Tao Xiu Ping spoke with a gentle tone and sincere gaze, even carrying some mysteriously insistent and probing quality, as if the moment Jiang Qi Huai dared to say no, he would throw him out the door.
Tao Zhi stood at the side pressing her lips together, looking between Tao Xiu Ping and the person beside her, her face aching from holding back laughter.
Though she rather wanted to see Jiang Qi Huai doing swan arms with her father, seeing him standing woodenly to the side made her feel a bit sorry for him.
Just as Jiang Qi Huai was about to walk over, Tao Zhi finally couldn’t help letting out a laugh.
She pulled Jiang Qi Huai’s arm and ran straight upstairs: “Alright Mr. Tao, you play by yourself. I’ll show him around my bedroom.”
Tao Xiu Ping gave her a sidelong glance: “What’s there to see in that dog kennel of yours?”
“Since it’s his first visit, he should see what his girlfriend’s room looks like,” Tao Zhi said without batting an eye.
Tao Xiu Ping couldn’t be bothered to expose her lie. He chuckled with a humph, waved his hand, got off the yoga mat and put on his slippers to turn off the TV.
Tao Zhi pulled Jiang Qi Huai upstairs with an unchanged expression, even muttering for authenticity: “You don’t know which is my room, right?”
Jiang Qi Huai: “…Mm.”
Tao Zhi glanced downstairs, saying dramatically loudly: “This one here is mine, the one next door is Ji Fan’s.”
Jiang Qi Huai sighed.
Tao Zhi opened the door and pulled him inside. Her room was almost unchanged from before, except there were fewer scattered dolls—those plush toys Jiang Qi Huai had already seen at her current home, and the clothes that used to drape over the sofa and chair backs were gone.
The desk was clean, books on the shelf beside it were neatly arranged, the high school review materials, textbooks and exercise papers replaced by novels, photography books and photo albums. On the wall beside the desk was a photo wall.
Jiang Qi Huai’s steps faltered when his gaze fell on that photo wall.
He stared at it in a daze—it only took up a small section of wall space beside the desk, with photos and sticky notes posted up, and a small cork board in the middle with several photos pinned with thumbtacks.
Tao Zhi hadn’t noticed his gaze. She peered downstairs once more from the doorway before pulling her head back to close the door and turn around.
Jiang Qi Huai had already looked away.
Tao Zhi leaned against the door looking at him, saying leisurely: “Feeling nostalgic, my teen romance?”
Jiang Qi Huai lowered his head, smiling as he licked his lips: “Quite nostalgic.”
Tao Zhi stood at the door, not speaking.
Although Jiang Qi Huai had only been here once, for a long time, Tao Zhi would occasionally feel his shadow everywhere in this bedroom.
The snacks he had put away in the corner, the figurines he had arranged on the bookshelf. Sometimes when Tao Zhi got up early, still drowsy and unclear-headed opening her wardrobe, she would unconsciously remember the youth’s bewildered and startled face when he tumbled into the closet.
And now, he was truly standing here again.
Tao Zhi’s fingertips resting on the door moved slightly. She straightened up and walked to sit on the bed, saying rather regretfully: “Too bad we don’t have to sneak around anymore. It just feels like it’s missing that bit of excitement.”
“…”
Jiang Qi Huai glanced at her: “How much excitement do you want?”
Tao Zhi thought for a moment and said: “You know, like Romeo and Juliet, two people in love who can’t be together, but can’t resist being madly attracted to each other’s hormones, so they secretly meet in their rooms late at night.”
She got more and more animated as she spoke, random thoughts tumbling out unfiltered: “And you know those, like those steamy stories—mom and dad are home, but my brother and I in the room—”
Tao Zhi paused, not continuing, just giving him a meaningful look.
Jiang Qi Huai looked at her numbly: “What in the room?”
“…”
Tao Zhi was a bit exasperated: “Don’t you understand romance? This is where you leave it to the imagination for more flavor.”
Jiang Qi Huai tilted his head calmly, saying mildly: “So what is it?”
“…”
Tao Zhi sat expressionless on the bed, beckoning to him: “Come here.”
Jiang Qi Huai walked over.
He was wearing a black turtleneck sweater today, no tie. Tao Zhi looked him up and down a couple times, not sure where to start. She frowned thoughtfully, raised her hand and pulled down on his sweater slightly with her fingers.
“Bend down a bit,” Tao Zhi directed.
Jiang Qi Huai obediently bent down.
Tao Zhi pulled him with one hand, straightening her back and lifting slightly, tilting her neck up to kiss his lips.
Her wool dress clung to her body, outlining a young woman’s slender graceful curves. Her chin lifted high, her delicate neck stretched long.
Perhaps from an innate male instinct, Jiang Qi Huai propped one hand on the bed as he leaned down, his other hand unconsciously supporting her head, pressing up slightly.
Their lips and teeth intertwined as they drew close, then parted. Tao Zhi’s fingers tangled in his sweater gradually softened. She swallowed with difficulty around her tingling tongue, leaning back slightly, trying to create distance.
She retreated an inch, he advanced an inch, giving almost no room to breathe.
Tao Zhi fell back into the soft bed, her slender fingers caught and pinned against the down comforter by strong knuckles, their lips and tongues making low, intimate sounds in the quiet bedroom.
After a while, Jiang Qi Huai lifted his head, his breathing hot and deep by her ear.
Tao Zhi licked her numb lips, mouth slightly open taking small breaths to calm down, her pinned leg unconsciously lifting slightly.
Her knee had just started to bend.
“Don’t move,” Jiang Qi Huai said hoarsely.
Tao Zhi’s movement stopped, and she obediently put it down, her knee hollow caught on the edge of the bed, calf hanging down.
“This is it,” she said softly, her voice gentle and tender.
Jiang Qi Huai was somewhat distracted, his voice low: “Hmm?”
Tao Zhi lifted her arm slightly, hooking his neck and pulling down gently, saying in his ear: “What we do in the room.”
Her soft, moist lips pressed against his ear, and she clearly felt the man on top of her become even more rigid than before.
Tao Zhi felt a strange satisfaction at succeeding. She pressed her lips together and relaxed, looking up at him and blinking twice: “Jiang Qi Huai, why aren’t you saying anything?”
Jiang Qi Huai’s eyelid twitched and he closed his eyes briefly.
Tao Zhi continued: “Why aren’t you responding to me anymore?”
Jiang Qi Huai suddenly opened his eyes, looking down at her through narrowed eyes, his gaze deep and dark.
“Is that all?” he suddenly said hoarsely.
Tao Zhi didn’t quite follow: “Hm?”
“What we do in the room,” Jiang Qi Huai looked down at her against the light, his features shadowed, his voice slow, like a dangerous suggestion, “is that enough?”
Tao Zhi couldn’t help shrinking her neck.
Seeing he seemed a bit provoked, she quickly surrendered: “Enough enough, even if it’s not enough, the time and place aren’t appropriate right now.”
“…”
So you do know it’s not appropriate.
Jiang Qi Huai looked at her trying to smooth things over after causing trouble, paused for a few seconds, then suddenly lowered his head to bury it in her neck, pulling aside her collar to bite her delicate neck lightly as if venting.
Tao Zhi felt a chill on her neck, followed by a sharp small pain. She let out a soft “ah”, covering her neck and pouting dissatisfied: “Why are you biting people?”
Jiang Qi Huai rolled up to stand beside the bed, glancing at her with a look that seemed to say: Why don’t you know what you did?
Tao Zhi knew perfectly well but showed no sign of it. She propped herself up to sit, pointing inside the bedroom without a hint of guilt, kindly reminding him: “The bathroom’s inside, Your Highness, make yourself at home.”
Jiang Qi Huai: “…”
When Jiang Qi Huai came out of the bathroom, there was no one in the bedroom.
Dinner was almost ready downstairs. Tao Zhi had gone down first. When Jiang Qi Huai opened the door to go downstairs, he saw her wrestling with Ji Fan by the sofa.
Wrestling wasn’t quite accurate—Tao Zhi held a long snake-shaped plush toy while Ji Fan held up a cushion, smacking her with it while nimbly dodging the plush snake she was trying to wrap around his neck to strangle him.
They hurled insults while fighting: “As soon as you come back—you hit me! You might as well not come back!”
Ji Fan: “If I’d known—you’d be feeding dog food at home! I’d have frozen to death outside!”
Jiang Qi Huai: “…”
Tao Zhi saw him come down and called while frantically beating Ji Fan with the plush toy: “You’re down! Come eat dinner.”
The cushion in Ji Fan’s hand was snatched away by Tao Zhi and thrown aside. He nimbly pressed against the sofa to grab another cushion, rejoining the battle.
Cushions, blankets and plush toys were flying everywhere in the living room. Perhaps because Jiang Qi Huai was there, Tao Xiu Ping finally couldn’t take it anymore and walked over to smack them each on the head: “You’re in your twenties and still acting like teenagers! Quick, go wash your hands, dinner’s ready!”
Tao Zhi’s snake was confiscated and thrown aside. She pouted and ran over to pull Jiang Qi Huai to the dining room: “Come eat.”
After seating Jiang Qi Huai next to her, she got up to help the housekeeper bring dishes to the table.
Seeing him go to help, Tao Zhi bounced up to volunteer bringing bowls and chopsticks from the kitchen.
This meal went unexpectedly harmoniously.
Jiang Qi Huai was naturally quiet, showing no reaction to Tao Zhi and Ji Fan’s noisy eating and chatting, only answering when Tao Xiu Ping asked questions.
While talking with Ji Fan, Tao Zhi kept an eye on his situation. Tao Xiu Ping didn’t ask anything about his family, only chatting about work and casual matters, his attitude quite normal.
He didn’t say any of the words Tao Zhi had worried about.
After finishing dinner without incident, Tao Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. Afterward, she stood at the kitchen door watching Jiang Qi Huai help the housekeeper take dishes to the kitchen, then get shooed out.
Seeing him pushed out, Tao Zhi joked: “Why are you stealing our housekeeper’s work?”
“A bit uncomfortable with it,” Jiang Qi Huai said plainly.
After he spoke, they both paused simultaneously.
Tao Zhi hadn’t thought much when speaking, neither had Jiang Qi Huai. It was just his first close contact with her normal living environment, and all the care she took for granted in her daily life was something that made Jiang Qi Huai thoroughly uncomfortable.
The housekeeper’s clattering of dishes into the dishwasher came faintly from the kitchen. Tao Zhi looked up at Jiang Qi Huai standing in the shadows by the dining room wine cabinet, his eyes lowered, expression mild.
She pressed her lips together, slowly raising her hand to take his fingers: “You don’t need to get used to these things.”
Jiang Qi Huai looked up.
Tao Zhi held his index finger, her fingertip squeezing his soft fingertip. Her ear tips slightly red, she said very softly: “After all, you’ll be washing all the dishes at home in the future.”
Leave a Reply