Chapter 1603 — The Young Lady's Thoughts: But the Moment Gao Xiaofu Took a Look, His Eyes Rolled Back and He Nearly Passed Out

Not again? Good heavens — one Zhen Ruhua was already enough to choke him, and now here came another Mei Ruxian?

"Brother Liang... this... this..." Gao Xiaofu was dumbstruck.

"I pulled it right out of the crevice — you must have gotten it wrong!" Zhong Yongliang shot him a glare. "You brought this upon yourself!"

"That can't be! I checked it several times!" Gao Xiaofu was genuinely bewildered.

"Well, you brewed this bitter potion — drink it yourself!" Zhong Yongliang said.

"..." Gao Xiaofu's face was a mask of misery, yet there was nothing he could do.

After a round of negotiations and swaps among the boys and girls, everyone had found a game partner to their liking. Those who were already sweet on each other managed to pair off with the partners they wanted, while those who had no sweetheart of their own came away from this matching with a newfound fondness for one another.

Who knew — this game might well spark more than a few romances. If so, Zhong Yongliang and Gao Xiaofu had done a great deed indeed!

One by one, they performed their kisses. Though some pairs were already enamored of each other, doing anything too bold under the watchful eyes of everyone was out of the question; moreover, none of them had yet made their feelings explicit, so after a few pecks they shyly parted.

It was Wei Zhao and Shen Yushu's turn. Shen Yushu, her heart brimming with joy, held up the plastic wrap and closed her eyes, murmuring to Wei Zhao: "Arrow-Brother, you have to be gentle with Xiaoshu — this is Xiaoshu's first kiss!"

"..." Wei Zhao was somewhat speechless. Hadn't she said earlier that her first kiss had long since happened? How was it a first kiss again? Unless she meant her first *safe* kiss — if you insisted on counting it that way, then fair enough.

Of course Wei Zhao wasn't going to kiss Shen Yushu. He merely gave her forehead a light peck and said: "Alright, next up."

"Huh? It's over already?" Shen Yushu was immediately disappointed. She had been hoping to actually try what a real kiss felt like, only for Wei Zhao to peck her on the forehead!

"Heh, what did you expect?" Wei Zhao laughed. "You're getting the same treatment as Yunyun and Xiaoxiao!"

"Is that so?" Hearing Wei Zhao say this, Shen Yushu perked up again. "So you haven't kissed them on the lips either?"

Wei Zhao didn't answer, and Shen Yushu didn't press further.

It was Gu Mengyao's turn. For some reason, Gu Mengyao was feeling flustered and unsettled. Looking at Wei Zhao and Xiaoshu, she felt a faint stirring of anticipation, yet also a twinge of fear. Gu Mengyao was a traditional girl — she placed enormous weight on her first kiss, first love, and first night!

This was also the reason she had reacted so strongly that time after drinking from Wei Zhao's bottle. But as her contacts with Wei Zhao grew and the ambiguous moments between them multiplied — especially that time she was poisoned and Wei Zhao detoxified her, seeing her at her most embarrassing — she truly didn't know what she felt for Wei Zhao deep down!

Was it love? Or just a habit? Gu Mengyao couldn't tell. Every time she thought back to the words she had once spoken — that she didn't like Wei Zhao — she would recoil a little.

She preferred to believe that her reliance on Wei Zhao was merely an habitual warmth of kinship. Growing up without a mother's love, with a father too busy with work, Gu Mengyao had never received much affection. And when Wei Zhao came into the villa, caring for her and protecting her at every turn, she found in him the feeling of being cherished.

So Gu Mengyao would rather believe that what she felt for Wei Zhao was mere attachment. As for love — how was that possible? How could she allow it? Gu Mengyao admitted she couldn't be as bold as Xiaoshu; Wei Zhao plainly had a girlfriend, yet Xiaoshu called herself his little wife — how embarrassing!

As for Feng Xiaoxiao, Gu Mengyao didn't dwell on it — she simply took it as a dying person's wish, an exceptional case with no basis for comparison.

The more she thought, the more hesitant Gu Mengyao became. Just as it was about to be her and Wei Zhao's turn, she found herself, almost as if driven by some unseen force, turning to Xiaoshu: "Xiaoshu, I'm designating you to play the game with Wei Zhao! Since the boys can designate, so can the girls!"

No one objected to Gu Mengyao's suggestion — after all, it had nothing to do with anyone else, so long as the parties involved agreed.

"Oh, sure!" Shen Yushu happened not to have had quite enough fun, and Gu Mengyao's words made her overjoyed. "Arrow-Brother, let's play again — this time no cheating! You have to kiss for longer! That last one was over in a flash; Xiaoshu didn't feel a thing!"

Wei Zhao had expected the young lady's reaction. The young lady was, at her core, quite coy and reserved — designating Xiaoshu for this round spared everyone the awkwardness. Wei Zhao was fairly certain of Xiaoshu's feelings toward him, so however he teased her, it wouldn't cause her any misunderstanding.

But Gu Mengyao — Wei Zhao truly couldn't read her. Apart from the time of her war with Tang Yun, when the young lady had shown some iron resolve, at every other moment Wei Zhao could see nothing beyond friendship in the young lady's eyes, nothing hinting at anything deeper!

As for her war with Tang Yun, Wei Zhao could only chalk it up to the young lady having been blinded by anger at the time, her tongue running away with her. That was in fact the case — she and Tang Yun had both spouted things that were utterly baseless.

Wei Zhao and Shen Yushu raised the plastic wrap again, and this time Shen Yushu had learned her lesson — instead of waiting stupidly for Wei Zhao to kiss her, she struck first, pressing her lips to Wei Zhao's through the wrap!

Wei Zhao was momentarily taken aback. He could have dodged, but didn't — partly because he feared hurting Shen Yushu's feelings, and partly because, through a layer of plastic wrap, it shouldn't really count as an actual kiss, right?

As for kissing, Shen Yushu was really a novice — someone who knew what it looked like but not what it meant. She had only ever seen men and women kiss on TV, mouth to mouth, but she knew nothing about tongue kissing or French kissing. So the two of them foolishly pressed their lips together for a moment and then parted.

Wei Zhao, though equally inexperienced in such matters, understood a bit more than Shen Yushu. But he had no intention of taking advantage of her, so he simply followed her lead — a mouth-to-mouth touch, and the "safe kiss" was done.

Though Shen Yushu had achieved her goal, she was somewhat puzzled: this kissing business wasn't as wonderful as she'd imagined! It was a bit nerve-racking and exciting, sure — but didn't those people on TV stay lip-locked like that for ages? Weren't they exhausted?

Full of questions, Shen Yushu decided that when she got home, she would go online and look up exactly what kissing was — to see if she had missed something...