Chapter 562: Can I Kiss You Now?
Shen Yuan replied in a breathy voice only the two of them could hear, each word thick with undeniable anticipation and mischief. “Got it, Li Bao.”
The light in his eyes burned like stars, and though his voice was light and airy, it landed in her heart with immense weight.
“Winter break is coming up, you know.”
“Hmph! Selaan!”
Li Zhi felt the startling heat of his breath, and the subtext behind his “winter break” comment was so blunt it made her heart flutter.
The beautiful girl whipped her head away, cheeks burning.
Flustered and annoyed, she whipped her head back to glare at Shen Yuan.
“Hmph!”
Li Zhi was trying to look fierce, but her expression was more coquettish and petulant. The shimmer in her dewy eyes betrayed an unmistakable shyness, and even the tip of her delicate nose wrinkled slightly.
Practically fleeing in disarray, Li Zhi ducked her head, her gaze locking back onto Shen Yuan’s phone.
“Hmph! I’m ignoring you now. I need to see my scores.”
The beautiful girl’s fingertip glided across the phone screen, and she found her scores almost instantly.
Shen Yuan, also extremely curious about Li Bao’s scores, naturally leaned in for a look.
He shifted, his body moving naturally closer to hers. His arm pressed against her arm, his chin almost resting in the crook of her shoulder as his warm breath deliberately ghosted across the sensitive skin of her neck.
“Let me see what my girlfriend scored, hmm?” His voice was low, alluring, and syrupy sweet, with a hint of a wheedle.
“I’m sure my Li Bao did amazing. I have to gaze upon her score in awe~”
Li Zhi felt a tickle where he was pressing against her, and her ears flushed an even deeper red. She forced herself to remain calm and ignore his shameless antics.
Her finger zoomed in on her line in the score report screenshot.
Shen Yuan, waiting smugly to see the score, fixed his gaze on Li Zhi’s phone screen.
BOOM!
It was as if an invisible sledgehammer had slammed into his head!
Language Arts: 130. Math: 145. English: 145. Science Composite: 281. Total: 701.
The smile on Shen Yuan’s face was like an ice sculpture suddenly exposed to the scorching sun—it froze solid in an instant.
The smugness he’d felt while leaning on Li Zhi’s shoulder vanished without a trace, leaving him completely stunned.
He stiffly turned his neck, staring at the beautiful girl beside him in utter disbelief.
Li Zhi, however, simply turned to the side and raised an eyebrow at him. Her pink lips parted, her tone carrying a hint of casual curiosity, as if she were asking about the weather.
“Oh, dear. It looks like *someone’s* plans for getting a marriage certificate might be a little out of reach now~”
The shock on Shen Yuan’s face gradually dissolved, finally settling into a smile that was a mixture of resignation and defiance.
He raised a hand and habitually rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a complicated “Tsk.”
“701…”
He muttered the score under his breath, as if chewing on a hard stone.
He looked into Li Zhi’s bright, mischievous eyes, took a deep breath, and then lifted his chin, his face breaking into a determined smile.
“Well, Li Bao,” he began, drawing out his words, “that score of yours…”
Shen Yuan’s finger tapped the air toward the total score on Li Zhi’s screen. “It’s pretty terrifying, I’ll give you that. But…”
He paused, his gaze becoming fiery and resolute again, the corners of his mouth curving with undeniable confidence.
“The year is still young! This is just the final for the first semester.”
Shen Yuan’s voice rose, as if he were declaring war on Li Zhi while also psyching himself up.
“Just you wait! One of these days, I’m going to beat you!”
Li Zhi looked at the idiot beside her, his eyes blazing and his voice filled with an unyielding fighting spirit.
The corners of the beautiful girl’s eyes curved in an almost imperceptible smile. The small ripple of emotion she felt at his earnest, competitive spirit quickly smoothed over.
She didn’t immediately retort with her usual sarcasm or teasing, but instead, in a rare move, softened her sharp edges.
Li Zhi turned slightly, her limpid eyes looking straight into the depths of Shen Yuan’s.
Her porcelain-white cheeks were illuminated by the faint light from the window, and his face was now clearly reflected in her eyes.
“Alright.”
Her voice was soft, yet as crisp as a spring stream tumbling over pebbles. It carried an undeniable certainty as it landed clearly in Shen Yuan’s ears.
“I’ll be waiting, you know… to see exactly when you’ll be able to surpass me.”
With that, Li Zhi leaned close to Shen Yuan’s ear. Her fingertips unconsciously traced a light line across the back of his hand, and her warm breath, carrying a faint, sweet scent, deliberately swirled around his sensitive earlobe.
“Boyfriend~ Don’t make me… wait too long, okay?~”
Shen Yuan’s breath hitched.
Her deliberately slow drawl was like a fine electric current drilling into his eardrum. A tingling, numbing sensation shot straight down his spine, making his Yang Qi stir.
He could see his own reflection clearly in her eyes, and the smile playing on her lips was utterly bewitching.
Shen Yuan felt as if the girl’s words were a finely woven net, one that had instantly transformed his surging fighting spirit into another, far more scorching and unbearable emotion.
‘This is bad!’
Shen Yuan’s heart hammered like a drum, and he swallowed hard.
‘This vixen…’
‘Alarm bells started ringing in his head.’
‘Li Bao seems to be…’
‘…going further and further down the path of a bad girl!’
The familiar heat, so easily stoked by a single sentence from her, began to stir restlessly in his lower abdomen once more.
Shen Yuan was instantly reminded of his unspeakable life-or-death battle in the bathroom that very morning.
‘I’m doomed!’
On the outside, he forced himself to look calm, but inwardly, he was wailing in agony.
He watched as Li Zhi, wearing a triumphant little smile, quickly turned away, leaving him with nothing but the sight of the back of her slender, infuriating head.