The two of them collapsed onto the bed with neither a loud nor a soft thud, only slightly rousing the other two roommates.
The latter merely turned over, adjusted their sleeping position, and went back to sleep without any sign of getting up to check.
Hearing the faint movement from the bed opposite, Jiang Xiao dared not even breathe.
Of course, he knew all too well how big a misunderstanding it would cause if the other two roommates found them like this now.
But compared to being misunderstood, their current posture was far more dangerous.
After that fall, one of his legs had somehow ended up between Song Qiuyu’s snow-white, pillar-like thighs, subtly clamped.
He could clearly feel the soft touch enveloping both sides of his leg.
Jiang Xiao’s lips twitched as he instinctively bent his knee and shifted upward, trying to free his trapped leg.
“Mm…”
Song Qiuyu seemed a little uncomfortable, her delicate brows furrowing slightly as her legs tightened.
Jiang Xiao was stunned for a moment, then glanced down at his leg, which felt like it was being caught in an iron vice. His brows knitted in worry.
But suddenly, a terrifying thought struck him…
Song Qiuyu’s sleeping posture was terrible!
If this kept up, he might be forced into doing something with her.
And at that point, he wasn’t sure he could hold back…
At the same time, with his restless movements, more white mist slipped out from under the hem of her white T-shirt.
This might be the best chance to see if she had the heart-shaped birthmark on her thigh.
Or even to see if the area beneath really matched that of a girl…
“Ugh…”
Just as his gaze involuntarily drifted downward, wanting to confirm, Song Qiuyu murmured in her sleep, her lips parting slightly.
She released his leg and turned over, exposing even more of her smooth, pale skin!
Though he could no longer see the exact spot, the sight overwhelmed him.
With a loud thud, Jiang Xiao’s head buzzed. His eyes dared only a brief glance at her perky shape and slender waist before hurriedly looking away.
Forget the birthmark or the narrow gap—his mind was consumed entirely by their mutual Vestal Crisis!
His brain went into chaos, as if air raid sirens and soldiers’ shouts echoed in his ears.
Air raid!
It was an air raid!
Quick, bring out the anti-aircraft guns!
The last shreds of his reason forced him to suppress every filthy thought about “brothers” or “letting brothers eat.”
His trembling hand, which had rested on Song Qiuyu’s shoulder, froze, stiffened for a moment, then clenched tightly before pulling back.
His upper body shot up, heart pounding as he sat upright on the bed, trying to calm himself.
“So cold.”
Song Qiuyu tugged the hem of her shirt down over her side, covering the overly tempting and dangerous view.
Her delicate hand then fumbled for the neatly folded blanket nearby and threw it haphazardly over herself.
One small, milk-white foot still stuck out from beneath the blanket.
Jiang Xiao couldn’t stand it any longer.
That drunken idiot!
He carefully shifted his hips, trying not to make the bed creak, then reached out to pull the blanket over that exposed foot.
But with Song Qiuyu’s terrible sleeping habits, it was likely to slip out again soon.
Still, Jiang Xiao had reached his limit. He’d already made a huge effort to atone today. If he stayed any longer, one of them would surely lose their mind by morning.
He bit his lip and fled in the most pathetic way imaginable—like a scrawny dog.
Jiang Xiao dashed into the bathroom and didn’t bother with hot water. He took a cold shower, quickly soaking himself from head to toe.
A cold shower in October was truly freezing, but precisely because it was cold, it had the miraculous effect of cooling him down and clearing his head.
After waking up fully, his body and mind were wracked with torment. He avoided touching the most sensitive area, peeled off his soaked pants, and tossed them into the laundry basket.
He did nothing else—just stood under the cold water, letting it wash over him repeatedly, stripping away the heat rising in his skin and the almost drowning impulse threatening to overwhelm his consciousness.
It was as if he were a monk practicing asceticism, sitting on a stone beneath a waterfall.
Despite his efforts, his mind couldn’t stop conjuring the image of that obedient sleeping face, so close to him.
Those rosy lips slightly parted with each breath.
And that perky shape exposed to the air, the narrow gap just barely hidden beneath the shirt hem…
It wasn’t right. He shouldn’t be looking at Song Qiuyu like that.
He clearly believed that, so why had he reacted so strongly both when helping her bathe earlier and just now?
At this rate, things were progressing faster than he’d imagined.
Sooner or later, he might really lose control with Song Qiuyu.
And since she clearly didn’t have much guard up against him, there were holes everywhere.
But thankfully, he hadn’t lost control today. And Song Qiuyu hadn’t noticed anything.
His body still trembling, he lingered under the cold water for a long while, then sighed and turned off the tap.
He slowly towel-dried himself.
For that still sensitive spot, he kept a cold expression and refused to comfort it.
Not doing so was uncomfortable, but if he did, the pain would only worsen.
So with the reason he’d regained, he fought hard to suppress those precarious thoughts.
After putting on fresh clothes, he opened the bathroom door.
His mood remained low.
His hair still damp, he absentmindedly grabbed a dry towel and draped it over his head, then went back to the room.
He pulled out a chair and sat down, chin raised, his expression complicated and conflicted as he looked toward the bed next to his.
Could it be…
He really felt something for Song Qiuyu…
“Hehe.”
Song Qiuyu snuggled warmly beneath the covers, dreaming a happy dream.
She dreamt of going back to kindergarten, when her parents were still at home and her mother had given her a wonderfully warm bath.
Kindergarten back then was truly carefree.
She could be the King of the Children, catching fish and shrimp to play with,
and scaring the girls in her class by catching bugs.
In this dream, Jiang Xiao was also there in her kindergarten, his demeanor focused entirely on studying the Saintly Books, completely oblivious to the outside world.
His temperament caught her attention, and after countless times of her initiating greetings, they eventually played together.
They became particularly close brothers—so close they even wore the same pair of underwear.
She woke from the dream with a beaming face still glowing from the happiness.
But as she threw off the blanket to sit up, a sudden chill swept over her lower body…
Huh?
Where had her pants and underwear gone? Could they have sprouted wings and flown away?
Her groggy mind tried to make sense of it.
“Ugh, wait, this doesn’t look like my shirt.”
Song Qiuyu’s eyes widened.
She wasn’t in the habit of sleeping naked, nor would she randomly wear other people’s clothes to bed.
Puzzled, she tried to recall what had happened.
Bits and pieces came back to her.
She vaguely remembered Jiang Xiao getting vomited on, then helping her bathe.
From that, she roughly deduced what must have happened afterward—this shirt was Jiang Xiao’s, and he must have helped her into bed!
Song Qiuyu’s expression almost broke under the weight of all these issues.
There were too many points to get angry about, probably even more than she realized.
In short, they couldn’t have already “cooked the rice” last night, right?
Still, she felt no special sensations on her body, except for a headache…
After all, she was a zero-experience rookie and this was her first time being a girl.
Honestly, she wasn’t sure what really happened after the fact.
Was it really as bad as the internet said—aching back and waist?
She swallowed hard, uncertain, but there were two things she did know.
So she pulled at her shirt, lifting it to examine her entire body.
Then she quickly moved her hips aside and carefully checked the entire bed.
Nothing.
No marks anywhere.
No discomfort in that area either.
She exhaled in relief, gently patting her trembling chest.
Even if nothing had happened, there was no escaping the fact that Jiang Xiao had helped her bathe.
She blushed deeply and wanted to bury her head in the closet to find the Time Machine.
She bit her lip and glanced at herself, wearing only Jiang Xiao’s T-shirt, then shifted her body and shamefully opened the wardrobe.
The weather was getting cold, so clothes dried slower than before.
Most of her winter clothes and pants were still drying on the balcony, not yet dry.
Her summer and autumn clothes had mostly been packed away.
After rummaging around, she found only one pair of underwear and a pair of thermal leggings she could wear.
These thermal pants were left behind for the transition between autumn and winter, but she never expected that, at such a critical moment, they would save her life.
Looks like it’s time to go shopping and add some clothes.
Song Qiuyu reluctantly slipped them on, calming herself down. Then she took a deep breath, pulled back the bed curtain, and got ready to get out of bed to collect the laundry from the balcony.
She prayed that some clothes had already dried, so she wouldn’t have to keep wearing Jiang Xiao’s T-shirt.
However, before she could even reach the staircase, her eyes met Jiang Xiao’s, who was filling a water bottle by the dispenser.
Recalling the fragmented memories from last night, she licked her lips anxiously and guiltily, clenched her fists tightly, and her mood turned heavy.
She was afraid that he might already know something.
Like the fact that she was actually Shen Xi.
Or that when Jiang Xiao helped her wash last night, he had seen her completely…
She really didn’t know what she would do if that were true…
So, what fell into Jiang Xiao’s eyes was a disheveled Song Qiuyu, her gaze evasive, cheeks and neck slightly flushed.
Jiang Xiao awkwardly shifted his gaze away from her, his heart racing.
Seeing Jiang Xiao’s reaction, Song Qiuyu froze for a moment. She could clearly feel that something was off about him.
But exactly what was off, she couldn’t quite tell.
With a gulp, Jiang Xiao took a sip of hot water, casually glanced at the other two roommates who were almost awake, and said straightforwardly, “If you’re going to change, do it now. Come down quickly. Also, this shirt’s collar is too big for you. Fix it first.”
Song Qiuyu hesitated.
After he finished speaking, he instinctively glanced toward the stairs where she was kneeling.
For some reason, he had the strange feeling that she was about to come clean and apologize.
But clearly, he was the one who should be at fault.
Song Qiuyu was also looking at him. The brief moment when their eyes met in the air, and she quickly looked away in panic, made him swallow the urge to ask what was really going on.
Maybe it was because she was still wearing his shirt, with half her shoulder exposed… it was just too embarrassing.
It was truly hard to look at.
If she were a girl, this would probably be called a boyfriend T-shirt?
“Oh.” Song Qiuyu responded a few beats late, then pulled the slipping neckline up.
But this accidental adjustment formed a rather deep V-neck, causing Jiang Xiao to nearly spray out the water he was drinking.
Suddenly, he recalled what happened in the bathroom, with the towel between them.
“Last night…”
Song Qiuyu descended the stairs cautiously and ventured to speak.
“Hm?”
Jiang Xiao forced himself to stay calm.
“I don’t remember very clearly what happened last night. Why was I wearing your clothes, and…”
Song Qiuyu looked carefully at Jiang Xiao, hoping to find the answer she wanted in his expression.
Logically, if Jiang Xiao knew everything, he probably wouldn’t stay silent.
Jiang Xiao took another sip of water and walked toward his seat. About last night… perhaps it was better to keep pretending.
Only by doing this would it be best for both of them.
If that secret was exposed, their relationship could never go back to how it was before. He didn’t want to see that day.