There was the sound of a branch snapping underfoot.
Pei Zhi frowned slightly and lifted his gaze. He saw the woman walking to the riverbank.
Song Yu had her hands stuffed in her pockets, looking down at him with a slight arch of her long eyebrows.
Pei Zhi stood in the river, where the water was not deep—just enough to lap at his lower abdomen, exposing his lean and toned waist and abs. Water droplets trailed down, leaving misty paths in their wake.
Song Yu’s gaze lingered on his waist and abs for two seconds. She felt a dryness in her throat.
The man met her eyes steadily, unhurried, showing no trace of panic or shame at being seen.
Neither of them spoke.
It was like a lion and its prey crossing paths on the barren plains, silently testing each other in the quiet.
Testing to see who was the lion and who was the prey.
In the end, Song Yu lost her patience first.
She reached up and removed her earphones, hanging them along with the microphone on a nearby tree.
“This is a public area, right? I’m not breaking any agreements,” Song Yu said, seizing the initiative.
“…” Pei Zhi gave her a faint glance before quickly looking away, saying nothing.
Seeing that he was ignoring her, Song Yu inexplicably felt competitive. She wanted to provoke him even more.
She leaned back against the trunk of a palm tree behind her and struck up a casual conversation. “There are piranhas in this river. Aren’t you afraid?”
Pei Zhi lifted his eyelids again, staring at her.
After a long moment, he finally spoke, his tone mild and indifferent. “You can come down and try it yourself.”
His English pronunciation was remarkably precise, his voice carrying a damp, magnetic quality that was quite pleasant.
Song Yu automatically ignored the coldness and challenge in his words.
She shrugged. “Nah, I’ll pass.”
Just then, a little monkey leaped out from somewhere and jumped into the water.
The little monkey swam straight to the man and clambered onto his shoulder, as if they knew each other.
Pei Zhi said something in the tribal language, then gripped the monkey under its armpits and tossed it back into the water.
The little monkey clearly loved the game, chattering with shrill squeaks.
Song Yu watched the man and the monkey play around on their own, completely ignoring her as if she weren’t there.
It had been a long time since anyone had dismissed her so thoroughly—even a monkey outranked her. It only made her more determined to get a rise out of him.
Song Yu squatted down at the riverbank, drawing closer to the man.
“Is this your pet?” she asked.
Pei Zhi continued grooming the monkey’s fur without acknowledging her.
Song Yu didn’t mind and pressed on. “What’s its name?”
“In our country, keeping monkeys is illegal,” she added.
The little monkey, at least, seemed unusually perceptive. Every time Song Yu spoke, it twisted its head to look at her, blinking its big, watery round eyes.
Judy had always liked pretty women and made several attempts to leap from Pei Zhi’s grasp.
His eyes lowered, and the river reflected the woman’s shadow—jet-black hair, bright and clear eyes sparkling with mischief.
Unbidden, Pei Zhi recalled how she had so confidently declared earlier that she wouldn’t come over here. She certainly didn’t keep her word.
Taking advantage of Pei Zhi’s momentary distraction, the little monkey nimbly scrambled out and pounced into Song Yu’s arms.
Song Yu started in surprise, then looked toward the man in the water with a smug sense of triumph.
See? It likes me more.
“…” Pei Zhi gazed at the little male monkey acting cute in the woman’s arms, a wave of helplessness washing over him.
Lustful little thing.
“Judy,” he called the monkey’s name, his tone carrying a faint warning.
Judy turned a deaf ear and showed no intention of returning. It even turned its red bottom toward him.
Song Yu felt the little monkey’s damp fur and soft body. She suddenly remembered seeing locals skinning monkeys earlier.
She pressed her lips together and asked uncertainly, “Are you planning to raise it and then eat it?”
To her surprise, no sooner had she spoken than Judy seemed to understand. It leaped from her arms, baring its sharp little teeth and letting out an angry screech.
It hooked its long tail around a branch and vanished into the jungle.
Just as suddenly as it had appeared.
In its parting shot, it flung water all over her. Song Yu blinked in bewilderment, still processing what had happened.
Pei Zhi caught sight of her disheveled state and couldn’t suppress a soft snort of laughter.
Song Yu stared at the faint smile tugging at the man’s lips. His thick black lashes lowered, softening his aloof demeanor with a touch of gentleness.
In the distance, the sunset had turned into a rosy mist.
Song Yu noticed a chain hanging around his neck, with a curved, pointed white tooth dangling from it—likely from some animal.
Perhaps her stare was too blatant, but the man began walking toward her. Ripples spread out in the water, and the tooth pendant swayed gently, stirring an itch in her heart.
Pei Zhi’s dark pupils deepened as he quickened his pace toward her.
Song Yu stared at him in a daze, her heartbeat accelerating until she could hear its pounding—thump, thump.
A buzzing filled her ears, like unreal white noise growing higher in pitch.
The man reached out from the water, his arm muscles sleek and defined, water droplets shimmering with rainbow hues in the sunlight.
His large hand clamped around Song Yu’s ankle and yanked hard.
Caught off guard, Song Yu’s eyes widened. Before she could react, she was dragged into the water.
The world spun around her.
Murky yellow water enveloped her instantly. Worse still, the man was pressing her down underwater.
A torrent of thoughts and curses flashed through Song Yu’s mind.
She hadn’t expected this local man to be so intolerant of teasing.
She shouldn’t have forgotten Burigude’s fate—she might end up even worse.
Fear drove her to struggle fiercely against his strength.
She finally broke the surface, and as she opened her eyes, she saw a massive swarm of hornets hovering above the water.
The hornets buzzed aggressively, the vibration sending chills down her scalp.
Her face drained of color. Without needing the man to push her down again, she dove back underwater on her own.
A beehive the size of an apple had been thrown onto the bank by who-knows-who. The disturbed hornets swirled angrily in the air, seeking their intruder.
Judy, perched at the top of a palm tree, watched the scene in the river and chattered gleefully, clapping and hopping about.
In the rainforest, a sting from a swarm of hornets was no joke—it could easily be fatal.
The river water was murky, and Song Yu didn’t dare open her eyes. Unable to speak underwater, she flailed her hands wildly, grabbing the man’s arm and shaking it urgently.
Pei Zhi reacted swiftly, wrapping an arm around her waist and swimming downstream with the current.
Song Yu followed his lead instinctively, surfacing cautiously now and then for air.
They were pressed close together. Through the thin, soaked fabric of their clothes, she could clearly feel the warmth of his palm, the strength of his arm clamped securely around her. It felt profoundly reassuring.
The river water wasn’t as cold as she’d imagined; it carried a pleasant warmth, likely from the sun’s baking.
Song Yu’s heart pounded wildly, her head swimming.
Only after swimming several hundred meters did they leave the hornets behind.
The man supported her arm—just as he had with the little monkey earlier—helping her stand steady in the water. Her feet sank into the soft riverbed mud.
“Cough, cough, cough—” Song Yu surfaced, water streaming down from her hair, her lips trembling uncontrollably.
Pei Zhi grabbed an overhanging branch on the bank, using it to swing himself up onto the shore with agile grace.
Song Yu’s eyelashes fluttered, water droplets rolling down her face as she came back to her senses.
Her gaze fixed on him, then she pouted in disappointment.
Tch.
He was still wearing pants while bathing.
Pei Zhi noticed her gaze drifting downward and caught her disappointed expression. He felt both exasperated and amused.
Song Yu was breathing raggedly. After swimming so far, she was utterly spent and couldn’t even climb the bank.
“Pull me up.”
Her voice, hoarse from choking on water, came out soft and nasal.
Ignoring her current bedraggled state, she sounded like a pampered young lady coquettishly issuing a command—arrogant even in her demands.
Pei Zhi had never been one for that sort of thing.
The woman’s arm dangled in the air, pale and delicate, glistening with water.
For some reason, he pressed his lips together, then bent down and pulled her up.
Song Yu’s wrist was slender, as if it might snap in his grasp. It was soft and smooth, her skin as fine as ivory.
“Give me your other hand too,” Song Yu complained. “One hand isn’t enough to get me up.”
“…” Pei Zhi paused for a moment before extending his other palm in compromise.
Her small hand rested on his, grasping only three of his fingers.
Her fingertips brushed the back of his hand, sending an itchy, tingling sensation straight to his core.
Pei Zhi hesitated briefly, then closed his hand around hers, enveloping it in his palm. With a firm pull, he hauled her onto the bank.
He withdrew just as quickly, stepping back to maintain a proper distance.
Song Yu was soaked through. Her tight jeans and white shirt clung limply to her skin. The wet fabric had turned semitransparent, outlining her graceful waistline and hinting at the black lace beneath her chest.
Pei Zhi lowered his eyes, his crow-feather lashes concealing the emotions in his pupils.
Song Yu realized her current state and felt a touch of embarrassment. She crossed her arms over her chest, coughed lightly to play it cool, and kicked at a pebble on the bank.
“Why were there so many hornets just now?” she asked.
Beehives in the rainforest were usually high up in the trees. As long as you didn’t provoke them on purpose, you wouldn’t encounter swarms like that.
At that moment, Judy leaped out from the dense thicket of trees, bouncing around with smug delight.
Pei Zhi pinched the scruff of Judy’s neck and hoisted it down from the tree. “Don’t say that kind of nonsense in front of it anymore. Monkeys hold grudges, you know.”
“…” Song Yu stared at the little monkey’s brown eyes, which gazed back at her with feigned innocence and bewilderment, as if it were utterly blameless. It even bared its teeth at her in a cheeky grin.
She hadn’t realized she’d been bullied to such an extent by a mere monkey. Song Yu could only laugh wryly at the absurdity.
“Fine—” She drew out the word in a long, teasing lilt, taking a slow step forward. Cupping her hands over Judy’s ears, she tilted her head up to meet the man’s gaze. “So when are we eating him?” Her voice dripped with playful mischief.
Pei Zhi looked at her.
The woman blinked, her clear pupils gleaming with sly brightness, like those of a languid fox.
At some point, the buttons of her white shirt had come undone. With her movement, it revealed the delicate curve of her collarbone, dipping into a shallow hollow that seemed made for pouring wine.
The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed sharply, a bead of sweat tracing its way down and leaving a misty trail in its wake.
“Wait until it’s a bit bigger,” Pei Zhi said.
He really did want to give Judy a good thrashing.
Little troublemaker.