Chapter Twenty-Five: Don’t Sleep on the Floor Anymore
The golden-haired girl possessed an aura that set her apart. Often, one didn’t need to see her face; the atmosphere around her was enough to identify her. The air around Wen Hupo carried a coolness, not the biting chill of winter, but the refreshing coolness of a rainforest at dawn.
“Couldn’t sleep?” Lu Li approached the rock, and Wen Hupo finally noticed his presence.
He hadn’t mastered the art of tying the robe’s sash, the loose ends dangling haphazardly in a floppy bow, his robe hanging open, giving him a carefree, almost ancient air. Wen Hupo averted her gaze, slightly embarrassed. “At least fix your clothes before you talk to me.” Lu Li chuckled, hopping onto the rock beside her. Wen Hupo was unexpectedly cute sometimes.
“Looking at the moon?” Lu Li looked up at the night sky. The bright moon hung amidst a scattering of stars. The summer night sky was truly a breathtaking sight. He wondered if the moon looked different from the other side of the ocean.
“I was thinking about Lu Li,” she said, surprising him.
“Wondering if he can take care of himself at home alone.” So she meant Miss Lu. Lu Li felt a pang of disappointment. Now that he thought about it, perhaps Wen Hupo had chosen that name for the kitten with a different kind of affection in mind.
“Don’t worry, Miss Lu is very well-behaved. The automatic feeder will dispense food; she won’t starve.”
“I’m worried she’ll pee or poop everywhere,” Wen Hupo said. “What if she dirties the floor? Where will you sleep then?”
Lu Li’s heart skipped a beat. “How about the bed?”
His heart pounded like a rhythmic knock on a door. He felt like an explorer charting new territory, his words a tentative probe into the vast unknown.
Wen Hupo looked at him, her expression unreadable, her eyes pale and ethereal.
“Lu Li, you’re insatiable.”
He’d heard that before. Lu Li shrugged. “Suppressing one’s feelings is unnatural. At least I can’t do it.”
“Do you have feelings for me?” Wen Hupo asked, her gaze returning to the sky.
The sea breeze rustled around them. Lu Li felt a chill and tightened his robe, making a mental note to ask Sister Yameng how to properly tie the sash tomorrow.
“Hupo.” He thought for a moment, then made up his mind. Sometimes, girls needed their space; constant pursuit could be damaging. “Actually, I liked you from the moment I first saw you… It might sound shameless, but it was love at first sight.” His face burned as he spoke. Wen Hupo didn’t react, continuing to gaze at the vast night sky.
He continued.
“I was already with Baili at the time, but I couldn’t help but admire you. You seemed like an angel, too good for this world. I wanted to be near you, to learn from you.” Having abandoned his pretense of indifference, Lu Li’s words flowed more freely. “I was delighted to discover that we often thought alike, that we had an unexpected understanding. You always saw things I missed. I often fantasized about you being my wife.”
“But I was also insecure. I didn’t know if a boy from the low-rent district was worthy of a foreign lady. So I kept reminding myself to know my place. It was my own cowardice that prevented me from realizing that perhaps these feelings were mutual.”
Lu Li spoke softly, recounting not the events of this life, but of his past one. Wen Hupo listened quietly, her expression unchanged, offering no response. Lu Li felt a pang of disappointment; he’d hoped for a more enthusiastic reaction.
“This might sound shameless, but I have to say it: I like you, and I like all of you.” Lu Li smiled. It felt strange to admit his seemingly selfish desires so openly. In his past life, he had always hidden behind a mask. Perhaps death truly was a form of rebirth. “I hope we can all be happy together, grow old together. It might be difficult, but I will fight for it. I’ve had many dreams, but this one is the smallest and the most likely to come true.”
Wen Hupo still didn’t react. Lu Li let out a sigh of relief. The night air by the sea was cold; he should wear more next time.
As he thought this, he suddenly felt a warmth in his arms. Wen Hupo had snuggled into his embrace, still sitting upright. “This way, you won’t be so cold.” A faint blush colored her cheeks; she was clearly trying to maintain her composure.
This was the first time Lu Li had been this close to Wen Hupo. Their bodies pressed together, sharing warmth.
He instinctively wrapped his arms around her slender waist. Wen Hupo’s body trembled slightly. Thinking she was resisting, he started to pull away, but she stopped him. “If you’re still cold, hold me.”
Hold me.
The words echoed in his mind.
He tightened his embrace, inhaling the fragrance of her hair, his heart overflowing with contentment.
“Did you use these same lines to deceive An Baili and Chu Jingyi?” Wen Hupo’s voice had softened.
“This isn’t deception.” Can a scholar’s words be considered deception?
“A girl’s heart belongs to herself. If you take it, isn’t that deception?” Wen Hupo argued.
“Then have I deceived you?”
“…Yes.” She answered after a long pause.
He couldn’t see her face, but he imagined it must be the most beautiful sight in the world.
“Lu Li…”
“Hmm?”
“What are your other dreams?”
“So many. I’ll tell you all about them.”
The tide ebbed and flowed, the moon began to set, and their conversation continued, mostly Lu Li talking, Wen Hupo listening, occasionally asking a question. The air around her still carried a coolness, but it was now tinged with warmth. Perhaps it didn’t take a grand gesture to transform an angel who found the world boring into a girl who worried about her cat’s bathroom habits.
Sharing childhood memories, dreams, and regrets with someone of the opposite sex was inherently intimate. It encompassed one’s past, present, and future. Wen Hupo had confided in him; now it was his turn.
After talking for a long time, Lu Li felt thirsty. He realized it was getting late and they should head back.
Wen Hupo suddenly grabbed his hand.
“What’s wrong?”
“Don’t… don’t sleep on the floor anymore,” she mumbled, avoiding his gaze.
Lu Li’s mind buzzed, trying to process the meaning behind her words. As the golden-haired girl disappeared into the darkness, he slapped himself in disbelief, then broke into a wide grin.
He was still smiling when he returned to his room. Too lazy to turn on the light, he reached for his bed, intending to relive Wen Hupo’s words in the darkness. But as his hand landed on the blanket, something felt wrong. He pressed down again. A second later, he heard a scream:
“Ah! A murderer!!”
No, it wasn’t just one scream, but two intertwined female voices.
Chapter Twenty-Six: Sharing a Bed
“Ah—”
“Ah—Lu Li, help!”
“D-don’t kill me—”
“Call the police! Call the police!”
The girls’ terrified screams intertwined, assaulting Lu Li’s ears, bouncing around inside his skull, making his head throb. In the dim blue light, he saw three slender figures flailing on his bed, not dancing, but enacting their own clumsy self-defense techniques against a non-existent “murderer.”
Lu Li rubbed his temples. If I were really a murderer, I’d have a full harvest tonight.
He imitated the sound of a chainsaw with his mouth, adding a villainous laugh for dramatic effect. “Mwahahaha…”
The girls screamed even louder. He thought he even heard Chen Jianing crying for her mother.
“Mwahahaha, you can scream all you want, but no one will save you!” Lu Li thought that if humanity ever went extinct, this classic line should be recorded in the annals of history. It spanned the entirety of human history, embodying both profound philosophical meaning and common, vulgar humor.
At his words, the girls’ cries gradually subsided.
“Lu Li? Is that you?”
Before he could answer, someone turned on the bedside lamp, revealing three pale, frightened faces. Silly Goose, An Baili, and Chen Jianing—the trio was complete. With a cry of frustration, Chen Jianing started hitting and kicking him, tears streaming down her face. “Why did you scare us like that? You’re crazy!” Chen Jianing was small and her blows lacked force. Lu Li shielded his head, apologizing profusely. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I was wrong! Please forgive me!”
An Baili and Silly Goose quickly pulled her back. Although startled by Lu Li, they couldn’t bear to see him hurt. “This is Lu Li’s room; he was always going to come back. He wasn’t deliberately trying to scare us…”
“You’re just spoiling him! You’ll turn him into a useless bum!” Little Tiger yelled, then burrowed back under the covers, only her head peeking out.
Lu Li sat on the edge of the bed. “Why are you all in my room?”
An Baili and Chu Jingyi exchanged glances, and An Baili explained, “Well… Jianing was too scared to sleep alone after hearing those ghost stories, so she came to my room. Then she scared me, so we went to find Jingyi.”
Lu Li looked at Silly Goose, exasperated. “You’re not afraid of ghost stories, are you?”
Silly Goose fidgeted with her fingers. “But watching horror movies doesn’t mean I’m not afraid of ghosts in real life… When Baili, Jianing, and I were huddled together, we heard rustling sounds outside, like someone walking around. The more I thought about it, the more scared I got, so we decided to come find you. And then… when you weren’t here, we got even more scared… We hid under the covers, wondering if we should call the police.”
Rustling sounds? That must have been me walking around outside.
“I… I even saw a ghost by the beach!” Chen Jianing suddenly exclaimed. “When I came out, I saw a female ghost sitting on a rock by the sea, through the window at the end of the corridor. Her hair was so long… I swear I’m not making it up!”
Lu Li chuckled. If Hupo knew you called her a female ghost, she’d never let you live it down.
“That wasn’t a ghost; that was Wen Hupo. She likes to sit outside and clear her head when she can’t sleep.” He looked at Chu Jingyi. “Jingyi, the rustling sound you heard was probably me. I went for a walk on the beach. I was wearing slippers, so they were a bit loud. Sorry.”
“…So that’s what it was. I thought there was really a murderer or a ghost.”
Chu Jingyi’s face was red; she must have felt embarrassed.
Lu Li clapped his hands. “Alright, girls, let’s go back to sleep.”
But the three girls didn’t move. They remained huddled under his covers, looking at him with wide, innocent eyes.
An Baili whispered, “I’m still too scared to sleep alone… Can we sleep here tonight?”
Lu Li looked at the size of the bed. It was a double bed, barely big enough for three people, let alone four.
His gaze landed on Chen Jianing. Of the three girls, she was the least close to him. He’d assumed she wouldn’t want to share a bed with a man. But Little Tiger simply pulled the covers over her head, pretending to be asleep.
Lu Li was about to suggest sleeping in another room, but seeing their pitiful expressions, remembering their terrified screams, his heart softened. “We’ll have to squeeze in, then.”
Half an hour later…
Lu Li stared at the ceiling, wondering why he’d agreed. Sleeping was an exaggeration; he was essentially a human pillow for the three girls, unable to even move. An Baili lay on his left, clinging to his arm, her legs wrapped around his hand, her posture incredibly suggestive. Silly Goose lay on his right, her eyes closed, her eyelashes fluttering slightly. This was her first time sharing a bed with a man; she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. Chen Jianing, the smallest of the three, lay directly on top of him. Luckily, she wasn’t heavy, so Lu Li could still breathe.
The scent of their bodies and their warm breath filled the small space. Lu Li felt surrounded by warmth. The girls were like living, breathing hand warmers, their skin smooth and soft, their body temperature just right. In winter, this would have been bliss. Unfortunately, it was the middle of summer.
Lu Li felt sweat trickling down his scalp, his hair damp and clinging to his forehead. He wondered if he should ask them to move slightly, to give him some space.
After a while, their breathing evened out; they seemed to have fallen asleep. An Baili’s tongue darted out, licking his earlobe. Silly Goose let out a soft moan in her sleep, as if having a bad dream, snuggling closer to him. Chen Jianing was the most restless sleeper. At some point, she had turned over, resting her feet on his chest, her head nestled in his crotch.
This is torture.
He thought.
Chen Jianing mumbled in her sleep, “Don’t poke me…” She pushed at his groin with her hand, and Lu Li gasped. Was he ever going to get any sleep?
The next day…
“Morning, Li.” Sister Yameng, as energetic as ever, greeted him with a cheerful smile, doing her morning exercises in the sunlight, her body a vision of health and beauty. “Li, why do you have dark circles under your eyes? Did you not sleep well?”
Lu Li rubbed his eyes. “Do I? Heh, I thought I slept pretty well.”
“Really?” Sister Yameng looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he’d snuck out to fool around with An Baili. Should she exhaust him to the point where he wouldn’t have the energy for such antics?
“By the way, Sister, let’s all go swimming at the beach today,” Lu Li said, quickly changing the subject. “Did you bring a swimsuit? Baili and the others are going to the nearby supermarket to buy some. Do you want to go with them?”
“Ah… I brought one, but I wouldn’t mind another. Have they already left?”
“Not yet, they’re at the reception desk asking for directions. You can still catch them if you hurry.” As soon as he finished speaking, Sister Yameng rushed off towards the reception desk. Lu Li shrugged, taking off his robe, revealing his swimming trunks—a pair of brightly colored floral shorts.
Hopefully, I can catch up on some sleep on the beach today… he thought.
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