Stone Zhibing shouted at the people outside not sleeping and the hallway immediately quieted. He tried to push the dormitory door, it would not open on the first try. He muttered, glancing at the lock on the door—it was not locked outside.
If it was not locked outside, it was locked inside. What was Gu Wenshan doing inside?
Stone Zhibing knocked on the door: “Old Gu, asleep? Strange, why lock the door today?”
“Why did you lock it?” Xiangzhi’s eyes reddened urgently as she demanded in a whisper.
Gu Wenshan spoke without blushing or quickening his pulse: “I locked it.”
Xiangzhi grew more upset.
She discovered Gu Wenshan was deliberately teasing her, he must have discovered her in the room the moment he entered and locked the door! Despite her devoted attention under the bed, she had not noticed!
“How did you get in?” Gu Wenshan, looking down, asked the little flower spirit, emphasizing: “Why are you clinging to me?”
Xiangzhi had heard Yeshanyinying say in the flower valley that after the founding of the nation, spirits could not become immortal or they would be captured for research. Since she failed to castrate him, trapped on the bed instead, she gave up and said: “Do you remember the gardenia flowers in the flower valley?”
Was she not right here in his embrace?
Gu Wenshan’s throat moved as he said: “It is you.”
Xiangzhi had no idea where she had revealed her flower nature, she was aggrieved.
Hearing the knocking outside, her shoulders shrank, she inadvertently cried, tears burning Gu Wenshan’s heart as she choked out: “I saved your life, gave you my flower dew. For a little flower spirit, flower dew is treasure, you ate my flower dew.”
She repeated “flower dew” over and over, Gu Wenshan remembered the vibrant, sweet taste that had surged in his mouth at that time. He could not help but touch the bullet wound on his chest and said: “Yes, I will not forget, my life was saved by you.”
Xiangzhi had not expected such frankness, suddenly all the sorrow and emotion poured out, she threw herself into Gu Wenshan’s embrace, crying softly.
The knocking gradually stopped, Stone Zhibing thought Gu Wenshan had fallen asleep and casually found an empty bed to rest.
The little flower spirit cried for a long time in Gu Wenshan’s embrace, having completely lost face.
After she cried herself tired, Gu Wenshan still had the patience to hold her, his warm chest smoothed out that bit of anxiety, providing enough sense of safety.
Gu Wenshan extended his thumb to wipe away her tears, her eyes were cry-reddened and lovely, as if he had done something morally reprehensible and she had come seeking justice.
In fact, for the little flower spirit, this was true.
“So how should I repay you then?”
Gu Wenshan reached over for an enamel cup, the water inside was still warm. He handed it to the little flower spirit and let her lean against his embrace, sipping bit by bit.
“I made a bet with other spirits.”
Xiangzhi glanced at him timidly and, hugging the warm enamel cup, said: “They had me eat you, you had to be willing to be eaten by me.”
Everything suddenly made sense, Gu Wenshan suddenly thought back to that earlier time when she had been writhing in his embrace, rubbing oil all over his abdomen. Clearly she was innocent, lacking knowledge in certain areas.
He rolled his throat and asked her: “Who taught you to eat a person like that?”
The little flower spirit honestly said: “Yeshanyinying told me. All you had to do was twist your butt a little at a man and anything could be arranged.”
“Stop.”
Gu Wenshan’s heart skipped a beat, he closed and reopened his eyes, discovering Xiangzhi’s ruddy lips were about to say something more earth-shattering, so he coaxed: “Do not listen to its words, I am not that kind of man.”
The little flower spirit naturally discovered he was not that kind of man. He was worse.
Anyway, everything was out in the open, she wanted to gain points by informing: “That man who knocked is not good either! He sent me shoes and food, Yeshanyinying said that men who randomly show you kindness all want to eat you.”
Gu Wenshan chuckled and said: “The food and shoes were both me having him help deliver to you, I was busy with work at the foot of the mountain and could not take care of you.”
The flower dew scent fused in his body made the little flower spirit feel comfortable, knowing he had no reason to press further, her heart lightened, she moved closer to his embrace and said sweetly: “So it was you, you are really good to me.”
The little flower spirit’s standards were quite inconsistent.
Gu Wenshan, seeing she was about to sit on his lap, imperceptibly shifted back, such intimate contact was unexpected. Even if she was a naive little flower spirit, he did not want to be presumptuous.
But her rear end was restless, insisting on leaning against him, wherever he moved, she followed, clinging impossibly.
“There are some things I still need to make clear to you.”
Gu Wenshan, encountering such direct and tempting “pursuit” for the first time, explained to her: “I previously made a vow to dedicate my entire life to the revolutionary cause, I have no time or energy to take care of a family. And you have just come into contact with human society, you may not yet have figured out your feelings. I do not wish to take advantage of you in your vulnerability, nor do I want to be irresponsible to you and ruin your second half of life.”
“I understand.” The little flower spirit understood things would not be so smooth, waves, after all—she got it.
“Also, thank you for saving me, I will repay you. Whatever I can do, I will help you.”
She twisted her head and nearly bumped Gu Wenshan’s jawline, her small hands climbing his neck as she said: “I will make you willingly be eaten by me.”
Her small hand slid from his neck downward, she was thinking through what You Xiu had said—three catties of sesame oil was absolutely necessary. With a build like his, just his thick arm would take her a long time to nibble.
The little flower spirit secretly squeezed his well-developed muscles, craving made her swallow, raising her head to meet Gu Wenshan’s rolling throat.
Gu Wenshan’s body was burning hot, he discovered the little flower spirit’s hand sliding from his shoulder to his forearm had finally fallen into his palm, where she was actually trying to steal a few flower petals.
He immediately clenched his fist, holding her soft, tender hand and the petals in his palm: “What you most need to learn now is about relationships between men and women.”
“Do not worry, whenever any other male comrades get close, I give them the look.”
Xiangzhi, unable to steal petals, felt tonight was hopeless, outside, day was already breaking. She still had to go to work to earn money for sesame oil.
The road was rough, but the future still looked bright.
“Do not sneak over again, especially not at night.”
Gu Wenshan warned her worriedly: “Pay attention to men-women relationships, now you are human.”
“I understand.” Xiangzhi finally wriggled out of his embrace and stood barefoot, seeing this, Gu Wenshan said: “Where are your shoes?”
Xiangzhi pointed out the window: “Bad for climbing pipes, I kicked them off.”
“Sit on the bed.”
Gu Wenshan got up and walked to the bottom of the wardrobe, pulling out another pair of thick quilted boots. These were thousand-layered soles sewn by an army wife, he had also planned to give them to Xiangzhi.
Before he could say anything bringing the thick boots before her, Xiangzhi’s small feet lifted up.
Gu Wenshan, grasping her boneless-seeming ankle, discovered her feet were smaller than expected. Last time in his hurry, tying shoelaces, he had not noticed how much the quilted shoes were oversized.
“Next time I will buy you a proper fitting pair.”
He estimated the size, then he put on new unworn socks for her. Her fragrant, tender small feet in the socks, the sock cuff reaching to her calf, protruding one finger’s length too long.
“Shoelaces should be tied this way, not into a dead knot.”
Gu Wenshan knelt and squatted on the ground, placing the thick boots on his knee as he slowly demonstrated tying the laces: “If you do not like always tying them, just loosen them slightly.”
Xiangzhi’s pretty eyes were darting around everywhere, in a blink, where had he hidden her flower petals?!
Gu Wenshan naturally understood her meaning, he tapped the shoe surface and said sternly: “Have you not learned?”
“No no no, I have learned. Really.”
Gu Wenshan did not play fair, he untied the laces he had just tied and said: “Then you tie it once.”
“How can you be like this!” Xiangzhi got upset and wanted to kick him but dared not, she grumbled as she tied the laces. Gone was her pitiful appearance from crying earlier.
Seeing her mood recover, Gu Wenshan taught her two more times, the little flower spirit concentratively learned how to tie the laces. Only after she had mastered it did Gu Wenshan remove her feet from his knee.
“When they go for early drills, there will be no one here, I will give you a signal to walk straight out the main gate.”
Gu Wenshan went to the wardrobe and put on a button-down shirt, the collar slightly open, sleeves rolled to mid-forearm. His oppressive demeanor was restrained, appearing a bit more cultured. Proper to an unreasonable degree.
The little flower spirit’s mission was incomplete, most of her petals had been tricked away. She stood sad-faced at the bed’s edge, like an aggrieved young bride.
Gu Wenshan, seeing her quilted jacket button undone underneath, wanted to extend his hand to help but suddenly stopped.
Just now he had told the little flower spirit to maintain good distance from the opposite sex, he could not touch and fiddle.
“Your button is undone,” Gu Wenshan said, tilting his chin: “Fasten it.”
“Oh.”
The little flower spirit slowly fastened the buttons, the final button hole was small, and she struggled without getting it in. Thinking Gu Wenshan had not noticed, she tugged her hem intending to sneak by.
Gu Wenshan suddenly stood up, walked before Xiangzhi, extended his hand to pull up her hem and began fastening the button. Seeing this, Xiangzhi quickly drew in her little belly to help him fasten it.
Gu Wenshan pressed his lips and said: “Done.”
Fortunately, the wake-up call rang in time, he felt relief from deep within.
Xiangzhi also sighed in relief.
Tonight had not been entirely fruitless, she had at least told him she wanted to eat him, and he had not objected. She would slowly ingratiate herself, soften him bit by bit, and one day he would willingly be eaten by her.
As Gu Wenshan said, during morning drills, all the soldiers in the building went for exercise. The entire building was quiet, perfect for the little spirit to escape.
Watching her scurrying away, Gu Wenshan inexplicably smiled.
“Hey, how come you locked me outside yesterday?”
Suddenly Stone Zhibing came around the corner, draped an arm over Gu Wenshan’s shoulder, and inhaled deeply through his nose: “My goodness, did you spray perfume yesterday? Really high-class, was it sent by your classmates from Soviet First Academy?”
Gu Wenshan brushed off his hand, not wanting him to smell the little flower spirit’s gardenia scent. He quickly walked two steps then suddenly stopped, waving his hand.
Stone Zhibing said with a grin: “What’s up? Sharing your morning sesame pastry with me today?”
Speaking of eating, Gu Wenshan lowered his voice: “A friend of mine encountered something and wants to ask your advice.”
Stone Zhibing’s eyebrows shot up, he said with great curiosity: “Ask about what? Emotional problems? You’ve come to the right person.”
Gu Wenshan denied: “Not emotional problems, it is about debt.”
“Is it unpaid money or a romantic debt?”
Stone Zhibing said with curiosity unrelated to himself: “You are being so mysterious, it absolutely must be a romantic debt.”
Gu Wenshan felt he had asked the wrong person, but it was neither a romantic debt exactly, it should be a gardenia flower debt. Just now he had been talking to himself before Xiangzhi, now thinking back, he was afraid he had misunderstood her. Having asked Stone Zhibing, he was now regretting asking.
Gu Wenshan hesitantly began: “My friend says a little spirit chased to him saying she wanted to eat him…”
“‘Eat’? So enthusiastic?”
“This counts as enthusiastic?”
“Yes.” Stone Zhibing slapped his thigh and said: “This is not a romantic debt!”
Gu Wenshan nodded: “Right, I said from the start it was not a romantic—”
Stone Zhibing’s square face and bright eyes suddenly shone with unbridled excitement: “This is a romantic encounter! Old brother! You have had a romantic encounter!”
“Nonsense.” Gu Wenshan turned to leave.
Stone Zhibing blocked him, extending his arm ready to be hit as he said: “Old Gu, why tell me only half? Quickly tell me, which little spirit dares to eat Regiment Commander Gu?”
“…” Gu Wenshan said expressionlessly: “Pretend I never said any of this.”
Stone Zhibing said with keen interest: “Then I will just guess freely.”
Gu Wenshan said indifferently: “Feel free.”
Stone Zhibing said with a grin: “Actually, Xiangzhi really is quite nice, your mother has also taken a liking to her—Ow ow! Ouch—!! Why did you throw me over your shoulder! You have a problem, you definitely have a problem!!”
***
As the year-end approached, the military compound was festooned with lights and decorations, preparing to welcome spring festival.
The flower greenhouse was busy for a stretch, Old Zhou personally registered departments borrowing flowers, keeping busy for a week straight.
The little flower spirit helped considerably, many comrades receiving flowers said that this year the flower buds were sturdy, the petals full-blown, and the colors vibrant.
Everyone also learned that Regiment Commander Gu’s rumored matchmaking prospect had low education but high technique.
“Xiangzhi comrade, do you have any more yellow chrysanthemums? Could you allocate twenty more pots?”
A male from the propaganda department came smiling, speaking pleasantries: “I brought you large shrimp crackers.”
Everyone knew Gu Wenshan had bought out all the supply store’s shrimp crackers by year-end to give to her, logically, the two should have moved their relationship further.
Good-natured people kept probing for information around Xiangzhi, she dutifully reported what Gu Wenshan had told her to say. Thus everyone learned: originally Regiment Commander Gu and she had no relationship, following his mother’s instructions, he was helping look after her. If you insisted on saying they had a relationship, it was just… friendship.
The two were completely innocent, supposedly.
Xiangzhi lived up to expectations, rolling her eyes and saying in a pinched voice: “I got paid and can buy my own, I do not need your bribes. Besides, that flower is not called yellow chrysanthemum, it is called Rui Yun Dian.”
“Wait wait, I haven’t finished yet,” the male comrade was not upset. After handling the people queued behind for flowers, he turned back to Xiangzhi: “I promise I will take good care of Rui Yun Dian.”
Xiangzhi simply said: “Not lending.” With a wave of her small hand, she called the next person.
The male comrade’s face lost some composure, at least he was a departmental cadre, so losing face was inevitable.
Old Zhou came over holding a Golden Daisy pot, placing it before his eyes and saying: “Last time I lent your department ten pots, they were all overwatered. I said to use less water, but you insisted on watering anyway. Xiangzhi spent a week rescuing them. I say it is fair you are not lent.”
Xiangzhi huffed dismissively, turning to the next one, a clean, fresh female soldier, she had not even said what she wanted to borrow when Xiangzhi placed an elegant, expensive Phalaenopsis orchid before her.
The female soldier had heard that a new comrade at the flower greenhouse was difficult to get along with. Unexpectedly, she easily borrowed an envied Phalaenopsis orchid, facing Xiangzhi’s brilliantly blooming smile, she suddenly could not tell which was more beautiful.
Old Zhou clicked his tongue twice: “Quite the grand gesture.”
Xiangzhi, watching the female soldier carefully carry away the Phalaenopsis, said: “They get along.”
Old Zhou looked at her, and through her plump face seemed to see a person from the past: “You are not the first to say that. My late wife always said this whenever she could not find an excuse.”
Xiangzhi muttered quietly: “I am not making excuses, it is true.”
Old Zhou laughed until his double chin showed, discovering Xiangzhi had unwritten characters in her registration, he glanced at his watch and said: “Go on, the literacy class is about to start.”
Xiangzhi could not eat her man, she could only take the exam.
An illiterate had to attend literacy classes to become literate.
The literacy class progressed fast, for the inserted little spirit, it was not friendly. Every day leaving the flower greenhouse to do homework, she was nearly crying.
After Old Zhou busied about all afternoon, seeing her sad little face gazing at him, he turned to leave. Yet his round body was suddenly discovered by Xiangzhi, who called out: “Stop!”
“Have no respect for hierarchy, do you speak to your superior this way?” Old Zhou stopped, holding a large tea cup as he leaned forward to look: “Again wrote the wrong character?”
“Here.” Xiangzhi pushed her study book, Old Zhou, helpless, sat across from her and began marking Hanyu Pinyin for the little illiterate.
Who knew if Gu Wenshan had found her a job or a job for himself!
“Look at this character, the hook needs to go up more, your wrist needs more force.”
Old Zhou’s handwriting was exceptional, just yesterday Commander Liu had asked for his calligraphy, saying he wanted to send it to some provincial leader. Old Zhou stingily wrote four large characters, Xiangzhi had no idea what they were, but Commander Liu had thanked him profusely.
Now he was equally generous, writing the corrected characters in proper form to let the little illiterate trace.
“Busy?”
Gu Wenshan came by after work, with the year-end approaching, he came to pay respects to his friend’s superior and ask if his friend needed anything—for instance, large shrimp crackers, plum blossom cakes, red bean crackers and such.
Old Zhou seemed to see a savior, he stood up and gave Gu Wenshan his chair, pointing at the pinyin: “Quick, write it for her, if she gets called out for criticism by the teacher tomorrow, she will return and cry and make faces.”
The little flower spirit hurried to wave her hand: “Do not listen to him, I don’t. You sit, I will get you tea.”
Xiangzhi again began acting obedient before Gu Wenshan, blinking her large eyes as if she had never rolled her eyes, pure and virtuous. As if she had not received three complaints over the past few days.
“You are not allowed to pour my tea, that is premium Da Hong Pao,” Old Zhou was stingy again.
The little flower spirit did not listen, she ran to his desk, pinched a small amount of Da Hong Pao and tossed it in the cup, then turned and told him: “I will buy you Da Lu Pao tomorrow, do not be so stingy, it does not look good.”
“She favors you.”
Old Zhou, frustrated but laughing, could not pour the tea leaves back out, as an elder, it would not be proper. He simply threw Xiangzhi’s homework before Gu Wenshan and said: “You arrived just in time, write.”
“Pinyin?”
As Gu Wenshan picked up his pen, Old Zhou said: “Not pinyin, it is writing lines two hundred times. Yesterday was one hundred, goodness knows where she learned from—three pencils in a row to write! Finished it, submitted it, and the teacher discovered it. Doubled as punishment.”
Gu Wenshan pressed his lips suppressing laughter, knowing the little flower spirit’s restless bottom could not stay seated, and punishment writing was torturous.
Seeing Zhou was about to slip away, Gu Wenshan pointed at the gifts he had brought and said: “Seeing you busy, how about checking after we finish?”
What a nice way to turn a gift into a transaction.
“She has no respect for hierarchy because you taught her.” Old Zhou’s rear end settled in, he sat down and sternly began writing the punishment.
After sending tea, Xiangzhi went off to tend flowers and water friends, midway through, she was called over to recognize characters, and after recognizing them, ran off to play. Actually, she knew all those characters, she just was not good at writing them, lacking patience.
“Comrade, can I borrow the Marigolds again from last time?” a robust, well-built officer asked politely: “I remember to use less water, I will not ruin them.”
Xiangzhi remembered him, last time he had maintained them well, the marigolds he returned five or six days later were in great condition. She thus walked ahead to lead the way: “How many pots?”
Hongwu followed behind, his tall frame completely obscuring Xiangzhi’s delicate figure. He honestly said: “Two pots, someone is inspecting work and they look good displayed in the office.”
Xiangzhi looked back at him with a thin glance that made Hongwu’s face suddenly redden. If his naturally dark skin did not help, he would have looked like a cooked shrimp.
He happened to see two impressive figures working at a table in the distance and lowered his voice: “Did Regiment Commander Gu bring work to Old Zhou near year-end? Must be very important business, right?”
The literacy teacher said that failure to turn in two hundred lines of writing by tomorrow meant sitting in the back of class, nothing was more important than that. Xiangzhi nodded and said: “It is very important.”
Hongwu, hearing this, even lighter footed, afraid of disturbing the two big shots’ earth-shattering important work.
In the adjacent greenhouse, Gu Wenshan saw Colonel Hong marching in step behind Xiangzhi like a brown bear following a white rabbit. But this rabbit had a bigger temper than the bear.
He smiled, Old Zhou caught it and looked over, saying casually: “Has Little Hong’s work arrangements changed? He has borrowed flowers six or seven times in half a month.”
“I did not arrange it,” Gu Wenshan lowered his head and continued writing the punishment lines, only the characters he wrote were noticeably pressed harder.
Old Zhou saw it all and sipped his tea with a knowing smile from his large cup. Being young was nice, so entertaining.
Hongwu successfully saw Xiangzhi and exchanged words, his entire being both excited and relieved. His excitement came from liking her, his relief came from the widely-circulated “friendship” relationship.
Unlike others carrying one pot in each hand, he single-handedly held two soil-filled flower pots effortlessly, after registering and signing, he reluctantly left the greenhouse.
Walking outside the greenhouse where people inside could no longer see him, he bashfully rubbed his nose.
The flower house was full of fresh flowers, yet it could not mask Xiangzhi’s scent. A flower-like girl—that should be her.
Hongwu brought the marigolds back to his office and arranged with comrades to care for them carefully. In three days at most, he would return them, this way he could see Xiangzhi again.
The cultural troupe had a public performance in the auditorium before year-end, families attended with tickets.
Hongwu wanted to invite Xiangzhi to watch the show. After delivering the marigolds, he came to the cultural troupe to inquire about complimentary tickets.
His rank was relatively low, previously he had no interest in song and dance performances, and rarely watched the outside comfort performances. But he felt Xiangzhi should have interest. Usually complimentary tickets were given to officers, this year he thought he would not need them, so comrades gave them to others.
“Comrade Wu, thank you.”
Hongwu brought a bag of apples and handed them to Wu Lili, on the side, he took the tickets. The seats were in the middle, 114 Regiment had hidden talents, having a middle-row seat was already not bad, he was very satisfied.
Wu Lili accepted the fresh apples also satisfied, she politely said: “I remember Colonel Hong never used to watch our performances. Outside comfort performances were rarely watched.”
Hongwu was no longer young, everyone was curious about such behavior. Especially since his home had a difficult elder who had spoiled several matchmaking attempts, no one knew what kind of girl would enter this fire pit [1]fire pit (huokeng, 火坑) Idiom, to push someone (traditionally a woman) into a disastrous marriage or life situation, likened to a pit of fire jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3398892_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3398892_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });.
Hongwu picked up his cap and rubbed his head, embarrassed: “This time is different, I want to give the ticket to someone.”
Wu Lili, curious, said: “Who?”
Hongwu, thinking she had helped him and wanting to fish for information, glanced around and whispered: “Xiangzhi comrade, the one at the flower house.”
“Her?!” Wu Lili’s voice suddenly raised as she called over Mu Ying: “Look, another one asking about Xiangzhi! Everyone says she is not settling.”
Hongwu hurried: “Keep it down, it is not good for her.”
Mu Ying’s ankle, having healed from a few days ago, was now ready in time for the spring festival show. She wore a thick cotton hat and stood over without speaking.
Wu Lili lately had poor mood, she sneered and said: “What is not good about it? Everyone knows Regiment Commander Gu has no relationship with her, you are single and she is single, a single pursuing a single has nothing to hide.”
“I, I have average conditions, and I’m a rough man.”
Hongwu said without confidence: “She is close with Regiment Commander Gu, having seen such an outstanding commander, she definitely would not look at me.”
“That is not necessarily so.”
Wu Lili’s eyes rolled as she said: “You are a colonel, your rank is already sufficient to be followed by the army. You do not know her hometown had some issues, let me tell you this—you boldly pursue her, country people, for the sake of following the army, would desperately squeeze their heads into the military. With no Regiment Commander left, there is still Colonel Hong, this is called when one way’s blocked, there’s always another [2]when one way’s blocked, there’s always another (dongfang bu liang xifang liang, 東方不亮西方亮) Idiom, if one plan fails, another opportunity can succeed elsewhere jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_3398892_1_2').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_3398892_1_2', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], });!”
Hongwu pondered a moment: “It really works?”
Wu Lili slapped her chest: “It absolutely works.”
She pulled Hongwu to whisper, and turning her head, Mu Ying had already left.
At the same time in the flower house.
Xiangzhi suddenly sneezed, covering her small mouth and muttered unhappily: “I am allergic to pencils!”
Gu Wenshan pointed at the math problem just finished: “Use a ballpoint pen instead of pencils, anyway, you need to solve this problem.”
Xiangzhi glared at him, her entire face showed “you are bullying the little spirit” expression.
Gu Wenshan found it strange that someone could be both fierce and soft.
“All right, I should clock out soon.”
Old Zhou, seeing they had been supplementing lessons for a long time, noticed Xiangzhi’s eyes were almost rolling into mosquito coils. He helped by saying: “She has to come early tomorrow to open the door, go rest now.”
Gu Wenshan, hearing the dismissal, did not delay. He helped Xiangzhi clean the desk and escorted her back to the bungalow.
He had expected the little spirit might not keep house, but through the window from the doorway, the interior was neat and tidy. But this still would not do, he needed to buy curtains to hang, otherwise anyone passing could see into the living room, which was not good.
Xiangzhi was happy today, humming all the way back. Upon opening the door, she did not hurry to go in but stood at the door telling Gu Wenshan: “Thank you for helping me with the punishment lines. I am about to get paid, and then—”
“Then treat me to sesame-oil-dipped sesame pastry.”
Gu Wenshan, who had heard this many times, said with a smile: “Then get some rest early.”
“Wait,” Xiangzhi called him back: “The way you are, is it that you do not like sesame pastry?”
Gu Wenshan brushed snow from his shoulders, straightening as his voice softened: “No.”
“I think you do.”
“Really not.”
Xiangzhi suddenly stepped forward, stood on her toes, grasped his shoulders, and insisted on enlightening the east: “How about… you eat my mouth again? I will let you.”
Gu Wenshan’s heart suddenly tightened, his eyes involuntarily fell on her cherry-red lips. He said softly: “Do not say things like this again, I told you before.”
Xiangzhi withdrew her arms and clasped them behind her, smiling happily, she said: “What if you say it—what can you do to me?”
Knowing he would not drive her away, Xiangzhi’s courage increased considerably.
Gu Wenshan said quietly: “I cannot do anything to you.”
Xiangzhi, hearing this, grew smug. Seeing the neighbors left and right were absent, she boldly said: “Then eat my mouth, eat my mouth, eat my mou—mmm—”
Gu Wenshan could not bear it, his large hand covered her small mouth, his eyes deep as he said: “Do not provoke me.”
The scent of his hand enveloped her nostrils, Xiangzhi’s eyes widened round.
He dared cover, she dared eat.
Gu Wenshan felt his gesture improper and was about to withdraw his hand when, unexpectedly, Xiangzhi’s eyes curved into crescents.
Gu Wenshan hesitated: “What is it?”
The moment the words left his lips, a soft, smooth tongue-tip licked from his palm to between his fingers, the tingling sensation went from tailbone to the crown of his head!
He felt his reason was about to explode.
References[+]