Bai Xuan sensed Ye Chu’s breathing growing heavier and naturally understood what he wanted. Her face flushed to an extreme crimson, and she lacked the courage to face him. Even though she enjoyed the feeling of nestling against his body, she could not help struggling at this moment.
“Ye Chu, we cannot!” Bai Xuan’s voice trembled slightly. Her face burned fiercely red, but in the end she still spoke up.
Ye Chu reached out and wrapped his arms around Bai Xuan, drawing her back into his embrace. “I once heard a description of a certain state in the relationship between men and women. It surpasses friendship but falls short of love, lingering somewhere in between, yet using familial affection as a disguise. This kind of ambiguity carries a faint, sweet stickiness that winds around the fingertips, and a melancholy that hovers in the heart. It is a warmth without the mad passion of lovers, yet exceptionally tender.”
Hearing Ye Chu’s words, the tension in Bai Xuan’s body softened within his hold. She gazed at his sharply defined features and said, “Isn’t that quite nice?”
“Matters between men and women cannot be fully explained by simple notions of good or bad. Emotions in this world either deepen gradually or drift apart. The tender, intoxicating ambiguity always ends with one side defeated utterly, reduced to a state where one wastes away thinner than autumn chrysanthemums. Then comes either departure or union.” Ye Chu spoke calmly, looking at Bai Xuan. “I once heard a saying: ‘Ambiguity carries the shyness or guilt in one’s heart.’ I have always believed that in this life, why must we hesitate and look back at every step? People simply live for timely enjoyment. ‘Rejoice to the fullest when life is sweet’ is precisely about living.”
Bai Xuan burst out laughing. “Who persuades people only to indulge themselves? No wonder your reputation is so rotten. You really are a playboy. Who knows how many women you’ve deceived with these words.”
“As long as one’s heart is calm and joyful, why care about the curses?” Ye Chu shook his head. “Someone once told me: she enjoyed that indescribable, wonderful sensation. Even if one day they truly parted ways, when that time came, leaving would still be beautiful.”
Bai Xuan stared into Ye Chu’s deep eyes, wondering who had said those words to him. She quietly rested her head on his shoulder, waiting for him to continue.
“At that time, I wondered: if it really came to an end, if we truly walked the path of separation, could one really be so carefree? The difference between humans and animals lies in the emotional world that animals lack. If one day we really cannot be together and become strangers, or even enemies, could we truly laugh it off?” Ye Chu looked at Bai Xuan with burning intensity. “In my previous life, I must have been someone indulgent in debauchery and excess, preferring to collapse onto a woman’s bed rather than play at ambiguity. Sometimes I fear it, because I fear that if one day we truly reach the state of ‘thinner than autumn chrysanthemums,’ what path would I take?”
“How could we part ways? How could we?” Bai Xuan looked into Ye Chu’s profound eyes that seemed to see through everything. A faint pain pricked her heart. What exactly had Ye Chu endured to make him feel that his previous life was one of utter decadence?
Bai Xuan’s feelings for Ye Chu were complicated, just as he had described: drifting between friendship and love, using familial affection as cover. But were there really only two choices?
Bai Xuan fell silent. Emotions were either deep or shallow. The thought of her feelings for Ye Chu fading in the future made her feel as though she would go mad.
Bai Xuan’s hand climbed to Ye Chu’s cheek. Looking at his excessively youthful appearance, she could not help finding it hard to understand how he possessed such a mature heart.
“I have no idea how many women you’ve deceived with these words.” Bai Xuan lifted her gaze. Her lashes trembled with inexplicable shyness.
Ye Chu reached out and grasped the soft, slender little hand resting on his face. “I have said plenty of deceptive words to women. But this set is the first time I’ve spoken it.”
“Pfft!” Bai Xuan could not help laughing, thinking that he had actually admitted these words were meant to deceive women.
“I believe you now. In your previous life, you really were a profoundly skilled playboy. An ordinary person could never say such words to deceive a girl.” Bai Xuan’s eyes shone brightly. Her watery, beautiful gaze was dazed and utterly captivating.
“Sister Bai Xuan, you have no idea just how alluring you are. I could hardly say something tasteless like ‘It doesn’t hurt! It doesn’t hurt! That feeling is wonderful’ to deceive you, could I?” Ye Chu held Bai Xuan’s voluptuous body tightly. He turned her face towards him, gazed at her moist, tempting red lips, and leaned down to kiss her.
Bai Xuan turned her face aside, raising her hand to block Ye Chu’s descending face. She gave him a reproachful glance. “I have not admitted that my feelings for you lie between friendship and love, much less that I use familial affection as a disguise.”
Watching Bai Xuan blink her watery eyes playfully at him, with those red lips so close, Ye Chu could no longer hold back. He leaned down swiftly to kiss her, but Bai Xuan’s hand blocked him. Ye Chu’s tongue lightly touched the centre of her palm. Startled, Bai Xuan let out a soft “Ah!” and pulled her hand away.
Ye Chu’s lips landed on her delicate, vivid red lips. The warm, fragrant softness made him intoxicated. He greedily nibbled lightly.
Perhaps because she had let go of the defences in her heart, or perhaps she had truly been deceived by Ye Chu, Bai Xuan, who had always resisted, now wrapped her arms around him in return. Involuntarily, she met him halfway.
Ye Chu had drifted through countless night scenes and forgotten how many unclear relationships he had had, yet he had never felt anything like this moment. This wonderful sensation made him feel like a novice.
Ye Chu’s hand began to wander upwards, about to rest on Bai Xuan’s full, soft, and elastic breasts, when Bai Xuan caught it, refusing to let him go further.
Leaning against the lips that Ye Chu had lightly bitten, she gave him a glare. “I do not possess your realm of ‘rejoice to the fullest when life is sweet.’ No wild thoughts, and no wild actions.”
“Ah…” Ye Chu stared blankly at Bai Xuan.
Seeing his stunned expression, Bai Xuan laughed shyly. She pulled Ye Chu up, pushed him out of the room, and locked the door behind him. She leaned her back against the door. Her powdered face was radiant, her tender, smooth cheeks flushed with a drunken-like crimson, utterly enchanting.
Her full breasts rose and fell sharply with her pounding heart, accentuating their peaks and waves. Bai Xuan lightly touched her lips, feeling as though her heart might leap out.
“What a rascal, with one trick after another for deceiving women.” Bai Xuan murmured softly to herself, then felt an inexplicable wave of shyness. Even though she knew it full well, she had still foolishly jumped right in.
…
Ye Chu had no idea what Bai Xuan was thinking. Pushed out the door, he stared blankly at the tightly closed door, standing there in a daze for a moment before finally turning to leave.
Bai Xuan listened to the sound of Ye Chu’s footsteps fading away and only then let out a sigh of relief. She thought that if Ye Chu had stubbornly insisted on coming back in, she did not know whether she could have held him off. Thinking of the damp sensation between her legs, Bai Xuan felt her face burn even hotter.