After Rebirth, I Married the Great Demon King

Chapter 123: Chapter 123: Pat on the Head

Yun Shifei was working on her homework while Cheng Lie sat beside her reading a book.

Some of the books were ones Yun Shifei had specially prepared for Cheng Lie, all related to painting.

If the Cheng Family couldn’t provide him with these books, then she would be the one to do so.

From beginning to end, Yun Shifei believed that as long as someone had a bit of faith and something they loved, they would have the motivation to keep living.

Even if he had autism, there must still be a rich world within his heart.

Just like herself.

Her current goal was to study hard, strive to get into a good university in the future, and make up for her earlier regrets.

However, now that she was in her second year of high school, the knowledge she had to learn was becoming more and more difficult.

Especially since she stubbornly chose to study science. Looking at the dense numbers and symbols now, her scalp tingled.

Glancing at Yun Shifei in between reading, Cheng Lie noticed the slight furrow of her brows, as if she had run into a problem she couldn’t solve.

For him, the material they were learning now wasn’t challenging. A brief look at Yun Shifei’s problems revealed they were quite simple as well.

He felt a slight urge to teach her.

But as soon as that thought occurred to Cheng Lie, he suppressed it again.

Even though Yun Shifei was a good person, he couldn’t easily reveal himself.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Yun Shifei; during their time together, he admitted she had completely gained his trust.

But she was too pure. He feared that, without realizing it, she might disclose certain things.

And that would be dangerous for him.

Yun Shifei had no idea that working on her homework had led Cheng Lie to ponder so much.

It took her an hour to finally complete her tasks.

She then decided to relax and happily shared the snacks she had bought with Cheng Lie.

Ever since Xu Ya left, no one had been nagging her about buying snacks anymore.

Moreover, Yun Tiancheng, fearing she wasn’t living well enough, often gave her extra pocket money.

But she saved most of the money, keeping her first "fortune" for future use in case she needed it.

"Cheng Lie, you should come over to hang out often. Nobody is home here, and my dad isn’t around either. You’d probably feel much more at ease staying here."

She still remembered Cheng Lie’s injury from before. The Cheng Family didn’t treat him as well as they appeared to on the surface.

Cheng Lie was just a child with autism. They didn’t want to let him off either. She could only be thankful that Cheng Lie grew strong later on. Otherwise, even after recovering, no one knew how the Cheng Family would torment him next.

Cheng Lie nodded, acknowledging Yun Shifei’s words.

Compared to before, when he acted as if he couldn’t hear her, this small response was a clear sign of improvement in his condition. Yun Shifei was particularly delighted.

She raised her hand and ruffled Cheng Lie’s hair. "You’re so good. I just adore obedient kids like you!"

Though her tone was cheerful, it made Cheng Lie’s heart suddenly skip a beat.

Here it came again. She always liked touching his head.

At first, he was a little uncomfortable with it. But now, he found himself oddly getting used to it.

Hmm...

This feeling was quite unsettling.

So, he extended a hand as well and ruffled Yun Shifei’s hair in return.

Yun Shifei: "..."

Her smile froze as she clearly hadn’t expected Cheng Lie to do this.

She stared blankly at Cheng Lie. His beautiful but expressionless face carried an inexplicable depth in his gaze, as though she couldn’t quite see through it.

This feeling... really was strange.

Thump...

Thump...

Yun Shifei felt her heart pounding wildly.

What was happening?

Was this... a crush...?

Like someone who’d been startled, Yun Shifei abruptly stood up.

Cheng Lie fixed his eyes on her, seemingly puzzled by her overly dramatic reaction.

Yun Shifei realized her response was a bit excessive too.

It was just Cheng Lie’s sudden "head-pat counterattack" that had sent her heart racing. It really felt like the kind of moment from a drama that induces butterflies.

Her thoughts quickly shifted—right, Cheng Lie was a big shot.

A future, legendary big shot who would dominate the world.

Even now, though she no longer saw Cheng Lie’s strained relationship with his parents as his fault, she was still acutely aware of the gap between them.

Yun Shifei knew her place. She didn’t have lofty ambitions and only wanted to live a peaceful life.

She was lucky to have become friends with someone like him; it was already something to be happy about.

After all, having him as a friend might even mean extra protection in the future.

But falling for him... or dreaming of being in a relationship with him...

She couldn’t help but question herself—did she even stand a chance?

What a ridiculous thought. noveldrama

After replaying the situation in her mind, Yun Shifei laughed and said to Cheng Lie, "Cheng Lie, you’re not allowed to touch my head."

"Why not?"

Why could she touch his head, but he couldn’t touch hers?

Because if this kept up, I might fall for you.

Those head-pattings in dramas weren’t scripted for nothing.

Thinking of this, Yun Shifei said to Cheng Lie, "From now on, I won’t touch your head either, so let’s agree not to do it to each other."

The light in the boy’s eyes immediately dimmed.

She didn’t actually like him, did she?

Just a little closer, and she was already pushing him away.

Seeing Cheng Lie remain silent, Yun Shifei thought up an excuse to explain, "What if I haven’t washed my hair? It’d be really dirty."

Cheng Lie: "..."

At that moment, the doorbell rang downstairs.

A while later, Aunt Zhong came up. "Miss Shifei, Young Master Mu is at the door waiting for you. He says he has something to give you."

Mu Chengzhu?

Yun Shifei frowned instinctively. Why was he here? What could he possibly want to give her? She didn’t want to know, nor did she want to see him.

"Aunt Zhong, please tell him to leave the item with you."

A while later, Aunt Zhong returned. "He says he must hand it to you personally."

What kind of mysterious thing was this?

With that thought, Yun Shifei turned and headed out.

"Shifei, this is something my mom asked me to deliver to you as an apology for last time when Jia Yu was out of line."

Mu Chengzhu handed something to Yun Shifei.

The packaging looked a bit like supplements.

"Your mom is too kind," Yun Shifei said as she reached out to accept the gift. Though she didn’t want to, she knew that refusing would lead to unnecessary pleasantries back and forth.

Now, her only thought was to stay far away from Mu Chengzhu—keeping as much distance as possible was best.

Mu Chengzhu seemed to notice Yun Shifei’s lack of interest.

The furrow in his brow deepened.

Every time he saw Yun Shifei now, her expression made him doubt that she had ever liked him at all.

It was as if everything had been an illusion.

But that illusion was just too bizarre!

How could everyone have been mistaken?

Mu Chengzhu refused to believe it, but Yun Shifei’s current attitude was clearly one of indifference toward him—perhaps even slight aversion.

"Shifei, did I do something to make you misunderstand me?" Mu Chengzhu finally asked, determined to clear the air.

He simply couldn’t let it go without knowing the truth.

"No, I haven’t misunderstood you. You’re a good person, a good person who’s out of my league," Yun Shifei replied politely.