Chapter 37

The shirt buttons popped off and hit the floor with a faint click.

…(Hello, censors; all removed.)

The rain outside grew heavier and heavier until the world beyond the window was slowly lost to view.

With naughty little hands kneading at her, Yan Can whispered in Su Ci’s ear, “Teacher Su, this is exactly how you treated me last night. Do you remember?”

Su Ci’s wrist was caught in the hot circle of her palm.

It was a stopping gesture.

But someone who had just tasted a little sweetness had no intention of letting go now. Yan Can buried her lips against Su Ci’s neck and said aggrievedly, “Didn’t you say we’re both girls, so I can touch you?”

Su Ci’s hand around her wrist wasn’t tight; she didn’t dare use any force. She knew Yan Can’s right hand was still fractured, and she had only just taken off the brace not long ago.

“Teacher Su,” Yan Can teased her burning earlobe again, licking and nibbling at it. “You rubbed me for ages last night. I didn’t make a sound; shouldn’t you pay me back?”

“Th—” Su Ci was so provoked she couldn’t even get the word out properly. Yan Can stopped teasing and listened at her ear.

“Th… the curtains.” Her voice was rough and strained.

Yan Can looked up. The window was shut tight, blocking out the wind and rain. The pale blue curtains were pulled open to either side; the glass was fogged over.

“No one can see in here.” Her hand withdrew from inside Su Ci’s clothes; apparently finding the shirt cumbersome, it drifted to the collar and lightly tugged at the bow tie binding her neck.

The person beneath her seemed especially insistent on drawing the curtains. Before Yan Can could reach in again, she once more clasped Yan Can’s wrist, not even willing to exert the slightest pressure. “No… good.”

Yan Can didn’t understand why she absolutely had to draw the curtains.

Last time at her place had been the same.

Helpless, she stood and went to the window, then pulled the curtains shut with a swish.

“All right, is that okay n—”

She turned around and met a pair of shimmering, watery eyes; for a moment, she went completely still.

As if she had just cried, Su Ci’s eyes were damp and red at the corners; the desire in them had not yet fully faded.

The thought that this reaction had been caused by her stirred something unspeakable in Yan Can’s chest. It was as if… as if something was growing there, about to break through the soil.

That strange feeling came again.

Something was right in front of her; she could sense it, but she couldn’t quite grasp it.

It irritated her instantly.

But she didn’t stay irritated for long. Soon she heard Su Ci say, “Turn off the light. Get on the bed.”

By then, the desire in her eyes had already faded completely; her expression was cool and composed. If not for the faint flush on her face and that slightly hoarse voice, Yan Can would have thought the scene she’d just seen had been a dream.

It had to be said, Su Ci was truly very good at controlling her emotions.

Yan Can obediently walked to the bedside and switched off the light. Before she’d adjusted to the darkness, she heard Su Ci say again, “Now you can continue.”

Very calm, very indifferent, very Su Ci.

Given permission, Yan Can wasn’t especially happy; the spark from earlier had completely gone out of her by now.

There was only one thought in her head: Su Ci seemed not to mind doing anything with her.

Kissing her, hugging her, touching her; she didn’t mind any of it.

Why? Just because they were both girls.

If that was the reason, did that mean Su Ci could do those things with other people too…?

At that thought, Yan Can felt a little sour. Standing by the bed and looking at the outline of Su Ci lying down, she asked, “Su Ci, would you do this with other girls too?”

Su Ci didn’t answer.

Yan Can climbed onto the bed, lay beside her, stared at the ceiling, and asked again. This time, she changed the way she addressed her. “Teacher Su, would you do this with other girls too?”

Su Ci still didn’t answer. Yan Can’s heart was getting more and more sour. Every second Su Ci stayed silent, Yan Can’s imagination ran a second farther. She imagined someone else kissing her lips the way she did, sucking and kissing her earlobe, inch by inch feeling the changes in her body…

Su Ci giving that same kind of reaction to someone else…

The more she thought about it, the sourer she felt. Yan Can didn’t dare think any further. She turned onto her side, pulled Su Ci into her arms, and held her tightly, breathing in that cool, clean scent of hers; it helped calm her down.

“I think I’ve gotten a little strange,” she murmured against her chest. “I’ve never clung to someone like this before. It’s so weird.”

She thought Su Ci would comfort her, would say something. What did she want Su Ci to say? Actually, she didn’t even know herself.

She rubbed against Su Ci’s chest, then moved upward to find her neck. Su Ci was forced to tilt her head back by her nudging; Yan Can pressed her lips to the pulse at her neck and felt the beat there as she spoke in a muffled voice:

“Su Ci, you’re only allowed to do this with me. You’re only allowed to be good to me. Only I’m allowed to do this to you. Only I’m allowed to kiss you, hug you, and hold you, okay?”

Yan Can didn’t know what was wrong with her; she had suddenly become so emotional that after saying those words, she actually felt a few tears slip from the corners of her eyes.

This time, Su Ci didn’t stay silent. In the darkness, she asked, “Why?”

“Why what?”

Yan Can felt Su Ci’s throat move beneath her lips, brushing her mouth in a way that made it itch slightly. She bit gently at a small patch of soft flesh at Su Ci’s neck and licked and nibbled at it. Right as she was getting into it, Su Ci said, “Why don’t you want me to do this with other people? Why don’t you want other people to kiss me, hug me… why?”

Yan Can let go of that bit of soft flesh and said matter-of-factly, “I’d be jealous! If you’re good to someone else, I’d be jealous. You know what jealousy is, right?”

Yan Can thought this person’s personality was so cold that she might not understand, so she considered it and said, “It’s possessiveness, basically!”

Yan Can felt Su Ci was still processing the term, because she heard her mouth out the three words one by one: “Pos… sess… iveness…”

“Right, possessiveness,” Yan Can said. “Even though we’re friends, friends can be possessive too.”

“Friends?”

Whether it was Yan Can’s imagination or not, she felt that when Su Ci said those two words, her tone was a little cold.

“Yeah, friends,” Yan Can said. “Su Ci, we’re friends!”

Thinking she might be about to go back on her word, Yan Can hurried on, “This was your idea in the first place, saying we’d be friends, so don’t you dare renege!”

Su Ci didn’t know what she was thinking; she stayed silent for a long time.

Yan Can thought she was sleepy and wanted to go to bed, so she asked softly, “Are you going to sleep? Then I’ll turn on the light and we can shower separately?”

It was probably around ten already. She remembered Su Ci usually slept pretty early.

“Mm,” Su Ci said.

“Oh.” Yan Can’s head was still buried near her collarbone. Su Ci’s scent was too good; it made her feel so safe that she got sleepy, her voice growing softer and softer. “But I’m a little… sleepy.”

The night deepened little by little. In a daze, Yan Can turned over in her sleep, and at the exact same moment, a soft body behind her wrapped around her.

Su Ci moved over to her in her sleep.

…

For several days after that, the rain kept coming without end. Yan Can felt that if the sun didn’t come out soon, she was going to start growing mushrooms.

Su Ci had agreed to tutor Yan Can, so these days she would wait in the classroom after school, and the two of them would go back to Yan Can’s house together to do their homework.

Seeing the two of them making plans to go to and from school together every day, Zhang Ru subtly complained in the group chat that Yan Can was abandoning the old for the new and forgetting her old friends after making new ones.

Yan Can’s explanation in the chat was: sorry, she’s pretty. If one day you become prettier than Su Ci, I’ll cling to you every day too.

Zhang Ru: @Yu Ting, Tingbao, come out and take a look. Isn’t this a little too much of a fair-weather friend?

Yan Can: I’m a looks fanatic [smile]

She just thought Su Ci was beautiful; she never got tired of looking at her.

She turned off the screen and set her phone aside, then glanced sideways at Su Ci. Looking at that pale, slender neck, she licked her lips and said, “Teacher Su, has anyone ever told you there’s a technique to teaching students?”

Su Ci put down her pen and turned to look at her. Yan Can swallowed.

“It’s a reward-and-punishment system.”

“If I can finish the study tasks you assign, Teacher Su has to reward me. Likewise, if I don’t finish them, I’m willing to accept Teacher Su’s punishment.”

Su Ci frowned very slightly, as if considering whether the plan was feasible.

Outside, it was still raining; the rain fell in a steady patter. Su Ci turned her head to look out the window, thought for a few seconds, and said, “No.”

Yan Can blinked. “Why? I haven’t even said what the rewards or punishments are yet.”

Su Ci’s light-brown eyes turned back to her. “Too troublesome.”

“Not troublesome.” Yan Can leaned over and kissed the corner of her lips. “The reward is this.”

Su Ci…

Although she didn’t dislike kissing, and sometimes even enjoyed Yan Can expressing her liking so directly.

But wasn’t it a little too frequent? It was even affecting their studying.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Yan Can poked her cheek. “Don’t like it?”

Su Ci turned away and said flatly, “Do your homework.”

Yan Can pouted. “Fine, fine, homework it is.”

The same person who had just said that didn’t even make it five minutes before trying to lean in and kiss Teacher Su again. Teacher Su tilted her head to dodge, and the kiss landed on her pale neck instead. Yan Can simply left a strawberry mark there, sticking out her tongue to lick it before taking it into her mouth again, as if it were something fun.

Su Ci couldn’t be bothered to argue.

It wasn’t until the next day, when Su Ci went to school, that Zhao Panpan, who sat next to her, discovered it.

She pointed at her neck in amazement and asked if she’d been bitten by some kind of insect.

Su Ci blushed and gave a quiet mm-hm.

Looks like this really was worth taking seriously; she’d have to remind that person not to leave marks in obvious places.

After the rainy stretch ended came a week of sweltering heat.

The autumn sports meet was set for this Friday.

Before the sports meet arrived, Secretary Cen brought good news: the investigation had produced results.

Yan Can sat in the car on the way to school and, after reading through the documents from start to finish, immediately replied to Secretary Cen’s message.

Secretary Cen, upon receiving the reply, glanced at it, put the phone away, and looked up at Yan Qing respectfully. “Miss has sent back a reply.”

In the office, before the huge floor-to-ceiling window, Yan Qing turned around and indicated for Secretary Cen to bring the phone over. Yan Qing glanced at the message, his expression unchanged.

Secretary Cen wasn’t sure. “Do we proceed according to what Miss said?”

Yan Qing nodded, then thought of the line at the end of the message—don’t let her know I’m the one who did this—and found it amusing. Children were children.

“Discreetly let her classmate know that this was Yan Corporation helping her.”

He wasn’t a charity case, nor some model citizen; if he did a good deed, why shouldn’t he leave his name?

Besides, that classmate was actually quite loyal for her age. She was only a high school student, yet she was supporting two families.

Secretary Cen nodded and turned to leave the office.