Chapter 15

9:00 AM (2)

Deng Yun’s right hand and forearm were pressed down by Xu Muzi, relying solely on his core strength to maintain balance.

Within just half a meter, he could clearly smell the faint scent of alcohol on her.

It was like holding a torch to ignite a campfire.

Xu Muzi had delicate features, and when she was asleep, she didn’t look so aloof; instead, she appeared very serene.

Deng Yun frowned at her for a moment before slowly withdrawing his arm.

She wasn’t in deep sleep and sensed something, probably dissatisfied with being disturbed, furrowing her brow and grabbing his sleeve in an attempt to stop any movement that might affect her.

She pressed her forehead against his wrist and rubbed it slightly.

It was like a sleeping person burying their head into the blankets.

He had to admit that Xu Muzi was very cute.

When she was in a good mood, she liked to show off those little tricks she wouldn’t normally say out loud, and when drunk, she became very clingy.

It had always been this way.

Deng Yun remembered the first time he taught Xu Muzi how to climb over a wall, bringing her out of her home.

She sat in his car, a bit smug, saying she had left a note on her bedroom door before going out.

She told her family she had insomnia and didn’t sleep until the early hours, so she wouldn’t be getting up for breakfast, and no one would notice she was gone until noon the next day.

Deng Yun didn’t say anything; he had originally just wanted to take her out for some fresh air and a drink, then bring her back.

It was only for a few hours, not all night, at most just a late night.

But she wanted to spend the night out?

He must have laughed at the time.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have remembered it and made a note of it in her little book of grudges, even deciding to throw him out onto the street when he got drunk.

Although, in the end, it was her who got drunk.

In fact, Xu Muzi had misunderstood; Deng Yun’s laughter wasn’t mocking.

He just thought she was innocent and pure, quite interesting.

Deng Yun could understand Xu Muzi’s behaviors that were labeled as “rebellious” by society.

He had gone through the same dilemmas and had his own “rebellious phase.”

The first time he heard of Xu Muzi was when he started to rebel.

At that time, Deng Yun was in middle school.

In the second semester of his first year, he was transferred to a new school in the city where his parents did business, rumored to have excellent teachers.

Deng Yun’s grandmother moved with him.

When he was very young, his parents left their hometown to work in the city.

They were very busy with work and didn’t return home often, so Deng Yun grew up with his grandmother.

His grandmother was an ordinary old lady with a gentle temperament who always thought of others in any situation.

Compared to living in a high-rise building in a densely populated but unfamiliar city, she was definitely more accustomed to the hometown she had lived in all her life.

She was used to going out and knowing everyone, able to chat casually with anyone she met;

used to those pots and pans that had been in use for half a lifetime, the old kitchen knife that often needed sharpening, the chipped little wooden stools, and the faded sheets and pillowcases…

Before moving, the old lady wanted to bring all those things with her but was opposed by Deng Yun’s parents.

They said, “Those old items of yours are decades old, older than Deng Yun. You might as well just throw them away after tidying up.” “There will be new ones over there; they are already prepared for you, just enjoy yourself.”

The small house in his hometown was filled with various items that had accompanied her for decades.

The old lady picked this up to look at, then that, unable to part with anything but could take nothing with her, only gazing at a few pots of flowers on the windowsill, sighing with regret.

Deng Yun said, “Don’t worry, it’s the same wherever I go to school.”

His grandmother gently patted him on the back and nagged, “How can it be the same? That school is a key school, with great teachers; the chances of getting into a good high school are much higher. If you get into a good high school…”

“Then the chances of getting into a good university will be even higher.”

Deng Yun bit into an apple and finished his grandmother’s words, “So you’re just hoping I get into a good university?”

“Of course, who wouldn’t want their descendants to live well?”

“What kind of university do you want me to get into?”

His grandmother had quite a bit of ambition, pointing out all the top and most famous universities in the country.

Deng Yun said, “Alright, I’ll aim for those. Since you sacrificed so many treasures for me, I have to achieve something.”

His words sounded too arrogant, and he received another slap on the back.

The old lady said, “Stop boasting; one must be humble. Get into a good high school first before talking about university.”

“How about you teach my parents about ‘being humble’ instead?”

His grandmother shook her head, sighing with a sense of helplessness.

Living with his parents was as uncomfortable for Deng Yun as it was for his grandmother.

The couple had developed a habit of comparing themselves to others, with no truth in their words.

It was impossible for them to be humble; they were bragging all the time.

In his previous middle school, Deng Yun happened to score first in the grade once.

Mainly, it was because the class president had an acute appendicitis and went to the hospital for surgery, missing the exam. The exam questions were difficult, and Deng Yun was in a relaxed state of mind, performing slightly better than usual.

This incident was exaggerated by his parents into eight hundred versions, making him seem like a genius.

They told everyone, saying that when helping Deng Yun transfer schools, even the homeroom teacher didn’t want to let him go.

The homeroom teacher was just being polite.

Deng Yun’s right hand and forearm were pressed down by Xu Muzi, relying solely on his core strength to maintain balance.

In just half a meter of distance, he could clearly smell the faint scent of alcohol on her.

It felt like holding a torch to ignite a bonfire.

Xu Muzi had delicate features; when she was asleep, she didn’t seem so aloof, looking quite peaceful instead.

Deng Yun frowned at her for a moment, slowly withdrawing his arm.

She wasn’t in a deep sleep; she sensed something and, probably feeling disturbed, frowned and grabbed his sleeve, trying to stop any disturbance that might affect her.

She pressed her forehead against his wrist and nuzzled a bit.

It was like a sleeping person burying their head under the covers.

He had to admit, Xu Muzi was very cute.

When she was in a good mood, she liked to show off those little schemes she wouldn’t dare mention otherwise, and when she was drunk, she became very clingy.

It had always been like this.

Deng Yun remembered the first time he taught Xu Muzi how to climb over a wall, bringing her out from her home.

She sat in his car, a little smug as she said she had left a note on her bedroom door before leaving.

She told her family that she had insomnia and only fell asleep at dawn, so she wouldn’t be getting up for breakfast, and no one would notice she wasn’t home until the next noon.

Deng Yun didn’t say anything; he initially just wanted to take her out for some fresh air and a drink, then bring her back.

Just a few hours, it wasn’t even an all-nighter, at most a late night.

Yet she wanted to stay out overnight?

He must have laughed back then.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have written it down in her little grudge book, secretly deciding to ditch him on the street when he got drunk.

Though in the end, she was the one who ended up drunk.

Actually, it was Xu Muzi who misunderstood; Deng Yun’s laughter had no mocking intent.

He just found her innocent and pure, quite interesting.

Deng Yun could understand the behaviors that society defined as “rebellious” for Xu Muzi.

He had gone through the same dilemmas and had his own “rebellious period.”

He first heard about Xu Muzi when he started to rebel.

Back then, Deng Yun was in middle school.
—-
In the second semester of his first year of middle school, he was transferred to a new school in the downtown area where his parents were running their business, reputedly with excellent teachers.

Deng Yun’s grandmother also moved with him.

When Deng Yun was very young, his parents left their hometown to work in the city.

They were very busy with work and didn’t return home often, so Deng Yun grew up by his grandmother’s side.

Deng Yun’s grandmother was an ordinary old lady, gentle in nature, always thinking of others.

Compared to living in a densely populated but unfamiliar high-rise building in the city, the old lady was, of course, more accustomed to the hometown she had lived in for a lifetime.

She was used to knowing everyone when going out and could chat with anyone she met;

used to those pots, pans, and bowls that had been used for half a lifetime, the old kitchen knife that needed sharpening regularly, the chipped handmade wooden stool, and the faded sheets and quilts…

Before moving, the old lady wanted to bring all those things with her but was opposed by Deng Yun’s parents.

They said, “Those old things of yours are decades old, older than Deng Yun. Just tidy up and throw them away.” “There are new ones prepared for you over there; you just need to enjoy life.”

The small house back in the hometown was filled with various items that had accompanied her for decades.

The old lady picked up this and looked at that.

She couldn’t bear to part with anything, yet couldn’t take anything with her, only gazing at a few potted plants on the windowsill, sighing sadly.

Deng Yun said, “Don’t worry, it’s the same wherever I go to school.”

His grandmother lightly patted his back and nagged, “How can it be the same? That school is a key middle school; the teachers are good, and the chances of getting into a good high school are higher. If you get into a good high school…”

“The chances of getting into a good university will be even higher.”

Deng Yun bit into an apple and finished her sentence for her, “Are you just hoping I get into a good university?”

“Of course, who wouldn’t want their children and grandchildren to live well?”

“So what kind of university do you want me to get into?”

The old lady had quite the ambition, counting off her fingers, mentioning the most prestigious and well-known universities in the country.

Deng Yun said, “Alright then, I’ll aim for those. Since you’ve sacrificed so many treasures for me, I’ll definitely achieve some results.”

That sounded too arrogant, and after he said it, he got another smack on the back.

The old lady said, “Don’t brag; one must be humble. Focus on getting into a key high school first before talking about universities.”

“‘One must be humble,’ why don’t you go teach that to my parents?”

The old lady shook her head, letting out a sigh of resignation.

Living with his parents was as uncomfortable for Deng Yun as it was for his grandmother.

The couple had developed a habit of comparing themselves to others, always speaking insincerely.

It was impossible for them to talk about being humble, as they filled the air with hot air.

At his previous middle school, Deng Yun once accidentally got first in the grade.

It was mainly because the class leader had appendicitis and had to go to the hospital for surgery, missing the exam. The test questions were difficult, and his mindset was extremely relaxed, allowing him to perform slightly better.

This was exaggerated by his parents into eight hundred different versions, making him sound like a genius.

They told everyone how the homeroom teacher didn’t want to let him go when they helped Deng Yun transfer schools.

That teacher was just being polite; they couldn’t say, “Great! Finally got rid of this annoying student who read ‘The Call of the Soul’ during math class.”

What was even worse was that Deng Yun couldn’t stand how his parents used the excuse of being good for the old lady to criticize her.

His grandmother had experienced hard times in her youth, and her habits formed in an environment of scarcity were definitely different from the present.

She was frugal, treating everything as a good thing.

Delivery boxes, plastic bags from shopping, gift wrapping paper, and empty metal snack boxes were all things she wanted to keep.

Because of this habit, the old lady was scolded by his parents a few times every day.
—-
In Deng Yun’s view, after moving here, his grandmother no longer seemed as lively as before.

She used to wake up every day, eager to meet up with her old friends and neighbors to go shopping and chat. After dinner, she would sit together playing cards or stroll in the nearby park…

After moving, the old lady became idle.

The complex new television, computer, robotic vacuum cleaner, fingerprint door lock, and fully automatic toilet in the house… all of these made her uncomfortable.

The fresh vegetables and fruits wrapped in plastic wrap from the supermarket, with expensive price tags, also left the old lady, who used to buy cheap fruits and vegetables by the roadside, in disbelief.

Unfamiliar with the subway and public transport routes, and with no one to chat with, she could only walk her dog on the familiar streets of the community and return home to a phone that only had a few apps she could use.

Deng Yun’s parents and his grandmother had many points of conflict and found it hard to adapt to each other.

The old lady damaged the new non-stick pan that Deng Yun’s mother had just bought with a steel wool scrubber, which earned her complaints.

And surprisingly, Deng Yun’s parents taught her to lie. They wanted her to tell visiting friends that she was a retired university teacher.

The vanity and disdain behind this lie left the old lady feeling down.

Deng Yun comforted his grandmother, patting her shoulder like he would a child, “Just wait two more months. I’ll have a break and can accompany you back to our hometown for a month?”

Deng Yun’s grandmother’s eyes brightened: “Oh, by that time, the melons at Grandma Tao’s will be ripe. We can go to her yard to pick melons…”

That night, she was even humming a little song to herself, “Golden nest, silver nest, not as good as our grass nest.”

Two months felt long.

While cleaning the house, Deng Yun’s parents found a box of nutritional supplements they had bought for his grandmother last New Year when they returned home.

It was a beautiful gift box, which the old lady hadn’t dared to eat and had saved.

His parents discovered it was already expired and threw it in the trash, leading to another round of scolding for the old lady.

The corgi squatted beside the old lady, also looking dejected.

Deng Yun knew about that box of nutritional supplements.

His grandmother often looked at the gift box, reminiscing, worrying about how hard it was for her son and daughter-in-law to earn money outside. She didn’t want to use it and wanted to save it until the next time his parents returned to make soup for them.

Deng Yun pulled the old lady closer, comforting her: “If it’s thrown away, it’s thrown away. Expired food could have mold, and eating it could make you sick.”

The old lady said, “But it was so expensive…”

Deng Yun took out his phone and searched for a microscope image of mold online to show her, saying, “Look, if you eat this, how is it any different from poisoning yourself?”

The old lady relaxed a bit: “That’s true.”

With her feelings soothed, Deng Yun silently bottled up his own frustrations.

Deng Yun had lost his temper with his parents a few times.

But thinking about it, with one side being his parents and the other being his grandmother, conflict would only put her in a difficult position.

So he endured it and found new ways to interact with them.

For a period, Deng Yun’s parents were doing quite well in business, earning enough money, and pursuing a better life by checking out new developments from various developers.

After school, Deng Yun came back to see his grandmother lying on the sofa, fanning herself, looking pale.

“What’s wrong with you?”

He heard that his grandmother had gotten heatstroke from going out to look at houses with his parents. Deng Yun threw his backpack onto the sofa and turned to head outside, only to be stopped by his grandmother.

“Xiao Yun, don’t go looking for your parents to argue. They mean well; they want to take me to see a big house,” his grandmother shook her head to calm him down.

Deng Yun frowned: “Today the temperature outside is thirty-nine degrees. Knowing you’ve not been feeling well recently, they still took you out; is that really thoughtful?”

His grandmother put down her fan and pushed the promotional flyer from the developer in front of him: “It’s a beautiful house, three stories high, with a yard.”

Deng Yun frowned, glancing at the folded copperplate paper flyer, and asked, “Do you really like it?”

The old lady didn’t respond.

Seeing Deng Yun getting angrier, she finally said, “What’s wrong with you, child? How could I not like it?”

She started lecturing Deng Yun, explaining how difficult it was to do business, how hard his parents worked to earn money.

The old lady said that now their family was healthy. His parents’ business was thriving, and he was going to a better school; in the future, they could even move into a big house.

But she didn’t say a word about what kind of life she actually liked.

“Very good! We must understand to appreciate and cherish what we have.”

At home, there was a corgi with short legs named “Xifu,” given to Deng Yun as a birthday gift by his parents when they brought him back to their hometown one year.

Xifu was well taken care of by Deng Yun and his grandmother, growing chubby.

The little corgi thought the old lady was calling it, instantly waking up from its sleep, wagging its tail excitedly at them.

Deng Yun’s parents had work and social engagements, often returning home in the middle of the night, and he had school to attend.

Xifu was the old lady’s only companion here.

However, in this complex living environment, Xifu also struggled to adapt.

Xifu no longer had the companion dogs he used to play with back in the hometown. Living near the bustling commercial street in high-rise buildings, there were too many people and cars, and they almost had a car accident.

It happened when Grandma Deng took Xifu out. The old lady had bought something and was rummaging through her pocket for change, not noticing a three-wheeled electric vehicle speeding around the corner, honking its horn at Xifu.

Xifu was an old corgi who had been raised for eleven years, equivalent to over sixty in human years, and his reactions were not as sharp as before.

He was startled by the sudden honking and froze in place.

Grandma Deng was also shocked; her coin purse and cane fell to the ground, and she panicked, yelling, “Xifu—”

It was said that a brave little girl rushed in front of the three-wheeler to protect Xifu, spreading her arms to block the vehicle.

That was the first time Deng Yun heard about Xu Muzi.

The old lady didn’t know the girl’s name; she kept thanking her, repeatedly saying how brave and beautiful the girl was.

“In your young people’s words, how do you say it? Oh, I remember: she’s beautiful and kind-hearted.”

“She was so scared that she was trembling all over, yet still wanted to protect our Xifu. Such a silly child! I can’t even bear to think what would happen if that crazy car hit her…”

“Didn’t they say that people in big cities are supposed to follow the rules? Well, that wasn’t the driving lane.”

After coming to this city, there weren’t many topics that interested the old lady, but she often brought up this incident.

Worried for the little girl, worried for Xifu, she could never let go of her gratitude toward her.

Every time it came up, Deng Yun would engage in the conversation.

“Didn’t you ask for her name?”

“I was scared out of my wits back then; I didn’t have time to ask. I was just worried that the girl would fall and get hurt…”

The old lady thought for a moment and said firmly, “That girl looked like me when I was young—very pretty.”

On the television, a family drama was playing during prime time. Deng Yun pointed at a child star on the screen and asked, “Is she as pretty as that?”

The old lady put on her reading glasses to take a look and shook her head, saying, “She’s even prettier than her.”

Deng Yun teased, “If she’s that pretty, she surely doesn’t look like you.”

He received a couple of playful slaps on the back from his grandmother.

This topic was discussed frequently for a while, then gradually faded from memory.

Until one evening six months later, when his parents weren’t home, Deng Yun took his grandmother out for dinner.

As they passed a piano training school in the central business district, they saw a huge promotional poster that was two stories high.

Suddenly, the old lady stopped, stared at it for a long time, and pointed at the poster, saying to Deng Yun, “That’s the brave girl who saved Xifu!”

Deng Yun looked over—

The photo had undergone some post-editing, giving it an oil painting feel.

A little girl sat at the piano, her fingers poised naturally over the keys, smiling at the camera.

She wore light makeup and a white dress, exuding elegance and grace.

He joked with his grandmother, “Are you trying to flatter yourself? How could this girl look like you?”

The old lady was displeased: “What do you know? I was very pretty when I was young; I was famous for my beauty among the neighbors. Your grandfather was lucky to marry me.”

As one ages, the body changes year by year.

Grandma Deng fell ill, took medication, and was hospitalized repeatedly before passing away in just one year and seven months.

She hadn’t even gotten to see Deng Yun enter a key high school before she left.

Not long after the old lady passed away, the old corgi, Xifu, also fell ill.

Deng Yun took him to the pet hospital several times, but the doctors said he was too old to be saved. In the end, he succumbed to his illness and passed away just a month later, joining the old lady in the next world.

During that time, Deng Yun’s conflicts with his parents reached a peak.

He resented them for always being busy with trivial social engagements instead of spending more time and care for the elderly.

There was more of a powerless longing and regret, regretting that his grandmother couldn’t live the life she had wished for before she passed.

The family business continued to do well, and they finally moved to a better, bigger house.

After moving into the villa, Deng Yun’s parents had even more friends who were like them.

Perhaps it was true that birds of a feather flock together; they were all newly rich like his family.

They would occasionally come over, sitting together to brag and compare, calling it a gathering or alliance.

Among these people, Xu’s couple resembled his parents the most.

They were practically clones of Deng Yun’s parents, seizing every opportunity to show off various things, often bragging about their daughter—

“My Muzi started staring at a pianist in the mall when she was only three years old; she was so fascinated that she wanted to learn the piano.”

“The piano teacher also said she has a good talent for it.”

“Over the years, Muzi has won many awards; who knows, she might really become a pianist in the future.”

This group would get loud when drinking at home, noisier than monkeys in a zoo, and Deng Yun usually stayed upstairs, avoiding them.

During one of their gatherings, he received a phone call and went downstairs to sign for a package he ordered online.

After picking up the delivery, he was about to head back upstairs when he bumped into Xu Muzi’s mother, who was drunk and looking for her phone.

Xu Muzi’s mother grabbed Deng Yun and said, “Child, can you help me call a number? I can’t find my phone.”

Deng Yun dialed the number Xu Muzi’s mother provided and found her phone under the sofa cushions.

The phone’s lock screen was a picture of Xu Muzi.

It was still her sitting at the piano, but she had grown a lot since the piano training school’s poster.

She was already a big girl now.

But Deng Yun recognized her at a glance; Xu Muzi was the brave little girl that the old lady had always remembered.

In that moment of daze, Xu Muzi’s mother had already stumbled back to the dining table with her phone: “Come, let me show you a video of Muzi playing the piano…”

At first, Deng Yun had no particular thoughts.

When he heard news about Xu Muzi, he thought of his grandmother. He imagined that if she were still alive, she would be happy to hear Xu Muzi’s parents bragging about their daughter, right?

She would probably want to meet her, too.

However, the girl had a small face, looked cold and stunning, and didn’t resemble his grandmother at all.

He thought, this old lady was really quite narcissistic.

The two families interacted frequently, but Deng Yun’s encounters with Xu Muzi were few and far between.

The first time they met, she caught him smoking.

And he thought she was probably as vain as her mother.

The second time, she ate something she was allergic to and locked herself in the bathroom, tears streaming as she tried to vomit, her eyes glistening.

He found her a bit silly.

The third time, at the shooting range in Megalos, she accidentally bruised her face with a shotgun.

With her head bowed, she stood in the snow, quietly shedding tears for several minutes.

A few minutes later, she wiped her eyes with a woolen glove and casually asked a staff member for a cup of ice.

Before that day, there had been a heavy snowfall in Megalos, the world was covered in white and smelled strongly of gunpowder.

Xu Muzi walked past him with red eyes, and Deng Yun suddenly felt a pang of compassion.

This emotion, more complex than curiosity, caused him to lose focus in the souvenir shop, and only realized after checking out that he had taken an extra fridge magnet.

When Xu Muzi came to deliver the ceramic dishes, she stood at Deng Yun’s door, blushing while looking at her phone.

So, Deng Yun knew that Xu Muzi probably had a crush on someone.

He guessed it was a secret crush.

Tsk, a secret crush.

That evening, Deng Yun happened to stumble upon the scene of Xu Muzi’s failed crush at a restaurant.

Deng Yun had a bit of experience with “rebellion” and knew that Xu Muzi was about to break under the pressure, although he had no idea what silly idea she might come up with next.

Xu Muzi seemed timid but had some pretty bold ideas.

Last time she dared to shoot at the Megalos firing range; next time, she might try go-karting and crash off the track.

That would still be fine; she was studying abroad and had plenty of opportunities to find herself in dangerous situations.

Some dangers could be addictive, and it wasn’t a joke.

It would be better if he could take her along.

The first time Deng Yun took Xu Muzi out for drinks, they had just left the hospital, and Xu Muzi threatened him.

She made him swear not to tell anyone about her respiratory alkalosis.

Deng Yun called a cab to take Xu Muzi home.

The security at the villa area was strict; they had to register their license plates and destination.

They got out at the entrance, and Xu Muzi exaggeratedly said, “If my parents knew where you were taking me, they might want to kill you.”

Deng Yun replied nonchalantly, “It’s a law-abiding society now.”

Xu Muzi suddenly smiled, a bit tipsy, her smile revealing all eight teeth.

She was quite pretty.

She said, “I used to think you were a good student.”

Deng Yun said, “If we’re just talking about grades, then yes.”

Xu Muzi stamped her feet in frustration: “How come you can’t understand other people’s hints?”

Deng Yun asked, “What do you want to scold me about this time?”

Having already been to a bar and a hospital,

As the alcohol wore off, Xu Muzi began to wilt again: “No, I was just thinking I thought you were a boring bookworm. But now that I think about it, being called boring must feel awful…”

The snow had stopped, and the villa area was very quiet.

Dense greenery covered both sides of the road, appearing quite ferocious in the dim light before dawn.

The sky looked like blueberry sauce mixed with milk.

Xu Muzi quickened her pace, walking up to Deng Yun.

She began to search his down jacket pockets, and after that, she started feeling around in his pants pockets.

Deng Yun grabbed her wrist to stop her: “What are you looking for?”

Xu Muzi looked up, staring at him: “Cigarettes. Don’t you smoke?”

Deng Yun replied, “Stop looking, it’s useless; what you need isn’t cigarettes.”

“What then? What do I need?”

Deng Yun looked at Xu Muzi: “Something more stimulating than cigarettes.”

For a moment, the inexperienced rebellious girl couldn’t think of anything more stimulating than cigarettes. She wrapped her scarf tighter and took a few steps in the cold wind.

Suddenly, she turned her head and asked him seriously, “Deng Yun, haven’t you ever felt unhappy like I do now? Why?”

Deng Yun might have been stunned for a moment, then smiled lightly: “I’ll tell you next time.”

…

These things couldn’t be thought about; the more he thought, the more his head hurt.

Especially since Deng Yun had just received news that Xu Muzi was dating a steady boyfriend.

He also studied music, majoring in violin performance, and apparently had a lot in common with her.

Xu Muzi’s hair brushed against the buttons of his shirt, like the ambiguous connection that lingers when parting from lotus roots, pulling at his rationality and sense of morality.

Deng Yun pulled his arm away and gently flicked the few strands of hair back to the side of her face.

Xu Muzi sensed the movement, her eyelashes fluttered twice, but still couldn’t shake off her drowsiness, mumbling, “I have a headache…”

Her voice was very soft, weak, and made him worry.

All his impulses were screaming, and he unconsciously raised his hand, stopping just short of Xu Muzi, less than an inch away.

He was struggling against his own instincts.

If he stayed in this room any longer, something would eventually happen. Deng Yun exhaled a breath of warm air, stood up, and prepared to leave. He walked to the door but remembered the room card in his pocket, then turned back and placed it on the bedside table.

The bedside’s silent electronic clock displayed the time: 9:42 AM.

Xu Muzi was sleeping soundly.

Deng Yun looked at her, curled his finger joints, and gently tapped her forehead: “You have a boyfriend, yet you still don’t know how to behave? Next time, I won’t hold back.”