As soon as Gu Mang entered the bedroom, she took off her camouflage jacket and tossed it into the laundry basket. The army green singlet she was wearing revealed her toned arms and pretty, fair skin, which caught Lu Chengzhou’s attention. A frown settled on his forehead as he stared at her elbow and grabbed her wrist. “How did you get this?”
“Huh?” She looked at him with puzzlement, then upon noticing his lowered gaze, she followed his line of vision and found a big, awful patch of bruises on her arm. She had no idea how, when, or where she had gotten them. She used to get injured a lot in the past, so such bruises were nothing to her.
That said, she could not help but feel a little uneasy when she sensed the sudden gloomy vibes he was exuding. His physical injuries might have healed since their return from Red Flame, but there was still some trauma left. He could not bear to see her get hurt in the slightest. She glanced at him and then said somewhat casually, “Ah. I probably got it during the military training. It’s fine.”
Her indifference made him drop his voice even lower. “You can’t feel anything at all?”
“I can. It hurts.” She gave him an expressionless reply after a moment. She couldn’t feel the pain at all. Had Lu Chengzhou not pointed it out to her, she might not have noticed it.
Lu Chengzhou, however, looked distraught. When he heard that she was hurting, he looked at her with indescribable emotions. “I’ll put an ice pack over it tonight.”
“Okay.” Gu Mang smiled and scraped his chin with a finger. “You’re being quite considerate.”
His sinking mood was instantly lifted by her words and actions. He was in a dilemma and didn’t know how to feel. After a while, he pulled Gu Mang into his arms with a sigh. He rested his chin on her head and spoke in a hoarse, baritone voice, “Did you know that I can’t stand seeing any injuries on your body?”
“No.” She answered in such a matter-of-fact manner it rendered him speechless. Pushing him away, she took a small step backward as she held his arms and gave him an amused look. “I think you might have forgotten this, Lu Chengzhou, but when I woke up on a certain morning, I found myself covered with bruises and teeth marks.”
When he did not respond to her, she continued, “Yet now you’re telling me that you can’t stand seeing injuries on my body? Aren’t you being somewhat of a…” She tilted her head slightly and raised an eyebrow. “Hypocrite?”
The mixed emotions Lu Chengzhou felt earlier were washed away as he stared straight into her eyes. All of a sudden, he burst out chuckling and pulled her back into his embrace. As he kissed her ear, he said, “No, that’s different.”
“They’re basically still bruises,” answered Gu Mang calmly.
Moving backward, he sat on the edge of the bed while he let Gu Mang sit on his lap and stroked her hair. His voice gently caressed her ear. “That’s different. While I can be a beast in bed, I have to be a man once I’m out of bed.”
The ticklish sensation made her lean back slightly. “Can you be any more flirtatious?”
He wrapped an arm around her thin waist, asking in a slow, teasing manner, “You want to see more?”
“No. I’m going to hit the showers.” To her surprise, it did not take much effort for her to push him away. She did not dwell on it and went to get her clothes before heading to the bathroom.
As Lu Chengzhou watched the doors to the bathroom close, he put his hands behind him to prop himself up and drummed his fingers on the bed. His gaze remained on the doors for a while before he finally looked away and chuckled. If she had not pushed him away earlier, he might not have wanted to go downstairs to have his dinner.