Chapter 43: A Night for Two

“Jiang Jiang, wake up. Don’t sleep here.”

Wang Ziyue was seeing someone get tipsy from a single cup for the first time; it was actually quite novel. 

Just a moment ago they were talking normally, and then suddenly the girl just face-planted.

If she had known Jiang Cheng couldn’t hold her liquor at all, she would’ve made fruit tea instead.

Setting aside that indescribable excitement deep in her heart—yes, she absolutely wasn’t thinking anything strange.

A dazed and confused girl, defenseless girl… hahaha… no, wait!

The hand that was about to touch Jiang Cheng’s hair abruptly changed direction. 

Wang Ziyue realized the monster lurking inside her was starting to crack its shell.

Could it really be because she’d been single for too long and was now repressed to this extent?

No no no no no!

What on earth are you thinking? 

She’s underage, protected by law! If anything happened, the censors would ban it instantly!

“Mmm…” 

The strap of Jiang Cheng’s nightgown had slipped down to her upper arm, and even the bra strap had slid off with it.

Trembling slightly.

Wang Ziyue suddenly remembered a kind of milk candy she ate as a child—extremely soft and dense, the kind that wouldn’t melt for a long time in your mouth, filling every corner with milky sweetness.

Probably the same feeling, right?

Slap—slap.

Two quick slaps, one on each cheek, instantly calmed Wang Ziyue down.

You are a reliable big sister. 

Right now your job is to carry your little sister upstairs to bed.

The moment the word “bed” appeared, Wang Ziyue’s thoughts began to wander again—from the origin of species to the great harmony of life, to the meaning of reproduction.

In that instant she became a philosopher who understood the true meaning of life.

Slap-slap—slap-slap.

If once wasn’t enough, do it twice.

“Jiang Jiang, don’t fall asleep. I’ll help you upstairs to bed.” 

Wang Ziyue bent down and whispered in her ear.

“Oh… w-what did you say?” 

Jiang Cheng’s tongue was thick, her eyes half-lidded as she looked at Wang Ziyue.

At such close distance, Wang Ziyue’s nose was filled with the scent coming from Jiang Cheng.

The same shower gel she herself used.

But on Jiang Cheng it somehow carried an overwhelming seductive hint.

Slap-slap-slap—

Wang Ziyue’s left cheek flushed red. 

She took a deep breath and softly repeated, “You’ll catch a cold if you sleep here. I’ll carry you upstairs.”

“Sleep… oh, right right, sleep.”

Jiang Cheng clutched at her slipping clothes. 

In a moment of excitement Wang Ziyue hurriedly pressed down on her hand; her fingertip brushed across the large rose pattern on the chest, drawing a soft whimper from the girl.

“Nn… why are you touching me…” 

Jiang Cheng frowned, her eyes barely open. 

“I trusted you so much, and yet… I can feel it, but I also feel like you’re not that kind of person.”

Wang Ziyue seriously began to suspect Jiang Cheng was pretending to be drunk—how could she still complain so clearly in this state?

At the same time, it served as a warning: had she been acting too strange? 

By now Wang Ziyue could no longer deny the dark thoughts in her heart.

She liked her, liked her, liked her beyond measure. All the fantasies she had ever had about a lover since birth seemed to have been projected onto the girl in front of her.

Of course, she also craved Jiang Cheng’s body.

“Then carry me upstairs.” 

Jiang Cheng opened her arms, tilted her face up, a trace of red wine still staining the corner of her mouth.

“Wait a sec, let Sister clean you up first.”

Wang Ziyue fetched a pack of wet wipes and gently pressed the unsteady girl back into the chair. 

She carefully wiped away the scattered specks, then the hollow of her collarbone… then a little lower—ah, and the thighs too.

She was terrified her movements might startle the girl.

The wet wipe was cool and soothing.

“Mmm… want more…”

Wang Ziyue was stunned as the girl grabbed her hand and pressed the wipe over her own face.

“Change to a new one, this one’s dirty.”

“Mmm~ don’t take it away.” 

Every word from the girl was testing the limits of someone’s sanity.

Wang Ziyue quickly pulled her hand back and covered Jiang Cheng’s face with a fresh wipe.

“Ahh, so comfortable~”

Pure heart like water, water is the mind.

Breeze does not rise, waves remain calm.

The heart-clearing sutra her grandfather used to chant suddenly resurfaced from the depths of memory.

“Good girl, let’s go upstairs and sleep.” 

Wang Ziyue felt she couldn’t delay any longer; she was really afraid she might do something.

She bent down, slipped her right arm under Jiang Cheng’s knees, and used her left to support the girl’s back, lifting her in a princess carry.

Jiang Cheng buried herself completely in Wang Ziyue’s embrace, restless, rubbing her face this way and that.

Wang Ziyue held her breath, strode into the elevator, and frantically pressed the button.

Only after Jiang Cheng was tucked into bed and covered with the air-conditioning blanket did Wang Ziyue realize her back was drenched in sweat.

Her thumb scratched at her palm, as if savoring something.

Wang Ziyue turned off the light, set the air conditioner to sleep mode, and gently closed the door.

She leaned against the door panel and slid to the floor as if all the air had left her body.

It had taken less than three minutes from start to finish, yet Wang Ziyue felt as though she had lived three lifetimes.

The previous life, this life, the next life.

She really wanted to keep holding Jiang Cheng forever…

Aaaaaaaaahhhhh—

Time for a shower…

Wang Ziyue stood up, took the elevator upstairs, and stormed into her own bathroom with fierce momentum.

All the lingering tenderness was locked behind the tightly closed bathroom door.

Jiang Cheng was woken by her phone ringing.

“Hello?”

“Little Cheng?” 

Jiang Xiaoyue glanced at the time. 

Her daughter still wasn’t awake at this hour?

Jiang Cheng opened her sleepy eyes. 

When she saw the caller ID, her scattered consciousness began to return.

“Mom…”

“It’s already noon and you’re just waking up? Did you have a lot of fun last night?”

“No… I just slept really deeply.”

Jiang Cheng’s throat felt terribly dry. 

She rubbed the space between her brows; last night’s memories were far too fragmented.

“So you stayed up late?”

Jiang Xiaoyue’s eyelid twitched. 

She hadn’t slept well all night, constantly regretting that she had agreed to Wang Ziyue’s request.

She had just gone along with it while listening, but afterward, thinking back, something felt off. 

The faint suspicions she had suppressed before rose again.

Her colleague Ma Lin knew all the company gossip. 

Sometimes Jiang Xiaoyue would listen, and once Ma Lin had mysteriously told a few coworkers in the pantry, “I heard President Wang has never had a boyfriend.”

She hadn’t thought much of it at the time, but now—

Jiang Xiaoyue remembered how Jiang Cheng had described her: a good person. 

Heh, she herself had thought Wang Ziyue seemed decent too.

Originally she had only considered things from her daughter’s perspective, but what if she looked at it from Wang Ziyue’s side?

Were Wang Ziyue’s intentions really as innocent as they appeared?

If her daughter truly had no such feelings, it didn’t mean Wang Ziyue necessarily felt the same.

“No… I just slept really well.”

“Really? Did you sleep together with President Wang?” 

Jiang Xiaoyue suddenly asked.

“How could that be! There’s no way I’d sleep with her.”

“Oh?”

Jiang Cheng sensed something odd in her mother’s tone.

“Mom, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Mommy just wants to ask you one more time—are you really not…”

“No!” 

Jiang Cheng refuted so quickly that Jiang Xiaoyue was stunned.

Yet this only made her feelings more complicated.

“Alright, alright, it’s Mommy’s fault.”

“I’m not blaming you… it’s just that you’re thinking way too weirdly. How should I put it… anyway, it’s super weird.”

Jiang Cheng thought about that scene and felt it was subtly strange, yet there was also an inexplicable emotion stirring inside her.

To her own surprise, she didn’t seem to dislike it.

“Mmm-hmm. So when are you coming home?”

“Probably soon. I’ll call you when I head back.”

It really did sound a bit like she didn’t want to leave.

Jiang Xiaoyue couldn’t help sighing—her daughter was really outgoing…

After the mother and daughter ended the call, Jiang Cheng washed her face. 

When she lowered her head she caught a faint fragrance mixed with the scent of wine on her body.

Fragments of last night began flashing back. 

She stared at herself in the mirror, pupils shaking.

She… what exactly did she do last night? 

Why was the image in her mind of herself rubbing her face all over Wang Ziyue’s chest?

And… what happened before that? 

Why had Wang Ziyue been carrying her?!

She walked back to the bed like a sleepwalker and sat down; the wide-eyed, tight-lipped expression on her face never changed.

“Jiang Jiang, are you awake?”

Hearing the voice outside the door, Jiang Cheng’s heart started pounding uncontrollably.

“Not awake yet? It’s already noon. I’ll take you home after lunch.”

“I’m awake…”

“Oh good. Remember to come downstairs after you freshen up.”

“Okay… I’ll be down in a bit…”

Through the door, the voice Wang Ziyue heard was very soft and weak.

Probably just woke up, Wang Ziyue thought.