Fortunately, I Met You

Despite feeling shocked, Cheng Xi continued to shamelessly ogle Lu Chenzhou's exposed body. After letting the blanket fall, his stark naked body was on full display. The large and rough red blanket contrasted strikingly with his white and smooth skin. Additionally, his body was perfectly proportioned as his toned muscles rippled, giving off a sense of strength; when he lay down, the smooth contours of his body were so beautiful that it should have been illegal.

After just one glance, Cheng Xi couldn't stay angry⁠—it was already taking all she had to stop herself from salivating! My goodness, this was the first time Cheng Xi ever realized just how much she could be attracted to the human body!

She walked over and quickly covered up his whole body with the blanket as she said in a concerned tone, "The heater isn't on, so don't get cold." She then rubbed the blanket between her fingers. "This blanket is really high quality! Did you bring it over?"

╭(╯ε╰)╮ She simply didn't know what to say.

But Lu Chenzhou didn't let her off the hook just yet. As his gaze swept past her face, he commented, "Your face is red. Oh, the tips of your ears are completely red."

"……"

"Are you embarrassed?"

You don't have to say it out loud just because you can see it, you know? Cheng Xi flew into a rage as her embarrassment peaked, grabbed Lu Chenzhou's head, and started fiercely kneading her frustrations out. Afterwards, when he was left in a daze, she defiantly said, "Yes, my face is red. Are you satisfied?"

Lu Chenzhou actually didn't avoid her this time, and placidly let her knead his face. He watched Cheng Xi's face turn an even deeper shade of red before bursting out in a fit of laughter.

This laugh was more hurtful than any words he could have said, and Cheng Xi's face became flaming red. "What on earth are you trying to do? Whose terrible idea was this?"

Lu Chenzhou was very direct. "You seemed to like it."

"……"

Lu Chenzhou didn't expect that Cheng Xi's reaction would be this extreme, though he very much liked seeing her blushing face. During the entire time they had known each other, she had always treated him gently and leniently, but rarely ever intimately; even if he teased her, she mostly reacted in a speechless or exasperated manner. But her behavior today made him feel like he had unexpectedly pushed open an unknown door and found a huge reward behind it.

Since Cheng Xi was unable to defeat Lu Chenzhou in an argument, she could only scurry away; she threw out a weak "Put your clothes back on" before retreating into the washroom to calm down.

Cheng Xi stared at her own image in the mirror, seeing for the first time what she looked like when she lost her self-control: her face was flushed scarlet, like blood, and her expression couldn't hide her inappropriate thoughts at all. Her gaze was distant, and her mind woozy⁠—it was filled with the image of that beautiful white flesh!

She herself didn't understand why her reaction was so extreme. Compared to doctors from other disciplines, psychiatrists had far less opportunity to inspect or even dissect the human body, but they still saw their fair share of them. After all, when their patients went crazy, quite a number of them would strip naked and then shamelessly run all over the place!

The only explanation was that she had been teased too much by her colleagues at work, and those repeated hints had amplified the effects of seeing such a beautiful nude body… All right, as long as she understood why she had lost control of herself, that was enough.

You'd better ignore the rest! Cheng Xi warned herself mentally as she splashed some cold water onto her face. The tap water in winter was bitingly cold, almost like ice, and the effect of the nearly freezing water was unexpectedly good, as all the emotions on Cheng Xi's face were washed away.

When Cheng Xi left the washroom and reentered the living room, Lu Chenzhou had already gotten dressed, though he didn't put on his jacket. His black trousers covered up his unusually long legs, and as her gaze traveled farther up, it would land upon his white shirt tucked into his trousers. He dressed in the same manner that he did all things in—perfectly and meticulously. His clothes were neat and clean, perfectly pressed and without wrinkles, and evenly buttoned up all the way up to his throat. When his cool gaze met her's, even though she had just calmed down, it once again filled Cheng Xi's brain with tantalizing images that weren't suitable for children.

My goodness, his beauty should be illegal!

She hurriedly looked away, but then a whole stretch of red filled her vision. She couldn't help but think that, perhaps for a long time afterwards, she wouldn't be able to look at anything red the same way again.

"I've received your present, so let's go." Cheng Xi said as she coughed, trying to dispel the atmosphere.

Lu Chenzhou didn't move.

Cheng Xi could only ask, "What's the matter?" Her tone was pleasant; she would do anything to get him out quicker.

Of course, if he asked why she received the gift but didn't use it, she would vehemently respond with something like "What kind of person would send such a gift," punch him in the face, and then pull him out the door while he was still dazed.

Thankfully, Lu Chenzhou, even after seeing her gaze, didn't ask such a question, but he still asked one that gave Cheng Xi a headache. "Aren't you going to give me anything back?" He sounded slightly shocked, and his reason was fair. "Today's Lunar New Year's Eve."

Cheng Xi could only stuff her indignation down and find him something. She did have some suitable gifts, all of them from Cheng Yang's recent trip. One of them was a box of twelve little phone ornaments inspired by the Chinese zodiac; the workmanship was beautiful and their surfaces well-polished, making them both beautiful to look at and pleasant to touch.

Cheng Xi had read through Lu Chenzhou's patient folder, and she remembered his year of birth and naturally also his zodiac animal. Thus, she casually passed a little dragon to him.

After Lu Chenzhou took it, he placed it in his palm, looked at it curiously, and then lightly put his thumb on the dragon's head. "What use is this?"

Cheng Xi awkwardly replied, "……It's not very useful. Maybe you can use it as an ornament on your keychain or something like that."

"Do you have a little snake as well?"

"Yes."

"Give it to me."

The snake was Cheng Xi's zodiac animal, but since he wanted it and Cheng Xi didn't mind, she also handed him the snake figurine.

Lu Chenzhou took it, rubbed his fingers over it, and then took out his keys. He attached the dragon and the snake to his keychain side by side, so that they almost seemed to be kissing.

Mr. Lu nodded. "They're symmetric, so they fit well together."

……Did he know that her zodiac animal was the snake? Cheng Xi didn't dare ask, and instead just waved her hands in resignation. "Alright, it's time for you to leave. I have to go to the hospital."

She had come back home especially for him, but only received a series of jolting shocks in return.

But when Cheng Xi entered the elevator to leave, she remembered his happiness upon receiving the two little animals, as if he couldn't bear to part with them, and she felt somewhat sorry. No matter how good the carvings were, they were still too cheap compared to all the things he had given her.

Somewhat guiltily, she said, "The workmanship on those two figurines isn't that great. If you really like it, then next time, I'll buy you two even better ones.

Lu Chenzhou raised his head upon hearing her words. His gaze was still filled with his familiar coldness, but the lifted corners of his eyes clearly told Cheng Xi that he wasn't feeling bad. "Alright," he replied coolly. "I'll be waiting for it."

……She suddenly felt a lot more pressure. What was she going to do?

Cheng Xi deeply regretted how much faster her mouth moved than her mind, but since she had promised, she naturally had to deliver. She was not at all talented in the art of giving gifts, but that was fine, since she had Cheng Yang.

She worked until midnight, and Cheng Yang didn't pick up any of her calls. She could only guess that her brother had gotten so engrossed in playing cards that he had forgotten about her. But unexpectedly, half an hour later, he came back to the hospital again.

He had even run to her department to find her.

Cheng Xi asked, "Where's your phone?"

"I'm not sure. I don't know where I lost it," Cheng Yang replied between pants. He patted his left and right pockets before asking, "Can we go now?"

"Yup." The siblings walked out, got into Cheng Yang's car, and started towards home. As Cheng Xi sat in the passenger seat, she looked around for his phone. When she called his number, a ringing sound came out from underneath her butt, and she had to expend a great deal of labor to fish it out from the little slit that it had fallen into. "You're too careless…" she said to him as she glanced at his phone. "You have tens of unread messages."

"They're probably mostly from Mom." Cheng Yang glanced at the screen before continuing to say, "They're welcoming the New Year in, so they're probably still awake right now. Call them back and say that I was fetching you."

This was the excuse that they had planned. Cheng Xi understood him well and didn't mind helping him, so she unlocked his phone. She knew Cheng Yang's passcode because he told her each and every passcode and password he had; he was lazy and his memory surprisingly poor, so he used her as a backup.

After she opened his phone, she started maneuvering to look at the missed calls when she accidentally clicked on one of the unread messages.

"'He sees you in broad daylight, but I can only hide in a corner'…… Who's this…… Oh!" Cheng Yang abruptly stopped the car, causing Cheng Xi to almost fly out of the window.