Chapter 17 Help Me Smell If It Still Stinks

Lu Xiaoxi covered her mouth with her hand, gently exhaled, and sniffed; there was indeed a garlicky smell, and it was quite unpleasant.

Generally speaking, one cannot smell their own bad breath; if one can smell it, it proves that it has reached a whole new level of stench.

She could clearly smell the garlic in her mouth!

“It’s all your fault for bringing over the chili for no reason!” Lu Xiaoxi stepped on Li Mu’s white shoes.

Adding to the incident on the high-speed train, the same pair of shoes already had two shallow footprints.

The two shoes had slight color differences, which could be noticed with a little attention.

“This is also my fault; I didn’t force you to eat it,” Li Mu mumbled.

“What should I do? I don’t even dare to report in…” Lu Xiaoxi clenched her hands together, her brows furrowed inward, looking extremely conflicted.

“What else can you do? Go buy some gum to rinse your mouth; you don’t want to stink up others, do you?”

Someone who was uninvolved didn’t think too much about it.

“Stink to death!” Lu Xiaoxi, in a fit of anger, let out a long breath towards Li Mu.

“Ew~”

The more she thought about it, the more wronged she felt.

Stinky Li Mu, bad Li Mu, stupid Li Mu—anyway, it was all Li Mu’s fault.

Lu Xiaoxi didn’t have bad breath; the chili she usually ate didn’t have much of a taste, and a few sips of water could rinse it clean, but garlic chili was different; the garlic taste was both strong and hard to eliminate.

She didn’t dare to report in, fearing that as soon as she spoke, the teacher across from her would frown and cover their nose, looking at her with a disgusted expression.

Then her name would change from Lu Xiaoxi to “that classmate with the garlic smell.”

Wuwu.

“Hey, are you really crying?” Li Mu was a bit at a loss; he hadn’t intended to prank Lu Xiaoxi. He had no idea that the chili contained garlic, nor did he know that eating garlic would make her mouth smell so bad.

Lu Xiaoxi felt extremely wronged, looking as if she was about to burst into tears.

Anyone who didn’t know would think he had done something outrageous to the girl.

If this were back home, wouldn’t his mom see it and give him a good beating?

Even Li Mu began to panic, reflecting on whether he had really done something wrong.

“Hey, don’t mess with me; if others think I bullied you and caught me, who am I going to complain to?” Li Mu took out a pack of tissues from his pocket, tore one off, and handed it to Lu Xiaoxi.

Lu Xiaoxi seemed to be amused by Li Mu’s flustered and silly demeanor, and she let out a “pfft” laugh.

“You’re the one crying; I’m not that weak.” Lu Xiaoxi blinked several times, and the mist in her eyes disappeared.

She didn’t really want to cry; she was indeed wronged, but that was just how she was—when she felt wronged, her eyes would get a bit wet.

“Go buy some gum.”

“Am I treating you? Buy two pieces, no, buy three pieces!”

In the small shop, Li Mu generously paid three yuan for Lu Xiaoxi.

A box of gum cost one yuan, and each box contained five pieces; Lu Xiaoxi chewed two pieces at a time, leaving the last piece for Li Mu.

Every time she spat it out, she had to cover her mouth and blow air to see if there was still a smell.

She didn’t know if the gum was of poor quality or if the garlic chili from the rice noodle shop was too strong, but that smell just wouldn’t go away.

After chewing several pieces, her cheeks were sore, and only then could Lu Xiaoxi not smell her own odor.

But she wasn’t sure if the smell had really gone away; after all, one cannot smell their own bad breath.

“Is there still a smell?” She turned her eyes and blew a breath onto her hand, quickly pushing it in front of Li Mu.

Li Mu didn’t dodge and seriously sniffed, “There’s no smell anymore.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, I can’t even smell the gum; can you smell my gum flavor?” Li Mu blew a breath towards her.

“I can smell it; you’re chewing the banana-flavored one.”

“Correct, but I can’t smell your gum flavor.”

“Then that means I didn’t smell it.” Lu Xiaoxi repeated her earlier action, “How about now?”

Li Mu shook his head.

How could this be?

Logically speaking, after eating so much gum, there should definitely be a fragrance.

Even if there was no fragrance, it shouldn’t be completely odorless.

It couldn’t be that the garlic smell and the fruity flavor of the gum had some strange chemical reaction that canceled each other out, right?

“Come a bit closer.”

“Hmm?” Li Mu curiously leaned in.

A warm breeze blew on his face.

“Lu Xiaoxi, blowing air at someone is quite impolite, you know.”

“But you just blew air at me; quickly say if there’s still a bad smell?” Lu Xiaoxi didn’t want to banter with this annoying guy.

The urgent matter was to quickly eliminate the odor and then report to school.

“I can’t smell it.”

“Then…”

Lu Xiaoxi looked around.

This was a pedestrian street, with many people of all kinds, mostly students, heads down playing on their phones, and couples walking hand in hand, chatting and laughing, sharing the same cup of milk tea—

No one would notice them.

“Come a bit closer.” Lu Xiaoxi spoke softly, her hands gripping Li Mu’s shoulders, reducing the distance between them to less than an inch.

Until they were so close that they could feel each other’s warmth through their clothes.

The air seemed to freeze at that moment.

Lu Xiaoxi stood on her tiptoes, getting as close as possible, gently exhaling.

Exhaling was lighter, hotter, and gentler than blowing.

Pedestrians hurried by, cars flowed like water, but at this moment, everything seemed to stand still, shrouded in a layer of white gauze, becoming surreal, with no other sounds around; the world belonged only to them.

Facing Li Mu’s shocked gaze, her heart raced, and her cheeks flushed a rosy hue, reaching her ears.

Li Mu’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and his exhalation became heavier.

Lu Xiaoxi’s face was very close; he could see the fine hairs on her skin, the lines on her lips, her slightly trembling long eyelashes, and her somewhat flustered beautiful eyes.

He could feel it.

Lu Xiaoxi leaned a part of her weight onto him.

Her warm breath enveloped his face, and a sweet scent wafted from her nose.

There was a hint of cantaloupe flavor.

And that faint, indescribable scent.

“So fragrant…”

“What did you say? I can’t hear you even when you’re this close…”

“There is a cantaloupe smell; you just ate cantaloupe-flavored gum.”

“Right, there’s no garlic smell now, so I can relax.” Lu Xiaoxi happily nodded, her hair bouncing, and she became cheerful, like a little girl who had received candy.

“…It’s a bit hot; treat me to a durian ice cream.” Li Mu didn’t know what was going on; he touched his face, which felt warm, and his whole body was a bit hot, fanning himself with his collar.

“Hmm…” Lu Xiaoxi replied softly, lowering her head and using her hair to cover her eyes.

Neither of them said much.

Nothing had happened just now.

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