Jiang Huai, standing outside Ning Yuzhu’s door, suddenly became indecisive.
He suddenly realized he had made a great mistake. If he could have attributed his actions to merely finding his Senior Disciple Sister beautiful and wanting to tease her at first, it could have been explained away. But recently, his actions had gone beyond mere teasing, and he had occasionally crossed the line. This had caused him some anxiety, leaving him unsure of what to do.
Even today, when Ning Yuzhu spoke of her future ideal partner, he couldn’t help but instinctively retort, thinking it was because the criteria she described didn’t apply to him. But was his retort merely due to his competitive nature, or something else entirely? He himself didn’t know.
Had he lured Ning Yuzhu, or had Ning Yuzhu lured him?
After pacing back and forth outside the door for a while, Jiang Huai finally reached out and knocked. The door wasn’t locked, and there was no response from the courtyard. He paused for a moment, then pushed the door open and walked in.
The courtyard was empty, but the Firefly Stones were still lit. He tried to call out to Senior Disciple Sister Ning softly. A voice responded, “Go further inside.”
Jiang Huai followed the small path in the courtyard, moving towards the source of the voice, arriving at the bamboo forest behind her courtyard. A faint mist filled the bamboo forest, and Ning Yuzhu was currently soaking in a bathhouse, her rounded shoulders appearing and disappearing just above the water’s surface. Her hazy clavicle was wet and glistening. She slightly raised her gaze, not shy, but simply looking at him, appearing somewhat indifferent. “What are you here for?”
“You left without wearing your shoes during the day, Senior Disciple Sister. I’ve come to return them.”
“Then why didn’t you give them back to me during dinner?”
“I forgot…”
“Is that so?” Ning Yuzhu sat on the steps of the bathhouse. She lifted her slender, snow-white leg and said softly, “I thought you were looking for another excuse to meet me privately.”
“Ha, it’s not impossible to think of it that way.” Fortunately, Jiang Huai was always thick-skinned, and her slightly sarcastic remark didn’t hurt him. Ning Yuzhu’s fingertips gently rippled the water. After a moment, she asked softly, “Do you want to join me for a soak?”
“Are you inviting me, Senior Disciple Sister?”
“What else?” Ning Yuzhu retorted.
“I… I don’t think I will…” Jiang Huai shook his head in panic and refused. When he looked at Ning Yuzhu again, he noticed a faint hint of mockery in the corner of her eyes.
It was as if she was mocking his timidness.
“I saw it, I saw it… Didn’t you say you liked gentlemen, Senior Disciple Sister? Why are you mocking me now?”
“You are neither a gentleman nor entirely a scoundrel.”
“Then what am I?”
“You’re a bastard,” Ning Yuzhu stated plainly, her lips parting slightly, showing no mercy.
Jiang Huai’s eyes immediately became regretful. He couldn’t think of any words to refute her at that moment, so he remained silent. There was a rattan chair by the bathhouse, so he sat down on it.
“You’ve returned my shoes, but you’re lingering and not leaving?”
“Didn’t you just say I came to meet you privately? What’s wrong with talking a bit longer? If you hadn’t kept my shoes, would I have come to find you like this?”
“What do you want to talk about?” Ning Yuzhu asked him calmly.
Jiang Huai scratched his head. “For example… what did you mean by your last words today, Senior Disciple Sister?”
“Which words?”
“You said… ‘I’ve already decided.’ What did that mean?”
Ning Yuzhu came back to her senses. “Are you bothered by this?”
“Just curious.”
“I mean, I believe what you said, and therefore I no longer hold out hope for a Dao Companion like that,” Ning Yuzhu thought for a moment and added, “That was just a childhood fantasy. I originally didn’t plan to find a Dao Companion anymore; I just wanted to stay by Master’s side forever to serve him.”
“That idea seems too pessimistic… After all these years, haven’t you ever felt lonely?”
“I’m used to it.”
“There’s something I’ve always wanted to ask, but I’m not sure if you can answer it…”
“Ask.”
“Since I first entered the Upper Realm and met you, Senior Disciple Sister, you’ve treated me with unusual kindness. Why is that?”
“I cannot answer that,” Ning Yuzhu shook her head gently.
“It’s okay, it’s okay… But I want to tell you, Senior Disciple Sister, you don’t need to indulge me so much. If I upset you on a normal day, just scold me. I have a cheap disposition; whenever I see you acting so obediently, I always end up pushing my luck, becoming reckless.”
“So you know,” Ning Yuzhu looked up.
Jiang Huai now obediently lowered his head to admit his mistake. Ning Yuzhu remained seated in the bathhouse and said faintly, “You tease me, then try to distance yourself, you take advantage of the situation, then pretend to apologize, calling you a bastard… seems like an understatement.”
Jiang Huai had no rebuttal and could only obediently bow his head and confess.
“But I don’t seem to hate it that much.”
Jiang Huai slowly raised his head. At this moment, Ning Yuzhu was looking at him calmly. She said softly, “You don’t need to blame yourself so much. I don’t dislike your actions. I don’t understand what you define as loneliness, but it seems that during the time you’ve been at White Dew Mountain, my emotions have been constantly unsettled by you. I haven’t experienced this kind of fluctuating feeling in a long time.”
“Senior Disciple Sister is truly gentle.”
“Is she?” Ning Yuzhu tilted her head. “Now that I’ve forgiven you, will you become even more presumptuous tomorrow? And then come to apologize again next time?”
“Huh? How could you think of me like that, Senior Disciple Sister?”
“Intuition,” Ning Yuzhu replied calmly. A moment later, she slightly lifted her white and tender little feet in the water, splashing some water towards him, and then softly said, “Take off your clothes and come down to bathe me.”
“No, wait…”
“Don’t you want to atone? This is an order.” Ning Yuzhu, at this moment, seemed to have returned to the Yuzhu Fairy he first met, with a hint of arrogance in her eyes.
“If you disobey, your apology lacks sincerity, and I will not accept it.”
***
Bathing a woman was something Jiang Huai was skilled at.
Moreover, he was skilled at many ways to subtly tease while scrubbing bubbles and then take advantage of the situation to bully in the bathhouse. However, at this moment, Jiang Huai was timid and respectful, acting like an obedient male servant.
“Lift your hands higher, Senior Disciple Sister.”
Ning Yuzhu was obedient and compliant, quickly raising both her hands. This allowed Jiang Huai to apply the flower dew bubble wash to her sides and armpits. Her skin was white and tender, smooth as porcelain. Now his fingertips truly touched her. Ning Yuzhu bit her lip slightly, seeming unaccustomed to such touch, yet she said nothing to stop him or tell him to leave, making Jiang Huai even more unable to fathom Ning Yuzhu’s thoughts.
He applied the bubble wash one by one to Ning Yuzhu’s waist and back. When Ning Yuzhu stood up from the water, no longer hugging her chest, her full, rounded chest, not overly exaggerated, but a perfectly proportionate curve, delicate and charming. Jiang Huai suddenly hesitated to reach out.
Ning Yuzhu lowered her head and looked at him. “What?”
“I thought you wouldn’t blush at all throughout the whole process, Senior Disciple Sister,” Jiang Huai muttered softly. He then poured the flower dew bubble wash and carefully and diligently spread it evenly. Perhaps it was due to his practiced hand, he accidentally used a slight technique, and Ning Yuzhu’s cheeks immediately flushed red as fire, with fine beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.
After rinsing off the bubble wash, looking at the plump, porcelain-white mounds before him, Jiang Huai suddenly felt the urge to lean in and kiss her fiercely. His intuition told him that if he said the words, he wouldn’t be rejected, and precisely because of this… the struggle in his heart at this moment was so agonizing.
Should he be the reckless bastard, or the so-called gentleman who respects the other person’s thoughts?
“Senior Disciple Sister…”
“If you want to kiss me, then kiss me,” Ning Yuzhu said calmly. “I don’t dislike it.”
Her complete lack of refusal, yet arrogant demeanor, made Jiang Huai’s teeth itch. He always wanted to see her obediently indulge, but at this rare moment of clarity, he proudly and awkwardly replied, “I didn’t say I wanted to kiss you.”
With that, he continued to apply the bubble wash to Ning Yuzhu’s lower abdomen, his fingers gently rubbing it in. Ning Yuzhu remained still, standing there quietly. The water level in the bathhouse slightly dropped. Ning Yuzhu sat down on the steps in the bathhouse, her slender, snow-white thighs pressed tightly together, preventing him from seeing her delicate pink… Her snow-white calves were slightly parted. Jiang Huai moved to her side and carefully applied the bubbles to her legs again.
Jiang Huai’s mind was filled with the thought of forcefully spreading her slender thighs open, but he suppressed it again and again, until Ning Yuzhu inadvertently reached out and flicked his calf.
Jiang Huai immediately looked at Ning Yuzhu with a wronged expression. “Senior Disciple Sister… that’s too much.”
But Ning Yuzhu’s gentle hand had already grasped his calf, as if she had suddenly caught him by the handle. Jiang Huai was immobilized. Looking at her eyebrows and eyes, her eyes clearly showed some evasiveness, and her cheeks were flushed red, yet she still tried to maintain an arrogant and calm demeanor. “You don’t need to hold back.”
Her small hand began to gently caress him. Jiang Huai, having his handle caught, couldn’t speak. He felt as though it was a clear wind and bright moon tonight. Even stranger, his eyes simultaneously showed gentleness and disdain.
After a while, Ning Yuzhu looked down at the dirt on her body and said faintly, “It seems you’ll have to bathe me again.”
***
After bathing again and reaching the part where he applied bubble wash to her white and tender thighs, Ning Yuzhu lifted her toes and pushed Jiang Huai away slightly. Jiang Huai was confused and hadn’t yet spoken when Ning Yuzhu’s white and tender little feet now captured his calf. She leaned back slightly, looking at Jiang Huai before her, tilting her head. “Do you want Senior Disciple Sister to serve you like this?”
“Do you want to, or not?” Ning Yuzhu asked again.
Jiang Huai, whose resolve was always touchingly humorous, looked at Ning Yuzhu’s arrogant expression and angrily grabbed her slender ankle, as if the situation had suddenly reversed. From Jiang Huai being her plaything underfoot, she had become his toy, firmly held in Jiang Huai’s grip.
Ning Yuzhu’s eyes finally showed some shyness and annoyance, but she didn’t struggle.
***
Ning Yuzhu put on her clothes and looked at Jiang Huai, who was sitting on the side. She slowly walked towards him, then gently raised her hand, her fingertip hooking his chin. She asked softly, “Do you want to stay tonight?”
“No, no, I’ll make a mistake if I stay.”
“What mistake?”
“What if… I ruin Senior Disciple Sister’s chastity…”
But Ning Yuzhu’s eyes were only filled with arrogance. She bent slightly, leaning close to Jiang Huai, her forehead touching his. Her warm breath landed on Jiang Huai’s cheek. She whispered, “I dare to give it to you, do you dare to take it?”
