“That’s a question I should be asking you.” Zhu Qingjia pinched the soft, delicate skin under her palm. “What exactly did you do to me last night? Do you really not remember a single thing? I didn’t catch a wink of sleep all night.”
The elegant, noble Ragdoll cat of a woman looked ready to bristle, but she held back. Catching a whiff of a familiar citrus scent, the young heiress glared at her. “Did you use my body wash?”
“Yeah.” The lazy culprit nudged her neck with the tip of her nose. “It smells great. Smells just like you.”
Gu Ruoling possessed an intensely strong sense of personal territory. Usually, letting Zhu Qingjia move in and out of her room was already a concession, but now her personal belongings were being encroached upon without even a courtesy heads-up.
“You!”
“You kept crowding me last night, hugging me and touching me.” Zhu Qingjia yanked away the corner of the blanket covering herself to dispel the heat. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a hint of grievance. “I sweated so much I had no choice but to take a shower.”
The words took a sharp turn, successfully smoothing down the little cat’s ruffled fur. Gu Ruoling muttered, “It’s… it’s not like you can’t use it.”
“I really want to know, why did you, why on earth did you…”
Why what? Just spit it out already!
Gu Ruoling stared at Zhu Qingjia’s upturned tank top hem, catching a glimpse of her distinct, defined obliques tapering down beneath the fabric.
“Why did you insist on wedging your leg right into the gap between mine? And your knee kept bumping into my lap.”
What kind of wild phrasing is that? Are they forging iron? Did she really have to use the word ‘bumping’?
The proud and elegant young lady refused to admit to it even on her deathbed. Looking at Zhu Qingjia’s questioning expression, she forced herself to stay composed. “…You’re slandering me.”
“Stop talking.” The young lady slapped a hand over Zhu Qingjia’s mouth and quickly sat up from the bed. “I’m going to wash up.”
Zhu Qingjia didn’t stop her. Instead, after Gu Ruoling headed to the bathroom, she rolled over and lay down right where the other girl had been sleeping. The warmth had dissipated, but a rich, sweet scent of peaches lingered.
She turned her head, burying her face into the sheets, and couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
Alpha and Omega with high compatibility shared an innate, biological attraction. Zhu Qingjia had only ever read about it in scientific research papers, but now she was experiencing it firsthand.
Before she could indulge any further, Gu Ruoling let out her first shriek of the day.
The young lady ran out of the bathroom holding a crumpled bath towel. “Why did you use the towel I already used?”
Zhu Qingjia propped herself up in bed, lazily running her fingers through her hair to push it back, revealing her smooth, prominent forehead. “There was only that one in the bathroom, and it smelled nice. I thought it was a fresh one.”
It wasn’t that Gu Ruoling minded sharing, but that towel had wiped her own body, including very private areas and Zhu Qingjia had just used it directly.
How was this any different from being completely naked with each other?
“It’s not like I mind you,” Zhu Qingjia said, swinging her legs out of bed and pressing the remote to draw open the curtains. “Or did you actually not want to accept my flowers yesterday, and your happiness was all just an act?”
Gu Ruoling bundled the towel into a tight ball against her chest. “Of course not. I’ll have Aunt Zhang prepare a new one for you.”
The tulips sat on the nightstand, looking just as beautiful as they had yesterday.
Seeing her pouting, Zhu Qingjia gripped her shoulders and pulled her into a sudden embrace. In a low, slightly downcast voice, she said, “You said you wanted to start over with me, and I took it to heart. But why do I feel like you’re fooling me?”
The bath towel slipped onto the floor. The two arms locked around Gu Ruoling’s waist felt like searing iron rods, radiating heat through her spine and straight to her chest.
Gu Ruoling raised her arms, hovering them in the air for a long time, unable to bring herself to return the hug.
“I… I’m not very good at interacting with people.” Especially when it comes to intimate relationships.
“It’s okay. I’ll teach you. I’ll stay by your side.”
Just as Gu Ruoling finally resolved to hug her back, Zhu Qingjia loosened her grip and stepped away.
Zhu Qingjia figured that Gu Ruoling had stayed cooped up at home for too long, causing her social and emotional expression skills to atrophy. As long as she was reintroduced to a normal environment, she would slowly get better.
“Next week, the school stadium has a performance event. Do you want to go watch?” Zhu Qingjia casually grabbed her own toothbrush and toothpaste from the sink.
Gu Ruoling leaned against the wall, staring at the items. When did she even bring these over? How did I miss them earlier?
“At the stadium? That seems pretty far from the school gate. I can’t walk that far, it’ll exhaust me.” Gu Ruoling had seen the layout map of Peking University, the campus was massive, requiring a lot of walking.
“We can ride a bike,” Zhu Qingjia said, rinsing her mouth and wiping away the foam.
“I don’t know how to ride one. Can we drive?” Gu Ruoling asked.
Zhu Qingjia turned to look at her. “Outside license plates aren’t allowed inside the campus. I’ll figure something out.”
The Campus Night Event
When the night of the event arrived, Zhu Qingjia had indeed found a solution. She had borrowed a classmate’s electric scooter, in exchange for returning it fully charged and drove up in front of Gu Ruoling like the wind.
The young heiress, who had never sat on a tiny electric moped in her life, was left speechless.
“Hurry up and get on! We’re running late,” Zhu Qingjia gestured to her.
Gu Ruoling glanced down at her low heels and the skirt she had specifically picked out. Fortunately, she had chosen a below the knee skirt before leaving, otherwise she would have spent the entire ride trying to cover herself up.
Zhu Qingjia sped down the campus asphalt roads with her. The long road twisted through several turns, and the night breeze felt incredibly refreshing, carrying the crisp scent of grass and trees.
For a split second, the young lady almost felt as though she were a student at Peking University herself.
When they reached their destination, Zhu Qingjia parked the scooter and immediately grabbed Gu Ruoling’s wrist, leading her toward the stadium.
The event was lively. Even before getting close, loud music filled the air. Despite it being nighttime, stadium lights illuminated the four corners like broad daylight. The track and the grass lawn were packed with people.
“What kind of event is this anyway?” Gu Ruoling asked.
“A night run.”
Gu Ruoling stared at her. “Did you do this on purpose?”
Her body couldn’t handle strenuous exercise.
“There are also people singing and playing cards, you can join those too.” Zhu Qingjia pulled her along to watch the performances. Because they had arrived late, the crowd was packed three layers deep. They couldn’t see the performers at all and could only hear a soothing English song.
Zhu Qingjia was tall enough to look over the sea of heads, but Gu Ruoling wasn’t so lucky; her vision was completely blocked.
Just as she was about to give up, Zhu Qingjia suddenly crouched down right in front of her. Without a word, she scooped Gu Ruoling up like a child.
Suddenly, Gu Ruoling was lifted high into the air, towering over everyone. She even heard someone nearby let out a startled, “Whoa!”
She swatted at Zhu Qingjia’s shoulders and whispered frantically, “Put me down quickly!” This was way too embarrassing.
“Can you see now?” Zhu Qingjia even thoughtfully shifted a bit to the side to help her find the best viewing angle.
“I’m not watching anymore!” She yanked at Zhu Qingjia’s arms, her legs kicking slightly as she struggled to get down.
By the time her feet touched the ground, Gu Ruoling’s face was completely flushed. Fortunately, they were shrouded in shadows, so no one could see.
When she was hoisted up just now, Zhu Qingjia’s forearms had pressed firmly against her thighs right through the thin fabric of her skirt, holding on with incredible force out of fear that she might drop her.
If I knew this would happen, I would have worn a baseball cap to hide my face, she thought.
She pulled down her skirt and strolled along the grass lawn with Zhu Qingjia.
There were many night runners, and the atmosphere was wonderful. Plenty of couples were strolling hand in hand along the outermost lane of the track. Gu Ruoling watched their shadows on the ground, hers kept drifting close to Zhu Qingjia’s, occasionally overlapping.
“Will you come back in the winter?” Zhu Qingjia suddenly spoke up, startling the young lady’s index finger, which had been tentatively reaching out toward her.
“What happens in the winter?”
“When it snows in the winter, everyone comes to the stadium for snowball fights and to build snowmen. The paths get a little hard to walk on, though.”
Summer hadn’t even ended yet, and she was already extending a winter invitation.
“Do I really have to come to a university just to play with snow?” The young lady retorted, thinking that the snow back at her own estate was exactly the same.
“True. Then we’ll play with snow at home.”
Zhu Qingjia suddenly stopped and stood in front of her. “Are you hot?” She reached out and touched Gu Ruoling’s soft cheek. “You don’t have a fever, but you look a bit flushed. I feel like your complexion is much better than before. Did you put on blush?”
Blush my foot. It was entirely from the embarrassment earlier.
Suddenly, someone kicked a soccer ball off target. It came flying straight toward Gu Ruoling’s back. Zhu Qingjia yanked her arm, pulling her into her embrace with so much force that both of them tumbled directly onto the grass together.
Gu Ruoling gasped in shock. Though it didn’t hurt, she distinctly felt the rush of wind as the ball whizzed past.
Zhu Qingjia was pinned beneath her. Before even getting up, she immediately checked Gu Ruoling’s back, relieved to find her skirt hadn’t gotten dirty. “Are you hurt?”
Gu Ruoling shook her head and allowed herself to be pulled up.
Before Zhu Qingjia could scold the culprit, the sporty guy who came to retrieve the ball jogged over with a sheepish grin. “Sorry, sorry! My bad, kicked it wide.”
“Let’s go somewhere else.”
Zhu Qingjia took her to play a game of beanbag toss and even hit a few rounds of badminton. Even though she hadn’t moved around much, Gu Ruoling was already huffing and puffing from exhaustion.
Zhu Qingjia told her to wait in place while she went to a vending machine to buy a bottle of water.
Right as she grabbed the water, the sky opened up. Summer rain always arrived and departed without warning or reason.
Zhu Qingjia dashed back to the stadium with the water, but the crowd was already flooding out. It was incredibly difficult to push against the human tide. By the time she finally managed to squeeze her way back in, the spot where Gu Ruoling had been standing was completely deserted.
On the other side, Gu Ruoling wasn’t faring any better. Seeing the rain, she had followed the crowd outward, thinking she would run into Zhu Qingjia. But the crowd was suffocatingly dense, making it impossible to move forward or backward.
Moreover, she felt like she was about to suffocate. Even with the rain pouring over her head, her chest felt incredibly tight and stifled.
Just as she felt like she might collapse right there, someone suddenly gripped her arm firmly and pulled her out of the crushing crowd.
Before she could speak, she was pulled into a tight embrace, an anxious voice ringing in her ear. “You scared me to death.”
Zhu Qingjia checked her from head to toe, then whipped off her own outer button-up shirt and draped it over Gu Ruoling’s head to shield her from the downpour.
Gu Ruoling stared blankly at the frantic girl. Her chest suddenly didn’t feel so tight anymore, even the murky, dirt-streaked rainwater seemed to turn fresh and clear.
Zhu Qingjia was left wearing only a black tank top underneath, which was quickly soaked through by the rain, but she didn’t care in the slightest. “Let’s get home quickly so you don’t catch a cold.”
Old Li had been waiting outside the campus the entire time. Seeing them walk out, he immediately rushed over with an umbrella to greet them.
Once they finally scrambled into the car, Zhu Qingjia instructed him to crank up the heater and used a spare blanket kept in the car to wipe Gu Ruoling’s hair and body.
The young lady allowed herself to be fussed over submissively, her mind completely consumed by the words spoken in the rain.
When they arrived back at the estate, Zhu Qingjia urged her to take a hot bath immediately. Aunt Zhang had already prepared the water in advance, brewed hot ginger tea, and laid out cold and fever medication.
Everyone treated the news of Gu Ruoling getting caught in the rain as if they were facing a formidable enemy, leaving only Gu Ruoling herself feeling like an outsider to the chaos.