman, You Aren’t Putting On an Act, Are You?

"Oh." Su Yue, who had been standing there in a daze, nodded at Lin Li’s urging.

She then took a step forward, leaned in, and draped herself over Lin Li’s back, her arms wrapping tightly around his neck.

’Sigh, what a killer figure...’ Carrying this weight again after so long, Lin Li felt the pressure on his back and let out a complicated sigh in his heart.

He reached back with both hands, hooked them under Su Yue’s long, slender legs, and with a slight push from his bent knees, stood up with her on his back.

"Su Yue, you just have to pull some new stunt on me every other day. Tell me, did I owe you in a past life or something?"

The immense pressure on his back forced Lin Li to silently chant the Purifying Heart Spell in his mind.

At the same time, he spared some of his focus to grumble at Su Yue, who was clinging to his back where he couldn’t see her expression.

"Mmm." The moment Lin Li’s grumbling words left his mouth, Su Yue softly hummed in agreement from his back.

"..."

"Are you a fool?" Lin Li asked again.

"I’m not," Su Yue mumbled in response.

"I swear, you aren’t just pretending to be drunk with me, are you?" Lin Li stopped walking. This time, there was no response from Su Yue on his back, so he started forward again.

Hazy, silvery moonlight washed over the coastal highway, their two shadows overlapping and stretching long across the pavement.

Clinging to Lin Li’s back, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck, Su Yue’s lips secretly curved upward into a small arc, a sly, triumphant smile showing in her half-lidded eyes.

...

「Rongcheng, Ping’an Garden District.」

"Tongtong, come here for a second."

Zhou Tongtong, who was sitting on the living room sofa watching cartoons, heard her mother call for her from the dining room where she was making dumplings. She quickly replied and ran to the dining room.

"Mom, what did you call me for?" Zhou Tongtong asked as she ran into the dining room where her mother was making dumplings.

"Take this plate of finished dumplings and bring them to Lin Li next door for me," Xia Qing said to her daughter, pointing to a plate of freshly made dumplings on the table.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tongtong’s big, round eyes instantly lit up. She realized that if she took the dumplings to Lin Li, she’d get to eat ice cream again.

"Mhm." Zhou Tongtong nodded, picked up the plate of dumplings from the table, and left the dining room, looking very happy.

At the door to Lin Li’s apartment, Zhou Tongtong stood on her tiptoes and reached out to press the doorbell on the wall.

DING-DONG...

The doorbell chimed for a moment, then fell silent. Zhou Tongtong waited at the door for two or three minutes. Seeing that no one was coming to open it, she stood on her tiptoes again and pressed the doorbell once more.

DING-DONG...

It was the same as before—no one came to the door. Zhou Tongtong realized that Lin Li wasn’t home.

Back in the dining room, Xia Qing, still making dumplings, saw her daughter walk in looking disappointed, the plate of dumplings still in her hands.

Before Xia Qing could ask, Zhou Tongtong spoke up, "Mom, Lin Li isn’t home..."

"Lin Li’s not home?"

"Mhm, I rang the doorbell twice and waited for a few minutes, but no one opened the door. Lin Li must have gone out and hasn’t come back yet."

Neither mother nor daughter knew that their neighbor had gone on vacation. At that very moment, he was trudging along a dimly lit highway with a miserable expression, carrying a certain woman who seemed to be pretending to be drunk.

"Just leave the dumplings on the table for now. I’ll take them over to Lin Li myself later," Xia Qing said with a smile.

"No, let me do it!" Zhou Tongtong said eagerly.

"Alright!" Although Xia Qing was a little puzzled by her daughter’s eagerness, she didn’t overthink it and agreed with a smile.

"Mom, school starts in a few days, and I found a hole in my backpack today."

"Really? Bring it here and let me see."

Zhou Tongtong nodded and ran out of the dining room. A moment later, she returned with her little backpack.

She unzipped it and showed her mother the spot inside the backpack where there was a hole.

"Oh, there really is a hole! How about this? I’ll buy you a new backpack tomorrow."

Xia Qing saw the small hole at the bottom of her daughter’s backpack and, thinking that she’d had it for quite a while, decided to get her a new one.

"Mom, can I go with you to buy the backpack tomorrow? I want to pick one out myself."

Zhou Tongtong was delighted to hear her mom would buy her a new backpack. She thought to herself that she wanted to pick one with a design from the cartoon she was currently watching.

"Of course! We’ll go to the stationery store together after lunch tomorrow." Xia Qing happily agreed to her daughter’s request, then asked, "Tongtong, are you hungry?"

"A little."

"Go back to the living room and watch TV for a bit. I’ll go boil some water and cook the dumplings for you."

"Mhm." Zhou Tongtong nodded.

Just as she was about to leave, she noticed the trash can in the kitchen was full. She put her backpack with the small hole down on a chair and walked into the kitchen.

"Tongtong?"

"Mom, I’ll help you take out the trash."

"Okay! Let me tie the bag for you..." Seeing that her daughter wanted to help take out the trash, Xia Qing smiled, nodded, and got up. She went into the kitchen, tied up the full garbage bag in the trash can, then lifted it out and handed it to her daughter.

Zhou Tongtong left the apartment carrying the garbage bag and took the elevator downstairs.

"Oh? Zhou Tongtong." Just as she stepped out of the building, Zhou Tongtong ran into Ms. Wang from the residents’ committee, who greeted her with a smile.

"Hello, Ms. Wang," Zhou Tongtong replied politely, still holding the trash bag.

"Are you helping your mom take out the trash?"

"Mhm."

"Such a good girl. I happen to have a piece of milk candy here, you can have it," Ms. Wang from the residents’ committee said with a chuckle, pulling a candy from her pocket and handing it to Zhou Tongtong.

"Thank you, Ms. Wang," said Zhou Tongtong happily, as she took the candy. She had a sweet tooth.

After parting ways with Ms. Wang, Zhou Tongtong carried the trash to the disposal area. Once she had thrown it away, she turned to head home.

As she was passing a grassy area in the complex, she saw a little black cat and a little white cat fighting under a streetlight.

Under the dim yellow glow of the streetlamp, the two small cats’ shadows were stretched long.

As the two kittens lunged back and forth, their shadows on the grass would crisscross from time to time.

MEOW...

MEOW...

The fur on the two fighting kittens stood on end as they let out shrill meows, expressing their fury.

Zhou Tongtong frowned as she watched the two kittens fighting not far away. Although she didn’t know why the two little things were fighting, she knew that fighting was wrong.

And so, she called out to the two kittens, "Hey, stop fighting! Fighting is bad, so stop it right now."

MEOW...

MEOW...

Already fired up, the two kittens paid no mind to Zhou Tongtong’s shouting and refused to stop. Their cries grew even more shrill as they snarled, baring their fangs to intimidate their opponent.

It seemed they were both waiting for the other to show an opening, ready to explode with all their strength and pounce for a ferocious attack.

MROWL...

Finding its chance, the little black cat let out a sudden roar. Its arched body shot out like a spring as it leaped at its opponent.

Facing the black cat’s lunge, the little white cat showed no weakness and sprang up to meet it.

The black and white kittens collided in mid-air and fell to the ground. They became a tangled ball of fur, constantly clawing at each other.

Just as they were about to sink their sharp teeth into each other, Zhou Tongtong, who was watching the scene, grew anxious.

Then, a faint golden Spiritual Light suddenly appeared in Zhou Tongtong’s big, round, jet-black eyes...

...