Chapter 118 : Chapter 118
Chapter 118: I Never Thought About That
Unfortunately, after hesitating for several seconds, Lu Zheng still chose to abandon that tempting thought.
There was no particular reason.
They were friends—no need to embarrass the other.
As a friend, letting the other person feel proud for a bit was perfectly fine~
Fortunately, Yi Ning quickly settled down.
Lu Zheng kept his eyes on his nose, his nose on his heart, head lowered, without reacting in the slightest.
Being smug needed the support and agreement of spectators to be maintained.
With no one chiming in around her, Yi Ning just felt like a fool being smug by herself.
“Alright then.”
Yi Ning leaned back against the chair, returning to her normal expression.
“Since you’ve asked so sincerely, I’ll be merciful and give you an answer.”
I never asked that.
Lu Zheng grumbled internally.
Still, he perked up his ears, listening intently, afraid to miss a single detail.
After all that noise he’d endured, not getting some payoff would be a loss, wouldn’t it?
“Ahem!”
Yi Ning cleared her throat.
“Regarding this question, first, we need to analyze the situation—in other words, do I like you. As for liking someone, simply put, it’s…”
She launched straight into nonsense, rambling on for a full seven or eight minutes without saying a single meaningful thing. It made Lu Zheng, who had been listening attentively the whole time, feel like his head was about to explode.
So much babble, and none of it useful!
Fortunately, at the end of that torrent of nonsense, one valuable sentence finally appeared.
“All in all, to sum up, the answer to this question is—I do not like you.”
“Uh…”
Hearing the unsurprising answer, Lu Zheng still felt a bit disappointed, but it also brought him a hint of relief.
He had no intention of pursuing romance, and if Yi Ning had really said she liked him, he wouldn’t know how to deal with it.
But now, he still couldn’t explain his original confusion.
If she didn’t like him, then why was she giving him so many “benefits”?
Lu Zheng glanced at Yi Ning, opened his mouth, and wanted to ask her directly.
But the moment he was about to speak, a thought suddenly flashed in his mind.
What if Yi Ning had been giving out these benefits unconsciously, and if he pointed it out, she stopped doing it afterward—what then?
No!
Lu Zheng shook his head lightly, pushing the thought away.
How could he think that way?
If the benefits Yi Ning gave were unintentional, didn’t he have more reason to tell her about it?
What kind of man would silently take advantage of a girl?
He mentally uppercutted his evil self, looked at Yi Ning again, and resolved to be honest.
“Your next words are—”
“‘If you don’t like me, then why do you keep… giving me benefits?’” ×2
Yi Ning said it in perfect sync with Lu Zheng, even pointing at him and mimicking his tone vividly.
Lu Zheng blinked and decided to play along with the setting.
“Nani!”
Seeing how cooperative he was, Yi Ning nodded with satisfaction.
“Mm! Very good! Very spirited! Want me to reward you by stomping on you again?”
“No thanks.”
Lu Zheng answered decisively. What he wanted now was just an explanation.
It looked like Yi Ning did know she was giving out “benefits”—so why?
Yi Ning merely curled her lips into a smile.
“Child, you’ve been corrupted.”
She put on a deep, mysterious look, like some street-side fortune teller, complete with a banner and an opening line of “Old master sees calamity in your blood.”
“Think about it—what are you to me?”
What was he to Yi Ning?
Lu Zheng tilted his head slightly, unsure of her thoughts.
In the end, he went with what seemed the safest answer.
“Probably a friend?”
Though he constantly thwarted Yi Ning’s evil plans, the relationship between them wasn’t that bad—“friend” shouldn’t be wrong.
Unfortunately, Yi Ning waved her finger at him.
“No no no, wrong answer.”
Lu Zheng felt a little hurt.
“The correct answer is—archnemesis!”
Yi Ning ignored the fragile-looking Lu Zheng and continued explaining.
“You show up every day before I even get my evil plans rolling and beat me up, then wreck everything. Even if we get along decently now, that doesn’t stop me from finding you annoying.”
“No no no, wrecking your evil plans is the priority—beating you up is just incidental. Don’t mix up the priorities.”
Hearing Yi Ning’s twisted logic, Lu Zheng quickly waved his hand in protest.
“Tch!”
Yi Ning clicked her tongue, secretly turned off the voice recorder hidden on her body, and felt a little regret that her scheme hadn’t worked.
“Anyway, all you need to know is—I hold some resentment toward you in my heart!”
“So… what does that have to do with my earlier question?”
Lu Zheng still didn’t get it.
If she had resentment, wouldn’t it be even less likely for her to give him benefits?
“Sigh~”
Yi Ning sighed, like she was looking at a hopeless child.
“Uncarvable wood~”
She shook her head at Lu Zheng and finally decided to explain things plainly.
“This whole thing is a matter of perspective.”
“To you, getting stepped on by a soft, fragrant, cute girl’s feet is a benefit. But to me, it’s getting to openly stomp all over that damn Pixel Mask who ruins my plans every day, venting my full resentment!”
“You don’t even understand—that feeling of squashing your mortal enemy’s face underfoot, warping his facial features under your toes—that thrill is even better than freakin’ high-o○!!!”
Yi Ning pointed straight at Lu Zheng.
Faced with such ferocious words, Lu Zheng was at a loss for how to respond.
He could only blink and mentally place himself in Yi Ning’s shoes—then nodded in agreement.
Indeed, stomping your nemesis underfoot would feel amazing.
That left only one final doubt in Lu Zheng’s mind.
“Doesn’t it make you feel uncomfortable doing all this?”
This question actually stumped Yi Ning.
She looked at Lu Zheng, tilting her head like she didn’t understand the question at all.
“Uncomfortable? What do you mean?”
Why would it be uncomfortable?
What part of it?
Yi Ning was genuinely confused.
“I mean, like, um, that thing…”
Lu Zheng scratched his cheek, a little embarrassed to say it outright.
“That thing? Speak plainly, stop being a riddler—go ○ yourself!”
Faced with Lu Zheng’s cryptic act, Yi Ning went straight to verbal aggression.
“I mean… I am a guy, right? Doesn’t it gross you out a bit when a guy has, like… a, um, colored kind of feeling toward you?”
Even if Yi Ning directly called his parents into question, Lu Zheng still couldn’t phrase the question without squirming.
Luckily, Yi Ning finally understood what he meant.
“You’re saying, if you developed a physical desire for me, would I find it disgusting, right?”
She tilted her head and gave Lu Zheng a strange look, as if confused by the question.
“Not at all.”
Yi Ning replied just like that.