Chapter 63

The bell rang one second before Jiang Lai finally got the girl to her classroom.

She stood by the window, waving to Jiang Xiao. Seeing that nothing was wrong, she tugged the woman out of the school.

“By the way, weren’t you filming? Why did you suddenly come to our house?”

The woman smoothed back a few strands of hair that had been messed up from running. “I wrapped up my scenes early and thought I’d come see you. Besides, you looked so wronged yesterday—how could I possibly stay on set?”

“Ah…”

Jiang Lai’s face was full of concern. “Then you must be exhausted. If I’d known, I wouldn’t have called you yesterday…”

“If you hadn’t called me, I’d have been angry.”

Jiang Lai had been seen through and looked away awkwardly. “I wasn’t wronged. I just thought my dad was being really unreasonable…”

“I know you didn’t mean it.”

The woman lightly patted the back of her hand. “Give your father some time. What’s between us… is indeed pretty hard to accept.”

The two of them walked side by side along the sidewalk, chatting aimlessly. Jiang Lai held tightly onto the woman’s hand, swinging it back and forth.

The woman didn’t mind and let her do as she pleased.

“Have you booked a hotel? If not, there’s a guest room at my house. You can stay with us.”

The woman keenly noticed that the girl had used honorifics toward her again; that annoying “you.”

“Ah Lai.”

“Hm? What is it?”

Jiang Lai stopped and looked at her with a pair of innocent, wide eyes.

Looking into those eyes, Cheng Shuyang found that whatever complaint or grievance she had simply vanished. Fine; who told her she liked this girl so much?

In the end, the woman could only poke her forehead helplessly. “You… I really have fallen into your hands for this lifetime.”

The girl yelped softly and leaned back a little.

“Did I hurt you?”

“No. My forehead was just a little itchy; I was scratching it.”

A lousy performance, and the woman saw through it easily.

“Are you coming to our place for lunch? Or if you don’t want to, I know a really good old restaurant. The two of us can go there.”

“…I’ll go to your place.”

Jiang Lai loosened her grip slightly. “Aunt Cheng, if you don’t want to go, then you don’t have to. I don’t want to see you doing things you don’t like, and I don’t want to see my dad making things hard for you.”

“Who said I don’t want to go? Since your parents already know about us, I should go meet them.”

“Really?”

“Of course it’s true.”

“Then I’ll call my mom and tell her to come home early.”

The woman held her back. “Let’s buy something first. Showing up empty-handed would be impolite.”

“No need.” Jiang Lai waved a hand. “My house has everything. My mom bought a lot just yesterday.”

“What your teacher buys is what your teacher buys. If I’m bringing something, it’s my sincerity; it’s manners. Be good.”

“Then I’ll do as you say.”

The two of them spotted a fruit shop on the way and went inside. While the woman was choosing fruit, Jiang Lai quietly slipped outside to report the situation to Zhao Dan.

Zhao Dan was genuinely happy that Cheng Shuyang was coming to her house as a guest, but the moment she thought of her husband, who wouldn’t budge no matter what, mother and daughter both fell silent for once.

“Mom, should we go eat out instead?”

Jiang Lai asked cautiously, but Zhao Dan shot back at once. “And if your father loses his temper and turns over the table in public, where are you going to put your face?”

Jiang Lai: “…Then what do we do?”

“It’s fine. Leave your father to me. Just bring Xiaoya back with peace of mind.”

“Then you absolutely have to keep Dad under control. Aunt Cheng is coming to our house for the first time…”

“I know; don’t worry.”

After hanging up, Jiang Lai returned to the woman as if nothing had happened, but Cheng Shuyang had long since noticed her little movements; she simply couldn’t bear to expose her.

“Aunt Cheng, I want to eat that.”

Her eyes lit up as she held up two crisp peaches.

“I’ll buy them all for you. Put them down quickly; your hands will start itching in a bit.”

The woman frowned and took the two peaches from Jiang Lai with the plastic bag she had put on her left hand.

At checkout, Jiang Lai insisted on showing her own payment code, earning herself a long lecture from the woman.

“I said I’d pay. Why are you fighting me for it...

“Ah, whoever pays is the same. You even bought me a new phone last time.”

“How can that be the same?”

“How is it not? It’s reciprocity.”

The woman suddenly went quiet. Jiang Lai leaned closer to her in a coaxing tone. “Alright, I definitely won’t do it next time.”

“No more of this next time.” Cheng Shuyang’s tone finally softened, so gentle it almost melted. "If you try to snatch it again, I won’t talk to you for a whole week."

Jiang Lai immediately raised a hand in promise. “Don’t worry, there definitely won’t be a next time. But…”

She lifted the bag in her hand. “I bought you durian. Remember to eat it later.”

“When did you buy that?”

“Didn’t I say it was a surprise? How could I let you find out?”

Seeing her expression clearly asking for praise, the woman ultimately couldn’t help but laugh.

When they reached the entrance of the apartment building, Jiang Lai suddenly stopped. “Aunt Cheng, are you really ready?”

“Of course. Otherwise, why would I be following you back? Don’t worry; if your father says anything about me, I’ll just listen.”

“No!”

Jiang Lai immediately frowned. “If my dad dares to say anything to you, we…”

“We what?”

The woman deliberately teased her. Looking at how worried Jiang Lai was for her, her heart felt as sweet as honey. “Relax. I know how to handle it. Besides, your mother is still here, isn’t she? She won’t just stand by and watch me get bullied.”

Hearing that, Jiang Lai finally relaxed a little, though her worry still wouldn’t go away. “Even so, I still don’t feel at ease.”

“What’s there not to feel at ease about?”

The woman rose onto her tiptoes and leaned close to her ear. In a soft voice, she said, “Haven’t you already talked to your mother? I believe my baby must have left me an escape route, right?”

The woman’s lips brushed lightly against her earlobe. In an instant, a tingling current spread from Jiang Lai’s toes to her fingertips, and her face went red all at once.

Unfortunately, both her hands were full, so she could only watch helplessly as the woman stepped away from her embrace.

She’d already leaned right up to her face; why didn’t she kiss her before leaving…

“You’re really annoying.”

The words slipped out before she could stop them, and for a moment the woman was at a loss.

“Did I annoy you just now?”

Jiang Lai huffed at her and walked past her.

“Hey, Ah Lai.”

The woman caught her wrist. Jiang Lai’s face was still cold, but it had softened considerably. The woman rubbed her head. “You’re angry? I didn’t even say anything.”

Jiang Lai was about to say something when Zhao Dan, upstairs, cut her off.

Both of them looked up and saw Zhao Dan calling to them through the window. “Why are you both standing downstairs? I’ve been waiting for you forever. Hurry up and come up.”

“Got it.”

Jiang Lai answered listlessly.

At the stairwell corner, just as Jiang Lai stepped onto the first step, a force suddenly pulled her backward; in the next moment, she fell into a warm embrace.

The woman’s gentle voice sounded by her ear. “I know what you’re angry about, but there were too many people just now. Now it’s only the two of us here. Let me make it up to you, okay?”

Jiang Lai turned her face aside in a sulk. “No.”

“Be good; look at Auntie.”

Her voice was almost bewitching.

The woman tipped up her chin and stared straight at her.

Jiang Lai couldn’t help swallowing, her gaze drifting away.

The next second, a patch of warmth pressed against her lips; Jiang Lai’s eyes flew wide open, her whole body stiffening.

“Is that better?”

The tenderness in the woman’s eyes seemed capable of drowning a person. “Not angry anymore, right?”

The air between them grew increasingly charged in the cramped space.

Just as the woman was about to turn and leave, Jiang Lai seized her wrist.

“Ah Lai?”

“Do you know what happens when you tease someone who’s usually pure-minded and has no desire at all?”

With a loud thud, the things in the girl’s hands fell to the ground.

Then their positions reversed. The girl’s palm was hot enough to make the woman tremble all over; her hand pressed against the woman’s chest, seeming both to push her away and to silently allow it.

“Aren’t you afraid someone will come?”

“It’s fine. Leave everything to me.”

The woman’s lips were very soft, like jelly, and sweet.

Jiang Lai became a little addicted, trapping the woman in her narrow embrace and acting with reckless abandon.

She had only meant to kiss her gently to cheer her up, but instead she had walked straight into a wolf’s den and been pinned down without the slightest room to resist.

The woman was kissed until her mind went blank, her whole body going limp as though all her strength had been drained away. She could only tighten her arms around the girl’s neck, which only gave Jiang Lai the chance to take advantage of her further.

“Old Zhao is back?”

“Mm, Aunt Li, going to buy groceries?”

Someone’s voice came from the entrance, followed immediately by footsteps.

The atmosphere of intimacy shattered. The woman jolted back to herself, struggling out of her daze and hurriedly pushing at the person causing trouble in front of her.

“Ah Lai, hurry, someone’s coming…”

Her eyes were reddened at the corners, her voice thick with seductive softness, tugging at the heart.

“It’s fine. I know my limits.”

As the footsteps drew closer and closer, the woman steeled herself and bit the girl’s upper lip.

“Hiss…”

Jiang Lai cried out in pain, covering her mouth and stepping back two paces. Only then did the woman react, rushing forward at once. “What’s wrong? Did I bite you just now?”

The girl shook her head, quickly straightened the woman’s messy clothes, picked up the fruit scattered on the ground, and reminded her not to forget to put on her mask.

Just as they finished tidying up, a figure came around the corner.

The three of them came face to face.

Jiang Lai greeted the newcomer as if nothing had happened. “Hello, Aunt Li. Are you back from grocery shopping?”

“Mm. My grandson wanted ribs, so I went to the morning market to buy some.”

As she spoke, she curiously looked at the woman behind Jiang Lai, her eyes questioning. “This is…”

“Ah, this is my mom’s student. She came especially to visit her.”

Jiang Lai hid the woman behind her a little and laughed it off.

“Oh, I see.”

The neighbors around here all knew Zhao Dan was a professor at the film academy, and from time to time one or two celebrities would come to see her. It wasn’t anything unusual.

“Alright then, I’ll head back first. You should go back early too.”

“Okay, thank you, Aunt Li. Take care on the way.”

Jiang Lai watched the neighbor leave.

After taking two steps upstairs, Aunt Li suddenly stopped. “Ah Lai, the weather’s been dry lately. Auntie’s got some fresh chrysanthemums at home. If you’re free, come by and take some. Your lips are all cracked from the heat.”

Jiang Lai touched the corner of her mouth, her face heating up. “I know, Aunt Li. Hurry home and make dinner.”

“Alright, remember to come get them!”

Aunt Li went upstairs. Faintly, they could still hear her saying, “Young people nowadays don’t take care of their health. They’ll regret it when they’re old.”

“Cousin Cheng…”

Jiang Lai pouted, but accidentally tugged at the wound and couldn’t help making a soft, pained sound.

The woman’s face was red. “Put your hand down; let me look.”

Jiang Lai obediently lowered her hand. After examining it carefully for a while, the woman said, “It’s fine. It should heal in a few days.”

“It’s all your fault, being so rough…”

Embarrassed and annoyed, the woman pinched her hard at the waist. “You still say that? If you hadn’t insisted on kissing here, how would it have turned out like this…”

“Alright, alright, I won’t say it anymore.”

Jiang Lai leaned back a little, looking like she was begging for mercy. “But Aunt Cheng, next time you bite me, can you be a little gentler? Otherwise… ah!”

As expected, Jiang Lai was smacked on the head again by the woman.

TL Note:

heat (上火) means a traditional chinese medicine idea of internal heat that can cause mouth sores or cracked lips.