When she opened her mouth in surprise, his lips pressed in, enveloping her slightly aching lower lip—the very spot she had bitten earlier—his tongue gently soothing the faint teeth marks.
His scent was much like the fragrance he always carried—at first reminiscent of plum petals dusted with frost at the end of winter, cool and elegant, then gradually blending into a mellow, warm fragrance, as if sunlight had broken through the clouds on a snowy morning—soft and gentle.
This trick of his was indeed effective. The moment he kissed her, Liang Qingluo forgot to cry. Though her eyes were still wide open, no more tears came.
Her mind went blank, her heartbeat suddenly spun out of control. All that was left was a flurry of panic, and a faint, inexplicable tremor in her chest.
Only when he tilted his head, changing the angle and completely sealing her lips with his, did she finally react. She raised her hands to push him away.
Yet, this gentleman who always seemed so gentle and refined was clearly no frail scholar. When her hands pressed against his chest, she could feel, beneath the thin summer robe, the clear, solid contours of muscle.
His other hand dropped to her waist, large and slender, pressing her closer.
Their lips clung even tighter.
Between her mouth and nose, his increasingly scorching breath filled her, even slipping deep into her lungs.
It was her first time kissing someone; she didn’t know how to breathe properly, only felt as if all the air in her chest was being sucked away.
Her chest grew tight. She could only tilt her head back as far as possible and, catching a slight gap, pleaded with him, “Let me catch my breath…”
At that, he shifted, kissing the tear stains still damp on her cheeks—from the corner of her lips to the edge of her eyes. When he finished on one side, he moved to kiss the other.
She gasped, twisting away, trying to reason with him: “Don’t kiss me, don’t kiss me, this isn’t right…”
How could he kiss her?
Wasn’t this kind of intimacy reserved for those who were mutually in love?
He seemed not to hear, gently kissing away every tear stain on her face, then seeking out the corner of her lips once more.
She lifted her hands, wedged them between them, and said anxiously, “I’m not crying anymore, you can’t kiss me again.”
“All right, I won’t kiss you anymore.” When he spoke, his lips brushed against her palm, sending her heart into fresh turmoil.
His hand at her waist withdrew, and the one at the back of her head lowered as well. She pulled away from his embrace, her cheeks and the tips of her ears burning hot.
She was just about to ask him why he’d kissed her, when she suddenly caught sight, not far from him, of someone who looked very much like Sixth Brother, staring at her with furious, wide eyes.
She had just poked her head out to confirm if it really was Sixth Brother when she heard his angry shout: “Little Ninth, what are you doing?”
Oh heavens!
Sixth Brother had come out tonight with his sister-in-law for a stroll—how could she have such rotten luck to run into him here?
Then, everything she’d just done with Pei Huai’an—kissing, hugging—had all been seen by Sixth Brother?
“Run!” Liang Qingluo pulled Pei Huai’an and dashed off.
“Why are we running?” Pei Huai’an had also heard Liang Xu’s voice. “I can explain to your brother.”
“How could you possibly explain? We’ve already kissed and hugged—jumping into the Yellow River couldn’t wash us clean now…”
“I can take responsibility for you.”
“Who needs your responsibility? I don’t want you to take responsibility.”
Pei Huai’an fell silent for a moment, then said, “But you’ll have to go home eventually. You can hide for a while, but not forever.”
“I’ll hide as long as I can…”
The two of them darted into a patch of woods. Liang Xu arrived soon after, but with no lanterns here and moonlight hidden by layers of leaves, only a sliver or two of cold light slipping through, it was impossible to see anyone.
“Little Ninth! Little Ninth!”
Pei Huai’an and Liang Qingluo hid in a bush thick with leaves, hearing Liang Xu suppress his anger, feigning a bit of gentleness: “Come out, I won’t hit you…”
Liang Qingluo didn’t believe him for a second. Holding Pei Huai’an’s hand wasn’t enough; she wrapped both arms around his to prevent him from standing up and giving away their hiding place.
Pei Huai’an’s arm sank into her soft embrace, and he felt as if the blood in it was about to freeze. He was about to pull free, but she only held him tighter.
Her face was nearly pressed against his arm as she whispered, “Don’t move.”
The night was so dark he couldn’t see Liang Xu, only heard the sound of twigs crunching underfoot, getting farther away—he must have gone the wrong way and hadn’t come their direction.
But since they could still hear his voice, it meant he wasn’t far; neither of them dared to let down their guard.
Until…
“Ah!”
A shrill, startled woman’s voice rang out, followed by a man’s cursing: “Are you sick or something? We’re just a young couple meeting in private—what are you doing here?”
Then came Liang Xu’s awkward apology: “Sorry, my mistake…”
“Go away, go away!”
There was actually a couple meeting in secret in these woods!
While feeling embarrassed on behalf of her Sixth Brother, Liang Qingluo was also puzzled: it was so pitch dark here, who would come to meet in secret?
Her eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness, and she could just make out Sixth Brother’s tall figure leaving the woods. But who knew if he was waiting outside, so they couldn’t leave yet.
She whispered to the person beside her.
“All right.”
Liang’s hand, and his, met in the darkness.
Since she couldn’t see his face clearly, she no longer felt as flustered as she had while they were kissing earlier: “You… why did you… just kiss me?”
“Why do you think?”
She gave a little humph, not answering.
So he replied, very seriously, “To stop you from crying.”
Liar!
There was no way that was the only reason.
“Then, if some other girl cried, would you stop her like that too?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“Then why do you only treat me this way?”
“What you really want to ask is—do I like you?”
“I—I wasn’t…”
“I like you.”
“You… like…”
In the darkness, he leaned close to her ear and, clear and solemn, repeated, “I like you.”
Though she’d already guessed, hearing those words directly from him made her mind go blank, like a thunderclap exploding inside her skull. She was stunned for a long moment. “You…”
Before she could finish, a woman’s crying suddenly rang out.
That sobbing was unlike any she’d ever heard—softly twisting, a bit alluring, a touch trembling, dragging out the tail notes, floating over, lingering.
What’s more, there was a strange rhythm to it—sometimes loud, sometimes low.
Who could be crying like that?
Liang Qingluo wanted to get up and see if someone was being bullied, but her arm was suddenly grabbed.
Pei Huai’an pulled her back, pressing her against his chest, one ear against his heartbeat, the other covered firmly by his hand.
That way, she could only hear his heart, not the weeping.
Strange—why wouldn’t he let her listen?
If someone was in trouble, she couldn’t just ignore it.
She struggled. “Let go of me, I want to…” …go see what’s happening?
With her ear covered, she didn’t realize her voice had grown louder.
Pei Huai’an kept one hand on her, one hand on her ear; he had no hand left to cover her mouth, so he lowered his head and sealed her lips with his instead.
Liang Qingluo, kissed yet again for no reason: “……” Why are you kissing me again?
Just then, the sound from the other side faded a little. Pei Huai’an lifted his hand from her ear and whispered close, “Someone’s having intercourse out here. Don’t make a sound.”
Intercourse? What did that mean? Wild lilies?
No, not wild lilies—wild… intercourse!
She remembered reading about it in one of Sister Youran’s borrowed storybooks—a man and woman unable to contain their passion in the wild, with the sky for a blanket and the earth for a bed, and then…
Whoosh!
No wonder the man had been so angry when Sixth Brother found that couple, and Sixth Brother had left so quickly—so that’s what they were doing.
Liang Qingluo froze, afraid to move. She even felt Pei Huai’an hadn’t covered her ear tightly enough and pressed her own hand over it as well.
Her other hand dangled at her side, caught between her and his body.
The sounds from the other side didn’t die down for a long time. The two of them, crouching, grew sore and eventually just sat on the ground, Liang Qingluo still tightly in his arms.
She heard his heartbeat grow faster and faster, felt the heaving of his chest increase, and the arm around her seemed to squeeze her tighter and tighter.
It was getting uncomfortable.
She shifted, tilting her head to get more air, but bumped her nose against his Adam’s apple.
“What’s wrong with you?” Why did he seem even more uncomfortable than her?
He used the hand that had covered her ear to lift her chin, pressing her lips to his Adam’s apple.
He still wouldn’t let her speak!
But the skin beneath her lips was burning hot.
Was she the one taking advantage, or was he?
Liang Qingluo could only give up questioning him for now, deciding to wait until the couple finished before asking again.
After a moment of quiet, she began to feel uncomfortable again.
There was a stick poking into her waist.
Strange—when they’d first sat down, there hadn’t been a stick there.
But it was really bothering her, so, since she had a hand free, she decided to deal with it.
She grabbed it.
Hm? It felt odd to the touch.
Whatever, just pull it out and talk later.
She pulled hard—and suddenly toppled over.
No, she was pushed down.
Pei Huai’an had pushed her down.
Her ear felt cool as his hand left it, then grabbed her hand—the one she’d used to pull the “stick”—and pinned it above her head. She heard his ragged breathing.
“Liang Qingluo, are you trying to kill me?”
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