The Girls at Footbath Parlors Know How to Have Fun Better Than You

What did she mean by skipping the drinking?

Getting straight to it?

For a moment, Lin Tian genuinely failed to react.

It was not until Gan Yan Yu finished speaking, gently took his hand, and slowly leaned closer.

That Lin Tian realized.

Something was wrong!

There was only so much room on the sofa. The girl shifted her waist, constrained by her dress, and effortlessly moved her petite body remarkably close to him.

Within her spaghetti-strap dress, a snowy-white, deep cleavage appeared and disappeared from view.

She was close enough for Lin Tian to smell that faint fragrance again—the same scent he had caught from her school uniform earlier.

So it was not the smell of the clothes themselves.

Was this the legendary body fragrance?

Before him,

A delicate, beautiful face slowly lowered. Her bangs covered her eyes, leaving Lin Tian unable to see her expression.

"Actually, I saw you smelling my clothes earlier."

"Do you... have feelings for me?"

Those words instantly sobered Lin Tian up.

I only took one sniff. Don't make it sound like I tasted it with my dick!

Lin Tian's head spun.

Sure enough, that damn system had screwed him over!

He had only smelled her clothes, and she had mistaken it for him being attracted to her.

If what I'd smelled had been something even more explicit, would she have called the police already?

Seeing that Lin Tian did not respond, the girl added,

"Thank you for taking me in, but I have to leave."

"So if there's anything you want to do... do it now."

Gan Yan Yu spoke gently, enunciating every word.

Hearing that, Lin Tian instead calmed down.

He more or less understood.

She felt that he had taken care of her and that she owed him a favor, so she felt too embarrassed to simply leave.

After seeing him smell her clothes, she assumed he craved her body.

So she was prepared to repay him this way, get it over with, and leave this place as soon as possible.

Was this how people who were about to die thought?

With nothing worth clinging to, they felt it did not matter if they simply gave themselves away?!

Lin Tian was stunned by the girl.

But if Lin Tian really went along with it, he would have no reason to keep Gan Yan Yu here any longer.

So that was what "skipping the drinking" meant!

Lin Tian felt grievously wronged.

What kind of person did she take him for?!

He only wanted to get her drunk, have her sleep here, and extract her bodily fluids thoroughly!

It was not like he had done anything!

Just as Lin Tian was about to flare up,

He suddenly felt his shoulder trembling.

He lowered his head.

Gan Yan Yu's body, lightly pressed against his, and the hand clutching his arm,

Were trembling uncontrollably.

Like a little fledgling.

Lin Tian found it somewhat funny.

Why pretend you had everything under control?

The girls at footbath parlors knew how to have fun far better than you did.

Still, if she could master even thirty percent of that innocent little tremble, the female technician dressed as a high school student today would not have been able to charge only 699.

"Can you raise your head?" Lin Tian asked.

To be honest, Lin Tian had never considered himself a good person.

But when faced with something like this,

He felt that taking advantage of her would truly make him worse than an animal.

"What is it?"

Gan Yan Yu raised her head.

Her hazel-brown eyes were dim and lifeless.

Lin Tian felt helpless.

This silly girl probably did not even realize what she was doing anymore.

She could have simply left. If she insisted on leaving, he truly had no reason to stop her.

Yet she still chose to repay this so-called "favor."

She was doing something she did not want to do at all, just so she could leave this world with a clear conscience, without burdening anyone.

Even when dying, she considered everyone else in every possible way.

Someone that kind could be deceived so easily.

"I think you've misunderstood something."

After thinking for a moment, Lin Tian explained it that way.

He removed Gan Yan Yu's hand from his arm.

"Huh?"

Gan Yan Yu froze.

Her mind, already a mess, churned even more violently in an instant.

Was her body not attractive enough?

Was she less appealing than a piece of clothing?

Or did he... like school uniforms?

Countless guesses swept through her mind.

The girl shrank her neck back, and her face quickly showed an expression of both grievance and embarrassment.

"I admit that when I helped you wash your clothes earlier, while I was applying detergent, I did make a little unconscious gesture. But there was a reason for it. It wasn't because I wanted to do anything to you."

"An unconscious gesture?"

"Yeah."

Lin Tian said with a perfectly serious expression,

"For example, when your eyes feel uncomfortable or there's something in them, many people instinctively rub their eyes. When they're thinking or feeling relaxed, they might unconsciously stroke or play with their hair. Those are all unconscious actions."

"Is that so..."

Perhaps because it was the first time she had heard such a theory, Gan Yan Yu seriously processed it, winding her side hair around her fingers again and again.

"See! You're playing with your hair right now!"

Lin Tian suddenly pointed at Gan Yan Yu's hand.

"I really am!"

The girl hurriedly pulled back her fingers, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

Seeing that it had worked, Lin Tian continued his explanation with a serious expression.

"When I apply detergent to my own clothes, I also have the habit of smelling them." Lin Tian brought the topic back around. "That's why I had that unconscious reaction earlier."

Seeing how earnest Lin Tian looked, Gan Yan Yu became less certain.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Then I..."

If that was really the case, then what she had done earlier would seem very...

"Look at you. You're getting drunk before you've even had a drink. Even if you were in a hurry to leave, you didn't need to make a joke like that."

Lin Tian opened a can of beer. With a pop, he laughed brightly.

One sentence, one smile.

Whether he meant it sincerely or not, more than half the awkwardness from earlier had already dissipated.

Though neither of them stated it outright, they tacitly dropped the subject.

"Thank you."

Gan Yan Yu accepted the beer, though her little face was still slightly flushed.

Even if it had been a misunderstanding, she had still been rejected just now, right?

Yet Gan Yan Yu did not feel overly ashamed.

For some reason, being around this boy with his sunny smile gave her a warm sense of safety.

Even though they had only just met.

She took a sip of beer.

It was so bitter.

It tasted awful.

Gan Yan Yu resisted inwardly, but she still raised the can and drank.

The instant the icy beer flowed down her throat,

She felt an unprecedented sense of exhilaration. That novel sensation made the girl's eyes widen slightly.

"How is it?" Lin Tian asked.

"It's not as bad as I thought."

Gan Yan Yu said, then took several more gulps, even though she still found it unbearably bitter.

No wonder so many people liked drinking.

She understood the feeling a little now.

Seeing that Gan Yan Yu had finally calmed down, Lin Tian rose from the sofa, brought over a stool, and sat across from her.

Pop!

The sound of gas bursting free.

Lin Tian opened a can of beer as well and tilted his head back for a deep drink.

A refreshing sensation burst open in his throat.

As expected, the first sip of freshly chilled beer tasted heavenly.

After a few mouthfuls of beer, they sat facing each other in the not-so-large living room.

The atmosphere that had been frozen earlier now relaxed.

After what had just happened, Lin Tian realized that Gan Yan Yu did not seem as hard to communicate with as he had imagined.

Once the beer was open, the conversation began to flow.

"You said you took a leave from school and went abroad?"

"Mhm."

"What did you go there for?"

Lin Tian took a sip of beer and asked casually.

As though that casualness could conceal how presumptuous the question was.

"To compete, and then..."

Gan Yan Yu paused halfway through, not continuing.

Lin Tian understood the unspoken difficulty in her words and smoothly picked up the conversation.

"Cello competitions?"

"Mhm."

"What kind of competition takes a whole year?"

"I entered quite a few. The main purpose was still further study."

"So you're a professional cellist?"

Lin Tian recalled the system's description of Gan Yan Yu's profession.

At those words, Gan Yan Yu seemed to perk up a little.

She propped herself on the table with one hand, rested her chin on it, and smiled.

"What professional? I'm just an amateur. The competitions I entered were all small ones without much prestige."

"Then why did you come back?"

"To take the college entrance exam, of course," Gan Yan Yu said.

"I want to get into the China Conservatory of Music. It's the university every music student dreams of attending. There, I'll be able to meet the seniors I've admired for a long time."

As the girl spoke, her eyes filled with a color of longing.

Lin Tian stared blankly.

A girl who had just returned from studying hard abroad, who had her own goals to strive for, a university she wanted to attend, and eyes full of expectations for her future.

That was clearly who she was.

How could someone like that want to commit suicide?