Chapter 32: Love Is a Fool's Game

"Morning, Jin Cheng. Hmm? Did you not sleep well last night?"

Why bring up the very thing she didn't want to think about!

It's not even properly morning yet, and she can't even eat breakfast in peace.

Jin Cheng listlessly greeted Guli Nazha, the fatigue on her face indeed rather obvious.

Unlike Nazha, who was like a cheerful lark, chattering away first thing in the morning, flashing a smile at everyone she saw.

The people who came to eat breakfast today were all in pretty good moods; even if they had a bit of grumpiness from just waking up, seeing a great beauty smile at them would mostly melt that irritation away.

But Jin Cheng said she couldn't bring herself to be happy, and that was also Guli Nazha's fault.

Why the hell are you still tangling with that "monster"?! Just take him in already!

Leaving him out "here" like this — isn't that just harming people?

Smells exactly like fishing!

Yesterday Jin Cheng only horsed around a little, and nearly horsed herself right out of existence.

Honestly, she still didn't quite understand how she had managed to escape from the gym last night.

Logically speaking, there was no way she could've gotten away!

With one hand he could've pinned her down and taken whatever he wanted... when he held her, the veins on his arms popped out in an instant, it almost made her think she was going to be "torn apart."

Even now she still remembered the look in Bai Liang's eyes when she glanced back at him last night.

Half-lidded, staring straight at her — restrained, endured, fierce... and a little guilty.

Like a wolf about to finally sink its teeth into meat, fangs already grazing the vein — and then the meat suddenly bolted.

Jin Cheng thought about it all night, and figured the reason she could still cause trouble and slip away was...

Even though the wolf could catch the meat, it had voluntarily chained itself up!

The more she thought about it, the more apt the image felt.

Could this guy's usual gentle, well-behaved demeanor all be an act?

Are people with good acting skills really that scary?!

At that moment, her "superb" hearing also picked up some chatter from the next table.

It was Nazha whispering with her little assistant.

They seemed to be discussing Bai Liang... saying he was a bit slow, dopey, maybe not very perceptive in certain areas...

Bullshit!

Jin Cheng almost jumped up to argue.

Bai Liang, "not perceptive"?

Speaking responsibly, this guy was so perceptive he was about to cry out!

Absolutely touch-and-go, instant explosion!

She had plenty of say on this matter — because of what happened yesterday, she had quite a lot of laundry to do today.

After listening a while longer — oh~ so they meant not perceptive when it comes to feelings.

Well, never mind then.

"Good morning."

The familiar voice came; Nazha raised a smiling face to greet him, but Jin Cheng instinctively shivered all over.

However, this time Bai Liang didn't habitually sit next to Nazha — instead he sat at Jin Cheng's table, facing her.

Nazha found this a little odd, but didn't think much of it; after all, these two had been sticking together a lot lately because of their scenes.

Mm... Bai Liang's performance was still pretty reassuring.

It was just Jin Cheng who was a bit strange — after Bai Liang sat down, she kept her head down eating.

Nazha didn't pay it much mind, but her little assistant glanced over several more times, seeming to sense something was off.

The words rose to her lips, but in the end she said nothing, keeping her mouth shut.

"Um, about last night — sorry about that." Bai Liang said evenly.

Jin Cheng pressed her legs tightly together, still not daring to look up: "It's fine, it's fine... mainly my fault."

"That's actually what I wanted to tell you."

"To be honest..."

"There's a saying — first come, first served."

"Huh?"

At this point, Jin Cheng's face couldn't quite hold it anymore, and she raised her head.

What, am I that bad?

Bai Liang: It's not that bad~

If Nazha was the classic great beauty — the kind you can tell at a glance, wide-open-door obvious —

Then Jin Cheng might not win on looks alone, but she had other points in her favor.

For instance... she really did have some strength to her~

When Bai Liang pinned her down last night, it didn't feel much easier than pinning down a New Year pig.

Ahem — to be precise, there was a kind of taut, wiry flavor to it, a sort of powerful beauty, quite gripping.

A different kind of sexiness.

But love is a fool's game; two smart people can't really play it at the same time.

Usually it works better with one smart person and one fool.

Of course, if both are fools, they play even wilder.

Even from the angle of being a kept man it's the same — silly and cute when money's not involved, silly and easy to scam when it is...

Bai Liang wasn't some outrageous "moral crusader" — when he was single and a pretty girl came onto him, letting loose a little now and then was no big deal.

Of course, normally he wasn't single all that often; his gap periods were always short.

Most of the time he didn't even get the chance to "let loose" — basically just safe driving.

But his current situation might fall under "Schrödinger's single."

That's why he was worried she might be serious about it — in which case, of course, he'd have to make things clear.

He'd actually wanted to ask yesterday, but Jin Cheng ran off too fast......

Besides, last night he'd still been somewhat "out of control," and the whole scene had played out like "I'd gladly be entwined with the Young Lady — if not, give me two or three years."

He'd almost entered a "no beef" state.

Jin Cheng:....... You're quite sincere, huh.

It made her seem rather immature yesterday.

Honestly, it'd have been better to just close her eyes and enjoy it last night — now she's somehow remembering the feel of the muscles on Bai Liang's body again.

"Get lost!" Jin Cheng rubbed her face hard and said viciously.

"I haven't finished talking~"

"If you don't leave, sis is going to lose it and have her way with you right now!"

Fine, fine, fine~ Rolling out then~

After Bai Liang "rolled out," Jin Cheng flopped down on the bed in misery, her defenses inexplicably crumbling, folks.

In League of Legends there's a champion called Fiora, who has a passive that lets her strike an enemy's vitals to deal true damage.

But the vitals only refresh on the "enemy" when you get close.

Jin Cheng was now regretting it....... she'd approached out of curiosity, only to get hit by a pile of true damage.

Some of it was even just his unintentional AOE.

Of course, Fiora's ultimate is the strongest: after the R, the "enemy's" whole body is full of vitals.

But the problem now was, the ultimate hadn't even been cast and her health bar was already empty.

The worst part was, that very afternoon, their lips collided again!

The normally brash Jin Cheng was suddenly full of mistakes, frustrating even the director — hold on, I didn't realize you were this shy?

This scene wasn't actually that complicated — just two people embracing and kissing for a few seconds.

If both actors found each other somewhat off-putting, a light touch to make it look good while staying still would also work.

They could even discuss it ahead of time and do an angle trick or something.

But the director quickly "saw through it" — Jin Cheng wasn't shy, nor did she dislike Bai Liang.

On the contrary, she was probably very interested!

This was clearly just using NG after NG as an excuse to kiss over and over.

Director: Fine, it's not like I can't allow it — youth is wonderful~

Bai Liang: Damn, is there still justice in this world? Is there still law?

Swap the genders — if he'd pulled this, he'd probably get accused of sexual harassment......

Still, after the final take, Jin Cheng wiped her mouth and said guiltily, "It wasn't on purpose, don't read into it."

She really hadn't done it on purpose — mainly her mind was in a mess; she'd almost couldn't help sticking her tongue out just now.

"Jin Da Xi, I trust you — after all, you didn't eat garlic......"

"Don't call me Da Xi, it feels weird." She turned her head away, not daring to meet Bai Liang's eyes.

Bai Liang:???

He couldn't call her Cheng Cheng~~, could he? That'd feel even weirder, almost greasy!

"Ahem, let me warn you — you might be in trouble."

After saying that, Jin Cheng took off on the spot, though a smile inexplicably rose to her face.

At that moment, Bai Liang seemed to awaken his Observation Haki, turned his head, and looked — sure enough!

That Zha had somehow wandered over from god-knows-where and god-knows-when, and was standing there with her little hands behind her back, observing.

Even though her face was expressionless, she was actually putting on a tsundere act of "I'm just watching, I won't say anything."