The Secret Birthday Present

In an instant, the atmosphere froze.

Chen Shuo's fingers were still in the knocking pose, suspended in mid-air.

He had actually touched Su Xiyan's Mount Everest...

This...

Su Xiyan's face flushed red then pale white, and she glared fiercely at Chen Shuo.

Then, her elbow shot out, hitting Chen Shuo squarely in the chest.

His broad pectoral muscles made a muffled thud.

By the time Su Xiyan had finished washing up in the bathroom and came out, Chen Shuo was still crouching like a shrimp outside her bedroom door on the floor.

It seemed the elbow blow just now had quite some force.

Ouch! It really hurt!

Crouching on the floor, Chen Shuo sucked in a breath of cold air. The pain in his chest made his brows furrow tightly, his face a mask of agony.

This woman! She hit too hard!!!

It wasn't on purpose!

I just happened to knock on the door when she opened it, so I knocked on air, and my fingers accidentally climbed the peak, that's all!

Did she have to use deadly force?

Damn! She almost sent me to meet my maker on the spot!

Luckily my physique is extraordinary now, so I can still take it!

Su Xiyan sat at the table, about to eat, when she seemed to recall something. She picked up her phone and snapped several pictures of Chen Shuo's pained expression.

Her slender, fair fingers danced across the screen as she typed out a message:

[Tried using force to inflict pain and evoke Chen Shuo's memories. Even under my heavy fist, Chen Shuo still couldn't recall what anomalies he saw at the place the vampire king appeared.]

Su Xiyan had always acted in a cold and ruthless manner. So using her iron fists to interrogate her roommate wasn't beneath her.

After seeing the photos, Tang Zhiyuan replied with two shocked emoji.

Then he reminded Su Xiyan: [Don't go overboard in anything, pay attention to degree, and absolutely do not expose the existence of demon hunters.]

Su Xiyan's brows quirked slightly, and she didn't reply to Tang Zhiyuan's message.

Of course Tang Zhiyuan could tell that Chen Shuo's pained expression and body language weren't fake.

But instead of asking about Chen Shuo's condition, he cared more about Su Xiyan not exposing her identity as a demon hunter, not letting humans know of the existence of demon hunters.

In other words, what Tang Zhiyuan cared about most was always upholding the glory of demon hunters.

Su Xiyan felt no ripples in her heart. She had no intention of testing Tang Zhiyuan either. It just so happened that Chen Shuo had touched a sore spot and got instinctively punched by her, which gave her material to send to Tang Zhiyuan.

In fact, Su Xiyan felt a little guilty. If she didn't take any action, Tang Zhiyuan might feel uneasy right?

A demon hunter who was usually so calm and rational!

Why did she become so self-conscious and unsure of herself when it came to Chen Shuo's issues?

In the end, she had developed a soft spot!

During breakfast, Su Xiyan's thoughts had already turned hundreds of times.

After eating, Chen Shuo glanced at the temperature on his phone and reminded Su Xiyan, "Wear more clothes, don't catch a cold."

Su Xiyan sized him up and deliberately teased:

"You still care about me after I elbowed you?"

Chen Shuo rubbed his solar plexus. "With such a heavy hand, who would care about you?"

"If you caught a cold, not only would I have to do housework, I'd have to take care of you too, how tiring for me?"

He sounded quite reasonable. Su Xiyan went back to her room and grabbed a quilted light jacket to drape on her arm.

Chen Shuo dawdled in his room for quite a while before coming out with a bulging backpack.

Su Xiyan couldn't help but snark: "Moving house? What did you stuff your bag with? Looks quite heavy."

Chen Shuo: "Nothing much, I borrowed some Lego from a classmate to play with earlier, so I'm returning it to him."

"Lego is so boring, such a waste of time and eyesight. Games are better."

The lumpy shape didn't seem much like Lego though? Were they sets half put together?

Su Xiyan was about to keep questioning when Chen Shuo shut her up with a question: "Oh right, didn't your gluttonous girlfriend leave a book here? I put it on your room's desk, did you see it? Remember to return it to her."

"A young girl like her, how can she enjoy such uncultured books?"

"Tell her the book is good, just don't read it again next time."

Su Xiyan's face flushed beet red in an instant.

The book did belong to Cheng Xinran, but Su Xiyan was the one who left it in Chen Shuo's room!

She didn't actually open the book to see what uncultured content was inside.

She had left the book in Chen Shuo's room, hoping he would read it more and get ideas on what to gift her for her birthday.

She didn't expect that Chen Shuo didn't get her hint at all. He even returned the book to her.

Too much!

Oblivious straight man!

Singlehood well deserved!

Su Xiyan's resentment had risen high.

And Chen Shuo just kept fanning the flames: "The book's title is so funny. What was it, 800 Gifts for the Opposite Sex? Was it 800 or 180? Forgot, anyway super funny!"

"Luckily our beauty Su Xiyan is different from other girls. She doesn't want gifts, she's detached from vulgar tastes, a person with a noble soul!"

For a moment, Su Xiyan couldn't tell if Chen Shuo was praising or dissing her.

Chen Shuo was just deliberately provoking Su Xiyan. In fact, he had already decided what gift to prepare for Su Xiyan, and had started taking action.

In recent days, Su Xiyan felt Chen Shuo was being weird and mysterious, often elusive.

After class in the afternoon, Su Xiyan asked if Chen Shuo wanted to head home together.

But Chen Shuo said the basketball club had training, so he'd only be back later. As the biggest sponsor for NLU's basketball club, Su Xiyan only had to casually ask around to know Chen Shuo had been skipping basketball practice these few days.

Just what was he up to?

And so, Su Xiyan told Chen Shuo on the surface that she was going home first.

In reality, from the moment Chen Shuo left the classroom, she stealthily tailed him.

With the cold weather, people wore more layers, which made disguises for tailing easier.

Su Xiyan followed Chen Shuo the whole way, wanting to get to the bottom of his recent shifty mysteriousness.

More importantly, she wanted to minimize the time Chen Shuo spent alone outside, to ensure his safety.