Bitten Tongue

The kiss went on as if it would last a century.

Xu Zhitong’s kissing technique was a complete mess, pure instinct. Soft little murmurs slipped from her throat, mingling with the wet sounds of their lips and tongues and making everything feel dizzy and unreal.

Their breaths tangled together as they kissed for who knew how long. Every now and then, the low gasps Lin Yang let escape were swallowed by Xu Zhitong, until Lin Yang could barely breathe.

The hand that had been clutching Xu Zhitong’s shoulder slid upward. First she cupped Xu Zhitong’s face, then her fingers brushed over her ear and side hair, lightly guiding her face upward.

The movement was almost like stroking fur, and it gently pulled Xu Zhitong back a little.

Xu Zhitong let out a soft breath, her cheeks flushed. Even after being pulled away, her eyes stayed lowered, fixed on Lin Yang’s wet, red lips.

Lin Yang tried to wake Xu Zhitong up a little. In a low voice, she asked, “Why are you still biting my tongue?”

Xu Zhitong whispered, “Did I bite it?”

Her fingers pressed at the corner of Lin Yang’s mouth, prying it open slightly. Beneath those reddened lips was a tongue shrinking back, wet and glistening.

Xu Zhitong paused, then, as if she couldn’t help herself, leaned in a little closer and took it between her lips, sucking gently.

At least she still remembered that too much of a good thing could be bad. When Lin Yang used her hair to push her back again, she obediently withdrew and didn’t deepen the kiss any further.

She was so happy it was almost dizzying.

She’d had her fill; now she was being good.

She stood there, rubbing against the soft carpet, not quite knowing what to do next.

She had a vague idea, but she hadn’t seriously learned about it yet.

Besides, Lin Yang clearly had no intention of taking things further.

Lin Yang leaned against the mirrored wardrobe, one hand braced behind her on the door, using the back of her hand to wipe the corner of her mouth.

The gesture was far too tempting. She had already taken off her coat and was left in a black square-neck camisole dress; every movement made the line from her collarbone to her neck look especially beautiful, her skin pale and smooth.

Xu Zhitong couldn’t help thinking: how had her brain failed to turn the corner just now? She had only thought about kissing her mouth; why hadn’t she thought about kissing lower?

She swallowed lightly.

The sound wasn’t subtle in the quiet room. Lin Yang looked up, glanced at her, then averted her gaze.

“I’ll tidy up,” Lin Yang said. “You go wash up and rest. We still have to get up early tomorrow.”

She was being sent away.

Xu Zhitong was a little disappointed, but more than that, she felt overwhelmingly happy.

She said obediently, “Okay.”

When she reached the door, she heard Lin Yang say, “Good night.”

Xu Zhitong’s eyes lit up. She said happily, “Good night.”

Back in her own bedroom, Xu Zhitong walked to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror, her face flushed and her expression full of bliss.

Great, Xu Zhitong.

Even if it had been half coaxing, half tricking, and half acting spoiled, starting tonight she was officially someone with a wife!

She knew Lin Yang was a very slow-burning, reserved person.

Today, she had just “broken the ice” with Lin Yang, or rather, “gotten back together,” and Lin Yang had already let her kiss for so long… that was already wonderful!

What a pity that when they’d been kissing just now, she had forgotten almost all the kissing techniques she’d carefully looked up. She only thought to kiss into Lin Yang’s mouth after Lin Yang adjusted her posture first, so she hadn’t done very well.

She might have accidentally bitten Lin Yang a little.

Xu Zhitong leaned closer to the mirror and carefully examined her teeth.

It seemed her canines really were a little sharp.

Could they be filed down at a dental clinic?

Or should she improve her kissing skills and look up what angle people with canines should use when kissing…

-

The next morning, she woke up refreshed, so refreshed that even the air felt warm and gentle.

At noon, she had to have lunch with the opera teacher from the choir. In the afternoon they would rehearse together, and in the evening there would be the full dress rehearsal.

Xu Zhitong hummed a tune and dressed herself up carefully before nervously heading out.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the view, the sunlight was perfect.

Lin Yang was sitting on the sofa, checking email on her laptop.

No one knew how early she had gotten up, but she was already made up, and her lips were glossy.

Xu Zhitong coughed lightly. “Good morning.”

Lin Yang smiled at her and said warmly, “Morning.”

Xu Zhitong was instantly encouraged.

She walked over, looked at Lin Yang, and said first, “You’re so pretty today.”

She really was beautiful, dressed in a fitted long dress with a draped neckline and a little shoulder shawl; sexy and gentle at the same time.

Then, very naturally, she put her hand on the sofa armrest, brought one knee up onto the couch, and glanced distractedly at the laptop screen.

“Are you working?”

Lin Yang said, “Replying to an email.”

Xu Zhitong muttered an okay. Seeing that Lin Yang didn’t seem to be continuing to type, she bent down to kiss her.

A good-morning kiss.

Lin Yang’s lips were moist and soft, with a peach scent.

Lin Yang leaned back a little. They had only kissed once, but her breathing had already grown uneven, the tips of her ears pink. In a small voice, she said, “I put on lip balm.”

Xu Zhitong hummed, “Don’t worry, I won’t get poisoned.”

Her mind was very clear. When she kissed Lin Yang again, all she could think about were the kissing techniques she’d studied hard last night.

This time she kissed very gently. The mint scent of toothpaste tangled with the peach scent of the lip balm.

Xu Zhitong decided that kissing was the most comfortable thing in the world.

They kissed for a while before the doorbell rang.

Lin Yang pushed her away, panting a little. “Breakfast.”

Xu Zhitong went to open the door. A delivery staff member pushed the meal cart inside, and Lin Yang had already turned and gone into the bedroom.

After the person left, Lin Yang only came out after a while.

Her lips were still red.

This time Xu Zhitong had kissed her with restraint and intelligence, without biting Lin Yang’s lips open.

But Lin Yang’s lips were still lush and rosy, full of a vivid, alluring softness.

Xu Zhitong looked at her until her heart itched. She wanted to kiss her again, wanted to stay in the hotel with Lin Yang and keep kissing forever.

Of course, that wasn’t realistic.

Xu Zhitong’s gaze was too heated. Lin Yang’s hand, holding the chopsticks, paused, and the tips of her ears grew warm.

Unable to help herself, Lin Yang said, “It’s still early in the morning… don’t be like that.”

Xu Zhitong said, “Isn’t a good-morning kiss supposed to happen?”

Lin Yang said, “…Isn’t it usually just one kiss?”

Apparently even saying that made her shy. After a pause, she added, “And we can’t keep kissing today. We have to see people at noon, and we still have rehearsal tonight.”

Her tone was very serious, but her mouth was red and a little swollen.

Something as intimate as kissing, and she was still discussing it seriously with Xu Zhitong instead of flatly refusing.

She was like that kind of very good-tempered…

little wife.

At the thought of that, Xu Zhitong’s face got hot too.

She said, “Okay.”

As a good-morning kiss, the one just now really had gone on a bit too long.

She hadn’t quite been able to hold back… that was indeed her fault.

Xu Zhitong warned herself that they had only just gotten back together; she couldn’t go too far.

If she really made Lin Yang too shy, there would be other things she couldn’t do.

So Xu Zhitong obediently ate breakfast.

At noon, she met the choir’s Teacher Gu and had lunch together.

Teacher Gu, who sang opera, was gentle and refined. In the afternoon, the two of them went to the rehearsal room provided by Yinfu to practice.

Lin Yang didn’t go to the lounge; she sat outside the rehearsal room and waited.

Xu Zhitong, working with Teacher Gu on blocking and movement, was very serious, her eyes bright.

The opera teacher’s assistant came over holding a thermos and handed her a cup of water, saying softly, “Sister, have some water.”

Lin Yang withdrew her gaze from the room and politely said thank you.

The assistant didn’t leave. She rummaged through a large bag and handed over a sealed mask.

Embarrassed, she said, “Sister, the food at lunch was a little spicy. Take this.”

They’d had Cantonese food at lunch; how could it possibly be spicy? Lin Yang took the mask, paused, and grew a little awkward too. “Thank you.”

Seeing her accept it, the assistant smiled and returned to her seat.

Lin Yang held the mask, the tips of her ears warm.

She unlocked her phone and used the front camera to look at herself.

There was a tiny broken spot at the corner of her mouth, and it was slightly swollen.

You’d only notice it if you were standing close enough to hand her water.

Lin Yang was embarrassed for a while, then gave up struggling and thought, fine. Xu Zhitong had only just learned how to kiss people; maybe this was just the freshness of it. If she didn’t let her kiss right now, she would probably keep thinking about it.

She tore open the mask packaging, put it on, and checked her messages.

That morning, she had sent a message to Yinfu’s contact, explaining that SleepyBlue didn’t plan to enter the entertainment industry. Yinfu was very sincere and sent over another proposal in the afternoon; this time, it was the route of a traffic streamer in the singing category.

Lin Yang read it carefully, marked out a few key points, and sent them to her assistant.

The assistant replied with a [Received].

Then sent her a video-sharing link.

It was a street capture from yesterday.

A fan had posted the video on Yinfu, tagged it with the Mid-Autumn livestream gala and a bunch of other tags. Since Yinfu had already started pushing SleepyBlue’s traffic, the video had quite a few views, likes, and comments.

The camera had come in close, capturing Xu Zhitong’s expression clearly.

The random fans in the comments were all talking about it.

[SleepyBlue’s eyes are so big offline, so cute. She acts like such a gloomy, world-weary type online every day]

[LMAO, she never used to take offline appearances. After watching this video I get it; turns out she’s actually shy in real life hahahaha]

[Her face looks so good in a direct shot, her bone structure is so striking. This face-stan is back in the game]

[[angry] She just went to the livestream gala without saying anything? The venue seems close to my place. Anyone want to go stake out the rehearsal with me tomorrow?]

[Everyone go follow @SleepyBlueZZZ. If you start following now, you’ll be an old fan later!]

There were also nested reply threads. Apparently the second half of the video had caught a bit of Yu Yaojiao, so the shippers of the two had secretly taken a couple of bites. Then other fans started arguing, and the shippers said with total calm, can’t we have a little of our cp? They’ve already met offline and eaten together, and you still won’t let us ship them!

Lin Yang used to feel very complicated whenever she saw these comments, envying and resenting the fact that, whatever their stance, they still had a stance at all; at least they could leave comments about Xu Zhitong.

But now… Lin Yang’s mood was even more complicated.

She scrolled for a while and found someone asking whether the girl beside her, whose face only appeared as a blurry side profile, was a newly hired assistant.

Someone replied: maybe, but even her side profile is beautiful. Could just be a passerby, haha.

The post from yesterday had been suppressed by her, so it hadn’t spread. The original poster must have also been warned by a friend; when she checked again today, it had already been set to private.

When Xu Zhitong finished rehearsing and came out during a break to crowd beside Lin Yang and ask for water, Lin Yang showed her the video.

Xu Zhitong held the phone and scrolled through the comments.

Lin Yang asked, “Should I ask them to delete it?”

Xu Zhitong said, “No need, right? Hey, someone says your side profile is good-looking.”

She excitedly showed Lin Yang the comment. “Wow, this person has great taste. You’re covered up so well and they can still tell you’re pretty!”

Her fans really did have sharp eyes.

Lin Yang: “…”

Xu Zhitong seriously read through most of the comments and also saw that some fans were planning to come watch the rehearsal that night.

She turned to ask Lin Yang, “Then are you okay with that? Will you still come with me to rehearsal tonight?”

Lin Yang showed her the mask. “I’ll wear this.”

Xu Zhitong was slightly disappointed. Her fans wouldn’t be able to see her wife’s gorgeous face.

But she also knew Lin Yang was very firm about not showing her face on camera.

“Okay,” she said, then promised, “If you come with me, I won’t hold your hand in front of other people.”

After all, they had already gone back to being an underground couple.

Xu Zhitong had thought carefully before bed. She didn’t have any objections to being photographed offline or being discussed by the audience.

Even before her memory loss, she had been able to maintain a secret relationship like this; she would definitely do even better than she had before.

As long as it wasn’t tied to Lin Yang wanting to push her away or leave her, she wouldn’t feel resistant or uncomfortable.

Anyway, something like this offline would probably only happen once or twice. In a few days, when they returned to online livestreaming, Lin Yang would still be by her side.

Xu Zhitong felt she was more used to the state of slowly singing to a screen online.

Aside from fighting and freezing Lin Yang out, the pre-amnesia her had actually made pretty good choices.

Her wife was the best, her job was the most suitable, and the apartment was the most comfortable—

Xu Zhitong was delighted.

After rehearsal, they had a simple dinner nearby. Once they changed clothes and the makeup artist finished their makeup, they set off from the studio for the rehearsal venue.

The walk from the car to the venue wasn’t far, but it was blocked off by security.

Xu Zhitong had her hair tied into a little braid that hung over her shoulder. Carrying the prop Xiuchun saber, she jumped out of the car and immediately heard many people in the crowd in the distance shouting her name.

From that far away, all she could see were many phone cameras.

Xu Zhitong smiled and waved, then looked back. Lin Yang had gotten out from the other side wearing a mask.

Xu Zhitong waved toward the distance again, then turned and hurried after Lin Yang into the venue.

-

After rehearsal, Xu Zhitong and Lin Yang took a car back to the hotel.

She still had to livestream tonight, T_T

Because the operators said that if she streamed tonight, they could tie her stream to the hashtags for this livestream gala, which would bring a lot of traffic.

Xu Zhitong pouted.

She had thought she’d be able to kiss when they got back to the hotel…

The even worse news was that when they returned to the hotel and had just finished setting up the livestream equipment, Lin Yang received a message from Yu Yaojiao.

Yu Yaojiao said that their garden fair also had a rehearsal for the parade and other parts; it was being held at an old street venue not far from the event site.

[Duoduo the Great: Sorry to bother you, Sister Xiaoyang. Your sister seems to be with me right now…]

[Duoduo the Great: Uh, I might have hit her.]

Xu Zhitong was looking at the message too, and nearly laughed out loud.

Yu Yaojiao hit Lin Zhao?

Thinking of Yu Yaojiao’s cupcake-like outfit and Lin Zhao’s chin-lifting attitude…

Damn it, she wanted to join in on this drama too.

But the livestream was about to start, so Xu Zhitong could only send Lin Yang to the door with a wronged look on her face.

Before Xu Zhitong could take the initiative, Lin Yang tilted her head up and leaned in, touching her lips.

A brief kiss, then it was over.

Lin Yang touched her hair and said, “It’s okay. I’ll be back later.”

Xu Zhitong: “Okay…”

She looked at her hopefully and wanted to kiss her again, but Lin Yang pushed her away.

Lin Yang said, “Do you want me to turn on the little-mouth effect for your livestream in a bit?”

Xu Zhitong: “…”

She went silent.

Xu Zhitong’s skin wasn’t as sensitive to leaving marks as Lin Yang’s. During daytime activities, her lips weren’t that swollen either.

But if they kissed again, that really might not be certain.

Xu Zhitong looped her fingers around Lin Yang’s and said, “Then remember to message me.”

Lin Yang laughed softly. “Mm, I’ll tell you.”

-

On the other side.

After sending the message, Yu Yaojiao leaned back in her chair indignantly and looked across the table at Lin Zhao, who was pressing an ice pack to the corner of her mouth.

They were in a small bar at the end of the old street.

The bartender stood not far away, still watching them warily, afraid they might start fighting again.

Yu Yaojiao pinched the little animal keychain hanging from her phone and said, “I messaged your sister. She’ll be here soon.”

Lin Zhao’s eyes went wide.

Her mouth still hurt like hell. This little streamer in front of her looked so cute online, and in person she even wore a pretty lace dress and had a sweet little face.

How could she hit this hard and then go tattle to her older sister?

Lin Zhao shot to her feet.

She went around the round table to stand in front of Yu Yaojiao and gave a hateful snort.

Hearing the waiter’s nervous footsteps behind her, Lin Zhao took a deep breath.

“What’s your problem?” she demanded.

Yu Yaojiao folded her arms and repeated in an even tone, “What’s your problem? If you’re sick, go get treated.”

What a lunatic.

She’d just come up and ask if they could date, saying all sorts of flippant things.

Yes, this person had spent some money on gifts for her, but she hadn’t flirted with her, hadn’t taken her ambiguous support and turned it into a love ticket.

She, Yu Yaojiao, was a clean, hardworking, proper little streamer.

Lin Zhao said bluntly, “Isn’t it because my sister spent a lot of money on your friend, so she’s ‘dating’ your friend? I can spend that much on you too. I’ve never even had a relationship before; it’d be a huge deal for you.”

The more she said, the stranger it sounded.

Then Yu Yaojiao punched her.

Lin Zhao tried to hit back, but she couldn’t beat Yu Yaojiao, who worked out regularly and practiced combat sports.

After landing two punches in a fit of anger, Yu Yaojiao finally remembered something was off. Should she really have used her hands?

It just happened that they were fighting in front of the little bar. Yu Yaojiao turned and went inside, and Lin Zhao stubbornly followed after her, looking furious, then asked the waiter for ice to hold against her face.

After recalling all that, Yu Yaojiao glanced at the somewhat blustering Lin Zhao in front of her.

“Sit down. Your sister will be here in at most ten minutes,” she said.

Lin Zhao: “…”

She calculated the consequences of tearing her face off with Lin Yang now.

Not worth it.

But she still had to throw down some harsh words.

She really didn’t understand why Yu Yaojiao had turned her down. Some of the parties she’d gone to after school had bigger influencers than this, and all of them had plenty of IG followers; once they heard whose family she came from, they were all enthusiastic as anything.

Lin Zhao thought her standards were high. Her first relationship couldn’t just be with anybody. She’d carefully chosen, and felt her sister’s taste had to be the best match; so naturally, the friend her sister kept close as a source of support would be suitable too.

But she got rejected and beaten up instead. Wasn’t she just making money online? What was she acting so faithful for?

Lin Zhao hurled a pile of vicious insults, then, at the sight of Yu Yaojiao raising her fist again, turned and left.

Yu Yaojiao lowered her fist and watched Lin Zhao’s back, still angry herself.

It wasn’t like she had never met fans who wanted to see her offline, or even wanted to keep her as a kept girl.

But this was the first time she had met someone so…

So inexplicably weird.

And, unfortunately, this was Lin Yang’s sister.

What was she even talking about? Just messing around, so what if you have money? What did she take her and Xu Zhitong for?

After getting angry, Yu Yaojiao also felt a little worried.

She waved for the waiter and ordered a glass of whisky.

-

By the time Lin Yang arrived, Yu Yaojiao had already drunk half of it.

After entering, she looked left and right, but didn’t see Lin Zhao anywhere.

Then she looked at Yu Yaojiao; thankfully, her hair was a little messy, and she was sitting there like she was drinking away her frustration.

She paused, then stepped forward and sat across from Yu Yaojiao.

Politely, she asked, “How was it? Did she leave?”

Seeing the sister of the person involved, Yu Yaojiao inevitably felt awkward. “Mm… sorry, Sister Xiaoyang. She said a bunch of inexplicable things, something about wanting to date me, so I couldn’t hold back and hit her twice. It was probably, uh, a bit hard.”

She wasn’t afraid of being “retaliated against” when she was alone, but she did hope this wouldn’t affect her friend’s romance.

Lin Yang was briefly surprised.

Lin Zhao wanted to date Yu Yaojiao?

She tucked the matter away in her heart and smiled. “It’s fine. She came back to the country in secret, and she was spoiled growing up. I’ll apologize to you for what she said. Do you want anything else to drink? I’ll pay.”

She called for the drink menu, but Yu Yaojiao handed it back to her.

With a somewhat complicated expression, Yu Yaojiao said, “I’ll treat you, Sister Xiaoyang.”

Lin Yang was puzzled.

Yu Yaojiao looked at the exquisitely made-up, considerate and generous Lin Yang across from her, and felt even more worried.

Compared with Lin Zhao’s kind of immature, aggressive talk, Lin Yang’s kind of nameless soft knife was more likely to hurt people.

Ever since she had become unlikely internet friends with Xu Zhitong, she had known that Xu Zhitong had been seeing a therapist regularly.

She was the stubborn, world-weary type. Forget attending offline events; she didn’t even like leaving the house under normal circumstances. If you asked her what she was doing, it was either singing, sleeping, or gaming.

Yu Yaojiao didn’t have many friends, and once she had opened up to Xu Zhitong, she cared a lot about her.

Those few days they’d lost contact, she’d been genuinely afraid Xu Zhitong would kill herself.

Now that Xu Zhitong finally had some energy and was so intensely in love, her passion for life had been reignited; that was certainly a good thing, but if they broke up…

Yu Yaojiao didn’t know what she could do, but since the fire had reached someone close to her, doing nothing didn’t fit her personality either.

So she picked through her thoughts and chose a few things she could say.

With the whisky that had just been set down, she started making Xu Zhitong sound miserable.

She hoped the young lady would be merciful and not just want to play with a little streamer the way Lin Zhao did.

It worked pretty well.

Lin Yang seemed to have never heard any of this about Xu Zhitong before. After all, when you watched a livestream, you only saw the glamorous surface; Xu Zhitong herself never revealed the most real, closest parts of her life to the camera.

But Yu Yaojiao knew a lot. She knew, for example, how Xu Zhitong’s phone and text messages got doxxed and cursed at, how she would be asked one by one after scandal posts went up whether it was really like that, how long she stayed up for which planning videos, how she had actually secretly cried after a stream on a certain day…

She embellished as she went, telling Lin Yang everything over drinks.

Lin Yang looked emotional, deeply empathetic, and kept drinking until her eyes were red too.

They had a few light drinks. Yu Yaojiao was chatty and loved clinking glasses; as the conversation heated up, she noticed that Lin Yang seemed to be getting drunk.

Her eyes were damp and a little unfocused, her face red under the bar’s dim lighting, even her speech slowing down.

Yu Yaojiao: “…”

Damn.

Why was Lin Yang’s tolerance so bad? Didn’t they seem pretty in sync when they’d talked about evening drinks yesterday?

She definitely couldn’t just send Lin Yang back herself. Given Xu Zhitong’s jealousy, if she showed up arm in arm with Lin Yang, who knew what would happen.

Yu Yaojiao pulled out her phone and found that Xu Zhitong seemed to be at the end of her livestream.

Thank heavens.

She waited two minutes, and the moment Xu Zhitong went offline, she called her.

“Um…” Yu Yaojiao said awkwardly, “your girlfriend got a bit drunk. I’ll send you the address; come pick her up, okay?”

Xu Zhitong was stunned. “...Yu Duoduo, you just wait.”

So that was why she hadn’t sent any messages for so long.

This Yu Duoduo.

What was she getting her wife drunk for!