“It hurts,” Jiang Huai complained, looking at Luo Yueguan in front of him.
Luo Yueguan’s face was very close to his. She had just bitten Jiang Huai’s lips with her teeth, but she showed no sign of remorse. Instead, she playfully flicked her tongue, “Then you can bite me too.”
“You biting me hurts a lot, and you’ll hurt if I bite you. Then will you bite me again? When will this cycle of revenge end?” Jiang Huai looked helplessly at Luo Yueguan, his forehead pressed against hers. “So, please don’t bite me anymore, okay?”
“Open your mouth, and I won’t bite you.”
The moment Jiang Huai’s lips parted, her tongue quietly slipped in.
***
In the room.
Luo Yueguan was sitting on the bed, the sunlight from the window falling on her jet-black hair, filling the room with a faint orchid fragrance. Jiang Huai was diligently painting for her. This time, he didn’t use the traditional ink wash painting style but instead brought out a palette of oil paints. Such realistic paintings took a very, very long time. Luo Yueguan sat quietly, her delicate pink lips slightly pouting, “I’ve been sitting for so long. If the painting isn’t good later, I’ll bite you.”
“Don’t move, yes, that’s the pose, be good,” Jiang Huai soothed Luo Yueguan’s impatience. He felt his tone was like coaxing a child, but inwardly, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
At least while he was painting her, Luo Yueguan was extremely well-behaved, which meant he didn’t have to worry about her causing any more trouble. The light from outside fell on her profile, casting a half-bright, half-dark glow that was just right. A hazy beam of light illuminated half of her cheek, making her eyelashes appear as if brushed with gold dust.
“Has anyone ever told you that your eyes are beautiful?”
Jiang Huai asked gently, and Luo Yueguan’s eyes involuntarily curved at the corners.
She was really too easily pleased.
“Of course, they have. Do you think you’re the first to think so?”
“But what they saw in their eyes is definitely not as beautiful as what I see.”
“Oh?”
“Because you’re smiling,” Jiang Huai said softly, adding the final stroke to the painting. He flipped the easel around for Luo Yueguan to see. Luo Yueguan leaned in immediately, resting her body on the bedside to get closer to the painting. A hint of joy and pride quietly welled up in her clear blue eyes, yet she still let out a soft hum, “You can only paint nine-tenths of my beauty.”
“Then I won’t give you the painting. You can just look in the mirror if you want.”
“That won’t do.” Luo Yueguan snatched the painting away. “This is mine. I don’t even give others the chance to paint me.”
Jiang Huai was just teasing. He watched her protectively like a puppy guarding its food and reached out to pinch her cheek. “Alright, let’s get up. The sun is setting outside, shall we go take a look together?”
“Okay.” Luo Yueguan got up from the bed, but she didn’t put on her high heels. Her white silk-clad feet stepped onto the ground. She and Jiang Huai walked to the deck together. The sun was gradually sinking behind the clouds in the distance. Jiang Huai didn’t rush to watch the sunset. Instead, he set up the small barbecue grill he carried with him, lit the fruitwood charcoal, and took out all the ingredients he had prepared earlier, skewering them one by one.
Luo Yueguan could go without food all day, but he couldn’t. He still needed to eat something to nourish his body, especially ingredients rich in spiritual energy. The meat he brought were from the Spirit Oxen and Spirit Sheep raised at the Tian Xuan Sect, which had grown up drinking spirit spring water and eating spirit grass. The fruits and vegetables he skewered were also nourished by worldly spiritual energy.
Luo Yueguan liked spicy food, so Jiang Huai added an extra spoonful of finely ground chili powder to the seasoning. Luo Yueguan knew nothing about cooking, so she sat by obediently, watching him. Her eyes became very bright upon smelling the aroma. Jiang Huai placed the grilled skewers on the table, and Luo Yueguan looked at him, “What about drinks?”
“No drinks.”
Jiang Huai actually had another pot of Chunqiu wine, but he didn’t dare to let Luo Yueguan drink it. Luo Yueguan was already so wild and willful when she hadn’t drunk alcohol. What would happen if she got drunk?
Jiang Huai suddenly realized that afternoon that Luo Yueguan was so unrestrained in front of him entirely because of his own doing. Luo Yueguan tested his limits again and again, but he never showed much anger. It seemed that she felt truly safe in front of him, so she became increasingly unrestrained, as if wanting to unleash all the stubbornness she had suppressed in the past.
“Don’t try to trick me, you definitely have alcohol. Hurry up and take it out.” Luo Yueguan lifted her white and tender calf, her toes poking his waist several times, and started banging on the table. “Hurry, hurry, I want to drink.”
“Really, there isn’t any.”
“Swear that if you have alcohol on you, then you’ll never have a chance with Chu Xianning in this life.”
“Do you have to be so malicious?”
“That means you have it. Hurry up and take it out.” Seeing that being unreasonable didn’t work, Luo Yueguan started to act spoiled, looking at him pitifully. Her white and tender toes poked his chest several times. After a few pokes, Jiang Huai finally lost his patience and turned to look at her.
But the moment Jiang Huai showed impatience, Luo Yueguan instantly withdrew her calf, looking wronged and pitiful, hugging her legs as if curling up like a kitten.
“First, promise me you won’t go crazy after drinking.”
“What do you mean? Who do you look down on? When have I ever gone crazy?”
“Well, you go crazy even when you’re not drinking.” Jiang Huai sighed helplessly and finally brought out the last pot of Chunqiu wine and placed it on the table.
As Luo Yueguan poured the wine, her eyes lit up. “This is Chunqiu from Li Qiushan. He only takes it out on his birthday banquets. How did you trick it out of him?”
“What do you mean ‘trick’? Sect Master Li generously gave it to me because someone has taken over my position as Saint Son,” Jiang Huai sighed helplessly, placing the grilled mushrooms and green peppers on the table. Luo Yueguan had already picked up the wine cup and brought it to her lips, but she didn’t drink it in large gulps. Instead, she gently licked it with her delicate pink tongue, like a kitten drinking water.
“Promise me you won’t go crazy after drinking.”
“Never.” Luo Yueguan held the wine cup with both hands and finally took a small sip. Jiang Huai also picked up his wine cup and took a sip, then tasted the grilled skewers on the table.
Compared to Jiang Huai’s less refined eating style, Luo Yueguan’s movements were much more graceful and pleasing to the eye. One by one, the bamboo skewers were put down, and there was still a lot of wine left in the cups. Jiang Huai raised his wine cup and looked at her. Luo Yueguan smiled charmingly and raised her wine cup, taking a small sip.
The sunset in the clouds had already begun to set, the sky was gradually darkening, and stars began to appear. The moon also quietly emerged. After drinking half the wine in her cup, Luo Yueguan suddenly asked him, “Do you want to see me dance?”
Jiang Huai was stunned for a moment, scratching his head. “I’d quite like to.”
“That’s so perfunctory. Then I won’t dance.”
“I very, very much want to see.”
Jiang Huai turned his head towards Luo Yueguan, and she closed her eyes, her face leaning closer. Jiang Huai was suddenly startled. Where did this strange illusion of them holding hands like they were in love come from?
But he still impulsively kissed the corner of Luo Yueguan’s mouth. Luo Yueguan stood up, and Jiang Huai hurried to ask her, “Where are you going?”
“To change into a dance skirt. I can’t move freely in this one.”
“Oh…”
When Luo Yueguan came out again, she had changed into a light purple dance skirt. Under the halter top was her snow-white slender waist, and her snow buttocks were covered by a hip-hugging skirt. A few silver chains on her dance skirt reflected the silver moonlight.
She stood on tiptoes under the moonlight.
Her body was already soft and charming, and every movement now was captivating. Jiang Huai held his wine cup, and the world before him was slightly hazy. Luo Yueguan’s waist was so soft. In an instant, he suddenly understood the pleasure of King Zhou. Luo Yueguan, at some unknown time, had danced in front of him. She leaned slightly and reached for the wine cup in Jiang Huai’s hand. She bit the cup, then tilted her head, causing half the wine to enter her lips and the other half to spill from her chin down her neck, clavicle, and then slid into her collar.
“What a waste.”
Jiang Huai’s heart ached. This was his last pot of wine. But as soon as he finished speaking, Luo Yueguan had already sat sideways on him, her body leaning slightly closer. Her body exuded the fragrance of flower dew and a faint scent of wine. Her snow-white neck stretched out like a swan’s. Jiang Huai suddenly understood her meaning and began kissing from her neck to her clavicle.
In the past, Luo Yueguan had to go to great lengths for him to reluctantly fall for her. Now, it seemed that all Luo Yueguan had to do was beckon, and he knew what to do. When had he been so unconsciously trained by Luo Yueguan?
Luo Yueguan reached back to grasp the tie of her dress behind her. She leaned closer to Jiang Huai’s ear, her warm breaths falling on his ear.
Jiang Huai suddenly felt like he was peeling a lychee.
It seemed like he didn’t need Luo Yueguan to teach him what to do next. He kissed her unconsciously. Luo Yueguan gently stroked Jiang Huai’s head, but at this moment, she showed no shyness, but rather a hint of playfulness. “Qingyu used to like biting me like this when I was little. It took me a lot of effort to teach her to be obedient.”
“Alright, alright, whatever you want. I don’t dislike it. Do whatever you want to toss and turn with me… See, I’m not going crazy, am I? You’re the one going crazy, Jiang Xiaohu.”
“You always pretend to be so tough. You’re clearly a childish child, yet you always act like an adult. You clearly have lust in your heart, yet you suppress it in every way. Living this way is not necessarily better than my life.”
“There is never any love without reason in this world, but if someone loves me with all their might, I will love him too. I saw hope in you, but it seems I’m still living in Chu Xianning’s shadow, so… you’re so annoying.”
Luo Yueguan cupped Jiang Huai’s face, their eyes meeting under the moonlight. “To avoid going crazy after getting drunk, whether it’s you or me, we’ll sleep in separate rooms tonight?”
“Okay.” Jiang Huai immediately agreed.
But Luo Yueguan’s eyes immediately showed resentment. “You agreed so quickly… The you who was just on my chest wasn’t like this.”
She stood up and turned towards the small bathhouse on the Spirit Boat, leaving only her slender back to Jiang Huai. Her jet-black hair danced in the air. Jiang Huai could still hear her sulky, resentful voice, “Tonight… you’re not allowed to push my door. If you dare to come, I won’t let you go.”
