Shoutout to Alinaza for the commission!
The weather was good today. Whether in Tongcheng or Beicheng, it was a rare day without heavy snow fluttering everywhere.
The plane landed earlier than scheduled. Lu Huaiyan pushed a suitcase one-handed and walked out of the terminal with Han Yin.
Han Yin asked him: “Are you staying at Hanshan Temple tonight? I had someone prepare fish-noodle soup. Come drink a bowl to warm your stomach.”
Lu Huaiyan said: “I’m not staying. After I send you back, I’ll go find Jiang Se.”
When the man said this, his expression was calm, his tone gentle.
But Han Yin knew very well just how eager he was to see Sese right now.
Before, whenever he sent her back to Hanshan Temple, no matter how big the matter, he had to sit and have a bowl of soup with her before leaving. But now, he couldn’t even wait long enough for that.
She glanced at him, understanding, and said: “Since you’re not staying the night and not having soup, you don’t need to go out of your way to send me. Assistant Li can send me. Is she waiting for you to have dinner? Just go straight from the airport to Sese’s place. It’s almost dinner time, don’t let her go hungry.”
“No matter how urgent, I must send you.” Lu Huaiyan picked up Han Yin’s bag and placed it atop the suitcase, pushing both as he smiled. “She knows the arrival time of my flight, and she knows I’m sending you back to Hanshan Temple. She won’t let herself go hungry.”
Jiang Se indeed hadn’t gone hungry. Around six she drank a bottle of yogurt to tide herself over, planning to take Lu Huaiyan out for dinner when he arrived.
As for what accounts he wanted to settle with her, she knew perfectly well.
It was just that she’d treated Fu Yun to a meal and hadn’t treated him, so she’d take him out for a meal. The restaurants here mostly served Tongcheng’s local dishes, leaning sour-sweet. She really wanted to see whether he could get used to it.
When Lu Huaiyan’s call came in, Jiang Se had just finished showering and was changing clothes.
She picked up the call, and the man’s voice came from both the phone and outside the door at the same time: “I’m here.”
Jiang Se pulled on the knitted dress she was going to wear out and went to the entryway to open the door for him.
Lu Huaiyan looked her up and down from top to bottom.
The milk-tea-colored dress she wore was a tight-fitting style, the hem ten centimeters above the knee, the collar folded outward, revealing a long neck and delicate collarbones, her waist cinched in very thin.
“Why so fast?” Jiang Se glanced at the clock on the wall and said, “Did you send Auntie Han back to Hanshan Temple?”
Lu Huaiyan let out a soft “mm,” pulled his suitcase into the entryway, and while closing the door said lightly, “Today’s flight arrived half an hour early.”
“Then I’ll take you to eat first—” Jiang Se was about to get her coat when, from the corner of her eye, she saw what Lu Huaiyan had taken out of his coat and lightly tossed onto the shoe cabinet. Her words suddenly stopped.
It was a square paper box, palm-sized, the same brand as the full drawer Han Xiao had prepared for him, just in a different color. He must’ve bought it on purpose on his way over.
He bought two boxes.
Lu Huaiyan slowly took off his glasses, folded the temples together, set them on the cabinet surface, then slowly removed his gloves. His gaze, however, was fixed on Jiang Se as he said, “Previous lesson, best to keep two boxes at your place in advance.”
Previous lesson, he meant that night on the mountain on New Year’s Eve.
The moment their eyes met they both guessed what the other wanted to do.
The heater was on in the apartment; the air at this moment felt especially dry.
Jiang Se didn’t bother getting her coat anymore. Looking at Lu Huaiyan with unhurried poise, she said, “My next-door neighbors are an elderly couple. They’re old, but their hearing is sharp and their bodies strong. Every day they sit on the balcony with a pad, scrolling short videos while cursing society’s decline.”
She paused, her beautiful almond eyes gesturing slightly toward the interior, implying something: “The walls in this building are very thin, and all the neighbors know my parents. I need to be mindful of the influence.”
Wasn’t he insisting on spending the night here?
Fine then: plain and quiet it would be.
Lu Huaiyan gave a low laugh, put his gloves on the cabinet, and as he unfastened his watch strap, glanced at the time, saying, “It’s almost nine. Elderly people sleep early. We really can’t disturb them.”
He looked easy to talk to: “Weren’t we going to eat? What did you have at noon?”
He shifted the topic to food. Jiang Se looked at him, thinking this man intended to eat every dish she’d had with Fu Yun at noon. She turned to take her coat from the rack as she said, “Had big-bone soup—”
She’d barely reported one dish when her waist was suddenly gripped. Her body twisted back, and she was pressed up against the wall.
Jiang Se: “…”
Lu Huaiyan lowered his head and brushed her lips, saying with layered meaning, “Big-bone soup, hm?”
Jiang Se was still wondering what he meant when her shoulder suddenly felt a chill, his lips and teeth had already bitten down on her shoulder bone.
The collar of this knitted dress was wide, the fabric soft and elastic. Lu Huaiyan barely needed any effort to pull the collar down to her shoulder.
Jiang Se cried out, “Lu Huaiyan!”
She raised her hand to push him.
Lu Huaiyan loosened his jaw slightly, clasped her wrist with one hand, lifted his head from her white shoulder, and said at her ear, “Keep your voice down. The elderly are asleep, be careful they don’t point at your pretty nose tomorrow and say society’s in decline because of you.”
Jiang Se: “…”
While he spoke, he didn’t forget to tug at her earlobe for a few seconds, his warm breath prickling her scalp numb.
When that warm breath reached her collarbone, she couldn’t hold back a hiss.
This man really was biting her bone. Even through a layer of skin-and-flesh she could feel the hardness of his teeth.
In the past he also liked leaving marks there, but they were sucked out. With these few bites, he’d leave a teeth mark.
He controlled his strength well, on the edge of pain and itch. When she felt his lips reach the butterfly bone, Jiang Se’s lashes trembled, her spine tingling in an instant.
The second hand on the clock ticked a few rounds. Lu Huaiyan lifted his head from her shoulder blade and continued asking her, “What other dishes did you eat?”
His low voice was hoarse, his gaze on her deep and heavy.
Jiang Se looked at him, lips pressed together, silent.
Lu Huaiyan then smiled and started a guessing game: “I heard the rose snow dumplings here are a must-order. Did you have that?”
He asked with his mouth while his hands unfastened the clasp on her back, utterly sure of himself.
Jiang Se had indeed eaten that sweet soup at noon, but she didn’t want to admit it.
She stubbornly said, “Didn’t eat.” After speaking, she drew in a sharp breath.
Lu Huaiyan didn’t take her answer seriously at all. He caught her cleanly, swiftly, and precisely.
The collar slipped down to her elbows. Jiang Se closed her eyes. He had fully hooked her interest. Her shoulder blades fluttered back like wings as she began to match him.
Fine, he could settle his accounts; she would enjoy herself.
But he could forget about getting another dish name out of her.
Lu Huaiyan seemed to have read her mind. When he bent his spine to tease her earlobe, he lowered his voice and said, “Let’s leave the food bill aside. Let’s settle the drinking bill. Did Fu Yun drink one glass or two?”
Jiang Se stared at him without saying a word, her eyes misted, the skin exposed to the air no different from milky broth simmered over a small flame.
Lu Huaiyan’s Adam’s apple rolled. He felt the taste of that big-bone soup earlier wasn’t nearly satisfying enough.
She refused to speak; he didn’t force her. He smiled, “Given Fu Yun’s lousy tolerance, I’ll just assume it was one glass.”
When he finished, he lowered his head to kiss her. Jiang Se didn’t resist. Her teeth were pried open quickly, and as she felt the fabric at her knee being pushed upward, she lifted her lashes to look at him.
From beneath his half-lowered lids, the man’s gaze was heavy and dark, filled with aggression.
A moment later, while sucking on her tongue tip, he unhurriedly asked her: “Which part of this room has the thinnest wall panels?”
Jiang Se still didn’t speak, letting him keep guessing.
Lu Huaiyan let go of her tongue tip and gave a soft laugh: “I guess it’s the kitchen.”
“……”
That kitchen had never been used for cooking since Jiang Se moved in. There was still a bit of lingering smoke-fire on the counter, a tea set placed there, along with a few enamel jars holding tea leaves and rock sugar.
But the island counter was clean and spotless, the white marble surface free of dust.
Lu Huaiyan pressed his palm onto the old-style switch plate on the wall, clicking off all the lights in the house.
The open kitchen faced the living room, and the floor-to-ceiling curtains in the living room were only pulled halfway.
Outside the window, the dim night sky held sparse cold stars, the moonlight faint as a bean. The hazy light that slanted through the glass couldn’t reach the kitchen, leaving the island counter in complete darkness.
The heater breathed threads of warmth, like spring silkworms spitting silk.
The island counter had been stripped of its chill by the heater, not as cold as Jiang Se had imagined.
In the darkness she heard Lu Huaiyan’s voice, touched with desire and half laughter: “Sese, the alcohol is overflowing.”
“……” This b*stard.
He was using the most absurdly erotic method to ask her for a drink.
Darkness magnified every sense; perception took physical shape, surging waves, and also the blooming of spring.
Yet she couldn’t wholly sink into those waves, into that spring light.
The wall panel on the kitchen side was the thinnest; beyond it was the living room and bedroom of the other unit.
Afraid those ambiguous sounds would disturb someone’s dreams, Jiang Se had to drag out a shred of reason to lock her throat. As the haze rose, she ultimately didn’t hold back, she grabbed the instigator’s wrist bone and bit down hard.
The moment blood touched her mouth, it was as if the Milky Way poured into her eyes, scattering a mist.
After Lu Huaiyan finished settling the bill for drinking, he went to the entryway to retrieve something, then turned on the TV, lowered the volume to its lowest setting, and carried her into the master bedroom’s bathroom.
In the bathroom, the shower water soon began to fall, pattering softly like continuous spring rain.
The TV noise and the water noise formed a curtain of sound, covering all the spring-tide surges behind the double doors.
The vanity mirror light was on; in the mirror was a hazy, flushed lotus face.
The man raised his hand to push aside the sweat-damp strands at her temple, pinched her jaw, and lowered his head to kiss her.
“Don’t worry, you won’t disturb the old folks here.”
Jiang Se slanted her gaze toward the mirror, on his cold-white wrist bone was a ring of dark red bite marks, like tiny red jade. Gradually, those rice-grain-sized red jades dissolved into fine halos of light in her dilating pupils.
Lu Huaiyan stared into her eyes, his movements clearly fierce, but his hoarse voice was gentle: “I learned a word from a man at the bar. He said the ancients described that feeling with the word ‘lose’. Did our young lady lose or not?”
“……”
—
Coming out of the bathroom, Jiang Se fell asleep the moment her head touched the pillow. Her last thread of consciousness was Lu Huaiyan’s arm coming across her and his warm chest.
She didn’t sleep long; she was awakened by hunger before dawn.
When she woke, the person beside her was gone, and a thin line of light slipped in under the bedroom door.
Jiang Se put on a thin cardigan and walked out of the bedroom.
Lu Huaiyan was leaning against the iron railing of the balcony making a phone call. Seeing her come out, he quickly ended the call and pushed open the glass door to come in.
“Did I wake you?”
“No.”
He was wearing a black coat over himself. Coming in, he casually shrugged it off and set it over the sofa back, then picked up the water glass on the side table and walked toward her, saying: “It’s still warm, want some?”
He was using her water glass.
Jiang Se was indeed thirsty; she took it and drank half, saying: “I’m hungry.”
It was five in the morning; she had slept about five hours.
“I’m hungry too,” Lu Huaiyan pinched her cheek with amusement, “Guess what I felt when I opened your fridge?”
In her fridge, aside from a few bottles of yogurt and water, there was nothing else.
The cupboards were also empty, he couldn’t even find noodles to cook her a bowl of.
When the man raised his hand, his wrist was exposed. Jiang Se’s gaze fell on the bite marks on his wrist bone, one small oval ring, each tooth mark scabbed over.
It showed how hard she had bitten.
Lu Huaiyan followed her gaze and shot her a sideways look: “Now you feel guilty?”
Jiang Se withdrew her gaze, lowered her head to drink water, and said expressionlessly: “Not guilty. You asked for it.”
He insisted on putting her on the island counter to mess with her, she didn’t want noise, so of course she needed something to bite.
“We didn’t disturb them even with the thinnest wall, so other places naturally won’t either.” Lu Huaiyan pinched her chin, half-smiling, “In the future you can’t use the thin-wall excuse on me.”
“……”
A person’s home is a very private place, practically a physical manifestation of their inner world. At first Jiang Se truly didn’t want to let him come over, but later…
She no longer resisted him being here.
The real reason she hadn’t let him come was indeed because the walls were too thin.
She turned to the kitchen to put down the glass and said in a light tone: “If you want to come over in the future, be prepared to get bitten.”
“Bite,” Lu Huaiyan said, “you can bite me anywhere you want, all over.”
“……”
Jiang Se set down the cup, turned around, leaned against the counter, and said to him: “You bit me last night too, and in more than one place.”
Lu Huaiyan gave a low laugh, braced his hands on either side of her, and good-naturedly asked: “Where did I bite you? Show me a bite mark.”
Jiang Se really went to look, tilting her head to the side, lifting the cardigan off her shoulder, showing him the marks he had left on her shoulder bone, collarbone, and butterfly bone.
Those patches of white skin were covered in red bruises, but no bite marks. Probably after a night’s sleep, they had all faded.
He had also bitten her rib bones a few times on the island counter last night, and Jiang Se hooked a finger at the thin strap hanging off her shoulder, preparing to look further down.
Her face was turned back at that moment.
The man’s gaze was very heavy, the fingers pinching her jaw carrying a bit of force. “Do you want me to give you a fresh one right now, to match the one on my hand?”
Jiang Se then let go of the strap she’d been hooking with her finger, lifted her wrist toward his mouth, and said, “Bite.”
Lu Huaiyan held her slender wrist, rubbed it a few times, then suddenly lowered his head and opened his mouth to bite down on her pale fingers.
Jiang Se’s breathing eased slightly.
The force of his bite was stronger than last night. The soft pads of her fingertips could clearly feel the pressure of his teeth squeezing down, and the itch of his warm, damp tongue sweeping along the side of her finger.
He was biting with quite a bit of focus, lashes lowered, face tilted, his jawline sharper than at any other time.
Ten fingers linked to the heart, Jiang Se felt her heart itch a little.
She didn’t pull her hand back, letting him bite, thinking he really meant to leave some tooth marks. But the next second, he loosened his jaw, kissed the scarred center of her palm, lifted his eyes and asked her, “Miss me?”
There was still some unextinguished desire in his brows and eyes, the kind she had just drawn out of him.
Yet the eyes looking at her were very calm, like the sea after a storm in the middle of the night.
Lu Huaiyan didn’t seem to expect any answer from her. After asking, he immediately lifted the corner of his lips and said slowly, “I really missed you.”
