We boys can’t get married if we are seen naked by others……

Gu Xun’s living room was not lit, and it was pitch black. Only a sliver of light from the hallway seeped through the crack of the door.

The moment Yue Qianling crashed into Gu Xun’s arms, a sense of security suddenly overwhelmed her, but her heartbeat still couldn’t calm down, and even her hands couldn’t stop trembling.

One of her hands clutched Gu Xun’s arm, while the other immediately hooked the doorknob and pulled hard. When she heard the door close, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and leaned against the door.

However, Yue Qianling still didn’t let go of the hand holding Gu Xun’s arm. Because she was scared, she clenched tighter and tighter, and her palms were sweaty.

After a long time, the heavy breathing finally subsided a bit, and when Yue Qianling lifted her head again, she froze.

Due to being dragged by her, Gu Xun was now bracing against the doorway with one hand, and the other hand was still being held by her, creating an embracing posture, gazing down at her.

Yue Qianling met his pitch-black eyes and was momentarily speechless. It wasn’t until she felt a drop of water fall on her forehead that she blinked her eyes, slowly lowering her gaze.

“……”

Her heart, which had finally calmed down, started racing again.

Although the lighting was dim, Yue Qianling could clearly see Gu Xun’s upper body…… naked.

And she was still holding onto his arm.

Yue Qianling suddenly let go as if she had been scalded, lowering her hand. Her little finger even grazed his waist.

“……”

As if she had been scalded again, Yue Qianling’s elbow hit the door and made a muffled sound.

She stared blankly at Gu Xun for a while, completely forgetting to speak.

Until Gu Xun raised his hand and gently pressed a button, flooding the room with light.

Yue Qianling instinctively lowered her eyes, and his naked upper body appeared before her.

Feeling the temperature on her earlobes rose sharply, Yue Qianling immediately averted her face.

“What’s going on?”

Yue Qianling wanted to speak, but her throat choked up when her gaze shifted slightly towards him.

After a while, she stammered: “Can’t you put on some clothes before talking?”

Gu Xun felt amused: “I just finished taking a shower at my own place, and you burst in calling me gege, and you expect me to be neatly dressed?”

Yue Qianling knew that she was in the wrong, so she kept her head down and didn’t say anything.

Seeing Yue Qianling’s red ears, Gu Xun stared at her intently and slowly stood straight, before retracting his gaze as he turned away.

At first, he was surprised to see Yue Qianling barge in, but after a few seconds of silence, he seemed to sense her fear. He didn’t say anything and directly went to the wardrobe to grab a short-sleeved shirt.

Midway through putting it on, he walked outside. When he came out, Yue Qianling happened to see the moment when the hem of his clothes fell from his chest and covered his abdominal muscles.

For some reason, those one or two seconds of him putting on clothes kept replaying in Yue Qianling’s mind. So much so that when he stood in front of her again, she didn’t know where to put her eyes, so she nervously leaned against the door.

Gu Xun’s figure loomed over her again. Before he could speak, Yue Qianling immediately said, “When I was returning home, I felt like someone was following me. I didn’t dare to open my door rashly, so I called you gege…”

“Being followed?”

Gu Xun’s attention was all on the first half of the sentence. His eyes suddenly froze, and he pulled Yue Qianling away and opened the door.

The corridor was quiet. There was no sound or sign of anyone.

“What happened?”

Yue Qianling took several deep breaths before daring to peek outside, and seeing that there was no movement, her hanging heart finally relaxed slightly.

“I don’t know. It’s just that when I came back, a man kept following me upstairs, even until I got out of the elevator.”

She glanced at her own door across the hallway and muttered, “I knew something was wrong with that little advertisement this morning.”

News of single women being stalked and attacked in their homes was not uncommon, and Gu Xun didn’t think Yue Qianling was making a big deal out of it.

She had always been very vigilant and was far from being overly sensitive.

So, Gu Xun, with a furrowed brow, glanced around the hallway, then suddenly took Yue Qianling’s hand and walked out.

“Let’s go check the surveillance.”

Yue Qianling was still in a state of shock and fear, and she was a bit dazed, so she was pulled out by Gu Xun.

***

Entering the elevator, Gu Xun looked up at the camera and asked, “Did he talk to you on the way?”

Yue Qianling shook her head: “No, when I walked fast, he walked fast, and when I slowed down, he slowed down. He kept following me.”

Gu Xun didn’t respond, but Yue Qianling felt the grip on her wrist tighten.

Her skin inexplicably warmed. She wanted to pull away, but she was unable to summon the strength.

So, she ended up being led by Gu Xun all the way to the security room before he finally let go of her hand.

It was past ten at night, and there was only one security guard at the main entrance. Upon hearing their intention, he immediately opened the surveillance system.

Four machines the size of a table were neatly arranged in the room. As the security guard adjusted the surveillance, he commented, “With so many people coming and going every day, and so many tenants in our community, we need to be cautious.”

He clicked the mouse and turned to Gu Xun, saying, “If you have nothing to do, you should be picking up your girlfriend when she comes home late.”

“……”

Yue Qianling was taken aback, unsure of what to say. She sneakily glanced at Gu Xun and saw that he was focused on the monitor, so she just muttered secretly to her heart.

The security guard quickly pulled up the surveillance footage.

Due to privacy concerns, there were cameras only in the hallways and elevators on the ground floor of each building.

The security guard started browsing the surveillance from the time Gu Xun and Yue Qianling arrived here. It could be seen that ten minutes earlier, as Yue Qianling had described, a man in black had indeed left the elevator on the 13th floor.

When she came back, Yue Qianling didn’t dare to look back. It wasn’t until now that she noticed how tall this man was.

And he had his head down, almost unable to see his face.

Even so, Yue Qianling’s heart suddenly skipped a beat.

He was indeed following her.

It was only after seeing her knock on the door of a young man that he left.

After watching this part, Gu Xun turned his head and found Yue Qianling staring fixedly at the monitor. Her hands were tightly gripping the hem of her clothes, and her lips seemed to lose some color.

The security guard continued his chatter, but Yue Qianling didn’t seem to hear a word. Her mind was full of thoughts about what if it wasn’t Gu Xun who lived across from her.

In this place where she didn’t have any other acquaintances, she dared not think of the consequences.

The images reported in the news involuntarily flashed in her mind, and on this midsummer night, Yue Qianling suddenly felt a chill all over her body.

Until a warm hand took hers, and his body temperature continued to transmit through their touch.

Yue Qianling’s fingertips trembled, her heart moved slightly, but she didn’t look at the person next to her, nor did she withdraw her hand.

The security guard then pulled up the footage when Yue Qianling just came back.

Walking into the hallway of the ground floor, Yue Qianling walked faster and faster, and the man in black lowered his head even more. When he saw her enter the elevator, he rushed over in two or three steps, sharing a brief moment of eye contact with Yue Qianling.

“Do you remember what he looks like?”

Gu Xun asked.

The man’s appearance was actually quite ordinary, the kind that would blend into a crowd. Moreover, Yue Qianling was so nervous at the time that she didn’t notice anything special about him.

Yue Qianling tried hard to recall for a long time, but only provided a few adjectives that weren’t particularly useful.

“Anyway, according to the surveillance, this man is indeed very suspicious.”

The security guard scratched his chin and added, “But there is no conclusive evidence. I can only say, young lady, you need to be more careful in the future.”

Yue Qianling didn’t say anything, but just frowned, a stomach full of grievances poured into her throat.

What had she done wrong? Why did she have to live in fear all the time after encountering such a thing?

“Could you please retrieve this surveillance footage and send it to me?”

Gu Xun suddenly spoke.

The security guard said “um” and continued to chatter: “Fortunately you were at home today. Otherwise, if this man really wanted to do something, how could your girlfriend, a young girl, fight back? Maybe she would be dragged away before other neighbors could react. Alas, this kind of thing happened in my hometown before, even in broad daylight. With one punch, the woman had no ability to struggle.”

“Please stop.”

Gu Xun suddenly interrupted him, “Just help me retrieve the surveillance footage.”

Only then did the security guard sit down and start operating.

During the few minutes of waiting, Yue Qianling remained silent.

Because of what the security guard said, she couldn’t help but start to get scared again. She couldn’t understand why she had to suffer such unwarranted misfortune. Did she have to live in the shadow of this stranger every day in the future?

Countless complex emotions rolled in her chest, and if she wasn’t careful, a surge of heat would well up in her eyes.

Not wanting to be seen crying, Yue Qianling turned around almost immediately and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

But the tears still unyieldingly streamed down her face.

She lowered her head and quickly took out a tissue from her bag.

However, because she was tense all over, her movements were slightly flustered, and she accidentally dropped the tissue on the ground.

She froze for a moment, and just as she was about to bend down, the tissue had already picked up Gu Xun.

He didn’t walk in front of her and just stood behind her, unwrapped the tissue, pulled out a piece, his arm went around behind her, and gently wiped her eyes.

“What are you afraid of? I’m here.”

***

After obtaining the surveillance footage from the security room, Gu Xun took Yue Qianling to the police station.

Because the man hadn’t committed any substantial acts of harm, the police only took a record of the case for Yue Qianling. In case of any future incidents, the response time would be faster than a regular emergency call.

After some comforting words from a few police officers, Yue Qianling’s emotions calmed down considerably on the way back, and she also gained some clarity.

There are so many bad people in the world. Does that mean she won’t leave her home in the future?

Some things are destined to be unavoidable, so she can only face them head-on.

However, the feeling of being watched continued to linger, like a shadow cast over her head, and like a pair of invisible eyes staring at her from somewhere.

Yue Qianling sighed heavily, leaned her head against the window, and watched the rapidly receding greenery and neon lights outside.

Gradually, her gaze became unfocused, and when she refocused, she was looking at the reflection of Gu Xun’s profile on the car window.

At this time, the quiet atmosphere inside the car and the sparse pedestrians outside reminded Yue Qianling that it was already late at night.

And such a late hour, fortunately, Gu Xun was still accompanying her.

Yue Qianling never thought that one day she would be able to draw such a genuine sense of security from Gu Xun, rather than always secretly watching him from a distance.

After some of the fear and grievances subsided, Yue Qianling stole several glances at Gu Xun. Seeing that he hadn’t said anything, she secretly took out her phone and removed him from the block list.

Just as she finished this step, Gu Xun suddenly spoke, “Give me your phone.”

“Why?”

Yue Qianling was startled, thinking that her little action had been discovered, and immediately hugged her phone.

They were currently stopped at a red light.

Gu Xun wordlessly turned to look at her for two seconds, then pulled a smile, “Do you know where to set the emergency contact?”

Yue Qianling was caught off guard, “What emergency contact?”

Gu Xun was too lazy to say anything more, so he directly took the phone from her hand, lowered his head, and fiddled with it for a while, before returning the phone to her.

“Press the power button three times, and your phone will automatically send me a location message.”

“Oh……”

Yue Qianling took her phone but didn’t look at it again.

After arriving home, Yue Qianling’s overall mood was still very low.

She murmured a simple “thank you” and turned to open the door.

Just as she walked in, Gu Xun suddenly opened the door and walked in as well.

Yue Qianling abruptly grabbed the doorknob and stared at him with wide eyes. “Is there anything else?”

Gu Xun glanced around her home and casually said, “Of course, I’m accompanying you home.”

Yue Qianling: “……?”

He smacked his lips and nonchalantly added, “We boys can’t get married if we are seen naked by others.”

“……??”

Seeing Yue Qianling still in a daze, Gu Xun suddenly laughed, walked past her, and headed straight to the living room balcony.

Yue Qianling regained her senses and hurriedly chased after him, “Do you—”

Before she could finish speaking, she saw Gu Xun lean out and look at the window. Yue Qianling immediately shut her mouth.

Gu Xun inspected all the doors and windows in her house, making sure there was nothing unusual before stepping out.

He stood at the doorway, backlit by the light, and suddenly reached out and ruffled Yue Qianling’s hair.

“Go to bed early, your gege is leaving.”

“……”

***

After closing the door, Yue Qianling sat on the sofa in a daze for quite a while, feeling like her mind was playing two videos at the same time.

One was a horror action movie about a criminal abducting a woman.

The other was a loop of the scene where Gu Xun brushed aside her bangs.

It wasn’t until the alarm on her phone went off, reminding her to go to bed, that she lay down on the sofa and rubbed her head.

What happened tonight had consumed too much of her energy, but she didn’t feel sleepy at the moment.

She wanted to tell her parents, but she hung up immediately after dialing the phone.

This kind of thing seemed to be of no use except to add to her parents’ worries.

She rolled over in boredom and found Yin Xue’s phone.

When she called, Yin Xue hadn’t slept yet.

Yue Qianling simply told her about what happened tonight, omitting Gu Xun’s appearance between the lines.

After hearing this, Yin Xue was so scared that she immediately got up and went to look at her own doors and windows.

“That’s too scary. Why don’t you go online and buy some pepper spray and an alarm or something?”

As Yin Xue spoke, she suddenly started coughing.

“Are you sick?”

Yue Qianling asked.

“I have a bit of a cold. I don’t know if it’s the recent flu.”

Yin Xue sniffed her nose and said in a weak voice. “The weather has been hot recently. You should also be careful. Don’t always blow on the air conditioner, it’s easy to catch a cold.”

Yin Xue’s simple reminder suddenly pulled Yue Qianling’s memory back to that rainy night a few days ago.

Yue Qianling looked at the ground and was lost in thought, and the sound of pouring rain seemed to appear in her ears again.

Time passed minute by minute, Yin Xue’s voice on the phone drifted far away, and the scene of Gu Xun knocking on her door that night involuntarily appeared in front of her eyes, his hair and clothes all wet.

After a long time, Yue Qianling suddenly interrupted Yin Xue’s chatter.

“I have something to ask you.”

“Ah, go ahead.”

“If a guy knows that a girl is sick, goes out in the rain to buy medicine for her, but lies and says that it’s his regular medicine, what does he mean?”

“What else could it mean?”

Yin Xue said with certainty, “That boy likes you, but he’s too embarrassed to say it.”