Ye Can had just finished showering, her body still radiating damp steam. In the dead of winter, she wore only a thin nightgown and slippers as she stood in the room.
Lin Zixi looked up, watching water droplets drip from Ye Can’s messy, soaked hair. She couldn’t help but sigh. “Ye Can, why didn’t you dry your hair?”
Ye Can shrugged it off. “Oh, don’t worry about that.” She stared straight at Lin Zixi. “Come on, tell me—were you just praising me?”
Lin Zixi let out a soft sigh and stood, walking over to her. “I was praising you to someone else. Said your acting skills are great.”
Ye Can’s face lit up with delight at those words. Lin Zixi avoided her beaming expression, opened the wardrobe, grabbed a dry towel, and tossed it to her. “Alright, dry your hair, then blow it dry. Don’t catch a cold.”
Ye Can clutched the towel Lin Zixi had thrown her, gazing at her pitifully. “You’re making me dry it myself? You’re not gonna help?”
Lin Zixi saw that pitiful look and softened immediately. She sighed and pointed at the bed. “Fine, sit on the bed properly, and I’ll dry it for you.”
Ye Can hopped onto the bed at once. Lin Zixi walked over, took the dry towel, wrapped it around her head of black hair, and briskly rubbed it dry.
Ye Can looked up from between her arms, peering cautiously at Lin Zixi’s focused expression. “Lin Zixi, why are you so nice to me? I’m nobody right now, but you still do whatever I ask. And you even praised me to others…”
Lin Zixi chuckled lightly. “Didn’t you go ‘woof woof woof’ at me? So now I’m drying my little dog’s hair—shouldn’t I?”
Ye Can let out an “oh” and lowered her head, looking displeased.
Lin Zixi laughed, amused by her. “You think I’m treating you like a pet, but when I actually say it, you’re unhappy. So tell me, why do you think I’m so nice to you?”
Ye Can huffed. “People are such simple yet complicated little things. I think you’re a good person, and you like me, so you’re nice to me.”
Lin Zixi did like her a little—liked her antics, liked her words. So she didn’t refute it. “Maybe. Ye Can, you’re very cute.”
Ye Can muttered under her breath. “I’m not cute. Not one bit.” She was an irredeemable lunatic—where was the cute in that?
Lin Zixi caught the mutter and chuckled. “Alright, time to blow-dry your hair.” After wiping away the water droplets, she grabbed the hairdryer, switched it on, and aimed the warm air at Ye Can’s head.
The warm breeze made Ye Can close her eyes. She felt the hot air whooshing over her scalp, loosening every lazy bone in her body. Lin Zixi’s fingers threaded through her thick, black hair, slipping between the strands and combing from roots to tips.
As she styled Ye Can’s long hair, Lin Zixi asked, “Is it too hot?” Ye Can shook her head, so Lin Zixi continued methodically.
As she combed through, Lin Zixi stared at the black hair in her palm, zoning out for a moment with the hairdryer in hand. A strange illusion rose within her—as if she’d done this action countless times before. In front of some bronze mirror, she knelt behind a scantily clad Ye Can, slowly combing through her wild, jet-black hair.
The fragmented image flashed by. Lin Zixi froze for a moment. After a while, she murmured to herself, “Hippocampus Effect?”
The hairdryer hummed on. Ye Can didn’t catch it and asked curiously, “What’d you just mumble?” Lin Zixi shook her head, shaking off the fleeting absurdity. “Nothing.” She felt Ye Can’s hair was mostly dry and switched off the dryer. “All done. If you have nothing to do, head upstairs and sleep.”
Ye Can was principled. “I’m not sleeping in your bed. I have stuff to do.”
Lin Zixi asked curiously, “What do you have to do?”
Ye Can replied, “Watch a movie.” She hadn’t forgotten how Lin Zixi and Meng Zhiqiu had chatted so enthusiastically about movies yesterday.
Lin Zixi sighed. “Watch it in bed. What if you catch a cold dressed like that? Go on.”
Ye Can refused. “No way. I’ll sit over there. I’m not cold. I’ll just throw on a jacket.”
Lin Zixi saw she wasn’t listening and put on a stern face. “Go to bed. Be good. Don’t argue with me.” But Ye Can huffed, grabbed a jacket, slipped it on, and hopped over to the bay window.
Lin Zixi stood by the bed, watching her smug, bratty-kid antics, her temples throbbing. Whatever. No point getting mad at a brat. She’ll suffer when she catches a cold.
She returned to the computer and continued her unfinished script. After finishing the final scene, Lin Zixi checked for typos and sent it to Yu Ming and Jiang Yue.
With that done, she stretched lazily and headed to the bathroom.
After washing up, it was already 12:30 a.m. Ye Can was still huddled in her jacket on the bay window, watching her movie. Lin Zixi ignored her, went to the bed, lifted the covers, and lay down.
Once flat on her back, Lin Zixi closed her eyes and called out, “Ye Can, stop looking at your phone. Go to sleep.”
Ye Can didn’t look up. “Mm, you sleep. I’m not sleeping.” She couldn’t sleep anyway—might as well finish the movie.
Lin Zixi opened her eyes and said softly, “Then I’m turning off the lights.”
Ye Can mumbled a string of “mm-hmms.” Lin Zixi had no choice but to reach over and switch off the row of lights by the bed.
The room plunged into darkness, the only light coming from Ye Can at the bay window. She held her phone with earbuds in, watching her movie. The screen flickered on and off, casting light on Lin Zixi’s thin eyelids—extremely distracting.
Lin Zixi was a light sleeper; even a bit of light kept her awake. After tossing for what felt like forever, she couldn’t take it anymore. She opened her eyes, stared into the dark at Ye Can, and called in a low voice, “Ye Can…”
Ye Can looked up. “What’s up?”
Lin Zixi took a deep breath, suppressing her rising irritation, and said gently, “Your phone screen is too bright. I can’t sleep.”
Ye Can quickly covered the phone. “Better now?”
With the room’s only light gone, pitch black enveloped them. Lin Zixi eyed Ye Can’s slim silhouette by feel and sighed. Half-coaxing, half-persuading, she said, “I can’t sleep with you over there either. Come here. Whether you sleep or not, lie down first. I’ll share half the bed with you.”
To any ordinary woman, this was just a perfectly normal, friendly invitation.
But Ye Can sat on the cushion, tilting her head as she pondered for a good while before replying, “You mean you want me to warm your bed? That’s not impossible—the weather is cold. Fine, I’ll reluctantly agree this once.”
Ye Can set down her phone, shrugged off her jacket, and headed to the bed.
She knelt onto it, stripped off her nightgown right by Lin Zixi’s side, and slipped naked under the covers. “There. Come here—let me hold you while you sleep.”
She leaned against the headboard, arms outstretched toward Lin Zixi.
In the darkness, Lin Zixi’s eyes adjusted. She looked up at Ye Can glowing pale against the headboard and was utterly stunned. What kind of brain is this? Does this kid have a habit of sleeping naked?
Ye Can saw her not coming over and grumbled, “Fine, if you won’t come, I’ll come to you.”
She leaned forward to pull Lin Zixi into her arms. Startled, Lin Zixi yanked the covers around herself, wrapping up like a chrysalis in the bedding.
Ye Can sat at the headboard, staring puzzled at the tightly bundled Lin Zixi. “Didn’t you want me to warm the bed? Why this reaction now that I’m here?”
“If you don’t want it, I’ll go back.”
Lin Zixi poked her head out from the covers, eyes downcast, avoiding Ye Can’s gaze. “You… put your clothes back on first.”
Ye Can blinked. “I have to wear clothes? But then I won’t be as warm. My body’s hot—better without clothes in the way.”
For the first time in her life, Lin Zixi—wrapped in the covers—tasted utter collapse. Not even in those years scrambling for a living had she felt this world-crushing despair.
She pressed her forehead, face full of defeat. “Just… put your clothes on first.” She looked down, crumbling. “I just wanted you to come sleep. Not warm the bed. Nothing else.”
“You… from now on, wear clothes properly. No acting like a rogue.”
Ye Can let out a “wah,” grabbed her discarded nightgown, and pulled it on while protesting. “I didn’t! This is how I always sleep. No other meaning!”
“I just run hot and thought you’d sleep better holding me.”
Ye Can finished dressing and looked at the chrysalis-Lin Zixi. “I’m good now. Come here.”
Lin Zixi saw she was properly clothed and exhaled in relief. She tugged the covers over Ye Can. “Alright, lie down. Go to sleep.”
Ye Can slid down from the headboard, lying in the warm nest, turning sideways to watch Lin Zixi.
Worried she’d be cold, Lin Zixi said, “Scoot closer. Warm up first, then you can shift away.”
Ye Can “oh”-ed and carefully inched over. In that breath-close moment, Lin Zixi felt a massive wave of heat radiating from her.
Lin Zixi looked up at Ye Can’s face inches away, surprised. “Why are you so hot?”
Ye Can’s breath was scorching. “Because I’m a massive bronze furnace with blazing inner fire. So, wanna try holding me?”
Lin Zixi rubbed her left foot against her right, feeling her icy soles, tempted.
Ye Can knew she was prone to chills. She stretched out her long arms, pulling her close, and murmured, “Didn’t you say to treat me like a pet? So now your pet’s warming you up—perfectly normal, right?”
“Your feet are freezing. Tuck them up against my belly.”
Lin Zixi lay in her arms, gazing at her in surprise. Ye Can looked down, stroking her black hair softly. “You took me in—you gotta get some perks.”
“A body like mine is the perk you get.”
![Clinging [Rebirth]](https://i3.wp.com/dobytranslations.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/reb.png?resize=151,215 "Clinging [Rebirth]")
