Eastern Martial Arts Hall (1)

"Um... Sister Meijing, are you still mad at me?" Pei Shao asked cautiously.

Looking at his expression, Lin Meijing suddenly felt a warmth in her heart. She said softly, "Are you that afraid of making me angry?"

Pei Shao hurriedly nodded like a pecking chick. "Yeah!"

"Why?"

"Because it's only my first day at work!" Pei Shao was hardly a smooth talker, so it was understandable that he said something so mood-killing at a time like this. "You—" Lin Meijing was momentarily speechless. "Forget it!"

Pei Shao had actually wanted to say, "I don't know why, but I just don't want you to be angry!" Yet he could never bring himself to say such words in front of Lin Meijing. Now that her attitude had turned cold again, he was even less daring to say them. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "By the way, Sister Meijing, why did you show up here?"

"I—" Lin Meijing hesitated slightly before saying, "I was worried that you'd just started work and didn't have much experience, so I came to check on you! Luckily, a passerby saw you running this way!"

Pei Shao said with admiration, "Sister Meijing truly is Sister Meijing. Such professional dedication!"

Lin Meijing said flatly, "Stop flattering me! Compared to certain people with even greater professional dedication, who run off to work halfway through a meal, I, Lin Meijing, am still far behind!"

Pei Shao gave an awkward laugh. "So that's why you were angry, Sister Meijing! How about this? I'll treat you to dinner tomorrow!"

Lin Meijing did not respond. She lowered her head and fell silent for a while, then said, "Um..."

"Hm?"

"Forget it. It's nothing!"

"..." Pei Shao felt like Lin Meijing was really going to confuse him to death. "Do you have a fever, Sister Meijing?"

"No! What's wrong?"

Pei Shao told the truth. "I think you've been a little strange tonight!"

A trace of unease flashed across Lin Meijing's face. "Have I? What's strange?"

"You keep hesitating when you speak, like you want to say something but stop yourself. Is there something you're embarrassed to say?"

Lin Meijing nervously smoothed her hair. She had not expected Pei Shao to be perceptive enough to see through her thoughts. Yes, what she wanted to say was, "Thank you for saving me just now!" But Lin Meijing had never said anything like words of gratitude before. When the moment came, she found herself shrinking back.

Just as she gathered her courage and was about to speak her mind, a burst of footsteps suddenly sounded in the alley!

Startled as though she had a guilty conscience, Lin Meijing twisted her ankle, and her delicate body, leaning against the wall, involuntarily tipped toward Pei Shao! "Careful!" Caught off guard, Pei Shao's first reaction was to dart forward and hold her tightly in his arms.

By then, the footsteps had gradually faded away. It had only been a passerby.

Lin Meijing and Pei Shao both discovered at the same time that their faces were only inches apart! And Pei Shao's lips were nearly pressed against Lin Meijing's lovely cheek. In her shock, Lin Meijing also realized that Pei Shao's hand had landed on the softest part of her body. Although she knew he had not done it deliberately, she was still unbearably embarrassed.

Pushing Pei Shao away, Lin Meijing, whose face had long since turned scarlet, was even more flustered. Pei Shao, meanwhile, was utterly distracted, his blood racing through his body.

The two stood there awkwardly for a while.

Pei Shao stammered apologetically, "Um... Sister Meijing, I..."

Lin Meijing did not dare raise her head to meet Pei Shao's gaze. As though fleeing for her life, she supported herself against the wall and ran out of the alley. Pei Shao wanted to go over and help her again, but Lin Meijing lightly shook him off. "I'm going back first. I'll call you later!"

After stumbling out onto the street and hailing a taxi, Lin Meijing's violently pounding heart slowly calmed down. On the way, whenever she thought of what had just happened between her and Pei Shao, her face flushed as she thought, "Is this what attraction between the sexes feels like? It's my first time experiencing it! I never thought it would be with him." She turned her head toward the window and watched the couples on the street walking arm in arm. A sweet feeling suddenly filled her heart, and before she knew it, her face was covered in smiles.

It took Pei Shao a long while to break free from that intoxicating feeling. All the way home, his mind was filled with Lin Meijing's expression, half reproachful and half resentful.

He opened the door and paced around the living room for a while. Just as he was about to send her a text asking whether she was really angry, Castle prompted him again. "Lin Meijing's call!"

Pei Shao immediately said, "Please answer it for me!"

The moment they were connected, both of them fell silent. Pei Shao felt that he could even hear, from the other end of the phone, Lin Meijing's heartbeat keeping pace with his own. It was faster than usual.

After an unknown amount of time, Lin Meijing finally broke the silence. Yet she did not mention what had happened at all, only asking, "What did you go to that abandoned building for? Did you really find the murderer? How did the murderer fall from more than twenty stories up and come away completely unharmed?"

Pei Shao was momentarily at a loss for words. "I... I only saw a blurry figure. I can't be sure he was the murderer!"

"Then did you get a picture of what he looked like? Even a blurry one would do!" Lin Meijing asked again.

"No! The building started collapsing as soon as I went inside!"

"Oh!" Lin Meijing did not know what else to say, so she only said, "What a pity!"

Pei Shao asked cautiously, "Sister Meijing, about just now..."

"Alright, I'm going to sleep. We can talk about anything tomorrow at the magazine office!" Lin Meijing was about to hang up when Pei Shao hurriedly shouted from the other end, "I really didn't do it on purpose!"

Lin Meijing ended the call and said in her heart, "Idiot!"

Yet once she lay down on her bed, she could not fall asleep at all.

Pei Shao barely slept that night either. He got up early the next morning, and as he was about to get dressed with two panda-like dark circles under his swollen eyes, he discovered two long tears in the right sleeve of the suit he had just bought. They must have been snagged during his escape after yesterday's heart-stopping ordeal.

After mourning over it for quite a while, Pei Shao had no choice but to change back into his loose casual clothes. He pleaded with Castle for a long time to accompany him to work before it reluctantly nodded.

However, it had one condition: Pei Shao had to visit an electronics mall when he had time and buy a brand-new high-performance circuit board. Pei Shao agreed without a second thought, though he had no idea what Castle intended to do with it.

When he arrived at the magazine office, Lin Meijing was already sitting inside. Seeing Pei Shao arrive, she nodded at him and asked, "Have you eaten?"

Pei Shao saw that her expression was normal, though there were faint dark circles beneath her eyes, and kindly asked, "I have. Sister Meijing, didn't you sleep well last night either?"

Lin Meijing froze for a moment, lowered her head, and ignored him.