6: 6.
Provocative posture 6: 6.
Provocative posture The Leng Family Estate## Second-Floor Study Leng Qingqiu suddenly realized that a considerable amount of time had passed without a single peep from Gu Yan.
His chatty insufferable voice was nowhere to be heard, leaving her genuinely bewildered.
Had he left?
Frowning slightly, she called out softly, “Gu Yan?” Gu Yan was just about to answer when his eyes darted around.
A mischievous grin crept onto his face as a fun idea popped into his head.
Holding his breath, he deliberately stayed dead silent.
He carefully pushed himself up from his seat and began to back away without making a sound.
Receiving no reply, Leng Qingqiu assumed he had indeed slipped out.
An unfamiliar, hollow sensation settled in her chest.
That guy…
how could he just walk out without saying a single word?
She shook her head, thoroughly unaccustomed to the abrupt silence in a room that had just been so noisy.
Before Gu Yan’s disruptive arrival, this had always been her reality: darkness, pitch-black darkness, and absolute silence.
In this study, the only sound Leng Qingqiu ever heard was the steady rhythm of her own breathing.
Day in and day out, her life revolved around a single, grueling routine: improve, improve, and improve some more.
She had to constantly sharpen her mind to uncover the mastermind behind that tragedy and avenge her family.
Of course, even while spending her days and nights cooped up in the study, she never lost track of time.
Her computer-like brain could flawlessly calculate every passing minute and second.
Tsk…
Why am I suddenly getting so sentimental?
Leng Qingqiu let out a self-mocking chuckle.
In the past, she would never have wasted a single thought on such trivial things.
But today, Gu Yan had barged in, babbled endlessly about marrying her, and buzzed around her ears like a persistent fly.
Somehow, he had forced a bizarre shift in her reality.
It was as if her strict daily schedule of [absorb knowledge -> absorb knowledge -> absorb knowledge] had been aggressively overwritten into [wifey-baby -> absorb knowledge -> wifey-baby].
Pah!
What on earth am I thinking?!
Leng Qingqiu’s cheeks flushed crimson.
Her mind had inexplicably replayed those ridiculous pet names he had thrown at her earlier.
“Whew…
No, calm down.
Get a grip.” She leaned back, realizing she was completely defenseless against such shamelessly mushy words.
She couldn’t comprehend how Gu Yan could spout them so effortlessly.
Trying to shake off the distraction, she stood up and walked confidently in a familiar direction.
It was the massive bookshelf housing her extensive collection.
Having lived in this room for years, she knew the exact layout of the space—which book sat on which shelf, down to the millimeter.
However, as absolute luck would have it…
Gu Yan was standing directly in front of the exact bookshelf she was heading toward.
— Huh?
Why is Qingqiu walking straight toward me?
And what is she brooding over so intensely?
Gu Yan quickly clamped a hand over his mouth.
As Leng Qingqiu gradually closed the distance, he found himself trapped in a wave of indecision.
She had her eyes closed, her expression cool and elegantly detached as she glided directly toward his chest.
It was an ethereal sight.
Truly…
who could possibly resist this?
Gu Yan swallowed hard.
No, no, keep it together.
Don’t do anything stupid right now when I’m actively grinding her favourability levels.
He glanced over at the heavy exit doors nearby.
Since Leng Qingqiu assumed he had already left, his best move was to quietly slip away.
Judging by her trajectory, she was just reaching for a book behind him.
All he needed to do was step to the side.
With that plan in mind, Gu Yan stealthily shifted his weight.
On the other side of the room, Leng Qingqiu marched toward the bookshelf along her usual, calculated route.
However, she had overlooked one critical variable.
Because Gu Yan had barged into her sanctuary, he had dragged a heavy chair over to sit next to her.
And Leng Qingqiu was walking forward with her guard completely down.
The very next second—Thud!
“Ah!” Leng Qingqiu’s foot caught the edge of the chair.
She let out a sharp cry of surprise as her balance broke, her body tilting violently forward.
Unable to see, a wave of sheer panic gripped her.
If she took a hard fall here, she would surely injure herself.
Gu Yan, who was in the middle of his stealthy escape, panicked.
He threw caution to the wind and lunged forward.
“Qingqiu!” Thump!
With a heavy crash, the two of them slammed into the floor together.
Leng Qingqiu landed squarely on top of Gu Yan, her fall entirely cushioned by his torso.
“Ouch!” Gu Yan groaned, ready to let out a pathetic wail of agony.
[Saved your pure love spouse from a dangerous fall: +10 points.] “Eh?
Pfft, haha!” The moment the System notification flashed in his mind, his groan morphed into a loud, ecstatic burst of laughter.
Leng Qingqiu, who had braced herself for a painful impact, froze in shock.
She…
had been caught?
Then, hearing the sudden, triumphant laughter right beneath her, she blinked.
“Gu Yan?” she asked hesitantly.
But wait.
Hadn’t he left?
He hadn’t answered her earlier.
Could it be…
Piecing it together with his suspicious silence and sudden laughter, Leng Qingqiu realized exactly what had happened.
She tilted her head up slightly, *staring* in his direction with a completely expressionless, icy face.
“You deliberately stayed quiet just to watch me trip and fall?” This…
absolute bastard!!
Leng Qingqiu’s blood boiled with annoyance.
What ‘hopeless romantic’?
What ‘pure-love idiot’?!
This man deliberately orchestrated this just to see her embarrass herself!
Fine.
If that’s how you want to play it!
“I’ve been framed, Qingqiu!
Didn’t you tell me to be quiet and let you read?
I just didn’t dare speak up!” Gu Yan defended himself frantically.
He would never admit to it—besides, he really hadn’t planned for her to trip.
That part was a total accident!
“You!
You know exactly what your twisted intentions were!” Leng Qingqiu refused to listen to his pathetic excuses.
She immediately began struggling to push herself off him.
“Let go of me!
You jerk!” “Ah—cough, cough, cough!
Qingqiu, moving like that hurts!” “Shut up!
You wanted to see me humiliated!
Who cares if you’re hurting?!” “But—” “I said shut up!” She planted her palms firmly against Gu Yan’s chest, trying to force herself upright.
However, in her blind panic and frantic scrambling, she didn’t realize that her chaotic movements had locked them into an incredibly compromising, awkward position on the floor.
Right at that exact second—Click.
Leng Ling’er, sporting her wildly dyed bright yellow hair, anxiously burst through the doors.
“Sis!
I heard a massive crash!
Did that pervert Gu Yan try to do anything to—you…” The words died in her throat.
The highly intimate, scandalous scene unfolding before her eyes left her utterly paralyzed.
She saw her revered, fiercely intellectual older sister…
currently straddling Gu Yan on the floor, her hands pinned to his chest, wearing a flushed, deeply strained expression.
“Is that Ling’er?
Come and help me up,” Leng Qingqiu said, recognizing her sister’s footsteps.
“Help?!
Do you…
do you two even need my help right now?!” Leng Ling’er’s face crumpled.
“Big sister!
Waaah!
How could you do…
this kind of stuff with a man you just met this morning?!
Waaaaah!” Leng Ling’er burst into hysterical tears right on the spot.
‘?’ A massive question mark materialized over Gu Yan’s head.
‘?’ An equally massive question mark materialized over Leng Qingqiu’s head.
— A short while later.
The two sisters, Leng Qingqiu and Leng Ling’er, sat side-by-side on the study’s daybed.
Gu Yan sat on a lone chair directly opposite them.
The three were locked in a tense, face-to-face interrogation.
“Therefore, to ensure a scandalous incident like this never happens again!” Leng Ling’er declared, her eyes still red from crying as she pointed a finger at Gu Yan.
“You!!
From this moment on, you are strictly banned from being alone in a room with my sister!” The misunderstanding had technically been explained, but the damage was done.
Leng Qingqiu sat in deathly silence next to her sister.
She was acutely aware of just how provocative their tangled posture on the floor must have looked to an outsider.
At this point, she could only process her crippling mortification through stone-cold silence.
Damn it!
How could this happen?
And right in front of Ling’er of all people!
My entire reputation is utterly ruined!
Gu Yan looked at his hysterical, yellow-haired future sister-in-law and nodded with a helpless, tragic sigh.
“Right, right.
I understand.
I promise I’ll behave.” Hehe.
Gu Yan smirked inwardly.
That’s what I’m saying out loud, but this little brat has to go back to school eventually.
Once she’s gone, won’t I be able to sneak in and get close to my dear Qingqiu whenever I want?!