Chapter 160: Chapter 135: Do You Want to Live With Us?_2 As for moving forward? Pots, pans, and storage cabinets blocked his path. If he stepped incorrectly, who knew where his foot would land. So, his first instinct was to brace for impact. He had never expected this—thinking it would just be her small fists playfully tapping his thigh, who could have imagined it would actually be the heel of a high-heeled shoe stabbing him like a needle.
It was so damn painful! A complete miscalculation! "Help me up. I’ll go sit on the bed and rest a bit."
Getting up was tough. His neck was stiff, so he didn’t dare strain it, and now his leg was injured too. It took a great deal of effort, enduring the pain, before he finally managed to slowly move to the bed.
On his way, he even managed to pick up the trash can by the bed, which he had prepared for Xu Qingqiu in case she needed to vomit again, but it ended up unused.
"Are you alright now?"
"I’m okay, I’m okay. You should sit down and rest too. After all, hitting someone can be quite tiring."
Seeing that he was still in the mood for jokes, Xu Qingqiu was torn between amusement and deepening guilt.
But Chu Tian didn’t blame her, for he could tell that she was genuinely terrified and that it wasn’t intentional.
Honestly, his lack of experience was to blame. This beating felt completely undeserved. For a while, the two of them just sat there in silence, neither speaking.
Sensing the somber atmosphere, and with the pain in his body having eased slightly, Chu Tian spoke, "Are you thirsty? There’s water over there, help yourself."
Xu Qingqiu took stock of herself. She was indeed thirsty. Not only that, her stomach felt empty, and her head throbbed.
Despite this, she forced herself to get a bottle of water. She took a careful sip, her concerned gaze never leaving Chu Tian.
Compared to him, her own discomforts seemed trivial. Her primary concern was the severity of Chu Tian’s injury.
"Does your leg still hurt? Should we take a look at it?"
The thought of her own two-inch stiletto heel striking him filled her with dread; she feared she might have seriously injured him.
Chu Tian stared at her, speechless. She wants to take a look? How? By unzipping my pants? Is she crazy... "I’m fine. Now that you’re awake, you should go back. I need to rest too."
"I... you..."
At this point, Xu Qingqiu finally realized that she was apparently in Chu Tian’s home.
"How did I get here?"
Seeing her confused face, Chu Tian was truly at a loss for words.
"Did you black out from drinking? Do you need me to help jog your memory?"
"Ah? I... did I drink too much last night? I didn’t say anything I shouldn’t have, right?"
Even someone slow on the uptake would have realized Xu Qingqiu had finally grasped the situation, given Chu Tian’s teasing expression.
Her face instantly flushed crimson, and she averted her gaze, asking hesitantly.
Chu Tian almost burst into laughter upon seeing her reaction. When he thought about how she behaved last night, his greatest regret was not having recorded it.
If he had captured that moment, he wondered if Xu Qingqiu would be so embarrassed she’d want to find a hole to jump into right now? [Ding! The system can provide a recording of last night’s events. Would you like to redeem it?]
Chu Tian was laughing when suddenly a system prompt echoed in his mind, and the smile on his face froze.
Seriously? Is this system even legitimate? How on earth did it come up with offering something like this? What kind of proper system neglects its duties to mess with such useless things? It must be malfunctioning! Muttering and cursing under his breath, he executed a lightning-fast maneuver to instantly redeem and save the recording. Then, pretending he hadn’t seen a thing, he continued to beam at Xu Qingqiu.
And his smile grew wider, more mischievous, his amusement evident.
"Hey, what are you laughing at?"
Unable to bear his laughter any longer, Xu Qingqiu raised her fist in flustered anger, looking as if she were about to strike him.
"Stop! Wait a second! Don’t hit me!"
Seeing her fist about to connect again, Chu Tian, already bearing the psychological scars of the previous assault, panicked.
How could anyone stand getting new injuries on top of old ones that haven’t even healed yet? His sudden movement was too large, jarring his neck and causing him to grimace in pain.
"Are you alright? Where does it hurt? Here? Or here?"
"Did I hit your neck just now? Let me take a look."
She thought she might have accidentally hit his neck and rushed to check the injury.
In her haste, her left hand pressed down on Chu Tian’s injured leg. The sudden pain made him instinctively jerk his leg up, striking Xu Qingqiu.
As luck would have it, Xu Qingqiu was unbalanced by the impact and tumbled right onto Chu Tian.
Coincidentally, her soft chest pressed against Chu Tian’s neck.
For a moment, both of them froze, neither daring to move.
Xu Qingqiu was stunned by their position and momentarily forgot to get up. She could only lower her head, her eyes blinking as she stared at Chu Tian, her mind a complete blank.
She was dazed, but Chu Tian felt like he was about to pass out! Damn it, his neck was stiff, his leg was injured, both were aching, and now her considerable weight was pressing on his windpipe! He could barely breathe! "Could you... maybe... get up first? I can hardly... breathe..."
"Ah? Oh! Sorry, sorry!"
Snapping back to reality, Xu Qingqiu leaped up like a startled rabbit and scrambled to the side. She stood there, her face burning with a mixture of shame and vexation.
Her hands fidgeted in front of her, unsure whether to clench them or let them hang loose, utterly flustered as she looked at Chu Tian on the bed.
At this moment, it wasn’t just Xu Qingqiu who was panicking; Chu Tian was too.
Damn it, were they just naturally incompatible? In such a short period, he’d sustained more injuries than in the entire previous month! First his neck, then his leg, and now a direct chokehold—who could possibly endure all this?