Chapter 107: Framing Song Chengyi

How mortifying.

“Fine, I understand. Please close the door on your way out.” Song Chengyi’s tone was calm and unruffled.

“That’s too much!” Song Zeming was once again left speechless by his younger brother.

Still, as he left, he did not forget to shut the door.

Only after hearing it click shut did Luo Yixia lift her head from Song Chengyi’s arms and push him away.

“Why didn’t you close the door?”

“How was I supposed to know you were going to kiss me? So... this is my fault?” Song Chengyi looked entirely innocent.

“You have no shame. It was clearly you who kissed me just now.” Luo Yixia retorted, her face flushed red.

“Then let me see... while I was drying your hair, I stole a kiss?” A faintly roguish smile curved Song Chengyi’s lips as he stepped closer.

“I...” Luo Yixia was momentarily at a loss for words.

“Be good.” Smiling, Song Chengyi reached out and patted her head twice.

“Y-you go take a shower.” Luo Yixia did not want to talk to him right now.

“All right.” He agreed and went into the bathroom.

Luo Yixia stood there covering her face...

What had just happened...

She was so excited...

When Song Chengyi came out, Luo Yixia was lying on the bed with her legs kicked up.

She turned her head instinctively, only to witness a scene that made her pulse race...

“Why aren’t you wearing any clothes?”

Luo Yixia immediately covered her eyes with both hands, then peeked at him through her fingers.

Song Chengyi was wrapped only in a towel around his waist, drying his hair with his head turned to the side.

“I forgot to bring my clothes.” He walked to the wardrobe at his ease, took out some clothes, and went back into the bathroom.

“You flirt.” Luo Yixia muttered under her breath.

When he came out again, he was fully dressed.

Such a polished scoundrel... honestly, Luo Yixia thought with a quiet laugh.

While Song Chengyi dried his hair, Luo Yixia took out her phone and prepared to look through it.

She had not checked it all day, and she had no idea whether it had exploded.

Even without looking, Luo Yixia knew people would definitely be coming to dig for gossip.

Sure enough, when she opened it, there were more messages than she had seen even during New Year’s. Every single one was asking about her relationship with Song Zeming.

Luo Yixia felt utterly helpless... was it really that serious?

If they found out about her relationship with Song Chengyi too...

She shuddered.

Just thinking about it was terrifying.

After drying his hair, Song Chengyi saw that Luo Yixia was still looking at her phone, so he said nothing and went downstairs.

When he came back up, he was carrying a glass of milk.

“Drink the milk later.” He set it on her nightstand.

“Oh.” Luo Yixia answered listlessly.

“Your eyes are still swollen. Stop looking at your phone.” Song Chengyi gave a kindly reminder.

“I really want to throw this thing away right now. How can there even be such a thing as a phone?” Luo Yixia wailed miserably.

She felt utterly miserable inside... staring at that mountain of messages, she truly had no idea how to reply.

“What’s wrong?” Song Chengyi sat down beside her.

Luo Yixia immediately sat up, like a child who had been wronged, and handed him her phone.

Song Chengyi skimmed through it for a moment.

“Don’t mind them.” That was all he said in the end.

Luo Yixia snatched the phone back. Was there any difference between saying something and not saying it?

“They’re all my friends. Does that mean I can never see them again? This is all your fault,” she muttered.

“So... you’re blaming me again?” Song Chengyi did not seem angry at all; instead, he smiled.

“Waaah... what am I supposed to do? They all know Zeming is your brother now, so they’ll definitely realize I know you too.” Just thinking about it made Luo Yixia short of breath.

“Then why not just admit our relationship?” Song Chengyi lay down casually beside her.

“Our... what relationship?” Luo Yixia had no idea which nerve had misfired.

She propped her chin on one hand and leaned close to him, asking, “What relationship?”

“What do you think?” Song Chengyi raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t know.” Luo Yixia deliberately shook her head.

“Hm... then let’s say it’s the kind of relationship where we share a bed.” Song Chengyi thought about it briefly.

Luo Yixia’s face flushed bright red again because of that one simple sentence from Song Chengyi.

After glaring at him, she moved far away from him. “I’m going to reply to messages.”

But once she held the phone in her hand, she found she had no idea where to begin.

How was she supposed to explain this?

At that moment, the phone in her hand vibrated, and a video call came through.

Luo Yixia fumbled around in panic and accidentally hit answer.

Almost subconsciously, she stepped far away from Song Chengyi and backed up to the windowsill.

“Luo Yixia!!! You ignored my messages all day and didn’t answer my calls!!!” Lin Ya asked angrily.

“I... um, I just got back home today, and the family was pretty busy. This afternoon they dragged me to the mall, and I only came back a little while ago.” Luo Yixia explained, while her eyes kept darting toward Song Chengyi.

Song Chengyi was half-reclined, watching her.

“I don’t care what you were doing before. Tell me the truth right now!!! What exactly is your relationship with Instructor Song?!” Lin Ya demanded, visibly excited.

“Didn’t I explain this this morning... he’s the brother next door,” Luo Yixia began to bluff.

“Then why didn’t you say so before?” Lin Ya looked at her sternly.

“Well... you know what Instructor Song said this morning, right? It has to be kept confidential. The school doesn’t allow the instructors’ identities to be disclosed, and he’s also a soldier, so of course it can’t be casually revealed. So... yes, he... he didn’t let me say anything, and I didn’t dare.” Luo Yixia felt a little guilty and glanced at Song Chengyi without thinking.

Song Chengyi was smiling at her, though the smile somehow looked particularly ill-intentioned.

“Oh, I see...” Lin Ya actually believed her.

She did know a little about it. A soldier’s information certainly could not be revealed lightly.

But that was not the point. Not the point at all!!!

“Xiaxia, let me ask you this: are Song Zeming and Song Chengyi brothers?” Lin Ya raised another tricky question.

“...” Luo Yixia shot a resentful look at the gleefully amused Song Chengyi.

“That... um... yes...” Luo Yixia did not dare look at Lin Ya.

“What? Such a huge thing and you hid it from us too? So you and Song Chengyi were childhood sweethearts?” Lin Ya’s voice was so loud it nearly burst Luo Yixia’s eardrums.

“W-wait, keep your voice down... don’t talk nonsense... I... I’m not familiar with Song Chengyi,” Luo Yixia said, then shot another guilty glance at him.

“Nonsense! You were so close with Song Zeming, calling him Brother Zeming all the time, all sweet and familiar. And you’re telling me that since you live next door to Song Chengyi too, you’re not familiar with him?” Lin Ya’s words were sharp.

Luo Yixia was a little embarrassed... extremely embarrassed... so how was she supposed to answer that?

But then she caught sight of that guy Song Chengyi, and an idea suddenly flashed through her mind.

“You don’t know what Song Chengyi is like. He’s nothing like his brother. Let me tell you, Brother Zeming has such a good temper, such a good personality, he’s super gentle with people. But that Song Chengyi keeps a cold face all day, like everybody owes him a fortune, and he has a terrible temper and a terrible personality too. I don’t even talk to him, so of course we’re not familiar.” Luo Yixia herself did not know how she had said all that so smoothly... she simply ignored the increasingly dark expression and the increasingly resentful look from the man beside her.

“That does sound about right...” Lin Ya murmured thoughtfully.

Then she suddenly remembered something.

“Wait a second... what I asked was, why did you hide from us and say you didn’t know Song Chengyi?”

Luo Yixia nearly bit her tongue off. She had put too much force into that one.

“Well... Song Chengyi, yes, him. That rotten temper of his. When he found out we were going to be at the same school, he threatened me. You know, someone I hadn’t seen in years suddenly shows up at my house, and then he threatens me, saying if I told anyone I knew him, he’d torture me to death. So... I was scared... You also know how many infatuated little girls he has at school. If he let slip even a little something bad about me to them, wouldn’t I be picked clean to the bone? One has to live in the present; staying alive matters most, right?” Luo Yixia coaxed Lin Ya step by step.

And Lin Ya, with her straight-arrow thinking, actually... believed it.

“So that’s what Song Chengyi is like. I thought he was just cold and aloof. I never expected his character to be this awful.” Lin Ya’s voice came through the phone. Seeing that Lin Ya had believed her, Luo Yixia was secretly pleased.

“No, but why would Song Chengyi threaten you?” Lin Ya thought about it and found something odd.

“He thinks I embarrass him. He said someone with grades as bad as mine wasn’t worthy of living next door to him, so over the years he’s always disliked me. This time he just threatened me directly.” Luo Yixia felt that this excuse was so well made up she was starting to believe it herself.

Hahaha...

“You have no idea, all these years I’ve been scared to go out. Sometimes if I ran into him, he’d stare at me with that dead-fish face of his. I felt so wronged... waaah...” As she spoke, Luo Yixia even squeezed out two tears.

“Pfft.”

Suddenly, an uncooperative sound came from not far away.

“You... is someone else in the room?” Lin Ya heard it clearly.

“No, of course not. I’m the only one in my room. Since I don’t have any brothers or sisters, naturally I live here alone.” Luo Yixia shot Song Chengyi a fierce glare.

Song Chengyi lifted an eyebrow at her, his expression saying, I’m speaking—what can you do about it?

Luo Yixia instantly wilted.

When Lin Ya was not paying attention, she hurriedly pressed her palms together toward Song Chengyi, begging for mercy.

Song Chengyi glanced at her lazily.

“Then I must have heard wrong. Why did it sound like a man laughing?” Lin Ya asked uncertainly.

“You definitely heard wrong. Lin Ya, are you thinking about men too much? You’re hallucinating now?” Luo Yixia teased.

“Get lost. This lady doesn’t care about men.” Lin Ya rolled her eyes.

“I really never expected Song Chengyi to be that kind of person. I’ve seen through him now. He looks decent enough on the outside, but I never imagined he was such trash. Xiaxia, you’ve had it so hard.” Lin Ya turned around and started pitying Luo Yixia.

Song Chengyi even made you feel wronged? He had not done anything at all, okay? If anyone was the most pitiful, wasn’t it him?