Shopping mall, first floor.
Customer service desk.
Shen Ye sat on the bench beside the service desk, her two short legs dangling in the air, swinging back and forth.
She had already been waiting for a while.
After the broadcast was announced, she obediently sat here, but she waited and waited, and Lin Xiangyi still hadn’t shown up.
Junior Brother, you’re not going to swallow your pride and just not come, are you?
She couldn’t help but wonder, and then, as if thinking of something amusing, the frequency of her leg-swinging picked up slightly, and a smile crept onto her lips.
Hehehe, it’s just a little bit of revenge. You won’t mind, right, Junior Brother?
Who told you to lose me in the crowd?
Just as she was thinking, her peripheral vision caught a figure approaching from the distance.
Shen Ye looked up.
Lin Xiangyi was carrying two bags, walking toward her with a dark expression.
Shen Ye’s heart skipped a beat.
Oh no, I think I took it too far.
But she still put on a worried look and hopped off the bench to greet Lin Xiangyi.
“Xiangyi, are you okay?”
She waved her hand, calling out a greeting to Lin Xiangyi.
Lin Xiangyi walked closer.
He heard Shen Ye’s greeting.
Oh, so you’re this concerned about your little friend, huh?
But seeing Shen Ye safe and sound, his anger unconsciously dissipated by more than half.
You’re really spineless, Lin Xiangyi.
He secretly mocked himself, but when he reached Shen Ye, he still put on a stern face, not showing a single crack.
“You’re really something.”
Lin Xiangyi flashed a “kind” smile.
“Really think you’re my guardian?”
He reached out a hand, pretending to flick Shen Ye’s forehead.
Shen Ye sensed something wrong.
Something’s not right!
She instinctively shrank her neck, covering her head with both hands.
But that hand didn’t land on her forehead. Instead, it reached for the top of her head.
The man’s fingertips precisely passed through the concealment of the spell and touched that fluffy cat ear.
“Mmph—!”
Shen Ye’s body stiffened.
She snapped her head up to look at Lin Xiangyi, her big, pretty eyes filled with disbelief and a plea for mercy.
Junior Brother!?
What are you doing!?
Don’t you know my ears are sensitive!?
Facing the girl’s tearful, pleading gaze, Lin Xiangyi just narrowed his eyes and smiled.
Shen Ye read his meaning from that smile.
You brought this on yourself, Xiao Ye.
The next moment, Lin Xiangyi’s thumb and index finger gently pinched the cat ear’s tip and lifted it slightly.
The force wasn’t strong.
But it was enough to stimulate the fragile nerves inside Shen Ye’s little ear.
A numbing, tingling sensation exploded through her body from the ear tip. Shen Ye felt her scalp go numb, her whole body as if struck by an electric current, and she nearly lost her footing.
“Nya—!”
A cat cry was forcibly suppressed as Shen Ye covered her mouth with her hand, a blush climbing from her neck to the tips of her ears in an instant.
“You! What are you doing!”
Shen Ye was both embarrassed and angry.
She slapped away Lin Xiangyi’s hand, covered the top of her head with both hands, her ears twitching restlessly under her palms, and glared at Lin Xiangyi with tearful eyes.
It was fierce, but without any threatening power.
Lin Xiangyi, seeing Shen Ye in this bristling state, withdrew his hand with great satisfaction, crossed his arms, and said from above:
“This is punishment.”
“…”
Shen Ye covered her ears, turned away her blushing face, and muttered words Lin Xiangyi couldn’t hear.
[Even if I did something wrong.]
[How could you do that to me in public…]
“What?”
Lin Xiangyi leaned in closer, wearing a dangerous smile.
“N-nothing!”
Shen Ye quickly waved her hands, taking a fearful half-step back.
Beside them, the customer service lady rested her chin on her hand, watching the scene with a smile.
When she first saw Lin Xiangyi, she had indeed brightened up.
So this is that pretty young lady’s boyfriend? Pretty handsome.
When she saw the man reach out and pat the girl’s head, and the girl instantly blushed, glaring back with a mix of embarrassment and anger, she couldn’t help but sigh.
So loving. So nice.
When will a corporate slave like me ever get a sweet love like this?
She covered her mouth, giggling dreamily.
But why did she meow like a cat?
“Let’s go.”
Lin Xiangyi looked at the girl who was still a bit sulky, chuckled softly, and said helplessly:
“I already bought you a phone.”
As he spoke, he shook the bag in his hand.
“Oh.”
Shen Ye responded in a muffled tone, turned around, and walked behind Lin Xiangyi.
She was still brooding over having her ear pinched just now, and a lingering blush remained on her face.
As she walked, she noticed something.
Lin Xiangyi was carrying two bags.
One was very small, probably holding the phone.
The other was quite large. She didn’t know what was inside, but looking at the bag’s packaging, she felt a vague sense of familiarity.
“What’s that?”
Shen Ye pointed at the big bag and asked.
“Hm? Nothing. I bought it for myself.”
Lin Xiangyi answered flatly, but there was a hint of forced calm in his panic.
Crap. I left in a hurry and forgot to switch the packaging bag.
Even as he said this, he discreetly moved that bag behind him.
Hm?
Something’s off.
Shen Ye blinked but didn’t press further.
Junior Brother didn’t also buy underwear, did he?
Well, that would indeed be inconvenient to show me.
“Oh, okay.”
She nodded obediently, swinging the shopping bag containing her own underwear behind her.
Lin Xiangyi looked at the girl holding a bag with the same packaging as his, and the corner of his mouth twitched.
…
He had just gone back to the store and bought that dress.
He hadn’t considered the issue of the packaging bag.
But fortunately, she’s a spirit being, so she probably doesn’t understand what it means.
Probably…
He guiltily averted his gaze.
As they reached a corner, both of them stopped at the same time.
A surging crowd flowed past them in an endless stream, wave after wave, like a river that never stops.
Lin Xiangyi glanced at the crowd, then at Shen Ye beside him.
We can’t get separated again.
He thought to himself.
But how can I guarantee I won’t lose her?
He glanced at Shen Ye’s hand.
The girl’s hands were behind her back, her slightly curled fingers hooked around the shopping bag.
Should…
I hold her hand?
This thought couldn’t help but pop into Lin Xiangyi’s mind.
Following his thoughts, his hand unconsciously reached out, only to be pulled back mid-air by him.
No. I can’t.
She’s Senior Brother’s friend. This would be too presumptuous.
But the moment he withdrew his hand, a warm, small hand took hold of his.
That hand wasn’t big, yet it perfectly wrapped around his palm.
Her fingertips carried a slight chill, like snow melting in early spring, pressing steadily against his palm.
“This way, we won’t get separated.”
“This is what my mother taught me.”
He looked at Shen Ye’s face.
The girl smiled, gazing at him tenderly. The coldness in her eyes melted away with that smile, transforming into sweet, gentle affection. Her slightly youthful features shone under the light cast down from the ceiling, breathtakingly stunning.
One glimpse, and all worldly concerns faded away.
Lin Xiangyi’s heart skipped a beat.
He stood there dumbfounded, as if disconnected, all his thoughts wiped clean in that instant. The only things left in his mind were the girl’s smile, and those eyes that reflected his figure.
“Xiangyi?”
Shen Ye shook his hand, looking at him curiously.
“Don’t space out. Do you want to get separated again? This time I’m not going to look for you in the broadcast.”
She muttered, tilting her chin toward the crowd.
“With my height, I can’t squeeze through. I still need you for that, Xiangyi.”
Only then did Lin Xiangyi snap back to reality.
He shook his head, flinging that breathtaking image that had etched itself deep into his heart out of his mind, then spoke:
“Ah, sorry, I spaced out.”
He discreetly adjusted his grip, changing the handhold to interlock with the girl’s four fingers, maintaining a strength that could hold her hand without being too intimate.
That smile is terrifyingly lethal.
I probably won’t forget this smile for the rest of my life.
He laughed at himself.
The two arrived at the front door of the house.
Lin Xiangyi pulled out a spare key and handed it to Shen Ye.
“Here’s the key. If you ever want to go out on your own, remember to bring it.”
I’m not going out.
Shen Ye silently stuck out her tongue.
“Creak.”
As the sound of the door opening came, Lin Xiangyi stepped inside, then instantly froze.
“What’s wrong? Xiangyi.”
Shen Ye curiously poked her head out from behind him, looked inside, and then her pupils dilated.
Inside the room, a girl with a kind smile stood with her hands behind her back, looking at them. Her greeting was sweet, yet it seemed to hide a lethal edge:
“Hello there, big brother, and you—”
“young lady.”