Chapter 174 : Chapter 174
174. The Art of Symmetry
“Something to say?”
Lu Zheng stared at the spot Yi Ning was pointing to, racking his brain but still unsure what exactly he was supposed to say to her.
But seeing the increasing dissatisfaction in Yi Ning’s eyes, he thought for a moment, then hesitantly asked:
“Wait… are you unhappy with just one bump?”
Before he had hit her, Lu Zheng had been standing to Yi Ning’s right side, so for convenience, he had naturally flicked the right side of her head.
Now, the big lump sat alone on the right side of Yi Ning’s head, leaving the left side feeling a little… empty.
It lacked any sense of symmetrical beauty.
So Lu Zheng, completely on his own, decided that Yi Ning probably wanted her head to look a bit more balanced.
And poor Yi Ning, not yet sensing Lu Zheng’s trap, still stood there, hands on her hips, speaking with full righteous indignation.
“What else could I be talking about? You think anyone would want a lump on their head?!”
“Seriously, seeing a cute girl crying and not even flinching—you’re a heartless man.”
Anyone who didn’t know the backstory would think Lu Zheng had hit her just to bully her.
Seeing Yi Ning’s utterly unrepentant attitude, Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes slightly. His gaze turned a bit dangerous.
“All right, all right~ since you’re not satisfied…”
He smirked faintly, voice and expression tinged with reluctant compromise.
That was suspiciously out of character.
Yi Ning felt something was off.
But she didn’t have time to think about it.
Lu Zheng casually stepped up beside her, studied her head for a moment, mentally calculated the angle and force, then raised his hand—
BONK!
“Ow—!”
Lu Zheng gave Yi Ning another solid flick on the head.
And somehow, the position and size of the new bump perfectly mirrored the first one, creating a truly artistic symmetry on her head.
Lu Zheng gave a satisfied nod, appreciating his own craftsmanship.
Yi Ning, on the other hand, was not impressed.
She lowered her head, clutching the new bump with both hands.
Because it carried a hint of disciplinary intent, Lu Zheng had been very precise in his strike.
He managed to produce a second lump almost identical in size to the first, while minimizing actual damage but maximizing the pain.
Yi Ning felt her head burning.
The sharp sting made it hard to hold back her tears—her nose tingled, and fat tears welled up in her eyes.
“Hss—”
She sucked in a breath and widened her eyes, trying to force the tears back into her tear ducts.
Just a flick on the head?
She was a legendary evil scientist—how could she cry over something so small?
Shameful...
“Hmm?”
Wait a second.
Yi Ning suddenly realized something.
Why was she trying to hold back tears?
Shame? What shame?
She was a girl now—crying a little dramatically would actually give her the upper hand!
Yi Ning straightened up and squeezed her eyes hard, preparing to cry in front of Lu Zheng and use guilt to dance merrily on his emotional landmines.
But instead, she found—awkwardly—that she couldn’t cry.
The initial tears had already been reabsorbed, and her excitement at realizing the advantage of “girl’s tears” had dulled the pain.
As the pain faded, the tears just stopped flowing.
Yi Ning and Lu Zheng locked eyes in silence.
Yi Ning pounced first: “You jerk! Ignoring a pretty girl’s tears was bad enough—why did you hit me again?!”
Lu Zheng had a ready answer: “You seriously call yourself a pretty girl? And besides, what do you mean hit? I was just answering your request.”
“When did I ask for a hit on the head?”
Yi Ning was annoyed.
She puffed out her chest and raised her chin proudly.
Look at her perfectly collagen-rich face, her petite loli figure…
If she wasn’t a pretty girl, then who could be?
But Yi Ning generously didn’t press that point. What she was more concerned with was Lu Zheng’s logic.
He was responding to her request?
That made no sense.
She gently touched the new bump and questioned Lu Zheng.
“When did I ever ask you to smack me on the head again?”
“Didn’t you?”
Lu Zheng put on an exaggeratedly shocked expression.
“I saw you gesturing around the old bump and eyeing the empty space on the other side. I thought you were unhappy with the asymmetry and wanted some help making things even.”
Yi Ning: “……”
You actually said that out loud?
Her eyes twitched. “So… you did it on purpose?”
“Of course not.”
Lu Zheng quickly shook his head to avoid blame—then smirked smugly.
“I did it deliberately.”
Yi Ning: “……”
She stared for a long moment, then finally rolled her eyes—hard.
What else could she say?
The guy had admitted it was intentional.
She could only turn her head and mutter as if to comfort herself, grumbling insults under her breath.
“So what if I took a little advantage of you? You make it sound like I committed some heinous crime. Can’t you be a bit more generous, like a real man?”
Yi Ning’s mouth was relentless.
Even though she knew this all started because she ran her mouth, she still turned it around, picked apart Lu Zheng’s flaws with a magnifying glass, and shoved all the blame onto him.
Basically, nothing was ever her fault.
Lu Zheng was helpless.
“So I’m just supposed to be the generous one, huh?”
“Can’t you fix your habit of always trying to take verbal advantage of me?”
“What’s wrong with being close with you? If it were someone else, I wouldn’t even bother! I’m a Super High School-Level Pretty Girl, acting like your dad! Anyone else would be begging for that honor!”
Yi Ning was full of justifications.
She talked about “emotional closeness,” “the art of conversation,” and made it sound like teasing Lu Zheng was her moral duty.
Lu Zheng couldn’t take it anymore.
He felt like a weary dad dealing with a rebellious daughter—talking didn’t work, and hitting was tricky.
So he reached out and pinched Yi Ning’s temples between his thumb and forefinger—firmly.
“Owowowowowow!”
Yi Ning instantly screamed in pain, feeling as if her head was going to be crushed.
What do you mean “hitting is not okay”?
When someone messes up, you discipline them!
Lu Zheng was done tolerating. It was time to fix Yi Ning’s rotten little habits—for real.