"..."

Ning Shi lowered her head and looked carefully at the slippers on her feet. The slippers were already splattered with water, and her exposed toes were not spared either.

Fortunately, it's summer now, so even if my feet are wet, I don't feel cold.

“I didn’t understand before,” she said with a smile, wiggling her toes, “but now that I see how you treat Jinzhao, I understand instantly.”

"Shi Jing, you like Zhu Jinzhao."

This is not a question, but a statement. Ning Shi is already certain that Ding Jing likes Zhu Jinzhao.

"..." Shi Jing did not deny it, but suddenly fell silent.

Ning Shi looked up at him, insisting on a clear answer: "Shi Jing, am I right?"

Shi Jing lowered his eyes slightly, wanting to seriously consider this question, but as soon as he tried to think, his mind was filled with Zhu Jinzhao's silhouette.

These silhouettes occupied his thoughts, but he didn't find them annoying. On the contrary, he found them quite endearing.

Wishing you a lovely day.

He had never been in a relationship, nor had he ever seriously liked anyone, so he didn't know how to define liking someone.

He just felt that if he could find someone cute no matter what they did, then he must like her.

“You’re right.” He turned his head, smiled at Ning Shi, and gave his answer, “I like Zhu Jinzhao, I really like him.”

"...Why?" Ning Shi's voice suddenly went hoarse.

Shi Jing said frankly, "I don't know why. I have a bad temper and no patience. I don't like people nagging me, I don't like people being weak in front of me, and I especially don't like people pointing fingers at me."

"But Zhu Jinchao, she not only likes to nag in front of me, she also likes to act like a pushover. If I don't stand up for her, she'll be soft and helpless and let others take advantage of her. What's worse, she'll even talk about me with Xiao Li in front of me."

"She seems to have hit all my sore spots, but I just don't dislike her at all. I find her nagging cute, her cowering like a pushover cute, and even her sarcastic remarks to me are just cute to me, I don't get angry at all."

"In my more than 20 years of life, she is the first girl I am willing to treat with patience. I am very sure that I like her."

"...That's good." Ning Shi gave him a very fair evaluation after listening to his explanation.

"I just didn't expect that you would like someone not because of what that person did for you, but because of what that person made you change."

“Ha,” Shi Jing laughed, “My family is incredibly wealthy. Even if Chaochao wanted to do something for me, she wouldn’t have a chance to do it.”

Ning Shi smiled and said, "That's true."

Shi Jing glanced at her sideways: "So, do you still like me now?"

Ning Shi nodded: "I still like it now. But from now on, I will make myself stop liking it."

Shi Jing raised an eyebrow but remained silent.

Ning Shi rolled her eyes speechlessly: "Shi Jing, I also have a lot of suitors! If I wanted to, I could pick and choose men until I was dizzy."

“Okay.” Shi Jing withdrew his gaze and used this opportunity to shift the topic to “men.”

"If you want, you can date twenty men at the same time."

Ning Shi: "Of course I can! With this face of mine, I could easily charm thirty men!"

"Yes." Shi Jing nodded vigorously and gave her a thumbs up. "My sister Ning is really capable."

Ning Shi proudly tossed her hair, her face beaming with pride: "My strength is not to be underestimated!"

"By the way, Shi Jing, now that you've decided you like Chao Chao, how are you going to pursue her? She's such a simpleton. If you don't use some tricks on her, I bet even if you kneel down on one knee, she'll still think you're having a rheumatism attack."

Ning Shi's words hit the nail on the head, and the more Shi Jing thought about it, the more reasonable they seemed.

"Hiss, you're right, but..."

"But what?" Ning Shi waited for his next question.

He raised his hand to pinch his chin, frowned, and pondered for a moment: "But I don't know why, I always feel like I've forgotten something..."

Ning Shi turned around to face him: "Forgot what?"

"Hmm..." Shi Jing racked his brains, first shaking his head in confusion, then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Holy crap..." He stared at the continuous rain in front of him, his expression suddenly turning terrified.

"What's wrong with you?" Ning Shi looked at him blankly, not understanding why he was reacting this way.

He turned to stare at Ning Shi's face, opening his mouth as if to speak his discovery. But the words caught in his throat, and he felt an overwhelming sense of shame, unable to utter a single sound.

“…What’s wrong with you?” Ning Shi lost her patience as she watched him open and close his mouth intermittently without saying anything.

"Just say what you want to say, why do you look like you've been constipated for days?"

"...Never mind." Shi Jing still had a sense of shame; there was absolutely no way she could tell others about this.

"I don't want to say anything, and you don't want to hear anything either, so let's just leave it at that."

Ning Shi was speechless.

"You kept me in suspense for so long, and this is all you tell me?"

“…Hmm.” Shi Jing gave a perfunctory reply, then looked up at the sky, gazing wistfully at the rain.

"……Neuropathy."

Ning Shi left behind a precise comment, then wrapped her coat tighter and ran away. She ran very fast, seemingly afraid that Shi Jing's mental illness would infect her.

"Eh—"

Just as her figure was about to disappear under the eaves, Shi Jing suddenly called out to her.

"What?" She turned around, staring at Shi Jing with an impatient look.

"Cough..." Shi Jing cleared his throat and said indistinctly, "Don't forget your promise. You're going to help me pursue Chaochao."

“…” Ning Shi rolled her eyes at him, “Okay!”

The sound of footsteps quickly faded away, leaving only Shi Jing under the eaves.

Looking at the lingering rain in the night sky, Shi Jing couldn't help but sigh repeatedly.

"Eh..."

"Eh..."

"Hey!"

He sighed louder and louder, raising his hand to scratch his hair in frustration.

"I was so focused on liking her that I completely forgot she has a boyfriend... What should I do now? Should I try to persuade her to break up with that idiot boyfriend?"

Unable to express his shameful thoughts, Shi Jing could only talk to himself in front of the night sky.

"The person is right in front of me, I'd be a terrible person not to pursue them..."

"But she has a boyfriend now. If I actually pursue her, I'd be even more despicable! Wouldn't that be blatantly becoming a mistress?"

"But in this situation, what else can I do besides being a mistress? Her boyfriend is a complete beast; he can't do anything but bully her. If I don't step in and save her from this mess, what will she do..."

"Fine, fine, if I'm not human, I'm not human... Anyway, I'm going to have Zhu Jinzhao!"