I've Stopped Quitting

Shen Nian remained perfectly still until Xia Yanchun fell asleep.

He played dead better than an actual corpse.

He didn't dare move a muscle for fear of being called a pervert.

That strange impulse didn't fade until she drifted off into a groggy slumber.

Stimulation and desire were two different things, but often, external stimuli—even if they didn't trigger an internal yearning—could still make the body difficult to control.

Shen Nian had been pure-minded a moment ago. He truly hadn't harbored any designs on Xia Yanchun; avoiding contact was simply a survival instinct to prevent social suicide.

But now that she was asleep, his thoughts were becoming less than innocent.

Late into the night, once Xia Yanchun was fast asleep, Shen Nian gently held her and drifted off.

It was misty outside in the early morning.

When he woke up, it was just past four o'clock. He had slept for nearly four hours.

He could have gone back to sleep, but there was no need. Three hours was enough to sustain his energy for the whole day. In fact, he had indulged himself by lying in bed a bit longer; otherwise, he wouldn't have even reached the four-hour mark.

It really was comfortable having something to hold. No wonder girls liked piling plushies on their beds.

Shen Nian felt a bit pathetic; he didn't have any plushies, nor did any girl give him one. He genuinely envied guys who had stuffed animals to cuddle. Unlike them, he was stuck sleeping with his nemesis—who just happened to feel like a sweet, soft mix of strawberry cake, vanilla pudding, and corn gummies.

Xia Yanchun was still deep in dreamland. At some point, she had shifted from sleeping on her side to lying flat on her back. The quilt hid her modest curves, revealing only the lower half of her soft, tender face. The blanket was pulled up almost over her nose—he wondered if she could breathe properly.

Shen Nian quietly pulled the covers down a bit.

Hmm, Chunbao looked adorable when she slept.

Chunbao never minded him ogling her, so Shen Nian propped his head up and stared at her for ten minutes. He looked like a slouching old man, but he was comfortable.

Having slept early and risen early, he found himself at a rare loss for what to do.

The little figure beside him rustled, turning over and burrowing into his arms. Her small hands were tucked together, making her look like a little piglet.

Winter mornings were the coldest. Seeing Xia Yanchun curled up like that, Shen Nian started planning to cook something warm for her in the evenings, too.

He had been cooking a lot over the past month. Thanks to the experience points accumulated from the Glimmer trials, his culinary skills had evolved from "mediocre and slightly unpalatable" to "decent home-cooking."

He didn't know how to slaughter chickens or ducks, but in terms of cooking skill alone, he could hold his own at the table with his mom, Chen Minyue. And he could definitely crush Shen Yue.

Hehe, he was quite the little chef now.

"Mmm..." Xia Yanchun suddenly bent her legs and buried her face against Shen Nian's collarbone.

Her warm breath tickled him. Not being able to see Xia Yanchun's face made the sensation even more peculiar.

Especially with her rubbing against his thigh, Shen Nian quickly started feeling... unnatural.

"..."

Getting greedy for Chunbao's bed was definitely not a wise decision.

Shen Nian's mind raced, but thinking back to what Chunbao had said yesterday afternoon, he slowly began to make peace with it.

Time to bail, brother.

It was Chunbao who said he didn't need to be obsessed with abstaining.

Honestly, he thought his current streak was already impressive. Doctors recommended moderation anyway; being this disciplined made him seem unlike others his age.

He felt absolved.

He ranked second in the whole school, his relationship with Chunbao was improving, he was sleeping in the same bed as her, his bank savings had broken six figures, his health was improving, and his cooking was getting better. So what if he rewarded himself once?

Shen Nian tiptoed back to his own room and didn't emerge for another forty minutes.

After the sound of flushing water, Shen Nian felt much more refreshed. He brushed his teeth, washed his face, threw on a jacket, and ran to the park to exercise.

Feeling full of energy, Shen Nian focused purely on running this time. He ran from the residential complex to the park, did a lap, and ran back. He picked up some groceries on the way, and by the time he finished cooking porridge, it wasn't even six o'clock yet.

So, he slipped back into Xia Yanchun's room, quietly lifted the covers, and lay down next to the soundly sleeping girl for a while.

When the alarm clock rang on the dot, Xia Yanchun opened her bleary eyes. Before she could move, Shen Nian had already silenced the alarm.

"Time to get up, Chunbao." Shen Nian pinched her nose. He was just helping her wake up; he certainly didn't have any ulterior motives.

Xia Yanchun, still half-asleep, instinctively wanted to stay in bed. She shook her head, wrapped her arms around Shen Nian's waist, and squirmed unreservedly in his embrace, her body limp.

"Hey, could you be a little more careful..." Shen Nian broke into a sweat, sensing trouble brewing.

"I'm up..."

Fortunately, Xia Yanchun didn't linger long. She soon sat up and stretched her arms wide.

The hem of her pajamas rode up, revealing a glimpse of pale skin, and the neckline hung loose and disheveled.

Wait, why did my auto-targeting system just activate?

After respectfully averting his gaze from Xia Yanchun, Shen Nian got out of bed. "Go brush your teeth. I've packed the porridge for you; you can eat it on the way."

"Whoa, you got up that early?"

"I picked it up while I was down for a run. I didn't train much today," Shen Nian lied smoothly. "Only about ten or twenty minutes. The sleep was pretty good, though."

"I was wondering why you changed your clothes."

Slipping into her slippers, Xia Yanchun went to the bathroom to go through her daily routine. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, seeing she still had time, she drew some hot water from the tap and placed two bottles of pure milk in it to warm up.

It was a simple heating method—warming the bottle directly saved time and effort. As long as the milk reached about thirty degrees so it wasn't freezing cold, it was fine.

"Here, drink this." Xia Yanchun shoved the dripping wet milk bottle into Shen Nian's palm.

"Chunbao is the best."

"Now you know I'm good? Why didn't you think about my good points when we were fighting in the past?"

"Ugh, have some shame. Just because you're nice to me now doesn't mean you were nice before. Besides, you're not even that nice to me now."

Xia Yanchun zipped up her jacket and tucked her hands into her hand warmer. "In what way am I not nice to you now?"

Shen Nian grimaced. By the time they stepped out of the elevator, he had already downed the milk and tossed the empty bottle into a trash can.

"Isn't your recent entrapment scheme proof enough?"

"What entrapment?"

"You little... are you playing dumb? Have you already forgotten what you said yesterday afternoon? Forgotten what you said last night?"

Did she have the memory of a goldfish? How could she forget these things so quickly, yet remember what happened during summer vacation for so long? Was she planning to milk that old grudge for the rest of her life?

Shen Nian gave her the middle finger, feeling that Xia Yanchun was truly hopeless.

Touching a guy's thigh with one hand while saying things that could cause social suicide—if that wasn't entrapment, what was?

She was digging a pit for him to fall into. Chunbao was too wicked. A scary, bad woman.

"I don't understand what you're talking about." Xia Yanchun quickened her small steps, only slowing down once she was ahead. She carefully recalled what she had said yesterday, and her heart began to flutter with joy.

She lowered her voice, speaking in a soft, husky murmur.

"I was just reminding you. Otherwise, if you kept doing that every day... it's so perverted. I'd feel ashamed for you. If I were you, I wouldn't dare show my face in public."

Shen Nian gave a fake smile. He fell silent for a moment before speaking with a sense of liberation.

"It's fine. I've stopped abstaining."

"What?"

"Guess."

"Hmm...?" Xia Yanchun glanced back, scrutinizing Shen Nian for a moment. As if realizing something, her large eyes went wide and her rosy lips parted slightly. "You... surely you didn't..."

"Ahem." Shen Nian quickened his pace to catch up, abruptly changing the subject. "I'm treating you and Uncle to a meal this afternoon. What are you in the mood for?"

His arm was draped over Xia Yanchun's shoulder, his hand dangling casually down her front. Xia Yanchun blinked, staring at his hand, then looked back at Shen Nian. The moment the realization clicked, she slapped his hand away, bristling like a startled cat.

Her face was flushed bright red.

"Did you even wash your hands?!"

"?"