(1)
The computer on the desk had already been turned off, and with the “whirring” of the fan gone, the room suddenly felt a bit desolate.
An Jing sat on the windowsill, tilting her head slightly to look outside. Below the apartment building, only the dim yellow streetlights remained lit, and all the shops had already lowered their rolling shutter doors.
In the narrow alley, only a few plastic bags were being blown about by the wind. They danced in the dark of the night, as enchanting as exotic dancers.
In the silence of the deep night, one’s imagination tended to become exceptionally vivid. Even a mere shadow of a tree could be imagined as a ghost, leading one to imagine a bizarre tale no less strange than *Liao Zhai*.
For instance… a person being turned into a tree, only able to cry for help at night, and so on…
A flurry of hurried footsteps came from the living room, followed by the sound of a door being pushed gently open.
An Jing shifted her gaze back into the room and saw Zhu Ying, wrapped in a bath towel, lightly shaking her wet hair. With a backward kick like a donkey, she shut the door behind her.
“*Brrr*, it’s actually a bit cold at night.”
“That towel is the one Sister Huihui uses.”
“Eh? It’s fine to use it, right? I thought the color was so cute that it must belong to you, An Jing.”
“I don’t even use bath towels… If it’s you, then of course it’s fine. It’s not like you’re a boy.”
“Oh — so you were disliked when you used it as a boy?”
“Yeah…”
“That’s normal. Boys never wash themselves properly. Take Fang Qiang, for example. I’ve seen the back of his ears stay pitch-black for a whole week. That bit of dirt just never gets washed off.”
“It’s not like all of them can’t get clean. Yang Ling Feifei always washes himself until he’s all pale and tender.”
“An Jing, have you been washing yourself properly lately?”
“Of course I have. I wash thoroughly every day, okay?” An Jing shifted her gaze away with a bit of a guilty conscience, then caught something incredible out of the corner of her eye. “Whoa, hey, hey!! You’re not wearing anything underneath!”
“Of course not. Why would I bother with a robe if I were wearing clothes?”
“Couldn’t you have changed in the bathroom?” An Jing turned her head back to look at the empty street outside. “You… you…”
“We’ve seen it all together in anime anyway.”
“Real people are different, okay!”
“Pfft, do you want to take a proper, honest look?”
“N-No!”
“Coward — “
“Hmph!”
The sound of rustling came from behind her. After a moment, Zhu Ying said with a light laugh, “I’m all changed — An Jing, how much longer are you going to keep looking out the window?”
An Jing turned back half-doubtingly and saw Zhu Ying dressed in graffiti-patterned clothes, sitting on the bed with her knees hugged to her chest, her head tilted slightly.
“Pfft…”
“What are you laughing at all of a sudden?”
“I just feel like clothes in this style don’t really suit you.”
“I think they’re quite interesting.” Zhu Ying’s eyes sparkled with a smile as she stood up on the bed and did a half-turn. The outfit was far too large for her; the hem of the short sleeves covered half of her thighs, making it long enough to be worn as a dress.
“Aren’t you going to dry your hair?”
“Sister Huihui and Sister Feifei both seem to be asleep. The hairdryer is too noisy, so I just wiped it with a towel. My hair isn’t very long anyway.”
“Then you have to wait for it to dry before you sleep, otherwise you’ll catch a cold tomorrow.”
“Let’s sit on the bed and chat for a while first.”
“Okay.” An Jing hopped down from the windowsill, took a few light steps across the floor, and quickly jumped onto the bed.
The firm wire bed made a *creak* as it seemed to bend downward slightly before gently springing back up.
“An Jing’s room is very small, but it’s very cozy.”
“Uh… is it?” An Jing carefully removed her bracelet and placed it on the computer desk. “Sometimes when I turn off the computer and the lights, I just sit here like this and stare out the window.”
“What are you looking at?”
“I don’t know what I’m looking at either, or rather… can you understand? It’s not the scenery I’m looking at, but an atmosphere… it’s that kind of… peaceful feeling.”
“Mhm, I can understand. The night in An Jing’s room is a deep blue.”
“Yeah… especially when the windows are closed, the colors become more uniform.”
Zhu Ying didn’t reply for a long time, causing An Jing to turn back in confusion.
She then saw Zhu Ying leaning slightly against the wall, staring at her intently, her eyes stained with the depth of the night.
“Um…?”
When she realized An Jing was looking at her, she couldn’t help but curl the corners of her mouth slightly. “An Jing.”
“Give me your hand.”
“Right or left?”
“Either one is fine.”
“Uh… and then?”
Zhu Ying didn’t answer. She simply gripped An Jing’s wrist gently and slowly placed it against her own cheek, then tilted her head inch by inch.
It was as if she were using An Jing’s hand to cradle her face.
An Jing’s heart suddenly began to race — even when she had seen her without a stitch of clothing, it didn’t seem to beat this hard. For some reason, at this moment, Zhu Ying looked full of womanly charm. Although she was usually pretty, most of the time she just felt like a lively young girl.
“Stroke me once in a while, okay? I really like physical contact with people I’m close to. You’re always… so restrained, An Jing.”
“Eh?”
Zhu Ying widened her eyes slightly, then quickly pressed her face close to An Jing’s. Their foreheads touched gently.
The scent of shampoo drifted from her damp hair, making An Jing feel as though her bones had suddenly turned soft.
“Phew…”
“I’m your girlfriend, right?”
“Of course.”
“Then let’s be a little more intimate, more intimate than with anyone else.” Zhu Ying gave An Jing’s small face a light peck. “Tonight, please hold me while I sleep!”
“Eeeh?!”
“You’re not allowed to refuse.”
“I-I…”
“You have to hold me from the front, okay? Holding me from behind doesn’t count.”
“I…” An Jing licked her dry lips, wanting to say something, but in the end, she couldn’t get the words out.
In the quiet room, only her restless heartbeat could be heard.
“Silence means consent, so let’s sleep!”
“Your hair isn’t dry yet…”
“I don’t care, sleep!” Zhu Ying threw back the covers and lay down on the bed, her damp hair spread across the pillow. She opened her arms wide. “An Jing! Hug!”
“Is any kind of hug okay…?”
“Mhm! Any kind of intimate hug is fine!”
“Sigh…”
The mischievous wind died down at that moment, and the calm moonlight enveloped the two of them.
“Whoa — you’re pressing right down on me? Is it such a bold hug?”
“Huff…”
“We’re pressed together. Your breath is so hot, An Jing.”
“Isn’t yours too, Ying…?” An Jing took a deep breath and suddenly lay down in the empty space beside her, panting heavily.
In the next second, the person pressing down on top became Zhu Ying.
“It looks like I’ll have to be the one holding you to sleep.”
“Hey, you’re heavy!”
“Hmph, I’m going to pin you down.”
“I can’t breathe.”
“It’s going to be like this all night.”
“If you do this until morning, I’ll be flattened into an An Jing pancake!”
“Pfft.” The girl on top of An Jing giggled, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. “What are you talking about? You completely ruined the mood.”
“What mood?”
“A romantic and flirtatious mood, obviously.”
“…Let’s just sleep. We’ll fall off if we move too much.”
“Then let’s sleep on our sides and hold each other. How about that?”
“Won’t it be too hot…?”
“An — Jing — ” Zhu Ying drawled.
“Okay, okay… no problem!!”
(2)
If someone were to ask Zhou Chao what he did after the act, his answer would mostly be smoking.
He exhaled a cloud of smoke and then felt a wave of emptiness.
It was as if he were doing something foolish and filthy, tarnishing his own body and soul.
The girl beside him smiled sweetly, her soft body draped over him, yet he didn’t feel much of anything.
There was no love.
He knew very well that she had none for him, and he had none for her.
It was merely each taking what they needed.
However, unlike men, when a woman deceives herself for long enough, she might eventually believe her own lies.
But a man — or rather, Zhou Chao — was different. He knew very well that he was only saying things that were skin-deep.
“Brother Chao is really amazing. This time lasted so long~”
“Of course I’m much better than your previous boyfriends. You won’t have a boyfriend that amazing in the future, either.”
“What do you mean ‘in the future’? I’m going to get angry. I’m very devoted to you, Brother Chao.”
“Haha, I just meant… just in case.”
“There won’t be a ‘just in case.’ I’ll love you forever. Do you love me, Brother Chao?”
“I love you. After being with you, I feel like I won’t love anyone else in this life.”
“Really?”
“Really. There’s no girl as reasonable and understanding as you, and so pretty, and — so proactive. We’re both very comfortable, aren’t we?”
“I just don’t think there’s any need to hide it. If I want it, I want it.”
“Yeah, that’s good. I like it a lot.”
“If… another of your most important relatives and I fell into the water, who would you save first?”
“I’d save you first, of course.”
“Even if the other person was your mother?”
“It’s fine, I’m a fast swimmer.”
“What if you could only choose one to save?”
“I’d still save you first. After all, you’re my future for the rest of my life. I couldn’t bear to leave you behind.”
“Mhm… I love you so much…”
Their lips pressed together, followed by a wet *squelch*, like something thick being stirred.
Zhou Chao closed his eyes, his physical movements left almost entirely to practiced instinct. As for himself, he felt a sense of loathing for what he was doing, and even a bit of… nausea.
The restless chirping of insects came from outside the room, along with a few shrieks from stray cats, making him feel as if his heart were being gripped tightly by an agonizing discomfort.
Zhou Chao feigned tenderness as he gently stroked Xu Xia’s long hair, but the irritability in his heart only grew.
Various fragments flashed through his mind, featuring both men and women, but most of them were memories of his brothers.
‘I’ll go for a ride with Qiang tomorrow.’ He thought blankly to himself.
This spring was still very long, so long that it felt as if summer would never arrive.