“Ouch! Let’s talk this out nicely—no need to get handsy.”
Shen An protested loudly, putting on a pained expression that practically invited a punch, but he made no real effort to break free from Chen Nannan’s Nine Yin White Bone Claw.
He took advantage of the moment to flop down onto the ground, slipping one hand stealthily around her waist and giving it a gentle push.
Thwack!
Mindful of the scrape on her knee, Chen Nannan twisted to the side on instinct amid her struggle.
It played right into Shen An’s hands. The hand on her waist applied a bit more pressure.
With hardly any effort on his part, Chen Nannan followed the momentum and slammed her little face right into his chest before she knew what was happening.
Hiss!
Did she seriously have zero awareness?
The impact actually hurt. It nearly knocked the wind out of Shen An, leaving him coughing several times.
“Oops, sorry about that…”
Oblivious to his scheming, Chen Nannan just figured she’d lost her balance through her own carelessness and bumped into him.
She quickly pressed her palm against the concrete ground, trying to push herself up.
But she’d apparently forgotten her hand was injured too. Without thinking, she put weight on the wounded one.
Hiss.
The moment she applied force, the wound—still wrapped in its bandage—flared up.
A scrape like that was no big deal if properly dressed. But if you went poking at it, that was another story.
Chen Nannan hadn’t meant to, but the cold, unforgiving concrete offered no mercy to her injury.
The sharp sting made her yank her little hand back in a hurry.
And so…
Halfway through rising, Chen Nannan plummeted back down, delivering another heavy “consolation” thud to Shen An’s chest.
Ugh…
This time, Shen An nearly spat out bile.
He rolled his eyes as if on the verge of passing out. Panicked, Chen Nannan shook him vigorously. “Hey? Shen An, are you okay? I didn’t mean to!”
In her frenzy, she fumbled out her phone with trembling hands, looking ready to dial emergency services.
Shen An cracked an eye and quickly intervened, seizing the chance to wrap his arms tightly around her waist. “Cough cough—no need to panic. I’m not dying.”
“You’re really okay?”
Chen Nannan was still shaken.
“Yeah, yeah. Just hurts a little.”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Right here on my chest. Want to rub it for me?”
“Here?” Chen Nannan’s slender little hand tentatively pressed against Shen An’s chest, gently massaging through his white shirt.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s the spot.”
Shen An suddenly felt a twinge of shamelessness. Was it going too far to exploit her kindness like this?
“Uh, that’s enough. I’ll handle it myself.”
Feeling a bit guilty, Shen An loosened his grip on her waist.
“Did I hurt you?” Chen Nannan’s big eyes flickered with timid concern.
“No, no. It’s just… I think it’s better if I do it myself.”
Shen An said softly.
“What’s the big deal? It was my fault for bumping into you—I should make it right.”
Chen Nannan smiled lightly, her little hand continuing its gentle kneading.
Mmm…
Since she insisted, Shen An didn’t stop her.
He pillowed his head on his arms, eyes half-closed, rather enjoying it.
Their position was quite intimate too—he lay there comfortably while she twisted sideways at the waist.
She wasn’t fully in his arms but half-propped up, her uninjured hand braced against the concrete to support herself as her wounded one softly rubbed his chest.
Her jet-black hair cascaded along her cheek, draping onto Shen An’s chest.
“That umbrella? I just grabbed it at random.”
Shen An said suddenly.
“Grabbed it at random?” Chen Nannan blinked, her thoughts snapping back to their earlier topic.
“Yeah. She said the sun was brutal outside, so she told me to grab one. I looked around and found that one.”
“If I’d known it’d draw so much attention, I’d have braved the sun instead.”
Shen An joked.
“You…” Chen Nannan muttered. “Do you live with her?”
“Well, sort of.”
“‘Sort of’? Either you do or you don’t.”
The little hand rubbing his chest started pressing a tad harder.
“Fine, we do.”
Shen An nodded.
“Tch. What kind of relationship is that? Living together? Shacking up?”
Chen Nannan said coolly.
“See? I knew you’d react like that, which is why I phrased it that way.”
Shen An shrugged and sighed. “We’re just roommates. Cohabitating? Not even close.”
“And the reason… well, it’s a bit awkward to explain.”
Chen Nannan’s little hand paused. Her big eyes fixed on him intently. “What reason? What’s so awkward about it?”
“Uh, anyway, it’s not the kind of relationship you’re imagining.”
“?” Chen Nannan let out a cold laugh. “How do you know what I’m imagining?”
“Just… it’s got nothing to do with romance.”
“Oh yeah? How do you end up living together without any romance? She’s not the casual type, is she?”
Shen An arched a brow. “What are you saying—does that make me the casual type?”
Chen Nannan wrinkled her dainty nose. “Who knows with you? All those sneaky thoughts.”
Shen An widened his eyes in mock shock. “What do you mean by that?”
Chen Nannan huffed cutely. “Figure it out yourself. Say it or don’t.”
She withdrew her little hand and shifted back to her original position.
Shen An chuckled a few times, clearly trying to steer away from the topic for good.
The air grew quiet for a moment. He didn’t speak, and neither did she—only the evening breeze whispering past their cheeks.
Chen Nannan cupped her little face, sneaking several glances his way. Shen An looked utterly at ease, eyes peacefully closed.
He really wasn’t going to say?
Chen Nannan pouted slightly, a touch aggrieved as she stood up.
Shen An opened his eyes. “Leaving already?”
“Yeah, it’s getting late.”
Chen Nannan avoided his gaze, a hint of petulance in her tone.
“Then go on ahead, Senior Sister. This spot’s pretty nice. I think I’ll lie here a bit longer.”
Shen An drawled, casually crossing his legs.
As soon as the words left his mouth, Chen Nannan whipped around, eyes flashing coldly, teeth bared.
Then, her footsteps faded into the distance.
Shen An stayed utterly calm, closing his eyes and counting silently in his head.
“One…”
“Two…”
He hadn’t even finished two when a whiff of fragrance hit him, accompanied by rapid footsteps. A pair of little hands roughly grabbed his neck.
Sure enough, Chen Nannan couldn’t stand the suspense.
Flushed with embarrassment and annoyance, she throttled his neck and shook him hard. “Spill it already!!”
Shen An gasped dramatically, slapping at her hands. “Let go—you’re killing me…”
“Will you talk or not!!!”
Chen Nannan glowered, her little face stern, but it held zero threat—only making her look adorable to Shen An.
Could a bunny’s angry hopping ever scare a human?
Well, a bunny bite still stung a bit.
A better comparison might be a sulky toddler on the verge of tears—much more fitting for the scene.
“Fine, fine—let go first. Cough cough~”
Shen An’s acting was top-notch. After Chen Nannan released him, she secretly wondered at it.
She hadn’t even used much force…
How was he acting like he’d nearly been strangled?
Catching his breath, Shen An grimaced. “You don’t have to resort to violence for every question. You’re so sweet-looking, Senior Sister—why are you always so quick to lay hands on me?”
Chen Nannan stomped in frustration, grinding her teeth. “Trying to weasel out again!”
“You really want to know?”
“What do you think!”
“Alright, alright. Truth is, she and I have an employer-employee thing going.”
“Huh?” The answer caught Chen Nannan completely off guard.
“Surprised? Yeah, employer-employee.”
Shen An sat up, his voice softening. “She’s basically my boss right now. My job is taking care of her daily life—upkeep, meals, transport. Nanny duties, in short.”
“To make it easier, we live together.”
“Don’t think of it as some perk. I actually hate living with people. Luckily, her apartment’s huge, so we don’t have to see each other constantly.”
Chen Nannan blinked rapidly, processing the info.
After a long moment, she managed to digest it, though still incredulous. “How did you… end up as her nanny?”
“To make money, obviously.”
Shen An gave a self-deprecating smile. The breeze lifted his tattered white shirt, stirring an easy pang of sympathy in anyone watching.
“Our family’s situation is rough… I figure you’ve probably noticed.”
“Just paying tuition strains us to the limit.”
“And this is a public university. Private ones? I couldn’t even dream of affording them.”
“So, I had to do something to support myself—college expenses aren’t cheap.”
“But my family wants me to just focus on studying. They’d handle the rest.”
“I’m not a kid anymore, though. I don’t need their constant coddling, and I can’t just freeload off them guilt-free.”
“We argued about it all summer long.”
“In the end, I won!”
Shen An’s lips curved slightly. “But not a total victory—they had demands too.”
“So, through all their pulling strings and calling in favors, they finally landed me this gig. It’s decent enough on the surface, pretty low-key, and it doesn’t eat up much of my time as a part-time job.”
“Even though I don’t like it, it’s the result of their hard work—the best they could do for me.”
“That’s why, no matter how much I dislike it, I won’t let them down.”
At the request of his old friend, he had become Xu Yijing’s nanny, tasked with looking after her.
That was the initial cover story Zhao Li had set up for him.
Now Shen An had fleshed it out further, adding plenty of details to make the whole “story” ring true.
He stood up, brushed the dust off his backside, and gave a faint smile. “Actually, when you think about it, it’s not half bad. My employer’s a total knockout. Just staring at her pretty face during work hours ought to give me some extra pep, right?”
“Besides, there’s next to nothing to do. It’s basically free money.”
“And the apartment’s a luxury place. I’ve even got my own room—way better than cramming into Dorm 105. Yijing’s a decent person too, not some high-maintenance type. So how you slice it, I’m the one scoring big time here, yeah?”
He grinned as he spoke, his tone light and casual, laced with a touch of gleeful self-satisfaction at his supposed windfall.
But Chen Nannan just stared at him in a daze, unable to muster a smile.
She could keenly sense the undercurrent of inferiority and resignation lurking beneath his cheerful facade.
It reminded her of how, back in the office, he had casually brushed off the origin of that pink phone.
They had only spent one day together, but Chen Nannan already had a good read on him: he was the fiercely proud type.
And yet here he was, someone so independent, forced to live under someone else’s roof.
This wasn’t ordinary employment.
No, it was the hard-won “fruit” of his parents begging favors left and right.
Some people might hear the story and think it sounded like a jackpot—nannying for a gorgeous woman, sharing her home? What a sweet deal.
But they overlooked the fundamental inequality baked into the arrangement from day one.
Having to read her moods every waking moment—that was the real grind.
And the kicker was the sheer vulnerability of it all: he’d be laid bare in this role, right under Xu Yijing’s watchful eyes.
No wonder it had been so hard for him to spit it out.
If the roles were reversed, she’d probably clam up too.
She had gone and blundered into this again, like an idiot, prodding him to tear open his own wounds.
“Why’d you turn mute again?”
Shen An waved a hand in front of her face. “I already spilled the beans.”
Chen Nannan ducked her head, a little uneasy. “Oh…”
“Tsk, now you see why I didn’t wanna talk about it, huh?”
“Got it.” Chen Nannan kept her eyes averted, not daring to meet his gaze.
“You gotta keep this under wraps for me, okay?” Shen An muttered solemnly, his lips pursed in exaggerated seriousness. “If word gets out that I’m a nanny, I’m toast.”
Eh?
Chen Nannan blinked in surprise.
“A male nanny!”
Shen An clutched his forehead in pained dismay. “That label’s just brutal. Who even calls it a male nanny?”
The shock on Chen Nannan’s face gradually softened. Playing along with his ploy, she let out a string of giggles, pretending to be thoroughly amused.
But deep down, her heart ached for him all the more.
She knew the “male nanny” thing wasn’t what really bothered him.
He was just putting on this act to put her at ease.
The same way he’d insisted that pink phone was his own choice.
