67: Too Close!

Too Close!

Li Caiyi shook her head to chase away that thought. Years of experience taught her that families from high-class societies were complicated and hard to understand. It was better if she did not make a wild assumption and treated Shao Jingfei as a regular friend. From his personality, Li Caiyi had a feeling that Shao Jingfei probably wished for that as well.  0

Li Caiyi traced the book's spine on the bookcase with her finger, looking for a book that might become a source of inspiration. She had been searching for a while, but she did not find any.

She raised her head to search from the upper case, and one of the books with a dark blue cover caught her attention. Li Caiyi lifted her arm to take it, but it was too high for her to reach.

"Ugh… Too high." Li Caiyi had already stood on her toe. She even jumped a bit, but she still could not reach it. Her arm got cramped by how much she stretched it.

'It's no use. I can't take the book. I'd better find some stairs or stools first.'

Li Caiyi turned around, and her face immediately bumped with something.

"Ompfh," Li Caiyi accidentally let out an incomprehensible exclamation, then she raised her head.

In front of her, Dai Zhiqiang was standing with his long arm outstretched upward. They were so close together. Li Caiyi was practically trapped between the bookcase behind her and Dai Zhiqiang in front of her. 

He was tall, so Li Caiyi could distinctly see his prominent adam apple and refined jawline from where she stood. She could also faintly smell the scent of peppermint mixed with masculine odor from his uniform. Li Caiyi's heart thumped in her chest as she unconsciously held her breath for a moment.

'Too close! He is too close!'

The whole situation happened too fast for her brain to process! Li Caiyi's brain got short-circuited and her arms stiffened on both sides of her body. 

While Li Caiyi was dumbstruck, Dai Zhiqiang had retrieved the book Li Caiyi wanted effortlessly. The whole chain of events happened for less than three seconds, yet Li Caiyi felt it was the longest three seconds in her life!

Dai Zhiqiang casually handed over the book to her. "This book, right?"

'Even his voice was amazing… Wait, what am I thinking?!' Li Caiyi quickly snapped out of her trance and accepted the book while taking a few steps away from Dai Zhiqiang. She did not want to show him her flustered face, so Li Caiyi dared not raise her head and meet his eyes. 

"Th-thank you, Dai Zhiqiang. But, since when have you been there?"

"Not for long. I saw you having difficulty reaching for that book, so as the librarian on duty, I came to help you."

"I-I see. Haha, you surprised me," Li Caiyi nervously tucked some hair behind her ears. 

"If you need my help again, you can find me on the counter. It's my job, so you don't have to feel reserved."

"Y-yes. Thank you."

After that, Dai Zhiqiang said nothing else and returned to his post. It was not until his figure disappeared behind the bookcase that Li Caiyi could heave a sigh of relief.

"Th-that was surprising." Li Caiyi rubbed her chest to calm her heartbeat. She felt silly for being too self-conscious about it, while Dai Zhiqiang did not react much. 

Li Caiyi could not believe she got flustered from being approached by another teenage boy beside Dai Shenqiang. 

'Come to your senses, Li Caiyi! He is a lot younger than you, and you already have Shenqiang!' 

She blamed her naïve reaction earlier on her inexperience with the opposite sex. Yes, that must have been the case. 

After calming her own thoughts, Li Caiyi walked around the library a little more until she was satisfied. She brought the books she found and put them on the librarian's counter to check them out.

"I want to borrow these books." Li Caiyi held out her student ID.

Dai Zhiqiang received them all and began to do his job. Come to think of it, Dai Zhiqiang was always in the library whenever Li Caiyi came here. It was almost like he was living here.

Li Caiyi was curious, but she wondered if she should ask at all. What if she offended him?

"Are you going to make another story?"

"Huh?" Li Caiyi's mind was elsewhere, so she was late to register his question.

Dai Zhiqiang waved the book in his hand. "This book covered a lot of folk stories from all around the world. However, some are real, and some came from the author's interpretation, so it is not very reliable. I won't recommend it to you if you intend to use this as a reference."

"Dai Zhiqiang, have you ever read this book before?" 

"I have read most of the books in this library." Dai Zhiqiang said casually. 

"A-all of them?!" Li Caiyi's mouth gaped open. The library of S International High School was huge and contained a lot of books from various languages, and he said he read almost all of them? That was crazy!

"No. Not all of them. I spent a lot of time in the library, so I think why not kill some time by reading? But I can't read all of them because many of them used foreign languages I did not understand."

No, but 75% of the books in this library were in Chinese, and this library had at least a thousand books in it. Didn't it mean he had read all books included in that 75%? That was already amazing by itself!

Li Caiyi was speechless. Zhou Ya said Dai Zhiqiang was very smart, and Li Caiyi felt she could see it today. No ordinary person would read so many books just to kill time. 

But wait, didn't she forget something?

"Ah, how did you know I was writing a story?" Li Caiyi asked him.

"The news had spread all over the school. They said you won that big writing competition. Congratulations on your win."

"Thanks!" Li Caiyi smiled brightly. Dai Zhiqiang seemed reclusive and hard to approach, so Li Caiyi was a bit intimidated by him, but he had helped her twice, including today, so Li Caiyi's guard had lowered down considerably. 

Dai Zhiqiang reminded her a bit of Li Junjie, but Dai Zhiqiang was warmer than her brother. 

If Dai Zhiqiang had already read most of the books in this place, then perhaps he could help her find a good book to make her new story? Li Caiyi felt it was a good idea. That way, she could save time from wandering around the library searching for the correct book. 

"If you are not busy, can you help me recommend a good book to me next time? I don't think my searching method is very efficient."

"Sure, why not?"

"Thank you! Also, shall we walk together from school after this?"

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