Chapter 10: It Must Be Pretended

Though pretending to be asleep, Cheng Xiangyu was indeed somewhat tired and failed to notice the conversation between Lin Feng and another. She did not realize that Lin Feng had lain down beside her.

Only when she felt a hard, unyielding pressure against her body—something pressing against her in an odd way—did she open her eyes and turn her head to look.

What she saw was Lin Feng’s face!

“Ah!” Cheng Xiangyu screamed in fright.

“Why are you sleeping next to me? Get away, hurry up and get away!”

Lin Feng had been a little embarrassed at first, but hearing her words, he instantly grew annoyed.

He couldn’t help but grunt, “If anyone should move, it’s you!”

“This shelter is the one I built, and this grass mat was woven by me. Besides, I asked you to help just now, but you refused and walked off,” Cheng Xiangyu said, speechless but resorting to moral pressure: “Lin Feng, you’re a grown man. How can you have a woman—especially an injured one—sleep somewhere else? Don’t you feel ashamed?”

Lin Feng replied, “Sorry, I’m not ashamed at all. I reject your moral pressure. Either lie quietly beside me or scram.”

“You... you’re doomed to be alone!” Cheng Xiangyu cursed helplessly and moved to the ground beside the grass mat.

Then, glaring, she huffed, “Lin Feng, if you dare come near me again, I’ll make sure you suffer terribly.”

With that, she stretched out and lay down.

Although she was on the hard dirt, which hurt her body, she couldn’t help but feel that lying on Lin Feng’s woven grass mat had truly been comfortable.

But after glancing at Lin Feng once more, she turned her head away. Even if it meant dying, she wouldn’t endure sleeping next to him just for the sake of that grass mat.

Lin Feng ignored her, lay down, and began deep breathing to quickly fall asleep, conserving energy for the second half of the night and the next day’s mission to gather more supplies and search for Qin Meng.

Though confident she wouldn’t get into trouble, he still worried a little.

“How heartless!” Cheng Xiangyu muttered angrily upon seeing Lin Feng really fall asleep. She had no choice but to close her eyes and try to sleep.

However, the hardness of the ground pressed painfully against her back, and an itching sensation like insects crawling made her very uncomfortable.

Remembering how she hadn’t felt this way on the grass mat, she sighed inwardly—Lin Feng had been right; the herbs he used to weave the mat truly repelled mosquitoes and insects.

She even thought it wouldn’t be so bad to sleep next to Lin Feng just for the sake of the mat.

But just as she was about to get up, memories of nearly being assaulted by him made her lie down again.

Still, lying there was unbearable, and gradually her sleepiness faded.

She looked out toward the treehouse where He Tiantian was and said, “I don’t want to sleep now. You take a rest; I’ll keep watch.”

He Tiantian had expected to stay up late as usual, but without a phone or anyone to chat with, merely bored by the fire, she soon grew sleepy.

She smiled and nodded, then helped Cheng Xiangyu closer to the fire before returning to the treehouse.

After a moment’s hesitation, she lay down beside Lin Feng.

Cheng Xiangyu stared in disbelief.

She wondered if He Tiantian wasn’t afraid Lin Feng would take advantage of her.

She thought about warning her but then reasoned that the grass mat really was comfortable. If Lin Feng made a move on He Tiantian, she could always intervene later, so she said nothing.

He Tiantian fell asleep beside Lin Feng, who kept his original posture, not taking advantage of her.

Even later, when she rested her leg on him, he did nothing.

“Could it be that he really isn’t a scoundrel, and I’ve misunderstood him?”

“No, he must be pretending!” Cheng Xiangyu doubted and continued watching Lin Feng’s movements, expecting him to suddenly pounce on He Tiantian and behave like a beast.

After some time, the sleeping He Tiantian languidly draped an arm over Lin Feng, holding him.

Cheng Xiangyu watched more intently, convinced Lin Feng would lose control.

At that moment, Lin Feng suddenly opened his eyes and reached out to touch He Tiantian’s beautiful leg.

“Damn scoundrel, finally showing his true colors...” Cheng Xiangyu thought grimly, grabbing a burning branch.

If Lin Feng dared to misbehave, she would rush over and burn him.

But he merely pushed her leg away, removed her hand, closed his eyes, and resumed sleeping.

Huh?

Cheng Xiangyu was stunned once more.

Yet she still believed he was a scoundrel who refrained only because he noticed her watching.

So she deliberately turned her head, crossed her legs, rested her head on her knees, and feigned sleep.

She waited silently for any sound in the treehouse or for He Tiantian’s cries for help.

But a long time passed without a sound.

Thinking her act wasn’t convincing or long enough, she maintained the pose.

Still no sound came.

Only then did she glance back to see Lin Feng still unmoving, having done nothing to He Tiantian, who now again rested her leg on him.

Though unwilling to give up, she kept pretending to be asleep.

No matter how long she waited, Lin Feng never took advantage of He Tiantian.

Eventually, she couldn’t help but consider that she might have truly misunderstood Lin Feng; he wasn’t a scoundrel.

She stopped paying attention to them.

This made her suddenly very bored.

She looked around to see if anything interesting might pass the time.

When she looked, she caught sight of Lin Feng’s formal dress hanging on a nearby tree.

The night wind stirred it, causing the gown to flutter like a woman in a dress dancing in midair.

“Ah!” Cheng Xiangyu screamed in fright.

Remembering that Lin Feng had taken this dress from a dead woman, she grew even more terrified and screamed louder.

Both Lin Feng and He Tiantian were roused from their sleep.

He Tiantian blushed shyly as she realized her leg was still resting on Lin Feng.

Lin Feng immediately asked cautiously, “Cheng Xiangyu, what’s wrong?”

Cheng Xiangyu only looked terrified and didn’t answer.

Following her gaze, Lin Feng saw the dress hanging there and was instantly speechless.

“It’s just a dress. Why are you screaming?”

Cheng Xiangyu hurried to explain, “That’s no ordinary dress—it belonged to a corpse!”

Lin Feng said, “So what if it’s from a corpse? Look down at the wound on your leg. See what I used to bandage it?”

She looked down and saw the white sanitary pad, immediately realizing it might have come from that dead woman’s supplies.

Terrified, she screamed loudly, “Ah! Why did you use that to bandage my wound?!”