Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
Lou Cheng was waiting for his girlfriend to be touched by his attentiveness and consideration while washing the cup. He had not expected to be met with such words at all. For a time, he was dumbfounded, aggrieved, and a little confused by the situation.
If I thought of you as an outlet for my desires, then why had I held back so painfully every time?
If I thought of you as an outlet to my desires, then why had I bothered testing the waters before daring to take a step further every time?
He turned around and saw those complex and indiscernible emotions were mingled in the girl’s eyes. Then, he inhaled a mouthful of air and worked hard to keep himself calm. He tried not to turn the explanation into an argument. “There’s no way I’d think of you like that kind of tool. Plus, the reason why I dared to go forward is only that you didn’t turn me down every time. If you dislike it, you can tell me or express it directly. I’ll hold back and not force you to do things you don’t like!”
When he said the last line, he felt that his emotions were a little out of control and in turmoil. Therefore, he repeated the words ‘calm down’ and ‘communicate’ to himself.
Yan Zheke seemed to have calmed down already and shaded the tiny bit of agitation she displayed earlier. Her nose sounded a little stuffy as she said with a hasty tone,
“That’s not what I meant. I mean, whenever we’re alone together, you reacted rather strongly as if you’re only and always thinking about those things. You responded in a way that made me feel d-desires are the only thing left between us whenever we hang out alone...”
Her explanation was a little messy, but she didn’t avoid Lou Cheng’s eyes. She pursed her lips again and said, “Sometimes, I don’t really want to do it, but I can feel that you like it and desire it a lot. I was afraid that you’d be disappointed and unhappy, so I would accept it.”
At this point, she stopped herself, sucked the snot in her nose, and her eyes reddened a little more.
To be honest, Lou Cheng did feel a little disappointed and hurt. However, he could feel her grievance, tolerance, and concession in her later words. The unpleasant emotions in his heart immediately dissipated by a lot, and he began seriously reflecting his own performance of late.
It... did seem like he would unintentionally turn their intimate moments into what was filled with the smell of hormones and desires.
He expelled the murky breath from earlier and said, “You’re saying that you don’t like it to be that way every time, and that I react like I’m only thinking about those kinds of things on the inside? You hope that we can do a little something different whenever we’re alone?”
“Ke, you must show it if you don’t like it. I may be somewhat attentive regarding other things, but I’m still very slow when it comes to this kind of things. I’m not that keen. If you don’t say or deny it, I’ll think that you like it a lot too...”
While speaking, he felt a little amused and rueful. This was because he recalled a line from student Little Ming: sometimes, a girl’s consent was an expression of fondness, and their dissent was an expression of dislike. But sometimes, their consent was not necessarily an expression of fondness, and their dissent was not necessarily of dislike.
As expected, a girl’s mind really was very complicated. No wonder Casanova always said that the biggest test came after a couple had truly associated with each other...
“Mm.” Yan Zheke nodded. A tinge of redness appeared on her pale white face as she looked a little embarrassed, but still she looked at Lou Cheng directly with a slight tremble rippling over her body. “Cheng, it’s not that I dislike us getting closer and closer, and I’m not looking to act so conservatively that we’ll do it only during our wedding night. However, right now you’re too impatient and your reactions too strong. It makes me very afraid and panicky. So please, can you take it slow.”
She paused and inhaled. Her eyes were watery, and she looked both delicate and fearful. However, she also said both firmly and stubbornly,
“Take it slow, and wait for me...”
“Take it slow, and wait for me...” When he saw Yan Zheke like this, when he heard her words, the last negative emotions in Lou Cheng’s heart had dissipated entirely. He pursed his lips and promised seriously, and said,
“I’ll control myself!”
“I’ll wait for you!”
While the electric kettle was ringing, he put down the cup, took a step forward, grabbed Yan Zheke’s hand and pulled her into his arms. He didn’t kiss her. He simply hugged her quietly.
Yan Zheke wrapped her hands around his back. She buried her face into his shoulders and said gently after a while,
“During my ranking event, I was actually pretty touched and happy when I saw that you were able to hold back for my sake. However, I couldn’t help but let my imagination run a little wild because you looked like you were always thinking about those things. It so happens that I have my period during May holiday, so I thought I could check out your reactions and see whether you’d be disappointed, dejected, cold, or something else. As it turned out you knew about this a long time ago, and was not disappointed at all, you even did your best to take care of me. You’ve even prepared the ginger tea...”
“I feel a bit guilty, and I thought I misunderstood you. So I gathered my courage to tell you my thoughts. I want to communicate with you. I don’t want these things to hurt our relationship bit by bit.”
She raised her head and looked a little embarrassed and reluctant to speak. However, she ultimately pursed her lips together and stared sincerely at Lou Cheng, saying, “I’m sorry, Cheng. What I said earlier was a little severe. No, it’s not what I think. It’s just that I considered several ways of expressing it, but they were either too tactful or too coquettish. They wouldn’t transmit to you my true attitude, and I was worried that you wouldn’t take it seriously. That’s why I said it that way. It’s not what I think.”
“There’s no need for apologies between us...” Lou Cheng caressed her hair, thought for a moment and said, “I was a little hurt at the beginning. I couldn’t believe that’s how you see me. But after I heard your grievances and concessions, I thought that my own grievances are minor...”
Plus, this happened during a girl’s period. It was completely understandable.
Yan Zheke’s eyebrows soothed, and she finally revealed the tiny hint of a smile. She bowed her head and buried her face into Lou Cheng’s shoulders, speaking in a low tone, “This is nothing. It can’t be one side showing tolerance and investing time and energy alone in a relationship. I can feel your attentiveness, so I want to be attentive too...”
“In the future, if you don’t like what I do, you absolutely must show it to me. I’m a very dumb guy, and I’m afraid that I might mistake your intentions. Even now I have no idea when I should kiss you, and when I shouldn’t.” Lou Cheng said with a little distress.
Yan Zheke pressed her beautiful face against his shoulders and laughed softly with a muffled voice, “Idiot~ it’s atmosphere and feelings, get it?”
“No, I don’t get it. What is the right atmosphere? What’re the right feelings? Can we please have a more quantifiable criterion...” Lou Cheng sweatdropped and was just about to say something more when he suddenly heard the click of the electric kettle’s switch.
He released his embrace and waited until the sounds of boiling had stopped. He used the boiled water to wash the cup once before tearing open the package of ginger and brown sugar tea and poured its content inside. He infused it with water and circulated his Power of Frost in the end so that the drink’s temperature would drop to a level where it wouldn’t burn the tongue.
As expected, a home use supernatural ability was pretty great!
Yan Zheke quietly watched him busying himself with the work as she stood at the side with sparkling eyes. The corner of her mouth looked like it was drawn into a seemingly warm and lovely curve.
“It’s done.” Lou Cheng passed over the cup.
Yan Zheke accepted it with both hands and sat at the edge of the bed. She closed her eyes, took a deep sip before finally speaking with a faint smile on her face.
“I’ve always heard of this type of tea, but I didn’t really like the taste of ginger. That’s why I never bought it even though I put it in the shopping cart every time.”
“Ah? So I picked wrongly then?” Lou Cheng asked, sounding a little upset.
He had paid attention to the girl’s habits while they were dining together. He discovered that she didn’t reject ginger pieces in her dishes and soup, so he thought that she could tolerate ginger tea. He couldn’t ask this question directly either, since his intentions would be found out and it wouldn’t be a pleasant surprise any longer.
With a smile on her face, Yan Zheke held the cup and took another sip. Her face turned red because of the warm air, and as she cast her gaze to the side she feigned a tone of normalcy.
“I like it now...”
I like the boy who remembers my menstruation period. I like his attentiveness as he busies himself for me. I like his tolerance when I’m being stubborn and headstrong...
“That’s great.” Lou Cheng let out a sigh of relief and sat beside Yan Zheke. After a moment’s thought, he said, “Ke, I need to talk to you about two things.”
“What’re they?” Yan Zheke blinked at him. There was still a bit of redness in her eyes.
Lou Cheng deliberated his words before saying. “You say that my reactions are too big, and that it makes you afraid. However, this is my instinctive reaction, and it isn’t something that I can control even if I want to. You’re incredibly beautiful and captivating to me, and I’m a hot-blooded young man who likes you so much. Even if I’m not thinking about anything dirty, there are plenty of moments I can’t help but experience a physiological response. This isn’t a sign that I wish to do something, or that I’m only thinking about taking advantage of you. I hope you can understand this. In any case I’ll restrain myself and work hard to suppress it. I’ll respect your wishes.”
“Really?” Yan Zheke bit her lip and asked curiously.
Lou Cheng said sincerely, “It is. You can ask your best friends.”
“Mm.” Yan Zheke nodded thoughtfully. “What about the second matter?”
Lou Cheng smiled at her and said, “Actually, I think I’ll be able to hold myself back at the end even if you’re not having your period right now. The first reason is that I feel like I couldn’t shoulder your future on my back yet, not to mention that I’ve made a promise to the Queen Mother too. For some reason I couldn’t shake the feeling that she’s looking at me from afar. It’s a great pressure.”
“The second reason is that long distance relationship fears suspicion, jealousy, and lack of faith the most. Therefore, I wish to show you that I can restrain myself even when I’m facing the girl I love the most, and when there’s no one around to stop me, much less when I’m confronted with those flirtatious sluts out there, hehe. I hope that I can give you confidence this way so our relationship may continue further. Er, am I thinking too far and deep into the future and looking a little dumb like this?”
Yan Zheke burst into laughter and she said with sparkling eyes,
“No...”
I like your dumb look. I like you consider far and deep into our future!
She held the cup and slowly finished the ginger and brown sugar tea. She exhaled and said, “I feel much better now.”
“Are we still going out for supper?” Lou Cheng asked.
Yan Zheke pressed her right hand to her tummy, thought for a moment and said,
“Give me some more time.”
When she said this, she pursed her lips and turned her head to the side. With a blush on her face, she humphed and said, “You made me feel so agitated today, so I’m going to punish you by making you rub my tummy!”
“Okay!” Lou Cheng was ineffably and pleasantly surprised.
Yan Zheke removed her shoes and showed her curled back to him. Her black hair covered the top of the white pillow.
Lou Cheng compared their postures and carefully lay sideways behind the girl’s back. His left hand circled her waist and stretched towards her tummy.
It was at this moment Yan Zheke let out a soft humph.
“You’re pushing down on my hair!”
Ah... Lou Cheng hastily raised his upper body and allowed the girl to collect her hair. It was only until after she was done that Lou Cheng dared to lie down on the bed once more.
His left hand touched Yan Zheke’s stomach through her T-shirt and gently rubbed that soft spot.
A while later, Yan Zheke suddenly said in a tiny voice,
“You can put your hand inside... your, your hand is warmer...”
Lou Cheng stared at her in astonishment. The girl continued to lie sideways and didn’t turn her head around. Her black hair was like a waterfall, and her ears were so red, translucent and cute.
He inhaled once, carefully lifted open her T-shirt and stretched his hand inside. However, the first thing he touched was a paper-like substance.
“What’s this?” he subconsciously asked.
Yan Zheke said in both embarrassment and annoyance, “Sanitary panties!”
“Ah?” Lou Cheng was confused. He had only heard of sanitary napkins before.
“It’s, aiya, it’s the upgraded version of a sanitary pad. It’s leak-proof...” Yan Zheke explained with uncontrollable embarrassment.
“Oh, it’s a sanitary pad that’s been made into the shape of pants...” Lou Cheng came to realization and stretched a little deeper into her shirt. He touched the girl’s tummy and began rubbing seriously.
While inhaling Yan Zheke’s scent and rubbing her soft and flexible stomach, Lou Cheng couldn’t help but feel a bit of physiological response. However, he quickly restrained his urge and cut off his imagination. He began recalling what happened earlier and thought through the girl’s every word.
In the norm, Ke was an elegant and cultured girl who was sweet-tempered on the outside and charming on the inside. She was a mixture of intelligence, maturity, ignorance, and cuteness. But was this all of her?
No. She showed her own views, bottom line, courage and perseverance just now. No wonder the Queen Mother said that she was stubborn in her bones.
Moreover, she would consider what kind of language was best for the situation, and would choose effect over tone. More than a common girl’s tactfulness, she was capable of speaking frankly when she needed to... No wonder there weren’t many gossips floating around even though she turned down so many boys in the past. There weren’t too many admirers who just refused to let go either...
I’m still too immature. Thank goodness Ke for her willingness to communicate with me and not burying it inside her heart. Otherwise, even a small problem may transform into a big one.
While rubbing her stomach, he heard that Yan Zheke’s breathing had become long. When he raised his head for a look, he discovered that the girl had fallen asleep already. The torment of the menstruation period and the tremors of emotions had worn out both her body and mind.
Lou Cheng watched her quietly and felt no dirty desires at all. He felt a little tired in this quiet and warm atmosphere, and he wanted to breathe at the same pace as Yan Zheke.
“Let’s sleep for half an hour...” He subconsciously closed his eyes while rubbing her stomach.
When he woke up abruptly and picked up his cell phone for a look, the time was almost 1 a.m. already. Therefore, he forcefully extricated himself from the warm and fragrant blanket and carefully climbed down the bed. Then, he covered up the part where the blankets were kicked away by the girl’s legs once more.
During this process, he hesitated whether to help Yan Zheke take off her pants. But he was afraid that he would be misunderstood again and held back the impulse. He turned off the room’s lamp and tiptoed his way to the door.
“What time is it?” suddenly, Yan Zheke who had lost the warmth behind her back asked in a daze.
Lou Cheng stopped, turned around and said, “It’s almost 1 a.m.”
Yan Zheke turned on the bed lamp and struggled to her feet. She walked sleepily to the luggage and took out a set of pyjamas and a bag of something
When she passed by Lou Cheng and entered the toilet, she said softly with her head bowed,
“You just sleep here tonight... you won’t be able to sleep if you travel back and forth like this. Plus, plus you can help rub my tummy some more! Right, you can rub my tummy!”
Lou Cheng looked at her in astonishment. The girl’s face was as red as blood, and with a clang she slammed the toilet door shut.
“Sleep with her?” Lou Cheng was stunned for a moment before great joy overcame him. He might not be able to do anything on bed, but it was still a very pleasant feeling.
Once Yan Zheke had changed into a new pair of sanitary panties, washed her face and brushed her teeth, she walked out of the toilet without daring to look at Lou Cheng. She simply let out a humph and said,
“Go wash yourself already. You stink!”
Lou Cheng laughed mischievously in reply. Sometime later, he had finished tidied himself and returned to the room. By now Yan Zheke had already lay back down sideways on the bed once more and been facing him with her back.
She had buried her body completely into the blanket, and her black hair looked like clumps of cloud. It made her oval face looked very small. Everything was so warm under the dim yellow light of the bed lamp.
Lou Cheng held his breath and arrived beside the bed. He hesitated whether to take off his outermost pants for a moment, and ultimately did just that carefully. He drew open the blanket and slipped inside.
A fragrant scent rushed into his nose, and he carefully lay down after inhaling once. Then he heard the girl let out a humph again.
“You’re pushing down on my hair!”
“This is...” Lou Cheng wore a dumb look on his face. “Why does this keep happening?
If there is a poll on what a man and a woman say the most on a bed, and the woman happens to have long hair, I’m going to choose, ‘you’re pushing down on my hair’...”
He raised his upper body once more and waited until Yan Zheke had collected her hair. Then he turned off the bed lamp, lay down sideways, circled his left hand over to her tummy and continued the rub from before.
It was surprisingly fragrant inside the blanket, and the girl’s skin felt tender through her thin pyjamas. Lou Cheng couldn’t control himself from having another reaction, and he was just about to shrink away from Yan Zheke. To his surprise, Yan Zheke leaned into him on her own accord and bumped into something as expected.
“I, I’ll hold it in. It’s just instinct...” Lou Cheng hurriedly explained when he sensed that the girl’s body had turned stiff.
Yan Zheke didn’t turn around. She simply said from inside the blankets,
“I believe in you...”
“I believe in you...” When he heard these four words Lou Cheng immediately felt as if all of his earlier efforts, energy and time were worth it. His eyes reddened, and he put even greater care into rubbing her tummy.
The duo conversed idly with each other. Very soon, Yan Zheke sank into dreamland once more. Lou Cheng concealed his spirit and qi and fell into deep sleep as well.
At 5:30 a.m. early in the morning, he woke up naturally and saw faint light spraying in from outside and illuminating the room a little. Meanwhile, there was a soft body in his arms and a fragrant scent at the tip of his nose. It was an indescribably wonderful picture.
Holding back the throbbing of his heart, he extricated himself from the warm bed. He was planning to wash in his own room for fear that he would wake the sleeping girl.
It was at this moment Yan Zheke subconsciously turned around upon sensing his departure. However, she caught nothing but air, and she opened her eyes in a daze. She asked half a beat slower than usual, “You got up?”
“Mm.” Lou Cheng knelt at the edge of the bed, bowed his head and pecked her lips softly.
Yan Zheke raised both hands and circled them around his neck. She complained, “I haven’t brushed my teeth...”
When he heard this, Lou Cheng chuckled inwardly and bowed his head once more. He parted her lips and kissed her deeply without a trace of lust.
When they were done kissing, Yan Zheke withdrew her arms and looked at him lovably, charmingly and lazily,
“Remember to buy me breakfast when you come back~”
“Okay.” Lou Cheng promised while beaming. He put on his clothes and left the room with light footsteps.
While walking through the dark corridor, he felt extraordinarily pleased and warm. He felt an indescribable sense of happiness, and the scene just now seemed something he had dreamed of for a very, very long time:
After the wedding; the early morning of every day.