Chapter 35: Heart Like a Deer Bounding

Seeing his shameless appearance, Ji Shuyi smacked him on the shoulder, not in a good mood. “I don’t want to kiss you.”

Who knew that as soon as she finished speaking, Jiang Cheng replied, “But I want to kiss you.”

“…” Ji Shuyi was stunned for a moment, quickly using a nonchalant expression to hide the pounding in her heart: “Then you keep thinking about it! Pervert!”

Under the moonlight, Jiang Cheng, who had been turning his head to look at her, noticed the fleeting look of surprise and shyness in her eyes. It seemed like it was the first time he had seen such an emotion in her eyes. As if he deliberately wanted to see her amplify this emotion, he meaningfully curled his lips and replied, “Okay, I’ll imagine the feeling of kissing you myself.”

Hi… Himself imagine the feeling of kissing her?

Why did it feel so R-rated…? (涩情 – se qing – A Chinese term meaning suggestive/erotic)

Ji Shuyi’s cheeks turned red all at once, and she hit him again in embarrassment, shouting in a flustered voice, “Dead Jiang Cheng! You’re not allowed to think about it!”

Jiang Cheng smoothly replied, “Then do you want to give me a kiss?”

Ji Shuyi: “…(⊙_⊙;)…”

Only then did she realize that she seemed to have been led into a trap by this jerk. Annoyed and ashamed, she pinched him hard on his arm, her angry voice several degrees higher: “Jerk! Shut up!”

Jiang Cheng, wincing from being pinched, said repeatedly, “Okay, okay, I’ll shut up.”

The two became quiet. On the forest path, the boy carried the girl under the starlight and moonlight.

The boy was only wearing a black long-sleeved shirt, and his coat was still on the girl’s back. The scene looked like a young couple who had secretly come to the wilderness for a date.

As they were about to reach the intersection, Ji Shuyi couldn’t help but ask the question she had been wanting to ask just now: “Does it hurt when you got the tattoo on your neck?”

Jiang Cheng was stunned for a moment. He didn’t expect the little girl to be interested in his tattoo. She had asked once when she was drunk last time, but at that time, he had replied with a bewitched ‘It doesn’t hurt.’ At this moment, he only wanted to change his answer and say: “It hurts.”

Ji Shuyi frowned and asked curiously, “Then why did you still get it?”

Jiang Cheng truthfully said at this moment: “To cover up the wound.”

“Ah? Let me see.”

Ji Shuyi was shocked and moved her head closer to take a closer look at the tattoo. Sure enough, she saw a scar about the length of her little finger. The scar was just right, shaped like a thorn, perfectly integrated with the whole pattern.

She was very close, and her warm breath was poured into his neck, slightly itchy, like a heat wave progressing layer by layer deep into his heart.

She even curiously rubbed his tattoo lightly with her fingertips, soft and seductive.

Provoked by this, Jiang Cheng couldn’t help but swallow, his masseter muscles moving slightly, vaguely restraining a burst of heat.

But just when he thought she would feel sorry for him, she suddenly said, “Wow, you didn’t die even with a wound on your neck. You really are lucky.”

Jiang Cheng: “…???”.

He replied without any temper: “Yes, I’m lucky.”

Finally, they reached the place where they got out of the car, Ji Shuyi found that his motorcycle was gone, and asked in a panic, “Where’s your car?”

She couldn’t even call a car here, and she didn’t want to run back.

Fortunately, she heard Jiang Cheng say: “I was afraid you’d be cold, so I had someone ride the motorcycle away. There’s an SUV left for us ahead.”

Ji Shuyi, who was lying on his shoulder, suddenly turned her head and glanced at him, feeling that the person in front of her was changing so much that she almost didn’t recognize him.

Afraid she’d be cold?

When did he become so considerate?

Even the way he spoke wasn’t so annoying anymore.

This place was a bit far from the city, and Jiang Cheng didn’t drive very fast. Ji Shuyi, sitting in the passenger seat, felt a bit drowsy.

The car had already stopped in front of her house, but Ji Shuyi was still fast asleep, with a few strands of loose hair scattered on her rosy cheeks. Her palm-sized face, still a bit chubby, looked soft and seductive.

Jiang Cheng put one hand on the steering wheel, turned his head and looked at her for a long time, finally his eyes fell on her moist and delicate lips.

He couldn’t help but retract his hand and lean towards her. He really, really wanted to kiss her.

Like last time when she was drunk, kiss her to his heart’s content…

But he also knew that if he kissed her now, she wouldn’t just be angry; she would definitely think that everything he had done today was just to take advantage of her, to disrespect her.

So, he had to endure it.

Just then, Ji Shuyi slowly woke up and opened her eyes, seeing Jiang Cheng so close at hand. She woke up instantly and cried out in surprise: “You… Why are you so close to me?”

Jiang Cheng looked at the girl who was startled, raised his eyelids, and smiled slyly, “Why, are you awake? I was just about to steal a kiss from you.”

“Pervert!”

Ji Shuyi glared at him resentfully and hurriedly reached for the car door to slip out.

However, as soon as her hand touched the door, the front of her suddenly went dark. Jiang Cheng quickly leaned over and reached out to block the door handle, preventing her from opening the door, and stared into her eyes saying, “Add me back on WeChat.”

Ji Shuyi, whose actions were blocked, looked at the face so close to her, the distance so close that it seemed like they were about to kiss. Her breath paused for a moment, and she shrank her chin in panic, blinking her eyes and refusing, “I won’t.”

Jiang Cheng, staring at her, helplessly retreated and asked for something less: “Then take my number out of the blacklist.”

The distance was too close. Ji Shuyi felt uncomfortable and reached out to push against his chest, refusing again, “I don’t want to either!”

Jiang Cheng’s masseter muscles twitched, and he stared intently at the completely disobedient girl. Helpless, he sighed, paused, and then said, “Then next time you see me, can you not run away?”

Seeming afraid that she would refuse again, he directly, forcefully, and domineeringly leaned closer to her, adding in a cold voice, “If you say no to me again, don’t even think about going home tonight!”

The sudden toughness and closeness scared Ji Shuyi’s heart to thump, and it even seemed like he was about to force a kiss down. Her eyelashes trembled crazily as she immediately changed her words and said, “Okay… I won’t run.”

After saying that, she quickly pried his hand away and ran out of the car.

She ran all the way into the villa gate before slowing down, but as her footsteps slowed down, her heartbeat became faster and faster.

It was just one day, but it seemed like many feelings were different.

Even the mountain breeze could be felt mixed with a trace of warmth,

It roared recklessly, catching her off guard, rushing straight to her heart,

Thump… Thump…

Disrupting a lake of peace.

In the evening, Ji Shuyi didn’t call Lu Zhixia to complain about Jiang Cheng’s jerk nature as she usually did. It wasn’t because she was unhappy that Lu Zhixia had sent her WeChat status screenshots to Chen Xingyi, but because she found that she didn’t know how to describe tonight’s events to Zhixia.

It was as if the people and things you didn’t care about could be casually discussed and complained about to others,

But once you found that your heart was slightly moved, you didn’t dare to tell it easily,

Instead, you secretly hid it in your heart, becoming your own little secret, becoming a girl’s youthful and ignorant worry.

That night, Ji Shuyi had insomnia, but she didn’t figure out why she had insomnia. She only knew that she thought of his appearance many times.

Thinking of the scene of him giving her fireflies;

Thinking of him standing among the thousands of shimmering fluorescent lights when she inadvertently caught sight of him while chasing fireflies, it seemed he was really handsome…

And his low and heavy sentence, ‘I was wrong…’

——————

Monday.

Lu Zhixia chased Ji Shuyi into the campus, relentlessly asking, “Ji Shuyi! Where did you go with Jiang Cheng on Friday after ditching us?”

Ji Shuyi covered up and replied, “Nowhere.”

“I don’t believe it!” Lu Zhixia pressed for an answer, “Didn’t he take you to see fireflies?”

Hearing this, Ji Shuyi stopped, frowned and looked at Lu Zhixia, “You still have the nerve to say that.”

“What am I embarrassed about?” Lu Zhixia smiled and said, “Aren’t I just helping you test him out?”

As she said that, she hugged Ji Shuyi’s arm with a gossipy face and directly asked, “Did he take you to see them?”

Ji Shuyi didn’t speak, but Lu Zhixia saw at a glance in her expression that she was tacitly acknowledging it, and immediately asked excitedly: “Then did you two kiss?”

“…” Ji Shuyi was helpless and immediately clarified: “No!”

“Ew~” Lu Zhixia’s mood dropped a lot in an instant, and then she continued to ask, “Then did you hold hands?”

Ji Shuyi: “No.”

“Tsk~” Lu Zhixia shook her head and clicked her tongue, “This Jiang Devil King is no good, getting so many fireflies in this season and not even holding hands.”

Lu Zhixia suddenly seemed to have discovered some unspeakable secret and leaned closer to Ji Shuyi to gossip: “You said, could it be that Jiang Cheng is strong on the outside but weak on the inside, is he not good in bed?”

Ji Shuyi: “……”.

She was really impressed by this sister’s imagination.

Not wanting to continue discussing the issue of whether a boy was good in bed with her on campus, she perfunctorily ended the topic by saying, “Yes, yes, Jiang Cheng is no good.”

Who knew that as soon as she said this, a ‘pfft’ of laughter suddenly came from behind her.

The two girls turned their heads in surprise and saw that Jiang Cheng and Chen Xingyi had walked behind them at some point.

Ji Shuyi: “⊙﹏⊙∥”

It couldn’t be that coincidental, right?

At the moment of turning her head, her eyes met Jiang Cheng’s. She couldn’t tell what his emotions were. In her embarrassed and cramped state, she saw Jiang Cheng suddenly raising his chin slightly and raising his eyebrows at her, as if asking her to explain what she meant by what she had said just now.

For a moment, whether it was because of a guilty conscience, or because of some subtle feelings that had not calmed down, or because she was used to running when she saw him, she had completely forgotten that she had promised him yesterday not to run.

After blinking her eyes dazedly for a couple of times, she hurriedly pulled Lu Zhixia and turned around to run away from the side path.

But as soon as she ran away, Ji Shuyi suddenly realized that what was she running for? It’s okay if he heard it, she had insulted him to his face before.

But it seemed that since some time ago, it was easy to feel flustered when she met his eyes,

So, she used the method of running away to avoid it.

It was just that this method seemed very bad.

And Jiang Cheng looked at the person who ran away again, helpless: “……”.

He sighed helplessly, she ran away again.

His expected gaze fell through, and for a moment, Jiang Cheng’s footsteps paused slightly, and he felt empty inside.

Didn’t she say she wouldn’t run anymore…

At this time, Chen Xingyi added fuel to the fire: “I’m laughing so hard… Your Fluffy Bunny actually said ‘Jiang Cheng is no good’…”

After saying that, he laughed out loud again, “Hahaha, Bro Cheng, you’re not really not good, are you?”

Jiang Cheng glanced at Chen Xingyi with a displeased look, his voice without warmth: “Think your tongue is redundant? Want me to cut it off!”

Chen Xingyi immediately closed his mouth tightly, protecting his tongue.

This day, Jiang Cheng was absent-minded in class. He didn’t understand why she ran away again. He had restrained himself from reaching out to pull her backpack and pull her to his side when he saw her.

Even when he heard her discussing with her friend the issue of whether he was good in bed, he restrained himself from shouting angrily. He had even managed not to touch her that night, but still, he made her run away.

Was he that scary?

Jiang Cheng’s eyes sank slightly, and he wondered suspiciously, could it be that she really thought he was no good? Was he too reserved that night with the fireflies, making her think he was no good?

After evening self-study, Ji Shuyi, who walked out of the teaching building, was suddenly stopped by a boy.

Ji Shuyi clenched the straps of her backpack, looking at the boy in front of her warily: “What are you doing?”

The boy put his hands behind his back, looking at Ji Shuyi nervously, and after a long time, he opened his mouth: “I… I like you. I’ve liked you since the first day of registration at the beginning of the semester. Can… Can you be my girlfriend? I really like you.”

Ji Shuyi, who had been confessed to countless times since the beginning of the semester, refused very calmly, “I’m sorry, I don’t want to be your girlfriend, and I don’t like you either.”

The boy, who had been rejected, suddenly became emotional: “Why? Where am I not good enough for you? Or where am I not good? I can change for you. I really like you.”

Ji Shuyi realized that he was emotional and didn’t want to say anything more to him, only simply saying, “You’re good, you don’t need to change. It’s just that we’re not suitable. I have to go home.”

The boy, seeing that she was about to leave, suddenly took out a palm-sized stone from behind him with an agitated emotion and threatened her by holding it to his temple: “If you don’t agree, believe it or not, I’ll die for you! Or are you rich people all cold-blooded and ruthless?”

“Are you sick! You’re defaming me because your confession failed!”

Ji Shuyi glanced at him incredulously, completely not wanting to say another word, and was about to walk away from the side.

The boy, seeing this, suddenly reached out to grab Ji Shuyi: “Don’t go, where exactly am I… Ah!”

Suddenly, a black shadow flashed, pulling Ji Shuyi behind him, and then the boy was kicked away.

“You’re pretty capable, defaming me because your confession failed,” Jiang Cheng warned sternly with disgust, “If you have the ability, come at me. Don’t let me see you get within a meter of her again.”

Seeing Jiang Cheng, the boy struggled to get up and fled in embarrassment.

Jiang Cheng hurriedly turned around and looked at the girl who was being protected behind him, bent down, and his voice softened a lot: “Did I scare you?”

“No,” Ji Shuyi shook her head truthfully, “Even if you didn’t show up, I could have handled it.”

She almost got taken away by a bad guy when she was playing once, and from then on, she started to learn some basic self-defense skills. She couldn’t handle professional thugs, but she could protect herself against these people.

Jiang Cheng, who didn’t make her feel safe at all, responded in a muffled voice: “Oh.”

Then he said, “Let’s go together.”

Afraid that she would refuse, he was about to say something else when he heard Ji Shuyi say, “Okay.”

At that moment, Ji Shuyi realized that Jiang Cheng might be very irritable and impatient, but he had never defamed anyone like the boy just now out of anger, and he had never threatened anyone with death if he didn’t achieve his goals.

He might not be good, but he had his own values and principles.

And the boy just now was the real evil, the evil in his bones.

The two walked all the way, and Jiang Cheng didn’t open his mouth, afraid that he would say something wrong and make her run away again.

The two walked for a while, each with their own thoughts, passing a small pavilion, with no one around.

Ji Shuyi took the initiative to call him, “Jiang Cheng.”

“Hmm?” Jiang Cheng turned his head to look at her.

Ji Shuyi rarely smiled at him, delicate and moving: “Thank you just now.”

She felt that she should thank him.

Jiang Cheng suddenly stopped, staring at her: “How are you going to thank me?”

Ji Shuyi tentatively said, “Invite you to dinner?”

Jiang Cheng: “No.”

Ji Shuyi: “Give you a gift as a thank you?”

Jiang Cheng: “No.”

“…” Ji Shuyi asked helplessly, “Then how do you say I should thank you?”

Under the moonlight, Jiang Cheng looked at the girl with a twisted face, his masseter muscles moved slightly, and suddenly bent down and looked directly into her eyes, saying, “Give me a kiss.”

“Ah?… Mmm!”

In Ji Shuyi’s shock, his lips pressed down forcefully, and he even reached out to hug her slender waist, leaving no room for her to retreat.