Chapter 43 (Forty-Three) - Too Much

Fu Zhiheng's confession was sincere and heartfelt, but Luo Xincheng felt a chill run down her spine.

A few years ago, he was very aggrieved and unwilling to be her lover, but now he's eager to do so?

What exactly did he go through in between?!

A conspiracy! It must be a conspiracy!

This young man can endure what ordinary people cannot, which shows that he is quite cunning and must have a great plan!

She abruptly pulled her hand back, pulled the blanket up, and stared at him with only her wary eyes showing.

"What exactly are you up to?!"

Fu Zhiheng was clearly taken aback, still holding her hand, looking at her with a blank and disappointed gaze.

Luo Xincheng started imagining things, speaking rapidly, "Are you planning to endure humiliation and use sweet words to trick me into your heart, and then dump me as revenge for dumping you back then!"

Her mind was full of conspiracy theories, and the more she thought about it, the more reasonable they seemed.

He looked completely bewildered. "Can't it just be that I like you, love you, and therefore want to be with you?"

Luo Xincheng awkwardly looked away, "But our relationship wasn't... that dramatic, so why is she so head over heels in love with me?"

“You…” He leaned down, staring intently into her eyes, and said quite seriously, without any hint of a joke, “Are you afraid I’ll hurt you?”

Luo Xincheng instantly bristled, glaring at him with displeasure, "You?!"

He whispered, "If that's the case, why are you worried that I'll dump you later?"

She said matter-of-factly, "Being dumped is embarrassing, okay?"

He gazed quietly at her eyes and brows, then suddenly reached out and gently smoothed her furrowed brows with his fingertips. "No, it won't happen."

"I can't bear to break up with you."

Luo Xincheng remained unmoved and continued to argue, "Anyone can say such nice things."

“You never say that,” he bluntly exposed, his words tinged with personal grudges. “You just say we’ll break up sooner or later, and tell me not to get too worked up.”

Luo Xincheng: "..."

She angrily pulled the blanket up to cover her entire face and stopped talking.

A moment later, a rustling sound came from beside me, and a corner of the blanket covering my head was lifted, letting in sparse beams of light.

Fu Zhiheng's voice followed, "Does your stomach still hurt?"

She pursed her lips and said, "Just a little."

A barely audible sigh escaped from above, and then he placed one hand on her stomach and began to gently massage it.

She said firmly, "I won't be moved by such petty favors."

He hummed in agreement. "I know you're hard to please."

"Then why..."

"I just wanted to make you more comfortable."

"..."

She mumbled something under her breath, which Fu Zhiheng couldn't hear, but he guessed she was complaining about him using sweet words to deceive her again.

He smiled but didn't say anything, and continued to massage her stomach without complaint.

The bed in the room was small; when Luo Xincheng lay flat, it took up most of the space, leaving him to lie on his side with his arm as a pillow, curled up with his legs dangling off the edge of the bed. After maintaining this awkward position for a while, he felt his body stiffen and couldn't help but shift to adjust.

"Actually, it doesn't hurt that much anymore, so you..."

As she spoke, she tilted her head, and their noses unexpectedly touched.

The cool touch was fleeting, and she reflexively tilted her head back, somewhat dazed.

Although she was mentally prepared for the distance between them, she did not expect to be this close. They were so close that she could even see the fine hairs on his face.

Bathed in the soft light of the wall lamp, he winked at her and finished her sentence, "No need to rub anymore?"

Luo Xincheng looked at his fluttering eyelashes and nodded slowly, "Mm."

"But it will feel a little better if you rub it, right?" He lowered his eyes, his eyelashes almost transparent in the light. "You've never been so caring towards me before. Even if my stomach didn't hurt, you would still make me rub it for you, and you wouldn't let me complain about being tired."

He paused for a moment, then belatedly realized what he meant, his tone turning sour, "Oh, so because you're not my boyfriend anymore, you don't even want to order me around?"

His remarks were so outrageous that Luo Xincheng thought he was deliberately picking a fight. "...Stop looking for trouble, okay?"

He smirked, looking somewhat displeased, but his hand, which was rubbing her stomach, never stopped.

Seeing this, Luo Xincheng didn't say anything more.

If he doesn't mind being tired, then let him be. Having someone help rub his stomach does make him feel much more comfortable.

She absentmindedly picked at the sheets, and out of boredom, her gaze began to wander aimlessly.

But looking at his face easily caught his attention. After being caught a few times, her eyes would only glance downwards, her gaze lingering on his occasionally moving Adam's apple, his delicate and smooth collarbone, and his heaving chest.

She took a closer look at his full, muscular chest, and then, recalling his earlier accusations, felt a little amused.

During her teenage years, Fu Zhiheng was tall and slender with thin muscles. When he hugged her tightly, she would occasionally feel his bones digging into her.

The touch of his chest wasn't as soft as she had imagined, and she complained about it many times.

Whenever he complained, he would hunch his shoulders in embarrassment, blushing, and promise to practice more when he had the opportunity in the future.

But she didn't take his words seriously. After all, she was still a high school student at the time. Going to school was exhausting enough, so where would she find the time to work out her chest? After graduation, they broke up, and no matter how much he sweated in the gym, it was none of her business.

Unexpectedly, after several years of twists and turns, she actually saw the results of his training.

She secretly stared at his chest and couldn't help but admire him; he was really well-trained.

"Should we bury it?"

He suddenly asked a question, stating it in a straightforward and natural manner, just as he had asked her earlier if she wanted steak.

The overly generous remarks successfully made Luo Xincheng's face darken.

She stared at her incredulously. "What do you take me for?"

He seemed to have thought of something, and gave a curt "oh," then muttered to himself in a mocking tone, "That's true, a suitor with no official status has no right to be buried in your chest."

The overwhelming resentment made Luo Xincheng's lips twitch. "...Can you please not use that trick?"

He ignored her, his eyes drooping, and continued to wallow in self-pity as if no one else was around. "I'm not very good at it either. You probably don't even care about me. Asking that kind of question is just humiliating."

Luo Xincheng: "..."

She stared at him silently, watching him perform.

He glanced up discreetly, meeting her gaze as she watched with amusement, and pursed his lips awkwardly.

"Not going to continue?" She raised her voice, her tone somewhat sarcastic. "You're so good at talking, aren't you? Keep going."

He glanced at her hesitantly, then, as if having made up his mind, he swallowed hard and lowered his head to unbutton his shirt.

With his swift movements, a large expanse of his pale chest was instantly freed from the constraints of his shirt, revealing supple muscles that seemed to burst forth, rising and falling with his breath, radiating a vibrant heat.

It was practically shoving the gun right into Luo Xincheng's face.

The intense visual impact left her mind blank.

She stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly came to her senses and covered her face helplessly.

It felt as if all the blood in her body was rushing to her head; her cheeks flushed, and she felt a rare moment of shyness.

"How can you do this? If you want to win an argument, use your brain properly and stop with these underhanded tricks, okay?"

He kept unbuttoning his shirt and said honestly, "I noticed you were staring at me, so I wanted to make sure you could see it more clearly."

Luo Xincheng instantly bristled, "When did I ever watch? Don't slander me!"

He was refuting her words, but the hand covering his face faithfully opened, revealing a pair of eyes through the gaps between his wide fingers. His gaze followed the open collar of his shirt downwards, finally settling on the well-defined abdominal muscles.

At that moment, he lifted his eyelids and precisely caught her glancing downwards.

"Keep an eye on it now."

"..."

She silently clenched her fingers, manually blocking his gaze.

“I…” she began hesitantly, trying to suppress the upturn of her lips, “I’m not the kind of person who’s blinded by lust, your trick won’t work on me.”

He gave a deep "hmm," and the hand that had unbuttoned her clothes went back to her lower abdomen, kneading it repeatedly.

After a moment of silence, Luo Xincheng felt the heat on her cheeks dissipate slightly, and slowly lowered her hands from her face.

Just then, I heard him say dejectedly, "I've been training very hard, and my muscle definition isn't that bad, is it?"

He sniffed, trying to hide his slightly choked voice, "You're so disgusted with it, you won't even glance at it."

After a series of quick attacks, Luo Xincheng just wanted to surrender.

"I don't mind." Her eyes didn't know where to look for a moment, and with nowhere else to turn, she could only look up at his face. "I just haven't seen a half-naked man in a long time, so I'm not used to it. You know what I mean? It's not that I mind."

He smirked, but there was no smile in his eyes. "Really? When was the last time you saw a half-naked man? Was he in a better body than me? So you only look at him and not me?"

After saying that, he realized that his unwarranted jealousy was unreasonable and immediately apologized, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to criticize you, I just..."

He paused, looked directly into her eyes, and said earnestly, "I want you to look at me more."

She hesitated, then stammered, "Although I've gotten several years older, my mindset hasn't improved at all. I'm still as childish and morbidly eccentric as before, especially when it comes to relationships, so..."

She said curtly, "So don't expect me to become more mature and considerate. It's impossible. I still love to cause trouble, just like before, maybe even more..."

She couldn't finish her sentence because Fu Zhiheng's eyes were so bright and sparkling, so intensely noticeable, that she was speechless under his gaze.

She rubbed the tip of her nose uncomfortably and mumbled, "Anyway, that's how it is."

He slowly moved closer, pressing his forehead against hers, and their heavy breathing completely mingled together.

"You're willing to get back together with me?"

His eyelashes were so long, fluttering as if they might brush against her eyelids at any moment. Although she wasn't actually touched, she still felt a ticklish sensation on her eyelids due to the psychological effect.

She hadn't been this close to anyone in so long that she poked his forehead with her finger, pushing him away.

"After all, I really don't have anyone else I like besides you."

Hearing this, he curled the corners of his mouth into a smile, his laughter brimming with obvious smugness. "You only like me?"

Luo Xincheng opened her mouth, "Uh..."

He swiftly covered her lips with his finger, changing the subject with a keen awareness of the impending crisis, "Alright, it's good enough that you're with me, nothing else matters."

Luo Xincheng: "..."

Seeing that she didn't say anything discouraging, Fu Zhiheng smiled contentedly, then propped himself up to sit up.

Luo Xincheng's eyes widened suddenly. "Aren't you going to rub my tummy?"

You're not going to keep trying to please her now that you've just agreed to be together?

That's outrageous!

He stretched his stiff shoulders and neck. "Wait a minute."

Then, under her angry glare, he stood up, bent down, and picked her up horizontally along with the thin blanket.

"I felt very uncomfortable just now."

He strode to the sofa, sat down, and adjusted her position in his arms so that she would be more comfortable.

Luo Xincheng sat on his lap with a bewildered look on her face, her head pressed against his neck, which was slightly warm, without her consent.

With eyes lowered, all that can be seen is a rounded and full curve, which can be touched with a slight tilt of the head.

...This time it really came right up to her face.

Her cheek pressed against his collarbone, and she heard his abnormally excited heartbeat, then laughed lightly.

"What are you laughing at all of a sudden?"

He tucked the blanket around her, wrapped one arm around her waist, and placed the other hand on her stomach, continuing his previous service.

Luo Xincheng didn't answer him, but just looked up at him with a smile.

He gazed intently into her bright eyes, a thought flickering in his mind, and leaned closer. "Want a kiss?"

She then lifted her chin and quickly touched his lips to his, like a dragonfly skimming the water.

It made a soft 'chirp' sound.

Then she lowered her head and leaned on his shoulder, looking somewhat dejected.

Fu Zhiheng was left with his lips tightly pressed together, savoring the kiss that had been so fast that he had almost mistaken it for a hallucination, feeling somewhat dazed.

"Really... just one kiss?"

Luo Xincheng sighed, letting out a sigh of helplessness, "My period is so annoying, I'm not in the mood for it."

The rather ruthless remark did not dampen Fu Zhiheng's enthusiasm.

"Okay." He nodded in understanding, and said with a wistful tone, "We'll kiss again after your period is over."

She looked down at his chest muscles pressing together, then, without thinking, raised her hand and scratched at them with her fingernail, giving a pleasant "hmm."

Feeling her rough, careless rubbing against him, his chest heaved violently, and he let out a muffled gasp.

"...I'm not in the mood to kiss you, but I am..."

He captured her lower lip in his mouth and bit it in retaliation.

"That's really going too far."