Chapter 139: The Scent Emanating from a Female

When I opened my eyes, Wangchuan was still beside me. Awakening, he reached out to embrace me and felt my forehead.

"Still feeling uncomfortable?"

I shook my head, feeling a dryness in my mouth. Pouting, I slumped over his lap. "Master, I want to drink water..."

A cup was handed over, fitted with a straw. It looked like watermelon juice.

I took a sip. It was sweet, and I felt much better inside. But thinking of the black watermelon seeds made me feel a wave of nausea all over again.

The brainwashing sequence began. I repeated to myself constantly that it was all fake, all a trick, and I had just been dreaming. I took a few more sips of the watermelon juice and barely managed to calm down.

In the end, I lay flat on Wangchuan's lap like a dead fish.

"Master, my fingers hurt."

Wangchuan didn't say anything. I figured that if he did speak, he would definitely say something like "you brought it on yourself."

I thought so too. I had clearly promised him not to touch things I shouldn't, yet I went ahead and touched a rabbit anyway... I hadn't even touched the core, yet here I was, an older sister, poking around. Should that be considered playful of me, or brainless?

Wangchuan lowered his gaze to look at me, his eyes bright and clear. Because I had been sleeping, he probably hadn't turned on the lights for fear of disturbing me.

Right then, I hugged him and murmured coquettishly, "Master, I'm hungry."

"Can you still eat?" He chuckled, steadying me in his arms and settling me in his lap.

"I can." I nodded, wrapping my arms around his neck. Having successfully brainwashed myself just moments ago, I chose to believe the bug incident was merely a dream.

"Then let's eat." Lifting me up, Wangchuan moved to push the door open.

Leaning against his shoulder, I added, "You feed me. I don't want to hold a spoon."

After a long silence—perhaps genuinely pitying my ten injured fingers—he finally replied, "Mn."

With that, he pushed the door open and stepped outside.

A flood of bright light greeted us. I clamped my waist tightly around Wangchuan like a koala, clinging to him closely.

It wasn't until I heard Xin'er calling me that I scrambled down from him in a panic, struggling to maintain a proper distance and a polite smile.

Ah, ah, ah! I had completely forgotten there was a child outside! I wondered if Xin'er would laugh at me if she saw me acting like that!

Wangchuan looked slightly displeased at my reaction, but he didn't say much more.

We took our seats. I sat beside Wangchuan, while Xin'er sat across from us, giggling as she looked at the two of us.

The dishes were served, and then Xin'er suddenly gasped in surprise. "Older sister! Can I eat the things Brother Han brought back for me?"

I paused for a moment. "Of course you can."

Upon hearing this, Xin'er pitter-pattered back to her room, presumably to fetch the snacks Han Mingxuan had brought her.

Taking advantage of Xin'er's absence, I nudged up against Wangchuan, but he pulled away, his gaze slightly cool, refusing to let me touch him.

So I pressed against him even harder, knowing he was likely annoyed by my frantic scramble to get off him the moment Xin'er appeared.

Wangchuan had a peculiar way of thinking, but having been with him for so long, I could more or less understand his mindset.

It boiled down to the fact that he believed our relationship should be open and proud, rather than abruptly breaking apart like strangers the moment someone else appeared.

Naturally, I could only smile at such a notion.

Therefore, after he dodged me multiple times, I spoke in a coaxing, spoiled tone, "Oh come on... Xin'er is still young, you know. We can't let her see us being intimate. It... doesn't look very good. Right?"

"Doesn't look good?" Wangchuan pondered for a moment, looking as if he didn't quite understand, yet a trace of a smile danced on his lips. "Are you afraid she'll want to mate with me?"

My mind went blank with a loud *boom*. I instantly turned my head, and seeing that Xin'er hadn't returned yet, I waved a hand dismissively.

"What are you even saying!" I almost reached out to smack him. "My Xin'er is only ten years old! What would a ten-year-old know about that?!"

He merely curved his lips, leaned in close to my ear, and chuckled dismissively, "Then tell me, whose scent was that in the air just now—that scent of a female in heat?"

"I, I, I..." I froze again, swallowing hard.

Which "just now" was he talking about? How far back was "just now"?! Was it back at Han Mingxuan's house, or right here?!

Why hadn't I smelled it? What kind of scent was that anyway? Xin'er was only ten, so that was completely impossible, right?!

Therefore, I concluded that Wangchuan was definitely talking nonsense! In retaliation, I pointed randomly at Jiuyan not far away and blurted out, "Hers! She's a female too!"

Jiuyan started in surprise, having no idea what we were discussing. Subconsciously raising an eyebrow, she took a few steps back.

Wangchuan sighed softly, then ran a hand over my body. "Are you going to admit it's yours, or should I get excited and go..."

He raised an eyebrow, implying he would go over to Jiuyan. I immediately threw my arms around his neck. "You wouldn't dare!"

"You tell me whether I dare or not." He smiled with narrowed eyes, and before I knew it, he planted a solid, thorough kiss on my lips. He didn't release me until I heard movement over by the others, leaving me gasping heavily for air.

Oh god, oh god, oh god. This jerk actually treated me like this. It really wasn't appropriate for Xin'er to see!

I remained silent, listening to the patter of footsteps running back toward us, thinking to myself that it would be fine—she hadn't seen anything... It had been a false alarm.

Yet when I looked up, I caught Wangchuan wearing that daring, mischievous smile again, and the previous topic resurfaced in my mind.

The scent of a female wanting to mate... basically, the allure to seduce males, which was essentially a natural reaction upon seeing a strong male.

It meant signaling that one's body was ready for reproduction, causing any male who caught the scent to feel restless and follow the trail.

Or, like in my case, experiencing a natural overflow of it after becoming intimate with someone specific.

If it had been mine, however, Wangchuan wouldn't have phrased it like that. The guy had a keen nose and could clearly distinguish any scent; he probably would have pinned me down right then and there.

Because of the earlier shock with the bug, I really didn't have the mental capacity to think about such things. Granted, when we were outside and Wangchuan had pulled me down for that teasing kiss, I had indeed felt a bit flushed and overwhelmed.

There was no helping it; to me, he was like a poisonous drug. Sometimes, just a few words from him were enough to make me feel flustered and overcome.

So I could only comfort myself desperately: *Maybe it was from earlier? Maybe it really was my scent?*

Sisters must smell somewhat alike, right? It definitely had nothing to do with Xin'er!

In the blink of an eye, Xin'er sat down beside us, holding her little lunchbox. With her appearance resembling a young lady of fourteen or fifteen, my heart gave another heavy thump.

"Xin'er..." I began, my voice trembling slightly.

"What is it, older sister?" Pausing in the middle of opening her lunchbox, Xin'er looked up at me, blinking her watery eyes.

"Um... what do you think of... your brother-in-law? Cough... how is he?"

The moment the question left my lips, Wangchuan couldn't hold it in anymore and burst out laughing. I kicked him under the table, and he finally managed to stop.

Xin'er thought about it seriously. "Hmm—very strong, very powerful, solidly built, runs quite fast, and can even fly! Even though he doesn't talk much, he looks very manly! So he's super handsome!"

Hearing this evaluation, I touched my head, feeling rather bewildered.

"Does your generation of young people judge people entirely by their muscles?"

Xin'er burst into laughter. "What is older sister saying? I was being completely serious with my evaluation, okay!"

"Uh... right," I managed to reply weakly.

If Xin'er had simply given starry eyes and said, "Wangchuan is so handsome," I definitely would have felt completely reassured and dropped the matter.

Yet this evaluation—why did it match all the criteria I personally found advantageous?

Besides, she was only a ten-year-old child... No, age aside, why would she pay attention to traits related to eugenics and successful breeding?

As someone who had spent a long time in animal form, I understood this deep down.

Among all animals, only humans cared about faces, with facial features taking up the majority of aesthetic evaluation.

Animals were different; they simply looked at whoever was sturdier, stronger, and better at fighting as the superior choice.

For Xin'er to say he was handsome wouldn't be an issue.

The problem was that she listed out all those eugenic qualifications first, and then added that he was handsome *because* he possessed those traits.

Wasn't her cognition straying just a bit too far from normal humanity?

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and sighed.

Fine, perhaps I was really overthinking it. Maybe Han Mingxuan simply hadn't educated Xin'er properly and had genuinely raised her to act like a canine!

Looking at the covered rice in my hand, I helplessly picked up the spoon.

My fingers hurt so much, ouch. But my plan had backfired; I certainly couldn't let Wangchuan feed me right in front of Xin'er!

With that guy lowering his gaze and wearing a bizarre, amused smile, I endured the pain and fed myself, finding the food surprisingly delicious nonetheless.

The very next moment, however, Xin'er popped open her snack box with a *snap* and grabbed a handful of treats to place on her plate.

The instant I saw her pop those things into her mouth, my entire body froze in place, and I lowered my head and threw up all over the floor again!

Good lord! What on earth was she eating?!