Chapter 9: Help Me Take Off My Clothes, I Forgot To Bring Them

Chen Mo went to take a shower.

The bathroom still had the lingering warmth from when the little girl had finished her shower earlier, and the toothbrush cups, one pink and one blue, were placed on the sink, snugly together.

Where did Aunt Liu buy these matching cups?

Chen Mo turned on the shower and started washing with cold water.

…

Song Zhiyi dried her hair halfway, listening to the sound of water in the bathroom, and glanced at the double bed.

Chen Mo usually took quick showers, so to avoid any awkwardness, she thought she should fall asleep first. If she fell asleep, the awkward one would be him!

So, she lifted the blanket, lay down, and closed her eyes.

However, her mind was filled with the idea of sharing the bed with him, and she couldn’t fall asleep at all!

She didn’t know why, but tonight, Chen Mo’s shower seemed unusually long. Normally, he would finish in five minutes, but now he had been in there for over forty minutes and still hadn’t come out.

He was taking longer than her…

“Song Zhiyi.”

Suddenly, Chen Mo’s voice came from the bathroom, neither loud nor soft.

“Ah?” Song Zhiyi responded instinctively when she heard someone calling her name, but only realized after answering that it was a mistake.

Her plan to pretend to sleep had failed!

“…” There was a pause in the bathroom, as if Chen Mo hadn’t expected Song Zhiyi to still be awake. “Help me take off my clothes, I forgot to bring them.”

“Clothes?”

Song Zhiyi sat up and looked around, quickly spotting a neatly folded set of pajamas on the corner of the bed… along with a pair of black underwear.

“Nothing on the bed?” Chen Mo asked again when he didn’t hear any movement from her.

“There is! I see it!” Song Zhiyi replied, grabbing the pajamas and underwear and walking to the bathroom door.

Knock knock knock—

She lightly knocked three times on the door.

The bathroom door cracked open, and a muscular arm extended from the gap, with a few drops of water visible on it.

“Here… here,” Song Zhiyi said, crumpling the underwear inside the pajamas and handing them over to Chen Mo’s hand.

Chen Mo: “…”

Did the girl just give him a ball of clothes?

Song Zhiyi quickly returned to the bed and thought for a moment, then took out her phone from under her pillow.

It seemed like it was time to execute plan B!

Chen Mo soon came out, glanced at the girl lying on the bed, and in a low voice asked, “Still not asleep?”

“Not yet… I’m playing a game,” Song Zhiyi whispered.

“It’s already 10:30, and you’re still playing.”

“You took such a long shower yourself!” Song Zhiyi became a bit rebellious after hearing that, “…If I had fallen asleep, who would have brought your clothes?”

Upon hearing this, Chen Mo paused for a moment, then chuckled lightly, “If you had fallen asleep, I would have just come out and gotten dressed.”

As for why he took such a long shower, that was something he wouldn’t explain.

He didn’t want to scare her.

“???” So, he had just called her to test if she was asleep?

Song Zhiyi pursed her lips.

If she had known, she wouldn’t have answered him. Then she could have sneakily seen a naked guy!

Well, that was just talk, she didn’t dare.

Chen Mo’s hair was still damp, and the air conditioner in the bedroom was set to 16°C, which Song Zhiyi had adjusted after handing him his clothes, feeling a bit too warm.

Without any particular reason, she just felt a little hot.

The other side of the bed suddenly sank, and Song Zhiyi was startled. She looked up and saw that Chen Mo had already laid down next to her.

Song Zhiyi: “…”

The bed had seemed quite large at first, but as soon as Chen Mo laid down, it suddenly didn’t feel so spacious anymore.

And he had a strong presence, which made Song Zhiyi’s heart race. If it went any faster, it would be on the expressway!

Chen Mo leaned against the headboard, glancing at the chat history in the group. It was a discussion about the case from the day before yesterday. They were still trying to lock in the suspect, but there hadn’t been much progress.

He put down his phone and saw Song Zhiyi’s delicate face glowing under the light of her phone.

“What game are you playing?” In fact, the girl never really liked playing games when she was studying. She hadn’t played many single-player games, and online games were even rarer.

“Yángle Gè Yáng (A Sheep Game).” Song Zhiyi turned the phone to show him, confirming she was indeed playing a game.

“……”

He knew this game, which was pretty addictive. It only had two levels, one from beginner to expert, and the other from expert to a more difficult level.

“Have you played it before?”

“No…” This game was recommended by Meng Yu. Song Zhiyi saw that it was a version of Link Link, and since the first level seemed simple, she thought it wouldn’t be that hard.

But once she started, she couldn’t stop.

Every day during lunch breaks, everyone in the editorial department played this game.

It’s addictive!

“If you can’t beat it, stop playing and sleep,” Chen Mo said. His hair was dry, and he placed the towel on the bedside table.

“You… you sleep first. I’ll sleep after I finish the game.” One of them had to sleep first, anyway!

It wasn’t easy to finish the game.

Was she planning to stay up?

Chen Mo’s gaze flickered, and decisively, he snatched the phone from her hands.

“Huh?” Song Zhiyi felt empty-handed and saw her phone already in his grasp.

“Didn’t you say you would sleep after finishing the game?”

“……” She did say that, but she was probably waiting for him to fall asleep first.

Chen Mo’s long fingers moved across her phone.

Three minutes later, he handed the phone back to her.

Song Zhiyi looked at the screen: Congratulations, you’ve joined the flock of sheep! Time spent to complete the level: 13 minutes and 58 seconds. You earned the skin—Monkey Sheep.

“Do you play this too?” Song Zhiyi was shocked. She had been playing for half a month and never cleared a level, but Chen Mo finished it in three minutes?

Was the difference between people really that huge?

“Sun Yang recommended it to me.”

At first, it was a bit difficult, but after playing a few times and figuring out the tricks, it was easy to clear. Then he never played it again.

Though it wasn’t his own achievement, Song Zhiyi still took a screenshot and sent it to Meng Yu.

“You can sleep now.”

“Okay…”

Song Zhiyi reluctantly put down her phone, and Chen Mo turned off the lights. The room was now dark and quiet.

Thud, thud—

In the silence, lying on the same bed with Chen Mo, Song Zhiyi pressed her racing heart, tightly gritting her teeth. How annoying!

Was there a toad in her chest?

Why was it jumping so wildly!!!

Worried that Chen Mo might notice her fast-beating heart, Song Zhiyi turned over, facing away from him, trying to sleep at the edge of the large bed. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to fall asleep.

Chen Mo saw her curled up like a little shrimp, her back to him, and a trace of dark desire flashed in his deep eyes.

No matter how big the bed, it was still just this size. The faint fragrance of the girl drifted over, making the man, who had just taken a cold shower for over forty minutes, feel hot again. He had only helped her play a game, but she was already so eager to screenshot and show off.

He pressed his tongue against his back teeth.

If she had said, “Chen Mo, you’re amazing,” she wouldn’t have to sleep tonight.

Chen Mo glanced at the air conditioner’s temperature. Why was the air conditioning at his grandfather’s house so bad at cooling?

After some time, Song Zhiyi’s breathing became steady, so it seemed she had fallen asleep. The room temperature was a bit low for her. Chen Mo noticed that she had shifted slightly toward him, pulling the blanket tighter around her.

“……”

Chen Mo reached for the air conditioner remote on the bedside table, intending to adjust the temperature. He paused, as if thinking of something, and then put the remote back.