Chapter 292 - 173: You Put It Back On
This time, she couldn’t even manage a rebuke. All she could do was tense up, resigning herself to the warm current flowing endlessly from Shen Yuan’s fingertips as it quickly enveloped her entire left foot.
Shen Yuan focused his Concentration on his hands, his gaze lowered to the "crime scene" concealed by the light blanket, and the smile on his lips deepened.
At the pressure from Shen Yuan’s fingers, Li Zhi’s long, well-proportioned thighs suddenly tensed up.
Her legs, originally resting on the edge of the bed, were now pulled as taut as violin strings. Under the light blanket, the lines from her calves to her thighs formed a clearly defined, smooth, and tense silhouette.
Her right leg, now recovered from the tingling numbness, pulsed with the urge to kick the guy for pushing his luck.
Her fair toes arched slightly under the sheet, but she forcefully suppressed the indignant impulse.
The impulse only manifested as her toes viciously clawing at the bedsheet beneath them.
Shen Yuan seemed to sense the movement of her soft, warm foot beside him, and an idea suddenly struck him.
As Li Zhi watched, Shen Yuan suddenly stopped. He frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping over the faint outline raised by the light blanket.
"Tsk, massaging through the blanket..."
His voice held a hint of feigned frustration, yet a barely-there smile was still playing on his lips. "I can’t see the pressure points clearly."
As soon as he finished speaking, before Li Zhi could even react, his long fingers had already grabbed a corner of the light blanket.
With a slight flick of his wrist, the soft fabric covering Li Zhi’s calves was whipped away without warning!
Suddenly exposed, the cool air instantly enveloped Li Zhi’s feet and calves, which had just been warmed.
Because she had been fidgeting earlier, Shen Yuan had pushed up her pant leg while massaging her calf, and now her dazzlingly pale lower leg was exposed to his gaze.
As for what Li Zhi saw, it was Shen Yuan’s hands, which were still resting on her instep.
"Ah!" Li Zhi cried out.
A tide of embarrassment and shock washed over her face, instantly making the tips of her ears burn.
The beautiful girl reflexively tried to pull her leg back, wrenching her ankle in an attempt to break free from Shen Yuan’s grasp. But the numbness hadn’t fully subsided, and the movement only made her more uncomfortable.
"Hsss... Nngh..."
Li Zhi whimpered in discomfort, her entire face scrunching up.
The intense tingling made her delicate eyebrows knit together, her long lashes trembling with discomfort.
The beautiful girl subconsciously gasped, her glossy lips parting slightly, looking utterly pitiful.
Her forced indignation was shattered by the involuntary reaction, leaving only an endearing helplessness in its wake.
Seeing her like this, the amusement in Shen Yuan’s eyes deepened.
"Tsk. I just told you not to move. Trying to run before the numbness is even gone? Just stay put."
With an unyielding strength, Shen Yuan tightened his grip around Li Zhi’s slender ankle, his thumb pressing soothingly against the side.
"Shen Yuan! Selaan!"
Li Zhi, both flustered and furious, pointed at the innocent-looking boy.
Shen Yuan arched an eyebrow, his expression open and guileless as he looked back at Li Zhi, completely unbothered by her scolding. "I’m just helping you with the massage."
"Then why pull the blanket off for a massage!" Li Zhi demanded.
"I couldn’t see the pressure points with the blanket in the way."
"Couldn’t see? If you couldn’t see, why didn’t you just take my sock off and get a good enough look?!"
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
The moment the words were out, Li Zhi realized what she’d said. Her face flushed an even deeper shade of red, and she wanted to bite her tongue off.
Shen Yuan watched her, flustered and sputtering, the amusement in his eyes nearly overflowing.
He even made a show of looking down at her foot, snug in its white sock, as if he were seriously considering her "suggestion."
In the frozen silence, Shen Yuan’s fingers suddenly moved from her ankle, sliding toward the pure white cuff of her sock.
His movements were deliberately slow. His thumb barely grazed the ribbed top of the sock, hooking it, poised to pull.
Li Zhi’s heart hammered in her chest. A jolt of shame and alarm shot through her like an electric current.
"Shen Yuan! No... Don’t..."
The beautiful girl’s voice shot up, laced with breathless, urgent pleading. Her brows, already knitted from the tingling pain, now furrowed in helpless panic.
Shen Yuan paused, his fingertip still hooked on the cuff of her sock. He lifted his gaze to meet her panicked eyes.
"Oh? Didn’t someone just say I should get a good look?"
"I did not!"
Li Zhi’s face flushed as she stammered in rebuttal, "I-I did not! I never said anything like that! You’re just hearing things!"
Her voice was filled with indignant denial, but the bright red blush on the tips of her ears gave her away.
Just as the words left her mouth, after all this time, the tingling numbness in her leg finally began to recede rapidly, like a taut string suddenly going slack.
A flash of joy went through the beautiful girl. Seizing the momentary relief, she swiftly yanked her leg back, trying to escape Shen Yuan’s grasp.
But in the instant she retracted her leg, Shen Yuan’s fingers, which had been resting on the edge of her sock, hooked it with the motion.
The ribbed cuff of the white sock caught firmly on the pad of his finger. With the momentum of her pulling away, the sock slid right off her slender ankle.
Her soft, warm foot was left completely bare in the cool air.
The way it happened, it looked as if Li Zhi had taken the sock off herself.
Li Zhi cried out, so mortified she nearly curled into a ball. She scrambled to cover her bare foot with her other one, biting her lower lip in frustration.