Improvement

(Thanks to Zhulu Between Cliffs and Beizhe for the donations—you really didn't have to.)

Ye Wanqing wiped away her tears as she cried and asked, "Why not carry me on your back?"

"I don't really mind. I was just worried you'd mind some part of your body pressing tightly against me while I was carrying you," Xiao He muttered with a curl of his lip.

Ye Wanqing knew he meant her chest, and she was both annoyed and amused. "Aren't you a leg guy?"

"I am, but that doesn't mean I have no interest in breasts at all." Xiao He scratched his cheek and smiled awkwardly.

"Men really are all the same... Perverts! Deviants!" Ye Wanqing snapped.

"That's why I said I'd carry you in my arms! I was afraid you'd think I had ulterior motives!" Xiao He rolled his eyes.

"Forget it. There are so many people on the street—it'd be too conspicuous..." Ye Wanqing muttered, her anger easing somewhat. Perhaps it was because Xiao He had always denied that she had a good figure before, but now he had acknowledged her impressive bust.

"How are you going to get home like this?" Xiao He asked, looking at her scraped knee.

"You can support me, and I'll hop back on one foot..." Ye Wanqing said with a frown.

Xiao He sighed, then scooped her up in a princess carry, making Ye Wanqing let out a startled scream.

"What are you doing?! I said this is too conspicuous!" Ye Wanqing gritted out. "Everyone around us is looking!"

"It's better if they look." Xiao He chuckled. "Isn't our job to pretend to be a couple? It's better if they know we're dating. Right?"

"Th-then... fine." Ye Wanqing muttered softly, settling obediently in his arms.

Xiao He had already stepped halfway into the ranks of superhumans, so carrying Ye Wanqing for several kilometers was effortless. But Xiao He was not the one with a problem. After they had walked about two blocks, Ye Wanqing could no longer take it.

"Forget it, carry me on your back instead." Ye Wanqing said, blushing. "The princess carry is too high-profile. Everyone keeps staring at me..."

"I don't mind, but you said it yourself, okay? Don't blame me later..." Xiao He shrugged and crouched down in front of Ye Wanqing. Ye Wanqing hopped behind him on one foot, braced herself on his shoulders, and climbed onto his back.

Feeling the contact against his back, Xiao He could not help but sigh. A righteous punch nearly made him get a nosebleed.

Ye Wanqing grabbed his shoulders and said irritably, "Don't think about anything sleazy."

"Got it..." Xiao He sighed and carried her onward. "Why did you walk so fast when you stormed off?"

"Because it's so hot outside. It was making me annoyed..." Ye Wanqing muttered, sounding unconvinced.

"Just endure it for a while. We'll be home in ten minutes." Xiao He picked up his pace. "When we get back, I'll explain this clearly to Sister Man. Don't worry. Huang Ling and I definitely won't affect us pretending to be a couple."

"You can say that once you've learned to control yourself..." Ye Wanqing huffed. "Things are progressing so quickly between you and that senior. If you two reach the point where you can date in a few months, can you still honestly pretend to be my boyfriend? Don't go get a room and have sex, get photographed by paparazzi, breach the contract, and have Sister Man deduct all our prize money."

"It won't happen. I have that much self-control." Xiao He spoke seriously. "Look, if it had been any other man, he'd be in detention by now. With self-control like that, what do you have to worry about?"

"Tch, shameless!" Ye Wanqing smacked him angrily, then added in a small voice, "And it's an E cup..."

"What did you eat during puberty? Have you considered sharing your diet with all the ladies out there?" Xiao He asked in astonishment.

"Hey! It's not like I'm happy about it!" Ye Wanqing said crossly. "Do you think it's a good thing? In middle school, the boys in my class called me a cow. In high school, the boys stared at my chest all day with lecherous eyes. In college, the boys in my department always peeped down my neckline from disgusting angles, making me afraid to wear anything too cool... You men are all like this, with nothing but filthy thoughts in your heads! Other girls get to wear such cute underwear, while I can only buy old-lady styles. My shoulders ache all the time, and they even block my view when I walk downstairs..."

"That's what they mean by drought in one place and floods in another." Xiao He struggled to hold back his laughter, trembling from the effort.

"Are you secretly laughing at me in your head!?" Ye Wanqing demanded, pounding his shoulder.

"No. Absolutely not." Xiao He kept a straight face. His expression would have been perfectly appropriate even at a funeral.

"Then swear a poisonous oath." Ye Wanqing gritted her teeth. "If you're secretly laughing, you'll never find a girlfriend for the rest of your life!"

"...I'm not swearing that." Xiao He muttered. Ye Wanqing said angrily, "So you really are laughing at me!"

"Hey, wait a second." Xiao He chose to change the subject and carried Ye Wanqing to the entrance of a roadside convenience store.

Before long, he came back out with an ice cream cone and a bottle of ice water. He handed the cone to Ye Wanqing, helped her sit down on a bench by the road, and pressed the bottle of mineral water against the wound on her knee.

"Hiss... That's cold." Ye Wanqing muttered as she licked the ice cream. "Is this sanitary? Won't it get infected?"

"It'll stop the bleeding for now." Xiao He replied. "When we get home, just apply some iodine and alcohol to disinfect it. People aren't that fragile. It's not that easy to get an infection."

"You're a superhuman-type mutant, of course you'd say that." Ye Wanqing said quietly, though she seemed less angry now.

Xiao He looked at Ye Wanqing, then said seriously, "Look, I know we didn't leave very good first impressions on each other, but after spending this time together... although we still don't get along, I think you're a good person."

Ye Wanqing licked her ice cream and stared at him with wide, beautiful eyes, seemingly unable to understand what he was trying to do.

"Although we disagree on many things, you really are kind-hearted. You love animals, and you care deeply about your family..." Xiao He said, then changed direction. "So, about this contract, I'll do my best to cooperate with you. We may be a fake couple, but we can be real friends, right? But some people, once you miss them, they're truly gone."

Ye Wanqing licked her ice cream in silence. After thinking for a while, she finally said, "I'll do my best. As long as you don't do anything that gets photographed by paparazzi. Right now, our identities haven't been made public. If we get exposed later, and you and that senior are all lovey-dovey and burning with passion, unable to control yourselves..."

"Yes, yes, yes." Xiao He replied perfunctorily. "By then, there'll definitely be mutants more capable than us to replace us."

"I'm not so sure." Ye Wanqing finished her ice cream and stood up. "With my help, your ability has become so powerful. You can not only deal with Typhoon, but even solve the Millennium Problem. Will they really let us disband?"

"Why think so far ahead? When the cart reaches the mountain, there'll be a road." Xiao He sighed. Ye Wanqing frowned. "You need to make plans early in life, so you won't panic when the time comes."

"As expected, we don't have a single thing in common..." Xiao He curled his lip.

Ye Wanqing snorted through her nose, seemingly amused by him, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly. "Yeah."

Even so, Xiao He still felt that his relationship with Ye Wanqing had improved.