Huang Qingtian's palm strike had been quite effective.
Throughout the subsequent journey, Mu Keren remained incredibly quiet.
Until he carried her into an apartment in the closest Haojing Community to this place...
After opening the door, Huang Qingtian set down Mu Keren and her suitcase.
And Mu Keren, placed beside her suitcase, quickly covered her bottom and darted to one side as soon as she regained her freedom, disregarding the churning in her stomach from the jostling trip.
In her wary eyes, the door closed behind Huang Qingtian, who turned around and approached her with an unruffled composure.
The phrase "cool as a cucumber" couldn't be more apt for describing Huang Qingtian at that moment.
But Mu Keren was acutely aware that this man had carried her for nearly half an hour. So why couldn't she see any sign of fatigue on his face that should be there?
This was enough to demonstrate that the man's physical condition was at an absurdly high level.
Therefore, when Mu Keren saw him approaching her, she quickly covered her bottom again and scuttled to the other side. Her timid demeanor was like that of a small animal afraid of being hurt.
Seeing her so frightened and uneasy, Huang Qingtian simply stopped in his tracks.
Under her vigilant gaze, he pulled a key out from his pocket and placed it on the table, "This is the key to the apartment!"
Mu Keren stared at the key he placed on the table, then looked back at Huang Qingtian.
Her bewildered eyes seemed to ask, why are you giving me the keys to this place.
"From now on, you'll live here!"
His response seemed to read her mind.
Almost at the same moment, Mu Keren expressed her stance, "I don't want to!"
"Even if you don't want to, it's not up for debate!" At this moment, Huang Qingtian's face was stern. "The building you were living in just had a murder case a few days ago."
His eyes caught all the nuances of her expressions when she heard this news, then he added, "Especially last month, there was even a rape case! If you are not afraid, you can continue to live there..."
Upon hearing this, Mu Keren drooped her head with a somewhat dispirited expression.
After observing her change in mood, he added, "This apartment has two bedrooms and a living room, and I hardly ever come back!"
He noticed that his last remark caught Mu Keren's attention. Her head, which had been hanging, suddenly lifted.
The sunlight from outside the window filtered through the sheer curtains and fell on her profile. In that instant, her cheeks seemed to be shrouded in a mist, ethereal and unrealistically beautiful.
Especially those round, black eyes, which under the light were veiled with a luminescent mist, invoked a sense of tenderness.
Mu Keren, clean and beautiful. She possessed a fatal attraction for any man, and even Huang Qingtian, who prided himself on his patience, couldn't escape her allure.
Seeing her look so pitiful, he couldn't resist the pull and began striding towards her...
But the moment he reached Mu Keren and was about to gently rub the top of her head, she looked panic-stricken as if facing a great danger.
Her face retreating, she backed up until she was pressed against the wall and continued to lean on it.
"I'm not a flood or a savage beast; do you really need to be that frightened?" Huang Qingtian couldn't help but chuckle at the wariness in her big eyes.
Comparatively, he still preferred the Mu Keren he had encountered in Beilingzhou. Back then, she was brave. At a time when everyone else was wary of him, she had the courage to approach him.
It's just a pity that the little person in front of him seemed to have lost that bravery. Even he, Huang Qingtian, seemed to be forgotten in the long river of her memory...
"You're not a flood or fierce beast, you're a beast in human clothing!" She pursed her lips, retorting subconsciously.
But after responding, she realized she had been overly direct and quickly clamped her mouth shut. As if by doing this, she could disassociate herself from the words she had just uttered.
"Beast in human clothing? Have you ever seen one?" Huang Qingtian suddenly raised an eyebrow, his gray-green eyes glinting with amusement.
Then, he moved even closer to Mu Keren, cornering her against the wall.
In this close confrontation, for the first time, Mu Keren got a good look at his features.
Beautiful!
So incredibly beautiful!
Even Mu Keren, who had seen numerous handsome men, couldn't help but marvel at this man's chiseled and profound features, as if sculpted by a master craftsman.
But his beauty wasn't like La Chuan's, which carried a femininely gentle and languid charm. His beauty was masculine, it was dark, and it carried the presence of a lion poised to pounce on its prey in the dead of night…
One could say he was the most beautiful man Mu Keren had ever seen to date.
If he hadn't started unbuttoning his shirt, Mu Keren didn't know how long she could have been lost in admiring that peerless face.
"You… what are you doing?" She turned shy all of a sudden. So, when she saw him undoing his shirt and revealing his attractive collarbone, she instinctively turned her face away.
She had thought she appeared nonchalant, but the flush on her face betrayed all her true emotions.
"Didn't you call me a beast in human clothing? I just thought of giving you a chance to see whether I am a man or a beast when I'm undressed…" His seemingly casual words made Mu Keren's small frame stiffen.
Reacting quickly, she then hastily pushed against Huang Qingtian's chest, and immediately ran into the nearest bedroom, hurriedly shutting the door behind her.
"So you've decided not to take a look?" Looking at her fleeing figure, Huang Qingtian shook his head and sighed, "What a pity!"
But his expression held not a trace of regret…
*
From dawn to dusk, finally unable to ignore her physiological needs, Mu Keren burst out of the room and dashed straight for the bathroom.
It was only after taking care of her needs that Mu Keren tentatively poked her head out of the restroom.
When she had rushed out of the bedroom, she hadn't seen Huang Qingtian anywhere. Could it be that he had left?
Peeking out, her large gem-like eyes scanned every corner of the room…
Only after she had confirmed that Huang Qingtian really wasn't in the living room, did she step out.
When the cat's away, the mice will play!
This saying couldn't have been more appropriate for Mu Keren at that moment.
With Huang Qingtian around, she had been too flustered to even dare take in her surroundings. But now with Huang Qingtian not at home, she thoroughly explored every nook and cranny of the place.
Only after she had gone through the entire house did Mu Keren grab her suitcase, ready to open the door.
"Especially since last month, there was even a rape case! If you're not scared, you might as well stay…"
Right before leaving, Mu Keren's mind involuntarily revisited Huang Qingtian's words. Just as she was about to turn the handle, her movements suddenly paused.
In the end, her gaze settled on the set of keys Huang Qingtian had placed on the table…