The girl’s ear was very warm, in stark contrast to his cool fingertips. Her sun-flushed ears reddened further at his touch, and she instinctively shrank her neck with a soft “mm.”
Lu Jiaheng withdrew his hand and leaned back slightly.
The girl’s round, bright eyes looked at him questioningly, as if asking what he was doing.
She appeared purely curious, seemingly unbothered that a man she’d only met three times had just touched her ear. She stood before him relaxed and unguarded, without any sense of wariness.
Lu Jiaheng bent down to meet her eye level, looking at her directly as he sincerely explained his inappropriate behavior: “You have a sunburn, with a blister.”
His voice was slightly hoarse from staying up all night, but his explanation was brief and to the point.
Chu Zhi had only felt her ears were warm and a bit itchy, but hearing his explanation made her understand. She immediately reached up to touch it but hesitated, afraid of breaking the blister and causing pain.
Instead, she gently pinched her tender earlobe, not daring to touch higher up. She looked at him with furrowed brows and let out a soft “ah” of concern.
Lu Jiaheng’s eyelid twitched.
Damn, that was kind of cute.
He licked his lips and straightened up.
Their height difference was significant — when he stood up straight, Chu Zhi felt the sensation of being looked down upon from above.
She cleared her throat and loosened her grip on her earlobe, tilting her head up to look at him: “Why are you here?”
After asking, she made another “ah” sound.
She probably thought he was here about the week of radio silence, thinking she was planning to ditch on the debt.
She was about to explain that military training had left her with no free time, and that she’d compensate him for the hoodie once training ended, but before she could, the man spoke first.
His answer was simple — “Sunbathing.”
Chu Zhi nodded without any doubt: “Is that why you’re so tall? Because you love sunbathing?”
He replied mischievously: “No, I’m tall because I was born this way.”
Chu Zhi deflated, the tiny spark of hope in her eyes extinguished.
So height really was genetic after all. You couldn’t force something that wasn’t meant to be.
She sighed dejectedly and took off her hat, carefully loosening some strands of hair above her ear to let them fall and shield it from direct sunlight.
Her damp bangs clung to her forehead in loose curves. While adjusting her hair, she looked up and asked him: “Aren’t you thirsty after sunbathing for so long?”
Lu Jiaheng stared at the fine beads of sweat on her forehead for a moment before responding slowly: “Yes, I am.”
Chu Zhi, having covered her ears properly, turned her head to scan the area, but didn’t see any instructors around.
She reached into her pocket and pulled out some change, turning back to him: “Then let me buy you some water. What would you like?”
Right, this was how things should normally progress.
See? She was being quite enthusiastic and accommodating.
Lu Jiaheng smiled, deliberately lowering his voice, “Yours.”
On the field, some classes were still training, with the sound of marching feet and loud chants filling the air.
Chu Zhi hadn’t heard clearly and stepped closer to him: “What?”
The stagnant air stirred, carrying the faint sweet scent from the girl.
Like a vanilla milkshake.
Lu Jiaheng lowered his gaze: “Did you bring water?”
Chu Zhi paused, then nodded honestly.
Of course she had brought water, though she’d already drunk most of it during the morning’s training breaks. There was probably less than a third left now.
The debt collector lazily curved his lips, his smile looking somewhat wicked: “I want to drink yours.”
Chu Zhi took a few seconds to react, blinking: “But—”
“I’ve been in the sun for so long, I’m thirsty.”
“But—”
“You don’t want to share with me?”
“It’s not that, but—”
“?”
How could you use my bottle? I’ve already drunk from it!
Chu Zhi found this request incredibly difficult to handle.
She scratched her chin, wrinkled her nose, and stood there struggling with the decision for quite a while before finally sighing, looking very troubled.
“Then wait a moment.”
In the end, she reluctantly compromised and jogged back to the shade to find her water bottle.
The classmates resting in the shade had been watching for a while, though they were too far to hear the conversation. Now seeing the female protagonist return, they started teasing enthusiastically.
One male student whistled loudly: “What’s going on? Looks like Old Three’s pretty girl is already taken!”
The guy next to him reached out and smacked him on the head.
Chu Zhi was too preoccupied with saying goodbye to her last bit of water to care about what the rowdy crowd was saying. Lin Tong watched her pull out her bottle and asked with raised eyebrows: “This situation came completely out of nowhere, who’s that handsome guy?”
Chu Zhi looked at her gloomily: “Debt collector.”
Lin Tong: “Huh?”
“Creditor.”
“?”
“Four digits.”
“??”
Chu Zhi sighed again without saying more, taking her light pink water bottle and walking over.
The four-digit man was still standing there, his face flawlessly handsome, his figure tall and slender, with long legs like a model’s, proportions approaching the golden ratio of 0.618.
She walked over slowly and handed him her light pink water bottle.
Her bottle was transparent with less than a third of water remaining. The four-digit man took it and unscrewed the cap. Under the girl’s nervous, intense gaze, he didn’t actually drink directly from it, but tilted his head back and poured the water into his mouth without letting the bottle touch his lips.
The clear liquid flowed slowly into his mouth, his neck stretched long and graceful, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed.
From behind Chu Zhi came an earth-shaking chorus of teasing from Advertising Class 2.
Chu Zhi ignored them. Since he hadn’t drunk directly from the bottle, she felt relieved.
But then she realized something wasn’t right.
He had drunk all her water.
What would she drink later?
Chu Zhi watched helplessly as her precious water supply disappeared into the man’s stomach. She licked her dry lips, looking like she was about to cry.
Lu Jiaheng finished drinking and looked down to see the girl staring at him with a pitiful expression.
There was still some water left in the bottle that he hadn’t finished.
Lu Jiaheng unhurriedly screwed the cap back on under her watchful gaze. Since he had poured the water in, there were some droplets on his lips. His tongue darted out slightly to lick them away.
The gesture was quite sensual and seductive, but Chu Zhi’s attention was completely focused on her water bottle.
The man’s well-defined hands held her light pink bottle, with just a shallow layer of water swishing back and forth with his movements.
His index finger hooked the pink strap on her bottle cap as he played with it, carelessly saying: “Nice bottle.”
Having her aesthetic taste affirmed, Chu Zhi was quite happy.
“Can you give it to me?”
“…”
Chu Zhi was shocked.
You won’t even spare my last bit of water?!
“Or I can buy it from you,” the man added, still playing with the strap while watching her expression.
“No need, no need,” Chu Zhi quickly waved her hands, looking miserably at her bottle and that last bit of water. She closed her eyes, appearing righteously prepared to sacrifice herself, “I’ll give it to you!”
He looked down at her for a good while, his lips curving upward: “Thank you then.”
“No need to thank me…” Chu Zhi listlessly swayed her head, watching the four-digit man walk away contentedly with her water bottle. She began to suspect he had done this on purpose.
She felt the change in her pocket and was about to go buy mineral water from the vending machine when the instructor’s whistle for assembly rang out clearly behind her.
“…”
How cruel.
Chu Zhi resigned herself to jogging back to fall in line.
It’s just a water bottle.
Just a bit of water.
Lunch break is coming soon.
I’m not thirsty.
I’m not thirsty at all.
I’M NOT THIRSTY!!!
The instructor organized everyone to march in formation. Although it was hot, moving around was better than standing at attention. Chu Zhi kept brainwashing herself, trying hard to ignore her burning throat.
They practiced marching row by row, with Chu Zhi in the last row. When the first row passed inspection, they stood behind her row.
The tallest boys in the class all stood in the first row. While Chu Zhi was quietly muttering the “Heart Sutra of Not Being Thirsty,” she felt shadows looming behind her.
She instinctively looked back to see the tall male students of Advertising Class 2 standing in a row, towering like mountains behind her.
The instructor’s attention was all on the front, so the people in the back could secretly chat. The boy who had whistled earlier smiled at her: “Chu Zhi, was that your boyfriend just now?”
Chu Zhi remembered his name was Zhou Ming. She shook her head, “No.”
“An acquaintance?”
Chu Zhi paused, then shook her head again: “Not really.”
Zhou Ming made an “oh” sound, then smiled mischievously: “Then does Chu Zhi have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
No matter what was asked, Chu Zhi answered politely and seriously, her voice soft like a rice ball filled with red bean paste.
Zhou Ming continued grinning and pulled the boy beside him: “Then what do you think about Xiao Yi? Look at his physique, his face, his mature and steady temperament. He has proper values, a regular schedule, no bad habits, and I heard you went to the same high school. He’s also a top student, so you can ask him anything you don’t understand.”
He enthusiastically promoted the mature and steady Xiao Yi. Suddenly pulled into the conversation, the mature and steady Xiao Yi maturely and steadily turned red to his ears: “I have nothing to teach her, Chu Zhi was the top arts student in our school for the college entrance exam,” Xiao Yi said quietly.
“…”
Zhou Ming gave him a fierce glare of disappointment, then turned back to Chu Zhi with a serious, world-weary expression like an old father, earnestly suggesting: “Then how about this — you teach him instead? Xiao Yi’s grades really worry me so much. How can his studies be this bad? I really suspect his college entrance exam scores were either bought or copied. How did he even get into this school?”
Xiao Yi: “…”
Chu Zhi: “…”
That evening, after military training ended, several people returned to the dormitory.
Chu Zhi took off her hat and camouflage jacket, suddenly remembering what the four-digit man had said about her sunburned ear. She quickly called Lin Tong over: “Tong Tong, help me look at my ear.”
Lin Tong pushed aside the girl’s long hair and tucked it behind her ear, looking at her fair, slightly reddened little ear: “Hmm, it’s a bit red from the sun. Want to put a cold towel on it later?”
“Has the blister broken?” Chu Zhi asked nervously.
Lin Tong carefully examined it from all angles for five minutes, her fingertip pressing against the ear cartilage as she looked it over thoroughly, confused: “What blister?”
“The sunburn blister on my ear.”
“What blister?”
Chu Zhi: “There isn’t one?”
Lin Tong: “No.”
“…”
Chu Zhi was also confused.
Author’s Note: Young Master Lu: Damn, that’s kind of cute. Makes me want to tease her. Lu Jiaheng, you’ll say anything just to take advantage of your junior.
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