Gu Nianzhi’s small and exquisite face beamed, her eyes with a natural circle lens effect curved into crescents. She bounced into Yin Shixiong’s room and landed in front of the computer on his desk. Huo Shaoheng had both hands in his trouser pockets and looked straight ahead as he walked past Zhao Liangze’s back to take a shower in the bathroom. He suddenly caught a glimpse of Zhao Liangze’s laptop monitor as it showed Gu Nianzhi stumble in front of the camera in a black T-shirt that covered her thighs. The corners of Huo Shaoheng’s eyes twitched when he saw her manga character like face and glowingly pale long legs. Huo Shaoheng strode up without any hesitation and karate chopped Zhao Liangze, whose back was facing him, in the back of the neck. Zhao Liangze received the sudden blow to the back of his neck and lost his balance, falling to his face with thud and toppling on the ground. He landed underneath the desk. Huo Shaoheng then stepped on his back with one foot and leaned towards the monitor as he grasped the mouse and minimized the window. He growled, “Nianzhi, go change! Who allowed you to run around dressed like this?! –Big Xiong, turn around! Face the wall for one hour!” Huo Shaoheng’s deep and indescribably magnetic voice sounded from the speakers on Yin Shixiong’s laptop. The last word had a slight lilt and was like a hook that had Gu Nianzhi’s heart hanging in mid-air. She was shocked and subconsciously covered her chest, “Uncle Huo! I just want to talk to you! I want to listen to your voice! I… I… I’ll turn off the webcam?”
“It’s fine, you go change. I’ll wait for you.” Huo Shaoheng paused and lightly clicked to stop the video.
Gu Nianzhi hastily answered, “You said you’d wait! I, I, I, I’ll go change right away!” She looked down at herself and her scalp went numb. Oh no! How could she forget this! This sleep shirt slipped through the net… Now she was caught redhanded by its owner. Gu Nianzhi’s tiny face flushed instantly. She turned to leave Yin Shixiong’s room and zipped into her own room to change. Poor Yin Shixiong reflexively turned around upon Huo Shaoheng’s order! He obediently face the wall in military stance, not even daring to look anywhere but straight ahead.
Gu Nianzhi went back to her own room and didn’t have time to find any nice clothing. She quickly took off the black T-shirt and put on a fully covered tube shaped long sleeve cotton sleep gown and slippers before rushing back.
Zhao Liangze in the meanwhile, was still immobilized by Huo Shaoheng’s foot. He heard that the laptop go silent and called out, “Mr. Huo, please have mercy, let me face the wall! My bones are about to be crushed by you…”
Huo Shaoheng looked down at him and removed his foot. He sat down in the office chair that Zhao Liangze had been in. Zhao Liangze groaned as he crawled up from the floorboards and was about to speak when Huo Shaoheng shot daggers at him. He hastily motioned to scoop out his eyes, then zipped his mouth shut–he didn’t see anything and won’t say anything…
Huo Shaoheng was very annoyed and ignored him as he clicked on the cursor again, “Go check if the network is secure and see if the earlier footage… was cached. If there was anything, wipe it clean.”
Zhao Liangze sighed and rubbed his back that was trampled by Huo Shaoheng earlier. He took out another laptop and checked the video. The system had indeed cached it, and the network had a copy too. Zhao Liangze snuck a glance at Huo Shaoheng before secretly pressing down against the laptop. He curiously and carefully looked at what images made Huo Shaoheng react so strongly… When he saw it was merely Gu Nianzhi in a long T-shirt, he almost wanted to roll his eyes.
“…What are you rolling your eyes for?” Huo Shaoheng’s voice suddenly sounded from behind Zhao Liangze’s back. Zhao Liangze didn’t expect Huo Shaoheng to walk behind him again and had to force his half complete eye roll to a stop. Ah! This high level difficulty maneuver was going to give his eyes a cramp!
“Mr. Huo, this was too unnecessary and overly conservative of you. Nianzhi is dressed normally! All young girls dress like this, I’ve seen short shorts that show off half a butt, what’s this in comparison?!” Zhao Liangze rubbed his throbbing eyes, extremely vexed.
Huo Shaoheng pursed his lips. He put both hands in his trouser pockets and he thought about it with a deadpan expression–this outfit did seem pretty normal…
“Think about it, be it young ladies from our nation or Europe, Nianzhi’s outfit isn’t scandalous at all. She would be pretty cute dressed liked this even if she just went out for an errand…” Zhao Liangze pointed to the frozen image to analyze in detail, “Look, only her collarbones, half her thighs and calves are exposed. She even has slippers so you can’t even see her toes, what’s the big deal? Was it worth putting me and Big Xiong through all that?! She’s a young lady! She’s not even a woman to me and Big Xiong!”
“Are you displeased with me?” Huo Shaoheng’s voice deepened like it was coming from his chest. If one leaned against his chest to listen carefully, they could almost hear the echo and resonance.
Zhao Liangze had a full body shudder and was so terrified he wanted to curl up. He cradled his head and said, “I don’t dare! I don’t dare!”
Huo Shaoheng only used this voice when he was enraged; Zhao Liangze didn’t understand where he touched a nerve… Huo Shaoheng was actually angry with himself–he was angry that he overreacted without any reason. It was because even though Zhao Liangze and Yin Shixiong couldn’t even tell if the simple and modest long black T-shirt was meant for a man or a woman–but to him, just one a glimpse was enough to set his heart out of beat momentarily… Huo Shaoheng silently turned and sat back down on the chair. He crossed his legs and held his breath. No one did anything wrong, except for him. That was too much.
He had extraordinary self-restraint and was able to recover in one breath’s time. He clicked on the video and said to Yin Shixiong, who was still facing the wall, “Big Xiong, come here. I have something to ask you.”
Yin Shixiong knew this meant his punishment was over and sighed in great relief. He answered cheerfully and bounced over. He gave a giant smile to the webcam and guaranteed, “Mr. Huo, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of Nianzhi and won’t let her go out like that!”
Gu Nianzhi was changed and overheard Yin Shixiong betray her to flatter Huo Shaoheng. She angrily knocked his head from behind, “Brother Big Xiong! What nonsense are you saying?! When did I ever go out in pyjamas?!”
Yin Shixiong was grateful that Gu Nianzhi was here to rescue him, he chuckled before scurrying off to cradle his head, “I was just giving an example! Don’t take it seriously! Here, have it, you talk to them first!”
Gu Nianzhi rolled her eyes at him and didn’t hesitate to sit on Yin Shixiong’s chair. She looked up to see Huo Shaoheng’s despairingly beautiful face on the monitor and his usual aloof expression that sent hearts throbbing. It was all too familiar and she felt especially warm and satisfied. She immediately gave the webcam an adorable smile and asked in a honeyed voice, “Uncle Huo, I changed! Does it look good?”
“Mhmm, looks good.” Huo Shaoheng said casually.
Yin Shixiong and Zhao Liangze pouted at the same time, from different corners of Blue Planet.
What the hell! How does that nun-like, straight cut cylindrical dress look good at all?! Both of them should go see the Imperial Army Hospital’s ophthalmologist-in-charge!