Chapter 65: The Sweet Little Mood of the Childhood Sweetheart

In Li Xingming’s view, the art of managing a team is, in essence, the art of keeping the scale balanced.

It is about ensuring that the resources received by each member are, as much as possible, fair in terms of perceived meaning.

The reason it is described as "fair in terms of perceived meaning" is that fairness is inherently a relative concept. Absolute fairness does not exist, and even if it were somehow achieved, it would still fail to bridge disputes in reality due to everyone's cognitive biases.

Seeing Li Xingming massaging Ye Sheng’s feet, Jiang Qianqian was obviously feeling somewhat uncomfortable inside, yet Li Xingming had no choice but to massage Ye Sheng’s feet. This created a contradiction.

Rather than trying to resolve the contradiction, it was better to change perspective and offer Jiang Qianqian a sweet treat instead.

Due to an accident that happened in her childhood, Jiang Qianqian occasionally had nightmares when sleeping. Back then, Li Xingming would often accompany her to sleep. As they grew older, however, the two rarely shared the same bed anymore.

Some boundaries between men and women still needed to be maintained, after all.

Yet Li Xingming knew that Jiang Qianqian still liked sleeping with him—she truly was a clingy little childhood friend.

Undeniable proof of this was that the moment Li Xingming proposed sleeping together tonight, Jiang Qianqian’s mood shifted drastically. She opened a box of takeout fried chicken, took out a piece, and began nibbling on it in small bites. Her fair, dainty feet slipped out of her slippers, tapping the air up and down alternately, just like a cat that felt so happy it ran over to its owner to make biscuits.

"Ah Ming, aren't you going to eat?"

"I am. You pick what you like first."

"What are you talking about? Isn't the fried chicken in here all pretty much the same?"

"Is it really all the same? I remember a certain someone when we were kids, every time we ate fried chicken together, would inexplicably think the piece in my hand was better and insist on snatching it away."

"..."

Jiang Qianqian simply snatched the piece of fried chicken right out of Li Xingming's hand to eat.

Hmph, since you're going to talk about me like that, I won't be polite anymore~

The fried chicken was crispy, tender, and juicy, mirroring the sweet feelings bubbling up inside Jiang Qianqian as she listened to Li Xingming recount the past days of their childhood.

She herself was very fond of reminiscing. A person is the sum total of all their past experiences, and it was precisely the little bits and pieces shared with Li Xingming that shaped the person she was today.

That was precisely why Jiang Qianqian felt afraid—afraid that a newly appeared girl might be too dazzling and brilliant, stealing Li Xingming's attention away.

Just now, when Ye Sheng stepped out wearing black silk stockings, Li Xingming's gaze had made Jiang Qianqian feel a sense of danger.

This was no longer just a regular mature woman; she had to unleash a heavy blow!

The method of delivering that heavy blow was to showcase her feminine charm during tonight's rare opportunity of sharing the same pillow.

To achieve this, Jiang Qianqian rummaged through her boxes and cabinets while Li Xingming was washing up.

Just as Li Xingming crawled under the covers to browse his phone and check out what nonsense people were posting on the forum, he was met with the astonishing sight of Jiang Qianqian walking in wearing a form-fitting, hip-hugger nightgown, her footsteps slightly awkward.

Li Xingming was dumbfounded.

"Hey, Ah Ming, what's with that look... Ouch, you're making me shy!" Jiang Qianqian felt a bit embarrassed and instinctively reached out to tug at the lace trimming of the nightgown. The light pink, bustier-style design, paired with the strategically placed cutouts on the sides, accentuated the graceful figure she had cultivated through years of persistent dance practice, giving her a look that was exceptionally innocent yet seductive.

To be honest, this nightgown didn't fit Jiang Qianqian's usual cute style at all, but it was really... really sultry.

She had bought it online about half a year ago, but never found the right opportunity to wear it.

Now, it seemed this opportunity had been chosen brilliantly. Look at Ah Ming's shocked expression; his impression of his little childhood friend was probably being thoroughly overhauled right now.

Just as Jiang Qianqian was brimming with victorious delight and a hint of bashfulness, Li Xingming suddenly asked:

"Qianqian, why are you secretly wearing your mom's clothes?"

"?"

"Oh, wait, is it not Auntie's clothes? Well, that's true, Auntie's clothes wouldn't come in a size this small." Li Xingming pondered briefly. "Must have been a freebie bundled with an order. Not bad, not bad. Just wear it around the house occasionally; definitely don't wear it outside. Gotta admit, though, it's quite sexy..."

While calling it sexy, Li Xingming maintained a playful attitude, grabbing Jiang Qianqian and tossing her onto the bed as he tried to tickle her ticklish spots.

It left Jiang Qianqian wanting to both cry and laugh.

At that moment, Li Xingming propped himself up with both arms, practically hovering right over Jiang Qianqian. Their faces were extremely close, feeling each other's breath and... a subtle contact.

Their gazes intersected, turning the air awkward. With a blank expression, Li Xingming rolled over and burrowed back under the covers.

"Let's go to sleep."

"Mm-mm."

The lights went out.

Two pillows laid side by side, alongside two separate duvets.

Jiang Qianqian lay on her side, using her back turned toward Li Xingming and the darkness to conceal the wild ecstasy on her face.

Ahhhhh!

For the first time—for the very first time in her life—she had successfully stirred up Ah Ming's...

That subtle ripple of emotion was a thousand times, ten thousand times more delicious than freshly made fried chicken.

Hehe, as expected, my advantage is still the biggest. No matter how much you and Li Xingming share common interests, Ye Sheng, could you ever experience such a sweet, ambiguous moment like this?

Victory!

The childhood friend wore a triumphant smile.

The location chosen for sharing the same pillow was Li Xingming's bedroom. This seemed somewhat counterintuitive; after all, Li Xingming slept in the guest bedroom, which had a smaller bed. Logically speaking, they should have gone to Jiang Qianqian's room instead.

However, this was something Jiang Qianqian had requested herself.

Because Li Xingming's room was completely filled with his scent—that fresh, slightly bitter, subtle fragrance that brought peace to one's mind and gave an overwhelming sense of security.

After the wave of wild excitement subsided, exhaustion washed over her. Immersed entirely in Li Xingming's scent, Jiang Qianqian easily drifted off to sleep without needing any pre-sleep forum-browsing ritual, entirely free from the torment of insomnia.

Simply put—she had fainted from happiness!

In truth, the daytime training and the nighttime operation had thoroughly drained Jiang Qianqian both physically and mentally. After all, she had died a total of seven times.

Feeling the breathing of the girl beside him gradually grow slow and steady, Li Xingming let out a slight sigh.

The little childhood friend of his family had indeed grown up.

From her facial features to her figure, Jiang Qianqian still leaned toward a youthful style, but she was already an adult, completely different from a genuine little girl.

Once she acquired a few more demonic spirits from the path of the Spirit Singer, or even demonic spirits from the Succubus faction... he didn't even dare to imagine it.

This couldn't help but make Li Xingming ponder his relationship with Qianqian, coupled with the primal surge of emotion he had felt earlier while massaging Ye Sheng.

An old fossil from the Sixth Era, even after reincarnation, was still an energetic, healthy, eighteen-year-old young man.

Romance was a domain Li Xingming completely failed to understand. His emotional module was inherently missing, and his brain simply lacked that function. Many normal human joys, rages, sorrows, and pleasures were things Li Xingming could comprehend on a rational level, but he could not empathize with them.

Everyone has flaws. A righteous Sun Knight was already warm enough, so having a slightly weak emotional module was excusable.

He only knew one thing: a captain had to take responsibility for his team members' lives, and that was enough.