Green Plum, Green Plum (24)
“Sister’s mouth is not a mouth, but the clear water under Anhe Bridge.”
Xu Jiao’s mind was abuzz with calculations, even formulating a series of plans. Based on the patterns she had written in her previous romance novels, she was confident that even a small act reducing blackening value would enable her to completely clear Shen Yelan’s blackening value within a week.
Shen Yelan couldn’t resist the temptation of having Xu Jiao become her girlfriend—
Forget about being happy every day; even if Xu Jiao demanded that she pluck a star from the sky each day, she would do everything in her power to achieve it.
Initially, Shen Yelan only nodded very slowly.
Then as if coming back to her senses, she nodded again, and then again… her entire person seemed like that kind of clockwork toy bird, mechanically repeating the same action.
At first, Xu Jiao just supported her chin with her hand, looking at Shen Yelan’s performance with a hint of amusement, until the system’s voice suddenly sounded: “Congratulations, host, Shen Yelan’s blackening value is currently 50.”
Another step closer to getting rid of this big trouble.
Xu Jiao sighed with relief in her heart, and the smile on her face grew stronger.
In contrast to their two bright moods, the light around them dimmed a lot. In the sky above, the originally colorful clouds were now covered in gray-blue, and the previous multicolored brilliance was nowhere to be found.
And the dormitory building behind Shen Yelan’s location was even more gloomy.
The streetlights on campus gradually lit up. Shen Yelan took a step forward from the blue-black background towards Xu Jiao, lowered her head slightly, closed her eyes, and carefully gave her a pious kiss on the forehead.
Like an apostle who had already fallen into darkness, upon re-entering the confessional, she heard the forgiveness from the god she once revered and felt the holy light shine upon her again.
Shen Yelan’s voice was extremely suppressed, but still revealed a hoarse joy:
“Thank you, Sister Xu Jiao.”
Thank you for being willing to fulfill my dream, even if you don’t like me.
……
“I don’t think it’s going to work. Do you want to try changing positions?”
“Isn’t this position even more difficult than before?”
“Shen Yelan, don’t look so stiff.”
Saturday.
Xu Jiao followed Shen Yelan to the pottery studio again, but unfortunately, her progress was still stuck at being able to pinch out only a large basin. She was not even able to mold an exquisite and small cup. In order to quickly complete the achievement of pinching a small Shen Yelan, Xu Jiao asked Shen Yelan to help her think of a quick way to do it, but as a result, she was dragged to Shen Yelan’s rented apartment.
Only then did Xu Jiao learn that this girl usually did not live in the school dormitory. Now, she was actually wealthy enough to rent a house outside, and she even leisurely brought over a lot of painting tools to her rented apartment.
But she did not see a single painting.
After patiently waiting for Xu Jiao to finish looking around her house, Shen Yelan pulled her into the room. Under the pretense of letting Xu Jiao “practice painting to better understand the character she was going to pinch,” Shen Yelan openly pressed her in front of the drawing board. Then Shen Yelan herself went to the back and acted as a model, which led to the previous conversation.
Xu Jiao held a pencil in her hand and looked at the blank, large drawing paper, at a loss. From time to time, she would look up at Shen Yelan sitting behind her. Although her own painting skills were very average, her nitpicking ability was top-notch.
The tip of the pencil paused on the drawing paper. Xu Jiao could not help but stick her head out again to criticize the model behind her: “Shen Yelan, why don’t you stand up? I think it’s too difficult to draw when you’re sitting. Maybe if you stand up, I’ll have some inspiration.”
Shen Yelan stood up with good temper. In order to reduce the difficulty for Xu Jiao, she even stood at attention. Like this, another ten minutes passed, but she still did not hear the sound of the brush smoothly falling.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could only see Xu Jiao frowning, the tip of her pencil moving less than a few centimeters on the paper, before she picked up the eraser and frantically erasing.
After five or six minutes——
Xu Jiao put the pencil back on the stand in a dejected manner, squinted her eyes at Shen Yelan, and said slowly, “I reasonably suspect that you want to secretly increase my tasks again. Originally, I only needed to pinch one of you, but now I also have to learn how to draw.”
Until that slightly cool, strange sensation traveled down the bridge of her straight nose from her forehead, pausing at the tip of her nose before finally landing on her upper lip.
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That also brought about a series of slight itches.
Like water droplets falling into a pond, creating ripples that spread in circles.
Xu Jiao’s face also drew nearer, her gentle voice carrying a hint of puzzled doubt, but due to her slightly raised tone, it revealed a somewhat flirtatious ambiguity: “Strange, they’re all just ordinary eyes, noses, and mouths; how is it that you could make yours look so attractive? So attractive that when I draw, I can’t do it justice?”
“You really need to take a good look at yourself and reflect, Shen Yelan.”
When the words fell, Xu Jiao noticed that Shen Yelan’s neck and earlobes were turning slightly red.
She found it amusing in her heart, but just as she was about to move away the tip of the pencil, her wrist was lifted and gripped by the person in front of her. Shen Yelan raised her head, her gaze already carrying a burning intensity, like two obsidian stones concealing flames within, with scorching heat beneath the jet-black surface.
Though the intimate contact was only two or three times, Xu Jiao understood the meaning of Shen Yelan’s gaze at a glance.
Before Xu Jiao could say anything, Shen Yelan already spoke in her hoarse voice, “Let me paint you, what do you think?”
A faint, fragmented laughter escaped from Xu Jiao’s throat. The tip of the pencil followed Shen Yelan’s neckline, slowly moving downward with a balanced yet subtly dangerous touch, even teasingly flicking at the gap between the buttons of the other’s shirt, creating a sense of wanting to unveil the canvas, yet lingering only at the edge.
“Are you sure it’s just painting?”
Shen Yelan’s throat moved slightly, swallowing something silently, suppressing the impulse to deal with the person in front of her on the spot. Her voice changed in an unnatural tone, like a hunter worried about scaring away the prey, gently saying:
“I’m sure.”
After saying that, she licked her lower lip.
Xu Jiao found Shen Yelan’s crazily restrained action entertaining. The tip of the pencil moved back up and lightly tapped Shen Yelan’s lower lip, teasingly provoking, “Then let me appreciate the works of the great artist Shen. Just so you know, if I’m not satisfied with the painting, I’ll be returning it.”
Shen Yelan gently opened her mouth, teeth holding the end of the pencil, tugged at the corner of her lips, and replied to Xu Jiao:
“Whether the painting is good or not depends on how well my model cooperates.”
……
Three minutes later.
Xu Jiao regretted it.
She knew Shen Yelan wasn’t as docile as she seemed on the surface. This little rascal held grudges, and now she was retaliating against her even more intensively for how she had just teased her.
Now she lifted her hand to cover the scarce fabric on her body, looked up at Shen Yelan, squinted, and said, “I didn’t ask you to do that just now…”
Shen Yelan’s calm expression carried a hint of innocence: “I did exactly as Sister Xu Jiao said just now. How come now that you’re the model, you’re so disobedient?”
Xu Jiao: “…”
She reluctantly moved her hand away, allowing Shen Yelan to slowly remove her last bit of cover. A hint of blush appeared uncontrollably on her face, as if a spill of ink spreading, with a tendency to extend to other areas.
Shen Yelan noticed her toes curling up, her eyes darkening a shade.
Oh no.
She thought, it seemed that after Xu Jiao agreed to be her girlfriend, she had only wanted to bully her more.
Shen Yelan exhaled slowly and raised her hand to pose Xu Jiao in her favorite way. Just when Xu Jiao thought she couldn’t control it anymore, this person got up and stepped back, returning to the canvas and picking up the brush to start painting seriously.
Thinking of the finished product, Xu Jiao felt that a large line of content appeared in her mind:
R18.
Not suitable for children.
The exposed skin was exposed to the air, and small bumps appeared due to the slightly cool air. Xu Jiao resisted the shame, held back for two seconds, and said to Shen Yelan, “I changed my mind. I don’t want to see your paintings. Is that okay?”
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Shen Yelan’s brush paused, her gaze shifting from behind the drawing board to Xu Jiao, she said to Xu Jiao, “Didn’t Sister Xu Jiao teach me before? If I promise something to someone, I must do it no matter what, have you forgotten?”
Xu Jiao: “…”
Seeing that she had nothing to say, Shen Yelan’s gaze turned to her again, paused, and spoke again, “Besides, I feel like you seem quite happy.”
Xu Jiao forced herself to maintain a posture without moving and said lazily, “How could I be happy? I’m not happy.”
Shen Yelan’s fiery gaze fixed on a certain spot, “Oh? But it seems to me that your other mouth is not saying that.”
“Which mouth is Sister Xu Jiao telling the truth with?”
Xu Jiao felt like the place where she was being looked at was going to burn up. At this moment, she could no longer maintain her fixed posture and couldn’t help but move. As a result, she saw Shen Yelan frown, and then came towards her from behind the drawing board.
When the temperature got close, Xu Jiao finally couldn’t control it anymore. She used her right hand to push Shen Yelan away and her left hand to get her clothes, no longer cooperating with this little brat’s absurd game. Anyway, she had already heard the system constantly saying in her heart, “Shen Yelan’s blackening value -1”, “Shen Yelan’s blackening value -1”. This time, the nonsense was enough.
The next moment.
Shen Yelan held her hands and pressed her down again on the sofa covered with beautiful cloth, whispering, “Why won’t Sister Xu Jiao let me paint?”
She said, “You’re so beautiful, you should be painted.”
Xu Jiao was amused by her tit-for-tat response and asked, “Oh? Tell me, what’s so beautiful about me?”
Shen Yelan held a paintbrush between the fingers of her right hand. Hearing Xu Jiao’s question, she deliberately reversed the order of the other party’s previous question. The tip of the brush touched the cross and thorn tattoo on her ankle, and then continued upward, following the slender curve:
“Has Sister Xu Jiao heard a song? The lyrics go like this——”
“Sister’s legs are not legs, but the spring water of the Seine.”
“Sister’s waist is not a waist, but the scimitar of the deadly trio.” Xu Jiao’s waist softened.
“Sister’s back is not a back, but the rose of Bulgaria.” Shen Yelan’s brush tip moved to the butterfly bone position on her back.
Just when only the last sentence was left, Shen Yelan suddenly moved the brush down again, leaned over and kissed Xu Jiao’s red lips, but the red brush gradually moved down.
Xu Jiao heard her murmur: “Sister’s mouth is not a mouth, but the clear water under Anhe Bridge.”
As the words fell, Xu Jiao also trembled slightly following her movements. Afterwards, Shen Yelan turned the brush upside down in front of Xu Jiao’s eyes, allowing her to see the crystal clear moisture on the slender brush body.
A drop of moisture fell from the middle to the end, with a bit of turbidity, and condensed into a ball at the tip of the brush, looking like it was about to fall but didn’t.
Shen Yelan stared at the water droplets and corrected, “It doesn’t seem to be very clear.”
Xu Jiao: “…”
She raised her hand to pull Shen Yelan’s collar down, took the initiative to bite her lip, and cursed with a smile, “I see that you’re not really painting, but you really want to take the opportunity to tease me—”
Shen Yelan imitated her previous serious voice: “I can continue painting.”
Xu Jiao’s breathing became a little disordered, “But I can’t bear it anymore, stop pretending, hurry up.”
“But you’re the one who asked me to come, I didn’t ask for it.”
“Shen Yelan, can you stop being so cunning?”
……
The two of them spent a spring season in the two-room one-living room rental unit.
Shen Yelan had tasted the clear water under the Anhe Bridge, also savored the sweetness of the May cherries, even seen the peaks and valleys of the mountains, and freely wandered through the layered ravines.
After the spring outing, Xu Jiao was drenched in sweat.
She dozed off, until the system’s voice awakened her: “Congratulations, Shen Yelan’s blackening value has only 1 point left.”
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Xu Jiao was startled awake by the noise, opened her eyes, wanting to check the time, after all, it had grown dark outside, and they seemed to have been fooling around the whole afternoon.
Not long after, Xu Jiao saw a figure bending down at the door, as if picking up something. She half-sat up and heard the person say something unbearable: “Shut up.”
After two seconds, Xu Jiao asked with some confusion, “Shen Yelan?”
Shen Yelan heard the voice, raised her head expressionlessly and looked towards Xu Jiao’s position. Then, a moment of hesitation and confusion appeared in her eyes.
Xu Jiao couldn’t see her expression, and only asked, “Why don’t you turn on the light?”
Shen Yelan turned on the light and saw her and the shadow beside her. Her pace faltered, and then she walked towards her. Only when she sat down beside Xu Jiao and felt the other party’s temperature did she heave a sigh of relief. Then she raised her hand and shook the lunchbox she was carrying at Xu Jiao, a smile appearing on her lips, and her soft voice was gentle:
“I bought you dinner. The lights in the living room were too dim just now, and I couldn’t see very clearly. I’ve been a bit night blind lately.”
Xu Jiao looked at the lunchbox in her hand, raised her hand to pull open the thin blanket on her body, glanced at the lunchbox Shen Yelan was carrying, and didn’t look much at the contents inside. Instead, she asked casually:
“If you’re night blind, just take some vitamins. By the way, who were you talking to just now?”
LP: Sorry for the no update yesterday, just really tired…
There’s so many notes…
Notes:
- Anhe Bridge is a famous bridge in Nanjing, China.
- The fact that the water droplet is not very clear could be interpreted as a subtle hint that Xu Jiao is not a virgin… which is obvious ꉂꉂ◟(˃᷄ꇴ˂᷅๑)༡
- The song lyrics quoted are from a popular Chinese song called “姐姐” (“Sister”) by singer-songwriter Xu Wei.
- The “spring water of the Seine” is a reference to the famous Seine River in Paris.
- The “deadly trio’s scimitar” is a reference to a legendary trio of assassins from Chinese folklore. A scimitar is a type of curved sword.
- Bulgaria is known for its production of high-quality roses and rose oil.
