Can't fall asleep

Fang Qi's eyes twitched!

Then, the silver-haired girl in front of him spoke again.

Her voice was soft and sticky, carrying a deliberate sweetness:

"Since Master doesn't want to accompany Liguang to finish watching this—"

She looked at Fang Qi with a haunting gaze:

"Liguang's, first, movie, in her entire life."

She paused after every word.

Fang Qi: "..."

She continued softly:

"Then let's go home right now, okay?"

There was no hint of anger in her tone.

"Master wouldn't..."

"...want to reject Liguang for the sake of Miss Lin Xiaoyou, right?"

As soon as she finished speaking—

The small hand whose fingers were intertwined with his suddenly moved!

The joints of her slender fingers suddenly clamped down hard on his fingers!

Squeezing tightly!

"Hiss—!"

Fang Qi gasped in pain, almost jumping out of his seat!

Ouch ouch ouch!

Crazy woman!

A gentleman uses his words, not his fists!

And this wasn't just a normal physical attack, it felt like that ancient...

"Finger-squeezing torture"!

It hurt like hell!!

It hurt way more than being pinched!!

It hurt so much he was seeing stars!

"Liguang!"

He growled through gritted teeth:

"Let go of me, are you trying to break my hand?!"

The silver-haired girl continued to tilt her little head, looking at him.

A gentle smile hung on her lips, and her heterochromatic eyes clearly read, "I'm very good" and "I listen to Master."

The grip on his hand loosened slightly, but the meaning deep within those mismatched eyes was unmistakable...

—Master, I dare you to say "no".

Fang Qi bared his teeth in pain!

This crazy woman was getting completely out of hand!

Besides, what was this nonsense about finishing "the first movie of her life"!

She obviously just wanted to go back and watch her "tutorials"!

Wanted to go back and find those "fellow townsmen" of hers!

And now she dared to falsely accuse him, saying Master didn't want to watch a movie with her!

Even squeezing my fingers! Even threatening me!

However...

Looking at her "kind" smile, Fang Qi felt a bit helpless.

Well, it was true that he had upset Liguang...

When she was refused to go back and watch the movie earlier, she had just sat down looking aggrieved.

She was angry right now purely because—he had refused her "request," but stayed behind to treat Lin Xiaoyou to cake!

In the logic of this little yandere, that translated to "Master rejected my request for the sake of another woman"!

Yep.

A capital offense!

But he couldn't leave right now.

He had to figure out what was going on here!

What exactly was that group of "audience members"?

Who had lured him here?

And what were they trying to do?

Were they coming for him, or for Liguang?

Or... for both of them?

Most importantly... were they friends or foes?

Since Liguang didn't sense any threat from them...

Perhaps they weren't enemies?

This was the most crucial thing to figure out! He couldn't just blindly run away out of fear!

If he didn't clear this up, he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight!

Moreover... not being able to sleep was actually secondary!

He had a sneaking suspicion that if he didn't take Liguang to investigate this... she would likely sneak over here by herself!

The mere thought of that scene—

In the dead of night, while he was sleeping soundly...

The silver-haired girl beside him would quietly get up, change into that creamy-white dress, put on her beret, and softly open the door...

Then, all alone in the middle of the night, she would walk into that movie theater that had been abandoned for years, to meet those...

"Friendly fellow townsmen"?

...Fuck!!

Just thinking about it made Fang Qi feel like his head was going to explode!

Why did he feel like he was being cuckolded!

That was absolutely not happening!

Never mind seeing these "townsmen"... she couldn't see anyone!

He had to make Liguang drop this idea!

Otherwise, he would have to tie this crazy woman up in the future just to get some sleep!

He took a deep breath, enduring the continuous sharp pain in his fingers, leaned close to Liguang's ear, and lowered his voice:

"Liguang!"

His voice was very serious!

"Master isn't staying here to treat Lin Xiaoyou to cake!"

The silver-haired girl's eyelashes fluttered slightly, but the grip on his fingers didn't loosen.

Fang Qi continued:

"I'm interested in the situation at the movie theater and need to ask some questions!"

His gaze stared straight into her heterochromatic eyes:

"Besides, I could tell—you're also very interested in that movie theater, right?"

Liguang's eyes flashed slightly.

Fang Qi's tone became even more serious:

"I'm staying behind to investigate for your sake!"

"Otherwise I would have dragged you home ages ago. Why would I care about some Lin Xiaoyou or Lin Dayou?"

"Do you understand?!"

The silver-haired girl froze.

The crimson in her red eye faded slightly, and the force clamping his fingers slowly weakened.

Fang Qi continued to glare at her, grumpily "threatening" in a low voice:

"If you dare to throw another tantrum, fine, Master will satisfy your request right now!"

"We'll go home, we won't investigate anymore!"

"And don't even think about finding out what's going on here in the future!"

The force clamping his hand instantly vanished!

That pretty face went from stunned to disbelief, and then to pleasant surprise!

"Master—!"

She cried softly, her small face flushing slightly with excitement. Her gaze toward Fang Qi instantly grew misty, and a few strands of silver hair escaped from under her beret!

Her soft little hands immediately grasped his... fingers that had been squeezed completely red.

Fang Qi continued to glare at her, but felt a little smug inside.

She was so easy to coax!

The silver-haired girl looked at him excitedly, her lips moving as if to say something... but in the end, she said nothing.

She carefully cupped his hand in both of hers, lowered her head, and brought her small mouth close...

And started blowing on it with all her might!

"Hooo—! Hooo—!"

Her warm breath brushed against his fingers, ticklish and cozy.

She blew very earnestly!

While blowing, she stealthily peeked up at him, her eyelashes fluttering, her eyes filled with a mix of fawning, guilt, and joy!

"Master..."

She blew a couple of times, then spoke softly again, with a slightly stuffy nasal voice:

"Liguang was wrong."

"Liguang won't ask to go home right now."

"Master is so good..."

She said this, lowered her head again, blew another breath on his fingers, and then gently rubbed her cheek against the back of his hand.

Warm and soft.

"Liguang loves Master the most...!"

Fang Qi looked at her little display...

Well.

Of course he had to choose to forgive her!

If they were at home... this crazy woman probably would have gotten on her knees to apologize by now, right?

After all, kneeling was the standard apology posture for a yandere.

But she had also become much more sensible, knowing not to go overboard in public...

Yeah, really cute!

Then keep it up!

Fang Qi didn't tell her to stop, just letting her blow on his hand.

Consider this your punishment for squeezing my fingers earlier!

Blow on them properly!

Fang Qi leaned back in his chair, peacefully enjoying the fawning service of his little yandere...

His gaze, however, swept across the interior of the milk tea shop.

Now that his wife's unhappiness was resolved, it was time to get down to business.

Lin Xiaoyou was currently still at the dessert shop across the street. Right now, in the milk tea shop, it was just him and Liguang...

And Lin Xiaoyou's best friend, the one named "Xiaoqing."

Behind the counter, the girl had her back to them, trembling as she made the milk tea.

Her shoulders were still shaking slightly.

The recent fright, Lin Xiaoyou "abandoning her," and being alone in a room with two people who had just "seen a ghost"...

With these three buffs stacked together, she was trembling all over!

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes.

This best friend of Lin Xiaoyou...

She had been working here for several years, so she definitely knew a lot of rumors!

The abandoned movie theater, the ghost stories, and those... "audiences."

Perhaps... he could get some useful information out of her!

But looking at the state she was in right now...

How should he bring it up...

Fang Qi narrowed his eyes, staring at her back in thought.

After meeting her twice in these two time loops, he could tell... this best friend of Lin Xiaoyou was quite introverted.

And introverted people...

Tend to think a lot! They are more capable of empathizing with others!

Therefore...

He took a deep breath.

Adjusted his expression.

Then he spoke up, his voice soft:

"Um... hello, miss? Your name is Xiaoqing, right?"

It was a vulnerable, somewhat helpless tone.

Xiaoqing's back noticeably stiffened. She didn't turn around, just softly replied with an "Mm."

Fang Qi said, sounding a bit embarrassed:

"Um... could you tell me about the movie theater on the third floor?"

Xiaoqing's shoulders trembled again, but she still didn't look back.

Fang Qi continued with a bitter smile:

"Today, we might have... genuinely encountered a 'supernatural event'."

"To be honest, I'm really a bit scared right now."

A hint of pleading crept into his tone:

"Could you... tell me about that movie theater?"

"Otherwise, I really won't be able to sleep tonight..."

"Sigh..."

He smiled bitterly and let out a sigh.

This time, Xiaoqing finally turned around.

She looked at Fang Qi, her face still showing lingering traces of panic.

But when she saw Fang Qi's face, which was written all over with "helplessness" and "fear"...

Her gaze finally softened a bit.

At the very least, it wasn't that "looking at a scumbag" kind of gaze from before!

Then, Xiaoqing stayed silent for two seconds and gently nodded.

"Okay."

Her voice was very soft and still carried a hint of a tremor.

Success!

Beside him, Liguang was still blowing on his hand, her warm breath brushing against his fingers in a steady rhythm.

However, the soft little hands holding his paused slightly, and the small ears under her beret twitched gently.

She was listening too. She cared a lot about this.

Makes sense.

After all, this was...

The story of her "friendly fellow townsmen."

Xiaoqing didn't start telling the story right away.

She turned around and brought over the four cups of milk tea she had made.

She placed three cups in front of Fang Qi and the others, keeping one for herself.

"I'll tell you when Xiaoyou gets back."

She sat down behind the counter, holding her cup of milk tea, her voice still somewhat soft:

"Otherwise, if she comes back when I'm halfway through, that girl will definitely pester me to tell it all over again."

As Xiaoqing spoke, her gaze drifted toward the dessert shop across the way.

That pink figure was still picking out cakes in front of the counter. Even through the glass, she could be seen gesturing animatedly.

Pointing at this one moment, pointing at that the next, her ponytail swishing back and forth.

Fang Qi's heart, however, stirred slightly!

He looked at Xiaoqing, then at the energetic back figure across the way—

An opportunity!

Now...

It's time to dig into the background of my good teammate!

"You and Xiaoyou have such a great relationship,"

He immediately remarked in a natural tone:

"I heard Xiaoyou mention earlier that you two went to that movie theater together when you were kids..."

He paused, his gaze landing on Xiaoqing's face:

"So you two... have known each other since childhood?"

Xiaoqing nodded, her fingers tightening slightly around her milk tea.

"Yeah, we've known each other since we were little."

She looked at Fang Qi, her voice very earnest:

"Our parents knew each other, so we're considered... family friends, I suppose."

"Xiaoyou, she..."

Xiaoqing continued, her gaze growing a bit distant as if lost in memory:

"Is much more outstanding than I am."

"She always had excellent grades since childhood, always ranking first in her grade. Later, she got into the best university in the country, which caused quite a stir in our entire district."

The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, carrying a hint of shared pride:

"It was the same during college—she got scholarships every year and even won some... national competition awards? Anyway, there were quite a lot, I can't remember them all."

"She did a combined bachelor's and master's program, and in the end, she even graduated early."

Fang Qi... blinked.

He picked up his milk tea and took a sip.

The sweetness spread through his mouth.

Mm.

...Huh?!