Chapter 48

“No.” Sheng Huaixi lowered her eyes, and a flicker of amusement passed through them. Using the hand on Jiang Chao’s shoulder as leverage, she pressed down a little harder and said softly, “I failed.”

Failed, meaning she’d been about to do it; she just hadn’t succeeded.

“Get up.”

Jiang Chao gauged the distance between them. Her brows lifted slightly, and the drowsiness that had been hanging over her was instantly shaken off. She shifted her weight through her wrist and pushed at Sheng Huaixi’s shoulder.

They were too close. Bent over her like this, Sheng Huaixi’s rich, distinctive scent swept over Jiang Chao in an overbearing rush, clouding her thoughts and making her restless.

Sheng Huaixi gave a soft laugh and leaned back, letting Jiang Chao push her away; only the hand braced on the sofa didn’t withdraw.

Wrapped in the blanket, Jiang Chao sat up with the motion. Her wrists, planted on either side of her, happened to curve around Sheng Huaixi in a half-circle, leaving her nowhere to go.

Still on one knee, Sheng Huaixi noticed the change in Jiang Chao’s expression. There was no anger, no irritation; she had even covered her mouth and let out a lazy yawn.

It seemed that after a nap, even the anger from just now had gone to sleep. Her whole body had settled back into its usual calm.

Her long lashes fluttered lightly, and Sheng Huaixi’s thoughts shifted.

She leaned down, bracing her wrists inward. Before Jiang Chao could react, Sheng Huaixi tugged at the blanket around Jiang Chao’s waist and pressed in, rubbing her cheek against the thin layer of fabric.

“It itches—”

Jiang Chao was caught off guard and pulled into her arms with a startled cry. Her waist went soft as she leaned back against the sofa, brows knitting as she tried to struggle, only for Sheng Huaixi to pin her arms down as well.

The cashmere sweater Jiang Chao had already rubbed against in her sleep was now being rubbed again by Sheng Huaixi, who kept pressing in and pinning her down.

A small stretch of Jiang Chao’s waist and abdomen was forced to rub against the blanket over and over; the itching never let up. The soft wool scraped against her skin, and the sensation was so unbearable that Jiang Chao shivered, trying to curl inward.

Her waist gave way. Jiang Chao did her best to fold in on herself and avoid the contact, until her back hit the inside of the sofa and she had nowhere left to retreat. But the one having her fun in front of her was still pressing in without restraint, a flash of annoyance crossing her eyes.

“Sheng Huaixi, that’s enough.”

That irritation only urged her on. Jiang Chao yanked one hand free to grab the troublemaker’s head in her arms, pressing her palm against Sheng Huaixi’s forehead to push her back while using her other hand to tug her clothes down.

With the source of the tickling finally gone, Jiang Chao let out a breath of relief.

Lowering her head, she sat properly cross-legged and pushed Sheng Huaixi a little farther away, frowning as she told her not to keep rubbing against her.

“You’re not a cat, and I’m definitely not catnip. Why is it that every time you see me, you can’t help but pounce on me and touch me all over?”

Jiang Chao had always been somewhat resistant to people getting too close. After meeting Sheng Huaixi, she’d been forced to adapt to all that clinginess and rubbing simply because Sheng Huaixi insisted on sticking close.

But sometimes, when Sheng Huaixi got too near, Jiang Chao still had a hard time getting used to it.

Not to mention she was ticklish, especially around the waist; one poke and she’d jerk hard. Yet Sheng Huaixi kept rubbing right against that spot, making her tremble from the itch.

“Next time, you’re not allowed to just pounce on me and hug me.” Jiang Chao laid down the rule.

Sheng Huaixi curved her lips and looked up at her with a smile. “Then if I were a cat, would I be allowed to pounce on you and touch you however I want?”

Jiang Chao couldn’t make out the expression on her face, but knowing Sheng Huaixi, she immediately went on guard. “No.”

The moment Jiang Chao tensed, her palm was already over Sheng Huaixi’s lips. Jiang Chao didn’t move a muscle, afraid that the next second Sheng Huaixi would meow at her.

Using a meow to prove she was a cat was exactly the kind of thing Sheng Huaixi would absolutely do.

“Why are you suddenly so tense?” Sheng Huaixi asked with a smile, her eyes narrowing as she glanced at Jiang Chao’s taut face.

The smile in her words was thick; Jiang Chao could even hear a restless eagerness in it.

Jiang Chao lifted her brows slightly and pressed harder with her palm in warning, even pinching a bit of the soft flesh on Sheng Huaixi’s cheek with her fingertips.

A faint hiss of pain was especially clear in the dark, quiet room.

With both wrists lifted at her sides in surrender, Sheng Huaixi narrowed her long lashes and looked at Jiang Chao with bright, innocent eyes, pleading, “Let go of me, okay?”

Through the palm over her mouth, even her usually crisp voice came out muffled.

With a soft huff, Jiang Chao let go.

“Your face is still hot. If you’re not going to lie down properly, what are you coming to find me for?”

“Because you hadn’t come back to see me for so long. I was worried about you.” Sheng Huaixi answered without hesitation, her gaze sweeping over Jiang Chao’s face without blinking.

Jiang Chao subconsciously followed the sound, wanting to see Sheng Huaixi’s expression, but could only make out a hazy outline.

The two of them kept making a racket in the dark for quite a while.

“Sheng Huaixi, go turn on the light for a bit; I can’t see my way around your room.”

Sheng Huaixi agreed and walked to the switch, her fingertip hovering in the air for a long moment before she finally pressed it.

Two dim bedside lamps cast a faint glow, only just lighting the area around them and leaving everything else hazy and indistinct.

Jiang Chao rolled up the blanket and tossed it aside, then stretched a foot out from beside the sofa to hook on her slippers, put them on, and stand beside Sheng Huaixi.

“Let’s go back and lie down. Since your fever still hasn’t gone down, don’t wander around. Just lie down and rest.”

Sheng Huaixi reached out, caught Jiang Chao by the wrist, then switched their positions and led her forward, explaining, “I specially got up to come find you.”

Hearing that tone from her, Jiang Chao couldn’t help feeling like the unreasonable one here, and she pinched Sheng Huaixi’s skin as she emphasized, “I only slept in your room for a bit. I’m not going to vanish into thin air. Do you think I’m some kid who needs to be watched?”

The room was dim. Broken objects were scattered all over the floor, and once the bedside lamps were on, their light quickly stopped reaching this side.

Jiang Chao followed carefully behind Sheng Huaixi, her heart lifting into her throat, afraid she might accidentally step on a shard.

Fortunately, as long as she kept following Sheng Huaixi and stepped only where Sheng Huaixi had stepped, she wouldn’t hit any of the broken pieces.

Sheng Huaixi held the soft hand in her palm and took slow steps, kicking aside the ruined objects she had smashed and thrown away without changing her expression.

Listening to Jiang Chao’s complaint, she answered distractedly, “If that were possible, that would be even better. I’d definitely cherish carrying little you around everywhere, taking you to eat, to bathe, to work; I’d take you with me wherever I go.”

“...Thanks for the thoughtfulness, but I don’t think I can accept that as an adult.”

Jiang Chao forced herself to swallow the words, Are you a pervert?

She guessed that even if she asked Sheng Huaixi that question, and even if the answer sounded satisfying, she’d still have to painfully accept it.

Endure it, Jiang Chao told herself.

Sheng Huaixi looked back at her, a faint smile threading through her words. “That’s fine. I can give adults the kind of pampering they want too. Do you want to... ”

Just as the conversation was about to head in a direction so explicit it would make anyone blush, Jiang Chao grabbed Sheng Huaixi’s wrist, used all her strength, and decisively hit the brakes.

“Stop. Shut up. Watch the road.”

Her other hand landed on Sheng Huaixi’s waist as Jiang Chao ordered her not to go on.

Sheng Huaixi truly fell silent and obediently watched the road.

Her movements as she kicked at the debris on the floor slowed. A smile rose at the corners of her mouth, and she kept nudging the fragments along at an unhurried pace; the scraping sound against the floor was harsh and grating.

It made people want to cover their ears.

Jiang Chao’s gaze couldn’t help drifting toward the sound, and her brows creased slightly. After hesitating as if she had something to say, she slowly relaxed again.

She did want to ask. Jiang Chao definitely wanted to ask.

But looking at the slender back in front of her, her lips opened and closed several times, and in the end she still chose not to ask then.

Later, she thought.

“You dragged me over just to make me sit on a different sofa?” Jiang Chao felt the soft cushion beneath her bottom; when she looked up, she even had to tilt her head to see Sheng Huaixi.

“And you even had to press me into this beanbag chair.”

Jiang Chao twisted her body, trying to get up from the beanbag chair, only for Sheng Huaixi to push her back down with a smile. Jiang Chao’s waist hadn’t even had time to rise before her momentum carried her forward and she fell back down at once.

“Sheng Huaixi!” Jiang Chao glared at her in anger, forced to tilt her chin up, the elegant line of her pale neck stretching taut. “What are you doing?”

Why was she insisting on pressing her into this beanbag chair?

Sheng Huaixi turned sideways, pulled the blanket from the bed tightly around herself, her eyes curving with a bright, dark shimmer as she smiled. “I’m being sick.”

Jiang Chao froze. The words she had been about to say were thrown off course by Sheng Huaixi’s sudden self-deprecating remark.

If Sheng Huaixi had said something wrong, she really hadn’t said anything wrong at all.

She really was sick.

She had a fever.

That dizzying sentence burned Jiang Chao’s mind into a daze.

“...Good that you know it.” Jiang Chao was forced to swallow back everything else and answered dryly, following Sheng Huaixi’s lead.

Under the bright, stark white light, Jiang Chao lifted her chin to speak with Sheng Huaixi, her eyes always forced to narrow a little to blur the glare in front of her.

In the hazy view, Jiang Chao vaguely saw Sheng Huaixi’s lips curl just a fraction; when she looked again, her face had already gone flat and calm.

Must have been a mistake.

Jiang Chao shook her head and collected her thoughts, then slapped the soft, springy sofa beneath her before suddenly asking Sheng Huaixi,

“If I say that after being alone over there to calm down, I think you’re a hateful liar and that once you’re better I’m moving out without delay and leaving, what would you do?”

After asking, Jiang Chao swallowed, blinking lightly as she waited for Sheng Huaixi’s answer.

Sheng Huaixi gave her answer almost without thinking.

“What if I went to your aunt’s place to introduce myself, then said you slept with me and refuse to take responsibility? What do you think would happen to us?”

“???”

No way?!

Jiang Chao abruptly lifted her eyes, disbelief flashing in them.

Sheng Huaixi met her gaze with a smile that left no room to dodge and calmly continued, “And I could even say how many moles you have and where, what your measurements are, what little habits you have after getting out of bed...”

“Wait! Stop!”

Jiang Chao couldn’t listen any longer and immediately reached out to stop her, staring at Sheng Huaixi with trembling disbelief.

“I won’t even ask what you mean by moles. But how do you know my measurements and my getting-up habits?”

“Because I hug you a lot. After hugging you enough times, of course I’d know.” Sheng Huaixi laughed softly, the corners of her mouth lifting as she looked at Jiang Chao’s stunned face. “Could that also count as proof of how intimate we are day to day?”

“.......”

Jiang Chao had only meant to test Sheng Huaixi, but she never expected Sheng Huaixi to come right out and say something like that.

How was that any different from forcing her by brute strength?!