And so the beautiful girl settled into Ou Yichen's home.
Such a flower-like beauty, amnesiac to boot, had actually felt safe enough to stay at his place.
His mind subconsciously filtered out all the wrongness. He found it hard to refuse the beautiful yet lethal temptation. The girl's voice, her body, her beauty — they spun countless sinful threads, weaving a cocoon of sin that trapped him inside.
A famous artist once said: "The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it. I can resist everything — except temptation."
That night, Ou Yichen tossed and turned on the sofa, unable to sleep well.
A man and a woman, alone together — it was hard for him not to let his thoughts wander. In truth, no guy could hold out.
His mind was a mess. His thoughts seemed guided by countless threads, connecting to the hot-bodied yet pitifully lovely temptress in the bedroom. He felt that his twenty-some years of ordinary life were finally coming to an end.
In the midst of his chaotic thoughts, he even seemed to vaguely hear some strange sounds, stirring restless desires. And then, inexplicably, he fell asleep.
...
Waking in the morning, Ou Yichen was met by a fragrant breeze wafting toward him. Opening his eyes, he saw the girl covering him with a blanket.
The girl let out a surprised "Ah!" and said, a bit embarrassed: "I'm so sorry, I made you sleep on the sofa yesterday."
Ou Yichen felt his face growing a bit hot. Putting on an air of magnanimity, he said: "It's fine."
"But... did you not sleep well last night?"
"Huh?"
"I seemed to hear some strange sounds."
"Huh?!"
The girl let out a small cry, covering her mouth with her fingers. A faint blush rose on her cheeks. She looked bashful, her eyes betraying embarrassment.
Actually, Ou Yichen wasn't entirely sure whether those strange sounds last night had been real or not. He assumed it was just a figment of his sleep. He even suspected he'd had a wet dream, only to forget it upon waking.
Ou Yichen scratched his head somewhat awkwardly. Glancing around, he discovered breakfast already laid out on the table, still steaming.
Beneath the girl's sweet smile tinged with a touch of seductive charm, he hurriedly ate breakfast. His heart thumping, he fumbled his way out the door and off to work.
Yet even after reaching the office, Ou Yichen's mind was still full of wild fantasies. Even his colleagues and boss noticed something off about him and teased: "Little Chen hasn't fallen in love, has he?"
He hastily denied it: "No, no, not at all."
But the redness of his ears had already given him away.
When he saw the time on his computer hit 6:30, he felt every cell in his body begin to tingle with excitement — because it was finally quitting time.
Never before had he so desperately craved his post-work personal time...
After opening his apartment door, Ou Yichen was a bit stunned. He stepped back out to check the door number, confirming he hadn't gone to the wrong place before entering again.
Because the room was far too clean. The floor had been mopped to a shine, the tables and cabinets polished until they gleamed. All the dirty laundry was hung outside the window.
Even more unbelievably, a sumptuous meal was set out on the table...
Just then, the girl, wearing a man's pajama shirt, emerged from the bedroom and revealed a smile that made everything else dim by comparison: "You're back."
A scene like this happened at least once or twice a day.
Ou Yichen had thought about taking the girl to see a doctor, to try to help her recover her lost memories.
But every time, the girl would respond with two sweet, intoxicating dimples, saying: "Isn't now... just fine?"
Ou Yichen would fall silent, but a trace of sweetness would rise in his heart. Between reality and a beautiful illusion, he chose the latter.
When a person indulges in fantasy, they will mistake vague, illusory feelings for authentic fine wine.
And so the two continued living together. Ou Yichen experienced the most wonderful week of his entire life.
During this stretch of days, neither too long nor too short, the longer he spent with the girl, the more Ou Yichen was stunned by the charm she inadvertently exuded.
But even as he walked along the edge of the abyss, at every critical moment, Ou Yichen would pull back from the brink.
He believed he couldn't take advantage of her vulnerability — she had lost her memory and had not expressed any willingness in that regard toward him.
He didn't want her, once she recovered her memories, to turn around and sue him in court. That was his last shred of rationality amid the chaotic dream.
Because, just being together like this was already enough for him to cherish for a lifetime.
But he could never have imagined — this period would not appear in his recollections in later years, nor was it as beautiful beneath the surface as it seemed.
...
"Miaoyin, you're back?"
Hearing the door close from the kitchen, Ou Yichen called out to the living room.
Since he trusted her fully, Ou Yichen had given Wang Miaoyin a copy of the house key. The latter would go out every evening.
But Ou Yichen didn't know what she was doing — he only assumed she was searching for clues to help recover her memory.
"Mm."
From the living room came the sound of changing shoes and that familiar female voice.
"You've been going out longer and longer lately. I heard there have been more deaths in the South District recently. For your safety, you should go out less from now on. Wait until things settle down."
"You haven't eaten yet, have you? Let me heat something up for you."
As he spoke, Ou Yichen stepped out from the kitchen.
And then he froze.
Because he saw that Wang Miaoyin's hair was a bit disheveled, and there were some bluish-purple marks on her neck.
Stranger still,
unlike her usual bare face, she had applied delicate makeup — fiery red lips, eyes like silk, seductive in every glance. Her features looked incredibly striking, and it was that flirtatious, coquettish aura that was most alluring to men.
Moreover, she was wearing a hot red off-shoulder dress. Beneath her long, graceful neck, a swath of her bosom was like creamy jade, half-concealed, half-revealed. Her slender waist seemed as though a single hand could encircle it. A pair of long, moist, well-proportioned, bare legs were exposed, and even her feet, wrapped in sandals, silently exuded sensuality, radiating an astonishing allure.
This was a Wang Miaoyin who shattered all his previous impressions — a true, naturally born temptress, captivating to the bone.
Her moist, burning lips trembled slightly as she breathed out a coquettish murmur that made his heart quiver: "I don't need to eat, but I need you to heat me up."
She moved forward with graceful, swaying steps, her figure enchanting, slowly approaching Ou Yichen.
Ou Yichen forgot to breathe. No — he simply could not breathe. He felt all the blood in his body rushing to his head and lower body.
Every inch of Wang Miaoyin's skin issued a silent invitation. Her fragrant breath seemed to seep into Ou Yichen's perception, emptying his mind entirely.
"Heat... heat you up how?"
Wang Miaoyin's smile bloomed. She leaned her exquisitely sculpted cheek to Ou Yichen's ear, her fragrant lips' warm exhalation brushing against his face. She cooed in a voice both coy and sticky: "Any way you want to heat me up..."
Every syllable shook the soul. Every word hooked the heart.
"..."
Just at that moment, a knock-knock-knock sounded at the door.
Ou Yichen, like a fish returned to water, gasped violently for air, dodged away from Wang Miaoyin, and fled to open the door as if escaping.
"Hello, who is it?"
Ou Yichen, slightly panting and face flushed red, looked at the three people outside.
No — to be precise, two humans and one mechanical being.
"We're from the Community Safety Management Committee. This gentleman is a law enforcer from the Law Enforcement Department."
The stubble-faced man at the front glanced oddly at the red-faced Ou Yichen.
"You've heard about the recent homicides in the South District, I assume?" the stubble-faced man asked.
He was referring to those several eerie desiccated corpses.