It was around six o’clock when the first ray of morning light fell into the courtyard. Dappled shadows played beneath the pomegranate tree, nameless flowers in the corner were slowly blooming, birds sang in the trees, and the air was dry and fresh. The spring light falling on the ground was like dry wood meeting fierce flames.
Li Jin Yu thought Ye Meng would be touched enough to kiss him and tell him she loved him too. However, Ye Meng did not. In the brightly lit room, after calming down, she looked at him for quite a while. Then, with unprecedented seriousness, she told him: “You cannot do that. Every problem has a proper solution. I will always stand on the side of the law. If you commit murder or arson, I’ll be the first to call the police on you.”
He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at that moment.
“When it comes to ruining the mood, you’re skilled.”
Li Jin Yu said this while somewhat helplessly grabbing her hands, raising them high above her head, and pinning them against the door with their fingers intertwined. Then, arching his back, with an obscure, unclear gaze that seemed both provocative and appreciative, as if admiring some rare treasure, his eyes roamed over her body. In a lowered voice, he teased: “Sister, you’re proper.”
She was as clean as spotlessly clear glass, reflecting whatever light fell on her. When moonlight spilled over her, she gleamed with clarity. He felt he was madly infatuated.
“Just realizing that?” Ye Meng thought he was talking about her figure. “I was this size since high school.”
Li Jin Yu lowered his head and laughed, still holding her hands, following her train of thought, and lazily glanced downward. “How big?”
“A bit smaller than now, but it was quite embarrassing back then. During PE class, the boys in class would always stare. I would wear a binding underneath. I feel like that restricted my development somewhat, otherwise, they’d be even bigger now—”
Before she could finish expressing her regret, her lips were firmly caught by his teeth, and she murmured: “Mmm, be gentle—”
Between them was a strange magnetic field—breath, gaze, sparks everywhere. It seemed no matter how far apart they were, they would always be drawn together. Li Jin Yu pinned her against the door with both hands, forcefully pushing his tongue inside, making her dizzy and disoriented, like a small fish gasping for water, her mouth open and breathing heavily. Yet he maintained a lazy demeanor, his shirt unbuttoned to the last two buttons, faintly revealing his flat, firm abs. Looking down at her, his eyes showed no trace of desire, even appearing somewhat ascetic, yet he roguishly asked: “Sister, shall we do it?”
Ye Meng’s mind buzzed, her eyes suddenly opening wide, as if the spring light filling the room had suddenly brightened. Excitedly and incoherently, she stammered: “Are-are-are you ready?”
He chuckled lightly: “Seems like you’ve been waiting a long time. Have I made you suffer?”
“Not really. Can you do it? Don’t force yourself, baby, I can wait a bit longer,” Ye Meng said.
Li Jin Yu pinned her against the door again, her dress unexpectedly pushed up to her waist. Then Ye Meng heard the sound of him unbuckling his belt and a very helpless sigh: “I don’t know, let’s try.”
…
Li Jin Yu didn’t know about Ye Meng’s previous experiences. But it was his first time, and he was indeed nervous. After unhurriedly smoking two cigarettes, he dawdled around and took a bath. After all this procrastination, by the time he returned, Ye Meng had fallen asleep.
Li Jin Yu dried his hair and leaned against the headboard bare-chested, waiting for her to wake up. The bed was a tatami style, very low. Li Jin Yu had one leg lazily resting on the floor with room to spare. He sipped coffee to stay alert while looking up some information on his phone.
He casually flipped through a few pages and found they contained little useful information. Men’s baser instincts were truly universal—most only cared about their pleasure. Finally, with no other option, Li Jin Yu even pulled up diagrams of female anatomy. As he drank coffee while pondering which was the so-called G-spot, Ye Meng woke up, drowsily crawled on top of him, and asked in a sleepy voice: “What are you looking at?”
“Nothing.” He locked his phone and tossed it on the nightstand, still leaning back lazily.
Ye Meng, slippery as a loach, straddled him, kissed his eyes repeatedly, and then lay still, seemingly waiting for her foggy consciousness to clear. She inhaled deeply in his embrace with great attachment, like a wilting flower involuntarily absorbing life-giving breath: “Baby, you smell so good.”
The curtains were drawn tight, the room almost dark, as if it were dusk. For a moment, Ye Meng couldn’t distinguish day from night. Li Jin Yu turned on the small wall lamp above the headboard, and an orange light fell between them, his clear, stern face just inches away. Ye Meng suddenly felt somewhat embarrassed, burying her reddening face in the crook of his neck and laughing softly.
“Don’t tell me you’re shy now,” Li Jin Yu looked down at her.
“Is that not allowed?” Ye Meng’s voice was muffled against his neck.
“It’s allowed.” As he spoke, he played with the buttons of her blouse, then gently undid them one by one. The chiffon material was easier to remove than an onion skin. Ye Meng felt he was toying with her, and her heart began to burn, feeling tingly. Then she heard him ask somewhat casually: “It was like this in high school?”
“Mm, a bit smaller maybe?”
“Were the boys in your class that perverse? Staring at you in high school?”
“Weren’t you curious about the opposite sex in high school? Did you never have feelings for any girl?” She steadied herself against him.
“I suppose,” Li Jin Yu thought for a moment, his voice changing tone, “I never had deep feelings, but I did have some appreciation. It can’t even be called appreciation. There was a girl in French class who I thought was nice, but it was admiration at most. Tai Ming Xiao was pursuing her at that time, and I didn’t feel anything about it. I genuinely wished them well.”
His voice gradually lowered, and that spark finally ignited. Ye Meng took the initiative, controlling the whole process herself. She was very attentive to his emotions; whenever he furrowed his brow or showed the slightest discomfort, she would stop and kiss him. Like a butterfly forced to restrain its wings, only able to flutter the flames in her heart little by little, suppressing herself almost to madness.
“Did you never think of pursuing her? Or making her your girlfriend? Like we are now.” Ye Meng whispered seductively in his ear.
“Not with her.”
“Then with whom?”
“You,” his expression darkened, brows furrowed, as if in extreme discomfort, “that time by the lake when you asked for my WeChat.”
“Mm.” Following the memory, she recalled the man wearing a fisherman’s hat, cold and raw like water from the bottom of the lake, seemingly a completely different person from the burning, veiny man before her now.
“That night, I dreamed of you. In the dream, we were just like this,” he said hoarsely, red-eyed. “Sister, kiss me, I’m in some pain.”
Li Jin Yu was truly in pain; he hurt with every movement, so he dared not move at all. He leaned against the headboard the entire time, watching her with restraint, his gaze like a fish wiggling its tail, struggling vigorously but unable to break free.
…
The two slept until three in the afternoon. When Ye Meng awoke, her mind cleared. She felt Li Jin Yu was being somewhat spoiled, using his inexperience as an excuse to act coquettish with her. Ye Meng was quite perplexed—it’s not like she had much experience either. And that “I love you” now seemed increasingly suspicious.
Li Jin Yu hadn’t woken yet, eyes closed with half his face buried in the pillow. Ye Meng turned slightly toward him, causing his dense, distinctly defined eyelashes to flutter. “Are you awake?”
Li Jin Yu made an affirmative sound, pulling her into his arms, his tone extremely languid: “Don’t want to sleep a bit more?”
Ye Meng discovered she was completely undressed while he was still wearing pants. She pinched his waist hard. Li Jin Yu hissed in pain, burying the other half of his face in the pillow as well. She seemed to hear him chuckling softly, “Is this the so-called heartlessness? Sleep with me and then beat me, huh?”
Ye Meng twisted his ear, “Was it really that painful?”
With his head buried in the pillow, he nodded very seriously yet lazily: “Very painful.”
Ye Meng was in pain too, but to spare his feelings, she had forced herself not to cry out. “Li Jin Yu, did you say those words just to sleep with me?”
He smiled lazily, “Who slept with whom? Did you see me move at all?”
Ye Meng: “…”
Li Jin Yu revealed half an eye from the pillow, curved like a kitten’s, looking at her and saying honestly: “Half and half, I guess. Saying ‘I love you’ was to give you a sense of ceremony. I thought you’d be touched.”
“I’m older now. My first reaction to those words is to be moved, but my second is fear. If I were to cheat, with your personality, you’d probably kill me.”
“Would you cheat?” He stopped smiling, his gaze leveling.
Ye Meng, interested, turned on her side, supporting her head and looking at him curiously: “If I were to actually cheat, what would you do?”
Li Jin Yu thought for a moment and said: “I don’t know. Maybe find a woman and cheat too, but I would not divorce you.”
“So you’re stuck with me for life,” Ye Meng clicked her tongue twice, her hand grazing his cheek lightly, changing the subject: “But baby, you lasted quite long for your first time, almost forty minutes.”
Li Jin Yu smiled, then buried his face back in the pillow in exasperation.
Ye Meng teased him, running her fingers through his soft hair, “What’s wrong, feeling shy?”
“No.” He sighed, his voice muffled from the pillow.
Ye Meng thought he was still in pain, so she leaned over and kissed his ear, “Don’t be upset, baby, I’ll take responsibility.”
Li Jin Yu turned his head and kissed her lips, “Did you enjoy it?”
“I enjoyed it immensely,” Ye Meng kissed him back, lying through her teeth. In reality, she hadn’t enjoyed it at all.
When Zhou Yu returned, the two were “passionately” cooking in the kitchen. Ye Meng was hanging on Li Jin Yu, trying to grab the milk from his hand using both her hands and feet. Li Jin Yu wouldn’t let her drink it, leaning lazily against the counter with his hand raised high, keeping it out of her reach. “No, this is expired. I’ll go buy you some more later.”
“You already drank some. No fair, I want some too,” Ye Meng insisted on prying his hand open.
“What’s wrong with you?” Li Jin Yu scolded with a smile.
Ye Meng clung to his neck like a koala, “Life and death together, right? We should drink expired milk together too.”
Li Jin Yu promptly poured the milk down the sink, “Who wants to share life and death with you—” He turned to see Zhou Yu coming through the front door. Ye Meng immediately jumped off him, but Zhou Yu walked straight to his room like a wooden puppet.
“Uh…” Ye Meng said, watching his back, “Should we explain something to him?”
“No need, he knows,” Li Jin Yu leaned against the counter, leisurely finishing pouring out the milk, squeezing the carton, and tossing it into the nearby trash can. “He and Liang Yun An both know. I told them before, they’ll keep it secret.”
“How do you know? What if…”
“Our relationship can’t be kept from everyone. Liang Yun An is a police officer. I chose to let him know as a precaution and to indirectly protect you. I’ve explained the situation to him, including my mother’s case, and he has professional ethics. As for Zhou Yu, he lives here. Unless you never come to see me, we can’t hide it for long. He’s not an idiot. He can guess what we did this morning. For some things, it’s better to be open than secretive. Might as well tell him directly. Besides, he knows I’m not a good person and there are consequences for crossing me, so he won’t try anything stupid.”
“How did you threaten him? Zhou Yu is quite obedient,” Ye Meng said, feeling somewhat sorry for him.
Li Jin Yu put his hands back in his pockets, inexplicably annoyed: “How could I threaten him? Should I say I’ll assault him? Would you believe that?”
“…”
The next day, Ye Meng went to work, texting with Fang Ya En while driving.
Fang: No way, you didn’t feel anything? Lemon Leaf: Yeah, it hurt so much, but I didn’t dare say it hurt. Then it turns out he was in more pain than me, crying so pitifully. I’m speechless. Fang: I feel for you, such an unharmonious intimate life. How was the size? Lemon Leaf: Big, why else would it hurt so much? Whatever, I choose this younger man, I’ll have to endure the pain. Gotta work now.
When Ye Meng entered her office, she found someone sitting on the sofa. A meticulously pressed suit hung on a nearby chair back. He wore a crisp vest, had an oiled hairstyle, and wore glasses, looking quite different from that night.
“What are you doing here?” She tossed her bag onto the sofa, asking him while pouring water.
Gou Kai had placed a bunch of bright red, luscious roses beside him. Ye Meng’s heart skipped a beat. She took a sip of water and nearly choked on his words: “I’ve decided that starting today, I will officially pursue you. I can see you have some feelings for Li Jin Yu, but you’re constrained by the shackles of marriage.”