novellhall Chapter 13 "I'll let you touch my legs!"
Chapter 13 "I'll let you touch my legs!"
He seemed a little distracted tonight.
During dinner, Jiang Youyu keenly noticed this.
Unlike usual, he didn't say things that could be easily misunderstood and make himself angry.
He wouldn't occasionally glance at her face, neck, or ankles, intentionally or unintentionally.
Although Gu Zhibei seemed no different from usual, Jiang Youyu could tell from various small details that he was hiding something in his heart.
"..." The girl's lips moved, but she ultimately did not utter a sound.
She was, after all, an outsider. She might be considered a friend, but even so, there are secrets that family members don't want to tell each other, let alone their strange relationship.
In what capacity can I try to understand what the other person is thinking?
The sense of propriety between people is a very peculiar thing; it is something you can neither see nor touch, yet you are required to hold it tightly in your hands.
If you apply too little force, it will float away without you even noticing; but if you grip it too tightly, it will shatter with a "clang" and never be restored.
Jiang Youyu wanted to get closer to him and untangle all the messy worries he was hiding in his heart, so that he would trust and rely on her more, just as she relied on him.
But how can a moth get close to a fire?
She feared that if she got too close, all her dark, hidden thoughts, like the crooked and ugly patterns on a moth's wings, would be exposed to the firelight.
If that happens, there'll be no way to salvage the situation...
To be able to see him every day, talk to him, and see his gentle eyebrows and eyes when he smiles.
Jiang Youyu was then completely satisfied.
But occasionally she couldn't help but greedily think that it would be even better if she could spend more time with him every day and walk more slowly.
"You seem to be thinking about something strange?" Gu Zhibei noticed her unusual behavior.
Although he was still upset about what happened during the day, Jiang Youyu's inexplicable outburst was hard to ignore.
So it was only when my period came that I suddenly became irritable?
I heard her talk about this when she turned into a cat before... It's a bit... right?
This is indeed a big problem.
If it were just ordinary items, I could have easily brought them over myself, but it had to be something that touched on the girl's privacy.
The nearby delivery station doesn't offer home delivery service, and the stay-at-home girl, who's always eager to stay indoors, absolutely refuses to go out.
Gu Zhibei was also a little worried about her going out alone, as going up and down stairs was not something she could do by herself.
He can't exactly go to her store to buy it himself, can he? He doesn't even know her size, or what colors and styles she likes...
Gu Zhibei glanced at the balcony.
Actually, it's not that we can't know.
But he knew this kind of thing seemed a bit perverted, so he decided to let the cat tell him later.
"You've reached the age where you're starting to worry about these things," Gu Zhibei sighed.
The girl was furious upon hearing this. If she was only slightly agitated before, she was now completely furious and even started panting.
"I wasn't thinking anything strange. You've been completely distracted all day... Ugh!"
Her voice stopped abruptly.
When Jiang Youyu realized what had happened, the words that came out were like a cat that had gone out to steal fish—irreversible.
His tone was like that of an elderly father lamenting that his daughter had grown up to be old enough to get married.
So, the words that slipped out of her mouth sounded like a girlfriend complaining about her boyfriend's lack of attentiveness during dinner...
...
Gu Zhibei didn't notice this at all.
He stared blankly at the blush on the girl's face and the embarrassment in her eyes.
As a child who grew up alone from a young age, Gu Zhibei learned early on how to use a calm expression and a calm tone to conceal his true thoughts.
Why? Probably so that when the sun sets each day, and you watch others rushing towards their parents one by one, you won't shed tears.
That was really embarrassing.
Of course, besides being able to gloss over the topic when others ask about their parents, there might be some reasons that are difficult to say.
I wanted to express my anger and dissatisfaction with a cold attitude when they occasionally came home;
I wanted to comfort my mom with an indifferent expression when she said sorry through tears.
As time went by, no one could tell what he was thinking anymore, and he had long since passed the age of crying and begging for toys while snuggling into someone else's arms.
When did she start to know me so well?
Gu Zhibei was a little annoyed, but at the same time, he was inexplicably touched by a pleasant surprise.
Just like a treasure deliberately buried more than a decade ago, someone finally solved the many mysteries, overcame the series of traps, and finally found the treasurer hiding in the box by telepathy.
He was both annoyed that she appeared before him so easily and abruptly, as if the maze he had meticulously designed to confuse treasure hunters was just a sandcastle built by a child, but he was also delighted that someone had finally been able to unlock the old lock.
"Why are you staring at me like that...!" She seemed angry, her cheeks flushed.
Gu Zhibei didn't know why he was avoiding her gaze, his eyes fixed on the floor:
"Ginger-fed fish".
"...What, what are you doing?"
"Let's be friends," Gu Zhibei said casually.
Jiang Youyu's eyes widened suddenly, her throat felt like it was being choked by something invisible, and a strong throbbing in her heart surged through her entire body.
Her voice was hoarse, and she spoke with great difficulty and slowness:
"We...can't do this..."
"Can't we do anything?"
Gu Zhibei's tone held a rare fluctuation, and his speech was no longer as leisurely as usual, like a cat that rarely shows its belly but never gets petted.
"So in your eyes, I'm just a random NPC who refreshes automatically every day, can be used occasionally to solve minor problems, and can be discarded when not needed?"
"I don't--!"
The girl's voice was already delicate and weak, but now, due to her excitement, it suddenly tightened, and the end of her note trembled violently, tearing out a slightly hoarse and broken sound.
"I... Gu Zhibei, you want to be friends with someone like me...?"
Jiang Youyu suddenly realized that what the boy had said clearly and plainly was—
To make friends.
Instead of what she wanted—"to be friends"—it was not.
"...It's not impossible!!" The girl's voice suddenly rose in a high-pitched tone.
Gu Zhibei was somewhat displeased:
"No sincerity, forget it."
"Gu Zhibei, you can't do this!"
Jiang Youyu was so anxious that she suddenly didn't know what to say. Her reddened eyes were already filled with a layer of hot, moist light. She felt anxious and aggrieved.
But what could she say? Did she have to take her heart out, hand it to him, and point at it, saying, "See that, Gu Zhibei? My heart is saying it likes you!"
...She's so worried!
In her moment of great anxiety, a sudden inspiration flashed through Jiang Youyu's mind.
Without a second thought, she grasped at this lifeline, completely disregarding whether it was bait for fishing:
"I'll let you touch my legs!"