Chu Li had always thought there was something wrong with him.
Best if he just slept on the floor and froze to death.
She worried that once she fell asleep, she’d have those same lush, surreal dreams again. If she said something in her sleep with Shen Zhe right there listening, that would be a disaster.
Then again, on second thought.
He’d deliberately come home wearing a lipstick mark himself, her cheating on him in a dream wasn’t really so out of line. Just returning the favor.
Chu Li yawned, lying on her side on the soft pillow. Her lashes curved, her long hair spread out beneath her, the moonlight tracing the outline of her cheek.
Before long, she’d fallen quietly asleep.
Shen Zhe lay on the floor beside her, knees slightly bent. Occasionally he sat up to tug at her blanket. “Asleep already?”
“So heartless.”
She hadn’t even let him explain.
Still, Pei Mo’s trick seemed to have actually worked.
Shen Zhe tugged lightly at the corner of the blanket, and in her sleep, Chu Li pulled it back. Asleep, she seemed a bit fiercer than usual, more protective of her own territory.
“Chu Li?”
She didn’t respond, but her pale cherry-pink lips moved slightly, murmuring something unintelligible. Her lashes kept trembling too, a fine sheen of sweat gathering on her nose.
She looked hot, but not in a way that seemed like it was just the heat.
“Making me fight you for the blanket like this.”
Shen Zhe let out a soft, amused laugh, leaning over to try to help her, pulling some of the blanket away to cool her down.
As he got closer, he seemed to catch, faintly, her breathing quicken, as if she were calling someone’s name, her voice tinged with something like crying.
“Chu Li?”
“Are you calling me?”
Chu Li’s lips moved faintly: “……Jiang Qinian.”
【Ooh, is a love triangle showdown starting already.】
【Li Li, maybe Shen Zhe’s just hard of hearing. Why not call out a few more times to make sure he hears it clearly (dog head)】
Shen Zhe thought he was hallucinating.
How could Chu Li call out someone else’s name in her sleep?
And of all people, the one she disliked most.
Shen Zhe’s eyes darkened slightly. He leaned in again to listen more closely.
In the dream, Chu Li’s cheeks were flushed, feverish.
Her feet were tensed too, as if she were straining, nervous. Finally, as if unable to bear it any longer, she let out a soft murmur.
It sounded like scolding: “Jiang Qinian, get away from me.”
【The oblivious original male lead: scared me for a second there, turns out she’s just cursing him out. Li Li didn’t cheat on me after all.】
【Since when does flirty banter dirty talk not count as scolding?】
Once Shen Zhe made out her words clearly, he let out a long breath of relief.
He almost felt embarrassed at himself, for jumping to conclusions so quickly.
He reached out to hold Chu Li’s ankle, wanting to help her relax a little. In the dream, Chu Li curled her toes and, on instinct, kicked him right in the face.
Shen Zhe: “?”
Was he taking the hit meant for Jiang Qinian?
And to make matters worse, after kicking him, Chu Li turned over again.
Her eyes stayed shut the whole time, as if she hadn’t woken at all. There was a hint of wetness on her lashes, as if the dream about Jiang Qinian had left her feeling wronged and upset.
Shen Zhe patted her head. “Look how scared you got. Qinian’s not that scary.”
“Next time, you should see more of him.”
“Then you won’t be so scared of him anymore.”
【Jiang Qinian: What a lucky break.】
【Original male lead, open your eyes wider~ This isn’t fear from not knowing him well at all, she was clearly getting pleasured by his mouth in that dream……】
In the dream, Chu Li faintly sensed she’d kicked Shen Zhe.
At first she felt a little guilty, but after a moment, she talked herself out of it.
So what.
He and Jiang Qinian were both dogs, one as bad as the other.
Since they were such good friends, what was wrong with one taking a kick meant for the other?
Unlike Shen Jichu, Jiang Qinian in the dream seemed unusually cunning, almost supernaturally so.
After being interrupted once, when she fell back into the dream a second time, he knelt thoughtfully between her legs, glancing around the dim basement.
He raked a hand through his slightly damp hair.
Smiling, he swallowed once, his fingertip tracing her cheek: “Li Li, were you awake just now?”
Chu Li ignored him.
He was just there to serve the plot for her anyway, and he couldn’t actually hurt her. He could only, in certain intimate matters, bow his head and please her, even while his mouth spoke threatening words.
【She just got woken up and interrupted when Shen Zhe came back. This time, they finally get to finish properly.】
When Chu Li finally woke up, she drank most of another bottle of ice water.
She lay flat.
Whatever happens, happens.
Like the bullet comments said, she got to experience it all without ever having to answer for any of it, no burden at all.
Lying flat and letting it happen.
The next day at work, Qin Mian leaned in close to examine her.
Chu Li, uncomfortable under the scrutiny, took a step back. “What’s wrong?”
Qin Mian reached out.
She poked her cheek, then pinched it. Narrowing her eyes slightly, she studied her with a sharp, discerning gaze: “Something’s off.”
“What’s off?”
Chu Li touched her own face, blinking in confusion.
Qin Mian shook a finger at her.
Looking as if she’d figured something out, laying out her reasoning: “Yesterday, Shen Zhe went off flirting with some other girl.”
“Logically speaking.”
“You should be angry about that.”
But her best friend clearly looked flushed and glowing, nothing like someone weighed down by resentment.
There were faint dark circles under her eyes, sure, but compared to how energetic she otherwise looked, it hardly registered.
Qin Mian: “Don’t tell me you’ve finally decided to break up with Shen Zhe?”
She looked thrilled, as if the moment Chu Li nodded, she’d cheer out loud in celebration.
Chu Li: “.”
“Not yet.”
She hadn’t found anyone better suited to be her personal cash cow than Shen Zhe, not yet. After yesterday’s shirt incident, he’d transferred her another hundred thousand as compensation.
Hearing this, Qin Mian huffed again: “I knew it, you hopeless love-brained fool.”
Her attention got redirected.
She stopped dwelling on Chu Li’s flushed complexion and threw herself back into work.
Chu Li and Qin Mian were both art school graduates, and two years ago, after graduating, they’d discovered the job market was completely saturated, constantly forced to work overtime for low pay.
In a fit of frustration, the two of them had decided they weren’t going to work for some corporation. They’d opened a small studio together, with Qin Mian handling client communication and Chu Li doing the design work.
Their income wasn’t huge, but it kept them comfortable and fed, without being forced into a grinding rat-race life.
Chu Li: “Besides, through Shen Zhe’s circle, we get access to more client connections.”
It was all about making money anyway, no shame in that.
She opened her laptop, charged up her stylus pen, and started focusing on her sketches.
In their tiny studio, she and Qin Mian had also taken in a few stray cats. Under the bookshelf, they’d set up a few little beds for them, and sometimes petted them while working.
Qin Mian kept the cats very clean.
One of them was sprawled on Chu Li’s lap, lazily swishing its tail.
But today it looked a little listless.
Chu Li reached out, gently stroking the soft fur on its back. She opened a few cans of food for it, played with it a bit using a little fishing-pole toy, but nothing seemed to help.
Qin Mian: “Is it sick?”
Chu Li had mostly finished her sketch for the day. Worriedly, she glanced at the cat: “Should I take it to the vet, then?”
The bullet comments kept going in the meantime.
【This little tabby must’ve eaten too much canned food yesterday, that’s why it’s upset.】
【Because the little tabby is the resident darling among the cats, all the other cats gave it their food, hahaha.】
Chu Li rubbed its head. “Let me take you to the nearby pet hospital.”
The cat swished its tail, curled up in her arms, and let out a low, muffled meow.
Chu Li called a cab, instinctively heading to the nearest pet hospital.
【Guess who owns it, Li Li.】
【Sneaking you a spoiler, this new pet hospital was funded by Pei Mo, he usually works part-time there too.】
【He’s got his own agenda, wanting to run into you there on purpose, and now here’s his chance~】
【His skill at seducing people is as sharp as his medical skill.】
Chu Li: “.”
Seeing that comment, she’d already thought about turning around and going to a different hospital instead.
But when she saw the comment praising Pei Mo’s medical skill, saying he was more competent than other vets and could actually cure the cat in her arms, she paused, and changed her mind again.
The driver: “Miss, still heading to that first place?”
Chu Li nodded. “Yeah.”
If Pei Mo could guarantee the cat’s recovery, then going to him was obviously the best choice.
Whatever happened afterward wasn’t really her fault, anyway.
When Chu Li walked in the door, she didn’t spot Pei Mo at first.
Someone walked up to her, calling out “Li Li sis” in a carefree tone, and only then did she look up and notice him.
He was wearing a white coat and a mask, looking a bit more put-together than the last time she’d seen him. She only recognized him by his silvery-gray hair tips.
Pei Mo blinked his puppy-dog eyes.
His tone was innocent and harmless: “Li Li sis, you keep cats too?”
Chu Li: “This one’s mine and a friend’s, together.”
Pei Mo reached out to take the cat, his fingertip inevitably brushing lightly against her palm in the process: “What’s its name?”
He seemed to have real patience with animals, finding a soft cushion for the little tabby, putting on a stethoscope, gently pressing its belly to check for the cause.
What was the little tabby’s name again?
Chu Li remembered that Qin Mian used different pitches of “meow” to tell their various cats apart. Sometimes rising, sometimes drawn out twice, and different cats would respond to different calls.
But Chu Li couldn’t exactly do a cutesy little meow call in front of him.
She worried it would only encourage Pei Mo’s scheming further.
The bullet comments offered her a suggestion.
【The little tabby is the resident darling of the cats! Give it an over-the-top, dramatic Mary Sue name on the spot, to match its everyday status!】
Chu Li, seeing this, didn’t have time to react before blurting out, “Its name is Everyone’s Darling.”
Once she came back to her senses: “……”
Great, might as well have just meowed at it instead.
Pei Mo laughed out loud.
Half his face was covered by the mask, but his eyes, holding a hint of deeper meaning, curved into crescents, seeming genuinely amused.
“Ah, that name really suits her. Li Li sis has quite the knack for naming.”
What he said out loud referred to the cat’s name sounding nice. But his gaze shifted subtly, holding something deeper, looking right at her.
Her pale neck, her hair tied up in a loose bun.
Under the warm yellow lighting, her eyes were a light tea color, just like the cat’s, unaware of how easily she drew attention, or perhaps aware, and simply unbothered by it.
She and the cat.
Both fit the name “Everyone’s Darling” quite well.
Yesterday, after he’d set the trap for Shen Zhe, that foolish cousin of his had actually gone through with it.
He and Chu Li looked, on the surface, like a normal little couple. But without either of them noticing, they were being pulled apart, step by step.
Thinking of this, Pei Mo’s smile turned even more mocking at the corners. Fortunately, the mask covered his expression for now.