5: Chapter 5: Surrounded by that man's scent?

"Click."

The crisp sound of the bathroom door locking echoed in the small space.

Leng Qingxuan leaned her back against the door, her body slowly sliding down until she was squatting on the cold tiles.

She gasped for breath, as if she had just surfaced from the deep sea.

That suffocating sense of pressure was finally shut out by this door.

She raised her left hand and, by the warm yellow light of the bathroom, stared blankly at her palm.

Another person's body heat seemed to still linger on it.

That dry, searing touch was like a branding iron, not only searing her skin but burning all the way to her heart along her nerve endings.

"I... I really did it."

Leng Qingxuan murmured to herself, the corners of her mouth curling up uncontrollably until it turned into a somewhat neurotic giggle.

Running away from home.

Deceiving her mother.

Even going so far as to hold onto a boy's hand and not let go.

Each and every one of these things would have been absolutely unthinkable in the past.

But now, a current of what could be called a "sense of taboo" surged through her body, mixed with the relief of having escaped, leaving her in an extremely excited state.

"Is this... the taste of freedom?"

She stood up and patted her slightly burning cheeks.

The girl in the mirror had flushed cheeks and misty eyes; where was even a hint of her usual cold, distant demeanor?

She looked just like a little mouse that had just stolen some lamp oil.

"I can't think about it anymore, it gets weirder the more I do."

Leng Qingxuan shook her head, trying to shake the messy images out of her mind.

She took a deep breath and began to undress.

Even though she was in someone else's home, her ingrained upbringing made her maintain an almost obsessive-compulsive neatness even now.

Her hoodie was folded into a neat square, her jeans smoothed of wrinkles, and along with her underwear, they were stacked tidily on the bathroom sink shelf.

Having done all this, she stood barefoot on the non-slip mat and turned toward the shower area.

Then, she froze.

In front of her wasn't the kind of all-touch, constant-temperature, voice-assisted smart shower system she had at home.

It was... a hunk of iron.

A metal handle protruded from the wall, connected to a faucet below and a showerhead above.

No screen.

No temperature display.

There wasn't even an "On/Off" label.

Only beneath the handle were a red dot and a blue dot.

"Is this... an antique?"

Leng Qingxuan tilted her head, staring blankly at the device as if she were studying alien technology.

She tentatively reached out a finger and poked the handle.

It didn't budge.

"Is it broken?"

She frowned.

Her first instinct was to call for Huang Mao.

"Huang Mao, how does this..."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she suddenly covered it, looking down at her dazzlingly white body.

No.

Absolutely not.

If she let him in now, this wouldn't be a "staying over" episode, but a direct fast-forward to some indescribable paid content.

"Calm down, Leng Qingxuan."

She encouraged herself inwardly, "Even though I haven't started washing yet, I could put my clothes back on before calling him for help... but you're a pro gamer who can solo high-difficulty dungeons; can a mere shower device really stump you?"

This must be some kind of mechanism too.

Since it's a mechanism, there's a logic to cracking it.

Red and blue represent hot and cold; that's common sense.

So, where's the switch?

She tried pulling the handle upward.

"Splash—!"

A stream of bone-chillingly cold water instantly poured down from above, soaking her completely while she was off guard.

"Ah—!"

Leng Qingxuan let out a short cry of alarm and jumped back like a startled cat, her back pressed against the cold tiles as she shivered.

"Cold, cold, cold, cold, cold!"

She hugged her shoulders, her teeth chattering, as she glared at the showerhead that was still spraying water.

So it's a pull-up type!

If pulling it up is 'on,' then temperature adjustment should be rotating it left and right.

She carefully reached out, as if defusing a time bomb, and turned the handle slightly toward the red side.

The water temperature didn't change.

Turned it a bit more.

Still no change.

"Is it broken?"

She gritted her teeth and turned it all the way.

Three seconds later.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!"

This time, she almost cooked herself.

...

In the living room downstairs.

Huang Mao was slumped on the sofa, scrolling through short videos.

On the screen, a scantily clad young lady was swaying her hips to the most popular brainwashing hit song of the moment.

But he watched for a long while without actually noticing whether her legs were long or short.

His ears were pricked like antennas, unconsciously catching the sounds from the second floor.

That faint scream just now... was it an illusion?

Huang Mao turned up the volume on his phone, trying to drown out the splashing sound of water from upstairs.

But the mind is a funny thing; the more you try not to think about something, the more active it becomes.

As soon as he closed his eyes, the image of Leng Qingxuan looking like a pear blossom in the rain, tightly gripping his hand, would automatically appear.

And that tearful plea, "Lend me your hand for a moment."

"Tsk."

Huang Mao irritably tossed his phone aside and looked up at the ceiling.

"What a mess."

That kind of family environment...

Although Huang Mao hadn't experienced it, he could feel that suffocating desire for control just from listening to that phone call.

No wonder she turned out like that.

On the surface, she's a cold goddess who keeps people at a distance, but in reality, she's a shut-in who flourishes with just a little sunshine and can survive on nothing but an internet connection.

This contrast is indeed a bit... cute?

"Stop."

Huang Mao slapped himself. "She's here for refuge, not to be the heroine in your dating sim."

"And a young lady like her might seem soft and cute now because she's in trouble, but once she adapts in a few days, who knows how she'll torment people."

Maybe she'll start complaining the bed is too hard tomorrow and start being picky about the food not suiting her taste the day after.

By then, it'll be easy to invite the deity in but hard to send them away.

...

In the bathroom.

After a five-minute "man-machine game," Leng Qingxuan finally mastered the temperament of this old-fashioned showerhead.

Turning it 37.5 degrees to the left was the optimal temperature.

One degree more would scald her skin; one degree less would be bone-chilling.

The warm stream of water flowed down her hair, washing away the chill and the shock from her body.

The bathroom was filled with steam.

Leng Qingxuan closed her eyes, letting the water wash over her body as her tense nerves finally relaxed completely.

She reached out, groping for the nearby shelf.

It was empty.

Except for a solitary bottle, there was nothing.

She only then remembered that her huge suitcase was half-filled with figurines, but she had completely forgotten to pack any toiletries.

"I'll have to use his..."

Leng Qingxuan picked up the deep blue bottle.

It had no fancy packaging; it just said "Men's Refreshing Body Wash, Ice Sea Mint Scent."

She squeezed out a pump and applied it to her body.

The lather was rich, carrying a sharp minty scent along with a faint hint of tobacco and woody notes.

This was... the scent of Huang Mao.

She had caught this faint scent when he was chopping vegetables in the kitchen and when he was sitting on the sofa earlier.

It wasn't unpleasant.

Instead, it had a reassuring sense of depth.

Leng Qingxuan watched her body being covered in white foam, with the man's scent lingering around her nose.

A strange association suddenly popped up from the depths of her mind.

Could this be considered... being enveloped by his scent?

Just like in that shoujo manga she read a few days ago—the male lead held the female lead tightly in his arms, burying his head in the crook of her neck as their breaths mingled...

"Ugh..."

Leng Qingxuan's face instantly turned bright red, and even her neck was tinged with pink.

What was she thinking!

It's just body wash! Just an ordinary chemical cleanser!

Don't give such an everyday item some weird, sappy romantic meaning!

But...

It really feels like it.

She leaned against the wet wall tiles, her body feeling slightly weak.

That sense of relaxation she'd never had at home, mixed with the ambiguous atmosphere of this moment, caused a long-suppressed impulse in her heart to quietly peek out.

In that house, the bathroom was the only place without surveillance blind spots where she could briefly be herself.

Whenever the pressure became unbearable, she would hide in the bathroom, turn on the shower, and use some unspeakable methods to release the stress under the cover of the water's sound.

And today...

After such a thrilling night, that desire seemed even stronger than usual.

"No."

Leng Qingxuan shook her head vigorously, suppressing that dangerous thought.

This is someone else's house.

And Huang Mao is right downstairs.

If she made any noise...

She didn't dare let her imagination run wild any further, hurriedly rinsing off the foam and turning off the faucet.

The world instantly fell silent.

Only the sound of water droplets remained.

"Phew..."

Leng Qingxuan let out a long breath, reached out to wipe the fog off the mirror, and looked at her peach-blossom-like face in the reflection.

"Finished washing. Time to go out."

She turned around and habitually reached for a towel.

Her hand met empty air.

Leng Qingxuan froze for a moment, her gaze scanning the bathroom.

Where a towel should have been hanging, there was now only air.

Wait.

Did she... forget to bring a towel?

Huang Mao had said earlier that there were new towels in the room's drawer.

And her mind had been such a mess that she had just blindly rushed into the bathroom...

Leng Qingxuan froze in place.

...

Downstairs.

Huang Mao was still scrolling through videos.

Suddenly, an extremely soft and uncertain call came from upstairs.

If one didn't listen closely, it might even be mistaken for the wind.

"Um... Huang Mao? Can you hear me?"

The voice came from the direction of the bathroom, carrying a hint of trembling and shame.

Huang Mao paused and looked up toward the second floor.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Silence followed for a few seconds upstairs.

Then, the voice sounded again, even softer than before, like the humming of a mosquito.

"Could you... could you come up for a moment?"