Jiang Huai finished bathing early and returned to Chu Xianning’s room to wait quietly.
Chu Xianning returned after a long while, and as the door was gently pushed open by her, Jiang Huai’s gaze immediately fell upon her.
After returning from her bath, Chu Xianning had changed into a white lace-trimmed nightgown. The hem of the skirt reached her knees, and the design at the waist accentuated her slender curves. Jiang Huai’s gaze, almost subconsciously, went from top to bottom. When it landed on her snow-white ankles, he suddenly noticed that they were, at that moment, wrapped in white lace and white socks.
She usually went barefoot, but today she was wearing cute little socks. Jiang Huai found it a bit awkward, but looking at Chu Xianning’s cute white-socked little feet, he thought, “Hmm, it’s not bad.” Unfortunately, before his gaze could linger for even a few seconds, Chu Xianning had already walked closer and stood before Jiang Huai. “You, get out.”
“Huh?!” Jiang Huai’s eyes widened instantly. “No, no, Master just bullied someone, why are you kicking me out?”
Chu Xianning turned her face away. By now, her shyness had likely been washed away in the bath. Her cheeks regained their cold and indifferent expression, though her voice still carried a faint hint of guilt. “Because you’re not being good.”
“How am I not being good?” Jiang Huai still looked aggrieved. Chu Xianning turned her head again, her eyes gazing at him with a hint of melancholy. “I say you are, and you are. I’m not sleeping with you tonight, so get out.”
“Noooo…” Jiang Huai’s voice now held a hint of crying, as if he were about to die of grievance. Unfortunately, Chu Xianning was not swayed by this tactic. She had already sat on the bed, her small hands lightly gripping the bedsheet, her white-socked, white and tender little feet dangling beneath her skirt hem.
So cute, so cute, so cute.
Jiang Huai quietly shifted his gaze back to her face. In the past, his gaze towards Chu Xianning was always from top to bottom because her eyes were cold, and most of the time he didn’t dare to meet her gaze. Now, he had gained that courage, but Chu Xianning’s expression was still cold and aloof, as if she were decisive and left no room for negotiation.
Chu Xianning remained silent, using her cold expression to intimidate Jiang Huai. Seeing her like this, Jiang Huai quietly mumbled, “Then Master, give me a kiss. If you kiss me, I’ll be good and go out.”
“No kiss.”
“Then I won’t leave.” Jiang Huai’s tone had just firmed up for a moment when Chu Xianning raised her white and tender leg and lightly kicked him. But this time, Jiang Huai seemed to have anticipated it. He immediately reached out and gently grasped her slender ankle. Looking at his Master’s delicate and tender feet, wrapped in slightly sheer white socks, Jiang Huai suddenly felt a strange dizziness.
He sometimes fantasized about “degenerate” things. He had been “rewarded” by Chu Xianning’s cold and delicate hand just now. Would he be rewarded by her white and tender little feet next time? And even further… a person’s boundaries are always a gradual process of being broken down. In this moment of his distraction, Chu Xianning had already raised her other white and tender foot and kicked towards him again. But Jiang Huai, as if by reflex, grabbed Chu Xianning’s other foot as well.
“Kissing my cheek is also fine,” Jiang Huai winked at her.
“No kiss,” Chu Xianning turned her face away, answering without hesitation.
Jiang Huai suddenly felt an urge to roll around on the spot.
“Bad woman, bad woman, bad woman!”
Jiang Huai could never figure out Chu Xianning’s strange thoughts. Logically, after having done such excessive things just now, a kiss on her white and tender cheek should have been fine. But Chu Xianning simply refused. This time, whether he was aggrieved or acting spoiled, it was probably useless. Jiang Huai could only dejectedly lower his head, then look up again. “Then a kiss on Master’s foot sole?”
Chu Xianning still shook her head. “No, I’m wearing socks.”
“Eww! Are you deliberately not letting me see?”
“Mhm,” Chu Xianning even answered matter-of-factly.
Jiang Huai was so wronged he almost jumped up. But looking at Chu Xianning’s demeanor, he was powerless. “Okay, okay, whatever Master does is right. Then, I’m leaving, okay?”
“Mhm.”
Jiang Huai walked a few steps, then looked back at her. “I’m really leaving, okay?”
“Mhm.”
Chu Xianning nodded gently again.
Jiang Huai’s gaze finally swept over Chu Xianning before he obediently walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind him. Only when he saw that the light in Chu Xianning’s room was finally extinguished after he left did Jiang Huai’s suspended heart finally die.
He knew very well that tonight he would have to fight his insomnia again.
***
After Jiang Huai left, Chu Xianning, whose expression was cold, finally let out a long sigh of relief. Her body quickly climbed onto the bed, and she wrapped herself tightly in the snow-white quilt. This time, she even buried her head inside. After a long while, she lifted the quilt, and when her fingertips touched her cheek, they quickly retracted as if electric shock due to the burning heat of her face.
How did it become like this… At first, she just wanted to punish him, but in the end, she ended up using her little hands to help him do bad things. It should have been her bullying Jiang Huai. It seemed to be like this every time; whenever she saw his aggrieved look, she would inexplicably soften.
Chu Xianning felt that she had been becoming increasingly strange these days, so strange that even she was becoming unfamiliar with herself. She couldn’t explain it… It seemed she increasingly wanted to see Jiang Huai’s aggrieved look when he was being bullied. It was as if the little demon in her heart was silently sprouting, but she always softened. Sending Jiang Huai away was probably just out of concern, as she felt that in her current dizzy state, if that bad guy coaxed her into using her feet again, or did something else… she might vaguely agree.
As soon as she thought of Jiang Huai kneeling before her, and her punishing him with her feet, Chu Xianning’s own cheeks flushed, and her heart raced.
Just maintaining a cold facade in front of her disobedient disciple had already consumed all her lucidity at the moment.
Outside the window, the bright moon shone. Chu Xianning lay flat on the bed, her eyes gazing at the night sky outside. She probably knew very well.
Tonight, she too would have to fight against insomnia.
***
In the middle of the night, under the clear wind and bright moon.
Jiang Huai came to the deck and stood there, letting the wind blow.
He had been suffering from insomnia for two double hours, tossing and turning in bed. His mind was still replaying Chu Xianning’s cold eyes. Besides that, he couldn’t help but imagine what kind of expression Chu Xianning had on her face when she was playing with his tail with her white and tender little feet and coaxing him with her delicate hands. Not being able to see Chu Xianning’s expression at that time was indeed an extremely cruel punishment.
He suspected he wouldn’t be able to sleep all night. His mind felt like it was being gnawed away by endless fantasies. So he came to the deck, gazed at the distant sea, and felt his mind clear up a bit as he enjoyed the sea breeze.
After a while, Jiang Huai simply lay down on the deck, letting the moonlight fall on his face. He smelled the fresh sea breeze. To say he was disappointed wouldn’t be accurate, nor was he sad. It was just an unspeakable itching in his heart. He really, really wanted to embrace Chu Xianning tightly and kiss her until she couldn’t breathe, until she was panting and could no longer maintain her cold facade, until her body went soft and she pleaded in a soft,娇声. But in the end, he could only imagine it.
Thinking this, he couldn’t help but roll around on the deck several times. He didn’t even notice the faint sound of a door opening. When he came to his senses, there was a snow-white ankle, clad in a white sock, not far from his cheek. Jiang Huai looked up.
The wind blew Chu Xianning’s skirt, revealing a section of her slender, warm, snow-white leg. She lowered her head, looked into Jiang Huai’s eyes, and her voice was still very cold. “Aren’t you sleeping yet?”
“How can I sleep…” Jiang Huai looked up at Chu Xianning. Chu Xianning reached out and pressed down her skirt, which had been blown up by the wind, then asked indifferently, “Why can’t you sleep?”
“I’m thinking about Master so much that I’m going crazy, I simply can’t sleep.”
A moment later, Chu Xianning’s white and tender little foot kicked the body lying on the deck. “I’ve already coaxed you… Aren’t you going to sleep obediently?”
“But all day I was thinking I could sleep with Master tonight, but Master said no. This kind of drop in expectation will drive me crazy.”
“You didn’t sleep with me before either.”
“It’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Have you heard this principle, Master?”
“The agreement was only for one month. It will be over in a few more days,” Chu Xianning turned her face away. “Consider it as you adapting in advance.”
“I understand,” Jiang Huai gazed at Chu Xianning’s face from afar. “So this is how Master punishes me? Did Master realize this when we agreed to sleep together for a month? That after a month, I would suffer from insomnia all night, thinking about Chu Xianning like crazy all night? Hmph! Chu Xianning, you bad woman!”
The price of talking nonsense was that Chu Xianning once again raised her little leg, and her white and tender foot landed directly on Jiang Huai’s lower abdomen. Her eyes were cold and indifferent. “Only you would think of so many boring things.”
“It’s the fact!”
“As if you don’t go to other women’s rooms at other times.”
Jiang Huai was slightly taken aback. He suddenly realized that Chu Xianning’s cold tone when she said this was different from her previous cold tone. This sentence was probably a little colder, and he thought she was indeed a bit jealous. But unfortunately, this was the one sentence he couldn’t refute, so he began to change the subject. “Then why isn’t Master sleeping yet?”
“Not tired.”
“Isn’t not being tired the same as having insomnia? Heh heh.”
As soon as Jiang Huai finished speaking, Chu Xianning’s white and tender little foot moved closer, her toe gently lifting his chin. Her eyes looked at him indifferently. “Do you want your tongue pulled again?”
Jiang Huai then shut up obediently. Chu Xianning retracted her leg, and Jiang Huai finally stood up from the deck. He walked to the railing of the deck and looked at the vast expanse of the sea in the distance. He turned back to look at the clear and cold-eyed Chu Xianning. “Master.”
“Mhm?”
“The night is pure and cloudless, the moonlight is like silver.”
“So?”
“It’s the perfect time for lovers to confess their affections.”
“I have nothing to say.”
“You don’t have to say it.” Jiang Huai approached Chu Xianning again. This time, however, Chu Xianning’s evasion was much slower, and Jiang Huai was able to embrace her waist. He moved closer, gazing at her pink lips, which were within reach. Without a hint of hesitation, Jiang Huai leaned in and kissed her.
Chu Xianning initially kept her lips tightly shut, but as Jiang Huai’s fingers gently squeezed her waist, she no longer resisted as fiercely. Her pink lips were eventually pried open by Jiang Huai, and her pink tongue was once again captured by Jiang Huai. He leaned closer. Unfortunately, after only a few short breaths, Chu Xianning pushed Jiang Huai away.
She turned her face away, not looking at Jiang Huai’s eyes, but Jiang Huai had already seen the blush slowly rising on her cheeks under the moonlight.
“I’m going to sleep. Don’t cause any more trouble.”
“Mhm, Master sleep well, I’m going to sleep too.”
Jiang Huai watched her turn and leave, her steps light yet carrying a hint of panic. Jiang Huai was able to return to his room, conjure his tail, hug it, and soon fell into a deep and sweet sleep.
