Yun Manman abruptly sat up on the sofa and looked towards the window, where she discovered Lu Qi sitting on the windowsill with his long legs dangling.
"Qiqi? Did you come back to the capital?"
"And how long have you been sitting there? You were eavesdropping!"
Hearing her angry voice, Lu Qi felt a pang in his chest. He jumped into the room from the window, feigning nonchalance as he said, "Don't misunderstand."
"I only heard you saying goodbye."
"So were you talking about something I wasn't supposed to hear?"
Lu Qi could tell from the expression on the calico cat's face that Yun Manman hadn't agreed to anything with him.
But the Whispering Serpent always felt annoyed upon seeing this calico cat, thinking about how he and Yun Manman were once childhood friends, and feeling an inexplicable jealousy.
Yun Manman breathed a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, Lu Qi hadn't heard what she had said to Jin Luo earlier, otherwise it would have been rather awkward.
The cat's ears twitched uncomfortably: "Nothing."
"Weren't you supposed to be back in the capital? Why are you here?"
Lu Qi walked to the kitchen with familiarity, washing the strawberries he had brought and carefully trimming off the stems.
"I discovered Beastfiends appearing in Siduo City on the way, so the business in the capital wasn't urgent. I stayed to deal with this first."
Yun Manman now noticed that Lu Qi's clothes had some dried blood stains and traces of dirt, and even his usually neat hair was a bit disheveled.
She quickly put on her shoes and walked over to Lu Qi, looking him up and down: "Are you hurt? How's your mental power?"
She remembered that Lu Qi's previous mental power disorder was caused by Beastfiends.
Lu Qi was quite pleased with Yun Manman's concern, and his sour mood immediately improved.
He stuffed a large, bright red strawberry into Yun Manman's mouth, boasting: "Of course I wasn't injured."
"Someone as strong and brave as me, how could I be defeated by a few mere Beastfiends?"
The juicy, sweet-tart strawberry burst in her mouth, and Yun Manman narrowed her eyes, gently swaying her tail: "Weren't you the one whose mental power was disrupted by a single Beastfiend that night?"
She was referring to that night at Yunzheng Mansion.
Lu Qi's back stiffened, his tone instantly weakening: "My body isn't injured, but my head does hurt."
Yun Manman gave him a suspicious look, lightly snorting: "Then let me do a mental power guidance for you."
Lu Qi nodded, then shook his head: "I have nowhere to go tonight."
This area was all residential, and it was too late to find a hotel.
Yun Manman waved her small hand: "You can stay here, I have a guest room anyway."
After all, Lu Qi had stayed here before in his small snake form.
If he wanted to do anything to her, he would have done it long ago.
Yun Manman still had faith in the snake's integrity as a general.
Lu Qi should have been happy about Yun Manman's trust and lack of defensiveness, but he felt inexplicably upset.
Tsk, did she not see him as a male?
Or as a male beast-man with ulterior motives towards her?
Lu Qi pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, raising an eyebrow as he turned towards the bathroom: "I need to take a shower first, I'm filthy."
Yun Manman was still engrossed in the strawberries, wondering where Lu Qi had bought them, they were so delicious.
She didn't even look up: "Ah, okay, go ahead."
About fifteen minutes later, Yun Manman stood with her hands on her hips, looking at the made bed with satisfaction, patting her hands.
The guest room was regularly cleaned by robots, so it was very clean and only needed a change of bedsheets.
Footsteps sounded from the doorway, and she turned around: "You're done..."
When she clearly saw Lu Qi's appearance, Yun Manman's tongue nearly tied itself in knots: "Why aren't you wearing clothes?"
Lu Qi's upper body was bare, without a stitch of clothing. His tall, strong physique and pale skin revealed clearly defined abdominal muscles. Broad shoulders tapered to a narrow waist, and sexy obliques led down to Yun Manman's pale yellow towel printed with cat heads.
His body still carried a misty vapor, and there were water droplets on his chest that hadn't been wiped away, slowly sliding down along the contours of his muscles.
Yun Manman's eyes moved away from this restless water droplet, completely unsure where to look.
Lu Qi's ears were slightly red, but he still struck a cool pose leaning against the doorframe: "I don't have any clothes. I don't want to wear the dirty ones."
"I just called out to you to bring me clothes, but you didn't hear."
The soundproofing in the house was quite good, and Yun Manman couldn't hear anything from outside when she was in the guest room.
Moreover, Yun Manman had initially thought Lu Qi would transform into his beast form, and hadn't considered that he would need clothes!
Yun Manman turned her head away, but her peripheral vision still involuntarily swept towards the doorway: "Can't you transform into your beast form?"
Hmm, as expected of a soldier, his physique really was excellent.
It's just that the cute towel didn't match his aura at all.
And it looked like it might be a bit short...
In her embarrassed fluster, Yun Manman suddenly recalled the first time she saw Lu Qi's beast form and human form at Lili Town Police Station, and that flash of white roundness became unforgettable in her mind.
Lu Qi walked towards Yun Manman: "Your house isn't big enough for my beast form."
"Can't you make yourself smaller?" Yun Manman instinctively took two steps back, her eyes secretly glancing behind Lu Qi.
Lu Qi naturally noticed Yun Manman's furtive looks, feeling somewhat proud yet also shy, his ears turning red under his short hair.
He calmly explained: "Only Whispering Serpents with mental power disorders can shrink their beast forms. My current condition isn't quite a disorder yet."
Half-truth, half-lie.
The unique nature of the Whispering Serpent bloodline allowed him to change the size of his beast form by sealing off his mental power, but it wouldn't be comfortable for his mental sea.
Yun Manman wanted to leave this guest room that was making her feel a bit hot: "Then I'll go find you some clothes..."
Lu Qi sat on the bed, crossing one leg over the other: "Don't bother, I can't fit into any of your clothes."
"I threw my clothes in the dryer, it should take about ten more minutes."
He pressed his temples: "Why don't you take this time to do the mental power guidance for me? My head is starting to hurt."
"...Alright."
Yun Manman didn't dare get too close to him, afraid her gaze might wander, so she sneakily brought over a chair and sat opposite Lu Qi.
She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down and concentrate on extending her mental power to guide Lu Qi.
Perhaps because she had done mental power guidance for Lu Qi many times before, or perhaps because Lu Qi's mental sea wasn't very severely disordered, Yun Manman recently felt that she was becoming more and more proficient at doing the guidance.
More than ten minutes later, Yun Manman finished the guidance.
Lu Qi was already lying quietly asleep on the bed.
His eyes were tightly closed, hands naturally placed at his sides, lying straight on the bed. Even in sleep, he looked like he was standing at attention.
Yun Manman was amused by her own thoughts.
She stared at Lu Qi's exposed abs for several seconds.
Just touch them once, just once, it should be fine, right?
She had never touched a man's abs in either of her lives!
She'd read so much yellow literature but never even touched a man, how frustrating!
Besides, Qiqi was asleep and wouldn't know anything.
Yun Manman's tail stiffened as she carefully approached the figure lying on the bed. Her small hand trembled as it hovered above Lu Qi's abdomen, then resolutely touched down.
Wow! They really are hard! There really are eight packs!
Perhaps because he was a snake, his skin was cool and smooth.
His waist was so slim too, he could probably be a runway model.
Yun Manman enthusiastically ran her hands up and down Lu Qi's abdomen, not noticing that Lu Qi's face was gradually turning red.
She poked at his abs with her finger, finding them hard yet springy, a very interesting texture.
Just as she was poking away, suddenly her hand was grabbed, and after a dizzying moment, she found herself lying on the bed.
Lu Qi gripped her mischievous cat paw with one hand, while propping himself up beside her head with the other.
His pale, handsome face was flushed red, his sharp phoenix eyes glistening with moisture as he glared down at Yun Manman beneath him: "Where do you think you're touching? Hmm?"