The wind lifted people's skirts, letting them sway freely across the vast expanse of flowers.
The not-so-gentle air wafted over Lu Shizhen's open collar, dissipating into the sea of flowers, its warmth gradually enhancing the subtle ambiguity.
Lu Shizhen watched as Xu Shiyue silently unbuttoned her collar, feeling somewhat flustered. A warning slipped out: "Xu Shiyue, don't do anything rash!"
Xu Shiyue's fingers, which were resting on Lu Shizhen's collar, suddenly paused. She looked up and said, "Reckless behavior?"
The bright sunlight shone into her eyes, and a smile that Lu Shizhen had never seen before appeared at the corner of her eyes.
It was as if he was mocking what he had just said.
Lu Shizhen didn't know what she had said wrong; although her eyes were panicked, she still maintained a righteous and confident demeanor.
Seeing this, Xu Shiyue's smile deepened.
The fingers that had been resting on Lu Shizhen's collar gently caressed her, moving slowly and methodically downwards as if adjusting her clothes, until they reached near her heart and stopped.
Lu Shizhen had no idea what Xu Shiyue was going to do, and her heart was pounding wildly.
The fingers that rested on her heart seemed to pierce through the tightly buttoned edges of her clothes, carrying the warmth of her surging blood and the slight coolness of the spring breeze, landing with crystal clarity on her skin.
The surging wind rustled the rose petals and blew past, causing the overlapping hems of their skirts to sway together.
Xu Shiyue's eyes were still slightly upturned, and her calm voice carried a hint of casualness as she asked in the wind, "I don't know if it's reckless of Teacher Sixteen to button up his shirt wrong and leave such a patch sticking out, or if it's reckless of me to help Teacher Sixteen button up his shirt here?"
Xu Shiyue's voice remained calm, but the upturned corners of her lips seemed to carry a hint of intrigued curiosity.
The voice rang in Lu Shizhen's ears, neither too loud nor too soft, but it suddenly made her head explode.
The warmth of the fingers touching her skin was not an illusion; Lu Shizhen had always believed that the tightly buttoned clothes of her clothes betrayed her.
The buttons, fastened upside down, followed her awkwardly the whole way, and the small gap clearly revealed the color of her skin underneath, so white it made her blush.
Therefore, Xu Shiyue's words and actions just now were not hints, but a straightforward statement of a fact.
—She buttoned the buttons wrong.
"..."
Lu Shizhen looked down at her misbuttoned shirt, overwhelmed by embarrassment.
Fortunately, a breeze swept by, and the crowded roses collided with each other, making a soft sound.
Lu Shizhen bit her slightly red lips until they turned a little white, and the confident look in her eyes when she confronted Xu Shiyue was completely gone.
After a long pause, she lowered her head and said in an embarrassed and soft voice, "I'm sorry, Miss Xu, I misunderstood you."
“Xu Shiyue,” Xu Shiyue replied.
Lu Shizhen was taken aback.
He didn't understand Xu Shiyue's self-introduction, which had nothing to do with his apology earlier.
"Didn't you just call me Xu Shiyue? Why did you change your address?" Xu Shiyue noticed Lu Shizhen's confusion and asked as if to explain.
As she spoke, the fingers that had just been resting on Lu Shizhen's chest left the warm spot where they had just left their mark.
Without the owner's frantic attempts to stop it, the misbuttoned buttons were being undone one by one by slender fingers, and the collar, losing its restraining force, drooped down.
The wind rippled the roses, as if eager to catch a glimpse of the elusive white snowflakes that had just been visible.
But just a second before it was about to blow, it was blocked by the clasped hands of the robe.
The bone china button rested lightly on my warm fingertip, and with a deft touch, it was fastened perfectly.
Xu Shiyue's fingers hovered over Lu Shizhen's chest, seemingly casually, without ever touching her skin. She was elegant and polite, giving off a sanctimonious vibe.
These same hands had gripped Lu Shizhen's arms in the darkness of last night, pressing against her waist and back.
Those cool fingers pressed against her chin, looking down at her and telling her that she should open her mouth when kissing.
Lu Shizhen subconsciously ran her tongue across her teeth, the blunt tip of her tongue touching the tip, as if the taste from last night was still there.
Sometimes, being too familiar with a certain flavor isn't good either. The lukewarm scent landed on Lu Shizhen's nose, and before she knew it, Xu Shiyue had moved even closer to her without her noticing.
Those dark eyes gazed at her with a half-smile, continuing their discussion of the topic that hadn't been finished: "Or is it that Teacher Sixteen only calls my name when it's not under your own control?"
Whether it was the dazzling sunlight or Xu Shiyue's overly direct gaze, Lu Shizhen lowered her eyes, unable to look directly at her.
She was momentarily stunned, the bright sunlight in her peripheral vision seeming to remind her how obscure the image that had just flashed through her mind was in the daylight.
In a flustered state, Lu Shizhen replied, "I... I don't know you at all. I called you Miss Xu out of politeness, but I called you by your full name in a moment of panic, and I didn't care about politeness anymore."
The milk in the glass was steaming in the wind, and Lu Shizhen seemed to have grasped at a straw. She then changed the subject and said, "Miss Xu, let's have breakfast. It's not good for your stomach if it's cold."
After saying that, Lu Shizhen hurriedly sat down in her seat and began to eat her slightly cold breakfast.
The roses swayed in the wind, their flickering shadows overlapping the image of her once trying to appear calm here.
Xu Shiyue remained silent, simply watching Lu Shizhen eat breakfast.
After about two seconds, she looked away and took a bite of the sandwich that Aunt Sun had made.
Xu Shiyue was not as leisurely as she had been when she woke up in the morning. After having breakfast, she received a phone call and left.
Lu Shizhen didn't quite understand why Xu Shiyue would spend so much time having breakfast with her in the rose garden so early in the morning. She returned to the living room and met the eyes of Aunt Sun, who was a complete stranger to her.
"Hello." Lu Shizhen didn't know what to say, so she just greeted her politely.
Aunt Sun initially disliked the person Miss Xu brought, but somehow she couldn't find her behavior so unpleasant. So she took the initiative to place the prepared fruit platter in front of her: "Please enjoy your meal, Miss Sixteen. You can call me if you need anything. Miss Xu said this is your cell phone, please keep it safe."
"Okay." Lu Shizhen nodded, feeling a little uncomfortable, and took the phone that Aunt Sun handed her.
"Something suddenly happened at the company just now, and Miss Shen came to pick up Miss Xu. She should be back this afternoon," Aunt Sun added.
Lu Shizhen paused for a moment, wondering why Aunt Sun was telling her all this.
She is now polite and distant, and it's hard to tell what she's thinking.
This is simply to reassure myself that Xu Shiyue will be back soon.
Or is it a subtle reminder that Xu Shiyue is already taken, and that she shouldn't have any illusions?
The sound of a car passing by could be faintly heard from afar; the car that Lu Shizhen thought had already driven away had just turned the corner.
Sunlight couldn't penetrate the privacy glass, only barely casting Xu Shiyue's figure onto the glass.
She sat upright in the back row, her posture as straight as ever, but with an even greater air of authority.
A lot can happen in five years.
When people leave, they all think that time will stop because of their departure, but nothing lasts forever.
Water is always flowing. Perhaps the pause button you think you have is just for show, and those people have actually already gone far away from you.
No one will stay in the same place and wait for you.
The sudden surge of desire last night tightened Lu Shizhen's heart, and a sense of melancholy lingered in her lowered eyes.
Lu Shizhen casually picked up a small fork and took a bite of the apple. It was rabbit-shaped, quite cute.
"Meow—(Host…)"
As she was thinking this, the cat's long, mournful meow reached Lu Shizhen's ears.
Qiuqiu, its fur still wet, pounced on her quickly, taking two steps at a time.
"Qiuqiu, what's wrong with you?" Lu Shizhen asked in surprise, somewhat reluctant to touch the cat with its fur sticking out.
"Meow, meow (Yuanzi recognized me and cuddled me all night)." Qiuqiu stroked her fur with a troubled expression.
Having witnessed the intimate scene between Yuanzi and Qiuqiu last night, Lu Shizhen could roughly imagine what Qiuqiu had gone through last night, and couldn't help but feel a little sorry for this poor little system.
"Host, how are you? What happened after you and Xu Shiyue went back to your room last night?" Qiuqiu asked while licking her fur in a miserable manner. "We are separated by two rooms, and I can't detect your signal anymore."
“I…” Lu Shizhen didn’t know how to describe her experience last night, so she simply summarized it as, “I slept in bed with Xu Shiyue.”
"Just took a nap?" Qiuqiu was a little skeptical. "I feel that Xu Shiyue's feelings for the host are not ordinary."
Lu Shizhen was taken aback.
It felt like something had pierced her heart, making her heart pound wildly.
But then Qiuqiu said to her, "Even so, Xu Shiyue will not get any results. The main system will guide and correct her behavior so that the host will simply see her as a dead madwoman."
It was as if a hand had reached into Lu Shizhen's body and grabbed her wildly beating heart.
She listened to Qiuqiu's calm yet cruel words and asked, "Why?"
“Because Xu Shiyue is the core of this world,” Qiuqiu said. “If the predetermined trajectory is changed and the world collapses, Xu Shiyue will not only have no future with the host, but will also be annihilated in the universe along with this world, like dust. The host will also be sent for destruction, and everything will cease to exist.”
"The main system is not yet aware that the host has returned to the core of the story. If it were to find out, the host would face extremely severe punishment."
“Host, you will meet many more people and experience many more things in the future.” Qiuqiu lay down on Lu Shizhen’s lap, comforting her owner in a cat-like manner. “Twenty years of dimension is a very important part of life for humans, but for the host living in the system, it is just a drop in the ocean. You will meet people even better than Xu Shiyue.”
It seemed as if a long and hopeful blueprint was unfolding before Lu Shizhen's eyes, with bright flowers piled up and covering the entire world.
When the wind blows, the mountains and fields are covered with a dazzling array of colors, like the surging of the sea.
Lu Shizhen looked at all of this as if she were attracted, but she did not actually step into the painting.
She murmured, looking down at the cat lying on her lap, "But none of them are Xu Shiyue."
Even amidst the blooming wildflowers, Lu Shizhen's eyes remained fixed on only one shade of red.
She had seen enough seas of roses to create a breathtaking spectacle, so no matter how many more colorful flowers she saw later, none could compare to the dazzling brilliance of this splash of red.
Paranoia is like a sharp, barbed fork protruding from the bones, stubbornly and menacingly extending out.
Even its owner herself couldn't understand why she would suddenly say such a thing or show such resistance.
Cats are always very perceptive. Qiuqiu curled up on Lu Shizhen's lap and said, "Host..."
"Buzz buzz buzz..."
Just then, Lu Shizhen's phone, which had successfully restarted, received several messages. Looking down, she saw that they were all from people in her studio.
Xiaoning and her friends arrived in S City this morning, but when they got to the hotel, they couldn't find anyone. They hadn't answered any phone calls or messages either, and they were getting really worried.
As if finally pulled back to the real world, Lu Shizhen immediately remembered her autograph session that was going to start tomorrow. Without thinking about anything else, she got up and was about to slip away while Xu Shiyue was not around.
Lu Shizhen forgot what Xu Shiyue had told her last night, and she didn't expect that the words would be so effective for so long.
She had just sneakily opened the villa door when she saw Li Bizhi, whom she hadn't seen in a long time, standing straight in front of her, or rather, in front of the gate.
Xu Shiyue had stationed all her most capable people in this villa where nothing unexpected was likely to happen.
Lu Shizhen's eyebrows twitched; she really felt it was unnecessary.
Xu Shiyue overestimated her.
The heavy villa door held the girl's reluctant hand, and Lu Shizhen stood face to face with Li, staring at each other.
Just as she was hesitating whether to force her way in, she saw the car that had carried Xu Shiyue away not long ago returning.
Finding Lu Shizhen standing at the door when she returned, Xu Shiyue was in a rare good mood. She got out of the car and walked up to Lu Shizhen: "Welcome me?"
But Lu Shizhen's reply disappointed her: "Ms. Xu, my book signing event starts tomorrow, and I really have to go back."
Xu Shiyue narrowed her eyes slightly and repeated, "Go back?"
For some reason, a chill suddenly ran through Lu Shizhen's heart.
After a moment's hesitation, she forced herself to continue, "I haven't replied to their messages all day. If they can't find me, they'll definitely call the police, Miss Xu..."
But before Lu Shizhen could finish speaking, Xu Shiyue interrupted her: "I can erase your traces."
Suddenly, a gust of wind surged from an unknown place, sweeping through the open door of the villa and creating a ripple in the living room.
The roses in the entryway swayed in the wind. A slender, pale finger reached out and casually snapped off a rose, holding it in her hand.
Xu Shiyue lifted her eyes and looked directly into Lu Shizhen's eyes: "You know I can do it."
Upon hearing Xu Shiyue's words, Lu Shizhen suddenly remembered Qiuqiu's reminder earlier.
These words and deeds were things that Xu Shiyue in the original text never did.
Lu Shizhen clenched her hands, suppressing her voice as she asked, "Miss Xu, do you intend to imprison me?"
"I don't think you're that kind of person."
Lu Shizhen's words were rather blunt, and Xu Shiyue's expression changed slightly upon hearing them.
Xu Shiyue casually played with the plain rose in her hand, her nails just pinching it lightly, and her fair fingers were stained crimson.
"Kiss me," Xu Shiyue said.
Lu Shizhen was taken aback.
Xu Shiyue had already left her side and sat on the single sofa in front of the floor-to-ceiling window.
Her long, slender legs peeked out from the narrow slit of her skirt, and they were crossed at an angle.
Xu Shiyue propped up Lu Shizhen's chin with one hand, the roses beside her making her face bright and swaying. She said to Lu Shizhen with a half-smile, "Kiss me, and I'll let you go to your autograph session."
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