178: Chapter 178 Why is your head so hard? You're really "stubborn"!

Watching his reaction, Shen Qingxue couldn't suppress the curve of her lips no matter what, but she still couldn't help teasing him verbally.

"Why are you so excited?"

"I'm excited? When am I excited?"

Only then did Lu Li realize that his expression seemed a bit exaggerated, and he quickly cleared his throat, pretending to act nonchalant.

"I just... um... think you're right, it has to be convenient everywhere... and what you said is also quite right."

As he continued, his voice grew softer and softer, his gaze drifting away.

The living room fell silent for a few seconds.

"Then why were you... so nervous just now?"

Shen Qingxue's voice suddenly came from behind him.

Lu Li didn't turn back, but he could feel her gaze landing squarely on the back of his head.

"... What nervousness?"

"When I mentioned money, you interrupted me and said there was no rush to move out."

Shen Qingxue's tone was calm and casual, as if she were stating a completely ordinary fact.

"What are you afraid of?"

Lu Li's fingers curled slightly.

What was he afraid of?

Afraid that you would leave, obviously.

Lu Li took a deep breath, turned around to face her, and tried his best to make his expression natural.

"Afraid that you'd run away, what else?"

Shen Qingxue's breathing involuntarily paused for half a second.

"Besides... the cooperative relationship I managed to build up would just dissolve like that, wouldn't I lose out big time?"

As he spoke, Lu Li chuckled himself, attempting to lightly brush past the topic in this half-joking manner.

But Shen Qingxue didn't laugh.

She just looked at him like that, her gaze falling on his face as if trying to discern which parts of his words were true and which were false.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable under her gaze, Lu Li instinctively rubbed his nose.

"Why are you looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

"No."

Shen Qingxue withdrew her gaze and lowered her head.

The living room was quiet for two seconds.

"Then... can I take it that..."

Shen Qingxue's voice was very soft, so soft that Lu Li almost thought he had misheard.

"You also hope I will stay?"

Lu Li's heartbeat skipped a beat.

He opened his mouth, originally intending to find an excuse to gloss it over.

But looking at her slightly red earlobes, those words stuck in his throat, and he couldn't say a single word.

"... Yeah."

In the end, he only responded softly.

Shen Qingxue's fingers stopped moving.

The air grew very quiet at that moment.

Lu Li stood in front of her, with the distance of a coffee table separating the two of them.

He didn't know where he got the courage; perhaps because that "yeah" had already been spoken aloud, his retreat was cut off.

Therefore, Lu Li hardened his heart.

He walked around the coffee table and sat down beside her.

Shen Qingxue's body stiffened noticeably, clearly not expecting this action from him, but unexpectedly, she didn't dodge.

Lu Li tilted his head to look at her, his gaze falling on her slightly fluttering eyelashes.

"You said just now... that you didn't want to move away."

His voice was a bit lower than before, carrying a trace of seriousness that even he hadn't noticed.

"I really want to confirm, does your not moving away refer only to the house, or... does it also include the person?"

Shen Qingxue's breathing was noticeably disrupted.

She turned her head away without looking at him, but she didn't stand up and leave either.

"What do you mean by that?"

Her voice was a bit tight, as if she were struggling to maintain her outward composure.

Lu Li didn't answer immediately, his gaze falling on the profile of her cheek.

He couldn't tell where that impulse came from; just looking at her slightly flushed earlobes and her lightly pursed lips made his heartbeat start accelerating uncontrollably.

"... Exactly what it sounds like."

Shen Qingxue's fingers were twisted together, the tension within her magnified infinitely.

Lu Li was too close to her.

She could smell the faint scent of laundry detergent on him, fresh and clean, the same scent as when he had leaned in to guide her singing earlier.

But this time, he leaned in even closer.

"Lu Li..."

Shen Qingxue spoke, her voice somewhat ethereal, and even she didn't know what she was going to say next.

Lu Li looked at her.

He looked at her eyelashes, at the corners of her slightly trembling lips, and at those aloof eyes that were now shimmering with an unprecedented watery sheen.

He subconsciously leaned his body forward.

Shen Qingxue's shoulders tensed slightly for a split second, but she didn't back away.

The distance between the two of them instantly shrank from half a fist to the width of two fingers.

Lu Li could feel that his heartbeat had become ridiculously fast.

"You..."

Shen Qingxue's voice was very soft, carrying a slight tremor.

"With you leaning so close, are you... wanting to kiss me?"

Lu Li swallowed hard.

He didn't speak, but he didn't back away either.

The air at that moment grew scorching hot, ambiguous, and almost viscous.

Shen Qingxue's gaze fell on his lips close at hand, her eyelashes trembled, and then she raised her chin slightly, looking like she was ready for the taking.

This is...

Lu Li's heart rate soared wildly at this moment, and his whole body felt a bit floaty.

Shen Qingxue's action was too subtle; under normal circumstances, Lu Li definitely wouldn't have noticed it.

But at this moment when even the air was thick,

what this action represented needed no further elaboration.

Thinking of this, Lu Li carried his floating body and leaned straight in...

The next second...

"Thud."

A muffled sound.

Their foreheads bumped into each other. The force wasn't big, but the location was too precise, precise enough that their nose tips also collided solidly.

"Hiss—"

"Ah, my head..."

Almost simultaneously, the two of them sprang backward, each covering their nose and forehead with identical expressions.

The ambiguous atmosphere in the living room instantly vanished into thin air.

Holding his aching nasal bridge, Lu Li felt like tears were about to burst out.

The pain was secondary; the main thing was the embarrassment.

That kind of embarrassment surged all the way from the soles of his feet to his crown, making him wish he could dig a hole on the spot and bury himself.

Come on, bro, why did this happen at the most critical moment?

Opposite him, Shen Qingxue wasn't doing much better, covering her forehead with one hand and her nose with the other, her eye sockets flushing red.

It was hard to tell whether it was from the pain or out of shyness.

"You... why is your head so hard!"

Shen Qingxue's voice was muffled behind her palms, carrying a hint of anger mixed with embarrassment.

Lu Li rubbed his nasal bridge, using the action to mask his embarrassment.

Cough cough, well, there was no helping it. He was too used to being single and had never kissed anyone before. Even if he was given the chance, he wouldn't know how.

The living room fell into a suffocating silence.

One of them was covering their face while the other lowered their head, neither daring to look at the other.

After quite a while, Lu Li finally put his hand down and tentatively glanced at Shen Qingxue.

The tip of her nose was still slightly red, and a layer of moisture remained in her eyes, grievance and shyness intertwined together.

"Uhm..."

Lu Li spoke up, his voice much lower than before.

"Are you... is your nose okay?"

Shen Qingxue turned her head away and refused to look at him.

"Mind your own business."

"I didn't mean to..."

"I know."

Her voice was muffled, though the gunpowder smell in her tone had dissipated somewhat.

Looking at her slightly red nose tip and forehead, Lu Li felt that trace of embarrassment in his heart gradually replaced by another emotion.

He wanted to reach out and check how badly she was hit, but halfway through, he pulled his hand back.

Shen Qingxue seemed to notice his movement, turned her head to glance at his retracted hand, and lightly pursed her lips.

Neither of them moved.