Chapter 476 - 220: Li Zhi, I Like You
Chapter 476: Chapter 220: Li Zhi, I Like You
The girl’s cheeks were flushed with a sunset-like blush, translucent under the light. After a brief silence, a devastatingly precise critical hit landed.
"Selaan!"
Her voice was crisp and her enunciation perfect, tinged with a pretty girl’s disdain and feigned anger.
"That’s not—"
Shen Yuan opened his mouth.
’Forget it. I give up.’
’Normal outfit, normal appreciation.’
’Li Bao dressed like this for me. How could I possibly say it doesn’t look good?’
’I’d be asking for a death wish.’
At this thought, Shen Yuan stopped trying to look away. He no longer hid the feelings she had already seen through, and the corner of his mouth even lifted into a slight smile.
Shen Yuan didn’t just stand there awkwardly anymore. Instead, he took a step forward, walked straight up to the chair where Li Zhi was sitting, and then sat on the edge of his own bed.
He leaned down slightly, his gaze open and direct as it met her eyes, which had widened at his approach. Then, he grabbed the hand she had resting on the armrest.
Li Zhi’s body tensed in an instant.
She tried to pull her hand away, but his warm fingers gently curled around it, holding her fast. A mix of embarrassment, annoyance, and a sudden surge of nervousness made her voice a little unsteady:
"You... you dumbass! What are you doing?!"
Shen Yuan looked at the deepening blush on her face. "Nothing. I just think... you look especially beautiful dressed like this today."
This was the second time tonight he had affirmed it so directly, no longer avoiding the subject, his words even carrying the weight of a declaration.
Li Zhi was so struck by his sudden forwardness and another round of direct words that the tips of her ears felt hot enough to burst into flame.
The smugness in her heart was instantly washed away, replaced by a wave of mortification that nearly drowned her.
To hide this immense embarrassment, she could only activate her usual counter-attack mode, raising her voice in an aggressive yet still coy rebuke to cover up her wavering resolve.
"Smooth talker! You dumbass Shen Yuan! Selaan! So I didn’t look good before?! Do I have to dress like this to look good?!"
Shen Yuan shook his head. "You always look good, but today is different."
"How is it different?" Li Zhi looked at Shen Yuan.
Shen Yuan gazed at her face, which was especially vibrant from her shyness, and lightly caressed the back of the hand he held. A warm sensation spread from where their skin touched.
He leaned in closer, his gaze locked firmly on her slightly widened eyes. Reflected clearly within them was his own silhouette and a breathtaking beauty under the light that made it nearly impossible for him to look away.
He didn’t answer directly. Instead, his intense gaze traveled slowly down from her forehead, past her long eyelashes and the slight blush of her ears, gliding over her soft, cream-colored sweater once more, before finally settling on her long legs, which were perfectly enveloped in thick, black tights, their lines so smooth they were suffocating.
This time, Shen Yuan’s gaze didn’t dart away, no longer as awkward as a petty thief caught in the act.
It was an open, appreciative stare.
Shen Yuan raised his eyes to meet Li Zhi’s, which were now filled with even more shame and indignation at his undisguised staring. But deep within the girl’s eyes, there was clearly a hint of expectation.
’She had agonized in front of her closet for a long time before choosing these black tights under her skirt!’
’Although she felt so mortified when she put them on that she could have evaporated on the spot, being watched by him with such Concentration now, feeling the intense attraction clearly transmitted by his gaze, a huge sense of satisfaction mixed with apprehension quietly grew beneath her shame and indignation.’
’A woman adorns herself for the one who delights in her.’
’If that dumbass Shen Yuan wasn’t like this, why would she have worn them?’
Of course, there was another thing: Li Zhi herself actually had a premonition.
The moment Shen Yuan opened the door, this feeling—Li Zhi’s premonition—reached its peak.
A familiar, clean sweetness wafted in with the warmth. It was the faint scent of peaches, drilling its way, wisp by wisp, into Shen Yuan’s nostrils.
This scent—one he had caught in the classroom, in the hallway, and even when he’d playfully ruffled the top of her head with his palm—seemed exceptionally clear and alluring in this private, expectant atmosphere. It made the tip of his heart itch and his breath turn several degrees hotter.
Shen Yuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He leaned slightly forward, raised his head, and stared at her with a burning gaze.
He saw the faint anticipation in Li Zhi’s eyes.
Suddenly, Shen Yuan had a feeling.
The moment this feeling arose, Shen Yuan’s heart inevitably began to beat faster.
"Li Zhi..."
Once her name was out, there was no turning back from the heavy words that would follow.
The confession he had practiced over and over in his heart, the one he had intended to reveal on New Year’s Eve, was now an arrow nocked on a bowstring ahead of schedule, stuck in his throat.
His violent heartbeat made his chest ache, like a frantic bird wildly flapping its wings, even drowning out the faint sound of a cat pawing at the wall in the room.
He felt the palm of the hand clutching hers instantly grow hot and sticky as a thin sheen of sweat soaked the spaces between his fingers, almost causing his grip to slip.
The certainty he had been brewing for so long, at the very moment he was about to declare it, was crumbling like a sandcastle battered by the waves of his nervousness.
He subconsciously tightened his fingers, as if grabbing onto a piece of driftwood.
But this abrupt increase in pressure, along with Shen Yuan’s current expression, was like a silent thunderclap, blasting apart the secret mix of shy joy and anticipation in Li Zhi’s heart!
The smug feeling she’d had watching his awkwardness vanished without a trace, replaced by an intense nervousness that resonated in perfect sync with his, gripping her in an instant!
What was swirling in Shen Yuan’s eyes right now went far beyond any simple compliment she might have expected to hear!
It was too sudden.
Everything had exceeded Li Zhi’s expectations.
The girl only felt her own heartbeat suddenly magnify, overlapping with the drumbeat of Shen Yuan’s, making it difficult for her to even breathe.