Bai Jiangxin deliberately followed along with her train of thought and made his words sound more suggestive, just to see—when he actually put those things she was thinking about all day onto the table and said them to her—how she would continue pretending.

The result was that she, completely unaware, replied with something even more frightening.

A thin flush rose through the boy’s cold pale skin. After finally recovering, Bai Jiangxin shot her a glare.

Some people truly have no self-awareness. All day long they stage grand dramas in their heads, completely ignoring reality, really thinking they can handle it.

For example, the one in front of him. Soft and slender, a palm-sized face, one cream puff could stuff her entire cheeks full. From head to toe, there probably wasn’t a single place on her body that could withstand force. How did she even dare to think about it.

And that deep—to the stomach. If it really got to the stomach, could she take it?

He figured his own brain must be a little sick too. Knowing full well her head wasn’t filled with anything decent, he still wanted to listen, and even competed with her over who was more indecent.

If that isn’t sick, then what is?

Bai Jiangxin had never said any dirty talk in his life. He couldn’t out-dirty her, and he had no way to deal with her, so he could only watch helplessly as he was little by little assimilated by the yellow trash in her brain.

Xiang Di was still asking him whether he had caught another cold, yet during this period, when had his “colds” ever not been related to her.

Bai Jiangxin frowned. “I’m not sick.”

Xiang Di said worriedly, “But I see your neck and ears are all red from coughing…”

Bai Jiangxin: “That’s not from coughing.”

Xiang Di: “Then what is it from?”

“……”

Bai Jiangxin didn’t speak.

What do you think it’s from?

Looking at her expression like she didn’t know anything, those teasing words felt as if they had landed on a ball of cotton—making him both irritated and helpless.

It was clearly her who first tainted the word “depth,” yet now the one stuck with filthy thoughts and unable to step down was him instead.

Bai Jiangxin said coldly, “It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

He started the electric scooter. This time he was really preparing to leave. If he couldn’t afford to provoke her, couldn’t he at least hide?

“Wait, you forgot your helmet.”

Xiang Di called out to him again, took off the helmet, and handed it back.

While tidying her hair, Xiang Di gathered her words.

“Um, thank you for taking me to the bookstore today, and for lending me your helmet.” Even though she didn’t know why his expression kept switching between sunny and gloomy today, Xiang Di still chose to nag a little more and show concern. “Also, be careful on your way home, ride slower, don’t catch a chill, and I think you should still put the helmet on. I saw that you weren’t wearing one when you came…”

When he came today, he had just pulled up the hood attached to his jacket to block the wind. Although it looked cool, it wasn’t very safe after all.

Concern makes people flustered, and her reminders became a bit too many. Xiang Di had already tried to cut them down, afraid he would think she was meddling for nothing. After all, nobody likes being nagged, so toward the end, her voice grew softer and softer, and she kept observing his expression, afraid to see even a trace of impatience between his brows.

There was no impatience. Bai Jiangxin lowered his eyes, his expression calm, playing with the helmet strap in his hands. Someone who usually looked like he didn’t take softness or toughness from anyone—who couldn’t even be bothered to listen to a few sentences when the homeroom teacher lectured—now looked like a well-behaved child quietly listening in class.

After she finished speaking, Bai Jiangxin said, “Got it.”

He even asked her, “Anything else you want to remind me of?”

“…No, just that.” As soon as the words fell, Xiang Di quickly thought of something else. “Ah, I already wore this helmet. Do you mind?”

“If I minded, I wouldn’t have lent it to you in the first place.”

In front of Xiang Di, Bai Jiangxin casually brushed his bangs back, then with one hand buckled it, pulled the safety clasp, and swiftly put the helmet on.

Nodding at her, Bai Jiangxin said, “I’m going.”

Xiang Di was thoroughly stunned by the way he casually brushed back his hair and put on the helmet. Her little heart thumped wildly.

It took her several seconds to react. “Oh, oh, be careful on the road, bye-bye.”

“Mm.”

Xiang Di stood by the roadside, watching his departing figure as he rode away.

Sure enough, when someone is handsome, everything they do looks good.

How is it that even riding a little electric scooter can look this handsome, as if what he’s riding isn’t a small electric scooter, but a big motorcycle.

Only after Bai Jiangxin had ridden far enough away did Xiang Di reluctantly turn around.

Walking home was boring, so she might as well eat a few cream puffs to pass the time. Xiang Di rummaged through her bag and took out the cream puffs she hadn’t finished eating in the shop.

There was actually one cream puff that had only been eaten halfway, but she had already forgotten why she only ate half of it.

Anyway, it was something she herself had eaten. Xiang Di put that half cream puff into her mouth. Although the texture wasn’t as good as when she ate it in the shop, it was still delicious.

While chewing the cream puff, Xiang Di thought absentmindedly—if this weren’t something she had eaten, but something Bai Jiangxin had eaten, mixed with Bai Jiangxin’s scent, then it would be even more delicious.

Eh, why does it feel like she’s becoming more and more like a pervert? Even his leftovers aren’t spared.

If Bai Jiangxin knew she actually wanted to eat a cream puff he had eaten, this germaphobe would probably despise her to death.

Xiang Di sighed. This kind of thing, Bai Jiangxin definitely wouldn’t understand. When you really like someone very much, even the other person’s saliva is sweet to you—how could you possibly dislike it.

But it’s normal that he doesn’t understand. He has always been the moon that people look up to. How would he know how tired her neck is.

People with Mysophobia usually really hate others touching their things, because they’re afraid of them getting dirty. Xiang Di firmly remembered this point, so she had been very careful in her behavior today.

If she hadn’t washed her hair before going out today, then when Bai Jiangxin lent her the helmet, even if she cracked her head open from falling, she still wouldn’t have worn his helmet.

She would rather die than let him smell her greasy scalp!

But what surprised Xiang Di was that Bai Jiangxin’s Mysophobia didn’t seem so severe today. Not only did he allow her to sit on the back seat of his electric scooter, he also allowed her to wear his helmet. Most importantly, he even allowed her to hug his waist and lean against his back.

Thinking about how she had so much physical contact with him in one go today, Xiang Di couldn’t help but giggle.

Mm, this must be the blessing of washing her hair today.

─── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ───

The person in the rearview mirror had walked away. Bai Jiangxin withdrew his gaze and accelerated the little electric scooter.

Wearing the helmet Xiang Di had worn, because his sense of smell was relatively sensitive, he rode all the way home with the scent of shampoo from her hair in his nose.

Only now did Bai Jiangxin finally know where that sweet fragrance on her body came from.

It turned out to be from her long hair.

Smelling the coconut milk scent all the way, he even had the illusion that Xiang Di was still sitting behind him. It wasn’t until he arrived home, took off the helmet, and turned his head to look—only to see the back seat completely empty—that he somewhat blankly remembered that as early as thirty minutes ago, he had already sent Xiang Di home.

Bai Jiangxin pursed his lips.

Right. How could he possibly have brought her back to his place.

After parking the scooter and setting down the helmet, Bai Jiangxin carried the bag of desserts Xiang Di had bought for him and walked inside.

At the entryway where shoes were changed, a pair of men’s leather shoes was neatly placed. Bai Jiangxin frowned slightly.

However, upon walking into the living room, several large floor-to-ceiling windows poured sunlight into the spacious double-height living room, illuminating the extraordinary assortment of furniture and decor inside. In the living room, only the auntie was busy wiping the various jade porcelains and art ornaments in the display cabinet.

“You’re back?” The auntie smiled when she saw Bai Jiangxin return. “I’ll make lunch for you right away.”

Bai Jiangxin gave a hum, glanced around, and finally still asked, “Where’s my dad?”

The auntie replied, “He’s upstairs on a call.”

Bai Jiangxin: “Is he also eating at home for lunch today?”

“Probably not. It seems your dad just came back to pick something up.”

Just as the auntie finished speaking, there was movement upstairs. Bai Jiangxin’s father came down the stairs in a well-tailored suit, holding a sealed document envelope in his hand.

Seeing his son downstairs, the man’s gaze paused slightly, and he spoke. “You’re back?”

Bai Jiangxin: “Mm.”

The man was in a hurry to leave. Perhaps feeling that only saying this one sentence to a son he hadn’t seen in a week was somewhat inadequate, he added, “Since you’re back, get ready to eat. I still have work, so I won’t be eating at home.”

Bai Guang did not ask where his son had gone on a Sunday morning when there were no classes, and Bai Jiangxin naturally would not ask his father why he was still so busy on a Sunday.

But compared to the father’s attempt at maintaining decorum, the son was clearly unwilling to give him that face. Bai Jiangxin’s tone was flat. “Suit yourself.”

Bai Guang’s expression immediately cooled. However, elders were always better at controlling their emotions than the young. Suppressing his anger, he asked, “By the way, did you send a message to my secretary a few days ago? He didn’t reply in time. After he saw the message and replied to you, you didn’t reply to him anymore. What did you want him for?”

Bai Jiangxin did not hide it and said directly, “About the parent-teacher meeting.”

Bai Guang’s voice was low. “So you’ve already decided to have him attend the parent-teacher meeting in your place?”