Lu Yanshuo’s footsteps halted.
It was already very late. Yun City had no nightlife, and apart from the whoosh of passing cars, only a few scattered pedestrians were around.
Shi Yin looked up at this neighbor’s older brother who was hardly close to her.
His hair was thick, falling over his forehead. His brow was cool and detached, and without his glasses, he lost some of that steady, intellectual air—leaving his handsome face fully on display.
“Yanshuo-ge, I—I mean, if I have questions I don’t understand, can I come ask you for help?”
She instinctively avoided his gaze, clumsily trying to get closer yet not knowing what to do.
The college entrance exams were over; no one would spend their summer break reviewing university coursework.
Lu Yanshuo assumed she was just making an excuse. Seeing her eyes dart away, something heated up in his head, and he blurted out what was on his mind: ”Do I scare you that much?”
He genuinely didn’t understand. When she was little, Shi Yin had been timid, sure, but she’d never needed to ask his permission just to come over to his house.
“Of course not. How could I possibly be scared of you?”
Shi Yin hurriedly denied it, instinctively trying to pull her hand out of his grasp—but perhaps Lu Yanshuo had anticipated this.
She pulled. It didn’t come free.
The man’s palm was locked firmly around her wrist, with an almost aggressive grip that left her no way to escape.
Shi Yin could feel her entire face being steamed red by the heat. Thankfully, the surrounding lights were dim, so it probably wasn’t too noticeable.
She was a little angry.
Angry at this uncontrollable physiological reaction.
There was no helping it. No matter how well she could control her emotions, she wasn’t a born actress.
The inferiority complex from her childhood couldn’t be erased overnight—especially since Lu Yanshuo really was somewhat different to her.
After all, he was the first person in whom her girlish affections had taken root and sprouted.
You could say that she had only managed to keep up this act today by going along with it half-heartedly.
She was used to wearing a mask in front of others, hiding her dark inner self—but she couldn’t get used to this unfamiliar sense of aggression.
Perhaps realizing he’d gone too far, Lu Yanshuo quickly let go.
After all, the person before him wasn’t one of the old foxes he usually dealt with; he had unconsciously taken on a somewhat aggressive stance.
Shi Yin was shy by nature, and today’s events had truly exceeded what she could handle. He shouldn’t have pressed for an answer at a moment like this.
He raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sorry, I got a little impatient just now.” He paused, his tone softening. “If you have any questions, just message me directly.”
“Of course, you can come to my place too—but I’m not home every day.” After a moment’s thought, Lu Yanshuo added this anyway.
“It’s fine, I was just asking.”
Shi Yin agreed quickly, but this time, she didn’t lower her head. Instead, she looked straight into Lu Yanshuo’s eyes.
Her gaze was bright, her face tilted upward, carrying a trace of dependence. Looking at him like that, it was hard for anyone not to soften.
Lu Yanshuo was about to say more when the sound of an approaching taxi pulled them both back to reality.
Lu Yanshuo took the front passenger seat, while Shi Yin sat in the back, holding her milk tea.
The glow of her phone screen reflected in the car window, its dim light making the girl’s silhouette flicker in and out of view.
The car was quiet.
And Shi Yin’s heart was full of delight. Step one of winning over her target: accomplished.
……
Lu Yanshuo watched until Shi Yin had gone inside her own home before taking out his keys to open his door.
The lights at home were still on.
A head poked out from the bathroom, her tone carrying a hint of expectation. “Did you buy Yinyin a present?”
Though Mrs. Lu was past middle age, she had a gentle, warm face and smiled at everyone she met—it was hard to imagine she had raised a cold son like Lu Yanshuo.
“I did.” The man casually set his keys on the table, brushed back the stray hair on his forehead, and headed straight for his room.
Hearing those two simple words, Mrs. Lu was clearly a little displeased, and she followed behind him, lecturing, “Don’t go around with a stern face all day. Yinyin is still young—if you act like that, how is she ever going to talk to you?”
Setting aside her relationship with Mother Shi, Mrs. Lu herself was quite fond of Shi Yin.
Because Lu Yanshuo had been mature for his age, there had hardly ever been anything for her to worry about, and since she had always wanted a daughter, she treated Shi Yin like her own.
She just wished Shi Yin would come visit more often.
Now that her son had made something of himself, and since the Shi family had always looked out for her and him—a widow and orphan—she wanted to repay Father Shi and Mother Shi, but they always refused.
So Mrs. Lu had decided to simply be even kinder to Shi Yin instead.
Lu Yanshuo recalled the way Shi Yin had looked at him today, and for once he submitted to his mother’s words. He truly did lack a sense of responsibility as an older brother.
But he didn’t think it was because he acted cold. He had been like this even as a child.
“Mom, don’t worry. I’ll get along well with Yinyin.”
With that, he grabbed his pajamas from his room and went into the bathroom.
“All right, as long as you know. I won’t push you. But when Yinyin goes off to college, you’d better look after her properly.” Mrs. Lu grumbled a few more words, then returned to her room.
Meanwhile, in the Shi household, separated by just one wall.
Mother Shi stared at the luxurious shopping bag in her hands and couldn’t help exclaiming in shock, “Xiao Shuo bought this for you? This is way too expensive! No, I have to return it to them right away.”
The Shi family was an ordinary household—to say nothing of luxury goods, sometimes Mother Shi even rushed to grab supermarket discounts. It wasn’t that they couldn’t afford things; she was just frugal by nature.
So the moment Mother Shi saw the bag, she felt something was wrong. She was terrified her daughter would pick up the bad habit of worshipping money.
Shi Yin naturally knew her mother’s temperament, so she didn’t get angry. “Mom, Xiao Shuo gege already gave it. Even if you took it back to him, he probably wouldn’t take it.”
Father Shi chimed in from the side, “That’s right. I think this bag looks quite nice. Stop scolding the kid—all those girls in the big cities carry bags like this. It’s presentable.”
“Besides, Yinyin’s going to school in the capital soon. Having something like this to make a good impression isn’t a bad thing.”
Compared to Mother Shi, Father Shi was much more worldly—he was the type who believed only a fool turns down a good deal.
With Father Shi on her side, Mother Shi temporarily set aside the idea of returning the bag. Seeing this, Shi Yin took her clothes and went to shower.
She was covered in sweat, sticky and uncomfortable.
Though Mother Shi had set the matter aside for now, she still worried.
Seeing Shi Yin holding her pajamas, the exposed skin snow-white, her eyes were momentarily dazzled.
“Her dad, do you think our daughter has changed?”
Father Shi was scrolling on his phone and didn’t even look up. “Changed how? It’s just a bag. And Xiao Shuo gave it to her—it’s not like it came from some shady man.”
That wasn’t what Mother Shi had originally been thinking, but seeing how unconcerned Father Shi looked, the thought vanished as quickly as it came. Strange—what had she been about to say?
Bathed in the warm stream of water, Shi Yin was tallying up the day’s gains.
Lu Yanshuo had contributed 50 Love Coins to her today.
Of course, those were Love Coins converted from Affection Points—not including any Love Value.
Shi Yin hadn’t expected to collect Love Coins on the very first day.
She had that groper to thank for it.
She had originally planned to take things slow, approaching Lu Yanshuo little by little, boiling the frog in warm water. Who would have thought an accident would hand her such a strong start?
Affection Points covered emotions like joy, anger, sorrow, and shock. Only when Lu Yanshuo experienced a strong enough emotional fluctuation could the Goddess System capture those points.
The first time Shi Yin harvested Love Coins from him happened to be when she had thrown herself into his arms and held him.
Of course, their subsequent series of encounters produced occasional little bursts as well, which converted into a total of 50 Love Coins.
The exchange rate from Affection Points to Love Coins was 0.8 : 1.
For Love Value, it was 1.2 : 1.
Going forward, she would definitely focus on Love Value, but for now she had too few chips—she could only accumulate them bit by bit.
Still, it didn’t matter. She had already made a good start.
After her shower, Shi Yin looked at the blank chat history on her phone, curled her lips into a smile, and sent him a meme sticker.
[One More Bite: Goodnight, little kitty.jpg]