Leaving a Row of Teeth Marks on Her Archrival's Neck

The cold wind tousled Lu Xiaoxiao's hair. Her breath caught slightly, and she lifted her lashes. "I'm sorry. I have special reasons, and I can't be with you for now."

"Mm." Shao Enci was in no mood to discuss it further. Suppressing his emotions, he said in a somewhat hoarse voice, "Let go. I'm busy, and I still have experiments to do when I get back."

Lu Xiaoxiao let go.

But she found another way to cling to him. Bearing the pain in her foot, she gave a little jump and wrapped herself around his back like an octopus.

Their bodies pressed together, and the scent of lychee and roses on her drifted past his neck. Shao Enci's back visibly stiffened.

"Lu Xiaoxiao, you can't keep taking advantage of the fact that I like you and pushing your luck." He leaned back slightly and instinctively caught her legs with both hands, afraid she might accidentally fall, but his tone was cold. "Get down."

"Shao Enci, although I can't like you now, I can try to like you in the future." A hint of genuine feeling stirred in Lu Xiaoxiao's clear eyes.

With just one sentence, she soothed him.

Shao Enci pressed his lips together and fell silent for a while, at a loss for what to do with her.

Then he lifted her by the backs of her knees, bouncing her up to settle her more securely on his back. "...Did you come looking for me just to say that?"

"That's half of it." Lu Xiaoxiao rested her chin on his shoulder. "Mainly, my family wanted to invite you to dinner. My brother hit you today, and he feels pretty bad about it."

In truth, it was to complete a system task.

The young man carried her back, turning his head slightly, the outline of his profile particularly sharp in the light. He asked casually, "What about you?"

"Hm?"

"Did you come after me because they wanted to invite me to dinner, or because you wanted me to stay?"

Lu Xiaoxiao lowered her head and leaned closer, burying her face in the crook of his neck. Without hesitation, she answered, "Of course it's because I wanted you to stay."

The young man's thin, sexy lips curved slightly, and a smile returned to the face that had been cold all day.

Lying on his back, Lu Xiaoxiao caught the scent of mint and locust blossoms. She suddenly leaned closer to his neck, unable to resist the urge to take a bite.

But she held herself back.

The girl's touch made the crook of Shao Enci's neck tingle and itch. The corners of his eyes lifted playfully. "Lu Xiaoxiao, were you born in the year of the dog?"

Only puppies liked sniffing things.

The next second, Lu Xiaoxiao actually bit down, leaving a clear set of teeth marks on his fair neck.

The young man sucked in a breath at the pain, his handsome brows knitting. "You really dared to bite?"

A trace of delight shone in her eyes as she pressed her cherry lips close to his burning ear. "Stay for dinner before you go, or the next bite will draw blood."

When other girls acted coquettishly, they were soft about it. When she did it, she added a threat.

Shao Enci raised a brow, pleased by the bite, and a low, muffled chuckle escaped his throat. "Lu Xiaoxiao, if you miss your chance with me, you'll have a hard time finding another man who indulges you like this."

"Are you that afraid I won't give you an official place by my side?"

He carried her to the door, his gaze unreadable, and said softly, "Actually, as long as I have a place in your heart, I don't mind whether I have an official one."

Shao Enci had no way of knowing that two weeks later, when a new love rival appeared, he would regret saying those words.

By the time they returned to the Lu family home, Ms. Wen and Professor Lu were already busy in the kitchen. Lu Xiaoxiao ducked into the kitchen to help, leaving only Shao Enci and Lu Jiayan in the living room.

The atmosphere grew a little delicate.

Lu Jiayan stood up awkwardly, took an ice pack from the refrigerator, wrapped it in a towel, and held it out to him. "Put this on it. It'll bring the swelling down faster."

"Thanks." Shao Enci's lips curved as he accepted the ice pack and pressed it to his face.

Lu Jiayan sat back down on the sofa, his eyes fixed on the ball game on TV, though his mind was clearly elsewhere. After quite a while, he finally spoke. "When did you start liking my sister?"

Shao Enci looked toward the kitchen. This time, he intended to tell him everything. In a low voice, he said, "I actually met her a long time ago. I was twelve that year, and because of conflicts in my family, I wanted to jump into a river and end my life. It was the day of Jing City's first snowfall of the year. Lu Xiaoxiao was wearing a red down jacket when she burst into my world without warning..."

Lu Jiayan said nothing. He gripped the ice pack in his hand for a while before pushing it toward him, indicating that he should keep it on.

Shao Enci went on to talk about other things, about high school and university.

Lu Jiayan listened, occasionally responding with a word or two, but he didn't interrupt.

Later, Lu Jiayan glanced down at the roughly woven bracelet on his wrist. His lips curved, and a smile rippled at the corners of his eyes. "There's someone I like too. We met while studying in the United States. Among all those tall foreign girls, her beauty stood out. More than half the boys at school were pursuing her, including me."

"So did you win her over?" Shao Enci asked.

"Not yet." Lu Jiayan rubbed the bracelet, showing a rare hint of youthful spirit. "But soon."

The two chatted a little longer, and the atmosphere grew considerably more relaxed.

The food was brought to the table, and the five of them sat down together.

Ms. Wen was the first to pick up her chopsticks. She put a shrimp in Shao Enci's bowl. "Xiao Ci, here, try the shrimp Auntie made. Xiaoxiao likes it a lot too."

She put another one in Lu Xiaoxiao's bowl.

Shao Enci nodded slightly and thanked her softly. "Thank you... Auntie."

Ms. Wen smiled gently, looking at him almost as though he were half a son to her. "Come by more often when you have time. Auntie can make plenty of other delicious things too."

Lu Yifei wasn't much of a talker, but he also picked up a piece of hairtail and put it in his bowl. "Try this too."

"Thank you, Professor Lu..."

"Just call me Uncle in private." Lu Yifei looked serious, but he wasn't putting on airs as he did in class.

Lu Jiayan took the initiative to pour him a glass of red wine, then raised his own and tapped it against the rim of Shao Enci's glass. "Don't call me Senior anymore. Just call me Brother, like Xiaoxiao does."

Shao Enci smiled. "Okay, Brother."

He thought to himself that those somewhat hurtful words Lu Xiaoxiao had said had instead given him an assist. The whole family was treating him courteously.

He didn't even need to win over her family anymore. Could winning Lu Xiaoxiao over still be far off?

Lu Xiaoxiao had no idea about the young man's hundred little schemes. Biting on her chopsticks, she rolled her eyes around.

She had made up a scummy-woman persona for herself, so how had she ended up raising her family's favorability toward Shao Enci?

As she sat there lost in thought, 037 suddenly popped up:

[Congratulations, Xiaoxiao, on completing task 15. In view of your recent enthusiasm for completing tasks, here is an advance preview of the following five tasks:

Task 16: Have your archrival stay overnight at your home.

Task 17: Kabedon your archrival in the bathroom for five minutes.

Task 18: Tease your archrival in the guest room and hook a finger in his waistband.

Task 19: Lie on your archrival's bed and look at his abs.

Task 20: Plant a strawberry mark on your archrival's abs.]

Lu Xiaoxiao nearly lost her grip on her chopsticks. Hearing these tasks was like being struck by lightning.

Wait, why were the system tasks getting more and more perverted?