Chapter 18

Chapter 18 Rose x Kiss

“.........I won’t move anymore.”

Perhaps because his words just now carried such strong intimidation, Ji Mingzhu unconsciously softened her voice.

The leg that had wanted to automatically retract because of his movement showed no sign of moving back anymore.

Because she had gone to the bedroom to take a bath, only a thin, warm, hazy lamp was on in this area. When Jiang Ji came in just now, he turned on the main light as well.

In an instant, bright light rose from all around.

It also illuminated the two people who were pressed very close together.

Jiang Ji’s hand moved downward and pressed on her ankle joint. “Here?”

“Mhm.” Ji Mingzhu’s leg was held by him, and she felt a little uncomfortable. She lightly trembled, then added, “Actually, I twisted it a little at the very beginning. It doesn’t hurt much now, just a numb feeling. You know what I mean………”

After saying that, she affirmed on her own.

“It should be nothing serious.”

Jiang Ji remained silent, but his hands didn’t stop. He sprayed the bruise medicine on her ankle joint, then held a cotton ball in one hand and slowly wiped it.

Jiang Ji had probably come over right after taking a bath. His black hair was half-wet, falling over his forehead.

He was wearing simple, fresh home clothes. Because he was leaning down close, Ji Mingzhu could vaguely smell the mixed scent of soapberry and crisp cedar.

Under the light, half of his side profile was hidden in shadow. His lips were slightly pressed into a straight line, sharp as a blade.

Although he still had that cold expression, when Jiang Ji lowered his long eyes and slightly restrained his quiet appearance, he actually looked like he had an almost imperceptible gentleness.

Looking all proper and gentlemanly.

His eyelashes were longer than a woman’s.

“Do I look very scary?”

In the silence, Jiang Ji suddenly spoke, breaking the quiet factors floating in the air.

“Ah?” Ji Mingzhu responded in confusion, not understanding what he meant.

“You’re trembling.”

Jiang Ji slowly raised his eyes, glanced at her, then lowered his head again.

“.........”

Was she trembling?!

She was itchy!

“......Stress reaction! That’s very normal, okay.” Ji Mingzhu looked at the man in front of her and suddenly suggested, “Jiang Ji, if I did this to you, could you guarantee you wouldn’t move at all?”

She imagined that scene and suddenly felt it was quite beautiful.

Of course, it wouldn’t be applying medicine. She would definitely be possessed by Rong Momo and stab him with needles!

Jiang Ji gave her a bland glance. “There are anti-slip mats in the bathroom. How could you still fall with those?”

There were anti-slip mats, but who said that having anti-slip mats meant you definitely wouldn’t fall.

Ji Mingzhu wanted to refute, but she was also afraid Jiang Ji would suddenly attack, after all her leg was still in his hand.

However—

This had nothing to do with the anti-slip mats at all.

Speaking of the “culprit,” wasn’t it that machine spirit?

“It was all because of that Tomi. It suddenly changed the song and really scared me half to death. I wasn’t prepared at all. I wanted to find something to cushion the fall but didn’t have time……” Ji Mingzhu unconsciously began to persuade him, “Jiang Ji, why don’t you just send that Tomi away? It’s really about to become a spirit.”

Her words carried a tone of coquettishness that she herself didn’t notice, like a soft murmur.

At that moment, the little robot that had found its way back suddenly appeared at the door.

[Female Master, were you calling for me? Tomi has always been here~~]

Ji Mingzhu shivered violently. Her leg instinctively tried to pull back toward herself but was caught by Jiang Ji’s quick reflexes.

He turned his head, looked toward the door, and gave a cold order: “Get out.”

Translated into Chinese, short yet domineering—“Get lost.”

The little robot had no choice but to obey its male master’s immediate command.

It let out an “Ah oh~” and played a sad song for itself, then scurried away and disappeared.

Compared to Jiang Ji’s calm indifference, it was Ji Mingzhu who was left speechless.

So driving away the little machine spirit required switching to English mode? No wonder no matter how she coaxed or used every trick before, it would still scratch at her door and refuse to leave.

Thinking of this, she once again marveled at the advanced nature of artificial intelligence.

Although there were many oolong incidents between Ji Mingzhu and this little robot, for the most part they got along fine.

Sometimes she even found it quite cute and fun. Making a separate vlog video for it wouldn’t be out of the question.

However—

“Why does it only follow me and not stick to you?”

Jiang Ji didn’t answer for a long time. If not for the fact that he was still applying medicine for her—with the cool, silky touch—Ji Mingzhu would have almost thought the man had disappeared.

After a long while, he put away the medicine and began neatly packing up the medical kit. While organizing, he said, “Probably because it finds you pleasing to the eye.”

“A machine has no emotions. Can it still tell who looks more pleasing?” Ji Mingzhu got excited. Thinking of the song “Even If I Die, I Must Love,” she blinked at Jiang Ji.

“You’ll have to ask it that.”

Ask it? Did she look stupid?

Or rather, it should be the opposite—the little machine spirit actually found Jiang Ji pleasing to the eye!

Because there was no obvious external injury, the “bathroom fall medicine application” scene didn’t last very long.

Actually, from the very beginning Ji Mingzhu had wanted to persuade Jiang Ji that he didn’t need to go to such trouble. After the numbness faded, she could still walk with a little movement—just needed to rest for one night.

But he had that cold face, as if she had broken a leg.

The words of refusal got stuck in her throat.

“You—”

“You.”

Both spoke at the same time. Their words collided and they both paused at the same time.

“You speak first.” Ji Mingzhu was especially understanding. After all, he had just helped her with such a big favor.

Applying some medicine wouldn’t do any harm.

Jiang Ji slowly stood up. His gaze swept down from above, his dark eyes deep and profound, like fire rising in the wilderness.

“Fix your collar.”

.........Fix what collar?

It wasn’t until Jiang Ji’s figure disappeared behind the door that Ji Mingzhu belatedly realized.

When she lowered her head and looked down at her collar, she nearly fainted on the spot.

Ji Mingzhu, sometimes you really can’t be willful about these things.

Look, retribution has come.

After Jiang Ji’s collar was ruined, Ji Mingzhu’s collar also followed in its footsteps, and the damage was even more severe.

After all, the gap in the bathrobe went from top to bottom, covering quite a wide area.

Since she hadn’t changed into pajamas yet, Ji Mingzhu was only wearing a bathrobe. Not to mention, her tie was a slightly loose style. Bathrobes were meant for comfort and looseness. She had just finished bathing—how could she have thought so much?

If she hadn’t been careful, everything would have been on full display.

Jiang Ji had looked for so long and only reminded her at the very end. He was simply harboring ill intentions!

Ji Mingzhu clutched her collar tightly, not allowing even a single gap to show. After looking left and right and carefully checking, she secretly muttered:

“Fake gentleman.”

……

When Jiang Ji put the medical kit back in the storage room, he vaguely heard a sound coming from the corridor.

It was the sound of a door closing. If listened to carefully, it seemed to carry a bit of sulking.

Jiang Ji rubbed his brow bone, walked to the door opposite theirs, and paused for a while.

He glanced sideways at the tightly closed door. Thinking of the scene inside the room and the person in it before he left, his heart felt inexplicably empty.

Jiang Ji casually closed his own door. After a few steps, he half-leaned against the head of the bed, one arm across his eyes, and half-closed his eyelids.

He remembered rushing over uncontrollably just now, remembered picking her up, remembered squatting at the edge of the bed and inadvertently looking up at the scene he glimpsed.

Scene after scene replayed in his mind, impossible to dispel.

The robe looked thick, yet it was so thin.

So thin that with one hand he seemed able to trace every rise and fall, every curve.

The palm pressed against her skin was burning hot—a heat he himself hadn’t noticed.

Memories from a long time ago suddenly surged up at this moment, crashing against him until he no longer knew what time it was.

Jiang Ji opened his eyes, turned his hand over, and stared at it for a few seconds.

At that moment, his phone suddenly vibrated.

With a “buzz,” it reminded the owner of the phone that there was a new message.

Actually, Jiang Ji didn’t use many apps. When he was studying at Columbia University, the Chinese students around him successively started using Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc., to integrate faster into the new social circle, to make appointments to pick up girls, drink, ski, and go out to sea.

But he never did. Jiang Ji had little interest in such things.

He also didn’t need a so-called social circle to maintain future development.

But to say he had absolutely none wasn’t accurate either. Later, Jiang Ji subscribed to one channel.

In his spare time, he would watch it.

Jiang Ji reached out with his long arm, picked up the phone, and directly opened it. It was a Weibo message—

【rl: Today I encountered a little troublemaker and caused a bit of trouble. But it doesn’t seem that bad either.】

……

After Jiang Ji left, Ji Mingzhu went to the bathroom by herself and changed into pajamas.

After the numbness in her foot faded, it felt only soft and weak.

She didn’t dare put any weight on it. After tossing and turning on the bed for a while, she finally realized she seemed to be—naturally suffering from insomnia.

After tossing and turning a bit more, she hugged the Sally doll pillow, climbed onto Weibo, and posted something visible only to fans.

But within a few minutes of posting, there were already many responses.

—【What happened to my Pearl?! What’s wrong?!】
—【Little…… troublemaker? Somehow it feels pampering [dog head.jpg]】
—【As long as it’s not too bad it’s okay, so when are you updating your next video~】
—【Same, urging. Someone bought paid posts and traffic before, pushing the views to second place, but—we all held our ground!】

Ji Mingzhu picked the top two comments and replied.

—【It’s nothing serious. Your Pearl is doing fine.】
—【If we’re talking about a big troublemaker, there seems to be one too : )】

After interacting with her little shells for a while, Ji Mingzhu got a bit excited.

Although she didn’t comment anymore after that, she went through and liked them one by one.

Later, as she kept liking, her fingertips never stopped.

Then, as if she saw something, she narrowed her eyes.

This account looked a little familiar.

—【bcdefg8888: .】

Ji Mingzhu looked at this zombie account and directly skipped it, liking the next comment.

Author’s note: 【Small Theater】:

Chicken: Covering with a quilt.

Pig: Pure chatting!