Evening Lights, Approaching Shadows, Lingering Regrets

After a while, Gu Yanxi's condition improved considerably, her breathing no longer as intense as before.

A night breeze swept by, slipping beneath the girl's collar, and Gu Yanxi suddenly felt a bit of a chill.

She was just about to adjust her collar to cover her chest when she noticed something amiss.

Looking up, she found herself face-to-face with Chen Zixuan's unflinching gaze.

Leaves falling boundlessly and silently—it was a moment when silence spoke louder than words.

An awkward atmosphere instantly spread between them.

Two seconds later, the girl straightened up abruptly, her right hand covering her chest tightly, her pretty face flushed red as she glared at Chen Zixuan in a mix of shame and anger: "You saw, didn't you?!"

Clinging to his last shred of survival instinct, Chen Zixuan hurriedly shook his head. "No."

Gu Yanxi bit down hard on her lower lip, her expression growing even more furious. Through gritted teeth, she forced out, word by word, "You. Did. See. Right?"

Seeing the girl so aggressive, all the menace Chen Zixuan had built up from the recent fight immediately faded, and he looked a bit embarrassed as he mumbled, "Well... I only saw a little bit of your underwear... it's white too, so there's really no difference."

Before Chen Zixuan could finish his sentence, the girl's pretty face began to turn crimson at a visible speed.

If it had been winter, and if Chen Zixuan had looked closely, he might even have seen faint wisps of white rising from the crown of Gu Yanxi's head.

"Go to hell!"

As soon as Chen Zixuan finished speaking, the girl's patience hit its limit.

With a cry of frustration and anguish, she kicked Chen Zixuan on the shin.

However, Chen Zixuan was unfazed—on the contrary, it was Gu Yanxi herself who grimaced in pain, crouching down slowly while rubbing her ankle.

"Trying to fight like someone else when you're only as strong as wet tissue,"

Chen Zixuan sighed helplessly, bending down to help the girl up.

He was referring to how Gu Yanxi had just tried to "kick a man when he's down" earlier.

"None of your business! He called me names first," the girl's eyes glistened with unshed tears as she stood up, still trying to sound tough.

"Now that we've finished eating, where should we go? Are we heading back?"

Chen Zixuan asked.

Gu Yanxi was under curfew and could only go out for two hours. He checked the time—barely an hour had passed, with a little more than an hour remaining.

"It's rare that I get to go out... let's wait a bit longer..."

There were still traces of tears at the corners of the girl's eyes, her tone soft and fragile.

"Alright,"

Chen Zixuan nodded.

Since there was only an hour left, the two of them didn't go anywhere else and instead started strolling slowly in the direction of home.

On the way, Gu Yanxi was rubbing her eyes when she suddenly giggled softly.

"What's so funny?"

Chen Zixuan looked puzzled, not understanding why Gu Yanxi was laughing.

To him, this forcibly interrupted date hardly counted as a pleasant experience.

"This was my first fight—it actually felt kind of fun,"

Gu Yanxi said with a shy smile, a little embarrassed.

All her life, she had maintained her "good girl" reputation; she never went to internet cafés or KTVs, and always stayed friendly but distant from her peers.

What happened tonight was genuinely thrilling and stimulating for a girl like Gu Yanxi, who had lived her whole life in an ivory tower.

"Fun, huh..."

Chen Zixuan muttered, gazing up at the night sky above.

Of course, he could see right away that the girl had never fought before.

She didn't even know the usual clichés of girls fighting—pulling hair and tearing clothes.

She was pure, just like a blank sheet of paper.

As for Chen Zixuan, he had lost count of how many fights he'd been in, but he never bullied others; it was always for self-defense.

When he was in middle school back in the village, his grandparents were the most honest and simple people imaginable, and he had no parents to back him up.

At that chaotic school, if he hadn't developed some toughness, his family circumstances would have led to him being bullied out of school long ago.

In Chen Zixuan's view, fighting was nothing fun at all.

No matter how you justified it, in the end, it was just people hurting each other with violence.

But seeing the excitement on the face of the girl beside him, Chen Zixuan finally showed a relieved smile.

Forget it, just let her be...

If something ever happened to him in the future, the two million yuan he couldn't spend anyway could all go to Gu Yanxi.

***

City streets blazed with neon lights. On the bustling roads and alleys, countless passersby of all kinds hurried to and fro.

No matter how much Chen Zixuan and Gu Yanxi dawdled, the way home was only so long.

Very soon, they were back downstairs at their apartment complex.

"Wait a second, you still haven't told me—where did you get all that money?"

Only then did Gu Yanxi suddenly realize that Chen Zixuan had been deliberately guiding her away from the topic all evening.

"It's a long story, and it's late today. Tomorrow, I promise I'll tell you,"

Chen Zixuan replied, swallowing nervously.

"You didn't really rob a bank, did you?"

Gu Yanxi asked suspiciously, eyeing him with deep mistrust.

"Of course not! I earned all that money myself,"

Chen Zixuan could only explain.

"It better be that way."

Seeing that Chen Zixuan was being evasive, Gu Yanxi didn't press further.

She gave him a long, deep look, then turned and went upstairs without saying anything more.

Chen Zixuan stood there awkwardly for a moment, only then suddenly remembering that he lived right next door to Gu Yanxi.

With that in mind, he hurried after her, but Gu Yanxi didn't wait for him at all—she simply opened her door and went inside.

Chen Zixuan also took out his key, opened his own door, and returned to his solitary "home".

He was exhausted enough for today; he would grind more games tomorrow.

Gu Yanxi entered her home and quietly closed the door behind her, but suddenly something felt off.

There were leftovers on the table, but... where was her mother?

Just then, she vaguely heard faint moans coming from her mother's room.

A sudden sense of foreboding welled up in Gu Yanxi's heart.

Could Mom be sick...?

With this in mind, Gu Yanxi hastily closed the main door and hurried toward her mother's room.

With a loud bang, the moans in her mother's room suddenly ceased, replaced by the hurried sound of drawers being opened and shut.

Hearing the commotion from within, Gu Yanxi grew even more anxious, picking up her pace, and pushed open the—

She pushed open the—

The door was locked from the inside; it wouldn't budge.

"Mom, are you in there?"

Gu Yanxi knocked on the door, calling softly.

"Hold on, I'll be out in a minute," her mother's voice came from inside the room.

It didn't have the usual strength, instead sounding like a gentle whisper after exhaustion.

The smile faded from the girl's face instantly—her mom really was sick...

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.