Jiang Huai looked at her now teary eyes. “Why are you still crying?”
“I’m not crying.”
“Your eyes are a blur of tears, and you say you’re not crying.”
“It doesn’t count as crying until the tears fall.”
“This pose is interesting. How about you stay put obediently, and I’ll draw you a picture?”
“Is humiliating me a source of great amusement for you?”
“If you behave, I won’t have to humiliate you.”
“If I behave, you’ll ignore me!” Mu Yao’s voice was indignant. Jiang Huai paused slightly, then realized that was indeed the case.
“So, I’m really going to hit you now?” Jiang Huai raised the bamboo ruler in his hand.
“I’m not scared.”
Even as she said this, Mu Yao had already tightly shut her eyes, her fingers clenching her tender thighs so hard that her knuckles left imprints on her fair skin. Her snow-white feet, propped up high, had all her toes curled. The sound of the ruler whistling through the air reached her ears, and tears slipped from the corners of her eyes. She could clearly feel the cool breeze, and in her fright, she squeezed her eyes shut, but the ruler never fell.
Jiang Huai had already leaned closer, first prying apart her small hands that were holding her legs, then grabbing her waist and pulling her into his arms. Mu Yao said nothing, suddenly burying her face in his chest and bursting into tears.
The girl’s tears rolled down like pearls from a broken string. Jiang Huai gently patted her back. He didn’t say anything to comfort her; the room was filled only with her sobs. After a long while, Mu Yao raised her head, her eyelashes still streaked with a few water droplets.
“It hurts,” she said accusingly to Jiang Huai.
“It’s no use. I’m cold and heartless. No amount of pain will change that.”
Seeing Mu Yao’s tears about to pour down again, Jiang Huai looked at her helplessly. “Then what can I do? It won’t hurt after a little while.”
“Rub it,” Mu Yao said from his embrace, her voice soft and choked with tears.
Jiang Huai reluctantly cupped her soft, perky snow buttocks and rubbed them gently. The feel was indeed good – soft, tender, bouncy, and smooth. Mu Yao lay there obediently, her body trembling, as if she were crying. After another long while, he lowered his head to look at Mu Yao. “Does it still hurt?”
“It hurts. Keep rubbing.”
Jiang Huai casually slapped her again.
Well, his conscience had indeed been thoroughly corrupted.
Mu Yao didn’t let go, tightly hugging his waist. She clung to him like a piece of stubborn candy that couldn’t be shaken off, until Jiang Huai started tickling her. After a struggle, she was successfully freed. Jiang Huai pulled the quilt over himself, exposing only his head, facing Mu Yao with an absolute defensive posture.
Unexpectedly, Mu Yao leaned in and sat directly on his stomach. Her skirt flared out in a graceful arc, and Jiang Huai’s gaze fell directly on that tender, delicate area. It was indeed both beautiful and soft.
“What will it take for you to put your clothes back on?”
“Kiss me.”
“Come here.” Jiang Huai looked at Mu Yao’s cheek. Mu Yao leaned forward instantly, drawing closer. Jiang Huai planted a kiss on her forehead. A moment later, Mu Yao looked at him with dissatisfaction. “No, kissing my forehead doesn’t count.”
“You’re so troublesome.”
“Then deal with me?” Mu Yao tilted her head. “If you handle me perfectly, I won’t be able to bother you anymore.”
“Hitting me doesn’t work, and scolding me doesn’t work.”
“Then scold me. I’m curious how you’d scold me?” Mu Yao blinked innocently again.
Jiang Huai’s lips moved for a long time, but he still couldn’t say anything cruel. Mu Yao leaned down a bit more, bringing her face closer, her nose tip touching his. “You’re still soft-hearted, aren’t you? I like you so much, so you still can’t bring yourself to bully me, right?”
“Let’s do something bad. We’re the only two people on the Spirit Boat, so no one else will know.”
“No.” This time, Jiang Huai refused with unusual decisiveness.
If he gave in to impulse because of Little Huai, he would be in the wrong in front of Mu Yao, and it would turn from a small problem into a big one.
At this moment, Mu Yao’s snow-white lower abdomen pressed against Little Huai through the quilt. She reached out and pinched Jiang Huai’s cheek. “I can feel it too. You want to do it.”
“Little Huai wants it, but Jiang Huai doesn’t. They can’t be confused.” Jiang Huai squeezed Mu Yao’s face in return. “Get off me.”
“No… Let me do something for you… Do you want lips and tongue, or…”
“Neither.”
“I can do your buttocks too.”
“What will it take for you to settle down?”
“I can’t settle down.” Mu Yao pressed against him, burying her face in his chest. “This is a great opportunity. If I can’t entice you to do something bad to me, there will be fewer and fewer opportunities later. I feel like you’ll drift further and further away from me until I have no chance to touch you again.”
“Do you know?” Jiang Huai reached out and lightly tapped her forehead. “Most men aren’t interested in what’s offered freely. The moment you reveal your feelings to someone, you lose all your initiative.”
“I know. You wrote it in your books. The things that are easily obtained are the least cherished, even bland. But if you finally obtain something after great effort, then there’s pleasure in it.”
Mu Yao’s tender face was still pressed against his chest. “When I was alone at home, I thought very carefully about how to pretend in front of you, how to subtly entice you, to make you have a little lust for me, and then deliberately withhold it, making you parched and desperate to hold me and bully me…”
“But as soon as I got in front of you, I forgot all that. I always want to get closer to you, to make you look at me more… It’s so strange! Jiang Huai, you scoundrel!” Mu Yao suddenly became frantic.
“Why are you scolding me?” Jiang Huai poked her waist with dissatisfaction.
“Why do I like you so much?” Mu Yao tilted her head to look at his face, then giggled foolishly a moment later.
“…” Jiang Huai was speechless.
“Why, why, why? You’re not gentle with me at all, not friendly, not caring, so cold, so excessive, you like to pretend, and you’re so lewd and despicable, why do I like you so much?”
“Are you crazy? When was I lewd and despicable?”
“You hit my buttocks.”
“You were the one who wouldn’t stop chattering.”
“Then why didn’t you hit my palm? Why did you hit my buttocks?”
“You have a point. Stick out your hand.”
“I won’t.” Mu Yao rubbed her face back and forth on Jiang Huai’s chest several times. “Noooo.”
“You’re bullying me.” Mu Yao’s chin poked at Jiang Huai’s chest. “I want you to bully me.”
“I won’t.”
“I don’t mind if you bully me. If you want to, I won’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t.”
“Is it that you don’t want to, or you don’t believe me?”
“I don’t want to.”
“Why don’t you want to? Are you even a man?” Mu Yao’s chin poked up and down on Jiang Huai’s chest.
“I’m a man, not a rutting dog.”
“Then treat me like a rutting puppy. I want you to bully me.”
“I told you to read fewer deviant books.”
Mu Yao’s lines sounded familiar to Jiang Huai. Where had he written that?
“My face is so hot. Touch it.” Mu Yao mumbled softly.
“I won’t.”
“Just touch it once.”
Jiang Huai reached out, his fingertips touching her cheek, feeling its burning heat. A moment later, Mu Yao leaned in, her delicate pink lips parting slightly, and gently bit his finger. Jiang Huai thought she was going to retaliate fiercely, but in reality, she only bit down very lightly. Then, she carefully licked his index finger with her tender, smooth, and slightly warm tongue.
Jiang Huai was stunned for a moment before quickly withdrawing his finger. He then rubbed it against her face in dissatisfaction, wiping away the water stains. Mu Yao wasn’t annoyed at all. She sat on him, leaning closer and hugging him tightly through the quilt.
“Did you cast some love spell on me, Jiang Huai?”
“Ha, yes I did.” Jiang Huai pinched her face. “What will it take for you to put your clothes back on?”
“If you have no lust for me, then what does it matter if you see? If you want to force me to dress, doesn’t that mean you have lust?”
“…Men’s two heads usually think separately, and they fight for control at critical moments.”
“So, is Jiang Huai in control now?”
“Yes.”
“Little Huai, try hard!” Mu Yao said, rubbing her tender little abdomen against Little Huai, which was pressed against his lower abdomen through the quilt. Jiang Huai didn’t even have the strength to retort. “If you put on your underwear obediently now, I’ll hug you and tell you a bedtime story to lull you to sleep.”
The moment he finished speaking, Mu Yao sprang off him. “Really?”
“Lying to you would make me a puppy.”
She took out several pieces of underwear and winked at Jiang Huai. “Choose one.”
Jiang Huai casually picked out a light purple one. Mu Yao sat to the side, first carefully wiping it with a handkerchief, then obediently putting it on. As soon as she returned to Jiang Huai’s side, he began to bark like a dog.
Mu Yao didn’t care. She lifted the quilt and burrowed under it. Her delicate youthful body pressed against him, and she lifted one of her snow-tender, slender legs, clamping Jiang Huai tightly, like a parasite he couldn’t shake off.
“In a faraway kingdom, there was once a Snow White…” Jiang Huai began to recite the old story from his heart with utter lifelessness.
Although his storytelling was extremely perfunctory, Mu Yao, curled up in his arms, listened with great interest. At the end of the story, Mu Yao looked up. “What about the seven dwarfs?”
“Nobody cares,” Jiang Huai shrugged.
“But they saved Snow White.”
“So the story tells us that suck-ups die a horrible death.”
“What’s a suck-up?”
“It’s someone who knows they’re not liked but still keeps trying. Later, because of too much effort, it becomes an obsession. Once they give up, they feel like all their past efforts were in vain. Gradually, they mistake self-感动 for romance, sinking into the delusion of self-abuse and constantly tormenting themselves. They look pitiful, like a puppy soaked in the rain.”
Mu Yao looked up, her eyes filled with grievance as she gazed at him. “Do you like puppies? Woof, woof, woof.”
“I prefer cats. Cats aren’t annoying at all.”
“Meow.”
“You don’t sound like one at all,” Jiang Huai pinched her earlobe. “Can you sleep now?”
“No, you’re subtly mocking me with your story, and I’m very angry now. You have to tell another one.”
“What if I don’t?”
“While you’re sleeping, tomorrow morning, while you’re sleeping soundly, I’ll suddenly sit on you and eat you all up. By then, you’ll wake up, and it’ll be too late.”
Jiang Huai reached out and rubbed her head. “You’re very smart. You won’t do that, right?”
“I don’t know. In front of you, I inexplicably become an idiot.”
Mu Yao leaned closer again, rubbing her cheek against his chest.
Indeed, once Jiang Huai started to be accommodating, she would become more demanding, always looking for an opportunity.
