Chapter 441 - 212: Li Zhi Decides to Make the First Move

Chapter 441: Chapter 212: Li Zhi Decides to Make the First Move

Heh.

Just you wait, you dumbass Shen Yuan!

This time, it’s your turn to be on the receiving end.

The clock ticked softly. Outside, the night was so thick it was almost tangible.

Li Zhi gazed at the swaying tree shadows outside. Her heart began to beat faster, but an unusual excitement washed over the feeling.

She suddenly found herself looking forward to seeing Shen Yuan’s expression.

The bell signaling the end of the last evening study session rang right on schedule.

That familiar clamor once again swept through the school building.

Shen Yuan didn’t activate his Concentration this time. He had to take a day off sometime, right?

He just quietly packed his schoolbag, but his gaze seemed to be glued to Li Zhi from the corner of his eye.

Li Zhi also packed her bag, slowly and deliberately.

The others in the classroom didn’t leave right away; many were still sitting at their desks.

After handing her bag to Shen Yuan, the two of them headed for the classroom door as usual.

The chill of the winter night hadn’t yet crept into the classroom.

Shen Yuan was still thinking about holding Li Zhi’s hand once they got outside. But just then, a warm, soft, and slightly cool hand suddenly reached out from behind him, unerringly finding his own hand hanging at his side.

The next second, those slender fingers pried his apart with an undeniable force. Assertively, yet with a slight tremor, they squeezed between his and clasped his hand tightly!

The moment their hands connected, the grip suddenly tightened.

Shen Yuan could even feel her nails digging into the back of his hand from nervousness, causing a slight, sharp pain.

But that pain was instantly overwhelmed by the searing heat that erupted in his palm.

Shen Yuan’s heart was still reeling from this sudden, bold move. Before he even had a chance to turn and look, Li Zhi’s tall figure had already darted to his side.

The girl held his hand, rising slightly onto her tiptoes. Her eyes, glinting with triumph under the classroom lights, suddenly drew near, crashing into Shen Yuan’s astonished gaze.

A brazen, mischievous, almost devilish smile spread across Li Zhi’s lips. In a voice only the two of them could hear, she said:

"Hey, dumbass Shen Yuan..."

Her warm breath tickled the side of his neck, the triumphant, honey-sweet lilt of her voice worming its way into his ear.

"Is it too hot to handle?"

The moment she finished speaking, a brilliant smile bloomed in her eyes, like the winter sun melting the last trace of frost.

With undeniable intimacy, this proactive hand-holding and triumphant, close-up smile left Shen Yuan standing there, utterly dumbfounded.

Then, before Shen Yuan could fully recover from this sweet and audacious surprise attack, the beautiful girl quickly wiped the overly smug smile from her face. With a slight lift of her chin, she reverted to her usual aloof demeanor.

"Let’s go!"

Li Zhi tugged on Shen Yuan’s arm, snapping him out of his daze.

Their tightly intertwined fingers, along with the lingering warmth and breath by his ear, were clear proof that the scene just now had been no illusion.

The crowd of students who had yet to leave the classroom seemed to have been frozen in place, as if someone had pressed a pause button.

He Zhiyu, who had just stood up to grab her bag, froze with her hand in mid-air. Her mouth hung open, and her eyes, wide as saucers, were glued to the pair by the back door of the classroom without blinking.

Her mind went blank for a second, then it was as if ten thousand screaming chickens had exploded in her head.

What was this scene?

The image of Li Zhi briskly taking two steps forward to grab Shen Yuan’s hand, then rising on her toes to get close to his face, played on a loop in He Zhiyu’s mind.

There was no faking the bright, starlike twinkle in the girl’s eyes.

The way Li Zhi looked right now was exactly how He Zhiyu had always imagined the male and female leads would look when they fell in love, every time she worked on her story, *Defend and Steal*.

He Zhiyu’s face turned visibly red. Her fingers began to tremble uncontrollably, and in the end, she could only clamp a hand over her mouth, desperately holding back the shriek that was about to burst out.

A flood of bliss was about to drown her.

This was what she wanted to see!

Taking the initiative!

And it was Zhizhi who took the initiative!

AHHHH!!!

Thankfully, the rest of their group had already gone home. Otherwise, if he’d seen this, Ah Jie would have probably dragged Shen Yuan back for an Aruba session.

Of course, he probably wouldn’t have succeeded in dragging him back.

One glare from Young Master Li, and Ah Jie would have backed down.

But for the other people still in the classroom, the scene was still incredibly impactful.

For a moment, a variety of indescribable gasps and dumbstruck expressions spread silently through the classroom.

Was this the same Li Zhi they thought they knew?

As for Shen Yuan, he felt like he was walking on clouds, light and floaty. The slight coolness of Li Zhi’s hand and the pressure of her tight grip were the only things that felt real.

Li Zhi’s triumphant, provocative question—"Is it too hot to handle?"—exploded in his mind like a firework, its sweet sparks searing him until his insides tingled.

Shen Yuan’s mind was a complete blank now, with only a single thought buzzing through it.

’She made the first move!’

’And she did it after school, in front of so many people, holding my hand in such an intimate way.’

An expression somewhere between a goofy grin and utter shock was plastered on Shen Yuan’s face as he was dazedly pulled toward the door by Li Zhi.

The THUMP-THUMP-THUMP of his heart pounded in his eardrums, making him dizzy.

As for Li Zhi, after taking those two steps, her feigned composure had almost reached its limit.

The girl’s cheeks were burning hot; she didn’t need to look to know they must be an absurd shade of red.

She could only desperately lower her head, wishing she could shrink her entire face into her collar. Her other hand clutched the corner of her shirt, her knuckles white.

She tried to straighten her back and walk quickly forward without looking around, attempting to project an air of nonchalance.

’What are you looking at! It’s just holding hands, what’s the big deal!’

But the undeniable blush coloring the tips of her ears, and the tense, slightly stiff line of her shoulders and neck, completely betrayed her overwhelming shyness.

Li Zhi carefully turned her head to glance at Shen Yuan. In the light, she could clearly see his almost stupefied gaze glued to her face.

Her plan, it could be said, was a great success.

Her move had completely short-circuited Shen Yuan’s brain.

But that just sent her own heart into a frantic flutter.

’Get out of here! Quick!’

’I have to leave this space before I suffocate!’

The two of them rushed out of the classroom at a peculiar speed, leaving a room full of frozen astonishment and silently brewing gossip behind them.

Their ten intertwined fingers, under the classroom lights, became the most dazzling sight—and a silent declaration.