Night Fire Lingering

"Give me?"

"Feed the dog."

"..."

An eerie silence fell over the air, broken only by the bubbling of boiling water.

Jiang Xing turned the fire down to a simmer, turned around, and saw the man looking at her expressionlessly. But even though she was being implied to be a dog, the man didn't get angry.

Jiang Xing felt a little better. She propped the pot up with chopsticks, put the lid on, and left a gap for the casserole to breathe.

“Lou Qi, the reason I stopped you that day wasn’t because I still had feelings for Ying Kaian, but because he wasn’t worth your time, and he wasn’t worth giving others something to talk about. If something really happened to him, he would seize every opportunity to blackmail you.”

Lou Qi was slightly taken aback, not expecting Jiang Xing to suddenly explain this. The lingering fog in his heart seemed to be blown away by a gust of wind.

Is this what it feels like after the rain has stopped and the sky has cleared?

Lou Qi felt that he was sick today, and his emotions were unstable and he couldn't control his mood.

"Thinking of me?" Lou Qi walked into the kitchen and approached Jiang Xing.

"Otherwise what? I can't just think about Ying Kaian's sake." Jiang Xing put the soup spoon into the empty bowl, turned her head, and the man was already standing in front of her. "Get out, you're blocking my way."

Lou Qi seemed not to hear these words, placing his hands on either side of Jiang Xing, trapping her between his body and the kitchen counter.

"What are you doing?...Lou Qi, get out of my way!"

The man's handsome face drew closer and closer. Jiang Xing turned her head away to avoid his approach, but she couldn't escape his aura and the feeling that enveloped her.

Lou Qi stared intently at Jiang Xing, his gaze unusually deep, as if he were deep in thought.

Jiang Xing waited for a long time without any movement. She turned her head slightly to look back. The man seemed to have been waiting for the right moment. He then pinched her chin and made her look at him.

Before Jiang Xing could react, a kiss that left no room for refusal landed on her!

"Well!"

Jiang Xing subconsciously struggled to push him away, but Lou Qi grabbed both of her hands and pulled them to either side, pressing them against the kitchen counter, forcing Jiang Xing to straighten her chest and raise her head to meet him.

The kiss was deep and lingering, filled with intense emotion.

Possessiveness, long-planned, long-awaited...

Finally, when Lou Qi lowered his guard, Jiang Xing pulled out one hand and shoved the man away.

"Lou Qi!" Jiang Xing shouted, her eyes red with anger. "Don't infect me with your anger!"

Lou Qi was prepared to be slapped after forcibly kissing someone, but unexpectedly, not only did he not get hit, he also heard Jiang Xing complain.

If it's not contagious, then it means it's okay to kiss, right?

Since it's permissible, then it wasn't a forced kiss.

It wasn't a forced kiss, but a kiss that was mutual and affectionate.

Lou Shao was in a great mood, exceptionally relaxed, as if the headache and fever caused by the high fever had disappeared.

"You're not going to hit me?" Lou Qi asked her again to confirm.

"Are you out of your mind?" Jiang Xing pushed him away and walked out of the kitchen.

Lou Qi licked his lips, in a good mood, and followed Jiang Xing outside, asking, "Do you know why I'm sick?"

Jiang Xing was not curious and did not ask any questions.

Lou Qi said to himself, "Because it was my first time being dumped, I was in a bad mood, worked hard, and got sick from exhaustion. So, I'm not contagious!"

"Who dumped you—" Jiang Xing realized halfway through her sentence that the 'who' was herself.

It seems that the only woman Lou Qi has been in contact with during this period is her.

Is this how Lou Qi defines her relationship with him?

Boy and girl?

Does she want to dump him?

Her understanding of their relationship is one of forceful acquisition, okay?!

Jiang Xing was silent for two seconds before defending himself, saying, "I didn't."

They made him sound so pitiful.

Lou Qi was displeased and walked over: "You didn't? I'm celebrating your graduation, who said we should end things?"

In all honesty, Jiang Xing believes he did not say those exact words!

Besides, isn't his feelings for her simply because he's unwilling to accept it?

Jiang Xing looked up at the tall man in front of her, whose eyes were full of love for her, and asked, "Lou Qi, do you guys with peach blossom eyes look at everyone with such deep affection?"

Otherwise, why would she still frequently have the illusion that he seems to like her even though she clearly heard with her own ears that his feelings for her were revenge for his unrequited love and that his relationship with her was just a ploy to play around with her?

"Why don't you doubt that it's because I have deep feelings for you?" Lou Qi asked, half-jokingly.

Jiang Xing's heart skipped a beat, then he smiled and said, "Young Master Lou has been through countless women, why would he stay for me? I thank you for standing up for me and beating up Ying Kaian that day, I'm willing to play this game with you."

"A game?" Lou Qi's faint smile froze.

“Isn’t that right?” Jiang Xing looked at him frankly.

She heard all the nonsense those people were spouting that night. And she knew about his attitude—that he didn't deny it immediately.

Should I explain now? Should I try to salvage the situation?

But she already said it was just a game, so what could he do?

"Yes." Lou Qi smiled, his peach blossom eyes becoming particularly striking. "It's an adult game, Miss Jiang is happy to play."

"I'm not someone who can't take a joke." Jiang Xing wasn't sure if he was reminding himself or Lou Qi.

Lou Qi's smile gradually faded, and he lost the will to speak, lying back down on the sofa.

Jiang Xing returned to the kitchen and let out a long, silent sigh of relief; the composure and ease she had just displayed were completely gone.

Twenty minutes later.

Jiang Xing carried a bowl of warm white porridge from the kitchen to the sofa, placed it on the coffee table, and reminded the man lying motionless on the sofa to drink the porridge.

Lou Qi sat up, but instead of picking up the bowl, he asked Jiang Xing, "Did you cook for Ying Kaian when he was sick?"

Jiang Xing rolled her eyes, held a bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, scooped up a spoonful and fed it to Lou Qi, saying, "He's sick and doesn't get the treatment of being fed. Do you want some, Young Master Lou?"

Lou Qi's eyebrows twitched, he hesitated for two seconds, and then opened his noble mouth.

Lou Qi felt that there was something wrong with his sense of taste.

His brain told him that this was just ordinary white rice porridge, nothing special, but his taste buds told him: it was delicious!

Jiang Xing really couldn't understand Lou Qi. With so many exes, did he really care about the past of every single one of his girlfriends?

Are you not tired?

You have so much energy.

After finishing the bowl of porridge, Jiang Xing touched Lou Qi's forehead again: "Your fever seems to have gone down."

"Hmm." Lou Qi grasped her wrist and pulled it downwards...

He stared into the woman's eyes and said, "So, it woke up."