Xia Liyang suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and quickly walked to Lu Huaicheng’s side, glancing at him with soft eyes: “Would it be more convenient if I sat down?”

“Hmm.” Lu Huaicheng leisurely set his book down and opened his large palm to her. “Eye drops.”

His palms had clearly defined, dense, and intricate lines.

It was said that such people had meticulous thoughts and sensitive feelings.

Xia Liyang deeply agreed and cautiously placed the eye drops into his palm, making sure her fingertips didn’t touch even a bit of his skin.

She still didn’t dare to try the “intentional and unintentional physical contact” technique mentioned in the video.

She always remembered how that girl’s hair had deliberately brushed against him in the lecture hall, and the disgust that flashed in his eyes.

Moreover, he had even worn gloves when he touched her ankle before.

This showed how much he disliked physical contact.

However, she couldn’t deduce whether this aversion was directed only at unfamiliar opposite sexes or if it applied equally to everyone, regardless of familiarity or gender.

Xia Liyang quickly withdrew her hand and awkwardly sat down on the sofa, keeping a proper social distance from him. “Sorry to trouble you…”

Lu Huaicheng’s long fingers closed around the bottle, and his black eyes lightly assessed the girl sitting straight with her hands on her knees, waiting for him to give orders.

For a moment, he almost believed that she genuinely needed his help.

Who would be flirting with him and then sit so upright like a primary school student in front of a strict teacher?

He couldn’t help but curve his lips slightly, his deep voice lingering, “If you’re sitting that far away, how can I help you put them in?”

“Sorry.” Xia Liyang bit her lip and slightly lifted herself, inching closer to him.

“Is this better?” She tilted her face up, her eyes shimmering with tears as she gently blinked.

Lu Huaicheng observed her for a few seconds without changing his expression before slowly standing up.

His tall figure blocked the light from the beautiful chandelier above her head, casting a slightly oppressive shadow over her.

Xia Liyang suddenly felt a bit nervous, her gaze instinctively drifting away, completely forgetting the flirting techniques she had learned.

“Lift your face a little higher,” he said casually, leaning slightly closer to reduce the distance between them.

She caught another whiff of his refreshing scent, light yet lingering.

Though it wasn’t overwhelmingly intrusive, it made her head a bit dizzy, and she almost mechanically raised her chin as he requested.

Then she inevitably found herself staring into his deep, warm eyes.

Xia Liyang’s heart raced a few beats faster, and she resisted the impulse to look down, trying to remain composed as he lifted the eye drop bottle, hovering it above her eyes.

“Don’t blink, I’m going to drop it,” Lu Huaicheng reminded her gently.

“Okay,” Xia Liyang responded, but as his perfectly proportioned hand came down, she couldn’t help but close her eyes.

The cool liquid splashed onto her delicate eyelids, and Xia Liyang awkwardly lifted her wet lashes: “Sorry, it was a reflex. Can you do it again…?”

Lu Huaicheng glanced at her without comment, his long fingers squeezing the eye drop bottle once more.

However, this time, Xia Liyang still couldn’t help but blink, causing the drops to smear her eyeliner and trickle down her cheeks.

She hurriedly lifted her hand to wipe it away, her fair face turning a bit red: “Um, I haven’t really used eye drops before, so I’m not very used to it…”

“Really?” Lu Huaicheng raised an eyebrow, seeming to question if she was intentionally delaying.

“Well, usually when my eyes are sore or uncomfortable, I just sleep it off. There’s no need to spend money on eye drops,” Xia Liyang replied nervously, biting her lip and quickly thinking of an explanation that fit her character.

“Is that so?” He narrowed his dark eyes slightly.

“Yeah.” Xia Liyang nodded, using her fingers to hold her eyelids open. “This should definitely work!”

Lu Huaicheng looked at her eyes, which were desperately held open, and the eye sockets stained black by the melted eyeliner, and found it strangely reminiscent of the turtle he raised in the yard. It had a kind of indescribable cute clumsiness.

He couldn’t help but curve the corners of his eyes and chuckle softly.

“Why-y are you laughing…” Xia Liyang asked him blankly, not daring to loosen her fingers as she held her eyes open.

“Nothing.” Lu Huaicheng lightly cleared his throat, thinking that she really was not good at flirting. Not only could she not throw a flirtatious glance, but she also couldn’t even maintain her carefully crafted image.

“Oh, then I’ll trouble you.” Xia Liyang forced a smile.

She had already started to regret asking him to help with the eye drops. This move only served to torment herself, what good was it!

Xia Liyang looked helplessly at the eye drops about to fall from his hand. Although her eyes were forced open, her head reflexively wanted to dodge.

But as soon as she moved, Lu Huaicheng swiftly grabbed her chin.

“Don’t move.” His voice was deep, his fingertips warm and slightly rough, firmly gripping her delicate chin.

A subtle tingling sensation flowed through her body like electricity, causing Xia Liyang to tense her back instinctively. Before she could react, the cool eye drops had already landed in her pupil.

“All done.” Lu Huaicheng suddenly released her, and a trace of an indescribable emotion flashed in his dark eyes.

“…Thank you.”

Once freed from his grasp, Xia Liyang felt a bit at a loss as she bit her lip. Though her eyes were filled with the refreshing coolness of the eye drops, her face felt somewhat warm.

Especially the spot where his fingertip had brushed past, the lingering warmth felt astonishingly hot.

She unconsciously glanced at his long fingers hanging down and thought that he had just touched her without gloves?

Did this mean that her efforts today had yielded some results, and that he had developed a bit of goodwill toward her?

Or at least, had she been categorized into the realm of acquaintances?

Noticing her gaze, Lu Huaicheng’s expression faltered slightly. He casually told her to clean up and then strode off to the bathroom.

He turned on the tap, his clearly defined fingers reached for the automatic hand soap, and he rubbed them under the cold stream of water repeatedly.

Most of the time, he avoided physical contact with others.

That feeling was akin to getting oil stains on your clothes or gum stuck on your shoes.

It wasn’t a serious issue, but it always left him feeling displeased.

However, just now, facing her round eyes and her flustered, wanting-to-escape expression, he had unconsciously reached out to hold her in place.

Moreover, her skin felt smoother and softer than he had expected, like squeezing a Q-bounce egg.

Aside from leaving a bit of slippery foundation on his fingertip, it didn’t make him feel too uncomfortable.

In fact, it even evoked a subtle feeling that was hard to describe.

Lu Huaicheng’s gaze fell slightly as he looked at his fingertips reddening under the water, a faint ripple of emotion rising in the depths of his calm eyes.

After hearing the sound of water running in the bathroom for a long time, Xia Liyang realized that all her earlier smug deductions could be discarded.

He was probably just too lazy to keep dragging things out with her, which was why he had pinched her chin.

But was it necessary to wash his hands for so long? Was her face that dirty?

Xia Liyang’s mouth twitched, and she couldn’t help but raise her hand to touch her chin, only to find that it was indeed covered with loose foundation.

…

Damn, this cheap foundation is really hard to use!

If she had known earlier, she would have used the high-end cosmetics she had bought before. After all, he was just a straight guy; it was unlikely he would notice which brand of cosmetics she used.

Xia Liyang sighed, suddenly realizing that her low-quality eyeliner might not be reliable either.

She quickly fished her phone out of her pocket, opened the front camera, and took a look.

Even with the poor pixel quality of her old smartphone, she saw her panda-like dark circles.

But there was nothing cute about it, only ridiculous.

Xia Liyang’s expression stiffened, and she hurriedly tried to wipe her eye sockets in front of the camera, but it only made things worse, leaving her eyelids even blacker.

This is bad.

Her plan for the day had completely fallen apart.

Feeling a bit desperate, Xia Liyang turned off her phone just as she heard Lu Huaicheng’s footsteps coming out of the bathroom.

Not wanting him to see her current clownish appearance, she immediately jumped up from the sofa, lowered her head to cover her face, and hurried to his study, pretending nothing had happened as she began dusting the bookshelf.

It wasn’t until she confirmed that he had sat back down on the sofa and started reading that she finally breathed a sigh of relief. Taking the opportunity to wash the cloth, she slipped away to the bathroom.

Lu Huaicheng was lazily leaning against the back of the sofa, his long legs casually crossed, with his deep brow low and his clearly defined hands leisurely turning the pages of a book.

But as Xia Liyang sneaked past him with her head deeply bowed like a thief, he casually lifted his eyelids and glanced at her desperately trying to hide her dark circles, a barely noticeable curve forming at the corner of his lips.

In the bathroom, Xia Liyang struggled for a long time before finally washing off her smeared makeup.

When she came out, she didn’t dare to attempt anything else and obediently finished the rest of her cleaning before leaving Lu Huaicheng’s villa in frustration.

Not long after arriving home, Xia Liyang received a message from Song Jinhe, asking her how her day had gone.

Xia Liyang: [Don’t mention it, it was a complete mess.]

Song Jinhe: [How could that be? Did you watch the video I sent you?]

Xia Liyang: [I watched it, but when I threw him a flirty glance, he asked me if my eyes were uncomfortable and even gave me a bottle of eye drops.]

Song Jinhe: [Hahahahahaha!]

Xia Liyang: “…”

Song Jinhe: [I’m sorry, but that’s just too funny, Hahahaha!]

Xia Liyang: […Is it my problem or his problem! I’m really going to cry.]

Song Jinhe: [Wait a minute, isn’t the May Day holiday coming up this weekend? I’ll come help you analyze it.]

Xia Liyang paused her typing slightly, still unsure whether she should go back to her hometown in Beicheng for the May Day holiday.

In fact, it had been over a year since she last saw her father, and she missed him a bit.

But what she wanted more was for him to personally message her to come home, rather than sending Xu Songnian to inquire if she was returning.

It was clear he still wouldn’t lower his head and admit his mistakes.

If he wouldn’t concede, she also didn’t want to be the first to back down.

If he couldn’t understand her choices, then she could only continue to maintain this stalemate with him.

Xia Liyang’s gaze dimmed, and she finally typed, “Okay, I’ll wait for you to come on May Day.”