Zhou Shuyan and Qi Sishenn had not seen each other for a long time, especially since Shuyan had narrowly escaped death. Qi's visits were rare to avoid suspicion and he couldn't come often.
Now without a cell phone, Shuyan had no choice but to wait passively for contact after Qi returned to the Imperial Capital.
Therefore, their meeting this time lasted longer than usual.
Unknowingly, they talked late into the night.
Qi glanced at the time, 10:37 PM, "Well, I have to go now. I can't stay any longer."
Shuyan nodded.
Qi left and returned to the Imperial Capital.
By this time, there were no more buses back to Hexing Village.
Shuyan walked back.
Although he was the Head of the Zhou family and had been wealthy since birth, he had adapted well to life in Hexing Village these days.
Even walking back to the village from the town seemed like a routine chore.
If it weren't for his innate demeanor, which he couldn't hide even in plain clothes, he would fit perfectly into rural life.
By the time Shuyan reached Grandma Xu's house, it was almost midnight.
There were no streetlights in Hexing Village, and at night, the only light came from the villagers' homes.
Most villagers turned off their lights early in the evening to save electricity.
So, outside of the moonlight, there was hardly any light.
Not to mention that it was now the middle of the night, and Shuyan was walking on a pitch-dark village road.
The village houses on both sides were all dark, their shadows looming under the moonlight, giving off a somewhat eerie feel.
The wind rustled the leaves, accompanied by the chirping of cicadas. Although it was loud, it oddly made the environment feel even quieter.
It was so dark on the road that Shuyan couldn't even see the stones beneath his feet.
But he was familiar with the path here and walked steadily.
When he reached the front of Grandma Xu's house, the ginkgo tree outside the wall rustled in the wind, and its shadow cast on the ground under the moonlight looked strangely eerie.
Shuyan suddenly stopped, his gaze sharply piercing through the night, almost gleaming coldly under the moonlight.
"Come out!" Shuyan said sharply.
Lu Youxi had already felt something was off.
She had always felt that Shuyan, walking alone under the night, had a completely different aura from during the day.
It was as if he usually reined in his own momentum.
Usually reserved and taciturn, his work transitioning from clumsy to skilled gave people a sense of a reliable young man.
Not at all like now, when his presence was almost suffocating.
Lu Youxi, even with her past life's demeanor as the CEO of Lin Group and seasoned in the business world, couldn't compete with Shuyan at this moment.
Youxi pursed her lips and came forward. Seeing her, Shuyan froze for a moment and then raised his eyebrows as he approached, "What are you doing here?"
"Waiting for you," Youxi said. "I've been here all night, just to see when you would return."
"Waiting for me?" Shuyan looked at Youxi, suddenly letting out a scoff, "A young woman, waiting here in the middle of the night for me? What for?"
As Shuyan looked down, his eyelashes cast a thin shadow beneath his eyes, as cold as the moonlight above.
Even his eyes carried an unmistakably chilly jest.
But, he was a bit too close to her.
Shuyan stepped closer, and Youxi instinctively backed away.
She hadn't moved back more than two steps before she was stopped by a tree trunk.
Youxi trembled nervously.
Shuyan scoffed again, his eyes filled with deeper mockery.
Youxi pursed her lips, secretly adjusting her breathing, forcing herself to look up at Shuyan and not be influenced by his overwhelming presence, "You come and go early and late these days. I don't care what you're doing or your purpose, but don't involve Grandma Xu, don't harm her."
"Anyway, Grandma Xu took you in when you needed help the most."
Shuyan was slightly surprised, then suddenly said, "Have you ever thought that it's very dangerous for a girl to wait here for me in the middle of the night? What if I did something to you?"
Youxi's expression didn't change, she calmly said, "If I dared to do this, I naturally had my assurance."
As soon as she finished speaking, Shuyan suddenly lowered his head closer to her.
Youxi, caught off guard, instinctively dodged back, but her head hit directly against the tree trunk.
But unexpectedly, the sensation wasn't the hard and rough texture of the trunk but a warm and soft protection.
It turned out Shuyan, quick to react, had reached out to cushion her head, preventing it from hitting the tree directly.
However, they were now uncomfortably close.
Youxi's heartbeat skipped abruptly.
Under the moonlight, Shuyan's face seemed excessively devastating.
Even his breath fell on the tip of her nose, intensely unsettling.
Youxi tightly pressed her lips together, even holding her breath for a few seconds.
Then she spoke, "I know you're not an ordinary person."
Shuyan seemed surprised she would say that. He withdrew his hand that was protecting her head, but he did not step back.
For some reason, he just stood still, not wanting to move away.
He carefully examined Youxi's face.
"Can you back off a bit?" Youxi was really overwhelmed.
Maintaining such an excessively close distance with Shuyan, she was already at her limit.
Under the moonlight, Youxi's fair face was tinged with a faint red.
Somehow, Shuyan wanted to look at her a bit longer.
It seemed this girl wasn't as composed as she appeared.
He had once thought she housed a soul of an old, desire-less, indifferent person in her young body.
"I already told you, a young girl waiting here in the middle of the night for a man, it's very dangerous," Shuyan didn't understand why he didn't want to step back.
Indeed, Youxi had said she was confident to come here.
But there was something very vile within him that wanted to see her lose composure, even to cry.
To crush her current calm.
"You're lucky you didn't follow me," Shuyan lowered his head even further, almost whispering in Youxi's ear.
As he looked down, his gaze fell on her earlobe, as translucent as the moonlight.
In the moonlight, even her ear was veiled in a misty light.
Shuyan was a bit captivated, watching as Youxi's ears visibly turned red, the redness spreading down her T-shirt's neckline.
The rising heat brought out the scent from her body.
Shuyan's heart surged, and he suddenly stepped back.
Youxi's tumultuous heart was startled by his sudden retreat, replacing the previous chaos.
Youxi took several deep breaths, then said, "I won't follow you, not today, not ever, you can rest assured."
"I'm not that foolish, knowing nothing is the safest for me," Youxi said.