Side Effects of a Love Gu - Chapter 2

About ten minutes later, the door to the private room opened.

A sharp, cool herbal scent swept in.

Luosang’s scent.

He’d told me before that becoming the Gu King required soaking in all kinds of medicinal herbs.

Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, until the bitterness seeped into his very bones.

Even his eyes had turned green from the poisonous medicines.

Luosang took a few steps and stopped in front of me.

He stayed there.

My heart pounded.

What was going on?

Had he found me out?

My hand twitched with nerves, and I pinched the arm of the male classmate beside me.

He mumbled sleepily, hooked an arm around me, and tucked me securely against his chest.

Excellent work, buddy.

Just keep me covered like that.

I kept my eyes shut, not daring to move.

Suddenly the weight on me disappeared.

I peeked through my lashes. Luosang had hauled the guy off me with one hand and tossed him aside.

He stared down at me, his green eyes like twin pools of jade steeped in poison. His voice was flat.

“Chen Rourou. Stop pretending.”

I froze for an instant, then opened my eyes. “What? Pretending what?”

Through clenched teeth, Luosang asked, one word at a time, “Was. It. You?”

I played dumb. “Huh? Was what me?”

“…That.” He paused, his green eyes narrowing slightly. His gaze slid from my face to my waist and stomach, then lower. “Let me see whether you’re wearing panties.”

I spread my hands. “What? Are you an idiot? Who even asks that?”

Apparently he realized how stupid it sounded too. The tips of his ears visibly reddened.

After a moment of silence, he tilted his head. His eyes suddenly lit up.

“Don’t move. Those red marks on your neck look familiar.”

He reached out as if to pull at my collar.

[Our Luo is so clever! He’s already narrowed it down!]

[She’s done for, hehehe. Get ready to collect the body.]

[He’s poisonous all over. One touch and she’ll melt into pus. One little sizzle and she’s gone.]

Poisonous?!!

I jerked back. “Don’t touch me!”

Luosang’s hand stopped in midair.

His fingers stiffened, then slowly curled into a fist.

The little red snake on his shoulder bared its fangs and hissed at me, its tongue almost brushing the tip of my nose.

I swallowed, backed away another step, and stared at him coldly.

“Please keep your hands off me. Looking at you makes me sick.”

Luosang slowly lowered his hand. His lips pressed into a thin line, his face darkening.

A flicker of hurt crossed those green eyes.

[What an actress.]

[Being rejected is Luo’s biggest fear, and she says THAT… Why doesn’t she just die? My heart is breaking for him.]

[Don’t be sad, Luo. Our girl will love you. Oh, my poor baby.]

I lowered my eyes, unable to look at his face.

My chest ached.

I’d always liked Luosang.

When he’d first joined our advisor’s group, he’d seemed like a beautiful lunatic. Nobody dared talk to him.

He’d sit alone in the lab, the little red snake coiled around his wrist, like an abandoned porcelain doll.

I was the only one who took him along—to eat, to have coffee, to sleep together—wait, no. To stay up together watching action movies.

Only then had the other students gradually warmed up to him.

I didn’t want to hurt him.

But I didn’t want him to poison me into a puddle, either.

While my thoughts were spinning, Luosang suddenly bowed his head and softened his voice.

“I’m sorry, Rourou. I… spent the night with a stranger. I’m having a hard time with it.”

I swallowed. “That doesn’t mean you can suspect me. I haven’t done anything with anyone, okay?”

He blinked those green eyes gently, his voice so low he seemed to be talking to himself.

“I’m sorry. I went too far. But I thought… if the person I’d had that one-night stand with was you, I’d feel a little better.”

Me: “???”

Sleeping with someone else upset him, but sleeping with me wouldn’t?

What was that supposed to mean?

My face burned.

[What’s wrong with Luo?? Why is he suddenly confessing to HER? Is it the love gu?? That can’t be right!]

[I’d bet half a yuan he’s bluffing.]

[Exactly. Luo is kind. He won’t act until he’s sure who it was. He doesn’t kill innocent people indiscriminately.]

[Once she admits it herself, though… Hehehe. What a horror show. All the gut-rotting gu she can eat.]

Oh.

So he was trying to trick me into confessing.

Half the warmth in my chest vanished in an instant.

“Then I’m sorry to disappoint you,” I said, my face hardening. “It wasn’t me.”

Luosang gave me a long look, murmured an acknowledgment, and asked no more questions.

The snake kept hissing at me. He reached up to pet it, his fingertips stroking its head.

I let out a breath.

Another narrow escape.

[What a devious, scheming woman. She played innocent little Luo like a fool.]

[I think she’s perfectly fine, actually. She doesn’t owe him anything. Who says sleeping with someone deserves a death sentence?]

[The love gu took over. Neither of them could help it. You can’t blame anyone.]

[Am I the only one thinking about those lace panties? Luo STILL has them. Seriously.]

[Help, I noticed too. Ahem. He’s been clutching them the whole way like they’re some precious treasure…]