Lin Ting felt as if her earlobe had been licked by a snake, a sensation that carried a deadly danger yet an undeniable comfort.
It was like the silent rain that nourishes without a sound, gradually encroaching upon her territory without causing any aversion, and she adapted to it unconsciously.
The snake’s tongue moved along the contour of her ear, meticulously licking away the few remaining droplets of water from her bath, leaving behind a lingering scent of agarwood.
She couldn’t help but crumple the ramie cloth in her hand, wanting to lift her head to look at Duan Ling.
But Duan Ling had already moved away.
Lin Ting let out a sigh of relief, yet inexplicably felt a hint of vague emptiness.
The next moment, her right ear was captured by his lips, licked just as thoroughly as before, cleaning away the water droplets.
It was like a lost traveler in the desert, parched and directionless, treasuring every single drop of water as if it were a precious gem.
Since Duan Ling had approached her from behind, his chest was pressed tightly against her back.
Both of them were wearing thin undergarments, and the moment they touched, it was almost as if their skin was in direct contact.
Lin Ting could distinctly feel the heat of Duan Ling’s body, his muscles firm yet just right.
Lin Ting finally lifted her head, turning to the right to look at him kissing her earlobe, but her long hair hadn’t been brushed aside yet, almost covering her entire face and blocking her view.
As Lin Ting reached to brush her hair aside, Duan Ling kissed her cheek and the tip of her nose through her hair.
Her hand froze mid-air.
Soon, Duan Ling brushed her hair aside for her, and then kissed her lips without any obstruction, but it was just a fleeting touch, leaving her with an itch in her heart.
Lin Ting subconsciously tilted her chin up, but he kissed her cheek again, still just a fleeting touch.
Lin Ting’s heart was thrown into disarray, and she turned to face Duan Ling directly.
As he kissed her face, his fingers delved into her still-damp hair, emerging with water clinging to them, his fingertips glistening with moisture.
Lin Ting’s gaze shifted from his face to his fingers, then back to his face.
Duan Ling’s eyes were lowered, his long eyelashes dark and lush, his bone structure superior, as if he had stepped out of a painting.
His thin inner robe’s sash was loosely tied, the knot somewhat undone, and his garment slightly ajar.
Though it didn’t reveal much, it made one want to see more.
Lin Ting crumpled the ramie cloth even more in her hand.
Sometimes she really suspected that Duan Ling was an incarnation of a male ghost.
“You rarely take the initiative to kiss me lately, but you used to be very proactive. Why is that?” Duan Ling raised his hand, pressing his fingertips to the corner of her lips, his eyes calm, devoid of any desire, as if the person who had just kissed her from behind, lasciviously and greedily licking her earlobe, was not him.
Duan Ling was taller than Lin Ting, and naturally, he sat higher than her.
He didn’t lower his head or bend his waist now; he was looking down at her.
But for some reason, even though he was looking down at her, it felt as if he was looking up at her.
When he realized this, Duan Ling felt his body and consciousness both slipping out of control, completely under Lin Ting’s command.
Initially, only his body was uncontrollable, but now, it seemed as if even his mind was about to lose control.
Duan Ling stared intently at Lin Ting.
Lin Ting, of course, wouldn’t tell Duan Ling that her previous proactiveness was due to a system task; if she didn’t kiss him, she would die.
Now, if he really wanted her to take the initiative to kiss him, it wasn’t impossible.
They were, after all, mutually beneficial.
As long as it was something she didn’t mind doing, she was willing to do it.
Instead of answering Duan Ling’s question with words, she showed him that she could be proactive now.
Lin Ting leaned in and kissed him.
Their lips met, their breaths entwined.
As soon as Lin Ting kissed Duan Ling, the curtains on either side of the couch, which had been hooked up, suddenly loosened and slowly fell, covering them inside the couch.
Duan Ling opened his mouth, happily accepting the kiss she gave, and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Lin Ting’s hair was still dripping water, which fell onto his hand that was holding her lower back, seeping through the cuff of his sleeve and dampening the scar underneath.
The sound of their kissing and the dripping of her long hair intertwined, assaulting Duan Ling’s eardrums.
The kiss didn’t last long; Duan Ling was the one who ended it.
He picked up the ramie cloth that had fallen onto the bedding and covered Lin Ting’s head with it to dry her long hair.
Lin Ting hadn’t yet recovered from the kiss when Duan Ling began to dry her hair.
Before long, the tips of her hair were no longer dripping with water.
They were dried and lay smoothly down her back, but he continued to stroke them.
After a while, Duan Ling folded the ramie cloth and suddenly asked, “How much do you like me?”
“Why do you ask that suddenly?” Lin Ting bit her light red lips.
The kissing hadn’t lasted long tonight; her lips weren’t swollen or numb.
“I just wanted to know.”
Lin Ting thought for a few seconds, considering her words carefully.
“Is it to the extent that I want to marry you?”
She had publicly proposed to him before, so this answer should be faultless.
Duan Ling smiled, his lips curving.
She liked him to the extent that she wanted to marry him, but was it because she genuinely liked him or for some other reason?
Duan Ling’s smile faded a bit.
He touched Lin Ting’s beating heart with his hand and finally covered it with his palm, his gaze fixed on her, capturing all her expressions:
“It is said that when you like someone, your heart will hold them. Is your heart holding me now?”
Lin Ting’s heartbeat quickened again.
Her heart was inside her chest… covered by Duan Ling’s palm.
Although he only wanted to feel her heart, touching it was a fact.
When Duan Ling spoke, his voice seemed to travel through his hand and reach her body directly.
Lin Ting tried to slow her breathing to control her runaway heartbeat, but failed.
It still beat rapidly, as if about to burst out of her chest: “If you put it that way, then yes.”
As she spoke, she glanced at his hand in front of her, which hadn’t moved.
She wanted to ask Duan Ling to take it away but didn’t know how to phrase it, so she fell silent after answering.
Duan Ling lowered his hand, let out a soft chuckle, his voice gentle and pleasant:
“Since your heart holds me, it makes me want to peel open your body and take out your heart to see.”
Lin Ting thought of the wall full of eyes and actually doubted whether he would do it.
Duan Ling lay down, gazing at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought, then turned to look at Lin Ting.
Seeing that she wasn’t speaking, the corners of his lips curled slightly:
“I was just joking. You actually believed me?”
Lin Ting was still sitting: “No, I didn’t.”
The fallen curtains hadn’t been hooked back up yet, still blocking their view from inside the couch.
He was lying down, and she was sitting.
From outside the couch, their overlapping shadows were faintly visible.
Even though they weren’t touching, it looked as if she was sitting on him.
Duan Ling turned his head back, lowering his eyes to the embroidered mandarin ducks on the quilt.
“It’s very late. Aren’t you going to rest?”
He hadn’t mentioned anything about intimacy tonight, just kissing.
Lin Ting calmed her chaotic emotions, pulled over a pillow and bedding, lay down, and closed her eyes:
“Yes, it’s very late. Time to rest.”
Duan Ling seemed to notice for the first time that the candles were still burning.
He got up, lifted the curtains, extinguished them, and returned to the couch.
The room fell into silence.
Lin Ting lay on her side, her ear resting on the pillow, still able to hear her rapid heartbeat.
She covered her heart, opened her eyes in the darkness, and stared at the empty wall.
A sleepless night.
The next day, Lin Ting woke up earlier than Duan Ling.
However, as soon as she awoke, he did too, just as she was about to crawl over him to get out of bed.
This position could easily be misinterpreted, as if she were climbing onto him.
Lin Ting hurriedly moved past him, sat on the edge of the couch to put on her shoes, and looked at the still dark sky outside the window:
“Did I wake you up?” Lin Ting had tried to be as quiet as possible, yet Duan Ling had still been awakened.
His sleep must be very light.
Duan Ling’s gaze followed her: “No, but why are you up so early today?”
The sky was just beginning to lighten, the light very dim, and the room without candlelight was the same.
After adjusting, Lin Ting could see clearly.
She rotated her wrist and stretched her limbs: “I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d go practice some martial arts. Breaking a sweat through practice should help calm my mind.”
Duan Ling knew she had some martial arts training so he asked: “Who taught you martial arts?”
Lin Ting took out a silk ribbon, tied her hair into a high ponytail, and didn’t hide the truth:
“Jin Anazi taught me.”
Even if she didn’t say it, he had seen Jin Anazi in action and could tell their moves were similar.
He slowly sat up, his hand casually resting on the bedding where Lin Ting had lain, still retaining her warmth and scent:
“You started learning martial arts from Jin Anazi after you met him?”
Lin Ting walked to the wardrobe, found a set of trousers and skirt suitable for practicing martial arts, and changed behind the screen.
Duan Ling was still lying in bed, and it was the time when men usually woke up in the morning.
Her stripping down to change clothes was no different from deliberately enticing him.
She fastened the straps of her wrist guards and unconsciously complained to him:
“Yes, I started learning martial arts from Jin Anazi not long after I met him, but I might not have much talent in this area. My martial arts skills are average and can’t seem to improve.”
“No, it’s definitely not my problem. It must be that Jin Anazi is a poor teacher,” Lin Ting insisted, not willing to admit it was her fault.
She continued to grumble, “He teaches me a move, and if I don’t learn it within a quarter of an hour, he scolds me as stupid and tells me to stop learning.”
Duan Ling didn’t want to hear Jin Anazi’s name from her mouth again, but his voice remained the same, betraying no emotion: “Why do you want to learn martial arts?”
Without hesitation, she replied, “To protect myself and the people I want to protect.”
“Who are the people you want to protect?”
Lin Ting blurted out, “My mother, Tao Zhu, and Duan Lingyun.”
Duan Xinning, as the third daughter of the Duan family, was not short of people to protect her.
However, while it was one thing that Duan Xinning had plenty of protection, it was another that she wanted to protect Duan Xinning.
He looked at the screen and asked: “Is that all?”