PSMD – Chapter 40

Qiu Yang’s original intention was just to kiss Shen Ningruo’s face, like the last time when she was drunk and couldn’t help herself, but she didn’t manage it.

She had to admit that Shen Ningruo’s lips looked very tempting, and at the same time, Qiu Yang remembered how wonderful and happy kissing Shen Ningruo felt.

So she hesitated for a moment and changed her target.

Shen Ningruo seemed to have known her thoughts all along. The moment Qiu Yang leaned in to kiss her, she parted her lips to welcome her, and slowly took the lead, wrapping her arms around Qiu Yang’s waist, holding her tightly, and pressing Qiu Yang’s back against the sofa cushion.

But she was afraid Qiu Yang might be uncomfortable like that, so after a moment, she gently lifted Qiu Yang’s upper body slightly until Qiu Yang’s head rested on the sofa. Only then was she satisfied and continued their entanglement of lips and tongues.

Shen Ningruo was very aware of how infatuated she was with Qiu Yang’s body. When she massaged Qiu Yang’s back, she didn’t have any suggestive thoughts, but just before leaving, seeing Qiu Yang hold that chubby cat so naturally made her feel a bit uncomfortable. She knew this could be interpreted as jealousy, so she wanted to get some compensation from Qiu Yang.

Fortunately, Qiu Yang was still in sync with her and knew that what she wanted wasn’t just a peck, but a kiss.

A kiss that could recharge her, a kiss that could give her sweet dreams, a kiss she could savor.

However, Qiu Yang was much weaker now, and Shen Ningruo didn’t dare to prolong the kiss for too long. Otherwise, if she couldn’t stop, and Qiu Yang was already so tired but still had to sleep with her, wouldn’t that make Qiu Yang even more exhausted?

Therefore, this kiss was much shorter than the last one. Shen Ningruo finally licked Qiu Yang’s lips again before ending it.

Although short, it was intense. Both of them were slightly breathless afterward.

Shen Ningruo cupped Qiu Yang’s face, her fingertip flicking Qiu Yang’s earlobe once more. Then she rested her forehead against Qiu Yang’s, her heart feeling like it was about to leap out.

Qiu Yang wasn’t calm either. She quietly opened her eyes a crack, but they were so close she couldn’t see anything. What she heard was the sound of her own heartbeat.

“Xiao Yang,” Shen Ningruo’s voice rose at the end again. She lowered her head and pecked Qiu Yang’s lips, “You’re so sweet.”

Qiu Yang had been praised for being sweet by many friends before, but that was about her appearance. Each time, she would smile and reply, “Thank you.”

But Shen Ningruo’s praise for her sweetness was different from before. She was stunned for a few seconds, and finally managed to utter two words: “Thank you.”

Shen Ningruo chuckled, these two words were exactly what she expected: “You’re welcome.”

After saying that, as if she had rested enough, she got off Qiu Yang’s lap and pinched her own brow.

The light was bright, and it took them both a couple of seconds to adjust before opening their eyes. Then they saw Pingzi sitting quietly on the climbing frame in the corner, watching them, his round eyes still full of confusion.

Shen Ningruo: “…”

Qiu Yang: “…”

Although Pingzi was just a cat, both of them felt a strange sensation. Shen Ningruo cleared her throat, stood up, and looked down at Qiu Yang, “I still have things to do, I’ll head back first.”

“Okay,” Qiu Yang blinked.

Shen Ningruo slightly parted her lips, wanting to say something more, but then silently closed them again. She bent down to pick up the black paper bag on the coffee table and walked to the entrance to change her shoes.

Qiu Yang didn’t say another word to her. The awkward atmosphere lingered until Shen Ningruo got back in her car and felt a bit better. She took several deep breaths before starting the car to drive home.

She needed to take a shower immediately because her body was unusually sensitive when facing Qiu Yang; even a short kiss made her feel a strong sensation.

Her mouth still seemed to hold Qiu Yang’s freshness. Shen Ningruo licked her lips again and rolled down the car window significantly, only then feeling that the heat in her body had been blown away considerably.

Yao Yao called on the way, saying she had already entered the password and was inside her apartment.

Hearing Yao Yao’s tone, Shen Ningruo was mentally prepared to listen.

“Wait,” Shen Ningruo said first as she entered the door and saw Yao Yao about to speak, “I’m going to take a shower first.”

Yao Yao blinked, “What’s wrong with you?”

“I…”

“I’m uncomfortable.”

Shen Ningruo dropped the sentence and went into the bedroom to get her pajamas.

Yao Yao watched her bustling about until the bathroom door closed with a bang, then belatedly asked, “Didn’t that little sister take care of you?”

Unfortunately, Shen Ningruo didn’t hear her. Her mind was full of Qiu Yang right now—Qiu Yang’s lips, Qiu Yang’s waist, Qiu Yang’s eyes.

Shen Ningruo was completely speechless with herself. After 28 years of abstinence, now that she had opened up a new world, she couldn’t seem to stop.

However, taking a shower did calm her down a lot; at least her body wasn’t so uncomfortable. She came out of the bathroom, drying her hair, and lazily looked at Yao Yao, getting straight to the point: “Go on.”

Yao Yao wasn’t in a hurry. She sat on the rug with a cushion in her arms. When Shen Ningruo told her to talk about her own business, she “uhh”ed for about ten seconds without continuing.

Shen Ningruo started looking at takeout options, casually ordering a dinner she liked, before looking up at the strangely expressioned Yao Yao.

“Is it about Yue Chu?” Shen Ningruo asked instinctively, and saw Yao Yao’s expression change dramatically, like a Sichuan opera face-changer. It was truly a sight.

Yao Yao stammered, and under Shen Ningruo’s probing gaze, finally nodded hesitantly: “Yes.”

“Is it my turn to guess?”

“You guess.”

Shen Ningruo’s fingertip turned, pointing to a not-so-obvious hickey on the side of Yao Yao’s neck: “You’re a bottom.”

Actually, it was somewhat noticeable because Yao Yao’s hair wasn’t long enough to cover it.

She had never seen this on Yao Yao’s neck before.

“…I’m a bottom and I’m proud, I’m a bottom and I’m glorious,” Yao Yao lifted her chin and said with a stiff neck.

Shen Ningruo found the phrase familiar and remembered saying it herself once, but the important matter now wasn’t about her, but about Yao Yao and Yue Chu.

“Didn’t you go drinking the night before last?”

“I ran into Yue Chu. I was drunk, she didn’t touch a drop. I found her annoying, so I wanted her to be my driver.”

“But, you know, Ruoruo, I still really care about her rejecting me back then, and the more I thought about it, the more wronged I felt.”

“Damn it, am I not good enough for her? I wasn’t as good as her academically and I was always writing self-criticism letters, but I, Yao Yao, wasn’t bad either, right? I received so many love letters back then, why did she look down on me?”

When Yao Yao got to this point, she angrily slapped the coffee table: “Why does that Yue person have to be so high and mighty?”

“Mm,” Shen Ningruo soothed her emotions, “You’re right.”

“In the parking lot, I used my drunkenness to ask her about it. She, well, she didn’t say anything.”

“But she leaned in and kissed me.”

Shen Ningruo’s lips curved slightly as she listened, but she didn’t say anything.

Yao Yao lowered her eyelids, then lowered her head, staring at the soft rug. Finally, she mumbled four words: “I got laid.”

Hearing this, Shen Ningruo burst into laughter.

Yao Yao’s face uncharacteristically turned bright red, feeling a bit embarrassed, and she slapped the coffee table again: “Shen Ningruo, isn’t that too much?”

Shen Ningruo waved her hand. She rarely laughed like this. She took a moment to compose herself before returning to her normal demeanor: “Continue.”

“Keep telling me,” she was still struggling to suppress her amusement.

Yao Yao, however, looked troubled: “Ruoruo.”

“You say it’s been eleven years, and I still like her this much. Is this reasonable?”

She was seventeen when she was rejected after confessing, and now she was almost twenty-eight.

She had been thinking about Yue Chu for a full eleven years.

“Why isn’t it reasonable?” Shen Ningruo became serious and slowly guided her, “This means you’re very lucky. Not everyone can yearn for someone for so many years. And now you’ve developed to this point. The hardships you’ve endured along the way have all turned into wine, and it will only taste better the more you savor it later.”

Yao Yao looked a bit lost: “The last time I saw her was before she graduated from university. She called me one night, she had been drinking, and she hugged me for a long time in the car and said a lot of apologetic things to me.”

“At that time, I just wished she liked me, but she didn’t say a single word about liking me. I was sad for a long time.”

Shen Ningruo had some impression of that time. Yao Yao was also facing graduation, but because of Yue Chu, there wasn’t a single smile in Yao Yao’s graduation photo, as if she was owed a lot of money.

The more Yao Yao spoke, the sadder she felt. She simply lay down on the coffee table. Anyway, Shen Ningruo’s home was clean and tidy, there was nothing on the coffee table, just like a hotel.

“What about now?” Shen Ningruo stood up and went to get Yao Yao a glass of warm water, “What are your thoughts now?”

Yao Yao lifted her eyelids. She wasn’t wearing heavy makeup today and looked like a high school student.

She took the water glass Shen Ningruo handed her, pondered for a few seconds, and then gave her answer: “I think I like her even more.”

She sighed after saying that: “What should I do? I still don’t know if she likes me. If you say she doesn’t like me, she slept with me. If you say she likes me, she won’t tell me.”

“You have to find that answer yourself.”

Yao Yao took a sip of plain water and sighed again: “If I didn’t have to work tomorrow, I’d really want to drink.”

“Don’t drink anymore.”

“Okay.”

A glass of water was treated as wine, and the two even clinked glasses. But just after drinking, Yao Yao’s phone on the coffee table rang.

Shen Ningruo glanced at it. It clearly displayed “Yue Chuchu.”

Not Yue Chu, but Yue Chuchu.

Yao Yao kept calling her “that Yue person” verbally, but had set a cute, doubled-character nickname for Yue Chu.

Shen Ningruo consciously stood up, giving Yao Yao space to talk on the phone with Yue Chu. She picked up the black paper bag and went into the bedroom.

She turned on the desk lamp, sat on the chair, and looked at the sealed bag with some nervousness.

The contents inside were very light, so light it felt like only the weight of the bag itself. When she carried it on the way, it swayed in the wind.

Shen Ningruo’s throat moved, and she let out a breath. Only then did she reach out to open the bag.

The sealing tape was easy to peel off. Shen Ningruo effortlessly put it aside.

Inside the bag was a thin box, also without any writing on it. Many objects flashed through Shen Ningruo’s mind, but she still couldn’t be sure what it was.

Her palms were quietly sweating at this moment. Shen Ningruo inwardly cursed herself for being so weak.

She clenched her fist to encourage herself, took out the box, and before lifting the lid, she closed her eyes. Then she picked up the lid and slowly opened her eyes.

Lying inside the square box were several photos.

They were taken by Qiu Yang from a distance on the day they met in Xicheng, while she was playing the ring toss game.

In the photos, she looked harmonious with the other children. Shen Ningruo’s heart felt like it was stuffed with cotton at this moment, incredibly soft.

She picked up these photos and saw a small note lying at the very bottom.

The handwriting on the note was elegant, written by Qiu Yang: 【Your room is quite bare, you could buy some photo frames.】

It was very brief, very simple.

Shen Ningruo’s lips curved into a smile. She sent a text message to Qiu Yang: 【Thank you, I really like it.】

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