Chapter 173: Truly a Straight Man
“She’s joking with you, and you’re taking it seriously!” Xia Chenge amusingly pinched his handsome face, which felt incredibly good to the touch.
Ling Hanmu held Xia Chenge’s hand, his gaze fixed and intense, declaring forcefully, “You can joke about anything else, but not about you.”
Xia Chenge’s smile bloomed like a flower, and she tiptoed to kiss his face, which was also tanned: “I won’t joke about you either.”
Upon hearing this, Ling Hanmu reached out and pulled Xia Chenge into his embrace, savoring the rare sweet moment, unwilling to let her go for a long time. It felt as if holding her like this meant possessing the whole world, bringing him immense satisfaction.
Although the current filming conditions were very tough, seeing Xia Chenge upon waking made Ling Hanmu feel that even the desert was beautiful.
“Sit down, I’ll help you apply a face mask.” After a long while, Ling Hanmu finally released Xia Chenge, brought over a stool, and asked her to sit down.
Xia Chenge sat down as instructed.
“You need to tie your hair up first, where’s the hair tie?” Ling Hanmu busied himself, muttering as he went to the table to search.
“Just get that hairband.” Hearing this, Xia Chenge knew she couldn’t completely trust a straight man and had to direct him herself.
After getting the hairband, Ling Hanmu looked at it, then looked again: “How do you use this?”
“You said you’d help me with a face mask, don’t you do any homework?” Xia Chenge chuckled.
Ling Hanmu scratched his head: “I usually just see my mom put face masks on her face, how was I supposed to know there was so much homework involved?”
Once Xia Chenge had put on the hairband, Ling Hanmu carefully tore open the face mask packaging, took out the mask, and began to apply it to Xia Chenge.
However, Xia Chenge ended up with the mask smeared all over her face.
“Wait, it’ll be done soon!” Ling Hanmu was embarrassed. After all that effort, he still hadn’t applied it properly. “Why is putting on a face mask harder than putting a screen protector on a mobile phone?”
Xia Chenge took it off and saw that the face mask had already been torn to shreds by Ling Hanmu!
Torn to shreds…
She looked at Ling Hanmu.
Ling Hanmu’s mouth twitched.
“Believe me, I can try again,” Ling Hanmu said weakly.
Xia Chenge closed her eyes.
Seeing this, Ling Hanmu quickly grabbed another face mask.
The result—
He tore the face mask to shreds again!
Ling Hanmu looked at the face mask, his smile frozen.
Xia Chenge opened her eyes and, seeing his hands, couldn’t help but laugh and cry.
Ling Hanmu’s hand was quick; he threw it into the trash can.
“Are you just burning money for fun?” Xia Chenge put her hand to her forehead. It was such a waste. Straight men really were killers of skincare products.
“Hehe, well… I’ll buy more if it runs out,” Ling Hanmu said with a dry laugh, reaching for another face mask.
Xia Chenge immediately slapped his hand away: “Instead of wasting money practicing on your hands like this, you might as well use the money for charity. This isn’t how you spend extravagantly!”
Ling Hanmu looked wronged: “I thought it would be easy, who knew it would be so difficult? Besides, I’ve never used one before; this is the first time I’ve opened one.”
“Silly!” Xia Chenge ruffled his face haphazardly, and finally did it herself.
Afterward, Xia Chenge planned to have Ling Hanmu apply a mask to her too, but Ling Hanmu was very resistant.
“I won’t!” He dodged desperately, absolutely refusing. “I bought it for you to use, not on my face. As a man, being a little darker is fine, but I will never use a face mask.”
“Why?”
“This is my bottom line, a man’s dignity.”
“How does applying a face mask challenge your dignity?”
“Little brother, go take a shower quickly. They say that applying a face mask while showering is more effective.”
With that, Ling Hanmu pushed her into the bathroom without further ado and even closed the door for her.
Xia Chenge: “……”
She rolled her eyes, but she did feel uncomfortable with the sweat on her body, so she decided to shower first!
Half an hour later, Xia Chenge emerged feeling refreshed.
Ling Hanmu was no longer in her room.
Seeing the face mask packaging on the table, Xia Chenge was reminded of how he had stubbornly refused. She shook her head helplessly, tidied up a bit, and then left the room to find Ling Hanmu.
Ling Hanmu had probably just finished showering too; water droplets from his hair fell onto his face, tracing along his handsome features.
“Why are you wearing so little?” Ling Hanmu frowned. “The temperature difference between day and night here is large; be careful not to catch a cold.”
As he spoke, he turned back, picked up a jacket, and draped it over Xia Chenge before taking her hand and leaving the hotel together, preparing to stroll through the small town in the northwest.
As this small town was being developed for tourism, it was quite lively at night.
In the apocalypse, such scenes only existed on a computer. Now, they unfolded vividly before her eyes.
Excitedly, she pulled Ling Hanmu into the crowd, eager to experience the folk customs of the great northwest.
She couldn’t put down the interesting little trinkets she saw, and Ling Hanmu smiled as he paid for them on the side.
“Handsome guy, you’re so good to your girlfriend,” the stall owner teased them while giving change. “You look like high school students, are you out playing during summer vacation?”
“Yes, that’s right!” Ling Hanmu, unlike his usual arrogant demeanor in Haicheng, replied gently to the stall owner, appearing no different from a typical high school student, except for his more striking looks.
“You’re still young, don’t play too late, it’s not safe!” The stall owner suddenly leaned in and kindly whispered, “It’s still quite chaotic here at night.”
“I understand, thank you, boss,” Ling Hanmu nodded.
After the two left the stall, Xia Chenge said to Ling Hanmu, “Then let’s go back after we stroll for a bit?”
“No rush, we’ll talk after we’re done. Didn’t you want to try the local specialty food?”
“But we’ve already been targeted. A strong dragon can’t suppress a local snake, and there are still people from the film crew.”
“You noticed?”
“Yes, I noticed as soon as we left the hotel.”
“Then we’ll pack some food back to the hotel later.”
The two continued to browse the roadside stalls. Their outstanding appearances attracted countless gazes along the way.
Even a bold girl tried to strike up a conversation with Ling Hanmu, but he gave her a cold glance, and she fled in disarray.
“You’re like this, you won’t be liked by girls,” Xia Chenge teased.
Ling Hanmu raised an eyebrow and held up their intertwined hands: “I’m taken, should I still give them a chance to ask for my phone number and WeChat, and then constantly harass me?”
Xia Chenge smiled brilliantly.
“If you’re not worried about me like this, I’ll be sad!” Ling Hanmu pouted, looking extremely wronged.
“Try giving them your phone number and WeChat, and see if I get worried,” Xia Chenge raised an eyebrow, her threat undisguised.
Ling Hanmu immediately beamed: “I knew you were worried about me.”
“Let go of me, I already paid!” Just then, a scream from ahead drew their attention.
“Are you trying to bully me because I’m old and my eyesight is bad? It’s all counterfeit money. It’s just a few dozen yuan worth of goods, and you’re still trying to cheat? This is too much, I’m calling the police!” a slightly aged male voice said agitatedly.
Xia Chenge frowned and pulled Ling Hanmu forward, pushing through the crowd to get closer.
A girl was being held tightly, her hair disheveled as she struggled: “I’ve given you money 10 times, and it’s all real. You’re the one who swapped my money, you’re the real scammer!”
