26: Chapter 26 A Rational Monster?

The splashing sound of water finally stopped.

Huang Mao turned off the showerhead and casually wrung out the green scrubbing towel that had done such meritorious service, hanging it back on the wall hook. His movements were fluid, carrying the crisp air of "clocking out for the day."

"Service concluded."

He straightened his back, his gaze sweeping over the two girls in front of him, their skin flushed and their eyes dazed. His tone was as flat as if he were notifying them that a package had been delivered.

Without any superfluous nonsense, that charming yet hardcore scrubbing session seemed to be nothing more than manual labor in his eyes.

"Alright, hurry up and dry off."

Huang Mao pointed to the bathroom heater switch on the wall next to them, urging them like a worried father: "Turn on the hot air to dry off; don't catch a cold. This thing should feel more comfortable than drying with a towel, and it'll prevent you from catching a chill."

After saying this, he didn't even spare another glance at the two delicate bodies that would have made any man's blood boil. He turned, pushed the door open, and walked out.

"Click."

The bathroom door closed again, sealing off the humid, warm steam inside.

The air in the hallway was slightly cool, carrying the unique silence of the night.

Huang Mao leaned his back against the door, tilted his head up, and let out a long, heavy breath.

His gaze fell on a point in the void, his eyes somewhat unfocused.

A few seconds later, he slowly raised his left hand and held it before his eyes.

His slender fingers curled slightly in the air, as if confirming some lingering sensation.

"Tsk."

Huang Mao clicked his tongue, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down. He paused for two seconds while maintaining that curled-finger posture.

Afterward, the expression on his face returned to its usual placid look. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his oversized shorts and walked toward the master bedroom as if nothing had happened.

...

Inside the bathroom.

As the sound of the door locking echoed, the previously tense atmosphere instantly relaxed.

An Ran practically launched herself, rushing over to lock the door and casually turning on the bathroom heater's hot air function.

The warm air blew down from above, instantly dispelling the faint, lingering awkwardness from just a moment ago.

"Phew—that scared me to death."

An Ran sat unceremoniously on the small stool, and while wiping the water droplets off her body haphazardly with the blue bath towel, she couldn't help but complain:

"Is that it? I thought… I thought something would actually happen."

Although she spoke with regret, the expression on her face was clearly one of relief.

That contradictory feeling of both anticipation and fear found a perfect balance in this moment.

"But to be fair, his skills are actually quite good." An Ran moved her shoulders, feeling as if her bones had become lighter. "Although it hurt like hell when he was scrubbing earlier, I feel refreshed all over now."

"I only got this treatment when I was a child; a young lady like you surely hasn't experienced this, right?"

She turned her head, her eyes filled with a hint of triumph, ready to enjoy the look of defeat on Leng Qingxuan's face.

After all, according to the original plan, neither of them had managed to win over Huang Mao, so it was a draw.

But she, An Ran, had triggered the hidden achievement of "childhood memory strike," so no matter how you looked at it, she had won by a margin.

However, the anticipated counterattack did not come.

Leng Qingxuan remained in the same position, lying on the stool, not even noticing that the bath towel on her body had slipped halfway off.

She was facing away from An Ran, frozen in place as if she had crashed.

Her originally fair skin was glowing with an unnatural flush, a redness that wasn't just from the hot water and the scrubbing, but more like… the afterglow of extreme excitement.

"Hey? What's wrong with you?"

An Ran paused, reaching out to poke Leng Qingxuan's shoulder: "Are you stifled? Or was the water too hot when Huang Mao was rinsing you off?"

Leng Qingxuan's body trembled slightly.

She snapped back to reality and turned her head stiffly.

Those eyes, usually as cold as a high-mountain snow lotus, were now like melted spring water, carrying an extremely complex emotion—shock, shame, and a trace of unbelievable trembling.

"It wasn't the water temperature."

Leng Qingxuan shook her head, her voice terrifyingly calm yet trembling: "Just now… when he was scrubbing the area below my collarbone."

"Hm? What about it?" An Ran blinked, looking bewildered.

Leng Qingxuan took a deep breath, as if she had undergone some immense mental preparation, before slowly exhaling a thunderous sentence:

"I took the opportunity while you had your back turned to grab his free left hand… and pressed it against my chest."

"……"

The air suddenly went quiet.

Only the buzzing sound from the bathroom heater above echoed.

An Ran's hair-drying motion froze instantly; she looked like a screaming chicken whose neck had been grabbed.

Three seconds later, a visible redness burned from the base of her neck all the way to behind her ears.

"You, you, you… you are shameless!"

An Ran jumped up violently, her hand pointing at Leng Qingxuan trembling: "You actually… you actually launched a sneak attack! That's cheating! You!"

She cursed incoherently for a few moments, then, as if suddenly realizing something, she widened her eyes and leaned in front of Leng Qingxuan, asking in a lowered voice: "Then… then did he actually touch you?"

"He probably didn't, right?" An Ran consoled herself. "If he really made any big moves, I definitely would have noticed. It was so quiet just now…"

"There was indeed substantial contact."

Leng Qingxuan interrupted her fantasy, calmly describing the details of that moment: "Although it was through the lace fabric, he did indeed give it a squeeze. The pressure was moderate, and his palm covered it completely."

"Ahhh! Huang Mao, you big pervert!"

An Ran instantly broke down, covering her face in shame and anger. "I knew it! Men are all no good! And here I thought he was a gentleman! I'm going to go scold him to death! I'm going to…"

"However."

Leng Qingxuan spoke again, her voice rising slightly, forcing down An Ran's roaring.

She raised her head, staring intently at An Ran, and said, word by word: "His reaction after that was the most terrifying part."

An Ran was stunned: "What reaction?"

"No reaction."

A trace of deep wariness flashed in Leng Qingxuan's eyes. "There was no pause, no stiffness, not even his breathing rhythm faltered by a single beat."

"He withdrew his palm extremely naturally and continued the original scrubbing motion."

She reached out and gestured in the air, recreating the scene.

"That feeling, it was as if he hadn't touched a woman, but a piece of wood or a lump of dough. The whole process was fluid, as if that action had never happened at all."

An Ran opened her mouth wide, looking incredulous.

"This… how is this possible?"

She instinctively retorted, "No man could be that calm, right? Unless…"

An Ran's expression changed, as if she had discovered a new continent: "Unless he was distracted and didn't notice? Or… is he simply not interested in women?"

Speaking of this, a strange sense of relief actually welled up in her heart.

Although that would be a bad thing, if that were the case, it would explain why this block of wood hadn't had any thoughts about her for so many years.

She wasn't that unattractive, after all! It definitely wasn't her problem!

"No."

Leng Qingxuan shook her head, ruthlessly shattering An Ran's conjecture.

"I observed very carefully. At that moment, the roots of his ears turned red at a visible speed."

Leng Qingxuan pointed to her own ears: "That is a physiological blood congestion reaction; it can't be faked."

"This proves that his tactile nerves were working normally, his brain received the signal that it 'felt good,' and he produced the corresponding physiological feedback."

"Then… then why…" An Ran was completely bewildered.

Since he felt it and had a reaction, why could he still pretend like nothing happened?

"Let's make a hypothesis."

Leng Qingxuan sat cross-legged on the stool; her appearance didn't look like she was discussing the ambiguous contact from earlier, but rather like she was conducting a rigorous academic seminar.

"If he had shown an obvious reaction at that time, or stopped and froze, what would you have done?"

An Ran paused, instinctively placing herself in that scene.

If she discovered that Huang Mao was touching Leng Qingxuan…

"Then I wouldn't stand for it!" An Ran blurted out. "Why touch you and not me? I would definitely make a scene! I would demand equal treatment! No, I'd demand double!"

After saying this, An Ran's face turned red again.

Damn it, why did she say what was on her mind.

Leng Qingxuan nodded, an "as I expected" expression on her face.

"Correct, that was within my calculations. Once you started making a scene, to calm the situation, or rather for the sake of fairness, he would likely be forced to do the same thing to you."

"And once he made a move on you too, I wouldn't be 'satisfied' and would demand more aggressive actions."

Leng Qingxuan's eyes flickered slightly, and the corners of her mouth curled into a self-deprecating arc: "For example, removing this obstructive fabric. And given your personality, you would definitely lose your head and follow my rhythm."

An Ran listened, dumbfounded.

She wasn't that stupid; following Leng Qingxuan's logic…

The atmosphere in the bathroom would undoubtedly spiral completely out of control. Scrubbing, preventing colds—it would all become a joke.

The final result would most likely be—the three of them, honest and open with each other, perhaps even…

"So…"

An Ran was silent for a few seconds and swallowed her saliva. "You mean, he acted as if nothing happened just to avoid things developing in that direction?"

"Emergency avoidance."

Leng Qingxuan spat out these four words, her gaze complex to the extreme.

"In less than a second after feeling the touch, his brain completed all this logical deduction."

"He anticipated my anticipation, and he also anticipated your reaction. He knew clearly that as long as he gave a reaction, this bathroom door might not be able to be opened for quite a while tonight."

Speaking of this, Leng Qingxuan's face flushed slightly, yet she looked directly into An Ran's eyes calmly.

"Actually… that was exactly what I was hoping for."

"I wanted to use that moment to stimulate him, and then use your competitive spirit as a catalyst to gradually push the boundaries."

"And then, if things went smoothly, the two of us could gain a huge boost in our progress in capturing him."

"But…"

Leng Qingxuan gave a bitter smile, leaning her body back against the cold tile wall.

"It was still calmly defused by him. Just like when we blocked him at the door earlier, and he just opened the door and shoved two bath towels at us."

The bathroom fell into silence.

Only the hot air from the bathroom heater continued to blow tirelessly, emitting a monotonous buzzing sound.

An Ran hugged her knees, curled up on the stool, her mind a chaotic mess.

She had always thought Huang Mao was just a gentle and slow-witted childhood sweetheart, a block of wood that needed her to "awaken" him.

But now, Leng Qingxuan's words were like a hammer, shattering her original understanding.

That Huang Mao who always smiled, cooked for her, and blew-dried her hair, that seemingly harmless "male mom," actually harbored such terrifying rationality deep within?

Facing the active advances of two top beauties, with a hand even pressed against his chest, he could actually calculate the consequences in an instant, force down his male instincts, and choose the safest path to walk away unscathed?

Is he even human?

Leng Qingxuan turned her head, her gaze piercing through the hazy mist, striking directly at An Ran.

"An Ran."

She spoke softly, her tone carrying a hint of inquiry and a subtle sense of awe.

"You are his childhood sweetheart and have known him for nearly twenty years; you should at least understand him better than I do."

"Has he always been this 'rational' in the past?"