Chapter 55: Pursuit

Miaomiao’s children’s room was a suite, complete with its own bathroom and study. When Ming Can had entered earlier, she had headed straight for the bedroom, not paying attention to the other areas.

She took a deep breath, crawling from the head of the bed to the foot, where she could see into the study.

Chi Xiao was sitting at Miaomiao’s small desk, wearing a black hoodless sweatshirt that made his skin look even paler. His amber eyes were as clear as crystal.

Noticing her head peeking out from the bed, looking like a cat caught doing something naughty, he raised an eyebrow and said leisurely, “Good afternoon, Miaomiao’s mom.”

The air froze completely.

Ming Can glanced down at herself—beige striped loungewear, casual and relaxed, but at least it was long-sleeved and covered her properly, not revealing at all.

She hurriedly climbed out of bed, slipped on her slippers, and walked to the study door, clutching her sleeves, trying to appear calm. “Why are you here?”

Chi Xiao was sitting on Miaomiao’s small chair, his long legs awkwardly folded. He leaned back lazily and said indifferently, “Couldn’t sleep, so I came to check Miaomiao’s math homework and plan how to teach him next.”

Several math workbooks were spread out on the table, and the man’s slender fingers tapped on them casually, his every movement seeming to say—

He was here for a legitimate reason.

And her?

Sneaking into her son’s room and badmouthing his father in his ear while he slept—was that something a decent person would do?

Ming Can leaned against the doorframe, knowing she was in the wrong but still maintaining a haughty expression as she openly criticized him, “Keep your voice down. Can’t you see Miaomiao is sleeping?”

Chi Xiao nodded. “My bad.”

His apology came quickly, but there wasn’t a hint of remorse on his face.

He propped himself up on the table and slowly stood up, his height suddenly towering over her, his gaze looking down with a cool arrogance.

Ming Can, having been caught badmouthing someone behind their back, naturally shrank back a bit. She didn’t look up at him and muttered softly, “Let’s talk outside. Don’t wake Miaomiao.”

Miaomiao’s room wasn’t small, but Ming Can suddenly felt it was a bit cramped. She just wanted to get out quickly, not wanting all three of them to be squeezed into the same space.

After leaving Miaomiao’s room, Ming Can gently closed the door and glanced at the person beside her.

He stood next to her, one hand in his pocket, neither too close nor too far.

But his presence was strong, his gaze lingering on her as if his eyes alone could pin her down, enveloping her in his aura.

Ming Can couldn’t help but recall the first few times Chi Xiao had come to her house. He had been the picture of politeness, his words and actions extremely restrained, his eyes never wandering, always maintaining a very proper social distance from her.

Of course, he wasn’t standing too close now either.

But the atmosphere was clearly different.

As time went on, it seemed like he was becoming less and less restrained, gradually allowing himself to occupy her space, and letting his gaze linger on her as it was now.

Even now, Ming Can still felt that, at his core, Chi Xiao was a very polite and well-mannered guy.

The reason she was starting to feel his aggressiveness.

Seemed to be because of her own allowance.

She really didn’t dislike him doing this.

For the first time in her life, she felt that the approach of an adult of the opposite sex and their gradual integration into her personal life was acceptable. The hard armor she usually wore seemed to naturally soften in front of him.

In any case, Ming Can didn’t mind him staying at her house, nor did she mind him staring at her. But the way he was looking at her now, with his lips slightly curved in a smile—wasn’t that a bit too bold?

“What did you want to say?” Chi Xiao asked casually. “Here?”

Ming Can couldn’t help but glance at her outfit again.

Loungewear really was too casual.

Her hair was also down, loosely draped over her shoulders, and she wasn’t sure if it looked messy or not.

If she ran back to her bedroom now to change into something more formal, it would seem like she cared too much about how she looked in front of him.

Forget it, this would do.

Ming Can thought about Chi Xiao’s question for a moment, then raised her eyes and calmly met his gaze. “Let’s talk in the music room.”

She did have something she wanted to say to him, to see if she could coax him into giving her the violin. So, talking in the music room was a good choice. There were also two violins she rarely played stored there, which could serve as a hint.

The music room was at the far end of the living area, with a window facing east. The nearly 30-square-meter space was quite spacious, half used as a music room and half as a gym.

As Ming Can walked in, she immediately noticed several unfamiliar pieces of exercise equipment next to the previously lonely treadmill.

She looked up at a tall machine that almost reached the ceiling and asked curiously, “What’s this?”

“A lat pulldown machine,” Chi Xiao said casually. “For working out the shoulders and back.”

Ming Can nodded in understanding, her eyes instinctively flicking to Chi Xiao’s shoulders and back.

Even under the loose sweatshirt, the broad, lean outline of his physique was visible.

Back at the villa in the snow, she had only seen his abs, not his back…

Stop.

Ming Can’s eyelashes twitched as if burned by a spark, and she quickly averted her gaze.

She inwardly grumbled: Did he really treat this place like his own home? Who knew how long he’d be staying, yet he went and bought so many expensive things to fill the space.

Chi Xiao didn’t notice her small reaction.

His gaze swept over the violins stored in the glass cabinet, and he slowly blinked before turning to look at Ming Can, signaling that she could start talking.

Ming Can gathered her thoughts and said without blushing or her heart racing, “It’s almost New Year. In our family, we always exchange gifts during the New Year.”

Chi Xiao was taken aback.

He hadn’t expected a wealthy family like the Mings, known for their internal strife and scheming, to have such a warm tradition.

“How does the exchange work?” he asked.

Directly telling him that he had to give her a gift would seem too deliberate. Ming Can decided to use Miaomiao to her advantage, turning the activity into a fun parent-child game that would also make Miaomiao happy.

Ming Can: “If the three of us are playing, the rules can be set like this: We’ll put three slips of paper with our names on them into a box. Whoever draws whose name has to give that person a handmade gift.”

Miaomiao was too young to buy gifts himself, so handmade gifts were perfect for a child like him. It would also help strengthen their parent-child bond. Ming Can felt her idea was more than reasonable.

After a pause, she asked Chi Xiao, “Do you have any objections?”

Chi Xiao: “No.”

He was just a bit dazed.

He hadn’t expected Ming Can to bring this up with him.

Perhaps his experiences were too limited—he had never played such a cute game before, and for a moment, it felt surreal.

Ming Can nodded, as if assigning a serious task. “Then once Miaomiao wakes up, we’ll draw the lots.”

Her luck with draws had always been excellent—she usually got exactly what she wanted.

The only time she didn’t get what she wanted was in her first year of high school, during a raffle organized by the school’s club association. She had wanted to win a “Guaranteed Exam Success” calligraphy fan, which had the most prizes and was the easiest to win. Instead, she ended up with the special prize—a wine-red wool scarf hand-knitted by a member of the handicraft club.

Although it wasn’t what she had wanted, Ming Can had exceptionally good exam luck while wearing that scarf, so it turned out to be a great deal.

As for today.

With just three people in the draw, she could add a little cheating when preparing the slips later. Winning a handmade gift from Chi Xiao would be a sure thing.

As the saying goes, “Those who achieve great things stop at nothing.” Ming Can was about to cheat for the first time in her life, yet she felt surprisingly calm.

She leisurely walked over to the wall, took a violin out of the cabinet, and casually asked Chi Xiao, “Senior, what do you think of this violin?”

Chi Xiao walked over, glanced at the violin in her hands, and said without much emotion, “It looks nice.”

He was clearly an expert.

Why was he pretending to be a clueless bystander?

Ming Can placed the violin on her shoulder, tilted her neck to secure it, raised the bow, and faced the bright window, playing a melodious tune.

Dressed in simple, relaxed loungewear, she merely plucked the strings casually, yet it felt as if she had stepped onto a stage—elegant, dazzling, standing in a clear halo of light, but shining even brighter than the sunlight itself.

After playing for a moment, Ming Can lowered the bow, turned to look at him, and asked again, “How was it?”

Her long hair lazily draped over her shoulders, the ends brushing against the violin’s surface, dyed a warm gold by the sunlight. It lightly brushed her fair, radiant face as her dark eyes looked up at him, sparkling with a smile like a galaxy of stars.

Chi Xiao: “It sounded nice.”

Ming Can wasn’t sure if he genuinely thought it sounded nice or if he was just replying to her perfunctorily.

In any case.

Saying a few more words would probably kill him.

She placed the violin and bow back into the cabinet, arranging them carefully, then gently closed the glass door.

She hoped he would understand that even if she stopped playing the violin in the future, she could still collect them.

Having said what she needed to say, Ming Can felt much more at ease and more comfortable facing Chi Xiao. She blinked and asked him, “If there’s nothing else, I’ll…”

“There’s something.”

He abruptly interrupted her, facing the window. His handsome yet aloof face was illuminated by the afternoon sun, his amber eyes so light they were almost transparent.

Ming Can: “What is it? Go ahead.”

Chi Xiao’s lips curved into a leisurely smile, his gaze falling on Ming Can’s face. His eyes, though pale, looked at her deeply, as if flames were flickering and swelling within them.

Ming Can’s heart skipped a beat, and her heels instinctively shifted back. Under his intense gaze, she felt an inexplicable sense of pressure.

It was as if, if she kept looking at him like this.

She might fall right into his eyes.

The two stood face-to-face next to the cabinet, close enough that Chi Xiao suddenly raised his hand and casually placed it on Ming Can’s head, giving it a gentle rub. He said softly, “Just a small favor, if you don’t mind.”

This was the first time Ming Can had been touched on the head by a guy. The last time, at the snowfield, he hadn’t actually touched her head through the helmet, and she had still kicked him in anger. This time, he had genuinely touched her.

Ming Can took a deep breath, thinking she could kick him after he finished speaking—there was still time.

Chi Xiao quickly withdrew his hand, as if testing the waters.

Noticing that she hadn’t kicked him immediately, his smile deepened. He slowly lowered his head, his eyes locking onto hers as he said:

“I want to pursue you.”

In that moment, those unexpected words.

Seemed to freeze time and space.

Ming Can’s eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes momentarily blank, as if she hadn’t heard him clearly.

“Not as an act for anyone to see,” he said, his smile fading, each word deliberate. “It’s real.”

“The kind of pursuit with the goal of being together.”

“Give me a chance, okay?”