Yet, Duan Ling took pleasure in this.
As the kissing continued, Lin Ting couldn’t help but call for a stop.
If she didn’t, her mouth would be so swollen that she wouldn’t be able to face anyone the next day.
It was at this moment that Lin Ting noticed the thin quilt embroidered with mandarin ducks that had been covering Duan Ling’s lower body.
The quilt now had a shape that did not belong to it.
She knew what it was; it was normal for a man to react this way after such prolonged intimacy.
Lin Ting quickly averted her gaze and clutched the edge of the quilt: “You……”
Duan Ling propped himself up, kissing Lin Ting’s cheek, pecking it now and then, as if to alleviate something indescribable.
Her heart skipped a beat, and her entire face went numb from the pecking.
He probably guessed her concern and stopped kissing her mouth.
Instead, he showered her face with delicate, fragmented kisses, some light and some heavy, tender and lingering, more thrilling than a normal kiss.
But she had no reason to refuse him.
Duan Ling kissed Lin Ting’s forehead, eyes, bridge of the nose, lingered on the earlobe, and returned to the eyes.
When Duan Ling kissed her eyes, Lin Ting would automatically close them; she couldn’t very well keep them open and let his lips and tongue directly touch her eyeballs.
However, even with her eyes closed, she could distinctly feel Duan Ling’s lips and tongue pressing against her eyelids, his tongue licking as if he wanted to penetrate through the eyelids to reach the eyeballs, sometimes forcefully, sometimes gently, as if he wanted to devour them.
The sensation of having her eyes licked was strange, not exactly uncomfortable, even a bit pleasant, but undeniably odd.
Lin Ting’s attention was involuntarily focused on her eyes, and her emotions fluctuated accordingly.
She couldn’t help but tug at his long hair.
Duan Ling seemed unfazed by the pain and licked her eyes even harder, only pulling away just before she could no longer endure the stimulation.
He rested his forehead against Lin Ting’s, adjusting his breathing.
His jaw moved forward, and his thin lips brushed against hers, a gesture that was almost, but not quite, a kiss.
Her mind was in a whirl, her eyelashes drooping as her gaze once again swept over Duan Ling’s lower body.
The outline beneath the quilt was becoming more pronounced, and what that meant was self-evident.
Lin Ting’s eyes seemed to sense its warmth and turned red with heat.
Duan Ling kissed her again, but this time, instead of her lips or face, he kissed her neck.
This was a sensitive spot for her, and Lin Ting’s throat immediately went dry.
The heat from Duan Ling’s lips and teeth continuously caressed the skin of her neck, licking, nibbling, grinding, and sucking, leaving faint red marks without ever applying enough force to draw blood.
This heat traveled down her neck, gradually crossing the collar of her inner garment.
It was evening, and after bathing, one would typically wear only a single layer of close-fitting undergarment.
Women would also wear an additional inner bodice and thin skirt, with no other clothing besides that.
So crossing the inner garment was akin to crossing the last line of defense.
Duan Ling bit the collar, intending to pull it open.
Lin Ting pressed her hand against his chest and said honestly, “I’m not ready yet. Can we do this another day?”
Even if she liked someone, accepting their body didn’t mean she was ready for it.
She was a modern person, true, and her mindset was indeed more open than that of people in ancient times.
But being open-minded was one thing; facing true intimacy for the first time, even if it was enjoyable, still brought about hesitation.
Duan Ling let go.
He lay his face against Lin Ting’s heart, listening to her heartbeat, his disordered breathing still not steady, his voice deeper than usual, tinged with desire:
“Another day?”
Lin Ting was so nervous that she was sweating, and she nodded vigorously, “Yes, another day.”
“Alright,” he agreed.
Duan Ling lifted his head, kissing away the sweat from Lin Ting’s cheeks, careful not to let his own ugliness touch her.
“What about you?” It seemed too cruel to ask him to take a cold shower on their wedding night.
After a moment of hesitation, Lin Ting wanted to help Duan Ling with her hands.
But just now during the kiss, her hand had been held so tightly that it still felt numb and seemed immobile.
Duan Ling’s eyes flickered, his gaze falling on her feet, like a flame scorching over them.
Lin Ting, who had “read widely,” instantly understood his meaning: “You want to use my…”
She found it hard to say the rest.
He raised his eyes: “Are you willing?”
Lin Ting hesitated for a moment, noticing how Duan Ling’s eyes were red from restraint, his jaw glistening with sweat, and his hand, which was pressed against the bed, had turned pale from the force.
Without a word, she slowly lifted her foot, crossing over the quilt, and placed it into the extremely warm, dark space.
The slightly raised, crimson skirt covered her feet and his “ugliness.”
Duan Ling reached out and held her foot.
By the time the dragon and phoenix candles had burned out, Lin Ting was so exhausted that her eyelids were nearly impossible to keep open.
Duan Ling cleaned her feet and lay down with her.
Lin Ting didn’t wake up until the end of the second watch of the morning.
She sat up, staring blankly at the unfamiliar bridal chamber.
This wasn’t her room—how had she ended up here?
She quickly sat up.
Oh, right, she had gotten married.
Lin Ting realized this belatedly and lay back down, rolling under the red wedding quilt and burrowing to the far side.
Where was Duan Ling?
She suddenly thought of him.
Lin Ting turned over, facing outward, and was caught off guard by Duan Ling’s gaze.
He was fully dressed, holding a teacup, sitting on a luohan couch, with several scrolls piled on the side table.
Today, Duan Ling had returned to his calm demeanor.
His enchanting appearance hadn’t changed a bit, but the coquettishness in his eyes was gone, showing no signs of last night’s loss of control.
Lin Ting sat up again.
Her feet seemed a bit red.
She accidentally brushed against his toes, causing a slight movement, and then nonchalantly pulled her skirt over her exposed feet.
Duan Ling had seen her feet before she covered them.
His teacup trembled, causing ripples in the tea.
After a moment, he put it down and didn’t drink anymore:
“Shall I have someone bring water for you to wash up?”
She cleared her throat, got off the couch, and acted naturally:
“Yes, have someone come in.”
On the second day of their marriage, they needed to wake up early to pay respects to their elders.
It was already late, and she had woken up late, but Duan Ling had gotten up early and hadn’t woken her.
Duan Ling called for someone to come in.
The servants had been waiting outside the room since early morning.
Upon hearing his voice, they immediately brought in water.
Tao Zhu walked in first and, upon entering, looked at Lin Ting from head to toe.
Seeing that she seemed fine and was standing steadily, he relaxed and quickly stepped forward to assist her with washing up.
Lin Ting yawned several times while washing up.
She had gone to bed late in the middle of the night and still felt very sleepy even though she had woken up late.
After finishing her wash and makeup, which took a quarter of an hour, Lin Ting gathered her spirits and left the room.
The red lanterns and red ribbons hanging in the Duan residence from their wedding yesterday were still there, as was the red cloth spread on the ground.
She saw them as soon as she stepped out of the room, which gave her a subtle feeling.
Lin Ting didn’t show it and followed Duan Ling to Lady Feng’s courtyard to pay respects to her and Duan’s father.
Lady Feng didn’t scold Lin Ting for coming so late to pay respects.
After drinking the tea Lin Ting offered, she even gave her a gift and invited them to stay for breakfast.
In Duan Xinning’s heart, no matter whom Lin Ting married, she would always be her best friend first.
Lady Feng, seeing their good relationship, was also pleased and smiled, saying:
“Let’s have breakfast first.”
After she spoke, they took their seats.
For breakfast, they had porridge to soothe the stomach.
Lady Feng asked the maids to serve them a bowl of fragrant, soft porridge.
Duan Ling’s long eyelashes drooped as he looked at the bowl of porridge, but his mind wandered back to last night.
Lin Ting’s feet had been on his “ugliness.”
A few moments later, it had been spent beneath her feet, wetting them, with water dripping from her toes and staining the red skirt.
At that time, Lin Ting had seemed scalded, her feet moving around and stepping on it a few more times.
He hadn’t felt pain; instead, he had noticed signs of it rising again, just from her casual stepping.
Thinking of this, Duan Ling looked at her.
Lin Ting was also staring at the white porridge in front of her, slightly lost in thought, not knowing what she was thinking.
In fact, Lin Ting had also thought of last night.
She had stepped on him, and he had lost control beneath her feet.
It had happened more than once, so many times that she was surprised and even suspected that he might have taken some kind of medicine.
Just as Lin Ting had this suspicion, Duan Ling stopped, dispelling her doubts.
Lin Ting didn’t dare to think back anymore.
Half an hour later, after finishing breakfast, Lady Feng was going to the Buddhist hall to chant scriptures and didn’t keep them.
She and Duan Ling returned to their room.
He had a three-day “honeymoon,” and he didn’t need to go to the Northern Court of Judicial Review today.
Back in the room, Lin Ting had nothing to do, so she sat on the luohan couch, eating pastries and drinking tea.
But after last night’s events, when she was alone with Duan Ling now, her mind would drift to certain images, and she accidentally spilled tea, soaking her skirt.
The summer dress was very thin, and a pot of tea was enough to wet through to her bodice.
Duan Ling, who was sitting at the desk, stood up.
“Your skirt is wet………………”
“I’ll just change it. You sit down; don’t worry about me.”
She had a sudden idea, ran to the wardrobe, took out a new dress, and went behind the bed, letting down the curtains to block the view.
On the surface, she changed her wet skirt, but in reality, she took off all her clothes and waited in bed.
Good, changing clothes definitely involved taking everything off, so Duan Ling knew that she would undress in bed before putting on new clothes.
The condition of knowing was met, and now she just needed to stall for a quarter of an hour.
However, changing a skirt for a full fifteen minutes?
That seemed too long.
Never mind, anyway, Duan Ling wouldn’t mind her taking her time and wouldn’t rush her.
Lin Ting silently counted the time.
But Duan Ling lifted the curtain:
“Your body-belt fell off. What are you wearing?”
He held the new body-belt in his hand.