The next day, as dawn was breaking, Zhaozhao huddled lazily in the warm quilt. It seemed that the temperature had suddenly dropped overnight. As tree spirits, they would feel like taking a rest in winter.
She squinted and tentatively stuck out her arm to feel the temperature outside. The sudden temperature difference made Zhaozhao quickly wrap the quilt tightly around herself, close her eyes again.
No, no. It'll be the end of me if I go out now. Let me lie in bed for a while, just a little while.
“Hehe...” A low and pleasant chuckle crept into her ears. Zhaozhao's back stiffened. This laugh instantly pulled her memory back to last night.
Zhaozhao hesitated and slowly turned around. She found Su Yuan standing neatly dressed beside the bed, looking at her with a beaming smile. His eyes seemed a bit too gentle and doting. Zhaozhao shifted her gaze uncomfortably.
“Don't look at me like that,” she mumbled softly as she sat up, hugging the quilt.
Su Yuan didn't say a word. He slowly approached her, pressed his hands on the head - board and enclosed her in his arms. He stared at her intently without blinking, as if he was looking for something.
This close distance was so similar to last night in the wardrobe. She felt her face heating up instinctively and was a bit embarrassed.
How embarrassing! She actually cried so badly in front of Su Yuan last night!
While feeling embarrassed, Zhaozhao thought of something. She looked up and glared at Su Yuan accusingly, “You were so excessive last night. I said no, but you still did that!”
Su Yuan pretended to be innocent, “What did I do?”
“That! You know exactly what I'm talking about...”
“Zhaozhao,” Su Yuan tucked a lock of hair behind Zhaozhao's ear and sniffed it intermittently like a pervert, “If you don't tell me, how would I know? You should tell me what I did wrong, right?”
He really was a combination of cold - aloofness and flirtatiousness.
Zhaozhao's eyes widened, shocked and angry. How could Su Yuan not remember? He was clearly pretending to be stupid on purpose.
She had a temper when she was angry. She slapped Su Yuan on the shoulder, pushed him away, rubbed her arms and jumped out of bed. She ran to the other side of the room, staying far away from Su Yuan. She didn't want to talk to him anymore.
“You're pretending to be stupid!” Zhaozhao pointed at Su Yuan and accused. Then, feeling cold, she slowly shuffled towards the wardrobe, wanting to find some clothes to put on.
Strangely enough, her cousin had said before that there was heating in the room, but why did she feel as if there was a cold wind blowing just like outside? Had it been turned off?
She didn't have time to think about it. Zhaozhao deliberately ignored some memories related to the wardrobe that popped up in her mind and rummaged through the clothes.
Su Yuan stood with his hands behind his back. Seeing that he had gone too far in teasing her and she really seemed not going to talk to him, he walked over to apologize and show weakness.
“I'm sorry, Zhaozhao. I was wrong.”
Zhaozhao pulled out a down jacket that Song Yao had prepared for her and wrapped it around herself. Then she turned her head, raising her chin proudly, “Do you mean what you say?”
Su Yuan promised, “I do. I definitely do.”
The little tree spirit's temper came and went quickly. Besides, she couldn't really ignore Su Yuan. So she took the opportunity Su Yuan gave her, “Okay, I'll forgive you for now. But you can't do that again next time.”
Don't do that again next time...
Su Yuan turned his head and coughed, saying vaguely, “Well, we can discuss this later.”
Zhaozhao: “??? ” Did he know what he was saying?!
Seeing that the person he had just coaxed was about to get angry again, Su Yuan calmly changed the subject, “Zhaozhao, are you cold when you got up today?”
Zhaozhao was indeed distracted, “Yes. Did you turn off the heating?”
“No,” Su Yuan reached out to button up her clothes and straightened her collar. While doing so, he said, “This might be because I left a wisp of my true breath in your spiritual sea yesterday...” As he said this, Mr. Long's ears turned a suspicious shade of red.
“You—!”
“I found some damage in your spiritual consciousness yesterday, so I repaired it for you. Later, in order to keep an eye on the situation of your spiritual sea at any time, I left it there,” Su Yuan quickly added, afraid that if he was a bit slower, he would be forced to make some insincere promises.
“I come from the Abyssal Cold Pool. I'm naturally cold, especially my true breath. That's why you feel so cold today.”
Su Yuan could find a way to make the magic power and spiritual consciousness that helped Zhaozhao warm, but the true breath came from his origin and he couldn't do anything about it.
Sure enough, as soon as she heard that Su Yuan did this for her, Zhaozhao felt guilty again. It seemed that she had blamed Su Yuan wrongly.
She held Su Yuan's hand and rubbed it, looking concerned, “Aren't you cold every day then?”
Su Yuan was taken aback for a moment, then smiled. It was as if the frost and snow had melted, “I'm not cold. I'm used to it.”
However, Zhaozhao didn't feel happy because of Su Yuan's words “I'm used to it”.
Sometimes getting used to something wasn't a good thing. Just like what Su Yuan had said before, he had gotten used to being lonely for so many years. But loneliness and coldness weren't good things. Such habits were probably just out of helplessness.
Zhaozhao raised her hands, blew on them, rubbed her palms hard, and then placed them on Su Yuan's hands. She said, “It's okay. If you're cold, I'll warm you up. Don't get used to it.”
Her eyes were so pure, like a frost flower naturally carved in winter. Su Yuan's already open heart was now surrounded by strands of sweetness.
This frost flower was made of sugar.
“Okay～” Su Yuan bent down and stroked Zhaozhao's head, “Our Zhaozhao is really amazing. Just one sentence can warm people's hearts. But now let me take care of you first. I can't bear to see Zhaozhao frozen.”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a bracelet on Zhaozhao's hand. It was fiery red all over, making her wrist look even fairer.
“This is carnelian. I got it from the Ember Sea a thousand years ago. You'll feel warm when you wear it.”
Zhaozhao shook the bracelet. There was a small silver bell hanging on it, jingling.
The bracelet worked quickly. As soon as she put it on, she didn't feel cold anymore.
“Su Yuan,” Zhaozhao looked at Su Yuan with a cute smile, her eyes curving like crescent moons, “You've given me so many treasures!”
Yes, Su Yuan looked at her and thought: Giving treasures to my treasure.
He snorted and laughed, “Then you have to protect my treasure well.”
Zhaozhao nodded, “I will.”
However, Su Yuan shook his head, “I'm not talking about the dragon scale and the bracelet.”
...
Zhaozhao hummed a song all the way to work that morning. Su Yuan left earlier. The reason, of course, was that Zhaozhao didn't want Song Yao to find out that he had been there.
The floppy - eared rabbit saw how happy she was and joked, “You're so happy even going to work. Is something good about to happen?”
“Something good?” Zhaozhao looked up and thought about what Su Yuan had said that morning. She was deeply convinced that she would be able to catch up with Su Yuan soon. So she seriously said to the floppy - eared rabbit, “Yes!”
“?! ” The floppy - eared rabbit was extremely shocked. Was she really going to marry the boss?!
Ding dong.
There was a message reminder on her phone. Zhaozhao picked it up and saw that it was from Lu Chukong, reminding her not to forget the operation tonight.
Thinking of Lu Chukong's condition that day, she pursed her lips, replied “Got it” and then focused on today's work.
She opened the work log. Today's task was to go on a field assignment with Nanjia.
Well, after reading the introduction, Zhaozhao understood. It was a fight.