Bat

After chatting for a bit, Bai Hui felt that since Liu Chang'an and An Nuan were already a publicly acknowledged couple, it would be risky for her to chat with him in the courtyard for too long in the middle of the night. After all, it wasn't just her and Miao Yingying who liked gossip. Since she had discovered that Liu Chang'an and An Nuan were sharing a room, it was quite normal for someone to accidentally open a window or door and see her and Liu Chang'an.

Liu Chang'an's phone rang. Liu Chang'an glanced at it, smiled, and said to Bai Hui, "I'll reply to a message."

Bai Hui watched as Liu Chang'an deliberately avoided her and walked out of the courtyard, and couldn't help but feel a little strange. Why did he have to leave after just replying to a message?

Bai Hui walked back with her arms crossed. She glanced up casually under the eaves and saw a bat hanging upside down from the beam. As a girl, she was naturally startled and quickly called Miao Yingying out.

"What's there to be afraid of?" Miao Yingying stuck half her head out and peered around, then poked it with the clothes pole.

The bat fell to the ground with a thud and remained motionless.

Bai Hui snatched the clothes pole and slapped it repeatedly, but the bat seemed to be dead, neither struggling nor moving.

"Stop hitting it, it looks like a dead bat." Miao Yingying snatched the clothes pole away.

Bai Hui breathed a sigh of relief, then walked over and stomped on it again.

"It feels like a toy bat." Bai Hui felt something different under her feet and smiled. It was so hard; even a dead bat shouldn't feel like that.

Miao Yingying was about to leave with Bai Hui when the "dead bat" on the ground suddenly spread its wings.

It flew into the night sky and disappeared without a trace.

Miao Yingying and Bai Hui looked at each other in disbelief. It was a live bat! How could there be such a strange bat!

"How strange, could this be a monster?" Miao Yingying was also scared.

"Where did this monster come from?" Bai Hui asked, not entirely confidently.

"Ask Liu Chang'an; he likes to read things like 'Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio' and 'Zi Bu Yu.'" Miao Yingying thought that Liu Chang'an was definitely an expert in unconventional knowledge.

"Forget it, forget it. Who knows what kind of strange bat it is? Maybe it struggled a few times, just in its death throes, and then flew a few meters and disappeared somewhere." Bai Hui shook her head. She didn't want to ask Liu Chang'an right now; she was already feeling quite frustrated.

After saying that, Bai Hui pulled Miao Yingying back to the room.

Liu Chang'an finished replying to the messages and stood at the door of his room to start reciting poetry.

After reciting dozens of poems containing the character "moon," the door finally opened.

"You're crazy! If I didn't open the door, were you planning to recite poetry outside all night?" An Nuan's cheeks flushed slightly as she let Liu Chang'an in.

"Knocking sounds rushed, so you don't think I'm impatient," Liu Chang'an said with a smile.

The door was locked, and two incandescent light bulbs hung in the small room. An Nuan's heart felt like the wires dangling from the bulbs, tangled and swaying. In the quiet of the night, Liu Chang'an, as always, was lazy and listless, reminding An Nuan of the leisurely male protagonists in many movies' family scenes—perhaps he would have a drink, or he would casually take off his shirt, or he would collapse onto the bed.

She felt like a moviegoer, observing the emotions conveyed in his movements, or perhaps like the heroine hiding in the scene, wondering if she should step into the shadows of the doorway, her face veiled in the dim light, her figure partially revealed, and seduce him?

Lost in thought, her cheeks flushed and her eyes welled up with tears. She quickly snapped back to reality, realizing she was overthinking things. The next step should be to say goodnight to each other, turn off the lights, and go to sleep!

Just as she was thinking this, An Nuan noticed that someone had done what she thought was the right thing to do. Liu Chang'an lifted the blanket and crawled inside, then pulled the blanket over his head.

An Nuan was stunned. Why was he like this?

Even if he felt this was the right thing to do, the reality was definitely not like this. He should have looked at her tenderly and ambiguously, talking about how this was a special moment since they started dating. He should have shown some nervousness and inexplicable satisfaction, and she should have responded with a shy and sweet look. Then they should have turned off the lights and said goodnight, listening to each other's breathing or subtle movements, asking if she couldn't sleep. Then they should have started chatting about anything and everything until the night was deep, until the frogs outside the window could no longer be heard, and even the starlight and Lux had faded, before they finally fell into a deep sleep.

Dreams and reality are so different. An Nuan walked over and pulled back Liu Chang'an's blanket. Then she couldn't help but scream and hurriedly ran back to her own bed, pulling back the blanket to hide herself.

That scoundrel Liu Chang'an! I clearly saw him just lift the covers and crawl in, and I didn't see him do anything. But when An'an lifted the covers, he had already taken off his pajamas and was lying on the bed wearing only his underwear.

"Don't shout so loudly," Liu Chang'an said with his eyes closed. "The two old hags next door are Miao Yingying and Bai Hui. They'll think you forced yourself on me."

Are Miao Yingying and Bai Hui next door? An Nuan hadn't noticed, but then her mind started racing. Did they hear her shout just now?

What An Nuan can't accept now is, "I was the one who yelled so loudly, how could they think I provoked you! They'll only think you provoked me!"

"Oh, that makes sense. Sorry, I tend to see myself as a hot commodity, and I always feel like girls want to force themselves on me." Liu Chang'an said with his eyes still closed, then casually pulled the blanket up to cover his body, lest An Nuan lose control.

"Pah, you're a rotten egg." An Nuan was both amused and annoyed, but she wasn't shy anymore. She lifted the blanket again and turned to look at Liu Chang'an.

Liu Chang'an also opened his eyes and looked at An Nuan.

The distance between the two double beds was less than fifty centimeters. Liu Chang'an raised his hand and reached out, placing his palm on the edge of An Nuan's bed.

An Nuan's fingers slowly emerged from under the blanket, her middle finger twitching slightly before retracting.

Liu Chang'an stretched out his arm a little, pinched the mischievous middle finger, squeezed it out little by little, and then held her palm.

Holding his soft, smooth hand after his bath, Liu Chang'an sighed contentedly and whispered, "Holding your hand."

What's the next sentence? An Nuan was a little puzzled, but she quickly remembered the sentence written on the back of the painting Liu Chang'an had drawn for her.

It begins with a spark of Heartbeat and ends in a lifetime of companionship; to hold onto it brings peace, and to be with it brings warmth.

Unexpectedly, her name was so touching. An Nuan smiled slightly as she looked at Liu Chang'an, who had closed his eyes.

"Nuan Nuan, let me tell you a story."

What story?

"The story of a Longevity person."

"A Longevity person? He must have had many women!"

"You really know how to grasp the key points."

"Could this Longevity person be named Liu Chang'an?"

"Of course, I'm the main character."

"Puff..."