The girl slowly opened her eyes, seeming not quite awake yet, blinking a few times.
In those ruby-like eyes, there was both the laziness and confusion of someone just waking up, along with a misty layer of watery haze as delicate as silk.
She stared blankly at Lin Zhen and spoke in a muffled voice, “A-A Zhen… Brother? Why are you here, am I dreaming?”
“You’re not dreaming. Xiao Xi, hurry and let go of me.”
Lin Zhen lowered his voice, so as not to wake Aili.
“Ah, I’m not dreaming?” The girl said, her gaze dropping to the large hand covering her mouth and nose. For some unknown reason, she stuck out her tongue and gently licked it.
That soft, wet sensation made Lin Zhen’s face flush red in an instant, and he hurriedly pulled his right hand away.
“What are you doing, Xiao Xi?”
“Hmm…It has a taste… so I really am not dreaming.”
The girl released Lin Zhen’s thigh. She seemed to realize the silly thing she’d just done, blushing as she explained, “You can’t taste things in a dream…”
“After the taste of lies, another masterpiece from the anime world—the taste of dreaming.”
“I can’t take it, poor Lin Zhen! How could such a cute girl like Xiao Xi fall into his lap?”
“Really?”
Lin Zhen paused for a moment; he genuinely didn’t know that.
“Ajin Brother, why are you in my bed?” Yun Ruoxi pulled the quilt up a bit, covering her peach-pink cheeks and leaving only her eyes—eyes that seemed to speak.
“I…” Lin Zhen hesitated, unsure if he should tell Yun Ruoxi the truth. He was worried that if he failed, Yun Ruoxi, having been brainwashed, might report his actions to Bo Shi.
If that happened, he’d really be done for.
“Ajin Brother… is it hard to say?”
Yun Ruoxi’s voice softened, and for some reason, a blush crept to the corners of her eyes.
“Xiao Xi, you’re so understanding, that’s wonderful.” Lin Zhen breathed a sigh of relief seeing that Yun Ruoxi didn’t press him.
But unexpectedly, the girl didn’t really understand—she just misunderstood the situation.
Yun Ruoxi hugged Lin Zhen’s thigh again, stammering, “I-If… Ajin Brother likes me… and wants to get in bed with me… c-could you wait a bit longer? I-I’m only 13, at least wait until I’m 16, okay? Ugh, this is so embarrassing!”
She buried her head completely under the blanket.
“Wait, what are you saying?” Lin Zhen panicked, his voice rising uncontrollably.
“????”
“What’s this girl even talking about?”
“My expression is exactly the same as Lin Zhen’s right now.”
“Yun Ruoxi really plays hard behind the scenes? Hilarious!”
“I get the feeling Yun Ruoxi doesn’t even know what getting in bed means. She probably thinks it just means crawling onto the bed.”
“That’s totally possible. At our age, who understands these things? Lin Zhen and the others are always busy training, they’d have no idea.”
“Don’t make your sister Yun laugh!”
“Ajin Brother, you sneaked onto my bed at night… wasn’t it because you wanted to get in bed with me?” Yun Ruoxi’s muffled voice came from under the blanket.
“My mom said to watch out for boys who do everything they can to coax me into bed, but if it’s a boy I really like, I still need to wait until I’m sixteen.”
“I do NOT want to get in bed with you!” Lin Zhen retorted, face burning red.
“Huh?”
Yun Ruoxi suddenly stuck her head out, panicking, “Then… does Ajin Brother dislike me? My mom said, boys want to get in bed with any pretty girl except the ones they dislike.”
“For real? If Lin Zhen doesn’t want to get in bed with Xiao Xi, let me do it then.”
“Why are there bulls here!”
“So it’s her mother’s X education? Not bad.”
“No, what kind of things has your mom been telling you?” Lin Zhen pulled at his own cheeks, truly at a loss for how to explain to this silly girl.
Forget it, might as well just be honest.
“First, I don’t dislike you, and I’m not here to get in bed with you. I’m here to undo your brainwashing.”
“Undo brainwashing?”
Yun Ruoxi was stunned for a moment. She lifted her head, eyes brimming with tears, and asked in disbelief, “Has my brainwashing been undone?”
“It should be.” Lin Zhen scratched the back of his head, hesitating a bit, “Um, Xiao Xi… just now, the things you said… do you really like me?”
“I-I don’t know either.”
Yun Ruoxi’s answer surprised Lin Zhen.
She lowered her head.
“I do like Ajin Brother, but I don’t know if it’s that kind of couple or husband-and-wife love that my mom talked about… I really don’t know.”
“Reasonable.”
“At this age, who understands love anyway?”
“But…” Yun Ruoxi looked up, her tone firm, “If Ajin Brother really wants to get in bed with me, I can accept it once I’m sixteen.”
“I take back what I said, that’s not reasonable.”
“Why is Yun Ruoxi’s head full of getting in bed!”
“Lewd loli!”
“Why is your head only full of getting in bed!” Lin Zhen gave the girl’s hair a hard rub, helpless.
“There’s one minute left before the monitoring block ends.” Chicha’s voice came from the collar.
“Who’s voice is that?” Yun Ruoxi asked curiously.
“A friend helping us in secret. There’s not much time. I’ll explain next time.”
Lin Zhen patted Yun Ruoxi’s hand.
“Let go now, I need to get going. If the monitoring comes back, it’ll be trouble.”
“Mm, okay.”
Yun Ruoxi released him and watched as Lin Zhen got up. Suddenly, she asked, “Ajin Brother, did you bring a weapon when you came?”
“Why do you ask?” Lin Zhen, halfway off the bed, paused and looked up, curious.
“Because there’s a stick in your pocket. It poked me.” Yun Ruoxi whispered.
Lin Zhen blushed and coughed, “I did bring a weapon for self-defense.”
“To think I’d see a show at this level on B-station in my lifetime! Not bad.”
“Are you sure it’s for self-defense and not to attack Xiao Xi?”
“Does that stick extend, enlarge, and heat up?”
“This is wild. Was this episode written by a doujin author?”
“Alright, enough. Time’s almost up.”
Lin Zhen dared not tangle with Yun Ruoxi anymore.
Not just because there wasn’t enough time, but also because Yun Ruoxi was being unbelievably bold tonight.
She could say anything.
He really couldn’t handle it.
After all, compared to Yun Ruoxi, who was clueless and didn’t know the impact of her words, he, who had grown up at the bottom, knew much more.
Like that “getting in bed” thing.
That’s what adults do to make children! How could you just agree to something like that so casually?
Xiao Xi, really…
Lin Zhen bent down and crawled out through the tunnel, restoring it behind him, then hurried back to his dormitory.
On the way, he could feel his face burning. But with the cool night wind brushing against him, it actually felt nice.
He couldn’t help but smile.
“Do you really like me…This feeling’s not bad at all!”
Yun-schemer-Ruoxi: hehe~
She’s scheming now but when Big Zhen comes for her when she’s 16 will she still smile?