After a long day, the two returned home as night approached. Cheng Ying’s house, with its minimalist decor, was as spotless as ever. Everything was exactly as they had left it a month ago, a clear sign that the automated cleaning system was diligently at work each day.
Like a swallow finally returning to its nest, Cheng Ying let out a cheerful cry. She took a deep breath of the familiar scent of her home, strode forward, and collapsed onto the soft sofa, rolling around a couple of times. “This past month, I feel like I was really turning into a farmer.”
Jiang Hanguang watched the Alpha rolling on the sofa like a large dog, shaking her head with a soft chuckle as she pulled the suitcase they had left by the door into the house.
The huge floor-to-ceiling windows were open, allowing the afterglow of the sunset to pour unimpeded into the spacious room. It draped the once cold and desolate space in a rich layer of color, like a painting on which the artist had spared no pigment. It was also much like Jiang Hanguang’s current state of mind.
When she had first arrived, she had instinctively held a negative view of her future, able only to follow Cheng Ying’s lead and take things one step at a time. As a result, she had seen this house as a fortress: unfamiliar and cold, yet offering her a sliver of security.
Now, however, as she looked at her adorable lover on the sofa, she suddenly found the house adorable as well. She even felt the urge to discuss adding a few decorations with Cheng Ying.
Once Cheng Ying had her fill of rolling around, they both went to their rooms to unpack and freshen up. Cheng Ying took the rare opportunity to use her massage bathtub, which had sat untouched since she bought it, for a proper bubble bath. It was her way of commemorating and bidding farewell to the days of taking hasty, combat-style showers in a damp, old bathroom.
Jiang Hanguang must have had a similar idea, because Cheng Ying had already dried her hair and been watching videos on the sofa, legs crossed, for some time before Jiang Hanguang emerged from her room in her pajamas.
“Hm?” The moment she stepped out of her bedroom, Jiang Hanguang heard a familiar voice from the living room’s video player. When she looked over, she came face-to-face with herself.
Cheng Ying was watching South Wind, which was, to date, Jiang Hanguang’s only completed film.
South Wind was a relatively gentle campus romance. Jiang Hanguang, who had just turned twenty at the time, looked perfectly natural in a high school uniform. However, as she had only recently entered the industry, her acting, while spirited, still showed obvious signs of artificiality.
To the Jiang Hanguang of today, it was like looking at a clumsy but heartfelt craft project from her childhood—a little embarrassing, but mostly nostalgic.
“Why are you watching this?” she asked, looking at Cheng Ying on the sofa.
The other woman didn’t answer. She simply looked Jiang Hanguang up and down with a grin and held out her hand.
Jiang Hanguang was speechless.
Does she want a hug?
Jiang Hanguang tried to guess Cheng Ying’s thoughts and walked over. With no one else around, she wasn’t so easily embarrassed.
The moment Jiang Hanguang reached the sofa, Cheng Ying pulled her down beside her.
In truth, from the moment Jiang Hanguang had emerged, Cheng Ying had caught the scent of roses—a fragrance that sometimes unsettled her but at other times gave her an indescribable sense of security.
Her heart instantly grew restless, and all she wanted was to hold the woman’s soft body and get her fill of that scent.
Once Jiang Hanguang was beside her, Cheng Ying unapologetically wrapped an arm around her pliant waist, pressing her halfway onto the sofa. She buried her face in the crook of the woman’s neck, nuzzling against her and inhaling deeply.
Like a starving diner, she muttered to herself, “You smell so good…”
Jiang Hanguang felt like a large rag doll, held, sniffed, and nuzzled by a playful child. The tickling on her neck made her want to laugh.
She could tell that Cheng Ying had no ulterior motives at the moment—she simply wanted to be close. Feeling no nervousness, she smiled and ruffled the Alpha’s fluffy hair. “I think you should buy some rose-scented perfume for yourself.”
“How could that be the same?” Cheng Ying replied, her voice muffled as she refused to lift her head from Jiang Hanguang’s neck. “Something made from artificial fragrance could never smell as good as you.”
Jiang Hanguang’s ears grew warm at the unreserved compliment, and she turned her attention to the screen to distract herself.
The scene in South Wind now showed the protagonist, played by Jiang Hanguang, buying ice cream off-campus with her love interest. The oversized school uniform hung on her slender frame, giving her an air of budding, youthful beauty.
Jiang Hanguang smiled along with her on-screen self. “I was so young back then. I remember the ice cream from that shop was delicious; I went back to buy it many times afterward.”
Hearing her speak, Cheng Ying finally pulled herself out of the embrace, shifting to rest her head on the woman’s shoulder as she watched the screen.
The girl, so beautiful it could leave one speechless, took small bites of her ice cream with a gentle, serene smile, listening to her love interest chatter about school gossip.
The actress playing opposite Jiang Hanguang was a tall Alpha girl, whose presence Cheng Ying effortlessly ignored, her gaze fixed solely on Jiang Hanguang’s face.
She knew, of course, that it was all an act, but she couldn’t help but wonder what Jiang Hanguang had been like in high school.
Would she have smiled with the same youthful tenderness as in the movie, or would she have been as poised, proper, and reserved as she was now?
In truth, Jiang Hanguang’s appearance hadn’t changed much. Time, that so-called butcher’s knife, always seemed to show special favor to beauties, reluctant to let its traces erode a face as lovely as a flower.
But things were different, ultimately. Time might spare one’s body for a while, but life relentlessly hammered at one’s soul.
The Jiang Hanguang of today possessed an accepting and mature charm that no young person could have.
And she had surely lost something in exchange.
Cheng Ying lowered her eyes, a sudden sense of melancholy washing over her.
She considered herself a content person. Thus, even after getting together with Jiang Hanguang, she had only glanced at her past resume and hadn’t dug any deeper.
With her abilities, she could have easily pulled up most of the surveillance footage of the woman, from childhood to the present day.
But she restrained herself from prying, knowing it would be meaningless.
She hadn’t been a part of those times, and judging by the character of Jiang Hanguang’s parents and ex-husband, they were surely not pleasant memories.
Cheng Ying didn’t want to get bogged down in the past, feeling a heartache full of regret. All she could guarantee was Jiang Hanguang’s future peace and joy.
Yet now, watching the girl in the movie smiling with lowered eyes, she suddenly felt an emptiness in her heart.
Possessing Jiang Hanguang’s future was no longer enough to satisfy her. She desperately wished she could go back in time to protect her, to love her, to keep her from being bullied by all those malicious people, and to ensure she had a smooth path to her side.
But that was impossible. In modern society, a person like Cheng Ying was practically omnipotent, yet time travel remained a distant fantasy.
Jiang Hanguang sensitively detected the silence from the person beside her. Pinned down by Cheng Ying, she couldn’t get up, so she simply raised a hand to turn Cheng Ying’s face toward her for a closer look.
She saw that for once, Cheng Ying wasn’t smiling. Instead, she was looking at her with a complex expression, her eyes holding a surprising hint of apology.
Jiang Hanguang grew even more confused. She pinched the Alpha’s ear. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.” Cheng Ying pushed aside her useless fantasies and, following the woman’s touch, turned to bury her face in her embrace again. “I was just thinking, why didn’t I meet you sooner?”
Jiang Hanguang’s hand, still on the woman’s ear, paused. With a tacit understanding, she grasped the reason for Cheng Ying’s veiled apology.
She chuckled softly, a hint of sweetness blooming in her heart as her hand returned to stroking the Alpha’s head. “You shouldn’t say that. Hmm, actually, my past…” she tried to comfort the suddenly gloomy Alpha, “…wasn’t as bad as you imagine.”
Her parents didn’t love her, but they still raised her. As for her marriage to Feng Nan, although she spent ten years walking on eggshells and the ending was less than graceful, nothing truly irreversible had happened.
There were many unpleasant memories, to be sure, but there were good things, too.
Pain is memorable, but happiness is what truly sustains a person’s will to live.
The Alpha she was comforting merely let out a perfunctory hum, clearly unconvinced.
Jiang Hanguang decided not to dwell on it. She thought of a better way to comfort Cheng Ying.
“Besides, I’m already very lucky to have met you now.”
The Alpha in her arms suddenly pushed herself up, her gaze burning as she looked at Jiang Hanguang. The gloom in her eyes vanished, replaced by fervent adoration.
Jiang Hanguang’s cheeks burned under that gaze. She instinctively tried to look away, but Cheng Ying caught her chin.
The Alpha’s voice was low. “Can I kiss you?”
Then, as if feeling she hadn’t been precise enough, she added, “A real one.”
If she hadn’t emphasized the “real” part, it might have been fine. But as soon as she did, Jiang Hanguang couldn’t help but recall their two previous deep kisses.
Her own performance in those instances had been… less than dignified.
And so, a familiar blush truly crept onto her face. Her eyes darted about; she wanted to nod but felt it would be too indulgent, and she worried she would once again be kissed until she went weak all over.
She had just taken a bath, after all.
Cheng Ying waited quietly, but her scorching gaze left Jiang Hanguang without a shred of courage to refuse.
In the end, Jiang Hanguang could only lift her hands to hook around the Alpha’s neck, gently pulling her down. Her voice held a hint of a plea.
“Then… be gentle.”
Cheng Ying froze for a second before fireworks seemed to explode joyfully in her mind. She nodded emphatically and eagerly leaned down to capture the woman’s lips.
At first, she remembered Jiang Hanguang’s words. She started with light, tentative tastes, progressively licking and kissing the woman’s full lips, soothing her. Only when Jiang Hanguang was no longer so tense did she gently probe deeper, suckling and kissing.
But after a few moments of gentle entanglement, she could no longer control her desire to plunder more deeply.
Jiang Hanguang was simply too sweet. As Cheng Ying held those soft lips with her own, she couldn’t possibly convince herself to let go.
Although her susceptible period was over, Cheng Ying’s body seemed to have memorized the feeling of that unsatisfied hunger.
Some things shouldn’t be tasted casually. They’re addictive.
By the time Jiang Hanguang came to her senses, she had once again been kissed by the Alpha until she was completely limp.
Her hands, trying to push away, were captured by Cheng Ying in an undeniable grip, their fingers lacing together.
This time felt different. Previously, Jiang Hanguang had always been swiftly overwhelmed by Cheng Ying’s absolute advantage, left to her mercy.
This time, however, because the other had deliberately held back, she had her first chance to fight back and even got a taste of the pleasure Cheng Ying seemed to find in it.
But the end result was the same.
Whether a frog is boiled in slowly warming water or fried in hot oil, it’s going to get cooked in the end.
Jiang Hanguang’s vision blurred. The sunset’s glow cast a hazy red across her retinas.
She suddenly remembered the curtains weren’t drawn.
An image formed in her mind automatically.
Orange-red sunlight spilled over the entangled figures on the sofa, but they were oblivious to everything, lost only in each other’s lips.
She clutched Cheng Ying’s clothes tightly and, in a moment of self-deception, closed her eyes.
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