Is there a problem with the wine?
Chai Xiaomi immediately pictured a scene from a martial arts drama: a shady inn where they drug the food to knock people out, then slaughter and chop them up to make human meat buns.
That won't do, her heart skipped a beat, and she turned to walk toward the door. I need to go warn them.
Jiang Zhiyu and Song Yueyao's room was upstairs, while the room she and Wu Li were staying in happened to be the last one on this floor, right next to the room of the escort agency crew.
Chai Xiaomi walked briskly, but just as she was about to push the door open, a low, teasing chuckle came from behind her.
She turned around in surprise.
She saw Wu Li slowly wiping a drop of wine from the corner of his lips with his thumb, unhurriedly placing the empty wine cup back on the table.
This casual and languid posture stripped away his usual mischievous and roguish boyishness, unexpectedly exuding an inexplicably captivating charm.
He looked up, mockery floating in his eyes like thin ice. In such a rush to care about them?
The brewing method of this wine is quite unique, and it tastes good. How are you so gullible, believing whatever others say?
Chai Xiaomi looked closely and saw that the cup of rice wine was already empty.
Hah, so he was just bluffing her earlier. What great acting.
She really should have been used to his antics by now!
Chai Xiaomi sat on the stool, utterly speechless, and poured herself a cup too, wanting to taste just how good it actually was.
Chai Xiaomi couldn't drink alcohol and hated the sour and bitter taste of it. Ever since her first encounter with liqueur chocolates as a child, she couldn't understand why anyone would invent such a foul-tasting liquid.
But rice wine was a bit different; it was sweet and refreshing. Since she liked eating fermented rice balls, she could tolerate its taste.
Chai Xiaomi held the wine cup with both hands and took a small sip of the rice wine.
Oh? It really was delicious, mellow and sweet. She took another sip, completely unaware that the young man beside her was silently stroking the empty cup with his thumb, a strangely cold smile flickering in his eyes.
Those deep, heterochromatic eyes were like an abyss, as if they could devour everything.
He originally disdained touching this dirty drink, but for some reason, seeing her anxious look just now and thinking of the objects of her anxiety, he felt as if he were back in the freezing snow of that day.
The cold was biting, piercing deep into his bones.
He suddenly wanted to make her suffer a bit too.
He had long noticed that she was a picky eater, extremely fastidious about her food. If something wasn't to her taste, she wouldn't take another bite even if she was starving. If she knew what was mixed into this wine, she probably wouldn't be able to eat for days.
Someone like him... was truly repulsive, wasn't he?
Born with a curse, anyone who knew his origins would never be willing to accept such a freak.
Let alone like him.
You seem to be particularly fond of them? Wu Li suddenly asked, his voice low and slow. Hitting it off right away, acting so close. Were you so anxious just now because you were worried about Song Yueyao, or Jiang Zhiyu?
Chai Xiaomi thought to herself that having finished reading the original novel, she naturally felt a sense of closeness to the male and female leads, feeling like old friends right from the start. There's a saying that people's auras match. Sometimes you meet someone and immediately feel a connection, and you can't help but want to get closer and be drawn to them. That's perfectly normal.
Then... who do you feel the most connection with? Who do you want to be closest to?
Wu Li suddenly leaned in close.
His entire face was shrouded in the dim lamplight, his expression as gloomy as rain clouds, yet a mocking curve lingered at the corners of his mouth.
A sudden, crushing sense of oppression swept over her, like dark clouds threatening to destroy a city. Chai Xiaomi was intimidated by his gloomy, domineering aura and unconsciously took a half-step back.
But Wu Li gave her no room to dodge. He grabbed her wrist and pinned her against the edge of the table.
Answer me, he said, his voice dropping. Who do you want to be closest to? Song Yueyao, or Jiang Zhiyu?
His pitch-black nails were unusually sharp. In their daily interactions, he had perhaps intentionally held back, never hurting her in the slightest.
But at this moment, Chai Xiaomi watched helplessly as a clear, bloody scratch was carved into her fair wrist.
They are both very nice; I want to be close to both of them. Chai Xiaomi tried to struggle, wanting to break free from the young man's suffocating grip, but his hand was like an iron vise, tightening the more she struggled.
His slender knuckles turned white from the force, almost digging into her flesh.
You can only choose one. He looked at her, his eyes bottomless.
You're hurting me... Her voice carried a hint of grievance, not understanding why Wu Li was pressing her on such a meaningless question.
After a moment of thought, she suddenly realized: in the original novel, he was a paranoid, morbid villain with overwhelming possessiveness. Whatever he claimed as his own, whether an object or a person, he wouldn't allow anyone else to touch even a fraction of it.
So... was he forbidding her from getting too close to Song Yueyao? Forbidding her from caring about Song Yueyao?
In the original story, he had a male rivalry with Jiang Zhiyu, and now he was starting a rivalry with her?
Chai Xiaomi looked into his sinister eyes. His heterochromatic pupils now seemed covered by a thick black fog, making them even more profound and terrifying.
She understood.
She had an epiphany.
This meant he wanted her to keep her distance from Song Yueyao, right? Earlier, when Song Yueyao helped pin up her hair, he already seemed to have accumulated a bit of anger.
Thus, Chai Xiaomi obediently replied, I choose Jiang Zhiyu.
She was afraid that if she answered Song Yueyao at this moment, it would instantly ignite his yandere attributes, completely turning him into a dark, jealous monster.
Love at first sight for a yandere was truly terrifying.
Once they fell in love, it meant obsession, monopoly, and not stopping until death.
After those words left her mouth, the room fell dead silent.
Wu Li's eyelids drooped, his raven-black eyelashes hiding all the emotions in his eyes.
Who knew how long it had been, his gaze slowly shifted to the venomous scorpion tattoo on the back of Chai Xiaomi's hand. He pulled it closer to admire it, the smile on his lips deepening.
Chai Xiaomi looked up in a daze, unsure if she had seen incorrectly, but she suddenly felt that his smile was mixed with paranoia and bitterness.
In the flickering candlelight, it bloomed with an almost fragile, morbid beauty.
Jiang Zhiyu. After a long silence, he suddenly sneered, his voice carrying an indescribable meaning.
He really is quite likable, spirited and heroic. You like him too, don't you?
Her liking for him was due to the love gu, but her admiration for Jiang Zhiyu was probably from the bottom of her heart, wasn't it?
If it weren't for the love gu, after seeing him cruelly take lives with her own eyes, she would probably have avoided him like the plague long ago.
Chai Xiaomi was stunned when she heard this. How did it escalate to liking?
She quickly shook her head. Don't you know who I like?
After all, she had confessed to him on the very first day to save her own life.
Oh? He leaned even closer, his warm breath almost brushing against her cheek. Then tell me, who do you like?
Thump thump
Her heartbeat suddenly lost its rhythm.
The young man's stunningly beautiful face was right in front of her, stripped of the childish mischief he showed when they usually bickered.
At this moment, the corners of his eyes were slightly red and tilted upward. Those eyes, shimmering with amber and pale purple hues, could move all things and intoxicate the soul as they shifted, as if they were the most captivating scenery in the world.
He looked exactly like a top-tier incubus capable of seducing innocent women.
Their breaths mingled, laced with the crisp, sweet scent of rice wine. Chai Xiaomi felt her head spinning in dizzying waves.
Whether driven by the alcohol or that recurring dream, she slowly lifted her gaze. Her breath carried a hint of intoxication and her cheeks were flushed crimson, yet she looked straight into his eyes:
"Watch closely."
Her voice was soft, laced with a tipsy haze.
"I only kiss... the person I like..."
