The moment Xiang Chi’s voice sounded, Lin Le was badly startled, his hair practically standing on end. He turned around in panic, his eyes not knowing where to look. “X-Xiang Chi? Why did you come out?”
Xiang Chi stared at the jacket in Han Jinyan’s hands. It was his jacket!
Blood rushed to his head. Then he looked at Lin Le’s panicked expression and nearly lost the ability to speak. Irritably pushing his hair back, Xiang Chi laughed from sheer anger.
“So the secret you needed to tell Han Jinyan was this? You asked Han Jinyan to wash my clothes for you?!”
Xiang Chi could not control his volume. He was too shocked. To him, if Lin Le smelling his clothes earlier had made his heart flutter and sent him floating, then hearing that Lin Le wanted Han Jinyan to wash his jacket made his heart die on the spot.
Clothes were private belongings, weren’t they? Not to mention this was something he wore all the time. That made it even more private, okay?!
The moment Xiang Chi imagined Han Jinyan washing his clothes with his own hands, goosebumps rose all over him.
Although Lin Le could not see what the scene in front of him looked like, he could still hear from Xiang Chi’s nearly collapsing voice that something was wrong.
He wanted to explain, but the facts were exactly as Xiang Chi said, so he could not get anything coherent out. “I-I, the clothes, Han Jinyan…”
Lin Le’s eyes darted around guiltily, not settling anywhere. He scratched his cheek. “I wanted to wash them for you, but the water is too cold. Look at my hands.”
Lin Le raised his hands. He could not see where Xiang Chi was standing, so to make sure Xiang Chi could see them, he held his hands up and turned in a circle.
There was actually nothing wrong with Lin Le’s hands. He had showered in hot water, and his own clothes had gone into the washing machine. But to make Xiang Chi believe him now, he could only rub his hands hard until they turned red.
Only his palms were slightly red. There was nothing else wrong with them.
Xiang Chi looked left, then right at the person who was about to make himself dizzy from spinning, and caught his hand. “But from what I can see, there’s nothing wrong with your hands.”
Lin Le blinked and struggled to rescue his hand. He had not expected Xiang Chi to simply grab it. He had only wanted to muddle his line of sight, but now that Xiang Chi had caught his hand, wasn’t everything exposed?
Lin Le guiltily pulled his hand back. “You—you saw wrong. Your eyes must be going bad.”
Xiang Chi laughed in anger. Even Han Jinyan could not hold back a sound.
“My eyes are broken? Lin Le, do you want to listen to what you’re saying?”
Lin Le bit his lip and stammered, “Anyway—anyway, my hands really hurt. It’s an internal injury, so I can’t wash clothes anymore.”
Xiang Chi said, “If you can’t wash them, you can give them back to me. I can wash them myself. It’s not as if you absolutely have to do it.”
Xiang Chi’s words pricked Lin Le. His lips moved, but he could not say anything. He could hardly tell him that the System had assigned it as a mission.
Besides, Xiang Chi sounded so fierce. It was only washing a piece of clothing. It was not as if Lin Le had taken his jacket to wipe the floor. Seriously.
Lin Le’s chest felt sour and swollen. He sniffed.
【Mr. System, I don’t want to do this mission anymore. Xiang Chi is awful.】
The System was silent for several seconds. 【Then we won’t do it. We can put it aside for now. There’s nothing wrong with that.】
Lin Le’s voice was muffled. 【Okay.】
Lin Le took the jacket back from Han Jinyan and silently tried to walk inside, but Xiang Chi was standing right in front of him, and Lin Le crashed straight into him.
Xiang Chi’s chest was not hard, more slightly soft, but suddenly colliding with him still hurt. Combined with having just been scolded by Xiang Chi, Lin Le could no longer hold back his tears.
That one collision shattered Lin Le’s emotional defenses. His eyes reddened in less than a second, and his voice came out sticky and muffled. “Why are you standing in front of me? I want to go back inside!”
Xiang Chi stared at Lin Le’s reddened eyes and clearly froze. His emotions had gotten a little out of control, but he had not expected a few words to nearly make Lin Le cry.
No, not quite. The tears had not fallen yet. He was only on the verge of crying.
Xiang Chi panicked. “I-I’ll move right now. Why are your eyes red?”
Lin Le bit his lip and turned his face aside. “I won’t let Han Jinyan wash them. I’ll wash them for you.”
Lin Le spoke angrily, even raising his voice.
Xiang Chi was startled by Lin Le’s tone. This was the first time he had ever heard Lin Le speak so loudly.
Fu Ji and Zhou Zhongshe heard Lin Le from inside the dorm and both came out to see what had happened.
Lin Le had not expected his emotions to suddenly slip out of control. He pursed his lips, unwilling to embarrass himself in front of so many people, and tried hard to force the miserable feeling back down.
“I’m sorry, Xiang Chi. I’ll wash your clothes for you. I won’t let Han Jinyan wash them anymore.”
Once Lin Le calmed down, he also realized that he had been in the wrong. Perhaps Xiang Chi was a clean freak, and that was why he did not want Han Jinyan washing his clothes.
Fu Ji and Zhou Zhongshe came out just in time to hear Lin Le say that and assumed Xiang Chi had bullied him.
Zhou Zhongshe immediately stepped in front of Lin Le. “What happened? Why are you suddenly making Lin Le wash your clothes?”
Xiang Chi opened his mouth. “No, that’s not it. Lin Le was trying to give my clothes to Han Jinyan to wash.”
That one sentence left Fu Ji and Zhou Zhongshe rooted to the spot. Lin Le had not expected the two of them to come out as well. The thought that so many people had now seen him on the verge of tears only made him feel even more embarrassed and ashamed.
He raised his hands and pushed at Zhou Zhongshe, who was standing in front of him. “L-Let’s go inside and talk. There are so many people out here.”
Students from neighboring dorms had heard the commotion and several were already poking their heads out. Lin Le could practically feel their gossip-hungry gazes.
Once they returned to the dorm and shut the door, most of those probing gazes disappeared. But now an even bigger problem was waiting for Lin Le.
Lin Le could not see. The others formed a circle around him while he stood in the middle, like a criminal awaiting judgment, all of them staring closely at him.
Lin Le’s body went stiff. He stammered through an explanation, his voice trembling. “I-I just thought the weather was too cold and the water was freezing. My hands hurt so much from the cold, so I wanted Han Jinyan to help me wash the clothes. I thought that since I promised Xiang Chi I’d hand-wash them, putting them in the washing machine wouldn’t be good. And—and whoever washes them is still using human hands.”
Xiang Chi had calmed down too, his anger subsiding a little. He looked at Lin Le. “Then you could have just told me. If your hands hurt, I wouldn’t force you to wash them.”
Lin Le nodded furiously. “I know I was wrong. I-I didn’t think about your feelings. I’m sorry, Xiang Chi. The clothes are your belongings. I promised I would wash them, so I should be the one to wash them. I won’t give them to someone else again. I’ll wash them for you. Don’t be angry anymore.”
Xiang Chi really had been angry just now, but most of it had already faded. It was only a jacket. Who washed it did not really matter. If Han Jinyan was willing to wash it for him, that was not bad either. Xiang Chi would not have to do it himself, and he could even display his magnanimity.
With that thought, Xiang Chi cleared his throat. “Actually, there’s nothing wrong with letting Han Jinyan wash it for us. I was overthinking things just now. If your hands feel uncomfortable, don’t wash it. I have hand cream. I’ll put some on you.”
Lin Le’s wilted expression instantly brightened. His red-rimmed eyes opened wide as he looked ahead. “Really? Han Jinyan can really wash it for you?”
If that was allowed, wouldn’t he be able to complete the mission after all?!
Lin Le became delighted. He could not even tell where Xiang Chi’s voice was coming from and assumed Xiang Chi was standing right in front of him. Happily, he reached out and grabbed a hand. “Thank you, Xiang Chi. You’re so nice.”
Han Jinyan suddenly found his hand being held. Expressionless, he listened to Lin Le’s words, then met Xiang Chi’s increasingly furious gaze. He abruptly smiled. “Lin Le, you grabbed the wrong person.”
Before Lin Le could react, Han Jinyan bent down and leaned close, his breath spilling over Lin Le’s cheek, warm and ticklish.
“But I can still wash Xiang Chi’s clothes for you. Just remember my requests.”
Lin Le’s body stiffened. He nodded blankly.
Han Jinyan straightened and smiled. “Xiang Chi, give me your clothes.”
Han Jinyan did not deliberately lower his voice. Xiang Chi and the other two could all hear him.
Lin Le stood there with reddened ears, motionless, while everyone’s gaze landed on him.
Xiang Chi suddenly no longer wanted to hand the clothes over to Han Jinyan. He narrowed his eyes. “Did you and Lin Le make some kind of deal?”
Han Jinyan shrugged, looking completely innocent. “No deal. Just some friendly communication between good classmates.”
After saying that, he even asked Lin Le.
“Right, Lin Le?”
Lin Le already felt unbearably awkward. If they found out that he had agreed to three conditions he did not even know yet just to get Han Jinyan to wash Xiang Chi’s clothes, wouldn’t they laugh themselves sick?
For the sake of saving face, Lin Le nodded meekly with red ears. “Ah, yes.”
Xiang Chi and the others watched Lin Le’s ears turn red because of Han Jinyan’s words and became extremely displeased. Their instincts told them Han Jinyan and Lin Le definitely had some secret they did not know about.
Xiang Chi clicked his tongue. How did Lin Le have secrets with everyone?
Lin Le touched his burning ear, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. His ears were a sensitive spot. Han Jinyan had suddenly leaned close to speak just now, which had made them turn red at once.
After Han Jinyan took Xiang Chi’s clothes, he hummed a song as he headed to the bathroom. Anyone with eyes could see that he was extremely pleased.
With the crisis resolved, everyone returned to their own places. Lin Le also breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally muddled his way through it.
The moment he sat down, the System’s voice sounded. 【Congratulations, Host, on completing Mission Four. Sight-restoration progress increased by one.】
Hearing that, Lin Le finally smiled. His mood instantly became much brighter. Good thing he was clever, otherwise he would never have managed to complete this mission.
Proudly, he hummed at the System. 【Mr. System, wasn’t I amazing? Wasn’t I great? I still managed to finish it even in such a dangerous moment, hmph hmph.】
The System laughed softly. 【Very amazing. Very great.】
Lin Le proudly bobbed his head until a message from Fu Ji interrupted his happiness.
The cold mechanical voice in his earphones sounded almost as though Fu Ji were speaking beside his ear, with the same flat tone, no rise or fall and no warmth.
【Are you like this with everyone? Or are you trying to attract my attention
