Kissing Through a Tissue, Isn’t That a Wet Kiss?

After everyone finished packing their things, they ran to the restaurant for a steaming hot pot meal. After eating their fill, the group started playing a game of 007.

Xu Sui was a bit confused: “What?”

Hu Qianxi suddenly stood up, tapping her chopsticks against her glass: “Hehe, let me, the table game queen, introduce the rules to you all. It’s actually very simple – A points to B and says 0, B points to C and says 0, C can point to anyone and say 7 while making a shooting gesture at them. The key point is that the two people sitting next to the person who gets shot must make surrender gestures, otherwise the loser gets punished.”

“Sounds so simple, even a bit stupid. Come on, I’m the table game prince.” Sheng Nanzhou boasted shamelessly.

Hu Qianxi: “Heh.”

She tapped the glass three times with her chopsticks, and the game officially began. Hu Qianxi held a chopstick and waved it in front of everyone, even chanting “急急如律立,” then immediately pointed at Da Liu and shouted: “0!”

Da Liu’s eyes darted around randomly as he pointed at someone haphazardly, shouting with a thick tongue: “0!”

Zhou Jingze reacted extremely quickly, even finding time to make eye contact with Qin Jing. Xu Sui could tell from Zhou Jingze’s expression that he was up to no good.

Sure enough, the next second, he spoke rapidly, making a shooting gesture at Qin Jing with a roguish smile: “7.”

Qin Jing immediately fell down in response, while Sheng Nanzhou beside him was still munching on squid jerky, not realizing what was happening. By the time he tried to make the surrender gesture.

“Too late.” Zhou Jingze leisurely announced his death sentence.

Hu Qianxi looked at the squid silk stuck to the corner of Sheng Nanzhou’s mouth and sneered coldly: “Still calling yourself the table game prince, I think you’re more like a table game husky.”

Sheng Nanzhou was punished to run three laps around the guesthouse while barking like a dog. Everyone laughed until they were doubled over. When Sheng Nanzhou came back shivering from the cold outside, he pointed at Zhou Jingze, who was laughing the most brazenly, and made a threatening declaration:

“A gentleman’s revenge is never too late! Just you wait!”

Zhou Jingze’s tone was nonchalant, suppressing his laughter: “Don’t keep me waiting too long.”

Fortune turned, and unexpectedly Sheng Nanzhou really found his chance. When it was Zhou Jingze’s turn, he happened to be replying to a phone message, just one second too slow.

Xu Sui, sitting beside him, was somewhat worried about the punishment Zhou Jingze was about to receive. She had clearly tugged his sleeve to remind him!

“What punishment?” Zhou Jingze placed his phone face-down on the table, his tone calm.

“Let me think,” Hu Qianxi’s eyes rolled back and forth between the two of them, then had a bright idea, “Ah, I’ll punish you and Suisui to kiss through a tissue. That’s not too much, right?”

“Holy shit, kissing, kissing!!”

“So exciting!”

“Kissing through a tissue, isn’t that a wet kiss?”

The group started screaming like excited chickens, going “ooh ooh ooh.” Xu Sui’s eyelid twitched, and amid all the jeering, her fair cheeks turned red like watercolor bleeding on paper, her face like peach blossoms, utterly flushed.

Xu Sui instinctively looked toward Zhou Jingze, her heart almost jumping out of her throat, her throat parched. Zhou Jingze leaned back against the sofa, his long legs lazily propped on the coffee table’s crossbar. One hand continued playing with Xu Sui’s hair intermittently, while the other grabbed an empty drink bottle and threw it at the guy who mentioned wet kissing, laughing roguishly:

“Wet your ass, pick something else.”

When Boss Zhou spoke, and considering he was usually these people’s meal ticket, they had to comply. The group had to huddle together to discuss a different way to mess with Zhou Jingze.

Zhou Jingze pulled back his long legs, hunched his back, and pinched Xu Sui’s tender, soft fingertips with his knuckles in an intimate gesture. Xu Sui looked up, smiled briefly, then gently lowered her lashes, disappointment flashing in her eyes.

She was clearly relieved to have avoided their teasing, but for some reason, a sense of loss welled up in her heart.

Were they really together? They’d been together for several months now, but their interactions were limited to holding hands and occasionally him putting his arm around her shoulders – no other intimacy.

After everyone rested, they packed up and set off for the ski resort. The most excited among them was undoubtedly Hu Qianxi, who wore a red cloak and walked with obviously unsteady steps, even humming a song.

Sheng Nanzhou unhurriedly followed behind her, his gaze carrying unnoticed gentle warmth as he asked: “Young miss, that happy?”

“Of course!” Hu Qianxi replied.

Actually, Xu Sui also felt secretly excited, but she had a slow-to-warm personality and didn’t express it much. Having grown up in the south, when had she ever seen real snow?

Li Ying never snowed, and the only time was in 2008 when the south experienced its lowest temperatures. The next day at school, they discovered ice had formed on the school railings, and everyone was so excited that some people even licked the ice.

Zhou Jingze noticed Xu Sui’s emotional change and raised an eyebrow: “That happy?”

“Mm!”

Zhou Jingze looked down at her – her fair cheeks had a red nose tip from the cold, and her glass-like black eyes still sparkled with light. He deliberately teased her, reaching up to pinch her dewy face, raising an eyebrow to ask:

“Do you know how to ski?”

“No,” Xu Sui’s face hurt a little from being pinched. She reached up to pry off Zhou Jingze’s hand, and when she smiled, her dimples appeared, “but I have you, don’t I?”

Perhaps Xu Sui was too excited – only after speaking did she realize her voice had unconsciously drawn out, carrying a hint of baby talk, like she was being coquettish.

Xu Sui looked up in a daze, meeting Zhou Jingze’s deep, dark eyes. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly slapped away his hand and hurriedly escaped, calling out softly: “Xixi, wait for me.”

Zhou Jingze put his hands in his pockets, watching Xu Sui’s fleeing figure ahead, lazy amusement overflowing from the corners of his eyes as he let out a soft laugh.

Beishan Ski Resort, the largest freestyle ski resort in Beijing North City. Upon entering, their vision expanded – rolling mountains everywhere, a vast open area, with endless snow fields bordered by two rows of pine needle forests.

Led by staff, they collected equipment and changed clothes. Zhou Jingze was extremely familiar with skiing, having often gone to Norway during winter breaks to do ski jumping and snowboarding, but he found cross-country skiing rather mundane – mainly because it wasn’t thrilling enough and lacked adventure.

Zhou Jingze quickly changed clothes then went to supervise Xu Sui’s outfit change, his tone brooking no argument: “Make sure your base layers are warm enough.”

“Okay.” This time Xu Sui definitely wouldn’t dare dress so lightly in front of him again.

After changing clothes, the instructor led everyone to the ski slopes. Both Hu Qianxi and Xu Sui had personal guides, while the others were taught by instructors.

Hu Qianxi was on the east side, propped up on ski poles, her whole body rigid like a frog facing disaster: “I’m telling you, my life is extremely, extremely valuable, and I’m about to put it in your hands, so you absolutely must protect me well.”

Sheng Nanzhou rolled his eyes, his young master temper flaring: “Are you fucking skiing or not? You’ve been talking for fifteen minutes!”

Compared to this bickering pair’s antagonistic state, Zhou Jingze and Xu Sui on the other side appeared much more harmonious. At first, Zhou Jingze supported Xu Sui’s arm as they moved slowly on the gentle slope.

He taught Xu Sui several key techniques, took her around a few times, and combined with the little girl’s quick learning ability, soon Xu Sui could ski freely on her own.

But Xu Sui was naturally timid and had basically never done such thrilling adventure sports before. Even after learning, she still clung tightly to Zhou Jingze’s arm.

Zhou Jingze’s tone was helpless, letting out a soft snort of laughter: “I’m right here.”

“Ski forward, don’t be afraid. I’m watching you from behind.”

With Zhou Jingze as her reassurance, Xu Sui calmed down and skied more and more steadily. She propped herself on ski poles, leaned forward, and glided downhill at a moderate speed. The cold wind whistled past, and she unconsciously smiled, feeling even the air tasted of snow particles.

Seeing her ski smoothly, Zhou Jingze quietly let go.

Xu Sui felt more relaxed than ever before, her heart racing with excitement. Although her throat was becoming uncomfortable from the wind, she was still incredibly excited. The restrained, adventure-seeking factors in her body finally broke free in this moment.

She unconsciously sped up, racing downhill, but who knew there was a turn coming up on the slope ahead. Having lost control of her force all the way, with her momentum askew, her whole body went into an uncontrolled rapid descent.

“Zhou Jingze, I… I I I—” Xu Sui’s rationality returned, and she was so scared her voice went hoarse.

Zhou Jingze was skiing on the opposite side when he heard the commotion. He even threw aside his ski poles and took the nearest but steepest shortcut, quickly skiing toward Xu Sui’s direction. Zhou Jingze skied very fast, recklessly charging forward laterally, finally reaching her front and extending his arms to catch her.

“Ahhhhhh, you… get away!”

With danger ahead, Xu Sui couldn’t care about being reserved and screamed all the way, her voice piercing the sky. With a “bang,” Xu Sui collided head-on with Zhou Jingze. Amid the howling wind and snow, she vaguely heard a muffled grunt as they both fell to the ground, their helmets flung aside.

Xu Sui felt her head had hit Zhou Jingze’s chest, causing waves of pain. Other than that, the imagined pain didn’t come. Instead, her cheek pressed against a soft torso, the warm temperature reminding her.

Zhou Jingze had cushioned her fall.

Xu Sui quickly opened her eyes, pushed Zhou Jingze’s shoulder, and asked: “Are you okay?”

No response.

Xu Sui shook him three times, her voice growing more anxious each time, while Zhou Jingze kept his eyes tightly closed, his lashes dotted with snow particles, his lips crimson red, lying in the snow like a beautiful statue with an air of dark elegance.

Xu Sui struggled to get up from Zhou Jingze’s body, sniffling: “I’ll go call the others over.”

Just as she was about to turn and leave, suddenly a well-defined hand reached over to grab her wrist, ice-cold, yanking Xu Sui downward forcefully. She let out a significant gasp of surprise and fell down again, her lips hitting his hard collarbone.

At the same time, warm breath sprayed against her neck, and a hoarse voice seemed to suppress some unbearable feeling:

“Can’t hold back anymore.”

Zhou Jingze cupped her head and pressed it down, catching her in an ice-cold kiss. The moment their lips touched, the wind and snow fell silent, occasionally a branch would break under snow’s weight with a crackling sound – something was melting.

Xu Sui couldn’t help but widen her eyes, hearing her own rapid heartbeat.

Wind whistled past as Zhou Jingze used his thumb to caress her chin with gentle movements. He seemed to be enjoying this kiss very much – they shared a soft, icy yet sweet kiss in the heavy snow.

Zhou Jingze let out a low laugh, simply freeing one hand to cushion the back of his head, and lightly licked her lips with just the right pressure. He swallowed, his Adam’s apple rolling slowly, as if speaking in a breathy voice, laughing:

“Baby, you’re clenched so tight, how can I slip my tongue in?”