Chapter 46: I’ll Give You a Ride
Mu Xiangxiang lifted her head, and at the sight before her, unconsciously held her breath.
In the cool breeze of early morning, the tall young man hung from the horizontal bar with his arms extended. The rising sun cast a warm reddish glow over him, loosely outlining his sharply defined jawline. Then that handsome face tilted slightly to the side, and from within the shadows untouched by sunlight, his gaze seemed to briefly meet hers.
Then he swayed once while hanging there, let go of the bar, and landed lightly, knees bending slightly on impact.
Mu Xiangxiang: “???”
The crowd of elderly, middle-aged, and young spectators in the exercise area, all staring up with sparkling eyes and eager anticipation: “???”
“Why’d he come down already——”
Everyone sounded disappointed, but Qiao Nan ignored them completely. Calm-faced, he shoved the hands that had just gripped the bar into his pockets and strolled over. “Let’s go.”
Mu Xiangxiang caught the faint fresh scent lingering on him and blinked. “You’re not going to keep going?”
“Keep going with what?” Qiao Nan looked away and kept walking, directly brushing past her shoulder as he headed out of the exercise area. His tone was dismissive. “If I want to work out, I can just go to a gym. Why would I perform for people in public? I’m not some monkey.”
“...” Mu Xiangxiang glanced at the crowd who had just been clapping enthusiastically. What he said did make sense, but somehow his logic still felt a little off.
If Qiao Nan really hated exercising in public like he claimed, then how had those aunties recognized her at first glance? Her thoughts raced, and she instinctively wanted to question him further, but Qiao Nan had already walked far ahead. Left with no choice, she temporarily suppressed her doubts and hurried after him. “Um, Qiao Nan, wait a second——”
Behind them came the faint sounds of disappointed old ladies grumbling amongst themselves. The noise made Qiao Nan’s scalp prickle. His body stiffened, irritation mounting inside him, and he strode away with his long legs moving faster and faster, wishing he could disappear from the area in a single second. But then, from the corner of his eye, he noticed the girl chasing after him. Having just finished exercising, her delicate face still carried a rosy flush, beads of sweat sliding lightly down from her temples. As she ran, her slender white legs moved beneath her skirt, so pale they were almost dazzling. The hem fluttered dramatically with every step, occasionally revealing glimpses of her thighs, and higher up, the outline beneath her shirt shifted softly with her movements… Ahem.
“...Tch!” He yanked his gaze away, fists clenching inside his pockets. Frowning impatiently, he stopped in place. “Why are you running?!”
****
After moving, Qiao Nan still parked his precious motorcycle outside the residential complex to avoid being spotted by security guards or neighbors.
Beside a bus stop around five minutes away from the neighborhood entrance, the sleek black motorcycle gleamed under the morning light, its expensive-looking design attracting admiring glances from nearby young commuters waiting for buses.
While Qiao Nan rummaged through helmets, Mu Xiangxiang wandered over to the bus stop sign to check the routes. Their new home was quite far from the old urban village, and the bus lines barely overlapped at all. That meant the direct bus she had taken to Yingcheng for years would now become a thing of the past.
Being completely unfamiliar with the new area, Mu Xiangxiang searched for quite a while before finally spotting a familiar stop name. Unfortunately, the bus route number beside it had been covered by black tape and was impossible to read, so she had no choice but to ask the people nearby.
“Yingcheng Private School?” The office workers beside her were extremely enthusiastic. They all pulled out their phones to search while chattering over one another—
“You can take the 516 route——”
“But Dengyun Road up ahead has been under construction since last week, so the 516’s been rerouted and doesn’t stop here lately.”
“If you want to get to Yingcheng, you’ll need to take Route 16 to Mogan New Village first, then transfer to Route 2 there.”
“You’re a Yingcheng student? What time do classes start?”
“Oof, then you better leave early.”
“That route’s nine stops total, plus it loops all the way around the southern district. With transfers and traffic, Baidu says it’ll take over an hour.”
Mu Xiangxiang: “…………”
Over an hour? What kind of concept was that?!
Yingcheng’s first morning self-study session started at 7:30 AM.
Back when she lived in the urban village, the direct bus only took twenty-five to thirty minutes under normal conditions. Even then, she still had to wake up before six every morning to leave herself enough time to memorize vocabulary and review coursework without being late.
To a model student who strictly obeyed school rules and attendance requirements, this news was basically catastrophic. Mu Xiangxiang blanked out for a moment, completely at a loss for how to solve the problem.
She was just about to thank the kind strangers at the bus stop when Qiao Nan’s voice suddenly rang out from the nearby sidewalk. “Hey!”
She turned and saw that he was already sitting astride the motorcycle. One leg was bent against the bike frame, and one hand held a black helmet. His gaze swept sharply across the group of male office workers around her before he frowned irritably. “What are you still standing there for? Go back and get your backpack. I’ll take you to school.”
“Huh?” Mu Xiangxiang remembered that Yingcheng and No. 12 Middle School were in completely different directions. “That’s okay, I can just transfer buses later—”
“Cut the crap!” Qiao Nan interrupted immediately, his eyes leaving no room for refusal. “I’m not saying it a third time.”
Mu Xiangxiang stared into those deep amber eyes and froze slightly. A moment later, she lowered her head and softly answered: “Oh.”
Seeing that she was still lingering among those people, Qiao Nan checked his watch. “It’s already 6:05. How much longer are you gonna dawdle? I’m only waiting ten minutes.”
“...” The reminder startled her. Remembering morning study session, she instantly turned and ran home, only to be stopped again after two steps.
“Wait!”
Qiao Nan’s gaze flicked toward the bus stop. The weather had been warming up recently, and plenty of fashion-conscious girls clearly couldn’t hold back anymore. Several female office workers at the stop had already switched into short skirts beneath light jackets, exposing large stretches of skin that drew subtle but obvious attention from the surrounding men.
Qiao Nan frowned and glared at the idiot not far away showing off a pair of bare legs. “When you go back, change out of that skirt too!”
Mu Xiangxiang: “???”
She couldn’t keep up with his train of thought at all, but there wasn’t enough time left for analysis anymore. So she could only hurriedly agree before rushing back home, scrambling to organize her things while keeping an eye on the time.
Qiao Nan said he’d only wait ten minutes...
What could ten minutes even do? By the time she sprinted into the apartment, it was already 6:10. Thankfully, she had packed her books the night before, so she only needed to organize the stationery she had used while staying up late doing problems.
Even amidst all the frantic rushing, when Mu Xiangxiang reached toward the expensive leather handbag-style school bag sitting beside the desk, her gaze still drifted for a moment.
It felt like time had rewound to the first semester of high school, her very first day entering Yingcheng. That day she had woken up extremely early, organizing her things before dawn. When she left home carrying the large backpack her mother had carefully washed clean a few days earlier, she had still felt a little hopeful about the completely new environment ahead of her.
Until she stepped into the classroom. Saw her new classmates. And noticed the handbag-style school bags hanging neatly from the sides of every desk.
Mu Xiangxiang paused briefly, then shoved aside the memory of the helpless girl standing awkwardly at the classroom entrance. She tossed her packed school bag onto the bed, opened the wardrobe, and randomly grabbed a pair of pants.
She moved as quickly as possible, but by the time she glanced at the clock before leaving, the numbers had mercilessly ticked over to 6:17.
Crap. The ten minutes were already up.
Thinking of Qiao Nan’s notoriously nonexistent patience, Mu Xiangxiang sighed. Before leaving, she grabbed some loose change from atop the shoe cabinet and started calculating bus fares while running toward the bus stop.
Yet the moment she rounded the corner outside the apartment complex, a familiar silhouette unexpectedly entered her vision, and she stopped short.
Qiao Nan sat sideways on the motorcycle, one foot planted on the ground, the other bent against the frame, leaning forward while staring down at his phone.
The Nth time he heard footsteps approaching, Qiao Nan spared a glance to the side while checking his phone. He froze for a second before straightening up and patting the back seat. “Why are you standing there? Get over here!”
His gaze swept across the black casual pants the girl had changed into. Recognizing them as something he himself had bought later while inhabiting Mu Xiangxiang’s body, Qiao Nan clicked his tongue inwardly.
Why does the skirt still look better—
Damn it, what was I thinking when I bought these? Why’d I pick such an androgynous style?
His expression while using his phone was especially foul, like he was bottling up a fire, so Mu Xiangxiang approached a little nervously. “Sorry… I was kind of slow. You must’ve waited a while, huh?”
Qiao Nan had just been about to answer when his phone chimed. He lowered his eyes to look, and his face darkened again.
The day before, he and Mu Xiangxiang had switched their phones back, which meant the phone in his hand right now had been used by Mu Xiangxiang recently. And the person whose messages popped up on the screen was apparently a new friend she had made—
[Mighty Under Heaven]: Haven’t seen you online in forever.
[Mighty Under Heaven]: Been that busy lately?
[Mighty Under Heaven]: I forged that weapon you mentioned the other day ^_^
[Mighty Under Heaven]: [Image]
[Mighty Under Heaven]: [Image]
[Mighty Under Heaven]: Pretty, right?]
[Mighty Under Heaven]: Want me to carry you through a dungeon run~
Fuck.
Staring at the tilde at the end of that sentence, Qiao Nan felt his irritation spike instantly.
Carry your mom through a dungeon run. If you’re that capable, why don’t you go polish shoes instead?
Sending pictures, sending pictures, spamming your damn pictures everywhere. Showing off how much data you have?
And “that weapon you mentioned before”—so you two chat about this stuff all the time?
Damn, kids these days really don’t know how to study properly. Whole days wasted on pointless crap.
Qiao Nan opened the screen and stiffly replied with two words—[No need.]
Then, with practiced ease, he tapped the icon in the top-right corner, found the correct option within a second, and blacklisted the person from the sports-school on the other end of the chat.
After doing that, he felt completely refreshed. The moment he looked up again, he saw Mu Xiangxiang still hovering hesitantly nearby. Qiao Nan raised a brow, shoved the phone back into his pocket, then lifted his other arm and plopped the helmet he was holding directly onto her little head. “Get on!”
The weight made Mu Xiangxiang wobble a little. She raised a hand to steady the helmet just as Qiao Nan swung his long leg over the motorcycle and began backing it up with his feet. Once he had maneuvered it into position, he stopped and looked at her again.
Leaning slightly forward, he resembled a sleek leopard. Behind the helmet visor, those dark eyes stared at her without blinking.
Her heartbeat sped up a little.
Mu Xiangxiang had never ridden a motorcycle before and had no idea what she was supposed to do. She lowered her head, trying to recall the few scenes she’d seen in TV dramas, and before Qiao Nan’s patience ran out, she finally stepped closer and climbed on in what she thought was a suitably proper way—keeping as much distance as possible from the body in front of her, both legs tucked together to one side as she sat sideways.
A moment of silence.
Qiao Nan: “……”
Mu Xiangxiang: “……”
Qiao Nan: “What are you doing?”
While she was still confused, the school tyrant launched into mockery. “Sitting sideways? Wow, you’re real ladylike.”
Qiao Nan: “What do you think this is?”
Qiao Nan: “A bicycle?”
Mu Xiangxiang: “……”
Qiao Nan: “Swing your leg over and sit properly! With that stupid posture, one turn halfway down the road and you’ll end up under my wheels!”
Mu Xiangxiang: “……”
Feeling a little ashamed, she slid off and obediently mounted the back seat the way he instructed. The motorcycle seat sloped downward, and under her weight she slid naturally toward the center. Along with the springy seat cushioning came the broad back filling the small world visible through her helmet visor.
Mu Xiangxiang hugged her schoolbag with one arm and grabbed onto Qiao Nan’s jacket with the other. Then she heard his voice from the front. “You sitting steady yet?”
She tried hard to lean her upper body backward, avoiding contact with him as much as possible. “Yeah.”
Qiao Nan paused, then added, “Hold on tighter.”
Mu Xiangxiang clenched the bit of fabric in her hand more firmly. “I already am.”
Qiao Nan glanced sideways at the hand carefully pinching just a tiny fold of fabric at his shoulder. It was slender and pale, the knuckles faintly pink. He gave a soft snort, his eyes turning a little mischievous as he raised a hand and twisted the key.
Then, the very next second, without warning—
The motorcycle shot forward like a blade.
No matter how calm Mu Xiangxiang usually was, she still screamed in fright. Her upper body was yanked backward by the sudden inertia, leaving her mind blank with shock. Acting purely on instinct, she leaned toward Qiao Nan’s body without thinking, releasing her grip on his clothes amidst the roar of the wind and hurriedly wrapping both arms around his lean waist. “Slow down!!!”
Qiao Nan’s voice drifted back through the wind. “Whaaaaat——?”
“I said slow down!!!” Mu Xiangxiang shouted louder, squeezing her eyes shut and pressing her forehead tightly against his back.
The howling wind and the motorcycle engine’s roar were muffled outside the helmet. Her tense arms clung tightly to Qiao Nan’s body without a gap between them. His body heat seeped through the layers of clothing into her palms, and the only scent left in her breathing was his.
The place where their bodies touched vibrated a few times. Qiao Nan seemed to be laughing.
Then she heard his smiling reply carried by the wind— “What did you say? I can’t heaaaar yoooou——”
Author’s Note:
Cao Wei [beaming]: “Don’t be like that. If you’re free tonight, let’s team up and game together~ (@^_^@)~”
[System Notification: The other party has enabled friend verification. You are not yet their friend. Please send a friend request first. You can chat only after verification is accepted.]
Cao Wei: ????????
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