PSMD – Chapter 104

However, since tomorrow was a workday, they couldn’t stay up too late tonight. After Qiu Yang finished blow-drying Shen Ningruo’s hair, it was almost 10:30 PM.

The five-day short holiday easily disrupted one’s biological clock. They needed to sleep early tonight, otherwise, they’d lack energy tomorrow.

But even so, Shen Ningruo wasn’t going to let Qiu Yang off the hook. After finishing her skincare routine and washing her hands again, she came out to see Qiu Yang already under the covers with her phone set aside. The bedside lamp, closer to Qiu Yang’s side, was set to its most eye-friendly mode, casting a warm yellow glow that brushed Qiu Yang’s eyelashes with warmth.

Shen Ningruo lifted the covers, snuggled closer, and rubbed her nose against Qiu Yang’s ear. “Sleepy?”

“I’m okay.” Qiu Yang blinked, tilted her head slightly, and looked at her face. “Waiting for you to collect the remaining balance.”

They both knew what “remaining balance” meant.

This didn’t require any tacit understanding; the answer was laid bare before them, waiting to be spoken.

Shen Ningruo chuckled softly, then murmured, “Mm. I’m here.”

“Let me turn off the light first.”

As she spoke, she started to lean over slightly to turn off the lamp on Qiu Yang’s side, but just as her hand lifted, Qiu Yang grabbed it firmly.

“Don’t turn it off just yet.”

Shen Ningruo was a little surprised. She lowered her gaze, looking at Qiu Yang who was now pinned beneath her due to her movement to turn off the light. “What’s wrong?”

Qiu Yang’s hair fanned out on the pillow, framing her fair face. Shen Ningruo watched as she licked her lips before slowly revealing her reason, “I haven’t seen what you look like when you say my new nickname yet.”

Shen Ningruo understood, her eyes curving into a smile. “Aren’t nicknames meant to be called?”

She lowered her head, rubbed her nose against Qiu Yang’s again, and then pressed her lips against Qiu Yang’s. She didn’t deepen the kiss, merely letting their lips touch, then spoke normally, “Why does my baby want to watch too?”

As Shen Ningruo spoke, her lips moved, causing the four warm lips pressed together to move in unison. Qiu Yang’s lips moved along with hers.

Qiu Yang suddenly felt thirsty and instinctively darted her tongue out, this time licking Shen Ningruo’s lips as well.

Shen Ningruo held the position, unmoving. Qiu Yang retracted her pink tongue and replied, “But I didn’t get to see it.”

“Alright.” Shen Ningruo finally lifted her head slightly again. Her gaze traveled down from Qiu Yang’s forehead, inch by inch, past her eyes and eyelashes, over the bridge of her nose and its tip, finally lingering on Qiu Yang’s moist lips.

After saying “Alright,” she pressed her lips together slightly, seemingly having no intention of speaking again immediately.

Qiu Yang’s gaze was fixed on Shen Ningruo’s face. She wondered if she was being too stubborn; it wasn’t really that important. Just as she opened her mouth again, before she could utter a syllable, Shen Ningruo called out to her, the corners of her eyes crinkling with a smile, “Baby Xiao Yang.”

“Combining the two, does it sound a bit better?” Shen Ningruo asked, but in the next second, she called out again, “Baby.”

Shen Ningruo’s voice deepened slightly, infusing this “Baby” with even more affection, making it sound gentle while simultaneously veiled in a thin layer of sensuality.

Qiu Yang felt as if she had forgotten to breathe, forgotten to answer the question. But Shen Ningruo didn’t need her answer; she had only asked to tease her. Taking advantage of Qiu Yang’s stunned state, Shen Ningruo lowered her head once more and kissed her lips.

This time, it wasn’t just a simple touch. Shen Ningruo’s tongue easily intertwined with Qiu Yang’s, while the fingertips of her right hand gently tapped Qiu Yang’s earlobe. After two or three taps, Shen Ningruo’s fingers began to trace along Qiu Yang’s jawline.

Collecting the remaining balance had begun, but the process required some time.

Shen Ningruo seemed to be playing a game meant only for her. Her control keys were only two: her hands and her lips and tongue. The game interface was constantly changing. As she pressed the keys, she watched under the lamplight as the game screen gradually flushed pink.

Her gaze fell upon a smooth interface, with two small mountains for her to climb and a spring from which she needed to draw water.

Shen Ningruo’s throat moved several times. Perhaps because the game’s difficulty was increasing, her breathing grew heavier. The main subject of this game wasn’t faring much better either; as she pressed the keys and passed the small mountains, she could hear low moans escaping from the game.

Shen Ningruo enjoyed it very much, but she felt it wasn’t enough.

So, after the first playthrough, she started over again. This time, she changed her approach: she turned the game interface over.

Qiu Yang’s face was buried in the pillow, her back facing upwards.

She turned her head slightly to allow herself to breathe smoothly, but Shen Ningruo seemed determined not to let her have her way, leaning in again to kiss her and plunder her breath. Even so, her fingertips didn’t spare Qiu Yang’s back.

Before collecting the remaining balance, the thought was not to stay up too late, but when they finally finished, a glance at the time showed it was past midnight again.

Shen Ningruo even carried Qiu Yang to the bathroom for a shower before pulling up the covers and embracing her exhausted girlfriend, falling asleep.

They didn’t sleep for too long; after about seven hours, they each got up.

After washing up, Qiu Yang went to refill Pingzi’s food bowl. She felt Pingzi had indeed gotten a bit chubby recently. Since being overweight could affect a cat’s health, she decided to control its intake. She patted Pingzi’s head and spoke earnestly, “Pangpang, Mommy isn’t doing this on purpose. Mommy won’t be back until evening, but you only get this much food. You need to change your habit of eating however much you’re given.”

Pingzi crouched by the food bowl, looking down at the rations before it.

Something wasn’t right; there was much less than before today.

Qiu Yang rubbed its head again. “If you get hungry, drink some water, or just sleep. You won’t feel hungry when you’re asleep. Be good now.”

Shen Ningruo, having changed her clothes, came out and saw Qiu Yang’s earnest lecture, unable to hold back a laugh. “It won’t understand what you’re saying.”

“It can understand.”

“It’ll understand when it gets hungry.”

As Qiu Yang stood up, Pingzi immediately buried its head and started eating the kibble, crunching loudly and seeming quite happy, its ears twitching.

Qiu Yang: “…Save some! The day is still long.”

Pingzi acted as if it hadn’t heard, continuing to devour its meal.

Shen Ningruo pursed her lips, feeling a bit sorry for the cat. “Maybe you should add a little more? Weight loss needs to be gradual. Reduce it by one bite today, two bites tomorrow, and eventually, it will adapt.”

“Alright.” Qiu Yang picked up the measuring cup again and opened Pingzi’s food container.

Many people had come to Yuncheng for tourism during the May Day holiday. When Qiu Yang was working part-time before starting her official job, she was incredibly busy during every holiday. Besides, with technological advancements, traveling wasn’t difficult anymore. Although Yuncheng wasn’t as major a tourist destination as Xicheng, the number of visitors was still quite considerable.

But now the holiday was over, and everything returned to its previous state.

Qiu Yang clocked in at the company at 8:55 AM. She had left home a bit earlier today; otherwise, based on the usual Monday peak traffic, leaving at her regular time would mean either cutting it close or being late.

Gu Lan had also arrived early. She greeted Qiu Yang at the front desk. Qiu Yang smiled back at her and walked towards her workstation with her bag.

Two or three colleagues in the office hadn’t arrived yet. Qiu Yang sat down at her desk and habitually glanced towards Qu Yan’s office. However, Qu Yan’s office door was still closed today, and she couldn’t see anyone inside through the glass wall.

This wasn’t typical of the workaholic Qu Yan; she usually arrived fifteen minutes early.

It was now three minutes to nine, yet Qu Yan still hadn’t arrived.

Qiu Yang turned on her computer, pulling her attention back.

Shen Ningruo was right; Qu Yan was still on the list of suspects. If the truth eventually came out and Qu Yan had absolutely nothing to do with it, it wouldn’t be too late to trust her wholeheartedly then.

Qiu Yang lowered her eyelids, looking at the screen after the computer booted up, and cleared her mind of all thoughts.

Unexpectedly, Qu Yan didn’t come in for the entire day. This was even more out of character for her. Qiu Yang asked her colleagues in the office, but no one knew what had happened. Qiu Yang even sent her a message, but received no reply after a long wait.

During lunch with Gu Lan, Gu Lan also expressed surprise about Qu Yan’s absence but quickly put it aside, starting to talk about interesting things that happened during her May Day holiday trip. Qiu Yang laughed at her stories, then recalled her own trip to Xicheng, thinking the funniest thing was probably seeing Ke Yezi’s private ‘hot girl’ persona.

But that wasn’t something worth sharing.

On the way back to the company, Gu Lan glanced at her phone, let out an “Ah,” then looked around before mysteriously asking Qiu Yang, “Xiao Qiu Jie, have you heard?”

“Heard what?” Qiu Yang was puzzled.

Gu Lan replied, “I heard that President Wen’s mother is coming here for an inspection next month.”

Gu Lan knew many people in the company and had reliable sources of information.

“Speaking of which, what a coincidence, President Wen’s mother has the same surname as you.”

“And I searched for photos today, I think you look a bit like her, Xiao Qiu Jie!”