Chapter 924: The Final Collective Waiting for the Sun to Bubble Up

Chapter 924: Chapter 923: The Final Collective Waiting for the Sun to Bubble Up

At six o’clock, as the alarm went off, there was also a knock on the door.

Mu Qiu frowned with her eyes closed, rolling over twice before slowly opening her eyes.

She was so sleepy she couldn’t keep her eyes open and didn’t want to get up at all.

But she couldn’t not get up either.

“Qiuqiu? Are you up?”

Cheng Zhirang’s voice sounded, and she could only open her eyes, responding weakly in a slightly hoarse morning voice, “In a minute!”

Then, she slowly got out of bed, ran her hand through her hair, and shuffled in her slippers to open the door.

As soon as she pulled the door open, a camera lens was shoved in her face, scaring her into leaning back.

“…What are you doing?”

Guan Yu continued to take pictures of her, whispering, “Recording your current state, standard procedure, everyone’s been photographed.”

The hallway lights were off, and her room’s lights were off too. The group of them gathered in the dark, feeling like burglars.

She squinted and counted the number of people in front of her, saying, “I’m the last one, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why are you guys sneaking around like burglars to wake me up? Can’t you turn on the lights and do it normally?”

The others exchanged glances, with Guan Yu lowering her camera, chuckling quietly, “This is the atmosphere of getting up early to watch the sunrise. It’s just like sneaking out of the dormitory to the playground to date when we were in school.”

“…What do those two things have in common?” She was speechless, closing the room door behind her, “Forget it, let’s go and see if the sun is up yet.”

Anyway, none of them were completely awake, with Li Yang’s hair still tousled, and Shi Yuhuai’s eyes barely open.

Shu Ran took out a small package of facial wipes and handed them out to everyone: “Wipe your face, even though we agreed not to take close-up pictures, we should still look clean and awake.”

Mu Qiu took one and wiped her face twice, which made her finally awake.

She walked in the middle of the group, with Cheng Zhirang falling behind her, still reaching to help tidy her hair.

Everyone was still in their pajamas, but with Guan Yu’s “wake-up call” pre-arranged the night before, they all wore proper, conservative outfits.

It’s just… after a night’s sleep, the clothes underneath were a bit out of place and needed adjusting.

While going upstairs, she deliberately walked at the very edge, and taking advantage of the absence of cameras, she reached under her pajamas to tug on the shoulder strap behind her. But just that once wasn’t enough to properly adjust her bra.

Just as she was about to grab another chance for a second tug, Cheng Zhirang, walking behind, took two steps up the stairs, reached out with his long arm, and whispered in her ear:

“Let me help you.”

His long fingers swiftly adjusted the bra strap during the embrace, seeing the slightly protruding clasp now resting in the middle of her back, before releasing her and naturally lowering his hand to hold hers.

It looked just like a couple trying to stick together, settled on holding hands because they felt it wasn’t appropriate to fully embrace, with no sign of anything else going on.

Mu Qiu turned her head to look at him, smiling as she squeezed his hand.

On the rooftop, the fresh air came with a chill in the early dawn, causing everyone to take deep breaths and stretch instinctively.

“There’s a bit of light over there. Is it about to rise? Quick, quick, move the sofa over here!”

Guan Yu eagerly went to move the sofa, while Li Yang and Shi Yuhuai jumped to help, Cheng Zhirang moving the flower pots facing the sea to reveal the glass railing behind.

The person who built this villa must have been quite thoughtful, knowing how fun it was to gaze from the rooftop. This side of the railing was all glass, allowing views of the landscape below without obstruction.

Mu Qiu and Shu Ran wiped the sofa, and the group sat excitedly together with pillows, like a family of six watching a movie, gazing at the slowly brightening horizon beyond the bridge and beyond the sea.

Li Yang: “It’s about to rise! There’s some light now!”

Shi Yuhuai, sitting on the far left of the sofa, was disturbed by his chatter, losing the urge to nap, and disdainfully hit his head with the pillow.

“You’re so noisy, you’ll scare the sun away.”

Li Yang: “…” He had only said that one sentence!

He turned to seek justice, only to see Cheng Zhirang on the right with a head resting on his shoulder.

Upon raising his head, he saw Mu Qiu leaning against Cheng Zhirang, Shu Ran leaning against Mu Qiu, Guan Yu leaning against Shu Ran, all three girls curled together, their long hair intertwining.

This scene was reminiscent of that time at sea, when they watched the sea sunset. They also leaned together back then, like an inseparable group.

Li Yang stopped complaining, taking a look at the sun struggling just above the dim night sky, cautiously leaned his head on Cheng Zhirang’s left shoulder.

Cheng Zhirang only felt a weight on his left shoulder, turned to glance, and didn’t mind.

This was tacit approval, prompting Li Yang to comfortably maintain his position, casually patting Shi Yuhuai’s shoulder, signaling he could lean in too.

Shi Yuhuai glanced dismissively and leaned back against the sofa, ignoring him.

A few seconds later, he rested his head on Li Yang’s shoulder, half-closed eyes watching the sunrise struggling to ascend the sea horizon.

Getting up early was challenging enough. Even though they had been wide awake and excited for the sun to peek, after a few minutes on the sofa, drowsiness crept back.

Besides Cheng Zhirang, everyone else was half-asleep, whispering to each other in dull tones that suggested they might drift off any second.

Mu Qiu: “I’m so sleepy, my God.”

Shu Ran: “How long will it take for the sun to rise? Within three minutes, perhaps?”

Shi Yuhuai: “It depends on fate. Maybe it’ll fully rise the next second.”

Guan Yu: “Shu Ran, your shoulder is too bony, it’s hurting my face.”

Shu Ran: “I haven’t complained about your head being too heavy, about to crush my shoulder!”

Li Yang: “Brother Huai, I told you not to wear extra layers. Your sleepwear is a tank top, now you’re hot, right?”

Shi Yuhuai: “…It’s a vest! Shut up!”

Li Yang: “Alright, alright, I just momentarily forgot the name for the garment, okay? It just looks similar to the girls’ tank tops… Hey, don’t hit me!”

Mu Qiu: “Li Yang, can you just be quiet? You’re making Brother Cheng move, and it’s hard for me to lean on him!”

After a brief silence, Guan Yu mumbled again, “What’s for breakfast?”

Shu Ran: “All you think about is food! Didn’t Brother Huai bring some bread?”

The first half was scolding, the latter half was a genuine response… what a contradictory person.

Guan Yu was about to retort when Cheng Zhirang suddenly said, “The sun is up.”

They looked up.

The emerging sunrise had driven away the darkness, casting light across the entire sky. The transition between darkness and light was too brief, leaving them no time to capture it; one moment they struggled in dawn, the next, they faced blazing daylight.