Chapter 128: Ambiguity

**Chapter 128: Ambiguity

After Gu Qianli entered Lin Qing Shan's apartment, she immediately petted Pochita as usual.

"Woof woof woof woof~"

Pochita enthusiastically rubbed against Gu Qianli's palm.

Gu Qianli smiled, then said nonchalantly, "Qing Shan, you've drawn Pochita into the manga…"

Lin Qing Shan scratched his head. To be honest, *Chainsaw Man* had existed before he named Pochita. But he decided not to mention it; let Gu Qianli continue with her misunderstanding.

"Are you still working on your drawings?"

Gu Qianli asked with a smile, "*Flame Fist* or *Chainsaw Man*?"

"Nope…"

Lin Qing Shan walked to the center of the living room, picked up a game controller, and waved it at her. "I'm playing games."

He recently got a gaming console, and the spacious duplex apartment was perfect for it.

Of course, this was just an excuse; he was actually browsing the system.

"By the way, Qianli, you mentioned dinner, right?"

Lin Qing Shan grinned. "What do you want to eat? Spiced grilled fish? Spicy wings over rice? Fried dough cakes?"

"What…"

Gu Qianli blinked. "The names of these dishes sound strange."

"Oh, sorry, I just remembered an old acquaintance."

Lin Qing Shan said, "Let's keep it simple and have some home-style barbecue!"

"Ah, this…"

Gu Qianli wasn't really there just to eat. She hesitated and continued smiling. "By the way, since you've drawn Pochita into *Chainsaw Man*, did you include anyone else?"

Lin Qing Shan blinked. "No, Pochita is an exception. The other characters in *Chainsaw Man* are purely fictional!"

"Is that so…"

Gu Qianli played with a strand of her hair again, slowly moving closer to Lin Qing Shan.

Lin Qing Shan, noticing how close she was, instinctively leaned back.

"Qianli… what are you…"

He felt a bit flustered.

Gu Qianli bit her lip, trying to stay calm, and softly said, "Qing Shan, look at my palm…"

She grabbed Lin Qing Shan's hand and, mimicking Makima from the manga, seductively said, "The length of my fingers…"

"And the warmth of my palm—is it cold or warm?"

Lin Qing Shan felt her delicate, small hand compared to his. Her fingers were thin and soft, with smooth and supple skin.

It was truly a very feminine hand.

At the same time, Lin Qing Shan felt for the first time that a girl's palm was cool, like a small piece of smooth jade with a hint of chill.

On the other hand, Gu Qianli was also experiencing holding a man's hand, aside from her father and grandfather. She could clearly feel the contours of Lin Qing Shan's palm.

His hand was slender, with some rough texture at the finger joints and fingerprints from long-term drawing and handling brushes—quite different from Gu Qianli's delicate fingers.

And Lin Qing Shan's palm was slightly warm…

Gu Qianli suddenly felt a surge of unknown emotion and smiled at Lin Qing Shan. "Qing Shan, have your fingers ever been bitten?"

She felt like she was becoming Makima, almost wanting to take Lin Qing Shan's index finger into her mouth.

But just then…

"If I still remember my voice…"

It was Gu Qianli's phone ringing.

The sudden ringtone broke the strange, mysterious mood.

Gu Qianli looked at Lin Qing Shan's finger, which was so close to her lips, and her face turned bright red instantly.

What was she thinking just now? Why did she suddenly want to do that? And to be so proactive… This is too embarrassing.

Gu Qianli felt like she could dig a huge pit into the floor of Lin Qing Shan's apartment right then.

[Translator: sauron]

If there was a crack in the floor, she would have wanted to dive right into it.

Lin Qing Shan also realized what had just happened and used the finger that had almost been bitten to scratch his face.

Gu Qianli quickly turned around, took out her phone, and answered the call.

"Hello—!"

She answered the phone loudly to cover her embarrassment.

She hadn't even checked who was calling; she just wanted to hide her awkwardness.

Fortunately, the call came at the right moment and prevented her from actually biting Lin Qing Shan's finger.

That would have been truly awkward.

After answering the call, Gu Qianli's expression grew serious. "Okay… I understand. Is the situation serious? Can the data be recovered?"

"Alright… I got it."

She sighed and hung up the phone.

Lin Qing Shan noticed her troubled demeanor and asked, "Qianli… is something wrong?"

Gu Qianli, thinking about the recent incident, felt a bit embarrassed but still explained, "It's… there's an issue with our startup team's website. Guo Guo accidentally cut the power to our temporary server, and some data might be lost."

"This means we'll need to re-enter the data."

Gu Qianli was also a bit frustrated. She had only included Guo Guo in the team because they were college roommates, but Guo Guo had not completed her assigned part of the project. This had already caused dissatisfaction among the team members. Gu Qianli had taken over that part of the work to help her out, and Lin Qing Shan had even helped finish it.

"So, everyone is quite unhappy with Guo Guo."

Gu Qianli took a deep breath and said, "Sigh, she doesn't need to do anything, but if she just attended classes properly, it wouldn't be like this…"

"Mercy should not govern the military, and righteousness should not govern finance."

Lin Qing Shan shook his head. "Qianli, if you want your team to continue, you can't be too sentimental."

"Guo Guo can be a friend, but as a partner, she's not suitable. Otherwise, the whole team will suffer."

Gu Qianli listened to Lin Qing Shan's advice, gritted her teeth, and made a decision.

"Okay, I'll talk to Guo Guo and ask her to leave the team."

After discussing the issue, they both tacitly chose not to bring up the earlier incident and continued interacting as before.

(End of Chapter)