Chapter 18 Setting Fire to Damage Things
Having won the spring prize, Xin Mian's confidence in playing the game soared. She and Qin Shengtian linked arms and strolled back and forth between various game stalls.
Before long, the two of them had left Chi Yu and the other two far behind.
Having just finished playing a ring toss game, Xin Mian noticed someone approaching out of the corner of her eye. Turning around, she saw a very young... boy.
Judging from his height and clothing, he looks a bit like a college student on summer vacation.
The boy looked at her, scratched his head a little shyly, and said, "Hi, I want to play that game, but I need a partner. If you're free, could you play with me?"
He spoke very sincerely and asked questions cautiously.
Following the direction of his finger, Xinmian saw that the stall was playing a group game.
Participants need to find their own partners and form teams of two to compete in a staring challenge under the timer set by the stall owner.
There are three rounds in total, each lasting 10 seconds.
The team that makes the fewest eye contact and laughs within the allotted time will be the winner.
There were already 3 sets ready in front of the stall, only 1 set was missing.
The boss urged from the side, "Hey! You, have you found a partner yet? Hurry up!"
The prize for the game was a phone case, which happened to be the same model as Xinmian's new phone, and it was cute and unique.
Qin Shengtian's eyes lit up, and she patted Xin Mian on the shoulder, "The prize is a phone case! How cute!"
"Mianmian, why don't you give it a try?"
"The other groups are either couples or friends, I feel like you guys are guaranteed to win."
It's just a staring contest; there's no need for physical contact between the two people. You get a prize if you win, and you don't lose anything if you lose.
Xin Mian was also attracted by the phone case. After hesitating for a moment, she finally agreed to the boy's request and joined the game.
"Oh well."
The boy's eyes suddenly lit up, and he excitedly took a breath, "Thank you, thank you."
Xin Mian smiled politely and entered the game area with him, standing in the designated spot.
The two were about an arm's length apart. At the boss's command, the timer started.
Xin Mian's mind was filled with that cute phone case, and her expression was as serious as a robot receiving instructions and processing work.
But the boy standing in front of her was clearly not him.
The young man's gaze was fixed intently on her, and whether it was because he had successfully invited a gaming partner or for some other reason, the smile in his eyes was almost impossible to hide.
He could only hold it for 5 seconds before the corners of his mouth started to turn up in a smile.
Xinmian looked completely bewildered.
The boy quickly apologized, "I'm so sorry, I'll definitely hold back next time."
The other three groups also had members who laughed, so they still have a chance.
Xin Mian nodded without saying anything.
The second round began immediately afterward.
Perhaps because of their outstanding looks, a lot of people gathered around their stall.
Chi Yu and the other two, who had been left behind by Xin Mian and Qin Shengtian, finally followed the sound and came over.
Through the dense crowd, Liu Haoyuan struggled to squeeze through a narrow path with his chubby body and stand next to Qin Shengtian.
Seeing Xinmian already engrossed in the game, he asked in confusion, "What is Xinmian doing?"
Qin Shengtian chuckled and answered matter-of-factly, "Playing games."
What game?
"Eye Contact Challenge".
An untimely chatter from the onlookers drifted in. "Look at the fourth couple, they're so good-looking."
"Handsome man and beautiful woman, a perfect match."
As soon as he finished speaking, the man's aura suddenly plummeted.
Yang Chengjing glanced back at Chi Yu, saw his gloomy and cold expression, and then silently turned his head away.
The timer for the third round of the game has finally ended.
The boy in Xinmian's group laughed every round, and it was unclear what he was laughing about.
Ultimately, they were disappointed to miss out on the prize.
"I'm sorry, you're so good-looking, I can't help but smile whenever we make eye contact..."
The boy's ears turned bright red, and he repeatedly bowed and apologized to Xin Mian, "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry..."
Someone nearby was amused and burst into laughter.
Xinmian turned around awkwardly, only to find that the boy actually had a companion.
He had friends with him, but he came to her to play games; his intentions were obvious.
Xin Mian waved her hand and said "It's okay," then turned to leave.
However, as the boy took a step to the side and pulled out his phone, about to speak, Chi Yu crossed his arms and gave him a cold look, his voice deep and intimidating, "Fat Orange is still waiting for you to come home."
A single sentence, though ambiguous, conveyed a deep intimacy.
The boy was clearly taken aback, then his eyes drooped in disappointment.
In this situation, Xin Mian was too lazy to explain anything. She nodded politely, took Qin Shengtian's arm, and left.
——
It was already past 9 o'clock when I returned to No. 7 Dongpu Lane from Qingshui Bay.
As soon as the courtyard gate opened, Fatty Orange rushed out of the living room upon hearing the noise.
[Meow~]
Xinmian's mood brightened when she saw Fat Orange. She squatted down and placed the toy in front of it, saying, "Fat Orange, here's the toy you won tonight."
"See if you like it."
The cat spring tunnel, once opened, is quite long, and rolls around to the ground, with fluffy hairs tied to both ends like cat toys.
Fat Orange couldn't wait to dart in and then dart out again, dart in and then dart out again.
It took only a few seconds for it to completely accept the toy.
Even with just my cat, I'm having a blast.
Seeing that it liked it, Xinmian smiled with her eyes crinkling.
The courtyard lights were warm and bright. When she squatted down, her skirt fell to the ground, and she didn't mind occasionally being stepped on by the excited fat orange cat.
He happily reached out his hand to play with the chubby orange.
Chi Yu sat on the sofa in the living room, his long legs casually spread apart. His gaze seemed indifferent, but in reality, there was only that slender figure in his eyes.
From this angle, he could clearly see the two dimples on her cheeks, and her bright, clear eyes overflowing with a radiant smile.
He suddenly felt an itch to use his hands again.
After playing with Fatty Orange for a while, Xinmian took out her phone and checked the logistics information again.
It shows that it will arrive today and is already being delivered.
But after being exposed to the sea breeze for several hours, the ends of her hair were slightly damp, making her feel a little uncomfortable.
Just as she was debating whether or not to take a shower, Chi Yu came out of the living room and said, "Go upstairs, the package has arrived, I'll sign for it for you."
Xin Mian's eyes lit up.
Anyway, these pants were bought for him, so it's fine for him to sign for them.
She nodded and said, "Then I'll go up."
He turned around and went back to the third floor.
However, the moment I took my change of clothes into the bathroom, a faint "bang" suddenly came from downstairs.
It sounded like the courtyard gate closing automatically in the wind.
She paused slightly, but didn't notice, and continued to take off her clothes and shower.
More than half an hour later, Xin Mian came out of the bathroom.
After blow-drying my hair, I checked my phone and saw that the package had been signed for.
She jogged downstairs, but the yard was very quiet. There was no one in the living room, only Fat Orange, who was fast asleep in its kennel after playing for a while.
"Chi Yu?"
She called out tentatively, but no one answered.
Xin Mian thought for a moment, then turned around and went upstairs to the second floor.
The room on the second floor was closed and quiet, making it impossible to tell whether Chi Yu was there or not.
She raised her hand and knocked on the door.
I knocked several times, but there was no response from inside.
Xinmian was puzzled, so she pressed her ear against the door, trying to hear if there was any movement inside.
The next second—
The door was suddenly pulled open, and a strong force grabbed her arm, dragging her directly into the room.
Before she could even think, she was pinned behind the door.
With a loud bang, the man's strong arm pressed down next to her head, slamming the door shut behind him.
A crisp scent, carrying the faint fragrance of shower gel after a shower, wafted into her nostrils. Startled, she instinctively raised her hand to protect herself.
Then, he placed his palm on a firm yet flexible spot.
The feel isn't quite right...
Xinmian opened her eyes and saw that her two hands were pressed against a fleshy wall.
Shift your gaze upwards.
It was Chi Yu's cool and roguish handsome face.
Very good... she's pressing his pectoral muscles.
Xin Mian's ears turned bright red, and she quickly withdrew her hand, stammering, "...Um, I didn't mean to..."
"I just... just want to see... the package... signed for..."
Chi Yu must have just finished showering, as he was only wearing a pair of black sweatpants and was shirtless, with only a towel draped over his shoulder to dry his hair.
Undried water droplets slid slowly down his firm muscles, over his abs and V-line, and disappeared beneath the black drawstring waistband of his pants.
Xin Mian unconsciously swallowed, but immediately came to her senses, reminding herself not to be seduced by male beauty.
She hurriedly looked up, her gaze meeting the man's dark, moist eyes.
The old scar on the left eyebrow is very clear.
But a quick glance revealed a new scar on his face.
"You're injured? You..."
Before she could finish speaking, he covered her lips.
Footsteps came from downstairs; it must be Chen Xiulian returning.
“Mianmian, Ayu.”
She called out as she went upstairs, as if to confirm whether the two of them were home.
"Strange, is he not home? Why is no one answering?"
The footsteps grew closer, likely heading towards Chi Yu's room on the second floor.
"Knock knock—"
The door behind her was knocked on, and the vibration seemed to travel through Xin Mian's body. Her back stiffened, and she even forgot that she was in Chi Yu's room. She subconsciously wanted to respond to Chen Xiulian outside the door.
"Grandma... um..."
The remaining sound vanished beneath his palm.
Chi Yu chuckled indistinctly, then leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Given our current situation, can we really explain ourselves clearly?"
Her mouth was covered, leaving only her clear, large eyes visible as she looked up and down.
As far as the eye could see, there was his bare, muscular upper body.
They had both just finished showering; her hair was half-dry, and his clothes were disheveled.
This appearance is indeed inexplicable.
Xinmian made a few "woo-woo" sounds, her face turning red.
The heat sprayed into his palms, melting into damp vapor that condensed in his rough, broad hands.
"Ayu, are you back?"
Chen Xiulian's voice was still outside the door.
Chi Yu suddenly released her hand and looked at her leisurely. "Speak, tell Grandma that you are here with me."
Xinmian shook her head frantically, not daring to utter a sound.
I don't understand why he suddenly went crazy.
"If you won't tell me, then I will?"
The man's gaze was fixed on her, clearly seeing the panic on her face.
In those large, clear black and white eyes, there was only his reflection.
But...
That's far from enough for him.
Tonight, in her eyes, there was another person who existed alone.
It still lasted a full 30 seconds.
The darkness in Chi Yu's eyes deepened suddenly, and the moment he looked up, he raised his voice harshly.
She was so frightened that she quickly grabbed the towel on his shoulder, afraid that he would tell her that she was in his room at that moment.
She heard him chuckle softly, and when she turned her head, she saw a fresh bloodstain on his cheekbone, from which blood was still oozing.
The bright red color softened his coldness somewhat, but it also highlighted his utterly roguish and wicked nature.
Bad stuff...
She silently grumbled to herself.
"Grandma, I'm back."
He finally spoke up, preventing her from being "exposed".
"What about Mianmian? Didn't you go to the street market?"
"She's back too, probably taking a shower. She didn't hear you call her."
"oh..."
Chen Xiulian hesitated for a moment and then nodded, asking if she was hungry and if she wanted a late-night snack.
Chi Yu replied, "I ate at the market, so I'm not hungry."
After saying that, looking at Xin Mian, he kindly added, "Xin Mian probably isn't hungry either, so you don't need to ask her."
"Okay, then you should get some rest."
Outside the door, Chen Xiulian's footsteps gradually faded into the distance.
Only when she could hear nothing at all did Xinmian's heart, which had been hanging in her throat, finally settle down.
But the man's tall figure still stood in front of her, his strong chest only ten centimeters away from her nose, and the heat emanating from his body was invisibly blowing towards her.
She instinctively leaned back, but there was a door behind her, leaving her nowhere to retreat.
It's too close, even closer than when she ran downstairs after answering the wrong phone call last time.
She was so close that she could even see the texture of his pectoral muscles and the prominent veins near his collarbone, exuding a wild and untamed energy.
Xinmian suddenly remembered a Korean webtoon she had read before, in which the male protagonists all had incredibly good bodies.
It seems... similar to someone like Chi Yu...
She silently looked away. "...Why don't you put on some clothes first..."
Chi Yu looked down at her and asked in a drawn-out tone, "Have you seen enough?"
Xin Mian's ears turned bright red, and she muttered timidly, "Pervert."
“Oh,” he finally straightened up, pulled the towel off his shoulder and threw it into the laundry basket, then casually grabbed a T-shirt from the closet and put it on. “The pervert didn’t have time to put on his clothes because he was opening the door for you.”
Xinmian: ......
She remembered his injury, and her gaze finally returned to his face.
The bloodstain was still conspicuous, looking like it had been hit by a fist, or perhaps a scrape.
Now that both of them were fully dressed, she was finally no longer distracted by the mature male body that was so conspicuous in front of her.
Calming herself slightly, she hesitated before speaking, "Chi Yu... are you doing something bad?"
He sat down on the sofa, his long legs spread wide, his half-dry bangs hanging messily over his forehead, looking lazy and listless.
Hearing her words, he seemed to chuckle lightly, teasing her on purpose, "What's a bad thing?"
"For example...fighting."
The more she looked at it, the more she felt that the bloodstain looked like it had been left from a fight.
But Chi Yu isn't a high school student in his teens, so why would he be so impulsive as to get into a fight?
Xin Mian had a jumble of guesses in her mind, and thinking of those police and gangster dramas on TV, she imagined a whole drama unfolding in her head.
"You... are bad at fighting..."
Chi Yu stared intently at her, taking in every subtle expression on her face. "Then I'll trouble you to keep this a secret for me."
Xin Mian's little mind suddenly lit up, "Then does this count as me repaying your favor?"
"Your reaction is pretty quick," Chi Yu sneered, glancing at her meaningfully, "Just kidding."
"ah?"
"It wasn't an injury from fighting."
"Why is that?"
"You really want to know?" He pulled a small box from under the coffee table next to him. "Come here and I'll tell you."
He was so tall that even when he was sitting, he still had a very strong presence and a sense of oppression.
His broad shoulders and long legs occupied most of the space on the sofa, giving her the illusion that if she got close, she would be pulled into his powerful embrace.
Xin Mian instinctively shook her head. "Just say it like that."
“Xin Xiaomian,” he called her again, his tone casual, “a person should have some conscience.”
"I got this injury while helping you pick up the package."
Xinmian: ? ? ?
Chi Yu opened the small box on the table; it was a first-aid kit.
"The deliveryman is new and doesn't know the way around here."
"I tripped and fell while I went out to pick up a package, and scraped my face."
As he spoke, he moved the first-aid kit closer to her, as if to make her take responsibility. "Shouldn't you apply the medicine for me?"
What an outrageous reason.
Xinmian refused to believe it.
But she remembered that when she came back earlier, there was indeed a broken streetlight at the entrance of Dongpu Lane.
She knew how dark that stretch of road was.
"If we don't apply the medicine soon, it will leave a scar."
Xin Mian pursed her lips. Although she still had some doubts, it was true that he had helped her pick up the package.
She eventually moved slowly to his side.
It would be a waste to leave scars on a man's handsome face.
The room was brightly lit, and under the soft light and shadow, the small beads of blood seeping from the bloodstain seemed to be sliding down.
Xin Mian didn't care about anything else, quickly grabbed a tissue and pressed it against his face.
A low, muffled chuckle came from beneath the tissue.
"Xin Xiaomian, you are taking revenge for personal reasons."
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