Chapter 74: Deep Kiss

After Chi Xiao gave his suggestion, the living room fell into a brief silence. Then, a calm voice rang out:

“Why should I listen to you?”

Before the words had fully settled, Ming Can suddenly clenched her fists, grinding her molars slightly.

Because she wasn’t the one who had said those words.

Chi Xiao had anticipated what she was going to say and responded to himself in advance.

Ever since they started dating, this guy had barely bothered to hide his shamelessness. He openly laughed as he looked at her, as if waiting to see how she would react now that he had spoken the words she was about to say.

Ming Can didn’t want to admit that he had indeed guessed correctly—word for word.

She never acted like this in front of others, but whenever she was with Chi Xiao, it was as if she had developed a contrary personality. No matter what he said, she just had to argue back. Naturally, this made her very predictable.

People only dare to be infinitely arrogant in front of those who show them infinite tolerance.

Realizing this, Ming Can didn’t feel as irritated anymore. Instead, she figured she might as well let him misjudge this time. After all… she didn’t actually dislike his suggestion.

“You’re wrong.” Ming Can said calmly. “What I wanted to say was: Good idea.”

Her body moved faster than her thoughts. Before she even realized it, she had already plopped down onto Chi Xiao’s lazily spread-open legs.

Her heartbeat went out of control, pounding wildly. Sitting sideways on his lap, she felt both flustered and vaguely aware that this posture seemed… a little strange? It wasn’t exactly intimate either.

That was until a hand wrapped around her waist, palm pressing against the curve of her slender waist. With a slight exertion of force, he turned her around half a circle. Her legs, clad in brand-new pink plush slippers, now dangled between his. As inertia pulled her forward, she instinctively placed her hands on his shoulders for support.

Their eyes met.

Chi Xiao’s gaze held both amusement and helplessness. “Why are you facing the TV? Are you using me as a chair?”

“……” Ming Can was momentarily speechless. She pursed her lips and muttered under her breath, “Aren’t you just a chair?”

Because of his long legs, she could sit on the outer edge without having to press her entire body against him.

But now, she was completely encircled between his legs, with firm, toned muscle beneath her. The small space she occupied was entirely under his control. Even though she sat slightly higher than him, with her line of sight above his, she felt anything but steady. Her hands remained braced against his shoulders, unable to move away. Every part of her balance depended on him, leaving her feeling unsettled.

Ming Can tried her best to push aside the distracting thoughts in her mind and asked calmly, “How are you supposed to look at your laptop like this?”

“You hold it.”

With that, Chi Xiao casually picked up his laptop and placed it right on her lap.

The bottom of the laptop was warm, and the cooling fan whirred noisily. Ming Can, feeling like she was holding a hot potato, shifted uncomfortably. She ended up leaning slightly against his chest so they could both see the screen.

She couldn’t believe it—was she really studying like this?

On the screen, the program was still running. Chi Xiao, seemingly unfazed by having someone sitting on his lap, continued explaining the model with his usual cool and composed tone, picking up where he had left off.

Ming Can lowered her gaze slightly, her eyes sweeping over Chi Xiao’s sharp, clean-cut sideburns, where a faint shadow of stubble lined his jaw. Feeling a little indignant, she thought: There’s no way I’m the only one getting distracted in this situation… right?

But on the surface, she remained completely composed, as if she were attending a serious and intellectually profound lecture. Whenever she encountered something she didn’t understand, she humbly asked questions. She even managed to calmly summarize key points and draw insightful parallels within the field.

After more than ten minutes of this, Ming Can’s legs started to go numb. She couldn’t help but shift slightly, and just as she did, Chi Xiao suddenly snapped the laptop shut and tossed it aside. His voice was short and firm: “Stop rubbing.”

“Who’s rubbing? I just moved a little.” Ming Can was thoroughly frustrated. “And why did you close the laptop? Aren’t you working anymore?”

Chi Xiao responded indifferently, “It wasn’t my work to begin with.”

Ming Can frowned. “Then what were you busy with just now?”

“Nothing much. I just found my senior’s project interesting.” Chi Xiao tilted his chin slightly, his gaze calm yet burning. “But now, I’ve found something even more interesting.”

As he spoke, the arm around her waist instinctively tightened, pulling her forward. Their faces drew closer, and Ming Can could clearly see the flickering light in his eyes—like firelight swaying, restrained yet intense, sending a thrilling shiver down her spine.

They had been together for a week now, and they had already kissed several times.

Kissing felt both novel and intoxicating.

Earlier today, both of them had been busy with classes and hadn’t seen each other. Chi Xiao’s apartment was quite far from campus, yet after class, Ming Can had gone out of her way to come over—not just to pick up Miaomiao, but also to spend time with her newly minted boyfriend.

Now, sitting above him, she looked down and met his gaze, one filled with quiet longing, like someone waiting for a blessing from the heavens.

Ming Can took a small breath, hesitated only briefly, then—her face flushed—she leaned down and kissed him. Her soft, warm lips pressed against his in a tentative, inexperienced kiss.

After a moment, when she still didn’t feel him responding, she instead heard a low chuckle. His chest trembled slightly with the sound—deep and magnetic, laced with an inexplicable allure.

“What?” Ming Can’s face was now completely red. She tried to sound stern, but her voice lacked any real force. “What are you laughing at?”

Chi Xiao gently pinched her waist through the fabric of her clothes. “I thought that with how seriously Ming, the University’s top student, was studying just now, you weren’t thinking about anything else at all.”

Ming Can shot back, “Weren’t you also looking all serious, like some kind of scholar?”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t be comfortable.” Chi Xiao replied casually. “But the moment you sat down, I already wanted to kiss you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he cupped the back of her neck with one hand and kissed her, biting down lightly on her lips.

Their lips pressed and moved against each other, bodies growing hotter as they drew closer. Ming Can felt as if every nerve ending on her skin had been laid bare—every slight movement, every breath, sent a shiver down her spine. The way his lips sucked and lingered on hers felt so deep, so intense, as if it was being imprinted into her very soul. Her hands unconsciously clutched at the fabric of his shirt, fingers tightening as she held onto him. Through her slightly parted lashes, she caught a glimpse of him—eyes closed, his long lashes trembling. His usually cold and restrained face was tinged with a distinct flush, and the bridge of his high nose brushed against her skin as he kissed her with both focus and abandon. Ming Can’s breath hitched, and she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut again—like someone walking alone in the dark, only to suddenly collide with a soul-stealing demon. One more look, and she feared she would be completely enchanted.

Midway through the kiss, Chi Xiao pulled back once more. Just as Ming Can began to worry whether stopping so abruptly would leave him unbearably frustrated, a husky voice sounded near her ear, low and electrifying— “Open your mouth. I want to go deeper.”

A jolt ran through Ming Can, and her ears burned crimson, red like garnet. “Why would you say that all of a sudden?!”

Chi Xiao raised his brow. “Weren’t you the one who told me to say what I wanted?”

“Well, now I’m telling you to stop talking—”

Her words, tinged with both irritation and shyness, were swallowed up in another deep kiss. Her slightly parted teeth were nudged open even further, her defenses completely overrun. She sucked in a sharp breath, feeling the tension throb at her temples as the invader swept in—tangling, tasting, claiming her inch by inch. His tongue pressed in with a mix of forcefulness and tenderness, gradually conquering every last bit of her resistance.

The soft, breathless sounds of deep kissing and swallowing echoed through the quiet, open living room. Ming Can, dazed for a long while, slowly adjusted to the rhythm of the kiss. Tentatively, she cupped his face, using her breath and tongue to fumble at his lips, clumsily exploring.

She always approached things with a meticulous, studious attitude. Since she found this difficult and challenging, she instinctively repeated certain actions over and over. Her tongue, like a lost traveler, brushed clumsily across the tip of his teeth, retreating the moment it ventured too far, as if burned. Her lips foolishly fixated on the same spot, sucking at one particular area of Chi Xiao’s lips without any variation. Her kissing skills were undeniably terrible. If this were a game, she’d be that frustratingly unskilled player who was bad at the mechanics but still insisted on playing with enthusiasm.

And yet, Chi Xiao was completely taken by it. She could repeatedly fumble in the same spot, tormenting him without any real technique, and he didn’t find it frustrating—if anything, it drove him to the edge. A tingling numbness shot through his scalp, electricity running down his spine, every muscle in his back pulled taut like a fully drawn bow.

The heat between them grew almost unbearable, thick enough to set the air itself ablaze. Ming Can, dizzy and breathless, finally parted her lips slightly to gasp for air. She felt the warmth at the corners of her lips drift downward, trailing along her neck, then lower—toward her collarbone.

Her overheated brain abruptly cleared for a moment, and she pushed at him. “I haven’t showered…”

Not only had she not showered, but she had also endured two grueling gym classes that afternoon. The spring sun had just begun to show its strength, shining brightly over the track field. Their instructor had lined them up and made them jog a full kilometer. Ming Can hadn’t been keeping up with exercise lately, and after just one lap, she was already gasping for breath. Sweat had trickled out beneath her clothes, sticking to her skin, while the sun overhead burned hot against her back. By the time she finished the kilometer, she felt completely sticky and gross. Afterward, she had no time to go home to shower or change before heading straight to her evening class. When the night air turned suddenly chilly, the wind had dried her damp skin, making her forget just how sweaty and uncomfortable she had been earlier in the day.

That night, the moment Ming Can got close to Chi Xiao, she caught the clean, crisp scent of mint on him. He had clearly showered already—his entire body, from his hair to the hem of his pants, was fresh and spotless. He smelled unbelievably good.

Compared to him, Ming Can suddenly wished she could throw herself into a washing machine and let it spin her clean.

But before she could pull away, her wrist was caught. Chi Xiao controlled his strength with precision—firm enough to keep her still but not enough to hurt. His movements never faltered as his voice grew lower and more husky: “I don’t mind.”

Ming Can felt her blood rushing in the wrong direction, her mind screaming that he was a total pervert. But outwardly, all she could do was shrink back in helpless nervousness, only to be unfolded inch by inch.

She was suddenly reminded of how it had felt during that long run earlier in the afternoon. Sweat had dripped from the corner of her jaw, sliding down her neck, pulled downward by gravity until it disappeared. And now, that same path was being covered, heat teasing her sensitive skin—too easily chilled, yet too easily overheated.

Fresh sweat formed, trembling under his breath, thickening and tightening against her skin. A similar feeling surged up—tense and overwhelming, like when she had neared the end of that run, her chest tightening in suffocating exhaustion. Except now, that sensation was drawn out and magnified tenfold. She gasped for air, her heart feeling as though it were being squeezed in a relentless grip.

Between a few shamefully indulgent moments of being devoured by his kisses, Ming Can lowered her gaze and saw her own hands gripping his short, pitch-black hair—black and white starkly contrasted against each other, the difference so striking it sent a tremor through her heart. Only then did she realize just how tightly she was holding onto him.

And in the brief moments their eyes met, she caught glimpses of those clear, pale irises—yet beneath the light color, his gaze was dark, dangerously so, as if laced with something wicked. Yet, when he leaned in to kiss her, all she felt was tenderness.

…

There was no way she could leave while still covered in sweat. In the end, Ming Can gave in and took a shower in this completely unfamiliar bathroom.

Standing under the showerhead, she worked on steadying her chaotic breathing while letting her gaze sweep over the space and the bath products.

The decor was cold and minimal—gray tiles, empty spaces separated only by glass dividers. A few plain-colored bottles sat neatly on a shelf, their contents and purposes unknown until squeezed out. Lukewarm water cascaded down from above, hitting her skin heavily. She rinsed herself for a long time, yet the heat tangled around her body refused to dissipate.

Every inch of her skin felt unbearably sticky, as if she had just run ten thousand meters. The heat from her sweat-soaked skin still lingered—and worse, she had been practically gnawed on like a chew toy. When she looked down, she barely recognized this patch of skin as her own.

She had never considered herself the type to bruise easily…

So just how much force did that bastard Chi use?!