Are You Allergic To Romance? - Chapter 18
Chapter 18: Bully Her Ferociously.
Jing Yuan couldn’t help but smile when she heard Miss Xie Mianzhi’s comical assurance.
Although the “wretched thing” in the other party’s mouth was indirectly referring to her, she wasn’t angry. She just found Xie Mianzhi very amusing when she said it.
It was as if the other party was an outstanding female warrior, capable of anything.
“Then you’re not scared?” Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow, asking the supposedly all-capable Miss Xie Mianzhi out of curiosity.
Born into wealth, it was inevitable for the other party to be pampered. As for the beasts roaming between the mountains and the sea, she was likely more afraid of them than she had actually encountered them.
The scream when she poked Little Golden Bean earlier was quite terrified.
“Do you think I’d be scared?” Xie Mianzhi scoffed, lifting her head proudly.
“I think most people would be afraid of those things. I’m afraid, too,” Jing Yuan expressed, without changing her expression, that she also feared these weasel-like carnivores.
Xie Mianzhi, hearing this, composed herself and smoothed back her hair. Of course, she knew the other party would be afraid of weasels and the like—who wouldn’t be? She hadn’t even seen one in person!
But she was a few years older than Jing Yuan. She was the older sister, and to gain authority, she was naturally supposed to be fearless.
“Who would dare to drive 120 kilometers per hour from Linxi City late at night to Mingsong Town to see the sea, and when the car broke down, simply sleep on the mountainside? A woman. A very beautiful woman.” Xie Mianzhi spoke slowly in a melodious, almost poetic voice. Towards the end, she lightly stroked her cheek, openly showcasing her high good looks.
Jing Yuan looked at Xie Mianzhi’s self-satisfied expression, full of exaggerated posturing, and couldn’t help but smile. She readily nodded in agreement.
And also found out that the other party was from Linxi City.
No wonder the other party’s accent carried a distinct softness when she spoke out of frustration.
“I admit, she is indeed very impressive,” Jing Yuan agreed.
“Of course. And she was also very lucky to meet a little savior, so this beautiful woman can guarantee that no weasels will appear tonight,” Xie Mianzhi vowed confidently.
Jing Yuan found the other party’s storytelling tone very entertaining. In her experience, very few people spoke to her like this. Aside from her family, it seemed no one was willing to interact with her in this way.
“Do you know how big a weasel is?” Jing Yuan decided to scare the other party a bit.
Xie Mianzhi paused. Honestly, she hadn’t seen this animal in real life. She roughly gestured with her hands, “About this big.”
Jing Yuan watched. The size the other party gestured was actually close—a small-sized carnivore of the Mustelidae family, usually about 30 to 45 centimeters in length.
However, Jing Yuan clearly saw Xie Mianzhi’s uncertainty, so she shook her head, indicating Xie Mianzhi was wrong.
“It’s not?” Xie Mianzhi frowned.
“They’re actually this big,” Jing Yuan used her hands to confidently outline a length and height. Her serious expression made it extremely convincing.
It didn’t look like a joke.
“They’re really that big?” Xie Mianzhi was very surprised, looking at the body size that was about half the height of an adult, comparable to a large hunting dog. “That’s way too big.”
“So, do you still dare to kick it?”
“In my understanding, they shouldn’t be big. How could this be…” Xie Mianzhi regretted her boast a little. After all, she hadn’t seen a real one, but in her mind, she truly thought weasels were small animals.
Jing Yuan nodded quietly, adding: “The Lian Tan City feng shui is good for raising people and animals, so they grow larger, with bigger bodies.”
It was then that Xie Mianzhi realized the person in front of her was teasing her. She immediately took off the outer robe she was wearing and threw it at Jing Yuan in annoyance.
“I was so foolish to be swayed by your words. How dare you tease me?”
Jing Yuan nimbly caught the thin garment in her hands. She hadn’t expected to make Xie Mianzhi anxious.
Immediately after, Xie Mianzhi rushed forward, pointing at her nose and saying: “Not only are the animals in Lian Tan City fierce, but the people are malicious, especially those with an ‘innocent-looking face.’ You need to be extra careful.”
Jing Yuan was forced to take a step back by Xie Mianzhi’s sudden proximity. She lowered her head, looking a little lost: “Wait, ‘innocent-looking’ means… me?”
“Unless there’s a third person in this house,” Xie Mianzhi crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow, staring intently at Jing Yuan’s face.
Jing Yuan blinked. Being called ‘innocent-looking’ for the first time made her feel a little fluttery.
She opened her mouth, then forcibly closed it again.
“Does your expression mean I’m wrong?” Xie Mianzhi tilted her head, slightly irritated, observing Jing Yuan’s rare, small expressions.
“No, I should be happy,” Jing Yuan immediately corrected her expression, sincerely compensating for her earlier mistake: “And I completely believe that Miss Xie Mianzhi can kick that kind of creature to death.”
Because those small carnivores are not aggressive and are very weak.
“Mmm, it’s good that you believe me. I used to learn Taekwondo,” although it was the kind where she only attended sporadically, it was good enough to fool the little innocent girl in front of her. “Even though I didn’t get a black belt, dealing with those minor nuisances isn’t difficult. So I’m not afraid at all. There’s nothing in this world I fear.”
Jing Yuan quietly listened to Miss Xie Mianzhi’s self-aggrandizing. She couldn’t actually process what the other party was saying with her nose in the air, because all she knew was that the situation was getting a little too intimate.
Xie Mianzhi’s red nightgown was too low-cut. The meager fabric looked flimsy, and Xie Mianzhi was completely unaware of the design flaw of her nightgown while she was talking.
Jing Yuan forced herself to stay calm, but Xie Mianzhi kept moving closer to her.
She had no choice but to quickly put the outer robe over the other party’s head.
Xie Mianzhi was completely baffled by this maneuver until the outer garment fully covered her entire upper body.
“W-what are you doing?” Xie Mianzhi’s forehead hair was draped over her face. She widened her eyes, staring at the person who had suddenly ambushed her.
Even though Xie Mianzhi was glaring at her like a vengeful ghost, Jing Yuan didn’t feel afraid that the exposed chest was about to touch her.
Thankfully, everything was covered.
Jing Yuan breathed a sigh of relief. She lowered her gaze and explained awkwardly: “It gets cold here at night. The nearest clinic is a thirty-minute drive away.”
The implication was that she was worried about Xie Mianzhi catching a cold.
Xie Mianzhi frowned, listening to Jing Yuan’s soft voice. It clearly didn’t sound like that was the whole truth.
Besides, she was an adult. Didn’t she know when she was hot or cold? She took off the outer robe because she felt hot, and it was the other party who had annoyed her.
“But I still feel this is very suspicious.”
To make the other party believe her and stop questioning, Jing Yuan performed eighteen fake actions, then timidly and carefully hooked the other party’s hem with her fingertip, saying: “The material is quite thin, don’t you think?”
“Are you really that concerned about me?” Xie Mianzhi looked at her skeptically.
“Mmm…” Jing Yuan nodded.
Xie Mianzhi’s eyes darted slyly, full of mischief: “Fine then. Since that’s the case, you fix it for me.”
“What?” Jing Yuan was clearly confused by the other party’s words.
Xie Mianzhi tugged at the outer robe covering her and complained unhappily: “You’re simply being barbaric. This sleepwear is a new design. I haven’t worn it once, and now you’ve wrinkled it so roughly. You straighten out the back for me, or I’ll make you pay.”
“It was inappropriate of me, but you can’t—” Jing Yuan felt the other party was being unreasonable and a little wronged internally. She had come out here to calm down, and now the source of the trouble, Xie Mianzhi, was so close to her and dressed so revealingly. It was improper.
And this was in her house.
“Can’t what?” Xie Mianzhi raised an eyebrow, curious to see what this good-tempered homeowner would say.
‘You can’t press your chest against me like this, you can’t bully me like this.’
This is not a good sign.
Jing Yuan desperately wanted to say this, but she suppressed it with a poker face. After all, the other party was a guest, the only woman she agreed to take in. The other party would leave tomorrow, so she should be accommodating.
“Nothing.” In the end, Jing Yuan managed three words.
Tch, she’s silent again.
She was quite articulate when she was cornering her just now.
Xie Mianzhi looked at Jing Yuan, who had reverted to her ‘model student’ appearance, and couldn’t help but click her tongue. She was always swallowing her words, seeming to be full of unspoken worries despite her young age.
Xie Mianzhi simply turned her back and raised her arm, trying to undo the collar button that was caught in her hair roots. It had been snagging uncomfortably, and she genuinely couldn’t unfasten it herself.
“Help me here,” Xie Mianzhi turned her head and called out to the instigator.
Jing Yuan paused for three seconds. Finally, under Miss Xie’s unwavering ‘this is your fault’ cold gaze, she had no choice but to walk to the other party’s side.
“Right here. It’s snagging my hair.” Xie Mianzhi pushed the button with her fingertip, indicating the spot to Jing Yuan.
What Xie Mianzhi didn’t know was that in the dim light under the eaves, the woman standing behind her was staring intently at her exposed white neck and the skin that had been rubbed red by the collar.
The most fragile part of the human neck could be snapped like a small bird with just a little force.
“Be careful not to pull my hair… Jing Yuan, did you hear me?”
After a long silence, the person behind her made no sound. Xie Mianzhi could only speak up to remind her.
Just as she was about to turn, Xie Mianzhi’s finger on the button was suddenly touched by a cold sensation.
It was Jing Yuan’s hand.
This girl’s hand is really cold.
A cold-blooded animal?
Xie Mianzhi immediately shivered and let go of her hand, feeling inexplicably nervous. She didn’t know why…
The dim light didn’t affect Jing Yuan’s excellent night vision. She looked down and immediately knew the core of the entanglement: the hair was wrapped around both the button on the back of the neck and the necklace she was wearing.
So Xie Mianzhi couldn’t just pull it out; she might injure herself.
She had to first quickly undo the necklace. Just as her fingertip was about to open the clasp.
The person in front of her suddenly leaned forward as if escaping.
“Don’t move,” Jing Yuan said.
Xie Mianzhi, abruptly warned so seriously by the little savior behind her, could only stand straight, letting the person behind her help untangle the mess.
She regretted it a little. The reason she leaned forward wasn’t to deliberately move around, but because she felt a terrifying pair of eyes staring at her from behind, like a fierce beast watching its prey—extremely dangerous.
She didn’t know if it was because Jing Yuan’s hand was too cold.
Until a necklace fell into her palm.
“It’s done.” Jing Yuan stepped back and looked at Xie Mianzhi’s neck under the light. She was quite satisfied.
Not a single strand of hair was pulled, and the other party wasn’t hurt.
“No wonder I couldn’t undo it. It was caught on the necklace too.” Xie Mianzhi saw her necklace and touched the back of her neck, finally feeling relieved. “Thank you. That was fast.”
“I could see you were trying to hold back,” Jing Yuan had been indirectly observing Xie Mianzhi while helping to untangle the knot. The other party’s expression looked like she was bravely facing death.
Xie Mianzhi heard this and could only offer a forced smile, tidying her hair, and explaining: “Mmm, because of your hand…”
“Hmm?”
“Your hand is too cold. I can’t stand it.” There was no help for it. Jing Yuan’s fingers were so cold. Touching her skin was unbearable and caused an adverse reaction.
Jing Yuan heard this and lowered her eyes. She inherited her mother’s trait. Her body temperature was indeed lower than a normal person’s.
“I apologize,” she said, placing her hands behind her back.
Xie Mianzhi looked at the person who apologized immediately and put her hands behind her back just because of a simple comment. Instantly, a wave of guilt surged in her heart.
Jing Yuan’s lean shadow cast by the eave lamp looked lonely and pathetic.
Damn it. Jing Yuan helped her out of kindness, how could she criticize her?
“Are you sad?” Xie Mianzhi walked up to Jing Yuan and asked softly.
Heaven knows she had never comforted anyone, let alone a woman younger than herself.
Jing Yuan was startled and quickly waved her hand. She knew her own physique. Her body temperature was naturally abnormal, and making Xie Mianzhi uncomfortable was not her intention.
“No. It’s normal for you to say that.” Jing Yuan finished speaking, covered up the still-in-shock Golden Bean, and prepared to go back inside.
She was somewhat downcast in her heart.
But Xie Mianzhi suddenly blocked her way.
Xie Mianzhi looked at the mist rising in Jing Yuan’s golden eyes and couldn’t help but blurt out in a burst of bad temper: “*Damn it, I hate people who are so inconsistent between their words and feelings.”
“What?” Jing Yuan was extremely confused by Xie Mianzhi’s sudden sharpness.
But in Xie Mianzhi’s eyes, this bewildered face was simply masking sadness.
This made Xie Mianzhi feel even more self-reproachful.
“If you’re sad, just say it. But I wasn’t criticizing you. Cold hands and feet just mean you have a cold body constitution. You can take supplements if you need to,” Xie Mianzhi said, then grabbed Jing Yuan’s hand and stuffed the cold hand into her own clothes.
“Does that make us even? I truly didn’t mean anything by it, okay?”