Li Xingye never expected Chi Wan to make an instantaneous move, appearing before him in a flash. He didn’t have ti to fix his expression, and she caught him in the act.
He felt a rare sense of embarrassnt, like soone caught bad-mouthing another person and being punished on the spot—and the worst part was, he hadn’t even started!
But Chi Wan just stood there with a knowing smile, her bright, clear eyes fixed on him, giving him no chance to look away.
Li Xingye could only bite the bullet and say, "Picking up bad... what?"
Chi Wan grinned and advanced, like a little fox that had found its prey’s weakness. "I just discovered that when certain people try to sound all pitiful, their facial expression doesn’t change one bit. Tsk, tsk... Brother Xingye, I think I might have to adjust my image of you~"
Chi Wan forced Li Xingye back step by step until his back hit the rough trunk of a tree.
He lowered his head to look at Chi Wan’s cunning smile, and his Adam’s apple bobbed. "So, in Wanwan’s heart, have I beco the bad guy?"
For so reason, this side of Li Xingye suddenly felt dangerous to Chi Wan.
She looked into Li Xingye’s deepening, dark eyes and realized with a start that she might have gotten a little too carried away. She gave a hollow laugh, about to step back and say she was just kidding, when Li Xingye grabbed her wrist.
In an instant, their positions were reversed. Li Xingye gently held her wrist, trapping her between himself and the tree trunk. He lowered his gaze to stare into her eyes and whispered, "So, does this ... make Wanwan afraid?"
Chi Wan stared at Li Xingye, a little stunned. Her mind flashed back to how he was when facing his enemies, when facing zombies.
Fierceness and gentleness, a contradictory blend within a single person, made it impossible for her to look away.
For so reason, Chi Wan was suddenly reminded of a phrase she had read before: making eye contact is humanity’s spiritual, passionless kiss.
’Wait, what kind of nonsense am I thinking!’
Chi Wan’s face flushed. Flustered, she broke eye contact with Li Xingye while screaming internally: ’Sothing is seriously wrong with Li Xingye today!!’
This was the second ti. Chi Wan, who always held the upper hand, had twice in a single day felt the flustering sensation of losing control to him.
’Is this right?’
’How could the fiercely competitive Chi Wan tolerate such a thing?’
She snapped her head up and finally spotted it: beneath Li Xingye’s seemingly calm exterior, the tips of his ears were slightly red, and his gaze wasn’t quite as firm as before.
’So... Li Xingye is just bluffing, too.’
Realizing this, Chi Wan imdiately reclaid so of her initiative. She tilted her head up, no longer avoiding Li Xingye’s focused gaze, and smiled radiantly. "How could I be afraid? A Brother Xingye like this is even more charming, you know~"
As for Li Xingye, who had seemingly turned the tables, he had initially felt a bit unsure of himself. But when he saw that Chi Wan—always so direct—had actually avoided his gaze, he couldn’t help but feel a surge of delight. ’Does this an... Wanwan isn’t completely immune to ?’
Unfortunately, Chi Wan’s lightning-fast "counterattack" quickly made Li Xingye realize that a montary advantage ant very little.
Still, hearing Chi Wan’s words, he couldn’t stop his heart from hamring.
He didn’t avoid Chi Wan’s gaze. Instead, he asked her another question. "Wanwan, you asked before why I’m so bothered by Xiahou Yu. Do you still want to hear the answer?"
Chi Wan’s smile faltered.
She finally confird it. Li Xingye had truly changed. He was no longer the sa man who would get shy after just a couple of sentences.
After that earlier "interrogation" where he had trapped her against the back of the chair, it was as if Li Xingye had flipped so montous switch.
Before, she would have been more than happy to "force" Li Xingye to face this question head-on.
But the dynamic today was all wrong. She was worried she wasn’t quite ready to hear the answer yet.
Or maybe it was like the anxiety of arriving at a long-awaited destination; now that she was just one step away from the answer she held in her heart, she found herself hesitating.
And so, Chi Wan did sothing she would have previously scorned: she bailed.
Before taking off, she hastily left him with, "I don’t feel like knowing today! Tell next ti, okay~"
With that, she vanished.
Li Xingye looked at his hand, the sensation of Chi Wan’s wrist in his grip still seeming to linger there.
For a split second, he thought he had felt her pulse beating in ti with his own heart.
Li Xingye gently rubbed his fingers together. A faint smile touched his lips as he left the space.
*
Back in her room, Chi Wan imdiately closed the entrance to the space. She let out a few silent screams, then buried her head in her pillow like an ostrich.
She had a profound realization: she had definitely been too complacent before.
How could a post-apocalyptic powerhouse like Li Xingye—even if he was a little clumsy when it ca to romance—truly be a harmless little puppy?
The mont he revealed even a hint of his usual apocalyptic deanor, that sharp edge of his beca impossible to conceal.
And that deliberately suppressed dominance and aggression instantly enveloped her, making Chi Wan tremble uncontrollably.
Not from fear, but from... excitent.
Teasing a harmless puppy was fun, sure, but how could it compare to taming a wolf—one that had hidden its fangs and feigned docility, yet occasionally couldn’t suppress its wild nature?
And Chi Wan could sense that the Li Xingye who was slowly revealing his true self to her was, in his very bones, perhaps more dangerous and wilder than any wolf.
Yet to Chi Wan, this side of him was astonishingly attractive.
’Maybe next ti,’ Chi Wan thought, ’I’ll properly listen to Li Xingye explain why he’s so opposed to Xiahou Yu.’
*
「The next day」
Xiahou Yu arrived at Chi Wan’s house right on ti.
He didn’t bring a driver today. He’d even deliberately switched to an SUV, and on the back seat was a large bag of snacks he had prepared for Chi Wan.
But when he saw Chi Wan’s luggage, Xiahou Yu seed a little surprised. "This is it?"
Chi Wan handed him her suitcase. "Yep. I only brought so clothes and a few things back with . Most of my stuff is in my dorm room."
Xiahou Yu put the suitcase and the chanical puppy in the trunk, nodded, and asked no more questions.
She locked the courtyard gate. As the car drove past the ring of thorns at the foot of the hill, the only gap left in it slowly closed.
Xiahou Yu was a very smooth driver and actively found topics to chat with Chi Wan about along the way.
Chi Wan was surprised to discover that no matter the topic, Xiahou Yu could always contribute to the conversation.
What was rare was that on topics he knew less about, he would listen quietly, never interrupting or making baseless assumptions.
Even when they discussed a field he specialized in, like artificial intelligence, his attitude remained modest. He never seed to find Chi Wan’s questions shallow or unworthy, nor did he ever get condescending.
The three-hour-plus drive wasn’t exactly long, and their conversation road far and wide, never once stalling. When the car finally stopped, it felt as if they could have kept talking.
But just as Chi Wan got out of the car, she heard an unexpected yet familiar voice. "...Wanwan?"
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