Chapter 15 Want some candy?

The sounds of the two joking around faded into the distance, and Bai Chenzhu, who was at the center of the conversation, felt lightheaded and unknowingly drifted into a deep, sweet dream.

When he woke up, it was already daylight outside. Jiang Ye had switched places with Zhou Zhuohua sometime ago and was now casually turning the steering wheel, chewing on a lollipop.

Seeing Bai Chenzhu sit up in the rearview mirror, Zhou Zhuohua leaned out of the passenger seat, looking exhausted. "Xiao Bai, let's switch seats. I want to lie down for a while."

Jiang Ye, still with that unpleasant personality, scoffed, "Pig."

Bai Chenzhu wanted to hit him.

But remembering that the person was driving, he suppressed the urge to punch. He nodded to Zhou Zhuohua, stepped into the passenger seat, and switched places with her.

Zhou Zhuohua was clearly exhausted. With dark circles under her eyes, she went to the back seat, took off her glasses, bent her legs, lay down, and fell asleep immediately, her breath coming out heavily.

Bai Chenzhu rubbed his face to stay awake, then listlessly looked at the road ahead.

They were driving on a narrow road flanked by mountains on both sides.

Jiang Ye was eating a strawberry-flavored lollipop in a smoking posture. The smell was very strong, and Bai Chenzhu, sitting next to him, could smell the rich strawberry aroma.

The sun rose in the west, and Jiang Ye had surprisingly stopped smoking. Bai Chenzhu raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down, trying to see if the person in front of him had been impersonated.

Sensing his gaze, Jiang Ye glanced at him and asked, "Want some candy?" He then put the candy in his mouth, gripped the steering wheel with one hand, and grabbed a handful of candy from the side of the driver's seat with the other, placing it in Bai Chenzhu's arms.

A shower of colorful candy balls fell like fireworks, completely shattering Bai Chenzhu's wariness and indifference. Holding a handful of candy, he asked with a blank face, "Are you trying to coax a child?"

Jiang Ye didn't reply, but just squinted at what was ahead. He had deep features, a heavily made-up face, and his brows were always downturned, making him seem unapproachable. He also loved wearing floral shirts and shorts, making him look particularly...unserious.

Anyone sitting next to him will appear to be a good person in comparison.

Bai Chenzhu didn't want to look at the people with outrageous outfits next to him. He found a lemon-flavored candy, unwrapped it, and tasted it. It was sweet and sour, with a refreshing taste that improved his mood considerably.

Jiang Ye looked at him and suddenly asked, "How did you know it was a rat?"

"Hmm?" Bai Chenzhu paused.

Jiang Ye was casual and relaxed when facing Zhou Zhuohua, but he became more aggressive towards Bai Chenzhu, "How did you know my exact location?"

Bai Chenzhu flicked the candy with his tongue, his previous good mood completely gone. He looked up at Jiang Ye, who was expressionless, but said nothing.

"You slept for so long, do you have a headache?" Jiang Ye glanced at him.

Would Jiang Ye suddenly be so kind and concerned about his health? No, this guy is just testing him because he has a headache himself. Bai Chenzhu frowned.

He belatedly realized that Jiang Ye liked to use a carrot to dangle him and make him run forward. He was almost completely covered up, and the guy was still hiding it.

Bai Chenzhu leaned against the car door like he had no bones, playing with a candy wrapper. He was in a bad mood, so his attitude wasn't exactly friendly. "What, aren't you a strongman?"

Hearing this, Jiang Ye laughed. Seemingly satisfied with the answer, he said, "I do have a headache. But not as bad as yours, you can sleep like a pig."

Being compared to a pig, Bai Chenzhu's face immediately darkened, and the slight goodwill he had just developed vanished. He retorted, "A headache is a 'treatment' only you receive; I'm just a little tired."

"It's just a little tiring, I sleep all day." Jiang Ye said casually, then his tone suddenly changed, "What kind of superpower have you awakened?"

Bai Chenzhu deftly deflected the question, asking in return, "What special ability has Young Master Jiang awakened?"

Jiang Ye said nonchalantly, "Probably some kind of strongman."

A dark glint flashed in Bai Chenzhu's eyes. He still remembered that Jiang Ye had lured him into the car with the 'superpower' thing. He remained expressionless and asked, "Does Young Master Jiang think that I will also become a strongman?"

Jiang Ye sensed his probing and raised an eyebrow with a smile, "If I said I would, would you believe me?"

Of course, he didn't believe it. If being a "strongman" was a superpower that made one's body stronger, Bai Chenzhu clearly felt that he was going in the opposite direction, his body becoming weaker and weaker.

The two people, who were testing each other, fell silent for a moment.

Both were wearing shirts, but Jiang Ye's was a riot of colors, as vibrant as a peacock's tail. Bai Chenzhu's, on the other hand, was a clean and simple color. The two were completely incompatible, with a clear distinction between them. Perhaps it was a miracle that they could sit together so calmly.

Bai Chenzhu stared silently ahead, unconsciously fiddling with the candy wrapper in his hand. He was deep in thought, and when he wasn't smiling, his already aloof demeanor appeared even more serious and solemn, exuding an air of unapproachable arrogance and coldness.

However, it doesn't make people feel disgusted; on the contrary, it feels like it should be this way, just as the snow lotus grows aloof on the mountaintop, untouched by the mortal world.

But Jiang Ye loves to ruthlessly destroy flowers; if he doesn't destroy them for a day, his hands itch, his heart itch, and he feels uncomfortable all over.

Jiang Ye glanced sideways, openly scrutinizing the person in the passenger seat, crunching loudly as he chewed on the candy. Bai Chenzhu genuinely suspected that the man was imagining him chewing on the candy.

That gaze was as intense as fire, becoming increasingly unbearable as time passed. Bai Chenzhu had to snap out of her daze, giving him a disgruntled look. "What are you looking at?"

Jiang Ye said without changing his expression, "If you can see me, why can't I see you?"

Bai Chenzhu suppressed his swear words, trying to appear as innocent as he seemed. "You look at me, then I'll look at you, understand?"

“I don’t understand,” Jiang Ye said maliciously. “How do you know I’m looking at you if you’re not looking at me? Since you can look at me, why can’t I look at you? You only say I’m looking at you because you see me looking at you, but actually, you only know I’m looking at you because you see me, so you say I can’t look at you…”

"Jiang Ye!" Bai Chenzhu's head ached from being nagged so much that he could no longer maintain his composure. His face was full of suppressed emotions. He took a few deep breaths before suppressing the dangerous thought of killing the male lead.

Jiang Ye seemed pleased with Bai Chenzhu's expression. He raised his eyebrows, blew a whistle, and his mood was clearly very pleasant.

"How can you be so childish?" Bai Chenzhu had no choice but to rub the bridge of her nose helplessly.

He could sense that Jiang Ye treated him as a source of amusement, a toy, teasing him from time to time, like a mischievous cat rolling an innocent ball of yarn and catching resting birds.

"That's all your fault." Jiang Ye directly shifted all the blame onto him, making himself completely innocent. "Before I met you, I was a perfectly good person, so you need to reflect on yourself."

This was the first time Bai Chenzhu had ever seen such a shameless person, seemingly impervious to swords and spears, and unaffected by water and fire. Knowing that he was no match for this person in terms of verbal skills, he gave up on arguing with him, shook his head, and turned his head away to avoid further annoyance.

So he's ignoring me? Jiang Ye observed for a while and, seeing that Bai Chenzhu really ignored him, quietly reached out a hand and tried to poke the person's slightly puffed-up cheek.

Bai Chenzhu, who was resting with his eyes closed, accurately swatted his paw away.

Just when he thought someone had finally calmed down, a claw reached out again.

Bai Chenzhu touched the hard candy on his cheek with the tip of his tongue; the lemon flavor had faded to just sweetness by the end. He shoved the candy wrapper into his hand and said, "Stop messing around, go play by yourself."

"Heh." Jiang Ye curiously held the squeaking candy wrapper in his hand, then stuffed it into his pocket with one hand and quieted down. But his interest in the person next to him only increased.

The person in the back seat let out a muttered sound.

"Hey—" Jiang Ye drawled, looking at the guy sleeping soundly in the back seat through the car mirror, "Sis, Big Sister, get up and let's switch shifts."

He called out a few times, but Zhou Zhuohua didn't respond. Jiang Ye unwrapped a lollipop and stuffed it into his mouth, muttering discontentedly, "Is this guy trying to slack off?"

Despite saying that, Jiang Ye had no intention of forcibly waking the person up.

Bai Chenzhu carefully examined Zhou Zhuohua in the mirror.

In the back seat, Zhou Zhuohua frowned and fell asleep with her eyes closed. Her face was flushed, her forehead was damp, and she was sweating. Her short-sleeved shirt was sticky and damp. She was dreaming about something and occasionally punched and kicked at the air.

Bai Chenzhu straightened up, his voice steady but extremely fast, "Jiang Ye, stop the car, Zhou Zhuohua is acting strangely."

Jiang Ye unconsciously listened to him and stopped on a flat surface.

The two got out of the car, opened the back seats on their left and right sides, and climbed in.

Jiang Ye slapped Zhou Zhuohua's cheek directly, "Get up, don't sleep... Oh my god, why is it so hot!" He pulled his hand back and shook it.

Bai Chenzhu touched Zhou Zhuohua's forehead; the burning temperature was so intense that even a thermometer wasn't needed to tell the situation. "She has a fever."

Fever? This sensitive word quickly made Bai Chenzhu think of something. He didn't care about the difference between men and women and quickly rolled up Zhou Zhuohua's trouser leg.

One side was completely unharmed, but the other ankle was bruised. It was from when Bai Chenzhu pulled on the car door and caught the mutated rat while it was rushing to get on.

It's just that my calves are pinched, not enough to cause a fever.

Bai Chenzhu looked at it from all angles and finally found three small wounds next to the bruise, which had already scabbed over.

“It looks like claw marks,” Jiang Ye realized something was wrong, and his face darkened. “What did you encounter back then?”

Bai Chenzhu took a deep breath. "When the mutated rat pounced on us, Zhou Zhuohua was pushed into the car when her leg got caught in the door. It's possible that the mutated rat scratched her at that moment."

However, the situation was critical, and their attention was not on it, so no one noticed.

Jiang Ye's expression immediately changed. He grabbed Zhou Zhuohua by the collar, pulled her up, shook her shoulders, and slapped her face. "Zhuohua! Zhou Zhuohua! Wake up, wake up!"

Despite the commotion, Zhou Zhuohua slept soundly as if she were dead, showing no reaction whatsoever.

He was in a deep coma. Jiang Ye's unease grew stronger.