Yin Feng organized his thoughts, then nodded and said, “Mm, very good, it meets my expectations.”

The young man beamed.

Yin Feng thought for a moment, feeling that his former self probably hadn’t been so agreeable, and pointed at one of the drawings, “It’s just that the colors are all a bit dark. For example, this drawing would be better with some red, egg-yellow, and my favorite color, green.”

Chen Feng and the young man both fell silent for a few seconds.

The young man maintained his smile: “All right, I’ll add those when I get back.”

Chen Feng’s expression remained calm.

Yin Feng thought he could send the guest off now and go find You Mingxu, stretching comfortably in anticipation. But suddenly, the young man dropped to one knee, his expression solemn and eyes slightly red: “Teacher Yin, we’re truly happy that you’re safe and sound. Please get well soon. Seeing you like this now, we… we all feel very distressed.”

Chen Feng’s gaze flickered, but she remained silent.

Yin Feng froze, pressing his lips together without speaking. After a while, he nodded.

—

Since they were already there, at dinner time, Chen Feng suggested staying overnight at the villa. You Mingxu could tell that Yin Feng was excited about the idea, though he kept looking at her expectantly. After all, he found the villa novel and fun.

You Mingxu saw no reason to object, so she nodded.

“Ah Xu, come play in my room tonight,” Yin Feng’s eyes sparkled. “My room is very big and comfortable.”

You Mingxu’s temple twitched slightly—how could she miss someone’s obvious intentions? She said, “I’m very tired today. Play by yourself.”

Yin Feng fell silent.

After a while, when Chen Feng wasn’t looking, he leaned close, just staring at her with his pitch-black eyes, then lifted his finger slightly and touched his lips.

You Mingxu: “…”

Her heart trembled for a moment, followed by a feeling of embarrassed anger. Where had he learned this from, or was he always skilled at such things? Did he dare to flirt with her?

You Mingxu: “Sit properly! Put your hand down!”

He slowly straightened up, then suddenly said: “You can dodge the first, but you can’t dodge the fifteenth.”

You Mingxu: “…”

He tilted his head back and smiled.

The night deepened.

Chen Feng arranged You Mingxu’s room right next to Yin Feng’s. When Yin Feng tried to follow her in, You Mingxu shut the door right in his face.

“Ah Xu?”

“Xu Xu?”

“Little lazy pig?”

He called out softly several times at the door, but You Mingxu ignored him. After a while, his footsteps slowly dragged away.

She walked to the window. A bright moon hung high in the dark blue sky. Inside and outside the courtyard walls were pitch-black shadows. It was extraordinarily quiet.

She felt somewhat troubled this trouble had been bothering her for several days. But she wasn’t quite willing to face it. She pulled out a cigarette from her bag and quietly smoked it while facing the darkness.

What was it? she asked herself. A voice answered: It’s just a momentary confusion of emotions, just sympathy and tenderness. Could she continue this messy involvement with him?

She crushed out the cigarette and decided to take a bath and go to sleep.

But after lying in bed, with the room pitch black, she drifted in and out of sleep, sometimes dreaming, waking, very unsettled.

At one moment, she suddenly awoke.

Very faint light from outside cast shadows on the ceiling, leaving everything in the room as mere blurry outlines.

“Mmm…”

“Ah…”

Very faint gasps of a man and woman. She sat up immediately and then heard another moan from the woman. This made her scalp tingle, and she turned her head toward the open window.

On summer nights, she was used to sleeping with the window open. The sounds just now had come from outside.

Next door.

At this moment, You Mingxu felt very strange, her mind blank, all her sensations seeming to lag behind by a beat. By the time she came to her senses, she had already jumped out of bed. When she reached the door, she paused for an instant, then yanked it open.

Two steps brought her to Yin Feng’s door. There were vague sounds from inside, but muffled by the door, they were less clear than before.

You Mingxu pushed the door—it was locked. Her anger flared, and she stepped back two paces, then kicked it.

A judo champion’s kick is quite devastating. The door burst open, and indeed as Yin Feng had said, the room was very large, with an equally large bed in the center, lit by soft lighting.

The scene before her eyes nearly made You Mingxu’s blood vessels explode.