Qin Xin was stunned. This guy actually dared to hit her.
Tears welled up in her eyes. Struggling to break free like an enraged tigress, she put up a fight that almost overpowered Chen Zhezhe's strength.
"You actually dare hit me? I'm going to kill you!" Even though Qin Xin was struggling fiercely, she might not have actually killed Chen Zhezhe; she was simply furious. No one had ever dared to hit her in all her life. Even though her master was very strict with her, she had never been spanked.
*Slap.*
Another blow landed.
"Still going to kill me? Say that again and I'll hit you again!" Chen Zhezhe let out a strange yelp. Spanking someone like this was surprisingly addictive, especially when it was a beautiful woman.
Knowing she probably couldn't break free, Qin Xin still refused to admit defeat. With tears in the corners of her eyes, she whimpered, "One day, I'll make you..."
Crying?
Chen Zhezhe felt a pang of guilt. He wanted to let Qin Xin go, but he was afraid that if she really got up, she would immediately rush to the kitchen, grab a kitchen knife, and chop him into pieces.
"Just beg for mercy and I'll let you go!" Chen Zhezhe said with a smile.
"Not a ghost in hell would beg for mercy! If you've got the guts, just hold this young lady like this all night. Once you're tired, I'll make you beg *me* for mercy!" Qin Xin stubbornly refused to yield.
*Slap!*
Another one came, though this time the force was much lighter. Rather than a strike, it was at best a caress.
Now that Qin Xin had been hit repeatedly, the initial grievance had faded considerably, turning into a sort of numbness—after all, a beating was a beating. It was only the first and second blows that had been hard to accept; after getting hit enough, she was getting used to it.
"Or you can just kill this grand-aunt of yours! Twenty years from now, I'll be another brave hero!" Qin Xin wore the expression of someone facing a heroic martyrdom.
It seemed she truly was someone who could not be subdued by force!
Chen Zhezhe was now in a difficult predicament. He couldn't possibly just keep holding her like this forever, and besides, he was the one who had peeked at her first. Although she was in the wrong for attacking him, he should still have given in to her, right?
Yet neither of them was willing to back down, locked in a stubborn standoff with no graceful way out. He certainly couldn't be the one to surrender first!
The thought of unyielding bravery suddenly gave Chen Zhezhe an idea.
Uncorrupted by wealth, unmoved by power—or in this case, shameless enough?
"Fine, it seems the young lady is indeed a brave hero. It looks like sheer violence really won't work on you!" Chen Zhezhe said helplessly.
Seeing Chen Zhezhe give up, Qin Xin looked extremely smug. "Of course, I am made of steel!"
"How about this: if you don't beg for mercy, I'll kiss you. If you still don't beg, I'll use my tongue. And if you *still* don't beg, I'm going to start touching you."
Chen Zhezhe let out a lewd, chuckle, licking his lips as he said, "You'd better not beg for mercy, that way I'll have an excuse. I couldn't ask for anything more!"
That shameless laughter made goosebumps break out all over Qin Xin's body.
From her understanding of Chen Zhezhe over the past two days, he was entirely capable of doing it!
"You wouldn't dare?""I wouldn't dare?"
Chen Zhezhe felt immensely pleased. How many brilliant minds would it take to come up with such a marvelous trick?
"Here I come!" he cheered, pursing his lips and leaning in.
Qin Xin let out a startled cry, throwing her upper body backward and turning her face to the side.
This maneuver successfully helped her dodge the kiss.
However, Qin Xin forgot one detail: earlier, she had been bracing herself with all her might, arching her body to avoid too much physical contact with Chen Zhezhe, especially around the chest. Now, with this sudden movement, her chest pressed forward, making infinitely intimate contact with Chen Zhezhe's chest.
That sensation—simultaneously soft and extraordinarily resilient—made Chen Zhezhe's mind go blank with a sudden buzz.
Seeing the hidden allure in Qin Xin's eyes, a raging fire began to burn fiercely in his heart.
What started out merely as a joke now made Chen Zhezhe realize just how seductive the body before him was. This girl, Qin Xin, was so gorgeous, and her expression was genuinely adorable.
Without a moment's hesitation, he pressed his lips forward for real.
Panic surged in Qin Xin's heart.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. With great effort, she reached her hand around to Chen Zhezhe's ribs, pinched a fold of flesh between her thumb and forefinger, and, holding nothing back, the Little Girl put almost all her strength into a vicious twist, turning it a full 180 degrees.
"Hssss—"Drawing in a sharp breath of cold air, Chen Zhe felt as though a chunk of his flesh had actually been pinched off by the little girl.
As he hissed in pain, his body went limp, and the back of his head struck the floor with a heavy thud.
The impact wasn't particularly painful, but the sound jolted Chen Zhe back to his senses.
Recalling how he had seemed completely out of control just moments ago, a deep sense of guilt washed over him—he had truly wronged the little girl.
Qin Xin, on the other hand, was overcome with a smug sense of triumph. She really had been terrified that Chen Zhe might actually lay a hand on her just now; if he had managed to take advantage of her, what on earth would she have done?
With that sudden wave of relief, she lost the tense rigidity she had been holding herself with.
Her body went slack, her little head drooped forward, and her lips lightly brushed across Chen Zhe's cheek.
*Oh, no...*Qin Xin was so frightened that she was on the verge of tears.
Chen Zhezhe was equally dumbfounded. What was happening?
Had the hooligan just been teased by a fragile, defenseless woman?
Qin Xin scrambled to her feet in a panic. For some reason, Chen Zhezhe felt a pang of guilt. Forget it! Even though she was the one who had kissed him, if she wanted to hit him, he would just let her.
To his surprise, Qin Xin didn't even dare to look at him. "Let's continue. Which move were we on?"
"The, the fifth move, I think!" Chen Zhezhe replied, distracted."Oh, the sixth move is Piercing the Heavens, and the seventh move is Subduing the Barbarians!" Qin Xin's face was flushed, and she stopped explaining. Chen Zhezhe's mind was in utter turmoil, and he didn't dare to ask any more questions. When their eyes happened to meet, they both looked away with embarrassment.
Acting like a true master and apprentice, one taught with meticulous care, and the other studied with utmost dedication.
By morning, after a whole night of practice, Chen Zhezhe was surprisingly able to smoothly execute those moves in coordination with the mental cultivation technique.
Qin Xin had rehearsed with him several times. Seeing that Chen Zhezhe could now use the techniques with ease, and feeling rather exhausted because her True Essence had not yet recovered, she went back to her room to sleep in the early hours of the morning.
Only Chen Zhezhe was left alone in the room, practicing the movements Qin Xin had taught him, one by one, over and over again.
He didn't want to sleep; his mind was in complete chaos.
The lingering, sweet softness of that sensation made him reluctant to leave, and he instinctively touched the spot on his cheek where Qin Xin's lips had brushed against him.
It smelled so sweet...
The next morning, Qin Xin walked out of the bedroom with red eyes. Neither of them spoke, silently eating the breakfast bought from the morning market.
"I'll clean up!"
Chen Zhezhe gathered the bowls and chopsticks, brought them into the kitchen, and set them down, planning to wash them in the evening.
Feeling a strange, tingling sensation on his back that made him quite uncomfortable, he suddenly whipped his head around—
Qin Xin instantly lowered her head, dropped the hand she had raised to practice a move, grabbed a chair like she had just seen in a movie yesterday, crossed her legs, and pretended to look utterly nonchalant. Unfortunately, her acting skills were atrocious—at best, she belonged in the tier of third-rate amateur extras.
Chen Zhezhe didn't say a word, just staring straight at her.
Feeling awkward, Qin Xin started whistling, the tip of her shoe tapping and swaying back and forth.
"What are you looking at me for?" Qin Xin asked, feeling completely ill at ease and flushed with heat as she finally raised her head to glare at Chen Zhezhe.
Chen Zhezhe sneered, "If you weren't looking at me, how would you know I was looking at you?"
"I just knew!" Qin Xin retorted with a cold huff. "I'm allowed to look at you, but you're not allowed to look at me!"
"Where's the logic in that? Anyway, I have to go to class; I'm about to be late. Are you coming or not?" Chen Zhezhe snatched up his textbooks and turned to leave.
"Hey, hey, wait for me!" Qin Xin changed out of her slippers and hurried after him in a rush.
Just across the street was the school. As Chen Zhezhe reached the school gates, a blaring ambulance siren wailed past.
As the vehicle drove by, Chen Zhezhe had sharp eyes and caught a glimpse of what looked like the profile of Xu Shanshan, Liu Yi's new girlfriend, inside the vehicle.
Something must have happened!
"Let's go, fast!"
Chen Zhezhe turned around, grabbed Qin Xin by the wrist, and dragged her along as he sprinted.
Qin Xin almost lost her footing from his pull. "What are you doing? Stop pulling me!"
Ignoring her protests, he ran all the way to the building for today's class. The elevators were packed, so he bypassed them and ran up the stairs straight to the seventh floor.
As soon as he reached the hallway, he saw a large crowd gathered not far away.
A pale-faced girl was patting her chest as she walked, saying to her friend beside her, "That scared the life out of me. I won't be able to sleep tonight."
Letting go of Qin Xin, Chen Zhezhe grabbed the girl by the arm and asked anxiously, "What on earth happened?"
"Oh my god!" The girl jumped in fright. She was already badly shaken, and Chen Zhezhe's sudden move startled her all over again.
"I'm sorry, I just got here. What just happened?"
The girl must have had a strong penchant for gossip. Seeing the expectant look on Chen Zhezhe's face, her excitement instantly surged. "Didn't you see? Just a moment ago, a few fierce-looking guys came over and barged into that classroom, saying they were looking for someone named Chen... what was his name again?"
"Chen Zhezhe?" Sensing that something terrible was about to happen, Chen Zhezhe asked with a dark expression.
"Yes, yes, that's the name! And then they started—they all had knives hidden in their pockets..."
This is bad.
Ignoring the girl's desire to continue gossiping, Chen Zhezhe strode forward and aggressively pushed his way through the middle of the crowd.
"Why are you shoving? Is there no such thing as queuing up?" someone complained with dissatisfaction.
In the hallway, the floor was covered in blood. Chen Zhezhe's heart tightened.
Ahead, a female student was talking to a female police officer.
"Liu Wen?"
Liu Wen was the class monitor of Chen Zhezhe's class. Although she was a girl, she had great organizational skills; she kept class activities running like clockwork and was exceptionally well-liked by everyone.
Seeing Chen Zhezhe walk in, Liu Wen let out a breath of relief. "Chen Zhezhe, you're finally here. Liu Yi got slashed..."
It really turned out to be true...
He took a deep breath. He had to stay calm; he couldn't panic.
Seeing that Chen Zhezhe's face was as pale and white as a dead man's paper, Liu Wen asked with concern, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. What on earth happened? How is Liu Yi?" Chen Zhezhe clenched his fists so tightly that the muscles in his hands trembled nonstop.
Liu Wen remained relatively composed, her voice still steady. "This morning, seven or eight men came by asking for you. You weren't here, but Liu Yi happened to be there and said he was your friend. Without another word, those guys pulled out knives..."
Who on earth was it?
Once he found whoever did this, he'd crush their balls into a scramble and force them to eat it themselves.
Chen Zhezhe was shaking with rage from head to toe. Who on earth had he offended to drag Liu Yi into such a state?
He looked at Liu Wen and asked, "Do you remember what they looked like? Which way did they run?"
"I... I didn't see!" Seeing that Chen Zhezhe's expression looked rather abnormal, Liu Wen, who after all was only a twenty-year-old girl, felt a bit frightened and took a few steps back.