Chapter 11: The Library’s Unforeseen Kiss

The library, as its name implied, was a sanctuary filled with books.

Its atmosphere was usually one of profound tranquility, permeated by the fragrant scent of paper and ink.

Yet, this morning on the second floor, a strange tension permeated the air after a buxom beauty, smiling radiantly, approached a young man.

The usual hushed silence of the second floor instantly grew heavy, filled with an inexplicable awkwardness.

As the one at the center of attention, Ye Yu stiffened instinctively at the arrival of his ‘love rival’. His entire body tensed like a startled cat, and his bright, limpid eyes gleamed with wariness.

Yang Wei, seeing the goddess he adored walk towards another man, revealed a ferocious glint in his eyes.

It seemed the unusual atmosphere swirling between the trio sharply contrasted with the library’s customary peace.

In an instant, many students who were either studying early or loved to gossip were drawn to the spectacle, turning their gazes towards them.

Under the curious stares of the crowd, Huangpu Pingqing slowly arrived beside Ye Yu.

He watched as Huangpu Pingqing, who normally kept a distinct distance from him, approached him today for the first time ever.

The proximity was such that he could even catch a faint, delicate fragrance emanating from her.

‘Something out of the ordinary must portend trouble,’ Ye Yu thought, his confusion reaching its peak!

‘What exactly does Huangpu Pingqing want to do?’

‘Is she trying to ambush me when I’m not paying attention? No, Cloudrise Academy has a rule: private fights between students result in expulsion.’

‘Or is she trying to openly challenge me for my wife? Even then, she wouldn’t need to get this close!’

‘But if I step back now, wouldn’t I be conceding a loss of presence to her? Absolutely not! A true man never retreats!!!’

‘Especially when it’s for love!!!’

While Ye Yu, ever prone to imagining scenarios with rivals, had turned into a stiff block of wood from his confusion and vigilance, Huangpu Pingqing, unbeknownst to him, was equally nervous.

To successfully deceive Senior Yang Wei and make him believe that Ye Yu was her boyfriend, mere words would likely not convince him.

Even if it was just an act, she would at least need to intimately link arms with Ye Yu.

As someone afflicted with androphobia, Huangpu Pingqing was quite familiar with Ye Yu, her best friend Tang Yue’s next-door neighbor and husband, who was a year her junior.

However, the thought of direct physical contact with a boy, something she hadn’t actively done in nearly two years, plunged her into a sudden internal struggle.

She worried that if she linked arms with Ye Yu, her androphobia might cause her to vomit on the spot, which would be incredibly awkward.

Yet, the lecherous gaze of Senior Yang Wei intensified from behind her, and the curious stares of the onlookers grew more numerous.

Put squarely on the spot, knowing that doing nothing would be even more embarrassing, Huangpu Pingqing looked at Ye Yu’s slender arm beneath his somewhat oversized white hoodie.

After taking two deep breaths, she finally gritted her teeth. In the full view of everyone, as if facing her death, she resolutely took one of Ye Yu’s slender arms.

Mimicking the casual ease with which her best friend Tang Yue often did, she tucked his arm snugly into her deep cleavage.

Ye Yu, anticipating a ‘cuckold’ declaration from his rival, felt his entire mind cease to function at Huangpu Pingqing’s sudden gesture of linking arms.

His whole body was filled with only one sensation emanating from his arm: softness—an exquisite, ethereal softness, like floating on clouds.

As Huangpu Pingqing’s neighbor for several years, Ye Yu had always known she possessed a stunning figure.

However, as a good husband, committed to Tang Yue and ensuring her peace of mind, he had always maintained a safe distance from his ‘ample’ neighbor, Huangpu Pingqing, whenever they played together, always making sure Tang Yue was present.

Now, for the first time, she intimately linked arms with him, her waist even brushing against his. The closeness was so profound that he could faintly feel Huangpu Pingqing’s warm breath.

In that moment, Ye Yu suddenly recalled a line from a show: ‘So your target wasn’t my wife, but me?’

While Ye Yu was utterly dumbfounded by the sudden turn of events, Huangpu Pingqing, who had initiated the embrace, was equally astonished.

She had anticipated unpleasant symptoms like nausea, dizziness, or even goosebumps after linking arms with Ye Yu.

She had even braced herself to suppress the expected disgust. But after one, two, then three seconds, that familiar phobic nausea never surfaced.

Instead, all she felt was a soft, gentle sensation radiating from Ye Yu’s body.

There was not the slightest discomfort; in fact, Huangpu Pingqing found it rather comfortable to lean against him.

‘Could it be that my androphobia has healed at some point without me knowing?’

As Huangpu Pingqing pondered this in secret, a brazen, lecherous gaze fell upon her chest. The owner of this gaze was none other than the despicable Senior Yang Wei.

The look was so unmasked, completely devoid of any attempt to conceal his desire, that a familiar sense of discomfort immediately surged into Huangpu Pingqing’s heart, and her arm broke out in goosebumps due to her androphobia.

Witnessing her body’s instinctive reaction, Huangpu Pingqing knew that her androphobia still lingered.

‘But why does it not reject Ye Yu, my next-door little brother?’

Before Huangpu Pingqing could fully grasp the reason, Ye Yu, still stiff as a robot, slowly, perhaps not very intelligently, turned his small head.

His pair of clear, black eyes were filled with profound bewilderment, much like a newborn fawn—a confused, dazed look that stirred an urge to playfully tease him.

Observing Ye Yu’s dazed expression, Huangpu Pingqing realized for the first time how expressive her best friend’s ‘little husband’ could be. No wonder Tang Yue always enjoyed teasing him.

Amidst her musings, she noticed the questioning glances from the crowd and Ye Yu himself. Huangpu Pingqing quickly remembered her original purpose for linking arms with him.

She needed to prove she had a boyfriend to drive Yang Wei away. And now she knew her body didn’t reject Ye Yu.

The next second, under the astonished gazes of the onlookers, Huangpu Pingqing moved even closer to Ye Yu, saying sweetly and intimately,