"Hug me for a bit, then we'll go," Chi Xian said, his arms around her. He lowered his gaze to meet the girl's angry, star-like eyes, the corners of his thin lips curling imperceptibly.
*Hug you, my foot!*
Ming Zheng clenched her fists, but looking at his face, she held back. "This is harassment, you know?"
What if they really fought and he hurt that face of his?
She had already been misled by his beauty for so long.
Missing this one time wouldn't make a difference.
"Only ugly people get harassed," Chi Xian said, perhaps knowing that Ming Zheng was powerless against his looks. He played the handsome stratagem to perfection.
His deep, dark eyes curved slightly, and the brilliant golden light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling window illuminated his features, making his face even more stunning with every subtle shift.
He leaned closer to her ear and finished the sentence he had started: "...but good-looking people, that's called effective pursuit."
Ming Zheng: "..."
He really knew how to use his face!
And he really knew how to flatter himself!
*Effective pursuit*, my ass!
What kind of pursuit was this?
A domineering CEO forcing love?
Did he learn this from Mo Qiyu, who was brainwashed by CEO romance novels?
"Where are we planning to go today?" Chi Xian asked, rubbing her fingers with his thumb while his other hand circled her slender waist, his voice husky.
Ming Zheng: "..."
He was getting more and more presumptuous.
Don't think you can do whatever you want just because you're handsome!
Ming Zheng's face turned green, and her expression grew fiercer. "No more 'effective pursuit'!"
Zheng Bao looking so fierce was also quite cute.
Chi Xian's eyes seemed to brim with a galaxy.
However, he still followed Ming Zheng's wishes and released his hold on her.
It was too soon.
Zheng Bao wouldn't like it.
So, he could suppress all his impulses and follow Zheng Bao's pace, step by step, slowly.
He couldn't scare Zheng Bao.
He couldn't let her leave his world again...
Chi Xian retreated to the dining table, closed his deep, dark eyes, and concealed the turbulent mist swirling within them.
"Chi Xian..."
Ming Zheng shifted away from the woody, cool scent that enveloped her from the man, then looked up at him.
Her gaze fell on his bowed head.
It was fluffy, just like a dejected, large loyal dog.
Because he was looking down, a section of his long, fair neck like white jade was exposed, as if adorned with fine golden threads in the brilliant sunlight.
She coughed and looked away.
She had only asked Chi Xian not to be so presumptuous, not to use his good looks to bully others.
Why did it feel like she had done something unforgivable?
If he was genuinely pursuing her.
Had she been too harsh just now?
After all, he was the Chi family head, who had never faced rejection!
Ming Zheng thought for a moment and took a step towards Chi Xian. "Chi Xian."
She called his name.
Her voice was soft and gentle, no longer fierce.
"We haven't known each other for very long."
"I've never been in love before, and I don't understand this feeling. Whether you're sincere or just repaying a kindness, I can't reciprocate with the same feelings."
"So... I'm not used to this kind of interaction."
Ming Zheng moved another step closer to the man, her eyes falling on his perfect profile. "We can be friends, just like... you and Mo Qiyu, and I and Mo Qiyu."
Chi Xian suddenly looked up.
His devastatingly handsome face crashed into Ming Zheng's pupils without warning.
Even though she had been looking at his face all along.
This close-up encounter.
Still made Ming Zheng's heart beat irregularly.
Actually, Chi Xian was right about one thing.
His face perfectly embodied "effective pursuit."
At least, seeing him looking like a dejected big puppy.
She still softened.
She no longer wanted to say those words, "beauty misleads people."
From the beginning, it was beauty that misled.
Chi Xian's eyebrows lifted slightly, his ink-obsidian eyes sparkling as he looked at her.
But the next second.
His thin, rosy lips moved, his words low and magnetic, noble and breathtakingly beautiful, making her heart flutter. "...But, Zheng Bao, I'm afraid I can't stand by your side as just a friend."
The address "Zheng Bao" instantly overlapped with the voice that had called her "Zheng Bao" over and over again in her dream.
Ming Zheng's heart skipped a beat.
Her pupils widened. "What- what did you call me?"
Could this man have eavesdropped on her dreams?!
"Zheng Bao," he repeated. The simple two words rolled off his tongue, inexplicably intimate and lingering.
Ming Zheng rubbed her face.
But her peripheral vision caught sight of his flushed ear tips.
Like a piece of white jade stained with a flush of crimson.
Ming Zheng was a little surprised.
She hadn't expected the Chi family head, who could summon a crowd of women with a mere wave, to be so pure.
Just calling her name so intimately.
His ear tips turned so red...
His face remained as noble as jade, outwardly calm.
But inwardly, he was blushing furiously.
A playful, mischievous smile curved in Ming Zheng's eyes.
"Call me whatever you want," she said, deliberately teasing him. "Then, to be fair, should I call you... Xian Bao too?"
As expected.
The man's ear tips turned even redder, as if they could drip water.
Heh, men.
He was trying to flirt with her at this level!
Ming Zheng sat down in front of Chi Xian, her gaze fixed on his crimson ear tips. "I was just joking..."
Before she could finish.
The man looked at her earnestly. "If you want to call me that... it would be my honor."
Ming Zheng: "..." No, I don't!
If they really started calling each other "Bao," she would be completely trapped.
This closeness today was a bit too much!
Ming Zheng issued a polite dismissal. "It's eleven o'clock. As the family head, are you really planning to stay here?"
Chi Xian didn't want to push too hard and didn't continue the topic. "I'll leave. What about you?"
"I'm going to laze around at home, just chill." She had already been expelled from Ousheng Academy, so she didn't need to waste any more time.
Chi Xian's eyes lit up slightly. "How about... you come over to my place? We can have lunch together later?"
Ming Zheng: "..."
She gave him a look as if he were an idiot. "What time is it? I just finished a big breakfast, and you want me to eat lunch?"
She leaned back in her chair. "I'm not interested in getting involved in your Chi family's affairs either."
Especially not in these big families.
They were just trouble.
If she followed Chi Xian to his place.
It would probably take less than an hour for the Chi family to investigate all her information and post it on the bulletin board.
No matter how handsome the troublemaker was.
She couldn't let herself get caught up in trouble!
"I promise, I won't let you feel troubled!" Chi Xian said with a soft, compliant smile, leaning his hands on the table, his eyes full of anticipation.
Ming Zheng: "..."
Even a handsome face wouldn't work!
No, I'm not going!