“You smiled, Chu Xianning, you smiled.”
Jiang Huai looked at Chu Xianning’s upturned lips in astonishment. All afternoon, he had only seen the cold and indifferent Chu Xianning. Now, her eyes held a smile, as if instantly dispelling all the chill of the autumn night.
“May I not smile?” Chu Xianning’s eyes gazed at him quietly, her smile gentle and lingering.
“That’s not it,” Jiang Huai tilted his head up proudly. “Master smiling means I also contributed. I’m content.”
“Not kissing anymore?”
“Not today. I’ll find another way tomorrow.” The disappointment Jiang Huai had felt in his heart earlier vanished instantly. It didn’t matter if he didn’t get a kiss today; successfully making Chu Xianning smile was a significant achievement.
The smile on Chu Xianning’s cheeks slowly faded, and her eyes returned to their usual cool indifference. She looked at the lake surface. There were still no fish biting, but she no longer waited. Instead, she stood up and said softly, “Let’s go back to sleep.”
“Mhm.”
They both put away their fishing rods together. Chu Xianning rose into the air on her sword, and Jiang Huai appeared behind her, reaching out to gently place his hand on her shoulder. Because he was leaning so close, his breath fell on Chu Xianning’s neck.
For some reason, seeing Chu Xianning’s slender, fair neck, Jiang Huai suddenly felt an impulse to take a small bite.
Jiang Huai suddenly remembered a strange saying he had once read: when you love someone, you want to devour them.
The evening breeze was cool, and the moonlight poured down. Chu Xianning’s neck, visible in his sight, was snow-white and slender. Jiang Huai felt as if he were losing his mind, so he leaned closer and closer, until his lips gently landed on Chu Xianning’s neck.
The flying sword trembled violently.
“What are you doing?”
“I… I…”
The cold voice entered Jiang Huai’s ears. In an instant, he sobered up, but he couldn’t answer. Perhaps he just wanted to be closer to Chu Xianning. He wanted to explain but couldn’t find the words. After stammering for a long time, he could only say, “I was wrong.”
Chu Xianning said nothing more. Jiang Huai anxiously looked at her profile, but her expression was calm and cold, seemingly not intending to scold him further. She just quietly flew on her sword. When they returned to the courtyard, she said faintly, “I’m going to bathe. You’re not allowed to follow.”
Jiang Huai obediently sat in the pavilion and waited. After a while, Chu Xianning finally emerged. She had changed into a black nightgown, the hem of which clung to her slender body. Designed for comfort during sleep, the nightgown had a sling design, exposing her rounded shoulders and delicate collarbones. The hem had a high slit, and as she moved, her long, fair legs were revealed in the night. Chu Xianning had long legs and a slender waist, with an impossibly perfect body proportion.
She walked up to Jiang Huai and, seeing his dazed expression, reached out and tapped his head, nudging him, “Go bathe.”
“Mhm.” Jiang Huai obediently went to the bathhouse. After blowing bubbles in the bath for a while, he sobered up and went to Chu Xianning’s room. Gently pushing open the door, he saw that the room was still bathed in a faint warm light. Chu Xianning was sitting by the bedside, her snow-white, slender calf dangling.
Seeing Jiang Huai enter, she lifted her snow-white calf. At this moment, a few water droplets from when she hadn’t wiped them off were still on her slender leg. Chu Xianning pointed to a clean white towel nearby. Jiang Huai immediately understood. He went to her side, leaned down, grabbed the towel, and gently wiped the water droplets from her calf.
It would have only taken a bit of spiritual energy to shake them all off, yet she insisted he wipe them. *Master has me in her heart.*
Jiang Huai thought these things silently in his heart, but never said them aloud. He wiped Chu Xianning’s calf completely dry. In the lamplight, her fair and tender little feet seemed to glow with a jade-like luster. The touch of pink on the soles of her feet made Jiang Huai feel an inexplicable softness. He gradually became distracted until Chu Xianning lightly kicked his chest with her toe.
Before he could even see if Chu Xianning was blushing, she extinguished the room light and lay down on the inner side of the bed. Jiang Huai carefully lifted the quilt and moved beside her. Chu Xianning turned to her side, her eyes staring at him without blinking.
“I’ve always been a light sleeper. Even the slightest disturbance will wake me.”
“Do you mean I shouldn’t move around?”
“It’s good that you know.” Chu Xianning turned back again and closed her eyes. Jiang Huai lay beside her, watching her profile, inhaling the fragrant scent from the quilt and bedsheet. The world returned to silence.
He didn’t make a sound, nor did he think of taking advantage of Chu Xianning while she slept. His mind was still replaying the smile she had on the lakeside.
Perhaps Chu Xianning had a point. Because he rarely saw Chu Xianning smile, he was overjoyed the moment he saw her smile. And because he couldn’t kiss Chu Xianning every day, he would be ecstatic the moment he was suddenly rewarded with a kiss.
If he could kiss her all day, every moment, would each kiss bring him the same joy as the first time he kissed her lips?
It seemed that once love reached its peak, everything would inevitably return to the ordinary. What would he crave then? Jiang Huai pondered these strange questions until late at night. Only when drowsiness finally overcame him did he slowly close his eyes.
***
The next morning.
Jiang Huai had slept very late last night. Last night, he had witnessed that Chu Xianning could also be restless in her sleep. She would occasionally kick the quilt lightly, and her body would unconsciously shift a few inches. At one point, her face was even close to his, so close that Jiang Huai could feel her warm breath.
At midnight, thunder rumbled outside the door. When the first light of dawn broke, Jiang Huai looked at Chu Xianning’s eyelashes, afraid that she might be woken up. That thunderclap exposed the small desires that had sprung up in Jiang Huai’s heart.
The downpour came and went. When Jiang Huai woke up, the rain outside was pouring. He quietly began to gaze at Chu Xianning’s sleeping face again, until the moment Chu Xianning opened her eyes.
“What time is it?”
“Still early,” Jiang Huai answered softly. “It’s raining heavily outside, we can sleep a little longer.”
After saying this, Jiang Huai himself paused for a moment, as if he were coaxing his just-awakened wife, or perhaps acting spoiled to his lover. An intimate and ambiguous atmosphere quietly emerged. Chu Xianning’s eyes were still slightly hazy. She responded with a very soft, very light “Mhm” and then closed her eyes again.
She probably hadn’t realized how close she was to Jiang Huai at this moment. When she had moved restlessly last night, her body had unconsciously pressed against him, causing Jiang Huai to sleep very poorly. He had constantly wanted to gently hold Chu Xianning’s body to make her behave, or to touch the soft, smooth skin of her thighs under her nightgown with his fingertips. But these greedy thoughts no longer made him uneasy. Instead, he was content to silently wrestle with these greedy thoughts in his heart.
Even though he knew very well that desire wouldn’t disappear, it would only be hidden, until one day it completely erupted.
The sound of rain outside was like living by a stream.
After a while, Chu Xianning slowly opened her eyes again. She looked into Jiang Huai’s eyes. Jiang Huai was quietly looking at her. Gradually regaining her senses, Chu Xianning said softly, “You’re not asleep?”
“No.”
Jiang Huai’s eyes were still fixed on her. It wasn’t until Chu Xianning’s fingertips pressed against his chest, as if she were about to push him away, that Jiang Huai obediently sat up and looked back at her. “Master, what do you want for breakfast?”
“Noodles.”
“I’ll go cook them now.”
Jiang Huai got out of bed and went to the kitchen to cook noodles. When he walked out of the kitchen, Chu Xianning, dressed in a black Daoist robe, was already sitting in the pavilion.
She simply sat there quietly, the rain curtain blurring the surroundings, fallen leaves swirling. Jiang Huai ran over with the noodles and placed them on the table. He and Chu Xianning began their morning meal.
After breakfast and cleaning up the bowls and chopsticks, Jiang Huai went to the flower bed in the courtyard. There were still some vacant spots in the flower bed. He took out the Moonlit Cloud Spiritual Flower that Luo Yueguan had given him and carefully planted it. Chu Xianning sat in the pavilion, watching quietly, without asking any questions.
Yes, Chu Xianning wouldn’t ask.
This was because Jiang Huai often brought various kinds of spirit flowers back and planted them in the courtyard after descending the mountain. Chu Xianning was already accustomed to it, thinking he had just brought back a flower he liked. After planting it, Jiang Huai returned to the pavilion and began to hold cool chess pieces. He suddenly thought of something. He held a black piece and a white piece in his hand, moved them behind his back to switch their positions, and then clenched his fist and placed them in front of Chu Xianning. “Guess the pieces.”
Chu Xianning calmly raised her eyes and glanced at him, clearly disdainful of Jiang Huai’s childish behavior.
“If you guess correctly, how about adding a reward?” Jiang Huai winked at her.
“For example?” Chu Xianning tilted her head slightly, her eyes still cool and indifferent.
“If Master guesses correctly, I’ll agree to any condition you name. If you guess wrong, Master will let me kiss you, okay?”
After saying this, Jiang Huai suddenly realized that his relationship with Chu Xianning had become much closer compared to more than half a year ago. If it had been the past, how would he have dared to say such a thing? But now, he said it naturally, and Chu Xianning didn’t get angry. After thinking for a moment, she slightly tilted her chin up. “I’ll specify where to kiss.”
“Okay,” Jiang Huai agreed immediately.
Chu Xianning chose the chess piece in Jiang Huai’s left hand, believing it to be the white piece. Jiang Huai opened his palm, revealing a jade-white chess piece. Chu Xianning had guessed correctly, and he immediately looked at Chu Xianning with a dejected expression. Chu Xianning rested her elbow on the table, propping her fragrant cheek with her jade hand. Her eyes were no longer so cold, and the corners of her lips curled up unconsciously. After thinking for a while, she slightly raised her head. “Then I’ll whip you a hundred times?”
Jiang Huai instantly broke out in a cold sweat and looked at Chu Xianning with a crestfallen expression. “You can’t do that.”
“You don’t agree?” Chu Xianning’s slender hand held a chess piece, gently playing with it. Jiang Huai looked at her aggrievedly. “If Master insists on whipping me, it’s not impossible.”
“If you don’t like it, then let’s change it.”
Chu Xianning picked up a brush and then leaned a little closer, resting on the table, her eyes bright and the corners of her lips curved in a smile. She drew on Jiang Huai’s face with her nose for a while. After a moment, Jiang Huai took out a mirror to look.
There was a small turtle on his face.
He looked at Chu Xianning with a mournful expression, but after a moment, he couldn’t help but laugh himself.
“Chu Xianning.”
“Hm?”
“You’re so childish.”
“Then next time, I’ll just whip you a hundred times.”
“No way, continue.”
Jiang Huai picked up two more chess pieces and placed them in front of Chu Xianning again. Chu Xianning still guessed the white piece in his left hand. Based on Jiang Huai’s understanding of Chu Xianning, she probably didn’t care about winning or losing, so the probability of choosing the same piece was very high. He opened his palm, revealing a black piece.
He looked at Chu Xianning with anticipation. However, Chu Xianning was neither shy nor timid. She still propped her cheek with her hand, her eyes coolly gazing at him. “Where do you want to kiss?”
“Well, of course…”
Jiang Huai knew that, given Chu Xianning’s personality, since she had already said she would specify where to kiss, her lips and cheeks were probably out of the question. Furthermore, considering his Master’s usual tendency to tease and humiliate him, humph, Jiang Huai knew what Chu Xianning was going to say without even thinking about it.
So, he decided to say it for Chu Xianning.
“Well, of course, I want to kiss Master’s fragrant, soft, tender, smooth, white and tender little feet.”
Just as Jiang Huai had predicted, he saw a hint of shyness and annoyance in Chu Xianning’s eyes. She raised her hand, and her slender jade hand reached to the edge of Jiang Huai’s chin, lifting his face slightly. Her voice was cool, and her eyes became arrogant.
“No.”
Her fingertip gently approached Jiang Huai’s lips and lightly touched them. “You can only kiss my fingers.”
