After being kicked out of the wealthy family along with her yandere childhood friend

Bai Tao sat on the sofa, her eyes unfocused as she stared at the fingers that had just wiped Pei Jin's back.

Even though she had already washed her hands, she felt that the minty smell of the ointment still lingered on the pad of her index finger. She lowered her head to smell it, then quickly moved it away.

His waist.

Her fingers lingered on the bruise on his side for a few extra seconds.

She couldn't stop thinking about those yellow waste materials.

We're all adults, so it's normal to have these kinds of thoughts.

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down.

Besides, she and Pei Jin see each other all the time, and now they live in the same house, so his facilities are quite good.

She recalled what she had seen in the bathroom: snow-white skin, firm lines, and clearly defined abdominal muscles under the fluorescent light.

Hers is not bad either.

She looked down at herself; the neckline of her nightgown was a little low, and the curve below her collarbone undulated slightly under the incandescent light, revealing a faint outline.

She took two deep breaths. It's okay, it's okay. She's not that kind of person. She's just reached a certain age and needs to be in a relationship.

Once Pei Jin gives her 100 million, she'll run away and become a rich woman.

She wasn't the kind of irresponsible person who could live under the same roof as Pei Jin while also finding another boyfriend.

Bai Tao silently recited "emptiness is form, form is emptiness" ten times in her mind, and then tried to shift her attention to the phone screen.

Pei Jin finally finished cleaning up the mess in the bathroom. When he came out, Bai Tao was sitting on the sofa, wrapped in a blanket, staring at him with a resentful look in her eyes.

With an inexplicable sense of sorrow, he was bewildered by her gaze. He frowned, glanced at her, dried his hair with a towel, and then lowered the curtain to sit on the bed.

Feeling comfortable as he sat back down on the mattress, Pei Jin sighed with relief.

Bai Tao listened intently to the sound of Pei Jin sitting on the mattress and the mattress bouncing slightly, then helplessly kicked her legs on the sofa.

He picked up his phone, leaned against the headboard, and opened the document sent by Chi Shibao. He had only scanned two lines when he heard a muffled thud from the other end.

With a thud, it sounded like something heavy had hit the corner of the coffee table.

Pei Jin put down his phone, his voice coming through the floral fabric:

"What's wrong?"

"have no idea."

Bai Tao's voice came from the other side of the floral cloth, her tone feigned normal but with a slight, suppressed tremor, as if it were being squeezed out from between her teeth.

She sat on the sofa, clutching her right foot tightly with both hands, curled up into a ball.

A clear red mark was visible on the instep, which was already slightly swollen. The edges of the mark were somewhat white, and the middle part had turned bluish-purple.

Tears welled up in her eyes, but she bit her lower lip, too proud to admit what she had just done.

I can't say.

So embarrassing.

Although Bai Tao had tried her best to make her voice sound normal,

But Pei Jin still sensed something was wrong; her voice trembled as she tried her best to suppress something.

I guessed that the voice just now might have come from Bai Tao.

Pei Jin lifted the curtain and met Bai Tao's gaze, who was sitting on the sofa sprawled out in pain.

White Peach's posture is not very attractive.

One leg was curled up, the other leg was stretched out and rested on the edge of the coffee table, the body was tilted to one side, and the hands were holding the back of the feet.

Her nose was red, and her eyes were red-rimmed. She looked pitiful, as if she had been badly bullied by someone.

Her lips were slightly parted, and she was breathing rapidly from the pain, her chest rising and falling beneath her nightgown.

Pei Jin glanced at it. He had just finished dealing with those inappropriate thoughts in the bathroom and finally managed to wake himself up by splashing cold water on himself.

When he walked out of the restroom, he felt like he had become a normal person again.

Now those thoughts are surging back like a tide, even more intense than before.

Because of her crooked posture, the neckline of Bai Tao's nightgown slipped down slightly, revealing one of her rounded shoulders.

Her legs were draped over the edge of the coffee table, and the hem of her nightgown was rolled up to mid-thigh because of her posture.

He immediately regretted walking out so carelessly.

But now he can't just leave Bai Tao alone.

Her injury looked serious; the instep of her foot was red and swollen, and the edge of the red mark was slowly turning blue. She was still gasping for breath in pain.

Pei Jin moved the coffee table next to the sofa and pushed it aside.

He knelt down on one knee in front of Bai Tao, gently pinched her calf, and placed it on his knee.

Bai Tao's leg trembled slightly in his palm. She tried to pull her foot back and pulled hard, but Pei Jin held her ankle and didn't let go.

Tears still clung to her face, threatening to fall, her pitiful appearance already stirring Pei Jin's heart.

She was sitting there, her legs draped over his knees, her ankles held in his hands, her nose red, and her lips slightly parted.

"Don't move. Don't cry."

Pei Jin's voice was somewhat cold and hard, sounding rather impatient and fierce.

Bai Tao's eyes widened in shock at Pei Jin.

I had only shed a few tears, but after he scolded me, I suddenly felt that I couldn't cry anymore. But the more I tried to hold back, the more uncontrollable the tears became.

She held her breath, afraid to cry out loud, but tears streamed down her face like raindrops.

The stains fell on her white cotton nightgown, spreading out as tiny, dark gray dots, like small, dark flowers.

Looking at Bai Tao, whose instep was already red and swollen, and who had suddenly burst into tears like rain, Pei Jin looked up speechlessly. Hadn't she been crying this much just a moment ago?

"What is it now, my lady?"

Bai Tao kept inhaling and convulsing, trying to control herself from crying out loud. Not wanting Pei Jin to see her disheveled state, she planned to wrap her face in a blanket and wipe all her tears and snot on it.

Pei Jin quickly pulled off the blanket and threw it onto the bed.

Then he picked up a tissue from the coffee table, placed it next to Bai Tao, and quickly pulled out a few to cover Bai Tao's face.

Washing clothes is inconvenient to begin with, so we always wash them by hand.

Bai Tao could never wring out her clothes properly, so Pei Jin would secretly wring them out a few more times for her after work.

I take my clothes outside to dry while I'm at work during the day.

In the alley, many thick lines were strung together to hang clothes and blankets for drying. In order to prevent the clothes from getting musty and to dry them as soon as possible, Pei Jin would take them out to dry in the morning and bring them back together in the evening.

If Bai Tao gets the blanket she sleeps on wet, it will be difficult to wash, and she will definitely complain.

And it's not easy to dry her clothes after washing them. Now the temperature in the basement is low with the air conditioning on, and she might catch a cold.

Bai Tao covered Pei Jin's face with the tissue, wiped her face haphazardly, and then secretly removed the tissue, revealing only a pair of slightly red eyes as she looked at Pei Jin.

Pei Jin looked down at the back of her foot, his fingertips gently tracing the edge of the red and swollen mark.

Bai Tao's feet are beautiful, tender and white, with her toes curled up in a rounded shape. The skin on the back of her feet is thin, and you can see the fine blue veins underneath.

To his surprise, it was cold, like a small ice cube.

Pei Jin reached out and pulled out a swelling-reducing ointment from his pile of medicine.

He squeezed some into his palm and slowly melted it with the warmth of his hand until the ointment became warm, then covered her instep with his entire palm.

While Pei Jin was doing this, he kept a close eye on Bai Tao's feet.

His eyelids drooped, and his eyelashes cast a small shadow on his lower eyelid.

Bai Tao secretly peeked at Pei Jin through her fingers, her fingers pressed together in front of her face, leaving only a narrow gap.

His fingers were light, and his palms were warm and dry as they covered the instep of her foot.

Bai Tao felt a kind of indescribable bitterness in her heart, like something stuck in her throat, neither coming up nor going down.

Pei Jin looked up and saw Bai Tao staring at him in a daze.

Her gaze lingered on his face through her fingers, a somewhat self-deceptive act.

Pei Jin paused for a moment, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"What's wrong?"

Pei Jin's voice carried a hint of barely perceptible laughter.

Bai Tao didn't expect Pei Jin to suddenly look up. Before she could dodge, her gaze went straight into his eyes.

Her heart skipped a beat and then began to race.

She quickly looked away, but then felt it was too deliberate, so she looked back at her injured foot, examining it from all angles, but dared not look at his face again.

"fine,"

Bai Tao's voice was still a little hoarse from crying.

"Thank you, thank you."

"Don't mention it."

Pei Jin smiled and deftly pulled a roll of gauze from the medicine bag.

Lift Bai Tao's ankle and gently cover the red and swollen area on the instep with gauze, wrapping it around and around, just enough to hold the ointment in place without being too tight.

Finally, he tied a bow on the outside of his ankle.

White Peach never goes out; she spends all her time in the basement wearing slippers, so there's no need to consider her appearance.

Pei Jin never asked her what she did every day, nor why she didn't go to work.

He could roughly guess that Bai Tao was studying art and was probably earning some pocket money by drawing pictures for others.

Just like he was secretly helping others write papers, they were all quietly working hard to become better.

"alright."

Pei Jin gently patted her foot, indicating that she could take it back.

His palm landed on the side of her ankle, through the gauze, the force as light as a feather brushing against her skin. Bai Tao felt the skin on her ankle slightly warm under the gauze.

She pulled her legs back, put her feet on the sofa armrest, brought her feet together, and curled her fair toes slightly.

Pei Jin glanced at her, his gaze lingering on the bow for a moment, then stood up, turned and walked into the restroom.

Pei Jin stood in front of the mirror, head down, squeezed out a pump of hand soap, and rubbed it from his palm to between his fingers, washing each finger very carefully.

Halfway through washing, he looked up at the mirror.

The face in the mirror, aloof and expressionless, was scrutinizing itself with a gaze that no one else could perceive.

The ambition and desire in those eyes reached their peak when no one was around, like two black flames burning silently deep within the pupils.

He looked at himself in the mirror, as if confirming something.

Then he looked away, turned off the faucet, shook the water off his hands, and dried them with a towel.

After wiping, he put the towel back on the rack and looked at himself in the mirror one last time.

The person in the mirror returned to their usual appearance, with cool eyebrows, indifferent eyes, and an otherworldly air.

When he pushed open the door and came out, his face was completely unrecognizable.

"Are the lights off?"

Pei Jin stood by the floral fabric, one hand already on the light switch.

"it is good."

Bai Tao pulled the blanket up to cover her face.

The blanket covered most of her face, and from the other side of the floral fabric came the sound of him lifting the covers and lying down.

Bai Tao looked at the floral fabric in the darkness; the fabric printed with large peony flowers turned into a blurry, dark blue shadow in the night.

She remembered how she used to chase after Pei Jin when she was a child.

Seven or eight-year-old Pei Jin was wearing a white shirt and black pants, and his hair was neatly combed.

She ran out of the Bai family's house clutching her doll and saw him standing alone by the fountain in the Pei family's garden. She excitedly ran over, wanting to play with him.

Pei Jin turned and left, and she stood there watching his figure disappear behind the black iron gate of the Pei family.

I remembered when Pei Jin was in high school, he walked alone every day.

She thought to herself at that time, "Why is this person always alone?"

Then Pei Jin grabbed her by the neck, his strength almost lifting her toes off the ground.

When his fingers dug into her throat, Bai Tao thought she was going to die.

At that time, she thought Pei Jin was a demon, a madman, and a venomous snake she had to avoid for the rest of her life.

But the way Pei Jin applied the medicine for her just now could be described as gentle.

He knelt on one knee in front of her, holding her ankle, his palm warm and dry.

Which one is he?

Pei Jin's alarm clock rang at six o'clock.

He groped around in a daze for a while before finally finding his phone and turning off the alarm.

He was injured, and the manager of the courier station told him to rest for a few days until he recovered.

Pei Jin placed his phone face down next to his pillow, turned over, and found the mattress so comfortable that he quickly fell asleep again.

When Pei Jin opened his eyes again, he blinked, reached for his phone, and turned on the screen: 10:02.

He paused for a moment.

He hadn't slept until this late in a long time.

The new mattress is so comfortable.

In fact, ever since he moved in, he has been unable to sleep soundly every night because of the hard wooden board.

Pei Jin lay on the mattress and suddenly felt that something was wrong.

He turned his head and instantly became fully awake.

Bai Tao lifted a corner of the curtain and looked at him.

She had probably just woken up; her hair was messy, with a few strands sticking up on top of her head.

She looked at him quietly with eyes that held a hint of resentment and dissatisfaction.

Pei Jin stared at her for two seconds, his Adam's apple bobbed, then he picked up his phone to check the time, confirming that he hadn't misread it: 10:03.

He was glad he hadn't slept naked last night because he was worried about getting the ointment on the sheets.

He got out of bed nimbly, and only after seeing him get up did Bai Tao lower the curtain.

Bai Tao was awakened by hunger.

When she woke up, she found that there was no breakfast on the table and Pei Jin's curtain was not lifted.

She paused for a moment, then remembered that he was injured and didn't need to go to work or get up early recently.

But I'm hungry.

She sat up from the sofa, lifted the floral fabric a crack to peek inside, and saw that he was still asleep.

She didn't want to wake him, but she felt it was unfair to wait for someone who was sleeping on an empty stomach, so she chose to wake Pei Jin.

It had absolutely nothing to do with her wanting to take the opportunity to see if Pei Jin liked to sleep naked or if she could see anything else.

When Pei Jin came out from behind the floral fabric, Bai Tao was sitting on the sofa, looking at him with a resentful expression.

If you don't go to work, you won't have money. How can a man with no money lie comfortably on such a comfortable mattress and sleep soundly?

Feeling uneasy under her gaze, he hurriedly went into the bathroom, turned on the tap, and washed his face with cold water.

Pei Jin dried his face and came out of the bathroom, his voice slightly hoarse from just waking up.

Are you hungry? I'll make breakfast right away.