Chapter 149 - The Dim Lights at Night
Chapter 149: The Dim Lights at Night
Knowing Cheng Zheng for so long, it was rare to see him lose control of his emotions.
Well, he had not yet lost control but obviously on the verge.
Xiang Wan looked on, her scalp felt numb.
Bai Muchuan did not mind at all. He patted Xiang Wan’s shoulders slowly and motioned her to open the door first.
Then he walked over to Cheng Zheng’s door and stopped in front of him. “If you’re angry, then show it,” he said with a half-smile, “don’t try to keep it in or you might get sick!”
With that, he didn’t bother to see Cheng Zheng’s reaction any more. He went inside Cheng Zheng’s house, took his stuff and placed them over at Xiang Wan’s house.
…
Xiang Wan also helped to bring in the items. Throughout, she did not dare to recall that look of Cheng Zheng.
As for Sir Little Bai, he couldn’t stop flaunting.
“Sigh, why did I feel that I have no home to return to? I actually feel I’m a little pitiful?” he said as he packed his stuff.
No home to return to? If he’s homeless, what about her?
“Oh please!” Xiang Wan rebutted, “You have a big mansion yet you want to squeeze in here with me. This is called ‘asking to get mistreated’ not ‘homeless’!”
Bai Muchuan took a look at her lazily. “Little Xiang Wan, you should see what I have given up in order to move here to protect you…”
Alright! He wanted to move over to protect her.
But did Xiang Wan really believe it?
She was mopping the floor, then turned to look at him while raising an eyebrow. “Tell me, what did you give up?”
“My pride!” There was only seriousness in Bai Muchuan’s cold face. “When have I ever been looked down upon by Cheng Zheng? Just look at today…”
“Of course you didn’t get looked down upon by him… It’s obvious he’s the one who’s at a disadvantage, alright?”
“…”
Bai Muchuan suddenly stood still and stared at her.
“You! Come over here!”
“What?” Xiang Wan was mopping the floor diligently; she did not want to waste time arguing with him. She only turned to frown at him and pretend she had not heard anything.
“…” Bai Muchuan’s lips twitched and as he decided to tease her. “Hey, young woman, you’re getting bad-tempered, huh? This is only the first day and you’re already getting out of control.”
“Why should I be controlled by you?” Xiang Wan rebutted, “You got to be reasonable! I’m the second landlord. You’ll pay half of the rent; you have to listen to me and do things according to my wishes, understand?”
“I don’t understand!” Bai Muchuan seemed to raise an eyebrow and walked over to Xiang Wan.
Xiang Wan did not notice him closing in as she was concentrating on mopping the floor.
“Will Teacher Xiang give an explanation on how to do things according to your wishes…”
A pair of hands suddenly held Xiang Wan’s waist. His sudden act scared her that she screamed and the mop fell onto the floor.
“What are you doing!” Xiang Wan turned around, fuming but when she saw Bai Muchuan’s mischievous face, she felt amused and angry at the same time. She pounded his chest. “Aren’t you childish!”
“I want to see how arrogant you can get,” cackled Bai Muchuan, “Little Xiang Wan, where’s your arrogance now?”
“Bai, Mu, Chuan!” Xiang Wan was gritting her teeth. “Let go of me! I’m still mopping the floor! Let go—”
“What’s the hurry? I’ll mop it later.”
He had answered very naturally which left Xiang Wan slightly dumbstruck.
If she remembered correctly, Nanny Li used to do everything for him.
Besides earlier on when she saw him moving and packing up his stuff, Xiang Wan had never seen him do other household chores.
But now, he actually said that he was going to mop the floor?
Xiang Wan stopped struggling and looked at him with her head tilted. She was wearing a ponytail which made her look as mischievous as her smile.
“You’re not joking? So you’ll be handling this area?”
“Are you kidding me?” Bai Muchuan said in a loud tone, pulling a face but the next moment, he immediately laughed. “Why would a man be afraid of mopping the floor? I’ll handle this area!”
Hmph! Xiang Wan did not believe. “Promise?”
“Of course. But—” Bai Muchuan’s deep set eyes seemed to be smiling.
Before he finished his sentence, he suddenly lifted Xiang Wan up and put her straight on the sofa horizontally. Immediately, he bent over her, as though surrounding her entirely. “What are you going to make up to me for mopping the floor?” He asked with a smile.
“…”
Xiang Wan’s heart skipped a beat.
His gaze tonight was burning hot.
Faintly, as though there was an unspoken hint that could be understood…
“Not saying anything?” Bai Muchuan lowered his head and watched how her cheeks flush red. “In a daze again?” He suddenly felt an urge to pinch her adorable cheeks and did just that.
“What are you doing?” The slight pain from being pinched woke Xiang Wan from her nervous trance. “Get up and quickly finish the work! If you can’t finish cleaning up, you won’t be able to sleep!”
“I can sleep!” Bai Muchuan chuckled in a low voice. “I want my reward first.”
“Why should I give you a reward?! You moved here and I’m helping you to clean up. I haven’t even asked you for a reward!”
She snorted and looked away from him.
Her uneasiness was obvious to Bai Muchuan, who was even more at ease.
“Fine. Then I’ll give you a reward.”
“…” Xiang Wan could not understand this guy.
She always felt that he was such a serious person. Why was he so childish in private?
“Bai Muchuan, can’t you talk seriously…”
“Close your eyes!” Bai Muchuan’s eyes were smiling and his tone was though smeared in honey. “I’m giving you your reward…”
“…”
“Be good, close your eyes!”
“…”
When he was smiling, that mesmerizing eyes of his made her heart clasped tightly.
This fellow wanted a kiss, and he had to go one big round for it…
Fine, let him have the kiss—she was not disadvantaged anyway.
Xiang Wan steadied her breathing and closed her eyes slowly as though she did not mind that. Totally the style of an old driver—as though she was very experienced.
“Hurry! Come get your kiss!”
Hur! She heard Bai Muchuan’s low chuckles.
She could feel his breath and dared not open her eyes—
As she closed her eyes, her ears started to burn and—her lips suddenly felt a little ticklish.
Something was touching her lips lightly and slowly, moving along her lips in an attempt to pry it open and invade inside. Yet it felt like he was just teasing her.
That feeling was uncomfortable.
This was because Xiang Wan felt like laughing due to the tickling sensation and couldn’t help opening her mouth, wanting to bite him…
However, he moved away in time.
When she calmed down, he started the whole thing again.
That ticklish feeling…
Somehow, it entered her heart.
Slowly, lightly, again and again, something moved along her lips.
Xiang Wan finally couldn’t take it anymore and opened her mouth. “Bai Muchuan… Uhh…”
She couldn’t manage to finish her words when he took the opportunity and stuffed something hard inside her mouth. That scared her and she opened her eyes.
Before her was Bai Muchuan’s magnified good looking face with a mischievous smile. He had stuffed a candy in her mouth as it felt sweet.
“Cough, cough!” That sudden sweetness almost choked her.
“Bai Muchuan…” she shouted at him with the candy in her mouth, which sounded muffled. She chewed on the candy in no time and stared at him with her big eyes. “What are you up to?”
“It’s my reward! Is it nice? I found this when I was packing up my stuff… Not sure if it has expired.”
“…” D*rn!
“Why? Am I’m being despised for only giving you a candy?”
Xiang Wan was dying of anger.
A candy! And not sure it had expired, as a reward for her?!
It certainly was very much like what he would do!
Looking at her fuming face with her cheeks puffed up, Bai Muchuan felt like teasing her again. “Little Xiang Wan, tell me. What kind of reward are you expecting earlier? Hm?”
“… I don’t like your reward! You’re shameless!” Xiang Wan coughed again due to the candy and her face now looked even redder than earlier. “Hurry up and clean up all these,” she held his shoulders angrily, “Yuanyuan will be back soon. If she sees this mess, she’s gonna nag at me…”
“She won’t be coming back!”
What is he saying?
Bai Muchuan’s out of the blue remark stunned Xiang Wan.
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said,” laughed Bai Muchuan. “It’s not easy for them to go on a date. Of course, they wanted to spend some time together. Why would she want to come back?”
“…”
Fang Yuanyuan and Huang He had been in a relationship for some time.
They were very much in love and were so attached to each other.
Especially after Huang He got released, the two of them were even more deeply attached to each other. Xiang Wan would always see how Fang Yuanyuan smiled like an idiot when she messaged Huang He. And when they meet up, they found it difficult to part with each other, wishing they could stick together like glue…
Nevertheless, Fang Yuanyuan never stayed out all night before.
That was why Xiang Wan was somewhat shocked.
“It can’t be? If she’s not coming back, she will definitely let me know… No, I need to ask her.”
She felt that it was not good for Fang Yuanyuan to stay overnight together with Huang He… Hence, she wanted to make a phone call but was stopped by Bai Muchuan.
“Aren’t you silly? Your cousin is already an adult.”
“…” So?
Xiang Wan held her mobile phone and looked at him, puzzled.
“Don’t intrude in her privacy.”
It sure sounds reasonable. Xiang Wan nodded her head but her perplexed gaze was still on his face. “Why did I feel that you don’t want her to come back? Tell me, did you have a hand in her not coming back?”
“!” Bai Muchuan puffed a helpless sigh while smiling. Then he picked up the mop which was on the floor. “If you insist on calling… Go ahead!”
The way he used the mop seemed a little clumsy.
His tall stature coupled with his clumsy manner of handling the mop did not quite match with the room.
As Xiang Wan looked at him, she lowered her head and smiled quietly to herself.
Her mood was good, just like this autumn night, carefree and comfortable.
…
In order not intrude on Fang Yuanyuan and Huang He’s privacy, Xiang Wan restrained herself by not making a call. However, while Bai Muchuan was busy mopping the floor, she kept on checking her phone and looked at the time.
Finally, at the umpteen time of looking at the time, Xiang Wan received Fang Yuanyuan’s message.
“Sis! I’m not coming back today.”
Urgh! Bai Muchuan is spot on!
Is this really not a conspiracy or something?
Xiang Wan was as though plagued by doubt as she looked at the man who was “happily” mopping the floor. “What’s up?” she messaged Fang Yuanyuan.
Fang Yuanyuan replied swiftly, “I’m staying overnight at Huang He’s…”
Thump! Xiang Wan’s heart seemed to twitch. “Have you really thought it over? I’m telling you, don’t be rash. You can’t be impulsive in such matters. You need to think it over carefully…”
She had put it in a more obscure manner.
She believed that Fang Yuanyuan would understand as they were all adults… even if she had worded it vaguely.
However, after she sent her message, she received a big smiley emoticon.
“My dear sis, I’m staying there so you and Detective Bai can mess around!”
*What?! *Xiang Wan gasped. “What are you talking about?”
“Heheh, I’m saying I won’t be coming back to disturb you two. Enjoy yourselves tonight. As for me and Huanghuang… Sis, don’t worry. We’ve done everything that a couple should do. Isn’t it a little too late for you to tell me not to be impetuous? ”
“… Fang Yuanyuan, why are you so daring? Ain’t it too soon? Geez…”
“Oh my god, sis! I can’t believe you said this? Oh gosh—isn’t the Qing Dynasty long gone? Why are you so conservative? Why didn’t I notice it before?”
Usually when Xiang Wan chatted with Fang Yuanyuan, she really did sound like she was very open-minded to these sort of things.
But in actual fact, she had thought Fang Yuanyuan would know she was just joking around and teasing her. For Xiang Wan, if others go for premarital sex, she would not criticize them as she felt that it was a choice of lifestyle and she ought to respect that choice…
Now that this matter involved her dear cousin and not some outsider, she actually felt worried for her.
It was not about being conservative. It was because both Fang Yuanyuan and Huang He could not guarantee an outcome and their relationship was only a few months old. By getting involved too intimately so fast was too impetuous and she would soon find herself being too passive in the relationship.
She was worried that Fang Yuanyuan might be disadvantaged in the future and regret her decision…
But it seemed like what should not happen had already happened. What more could she say?
“Why didn’t you tell me? This is not a small matter!”
“Haha! Ain’t my sis silly? How do you expect me to tell you all these?”
Fang Yuanyuan immediately sent another message over mischievously.
“Be rest assured, don’t worry. No matter what, I’ll be responsible for my Huanghuang!”
Xiang Wan gritted her teeth when she saw that Fang Yuanyuan did not mind at all. “I’m worried about you.”
“Why are you worried about me? Well I’m his first but he’s not my first.”
“…”
Xiang Wan looked at her mobile phone screen as though she was frozen.
Although Fang Yuanyuan did have a few ex-boyfriends, those relationships were all short-lived.
All along, she had thought Fang Yuanyuan was like her, that she was the traditional girl who would not give up their chastity easily. She had never expected this lass to be so daring.
Ahhhhhh! I’m going crazy!
Although Xiang Wan respected her lifestyle, somehow she felt uneasy about it. Especially now that Fang Yuanyuan was not going to come back home, she would be alone with Bai Muchuan and she felt uncomfortable about it.
“Sis, actually you’re not worried about me, but yourself instead, right? Heheh, are you worried that you’ll end up in Detective Bai’s stomach?”
Fang Yuanyuan’s message was sent in the right moment which mercilessly exposed Xiang Wan’s tension which she had concealed.
“… You’re thinking too much. He’s been behaving himself.” When she typed this message, Xiang Wan took a peek at Bai Muchuan. Truth be told, she did not quite believe it herself.
“Cut it out, if men were to behave themselves in this kind of situation, there’s only two possibilities—”
“Which two possibilities?” Xiang Wan was a little curious.
“The first type is impotence, while the second type is you are not attractive to him, he doesn’t love you at all.”
“…”
“Frankly, if a man did not want to bed you, then you can throw this man out of your life. But then again, if all he can think of is to bed you and did not know how to control himself, then you can throw this man out of your life as well.”
“…”
So complicated.
Xiang Wan was older than Fang Yuanyuan by a year.
But when it came to affairs of the heart, she was much simpler than Fang Yuanyuan.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. Enough! You better hurry up and come back home.”
“I’m not coming back! You’ll thank me for it, sis. Seriously, since your boyfriend is someone like Detective Bai, you can forget about what I’ve said earlier. You’ve been holding on to your chastity for so long, I think it’s time… You’re not at a disadvantage. No matter how I look at this, he’s the one who’s at a disadvantage… Do treasure it, coz’ if you don’t, you might not meet this kind of guy again!”
“Fang Yuanyuan, are you itching for a beating?”
“… See ya!”
…
This is annoying.
So annoying.
Holding the phone, Xiang Wan’s palms were clammy from nervousness.
She sat down on the sofa, looking at Bai Muchuan cleaning up the place while her mind started to daydream.
“Why are you looking at me so sneakily?”
Detective Bai finished doing his chores and walked over. He saw her red face and used his hand to feel her forehead.
“It’s strange! You’re not having a fever but your face is so red? What are you thinking about that you blushed like this?”
“… I’m not thinking of anything.” Xiang Wan glared at him. “What can I think of anyway?”
“It’s not so simple!” The corners of Bai Muchuan’s lips lifted upward, his gaze enchanting as usual. “Why did I feel that you’re harboring some thoughts about me?”
“!”
Xiang Wan got up from the sofa and looked at him. “I’ll go to bed then. You rest early too!”
“Hey wait!” Bai Muchuan looked at her and pointed at his room. “Help me make my bed…”
“You don’t know how?” Xiang Wan rolled her eyes.
“I don’t,” he answered as a matter-of-factly.
He had a half-smile on his face when he noticed that her shoulders suddenly went stiff. “Are you feeling a little too nervous?”
Is it so obvious? Xiang Wan tried to calm down and gave him a glance. “Let’s go.”
Well, she had to admit that he had done a good job in tidying up his room… His room looked neat, well-organized and tidy.
Of course, in the first place, he did not move a lot of things over.
Xiang Wan looked around the room in surprise and smiled approvingly. “Not bad!”
Bai Muchuan crossed his arms and snorted arrogantly. “Of course! But there’s an exception I can’t handle…”
He pointed at the quilt and the quilt cover… which he had left on the bed untidily, as though they had been disliked by their owner.
Pffft! Xiang Wan could not stop laughing. “There are also things that the wise and brilliant Detective Bai can’t handle?”
“Well, people with higher IQs tend to have a barrier toward lower IQ behaviors.” Bai Muchuan boasted shamelessly, “Nobody is perfect after all!”
“…”
He glorified himself but put her down at the same time.
Xiang Wan gave him a glare and started to help him handle the quilt cover as well as his quilt.
A while later. “Done! It’s time to rest now! I’m leaving—”
The lights at night were too ambiguous.
The Bai Muchuan at night was too charming for her to look.
The atmosphere at night seemed to have changed while she was busy handling the quilt…
Xiang Wan did not want to stay there for another second. She clapped her hands and wanted to leave.
However, Bai Muchuan closed the door a second before she could leave the room.
“What’s the hurry?”
His voice with a smiling tone in the quiet room sounded so enchanting… Xiang Wan’s heart almost jumped out of her mouth.
“I’m tired! Quick, open the door.”
Bai Muchuan grunted a laugh and ran his fingers through her hair. “Silly girl, are you going to avoid me like this every day going ahead?”