Chapter Eighty-Six: Cen An'an Was Completely Dumbfounded

“At your sister’s house?” Xue Tianai was completely dumbfounded. He pressed on, “And who exactly is your sister?”

“My sister is Qin Mengxue! She’s amazing! You filthy thief and pervert, and you actually dared sneak in here. If you don’t get lost right now, once my sister gets back, she definitely won’t let you off!”

Xue Tianai froze.

This girl’s sister was Qin Mengxue?

Then didn’t that make this girl his little sister-in-law? No, wait, that wasn’t right. Qin Mengxue had never told him today that some younger cousin or sister was coming to the house.

Could it be that Qin Mengxue had been so busy she’d forgotten? At that very moment, Qin Mengxue, hurrying home, suddenly sneezed for no apparent reason.

Xue Tianai lifted his head and looked the girl over carefully from top to bottom. The pure white set of underwear she wore held her entire temperament in a firm, perfect grasp, giving off a fresh and youthful allure. Though her figure had not yet fully matured, it was already graceful and delicately curved enough.

Her skin was snowy and flawless; her oval face was lovely; and in her grape-dark eyes there seemed to flicker the light of stars. She could not compare with Qin Mengxue’s face, as ethereal as a fairy descended to earth, but she was beautiful all the same.

Not bad, not bad at all. People said there was nothing more enticing than a younger sister-in-law. If his was this pretty, then life would surely be entertaining from now on...

“Heh.”

“Your sister is Qin Mengxue?” Xue Tianai covered his mouth and put on an expression of utter terror.

“Yes, that’s right. Afraid now, aren’t you? If you are, then hurry up and get out, missy’s orders! Otherwise, when the time comes, you’ll be in for it!” Seeing the fear on his face, the girl immediately regained her confidence and pressed her advantage like a victorious commander.

“But there’s just one thing I’d timidly like to ask.” Xue Tianai lowered his hand, and a sly smile spread openly across his face. “Who is Qin Mengxue? I don’t know her at all. Right now, all I know is that there’s a pretty little beauty standing in front of me in tiny white underwear.”

As he spoke, Xue Tianai began moving, walking toward the staircase. The cunning smile on his lips took on an even more wicked shade.

“I wonder if you’ve ever heard the saying that a spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold. Oh, right, there’s another one too: to die beneath the peony is to remain romantic even as a ghost.”

As she watched him approach and heard what he was saying, the girl’s face turned green at once. She had thought that invoking her cousin Qin Mengxue’s name would scare him so badly he’d flee in terror. She had never expected her words to have no effect at all.

“Don’t come any closer! I’m telling you, my sister really isn’t someone you can provoke. If you dare touch me, when she gets back, you’ll die a miserable, miserable death!” The girl instinctively retreated as she spoke, but her voice had long since lost its earlier dominance; it was even trembling faintly now.

“Didn’t I just say it? Even as a ghost, one can still be romantic.” Xue Tianai flexed his hands in a grasping motion and quickened his pace toward her. The smile on his face widened, and his eyes shone with a bright, predatory gleam. “And if your sister really comes back, at worst I’ll take her along with you.”

“Y-you... don’t come over here!” Watching him draw ever closer, the girl truly panicked. After all, she had never encountered anything like this before, much less with a strange man she had never seen in her life. How could she not be afraid? She was only a twenty-year-old college student.

“You say don’t come over, and I’m supposed to listen?” Xue Tianai laughed softly and kept walking forward. “Why should I obediently do as you say?”

“Y-you... don’t take another step. Do you believe I’ll scream for help?”

The panic on her face had reached its peak.

“Go ahead and scream. But let me tell you, this is a detached villa, and the materials used here are all high-grade soundproofing. Scream your lungs out if you like, and see whether anyone hears you and comes to save you.”

After hearing that, the panic on the girl’s face gradually gave way to despair.

He was right. This was a standalone villa. Even the nearest neighboring villa was quite far away. That meant she truly was, just as he said, isolated and helpless.

She stood there in despair, able only to watch as Xue Tianai came closer step by step, powerless to do anything. At last, as though steeling herself with one final ruthless effort, she shut her eyes, looking like a lamb waiting for slaughter. Yet her tone remained vicious as she said, “Fine! Do whatever you’re going to do and get it over with! But listen well—I will never, never let you go!”

The girl stood there with her eyes closed. Though every word from her mouth sounded fierce enough, her fluttering eyelids and the slight trembling of her delicate body both revealed that she was terrified to the extreme.

Looking at her like that, Xue Tianai could not help feeling both amused and helpless. At that moment, he thought he might have gone a little too far, so he shook his head with a sigh.

Then he took off his coat, walked up to her, and gently draped it over her shoulders. His broad coat covered her like an oversized dress, but at the very least, it hid most of the bare skin on her body.

The instant something touched her, the girl’s delicate body jolted violently. Since her eyes were still squeezed tightly shut, she had no idea what was happening at all.

After putting the coat on her, Xue Tianai turned around and walked straight back to the sofa. He dropped onto it with a thud, picked up a thick university textbook from the tea table, and began flipping through it.

The girl stood there with her eyes closed and waited for quite a while, but aside from feeling something covering her body, nothing else happened. In the end, she could not help opening her eyes.

But the moment she did and saw the broad coat now hanging over her, then looked over and saw Xue Tianai sprawled lazily on the sofa reading her textbook, she was utterly stunned.

What kind of situation was this? What was wrong with this man? She had already prepared herself to lose her first time, yet not only had he not touched her, he had even put a coat on her and then walked away to sit there reading a textbook.

Was he saying her figure was less attractive than that dry, boring textbook? That made no sense. She had always been quite confident in both her looks and her body. After all, Cen An’an had been known as the number one campus beauty at her university.

Then why hadn’t this man touched her at all? Just a moment ago he had been staring at her with lecherous eyes, and now in the next instant he seemed to have lost all interest in her. For a time, a strange sense of humiliation and unwilling resentment spread quietly through Cen An’an’s heart.

But just as she had gathered her emotions and was preparing to question whether Xue Tianai was even a man, the villa door suddenly sounded, and an anxious figure appeared in the doorway.

The newcomer was naturally Qin Mengxue.

She was deeply worried now, because she had never told Cen An’an about Xue Tianai, nor had she told Xue Tianai about Cen An’an.

The moment Cen An’an saw Qin Mengxue, her eyes lit up at once, and she scampered over on her little bare feet.

“Sis, you’re finally back! A thieving pervert got into the house!”

She rounded the sofa where Xue Tianai lay sprawled and ran to Qin Mengxue’s side. One hand wrapped around Qin Mengxue’s arm, while the other pointed at Xue Tianai on the sofa.

“It’s him! Sis, you absolutely can’t let him off!”

Hearing Cen An’an’s accusations, Qin Mengxue’s expression changed immediately. The thing she had feared had indeed happened. Sure enough, there had been some misunderstanding between Xue Tianai and Cen An’an.

But judging by Xue Tianai’s composed look, he probably already understood more or less what was going on.

As for Cen An’an in this state...

Without question, Xue Tianai had been up to his tricks again.

This Xue Tianai—when he had first met Qin Mengxue, he had acted like a pervert to frighten her. And now, apparently, he had pretended to be some thieving lecher in order to scare Cen An’an too.

“Sis, where’s your phone? Hurry and call the police! A perverted thief like this absolutely can’t be let off. The law has to punish him, so he doesn’t go on harming society—”

Cen An’an was speaking with tremendous passion, righteous and indignant, but gradually she began to feel that something was off—deeply, profoundly off.

Ever since Qin Mengxue had entered the house, the man lying across the sofa had shown no surprise whatsoever. He said nothing, made no unnecessary movements, and simply continued flipping through the textbook as he pleased, without the slightest sign of preparing to run.

And her cousin Qin Mengxue showed no trace of fear either. Instead, she was smiling at her awkwardly...

That smile was full of helplessness, and... just a little apology.

What on earth was going on? Had the whole world gone mad? At a time like this, shouldn’t that man be trying every way possible to escape, or else springing up to threaten the two of them? Shouldn’t her cousin be pulling out her phone to call the police, or rushing out the door to get away from danger?

No, no—something had already started to feel wrong from the moment this man had draped his coat over her.

“Sis... what exactly is going on here?” Cen An’an’s face stiffened as she stared at Qin Mengxue in a daze.

At this point, Cen An’an could not help wondering whether she was the one who was not quite normal.

Qin Mengxue coughed lightly. Her pretty face flushed faintly red as she said, somewhat embarrassed and a little apologetic, “Well, An’an... let me introduce him. This man is Xue Tianai. He should be... your brother-in-law.”

Boom.

Crack.

It was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.

At that moment, Cen An’an felt as if bolt after bolt of lightning were slashing mercilessly through her mind. Her little head had been struck so hard it could barely function anymore.

Brother-in-law?

Her cousin was dating someone?

Postscript:

A somewhat belated note on the release.

Back in May, I submitted this book to Zongheng, and at the end of May I received a message from the site. After that, I officially began the road of writing chapter by chapter, and a few days ago this book finally went premium as well. I am deeply grateful to the editor and to Zongheng for giving me this opportunity.

Actually, I had long wanted to write a book of my own, but before this I had never truly made up my mind to do it. I didn’t know whether I could persevere, and I didn’t know whether I was really suited to writing.

So this book is also my very first work, and a bold personal attempt. If by some stroke of luck we have met through this story, then I hope you will stay with me all the way to the end.

I am but a humble beginner, so I sincerely ask for your guidance.