Chapter 37: That Makes It Hard to Pet!
Qiū Chú Huán deliberately lowered his voice and continued, “Guide Mǐ Qiū’s face, to me, is like that of an angel.”
He said this right in front of everyone. Mǐ Qiū didn’t know how to respond to him, so she changed the subject directly. “So, who is cooking tonight?”
Qiū Chú Huán spoke first, “I’ll do it. But I have a condition: Guide Mǐ must keep me company. My biggest problem is that I do things very much as I please. So, for example, when I’m cooking, I need someone to provide me with enough emotional value.”
Half an hour later, before she had even arrived at the backyard kitchen, Zhù Shāngchén had gotten there ahead of her. He was repeating in an almost expressionless, mechanical tone, “Wow, so impressive! Absolutely amazing! Officer Qiū’s cooking skills are just too strong, really great!”
Such a gruff voice certainly couldn’t belong to Mǐ Qiū. Qiū Chú Huán snapped, “Zhù Shāngchén, do you think you’re coaxing a three-year-old? If you’re not cooking, don’t disturb me.”
Zhù Shāngchén replied, “I didn’t mean anything else. Didn’t Officer Qiū need emotional value? I was just providing it to you in a timely manner. Now you say you don’t want it; I was being kind.”
A long moment later, Mǐ Qiū walked in, naturally unaware of what had transpired between them.
“Are you here to cook tonight too?” she asked Zhù Shāngchén.
Zhù Shāngchén didn’t deny it.
“Since it’s Friday today, you two can make dinner. I’ll draw up a schedule later so we can have a fixed rotation for cooking… wait, no, what if someone suddenly has something else to do?”
Qiū Chú Huán offered his opinion on this, saying, “Random is better, though fixing the number of people is fine.”
What he said made a lot of sense!
This method was more suitable. Mǐ Qiū nodded in approval. Qiū Chú Huán asked, “Guide Mǐ, what do you want to eat for dinner?”
Mǐ Qiū: “I have a menu, but the specifics… I’m not sure either. Why don’t you choose?”
“Alright, but I need…”
Oh, praise, right? Appropriate praise was indeed beneficial. So, Mǐ Qiū began to praise him directly from the sidelines. Qiū Chú Huán suppressed the smile tugging at the corners of his lips. It wasn’t just about using her emotional value; this was simple, much simpler than helping in the kitchen. Her praise satisfied him greatly. Mǐ Qiū was even making conversation out of nothing. When he chopped vegetables, Mǐ Qiū said:
“Wow, these vegetables are sliced to such a perfect, even thickness. Officer Qiū really is amazing.”
“You toss the wok so well, too. I really have to give you a thumbs up!”
Qiū Chú Huán lowered his head, pursing his lips as he said, “If Guide Mǐ weren’t here, I wouldn’t be able to do it this well.”
Zhù Shāngchén had originally stayed to prepare soup. Since the soup needed to simmer for less than three hours, he decided not to wait there and went out for some fresh air.
Qiū Chú Huán glimpsed Zhù Shāngchén leaving but continued his movements without pausing. He didn’t care about Zhù Shāngchén at all; the man’s mood had nothing to do with him.
Qiū Chú Huán did hold a grudge about one thing, though: Hè Chí, Zhù Shāngchén, and Sù Zé Chū. The three of them had been with Mǐ Qiū the earliest and for the longest time.
If nothing else, it left a bad taste in his mouth. Every single one of them was a dangerous S-class Sentinel. With someone as cute and beautiful as Guide Mǐ, it was inevitable that some untoward thoughts would arise. Just thinking about it made Qiū Chú Huán unhappy.
After dinner, Mǐ Qiū found Zhù Shāngchén.
She asked about him leaving the island tomorrow—why hadn’t he told her yet? Although she had come back late, Mǐ Qiū felt a nagging suspicion that he intended to keep hiding it from her, so she decided to ask him first.
Zhù Shāngchén walked with her along a small path in the backyard. “Oh, because it’s a natural transfer in my work. It’s very normal. If Guide Mǐ wants to know, I can tell you now. However, it seems Guide Mǐ isn’t very interested in my affairs. So whether I say it or not becomes less important.”
Why did Mǐ Qiū feel that everyone was deliberately hiding their emotions when speaking to her since she got back? She just wanted to ask him out of concern, but Zhù Shāngchén seemed to be preaching a bunch of big principles. Fine, she could only respond:
“I only heard about this from Hè Chí. We’ve spent time together, at least two months, right? If you have anything on your mind, you can tell me. Tell me, maybe I can give you some ideas or help you resolve your worries.”
Zhù Shāngchén: “Can I?”
“Mhm, of course!”
“Guide Mǐ, you treat people very well, but the key is that you treat everyone here very well.”
Wasn’t that how it should be? After all, they were guests, so she had to treat them equally! She was just balancing the scales daily, diligently doing what she was supposed to do. Mǐ Qiū truly hadn’t thought of anything else.
Zhù Shāngchén: “I’ll leave tomorrow afternoon. Probably on the third fiber-optic boat. Guide Mǐ, will you see me off?”
“I…”
“Forget it. I shouldn’t have asked Guide Mǐ to do more for me. Maybe a month? Two months? The time isn’t set. Guide Mǐ, how soon do you want me to return?”
Mǐ Qiū: “That’s not something I can decide, is it?”
She ended their conversation with that sentence. Zhù Shāngchén left the island.
Two days later, Mǐ Qiū was about to begin her hypnosis again. This time, her subject was Qiū Chú Huán. Because of her hypnosis session tonight, Qiū Chú Huán hadn’t rested well since yesterday. She pushed the hypnosis equipment, preparing to enter Qiū Chú Huán’s room. Someone was behind her. Mǐ Qiū turned around…
She wondered who it was—it was Sù Zé Chū. Hadn’t he gone back to his room this late? Mǐ Qiū: “Why are you here?”
Sù Zé Chū countered, “Can’t I come?”
“Is something wrong?”
He stared at her, wanting to see through her. “What? Mǐ Qiū, do you have urgent matters to attend to right now?”
Actually, she was quite early; there was still time. Since Sù Zé Chū had something to discuss, Mǐ Qiū said, “Do you have something to tell me? I still have a little time.”
Seeing her pushing the hypnosis equipment, it wasn’t hard for Sù Zé Chū to guess what she was doing. He simply said, “He’s not in his room right now. I just saw him downstairs.”
Who else could Sù Zé Chū be talking about? Since Qiū Chú Huán wasn’t in the room, she nodded. “Then I’ll wait outside.”
“Just wait for him? I see there are still fifteen minutes before your official hypnosis.”
He really knew the schedule better than she did. Less than five minutes later, Qiū Chú Huán arrived on the third floor. Seeing Sù Zé Chū lingering there with Mǐ Qiū, he asked directly, “This shouldn’t be your room. Why are you here with Guide Mǐ Qiū…”
Sù Zé Chū: “Is that not allowed?”
Qiū Chú Huán: “No, but Guide Mǐ is going to hypnotize me tonight, so maybe… you should give us some space. Let Guide Mǐ Qiū and I have a chance to speak alone.”
His words were very clear; Sù Zé Chū couldn’t stay by Mǐ Qiū’s side like this. A trace of hostility flashed in Sù Zé Chū’s eyes, but it vanished instantly, unnoticed by anyone. After that, Sù Zé Chū finally backed down.
It was a pity Mǐ Qiū couldn’t see the undercurrents surging between them. She just focused on her task, sharing a space with Qiū Chú Huán. Qiū Chú Huán looked at Mǐ Qiū, staring straight at her. Whenever Mǐ Qiū looked up, she would meet his gaze…
Qiū Chú Huán: “Guide Mǐ, why are your eyes so charming?”
It was the first time Mǐ Qiū had heard someone praise her eyes like that. Her direct reaction was an uncontrollable verbal thank you. Qiū Chú Huán smiled slightly at her.
“Guide Mǐ, do my abs look good?”
She had only performed a necessary step; no Sentinel had spoken to her like this before. Mǐ Qiū was momentarily speechless…
Mǐ Qiū could only jokingly poke his abs lightly with her finger. They were well-trained. She responded, “Quite elastic…”
Was that answer acceptable? Mǐ Qiū felt a bit unsure of what to say. Qiū Chú Huán said, “Guide Mǐ, your technique is not bad.”
Mǐ Qiū really wasn’t giving him a massage!!! It was time to enter the hypnotic dreamscape…
Mǐ Qiū didn’t know what Qiū Chú Huán’s spiritual body was, so she tried entering the first layer. The shallow dream was easy enough to enter, but Mǐ Qiū got lost at the start. Where was she right now? She was a little confused. Her body seemed to be entangled and trapped by a long tail, making it difficult to move for a moment. She felt herself being wrapped tighter and tighter; even breathing became incredibly difficult…
Mǐ Qiū glanced around and discovered she was lying in the middle of a desert. The surrounding sand had become scorching hot. As for that tail, Mǐ Qiū could clearly see the striped pattern on it. The pattern revealed the owner of the tail. She had the final answer: the owner of the tail was a rattlesnake.
She was most afraid of this kind of animal, terrified to her core. But Qiū Chú Huán’s spiritual body was obviously a rattlesnake. No wonder she heard a hissing sound coming from its mouth—the sound of it flicking its tongue…
And the sound was piercingly penetrating. Just thinking that a venomous rattlesnake was beside her, wrapped around her body, required Mǐ Qiū to try hard to calm her emotions. No, she could definitely do this.
She took breaths in and out, trying to find mental balance so she wouldn’t be too afraid of it. It’s fine, it’s fine. It’s just a bit cold-blooded and looks a bit fierce, what else could it do? Since Mǐ Qiū took on the hypnosis job, she had anticipated such situations, so she kept telling herself internally: She can do this!
Now, she needed to slowly, slowly extract herself from the tail wrapped around her.
She saw the rattlesnake’s head. She didn’t dare make eye contact at all. Its vertical pupils stared at her, making Mǐ Qiū tremble uncontrollably. She had to stay calm.
Next, even if she met its gaze again, she still had to continue her movements. Evasion wouldn’t help her complete her soothing work well. Mǐ Qiū held her breath.
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