Men and women were like heaven and earth, yang and yin—neither could be absent. The great matters of human relations concerned the continuation of the race, while love and affection were all the more in harmony with nature.
Ning Ke knew very clearly that her feelings toward Xiang Yang were different, filled with something else entirely.
It was not friendship, but an emotion mixed with familial affection and fondness. She wanted to spend time with him, hoped to see him at every moment, and wished to be close to him. It was wonderfully strange.
From the moment she had shared her background with Xiang Yang, the doors to her heart had in fact already opened.
Faced with Ning Ke's shy question, Xiang Yang came back to himself from his thoughts, somewhat surprised by her words and utterly at a loss.
Then, seeing the beauty's charming appearance, her jade-like face and peach-blossom cheeks beyond compare, his heart began to stir. His eyes shifted, and he clapped his hands, hunched his shoulders, took a step back, and tested the waters.
"Staring? I wasn't. I was openly admiring you.
"If anyone is to blame, it's you, Constable Ning, for being so breathtakingly beautiful. You're simply too captivating.
"Ah, whenever I look at you, it feels like looking at drifting clouds on the horizon, sunset glow in the evening sky, springs in the mountains, and fragrant splendor. Even a lifetime of looking wouldn't be enough."
Men truly were strange creatures. Xiang Yang had remained a virgin through both his Past and Present Life. He had quite a few female friends, yet there had not been many women who made his heart flutter, and his romantic experience was a blank sheet of paper—innocent to a pitiful degree.
Even so, faced with Ning Ke, he had