Wild Crazy Male Lead's Forced Love, You Don't Want, I Want!

36: Notes from a Paranoid Educated Youth 5In the yard, by the well.

Zhou Linchuan bent down to cup water and wash his face. Cold water splashed on his face, dripped down his chin, his Adam’s apple bobbed, and water droplets slid into his collar.

That face was truly exceptionally handsome.

Wen Ci’s heart pounded wildly as she watched him.

She also followed suit and washed up. Neither of them spoke.

It felt a little awkward.

Wen Ci’s gaze remained on Zhou Linchuan, who noticed but deliberately avoided looking at her.

When he finished washing, Wen Ci carefully handed him the towel she was holding.

He glanced at it, didn’t take it, and casually wiped his face with his sleeve before turning and leaving.

Wen Ci pursed her lips and followed behind him. Their shadows, stretched long by the moonlight, entered the house one after the other in silence.

Inside the house, the dim yellow light of the kerosene lamp illuminated the simple earthen bed and the military belt laid across the middle.

Wen Ci stood by the bed, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes, secretly glancing at Zhou Linchuan.

He had his back to her, seemingly taking off his clothes with crisp, decisive movements, as if deliberately avoiding her gaze, afraid of being stared at.

The atmosphere was too stiff.

And he hadn’t gotten onto the bed yet.

Wen Ci took a deep breath, deciding to break the silence first.

”Captain Zhou…” she began softly, ”Can I, can I go to sleep first?”

Zhou Linchuan didn’t turn around, only gave a cold, hard ”Mm.”

Wen Ci bit her lip, took off her shoes, and quietly climbed onto the bed, curling up on the innermost side with her back to him.

The kerosene lamp was blown out by Zhou Linchuan with a ”poof,” plunging the room into instant darkness.

He got onto the bed with very light movements, but Wen Ci could still feel the bedding beside her subtly dip.

The military belt lay between them, and neither moved.

Outside the window, the moonlight gradually brightened, filtering through the thin paper window, making the room even brighter than before.

Wen Ci quietly turned over, then secretly opened her eyes. By the moonlight, she could see Zhou Linchuan’s flat, supine silhouette.

He was rigidly straight even in his sleep, his hands clasped across his chest, like a cold sculpture.

Very handsome, and even with a touch of abstinence.

She blinked, suddenly getting a mischievous idea.

Wen Ci faced him and deliberately made rustling sounds.

Zhou Linchuan didn’t move, but his breathing seemed to pause slightly.

Her fingers rested on her buttons, unbuttoning them one by one, slowly and methodically. She hadn’t taken off her clothes earlier because she was too nervous.

But now, it seemed someone was more nervous than her.

The friction of the cotton clothes was exceptionally clear in the silent night.

He really wasn’t asleep.

Just as she unbuttoned the third button, Zhou Linchuan suddenly sat up, his dark, deep eyes fixed on her.

”Wen Ci.”

His voice was low and hoarse, carrying a warning.

Wen Ci pretended to be startled, her fingers trembled, and her collar slipped slightly, revealing half of her fair shoulder.

In the moonlight, her skin was as smooth and lustrous as jade, her collarbone exquisitely sculpted like a meticulous painting, easily stirring an indescribable desire in a man’s body.

She looked up, her eyes innocent and wronged, ”I, I just feel uncomfortable sleeping with my outer clothes on…”

Zhou Linchuan’s jaw tightened, his eyes terrifyingly deep.

She was lying.

She was clearly doing it on purpose.

Otherwise, why could she lie down with her clothes on just now, but now she absolutely had to take them off?

He knew her intentions were impure.

Yet, his gaze uncontrollably fell on her shoulder, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.

Seeing his reaction, Wen Ci’s lips curved almost imperceptibly, and her fingers reached for the fourth button.

”Enough!”

Zhou Linchuan grabbed her wrist, his grip so strong it almost crushed her bones.

He leaned in close, his eyes fixed intently on hers, his voice extremely low, ”You are a woman, and I am a man, alone together… Do you understand what I mean?”

Wen Ci flinched, nodding carefully, then shaking her head, ”Captain Zhou is upright and honorable in my heart; he definitely wouldn’t do anything to me.”

Zhou Linchuan’s pupils contracted.

Upright and honorable? Him?

Such an evaluation was truly rare.

For a moment, he wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or angry.

Because she had put him on such a high pedestal.

And he, at this moment, was shamefully reacting.

She didn’t see him as a hot-blooded young man.

This, even more, made him feel as if a lump was stuck in his chest, making him feel suffocated.

Wen Ci, seeing his expression change, knew her provocation had worked.

She just wondered, what would he do to her next?

”Sleep. Don’t move again.”

However, the man only left that one sentence, then lay down and pulled the covers over himself.

Wen Ci was stunned for a moment, clearly not expecting that.

It wasn’t until a chill spread across her shoulder that she seemed to snap awake, pulled her clothes back up, and lay down to sleep.

But in her heart, she couldn’t help but grumble.

Could he really be a true gentleman?

But she had plenty of tricks up her sleeve.

Only when he realized the woman beside him was asleep did Zhou Linchuan finally turn over and lie flat on the edge of the bed, his entire body rigid.

He kept his eyes open, staring at the pitch-black ceiling beam, with Wen Ci’s even, light breathing beside him.

He couldn’t sleep.

Completely unable to sleep.

The woman beside him was less than half an arm’s length away. He could even smell the faint fragrance in her hair, mixed with a subtle, almost imperceptible sweetness, like a kind of secret allure, seeping into his lungs bit by bit.

It was as if she was deliberately enticing and provoking the hidden, somewhat uncontrollable desires in his heart.

What made him even more irritated was that she had been about to take off her clothes right in front of him, and said those things.

Did she even see him as a man?!

Zhou Linchuan clenched his back teeth, his knuckles cracking.

The military belt was still in the middle of the bed, but he felt that boundary was practically useless.

Her presence was too strong.

So strong that he couldn’t sleep at all, his mind filled with all sorts of images.

Just as Zhou Linchuan closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down, Wen Ci beside him suddenly trembled slightly.

”Mmm…”

A faint whimper escaped her lips, as if she was entangled by something terrifying.

Zhou Linchuan’s eyes snapped open, and he turned his head to look.

Moonlight filtered through the window crack, shining on her slightly furrowed brow.

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

Her eyelashes fluttered intensely, her lips unconsciously bit, fine beads of sweat seeped from her forehead, and her entire body was curled into a ball, as if she had fallen into an extremely painful dream.

”No, don’t…”

She mumbled incoherently, her fingers clutching the corner of the quilt so tightly her knuckles turned white.

Zhou Linchuan frowned, subconsciously propping himself up, ”Wen Ci?”

No response.

Her breathing became more and more rapid. Suddenly, she gave a violent jerk and rolled over towards him.

Directly into his arms.

Her soft, fragrant body pressed against him, and Zhou Linchuan stiffened all over.

Her forehead rested in the hollow of his neck, her breath astonishingly hot, and her fingers unconsciously clutched his lapel, like a drowning person grasping a piece of driftwood.

”Don’t, don’t leave me… I’m scared.”

Her tearful dream-talk was like a blunt knife, stabbing fiercely into his heart.

Zhou Linchuan’s arm hung in mid-air, unsure whether to put it down or pull it back.

She was having a nightmare.

He should push her away.

But his fingers, as if with a mind of their own, slowly landed on her back and awkwardly patted her twice.

”Wake up.” His voice was hoarse, ”…It’s just a dream.”

Wen Ci, however, seemed not to hear him. Instead, she burrowed deeper into his embrace, her cheek pressed against his chest, her tears soaking his single shirt.

”Cold…”

Her cry was soft and trembling, like a frozen kitten.

Zhou Linchuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He closed his eyes, then finally, as if resigned to his fate, pulled the quilt over them, wrapping her entire body.

He was done for.

That military belt, just as he had thought, had become nothing more than a decoration.

Holding the woman’s soft, fragrant body in his arms, Zhou Linchuan’s entire body felt his blood begin to boil.

He was even more unable to sleep.

He was a hot-blooded man to begin with; at this moment, it was impossible for him to be unmoved, and his body’s reactions were beyond his control.

He gritted his teeth fiercely, wanting to directly flip over and press this impertinent woman beneath him to give her a harsh lesson.

If he did that, she would definitely never dare to approach him so easily again.

But then he remembered how she had just said with such sincerity that he was upright and honorable, and the surge of blood could only burn within his own body.

So annoying.

Lying in the man’s warm, broad embrace, Wen Ci secretly curved her lips in her ”nightmare.”

Her face was still buried in his chest, and she could clearly hear his violent heartbeat.

Thump, thump, thump.

Each beat was heavy and fast, making her eardrums tingle.

She deliberately rubbed against him again, her knee ”accidentally” brushing his leg, clearly feeling the uncontrollable reaction in a certain area, and her breath hitched slightly.

Zhou Linchuan’s muscles suddenly tensed. He grabbed her restless leg and spoke directly, his voice dangerous, ”Wen Ci, try moving again?”

Wen Ci pretended to be startled awake, groggily opening her eyes and looking at him with wet, innocent eyes, ”Captain Zhou…? Did something happen?”

Their eyes met.

Her eyelashes still held tears, her lips were bitten crimson, and she was curled up in his arms like a startled rabbit.

Zhou Linchuan’s jaw tightened even more, and his breathing became erratic.