Volume 1, Chapter 338: A Woman's Heart Is Hard to Decipher
Wei Xiaoyu's demeanor was a far cry from the strong image Zhou Shang had of her; her gentle and taciturn nature reminded Zhou Xuan of Wei Xiaoqing. ()
After washing her face and feet, still feeling a bit chilly, Wei Xiaoyu pulled back the covers, lay down in her clothes, and stared at Zhou Xuan with her bright eyes.
Zhou Xuan didn't dare to look at her, and there was nowhere else in the room, so he could only sit on that empty wooden chair, but it wouldn't be easy to sit like that all night.
He couldn't sit for more than half an hour. Without anything to lean on or lie down in, he was extremely uncomfortable. Zhou Xuan changed positions several times, but he still couldn't find a comfortable one.
Wei Xiaoyu's breathing suddenly quickened a few times, and she abruptly spoke: "Come lie down on the bed, how can you get through the night sitting like that?"
Zhou Xuan wanted to lie down on the bed, but as he wished, how could he lie down like this?
However, since Wei Xiaoyu had spoken up and told him to lie down on the bed, that was much easier to say. It was much better for her to tell him than for him to just lie down on the bed recklessly.
Zhou Xuan stood up, seemingly hesitant, while Wei Xiaoyu shyly shrank her head and face under the covers. There was only one blanket on the bed. If she asked Zhou Xuan to lie down on the bed, in such cold weather, wouldn't that be the same as asking Zhou Xuan to sleep in the same blanket as her?
Zhou Xuan suddenly stood up, opened the door, and rushed downstairs. Wei Xiaoyu, who was shyly hiding under the covers, was stunned. She poked her head out and stared blankly at the open door. What trick was Zhou Xuan playing? Or did he think he would never betray Fu Ying?
Wei Xiaoyu was filled with both heartache and disappointment. She had secretly fallen for Zhou Xuan, but dared not reveal a single word to her younger sister! Her sister also liked Zhou Xuan, but while her sister did so openly, Wei Xiaoyu kept it a secret. Wei Xiaoyu talked about her longing for Zhou Xuan every day, and all she could do was comfort her. Wei Xiaoyu never imagined that her older sister had also fallen madly in love with the person she liked!
Then she heard Zhou Xuan talking to Sister Feng downstairs, so Wei Xiaoyu quickly tilted her ear to listen carefully.
It turns out that Zhou Xuan ran downstairs to ask Sister Feng if she had any extra blankets.
"Sister Feng, do you have any extra blankets? The blankets upstairs are too thin, I'd like an extra one!"
Sister Feng shrugged and said helplessly, "My shop is never full. Normally, having extra blankets is no big deal, but now there aren't any left. It's so cold today, and I'm only using a thin blanket myself. With twelve rooms, it's like one blanket is enough for everyone. There aren't even any extra blankets!"
Zhou Xuan was embarrassed and didn't want to say anything else, so he turned around and went upstairs. Feng Jie's words were so vulgar, like "one radish, one hole." In his hometown, such words would be used by women to scold men for cheating. "One radish, one hole," they would say, "just occupy your own hole and don't steal someone else's."
Back in his room, Zhou Xuan saw that Wei Xiaoyu still had her head and face covered by the blanket. In fact, Wei Xiaoyu had deliberately crawled in after hearing his footsteps, and had also heard what Feng Jie said. Her face was red and hot, and she dared not show it to face Zhou An.
Zhou Xuan thought for a moment, then locked the door again with a click, a sound that made Wei Xiaoyu tremble!
Zhou Xuan sat down on the edge of the bed, gritted his teeth, took off his shoes, and said, "Miss Wei, I guess I'll have to make do with this. Sorry!"
Then he lay down silently, his back to Wei Xiaoyu. Although it was cold, lying down was much more comfortable than sitting in a chair.
Wei Xiaoyu waited for a long time. When Zhou Xuan lay down on the bed, her face became increasingly hot. However, after a long time, Zhou Xuan did not make any further movement. She stretched out her head and opened her eyes, only to see Zhou Xuan lying on the edge of the bed with his back to her, showing no intention of getting into the quilt at all.
After a long moment of stunned silence, Wei Xiaoyu's burning face gradually cooled down. All her efforts had been in vain!
Zhou Xuan wasn't unbearably cold because he circulated his icy energy throughout his body. The temperature was a bit low, but it didn't affect him at all. He had never felt uncomfortable in the extremely cold water of the Yin River in the sinkhole before, so this slight chill was nothing to him.
However, Wei Xiaoyu didn't think that way. She was a normal, ordinary person. Seeing Zhou Xuan lying there like that only made her feel heartache and disappointment. After struggling with her feelings for a while, she finally bit her lip and shyly reached out to pull the blanket up to cover Zhou Xuan. She then huddled under the blanket, trembling, completely losing her strong female soldier persona.
Zhou Xuan paused, feeling Wei Xiaoyu's trembling body, and felt a sense of gratitude. It seemed that this proud daughter of an official was not as unreasonable as he had imagined; perhaps he had only seen one side of her at the time.
He sighed inwardly. Wei Xiao'er had been acting strangely all day, unusually docile. No matter what he did, she never questioned or objected. Even in this remote place, where there wasn't even a room to sleep in, the two of them had to share a bed.
Just as Wei Xiaoyu was feeling embarrassed, Zhou Xuan pulled the blanket back over her and covered her with it, saying in a low voice, "Miss Wei, you can cover yourself. I'm not cold, it's okay, I'll be fine after a while."
Wei Xiaoyu's heart turned cold at Zhou Xuan's lack of appreciation. She was angry on her own, but when she looked at Zhou Xuan's thin and frail body, she felt a surge of pity. She sighed and then covered him with the blanket again.
Zhou Xuan didn't think of anything else. Seeing Wei Xiaoyu cover him with the blanket again, he quickly said, "I'm really not cold. Cover yourself up and get some rest. We might have to leave at any time, so rest as much as you can!"
Wei Xiaoyu had no idea what Zhou Xuan meant. She snorted, then suddenly became fierce, reaching out to hug Zhou Xuan tightly from behind, panting as she said, "What will I do if you get sick like this? How can I take care of you in this desolate place? Do you think I'm so shameless?"
When he said the last few words, "shameless," his voice choked up.
It was only at this moment that Zhou Xuan realized her femininity and discovered that she was still a girl!
Zhou Xuan's back was pressed against Wei Xiaoyu's soft and warm body, and he immediately froze, too afraid to move. He never expected Wei Xiaoyu to have such courage, a girl daring to do this. How could he dare to say anything more? Could he say that he had special abilities and wasn't afraid of the cold, and let her sleep alone under the covers?
He feared that explaining would only make things worse, so Zhou Xuan dared not say anything more or move. He simply tried his best to circulate his ice energy to calm his mind through practice.
Wei Xiaoyu buried her face deeply in Zhou Xuan's vest, her breath filled with his intoxicating masculine scent. She never dreamed that such a moment would come!
The last time was because Zhou Xuan didn't treat her like a woman and he grabbed her and wrestled with her, touching all the places he shouldn't have touched and groping all the places he shouldn't have groped. Wei Xiaoyu kept recalling the feeling of that moment.
Holding the man she loves in her arms, yet knowing that he can never belong to her, the feeling of happiness mixed with despair is truly indescribable.
Wei Xiaoyu couldn't help but burst into tears. Fortunately, Zhou Xuan couldn't see it. She hugged Zhou Xuan even tighter and, in the pain of sadness and despair, she drifted off to sleep.
At some point, Wei Xiaoyu was suddenly woken up by Zhou Xuan, "Miss Wei, Miss Wei, wake up, Miss Wei, wake up!"
When Wei Xiaoyu woke up from her dream, Zhou Xuan was whispering in her ear. After sitting up, Zhou Xuan had already gone to the floor to put on his shoes and packed his backpack.
Wei Xiaoyu glanced at the dark outside the window and asked in surprise, "What's wrong? Where are we going again?" She then looked at the luminous watch on her wrist. It was 2:15 a.m. Where was Zhou Xuan waking her up at this hour?
She had always felt that Zhou Xuan's behavior was strange, and now it really did seem odd. Nevertheless, she got up, put on her shoes and socks, and handed the backpack that Zhou Xuan had slung over his shoulder to her gently.
Wei Xiaoyu slung her backpack over her shoulder, and Zhou Xuan gently led her out of the room, closing the door behind them. They then nimbly descended the stairs. Feng Jie was clearly asleep; the shop's lobby was empty.
Zhou Xuan didn't turn on the lights. Wei Xiaoyu went from a place with lights to darkness all of a sudden. Her eyes couldn't adjust and she couldn't see anything. Zhou Xuan had to pull her along.
Zhou Xuan walked forward without hesitation, just as he had during the day. He paused at the door to open it. The door wasn't locked, so Zhou Xuan opened it a crack, and the cold air from outside blew in immediately. Wei Xiaocun couldn't help but shrank his shoulders.
Once outside the gate, the street was pitch black, without a ray of light. Zhou Xuan pulled Wei Xiaoyu along, stumbling along without explaining where they were going.
In fact, Zhou Xuan came to Moyin Mountain, a mountain town, because of a piece of information he obtained from the gate of the museum in the city. The information indicated that the people who stole cultural relics had arrived in Moyin Mountain, but Zhou Xuan could not get any more information about the person who possessed the ice energy.
This is what worries Zhou Xuan the most. If it were just an ordinary person, he wouldn't care even if they were someone with superhuman strength, but since the other party also possesses ice-based superpowers like him, then he cannot be underestimated.
After settling into the small inn, Zhou Xuan secretly used his ice energy to probe the people in the other rooms. This probe immediately gave him a clear understanding of the situation; he hadn't made a mistake coming here. All the people staying in the other rooms were part of the same group, and four of the rooms even had antiques that were very well packaged in their luggage.
Zhou Xuan also discovered that two of the mysterious antiques were genuine and quite valuable, worth at least two million. In Zhou Xuan's opinion, this was nothing special, but from their perspective of tracking, it meant they were on the right track.