Chapter 115: Touch the Abs

The three girls Li Luo knew all had long hair.

But Ying Chanxi's long hair was shoulder-length, the ends just brushing her shoulders, giving her a distinctly student-like air.

Especially when she tied it up into a high ponytail, the short tail would curl up at the back of her head, looking incredibly cute.

In comparison, Xu Youyu's hair was slightly longer, but only just past her shoulders.

Moreover, Xu Youyu's hair wasn't very thick, possibly due to her frequent late nights.

This made her long hair look particularly flowing, lifting gently whenever the wind blew.

Among the three, Yan Zhusheng's hair was the blackest, longest, and thickest—not only long, but also of excellent texture.

It seemed related to her healthy routine and physical exercise.

When Yan Zhusheng let her hair down, the ends reached nearly to her lower back.

Even when tied into a high ponytail, it swayed as she walked, lightly tapping against her back.

At this moment, Ying Chanxi pinched a strand of long hair.

Judging by its length, Ying Chanxi was certain it wasn't hers, nor was it Xu Youyu's.

So…

"When did Zhusheng come over?"

"Huh?" Li Luo paused, glanced at the hair in Ying Chanxi's hand, then laughed, "Probably hers."

"Today, after you went to school for competition training in the afternoon, I started cooking here."

"Senior sister came back in the afternoon and asked if I should invite Yan Zhusheng over for dinner—I said yes, so she called her."

"After dinner, I went to my room to play computer games, and around six, Yan Zhusheng came in to call me."

"I told her to wait until I finished the game, so she sat beside me and waited."

Hearing Li Luo explain so clearly, Ying Chanxi pursed her lips, unsure whether to be happy or angry.

Of course, she didn't believe there was anything real between Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng.

But holding the hair in her hand, Ying Chanxi took a deep breath and tossed it into the trash.

Then she told Li Luo to move the pillow and bedding aside, grabbed the sheet with both hands, yanked it off, carried it to the bathroom, and shoved it into the washing machine with her own sheets.

Back in Li Luo's bedroom, she picked up the clean sheet and neatly remade his bed, tucking all four corners tightly.

"There." Ying Chanxi clapped her hands, nodded approvingly at the fresh sheet, then looked at Li Luo and asked, "Are you going to sleep?"

"I'll take a shower first." Li Luo pointed to the bathroom in the bedroom.

"Oh, go ahead." Ying Chanxi nodded. "Can I play on the computer for a bit?"

"Sure." Li Luo's expression was calm; he wasn't worried about her discovering he wrote novels, since he always hid all software and webpages related to fiction.

So Li Luo took his change of clothes and entered the bathroom.

Ying Chanxi sat down at the computer, turned it on, and listened to the sound of running water from the bathroom, but had no idea what to do.

She had no habit of snooping on others' privacy, so she didn't rummage through the computer—only logged into QQ.

Unlike most people's QQ, as soon as Ying Chanxi logged in, the friend request page was completely red.

Dozens of new friend requests popped up, mostly from boys at school.

Ying Chanxi sighed and clicked "reject" one by one, ignoring everyone except classmates or people she knew from clubs.

Even so, her QQ friend list was packed with all kinds of boys who had added her out of admiration—it was exhausting.

Especially some bold, thick-skinned boys who constantly sent her messages.

Ordinary greetings were fine, but some were downright creepy, asking overly personal questions.

When this happened, Ying Chanxi could only ignore them—even hesitated to block them.

Block too many, and rumors might spread behind her back.

Even though Ying Chanxi wasn't especially cold-hearted at school, the boys all felt she was.

A message on QQ might get a reply only after several days.

But they didn't realize they were sending messages to Ying Chanxi alone, while she had to handle dozens.

When the volume got high, it became genuinely annoying.

Over time, Ying Chanxi only logged into QQ when absolutely necessary; if she needed to contact classmates or friends, she called or texted directly.

Today, she'd logged in for the first time in a while—and dozens of new messages were flashing.

Ying Chanxi quickly scanned them, deleted chat boxes from strangers as if she'd never seen them.

For those she knew a bit, she replied politely with a single sentence.

Among them were classmates like Liu Shaowen and Xie Shuchen.

【Liu Shaowen】: I heard you like plushies, so I sent you one this Saturday—a little dinosaur. Hope you like it.

Ying Chanxi frowned, trying hard to recall where Li Luo had put that little dinosaur, but couldn't remember.

Still, she replied, "Thank you."

【Xie Shuchen】: I'm now in charge of guitar in the rock club—we'll perform at the opening and closing ceremonies of the sports meet.

【Xie Shuchen】: Sigh… several seniors and juniors are away for competitions, and the band almost couldn't get enough members, but we barely made it.

【Xie Shuchen】: But I switched to keyboard to fill the gap—hope we can gel smoothly.

【Xie Shuchen】: And now they want us to perform at the parent-teacher meeting too—playing in front of parents… I wonder if your dad or mom will come? I hope my performance won't disappoint them.

It felt like he was treating his QQ like a confessional, dropping messages every few days.

Ying Chanxi didn't know what to say, so she replied, "Good luck," then closed the chat.

She sighed, bored, opened QQ Space, scrolled aimlessly for a while, then her gaze drifted to Li Luo's bed.

Thinking of the strand of hair earlier, Ying Chanxi didn't know why, but suddenly stood up, walked to the bed, and sat on the spot where Yan Zhusheng had sat.

After sitting there briefly, Ying Chanxi suddenly felt this behavior was silly, and quickly stood up, returning to the desk.

When Li Luo finished bathing, changed clothes, and walked out of the bathroom, towel in hand, heading for the table, Ying Chanxi rose and walked toward the living room, saying to him, "I'll get the hair dryer, you sit down."

"Oh." Li Luo sat on the chair, glanced at the computer screen, then nodded in relief, confirming Ying Chanxi hadn't noticed anything.

It seemed he'd just logged into QQ.

Li Luo glanced at Ying Chanxi's QQ avatar, and soon heard footsteps pattering outside the door.

Ying Chanxi walked in with the hair dryer, plugged it in, removed the towel from his head, and began drying his hair.

At that moment, Ying Chanxi's QQ avatar suddenly flickered—someone had sent her a message.

"Should I open it?" Li Luo gripped the mouse and asked.

"Take a look—if it's not someone you know, ignore it," Ying Chanxi replied offhandedly.

So Li Luo opened the chat window.

The next second, a selfie of a six-pack appeared on the computer screen.

For a moment, both of them froze.

"Who is this guy?" Li Luo frowned at the nickname—no alias saved—and glanced at the background of the six-pack photo; it looked like a dorm bathroom, "So sleazy? Why send a photo out of nowhere?"

"I don't know him," Ying Chanxi frowned and shook her head. "Delete it."

"Does this happen often?" Li Luo asked curiously as he deleted it.

"Not often, but occasionally people like this do show up," Ying Chanxi sighed. "That one was actually pretty decent—there are even grosser ones."

"Where's it decent?" Li Luo snorted. "Everyone has abs—I have them too."

"Really?" Ying Chanxi glanced at Li Luo, her eyes instinctively drifting toward his collar.

"Where are you looking?" Li Luo covered his chest, eyeing her suspiciously.

Ying Chanxi's cheeks flushed red under his gaze, and she impatiently tapped his head. "Like I'm dying to see it or something."

"If you want to see, it's fine."

"... I don't want to see, but I don't believe you have abs."

"Here." Li Luo turned sideways, lifted his shirt off his stomach—flash—and immediately pulled it back down. "See? Real ones!"

"You covered it too fast—what was I supposed to see?" Ying Chanxi set the hair dryer aside, exasperated. "Let me check again."

"Hey hey hey, don't go sticking your hands everywhere!"

After a bit of commotion, Ying Chanxi grabbed the hair dryer and ran off.

After putting the hair dryer away and returning to her bedroom, Ying Chanxi's flushed cheeks slowly calmed.

Lying in bed, she softly sniffed the blanket Li Luo had given her as a child, then turned to look at the Pikachu plush on her nightstand.

She reached out, pulled Pikachu into her arms, and lightly punched it.

But then she thought better of it, felt embarrassed, stroked Pikachu's head, and whispered, "Sorry."

Finally, her mood improved. She lay back, hugged the panda plush on the other side, and drifted into a sweet sleep.