Duan Ling’s thin lips were soft and moist.
After kissing the corner of Lin Ting’s mouth, he gently rubbed against it, repeatedly caressing with varying intensity, the aroma of wine seeping into her teeth, entangling with her inextricably.
The thin gauze around the pavilion fluttered in the wind, faintly revealing two closely pressed figures from the outside.
The gauze swayed around them.
Duan Ling’s palm rested on the back of Lin Ting’s head, his fingers sinking into her soft hair, unconsciously stroking it.
The silk ribbon from her hair fell, brushing against his hand.
A tingling sensation spread, making one crave more.
Duan Ling greedily absorbed Lin Ting’s scent once again, wanting her essence to envelop him completely, leaving no gaps.
Unconsciously, he rubbed his nose against hers, their breaths mingling chaotically.
Their lips and tongues met, glistening with moisture, warm and damp.
He couldn’t help but kiss her deeper and deeper.
Why did he kiss Lin Ting?
Watching her walk towards him step by step, hearing her voice, he simply wanted to kiss her, to absorb her scent, to feel her warmth.
He wasn’t drunk, he was very clear-headed, he just wanted to kiss her.
In fact, every time Lin Ting got close to him, Duan Ling would recall the scenes of her risking her life to save him time and time again.
Unlike the hypocrisy of others, she genuinely wanted him to live, which was evident in her eyes at that time.
At first, he thought nothing of it, but now, he wanted to grasp it, to hold it tightly in his hands.
Thinking this way, Duan Ling’s heart raced as he kissed her.
Before long, their lips turned a deep red, the friction pulling at his heartstrings, entangling and binding him.
Although these strings seemed thin and fragile, easily broken, they had unknowingly bound him, and he didn’t want to break free.
Duan Ling continued to suck on Lin Ting’s lips, enjoying this novel sensation from heart to body, unable to stop, unable to extricate himself.
He didn’t close his eyes, just gazed at Lin Ting’s slightly widened eyes in surprise.
Her eyes were more vivid than anyone he had seen, especially when they reflected him, giving him a strong sense of satisfaction, wanting to stay, to stay in a vivid way.
Duan Ling wanted to keep Lin Ting by his side.
While Duan Ling was looking at Lin Ting, she was also looking at him, the shock in her eyes almost overflowing.
The last time Duan Ling actively kissed her by the pond, it was because he was in too much pain from his illness.
So why did he kiss her this time?
Lin Ting smelled the wine in the air, her fingertips twitching slightly at her side.
Did he kiss her this time because he was drunk?
When she entered the pavilion, she didn’t say who she was, only said “It’s me.”
Did Duan Ling know who she was?
He must be too drunk to recognize her, otherwise he wouldn’t have done this.
The sound of water beneath the pavilion was clear, but it couldn’t mask the sound of their kissing inside.
Lin Ting heard it clearly, her lips and teeth numb from the kiss, her cheeks flushed from the heat of his breath.
The next moment, she pushed him away, wanting to say who she was: “I am Lin…”
At that moment, the gauze near Lin Ting lifted, falling between them, blocking her face, and quickly fell again.
Duan Ling kissed her again the moment the gauze fell.
Lin Ting’s unfinished words were swallowed by Duan Ling.
He opened his mouth, his tongue like a snake’s, nimbly entwining with hers, but unconsciously hiding all its venom, leaving only softness.
Her brow twitched, she was a bit breathless, and took a step back.
But Duan Ling wrapped his arm around Lin Ting’s waist, pulling her back.
Their lips had just parted but were now pressed together again.
A silver thread fell at the corner of her mouth, quickly licked away by him.
He seemed to crave her like an illness.
Lin Ting’s mind went blank.
When Duan Ling’s tongue lightly touched hers, she instinctively resisted, unsure if she should push him away.
From afar came Duan Xinning’s call looking for her: “Le Yun, where are you?”
And Xia Zimo’s voice: “Maybe in the pavilion ahead, I just saw Miss Lin Qi heading in that direction.”
He had been to the Duan residence before and knew there was a pavilion ahead.
Lin Ting quickly pushed him away with force.
Duan Ling didn’t hold onto her as he had just done, and was pushed onto the railing bench.
His crimson casual clothes were wrinkled, the belt around his narrow waist and abdomen, his long legs hidden under the hem of his clothes, black boots faintly visible, his wine-tinged skin wrapped in an eerie layer.
His hands pressed against the edge of the bench, the veins on his pale hands bulging.
The jade hairpin in his hair loosened and fell to the ground, his long hair cascading down his back, a few strands falling over his shoulders, making him look ambiguously beautiful.
After being pushed away, Duan Ling didn’t speak, just raised his head to look at Lin Ting.
His neck tilted slightly, his prominent Adam’s apple rolling gently on his fair skin, his thin lips strangely alluring, glistening with an ambiguous moisture.
Lin Ting looked at Duan Ling, suddenly feeling suffocated, her thoughts a mess of sticky porridge.
Her first thought was to run away, but she stopped, took a deep breath, and tried to stay calm, estimating how far Duan Xinning and Xia Zimo were from the pavilion based on Duan Xinning’s voice, and how long it would take them to get here.
After confirming that it would take them a while to reach the pavilion, Lin Ting turned back to Duan Ling, urgently wanting to know if his actions today were due to drunkenness, otherwise she wouldn’t feel at ease.
Lin Ting waved her hand in front of Duan Ling’s eyes again, noticing his gaze followed her fingers, silently watching, giving the impression he might lick her fingertips, not quite like someone fully conscious.
Duan Ling was drunk.
Lin Ting came to this conclusion, and suddenly couldn’t describe the feeling in her heart.
Finally, she hurriedly lifted the gauze, walked out of the pavilion, walking quickly, as if fleeing, heading towards the stone path where Duan Xinning and Xia Zimo’s voices came from, to intercept them.
Duan Xinning had come to find Lin Ting, and upon seeing her, didn’t continue towards the pavilion, thus didn’t see the pavilion or Duan Ling inside, only wondering why Lin Ting’s lips had turned red.
It looked a bit like she had been kissed.
It could also be that she had just been intimate with Xia Zimo recently, making her overly sensitive.
With Xia Zimo present, Duan Xinning didn’t ask: “Le Yun, let’s go fly a kite.”
After playing the game of throwing arrows into a pot, Xia Zimo personally made a kite for Duan Xinning.
Duan Xinning, thinking of Lin Ting, had him make another one.
Duan Xinning took the two kites from Xia Zimo’s hands: “Which one do you like?”
Lin Ting was Duan Xinning’s close friend, so Xia Zimo wouldn’t stare at her, and rarely looked at her, his eyes always on Duan Xinning, so he didn’t notice if her lips were too red.
Xia Zimo followed Duan Xinning’s words: “Today is perfect for flying kites.”
Lin Ting was in no mood to fly kites now, her mind filled with Duan Ling’s alluring drunken appearance and she said:
“You keep them for now, I’ll come back another day to fly kites with you, I’m not feeling well today.”
Duan Xinning threw the kites back into Xia Zimo’s arms, grabbed her hand, and asked worriedly:
“You’re not feeling well? Where does it hurt, why aren’t you feeling well, did you eat something wrong?”
The bamboo stick supporting the kite almost poked Xia Zimo’s face, he silently endured it.
Lin Ting deliberately yawned: “Maybe I got up too early, I’m a bit tired, I want to go back first.”
The birthday banquet was almost over, it wouldn’t be inappropriate for her to leave now.
Duan Xinning was reluctant, wanting her to stay overnight at the residence, suggesting:
“Why don’t you rest in my room, don’t leave tonight.”
Lin Ting refused.
Staying overnight at the Duan residence, she might run into Duan Ling again, and she hadn’t figured out how to face him yet, nor did she know if he would remember the pavilion incident after sobering up, so it was better to return home first.
Seeing Lin Ting’s insistence on leaving, Duan Xinning didn’t force her, called for Tao Zhu who should have finished her meal, and personally escorted them out of the residence.
Xia Zimo, ignored by Duan Xinning, didn’t act like a nobleman, carrying a kite in each hand, following them eagerly.
He knew she valued Lin Ting, so he had to show some concern appropriately.
Lin Ting lay down as soon as she got on the carriage.
Tao Zhu, following closely, was startled, thinking she had fainted, and urgently asked:
“Miss Qi?”
“I didn’t faint, don’t misunderstand.” Lin Ting sat up, moved her buttocks to the seat, half-lying and half-sitting, her legs casually resting on the footstool, completely lacking the posture of a noble lady, as Li Jingqiu would say, like a country girl.
Tao Zhu was used to it, sat beside Lin Ting, first massaged her temples, then her shoulders:
“Did something happen?”
Lin Ting took out a handkerchief, covered her face, also covering her mouth, as if to block the light coming through the curtain gaps:
“I encountered something very, very unbelievable.”
“What is it?” Tao Zhu looked at the handkerchief-covered Miss Qi with concern.
Lin Ting couldn’t possibly tell Tao Zhu in detail what happened in the pavilion so she didn’t answer, but asked: “Have you ever been drunk?”
Tao Zhu recalled: “Drunk?”
She sat up straight, the handkerchief slipped from her face, and she asked thoughtfully:
“Do you remember what happened when you were drunk after sobering up?”
Lin Ting knew her alcohol tolerance, no matter who she drank with, she would stop at the right point, never letting herself get drunk, afraid she might talk nonsense after getting drunk, revealing the system, tasks, and transmigration, so she had no experience with drunkenness, had to ask others.
Tao Zhu had seen her lips redder before, but didn’t pay much attention to this redness and replied:
“A few years ago during New Year’s Eve, I got drunk once.”
“How was it?”
Tao Zhu was a bit embarrassed: “I don’t remember what happened that night, but the old lady in the yard said I kowtowed to her after getting drunk, called her mother, they laughed at me for a long time.”
Lin Ting fell into thought.
So she was just casually kissed by Duan Ling?
But she had done such things a few times before, could this be retribution?
It must be retribution, Duan Ling might not even remember he kissed her.
And he kissed her twice, she pushed him away, but he pulled her back, was Duan Ling this wild when drunk?
If it wasn’t her who entered the pavilion, would he have kissed someone else?
Luckily, she didn’t hold it against him, if it were someone else, it would be hard to say.
Lin Ting unconsciously bit her lip, a trace of wine aroma still lingering on it.
Tao Zhu suddenly leaned over to smell her: “Miss Qi, did you drink wine during the meal?”
Lin Ting also smelled her shoulder, the clothes had a bit of wine aroma, she had been too close to Duan Ling in the pavilion, she said without changing her expression:
“I drank a little, didn’t get drunk.”
As soon as she returned to the Lin residence, Lin Ting had Tao Zhu fetch water for a bath, her body was full of Duan Ling’s scent, smelling it easily made her heart flutter.
Tao Zhu glanced at the sky: “It’s still early, are you going to bathe at this time?”
Lin Ting “hmm”ed, lying: “At the Duan residence, I played the game of throwing arrows into a pot with noble ladies and young masters, sweated a lot, feeling sticky and uncomfortable.”
Tao Zhu didn’t doubt her, immediately called the servants to prepare the bathwater, and attended to her bathing.
After bathing, Lin Ting didn’t bother with her slightly damp hair, pulled Tao Zhu to play chess, determined not to give herself any free time to recall the pavilion incident.
Tao Zhu wasn’t skilled at chess, lost more than ten times and asked,
“Miss Qi, what’s wrong with you today, why are you playing chess out of the blue?”
Lin Ting replied: “Because chess calms the mind.”
Lin Ting had to forget today’s events.
***
Two days later, Lin Ting went to the bookstore.
Since Duan Ling had visited the bookstore, Jin Anazi planned to move Xie Qinghe to another place in the capital.
Today was the day to send Xie Qinghe away from the bookstore.