The Kindhearted Girl Gets a Wife 17

Chapter 17

Chen Qingtang left, and her hand naturally let go of the doorframe. There were no more obstacles, but the door remained ajar, so light that it seemed a single breath could push it open.

Pei Yunle finally released her bitten lower lip, but her heart was still pounding like a drum. She had rarely been in Chen Qingtang’s room and was in a state of tension due to the unfamiliar situation.

The room was very tidy, not much different from her own, the only difference being the size of the bed. Pei Yunle sized it up for a few moments. It was a single bed, which explained why the electric blanket was the width of a single bed.

But for two people to sleep in one bed, it would be so crowded. The thought made Pei Yunle frown. She couldn’t possibly sleep on top of the other person, could she? She suddenly remembered the width of the beds in her dorm. If two people were to sleep together, their arms would have to be pressed tightly against each other, and they would have to sleep in a rigid posture.

Seeing her standing at the door without moving, Chen Qingtang couldn’t help but glance at her, then lay back on the bed and picked up the book she had been reading. The small lamp on the bedside table cast a dim yellow light, finely outlining Chen Qingtang’s figure, giving her a hazy softness.

Pei Yunle was hesitating about which foot to step with first, how much to swing her arms, and what kind of gait would make her look more relaxed. After taking two steps, she felt like a sneaky thief.

“I don’t think I’ve washed up yet. I’ll go to the bathroom and take a shower first.”

With that, she bolted out like a rabbit.

The water flow from the shower head in the bathroom was quite strong. Pei Yunle quickly took a shower, put on her pajamas, and walked into the hallway. The sky outside was naturally dark, and she couldn’t see anything. She didn’t know if it was going to rain or not. The weather forecast wasn’t always accurate and could only be used as a reference. Besides, there was only a 50% chance of rain.

But, even if it didn’t rain, she could only sleep with Chen Qingtang tonight.

She didn’t know how long she had been holding the book. Her wrist began to ache, and Chen Qingtang finally came back to her senses. Her eyes finally focused on the black and white words on the page, only to find that she had been holding the book upside down. Fortunately, Pei Yunle was out and hadn’t seen her. Otherwise, she would have been taken for an illiterate.

The sound of slippers on the floor came from outside. Chen Qingtang quickly turned the book right side up and continued to read as if nothing had happened.

Afraid of disturbing Chen Qingtang, Pei Yunle tiptoed as quietly as possible and slowly climbed onto the other side of the bed.

She wanted to play a game on her phone, but she didn’t want to turn off the sound, which would ruin the immersion. So she just rested her head on her arm and stared at the ceiling. The sound of pages turning came from her side. The air was filled with the scent of shower gel and water vapor. The occasional bark of a dog and chirp of an insect came from outside. Everything was peaceful and quiet.

It was uncomfortable to stay in one position for a long time. Pei Yunle’s backside was a little sore. The moment she moved, the bed board would creak, as if in protest.

Pei Yunle felt as stiff as a corpse. But she thought that she and Chen Qingtang were close enough. She wouldn’t mind, would she?

As she debated with herself, Pei Yunle glanced at the book Chen Qingtang was reading. She had thought it would be some serious literature or a collection of essays and poems. But when she saw the colorful anatomical diagrams on the page, her social anxiety suddenly vanished. She sat up from the bed like a spring.

“What are you reading? Human anatomy?”

Chen Qingtang was startled by her sudden words. She wasn’t actually that interested in human anatomy, but her grandmother’s condition seemed to be getting worse recently. So she had bought a medical book to learn a little, not to treat her, of course, but just to have a rough understanding and feel more at ease.

This book wasn’t a systematic anatomy textbook; the diagrams were just on the first page for easier comprehension.

Pei Yunle had finally found something to do, and it was something she was familiar with. She subconsciously leaned over to look at the book with Chen Qingtang.

Her freshly blown hair was still a little damp. The milky scent of the shampoo mixed with the water vapor was irresistible in this hot summer. Chen Qingtang moved the book closer.

“You’ll laugh when I say this, but when I was studying for my final exams in college, sometimes I couldn’t understand what the definitions were saying at all. It felt like a bunch of unfamiliar words were put together into an illogical sentence. When I couldn’t understand something, I had to memorize it by rote. Sometimes I even suspected that the person who wrote the book was an AI.”

“I studied anatomy in my first year, and my knowledge was very shallow. I often couldn’t accurately locate the positions described in the book. It felt very abstract. It wasn’t until I went to the lab and saw the cadavers that I finally understood the locations.”

Chen Qingtang had never been exposed to these things. It all sounded very new and interesting. Many questions gathered in her throat, but she could only make a harsh, grating sound. The more excited Pei Yunle became, the more sadness and longing filled her eyes.

“Can you understand it?” Pei Yunle couldn’t help but look up at Chen Qingtang. She felt that she couldn’t quite understand the other person’s gaze.

Chen Qingtang shook her head. Pei Yunle was right next to her. If she looked closely, she could even see the blood vessels under her skin, the fine hairs on her face, and feel the warmth of her body. But this person was also so far away from her, separated by a chasm. It was just by chance that a small path had allowed them to meet.

But now she had a chance to get a little closer to Pei Yunle, even if it was just a little.

Pei Yunle saw Chen Qingtang’s finger slide to the anatomical diagram on the page, landing on the text marking the seventh cervical vertebra.

“Oh, the seventh cervical vertebra is very obvious. It’s even easier to feel on someone as thin as you.”

Pei Yunle had already raised her hand. Her fingertip was about to touch Chen Qingtang’s thin skin when she stopped. “Do you mind if I touch you? It won’t hurt. I’m just showing you the exact location. If you’re curious, you can explore your own body with me.”

Chen Qingtang nodded without taking her eyes off the book.

The cervical vertebra protruded slightly upwards, pushing up a layer of fair, smooth skin, creating a beautiful curve.

Pei Yunle’s warm fingertip pressed down gently. She slid it down a little. “This is the seventh cervical vertebra. It has a very obvious spinous process. And further down…”

Chen Qingtang wasn’t really listening. The moment the touch began, she felt a faint electric current released from her cervical vertebra, traveling to every nerve, muscle, and bone marrow, a tingling sensation that spread to her limbs. Her fingers curled nervously. She felt the current raise her heart rate, and her blood began to heat up and boil. This was the second time she wanted to make a sound.

The first time was when Pei Yunle was drunk and bit her waist.

Chen Qingtang’s messy green hair fell loosely on her shoulders, covering some of her features. Only her face, flushed like a red lantern in the snow, was visible.

“Did you know, I actually really like the wrist joint and the anterior superior iliac spine. I feel that the curves of the human body they create are very beautiful. You should know the wrist joint, right?”

With that, Pei Yunle took Chen Qingtang’s slender wrist in her own hand. Her entire arm had very little fat, making it easy to feel the bones.

This time, it wasn’t just a light touch with her fingertip, but a gentle rubbing with several fingers. “Look, the protrusion on the side of the little finger is called the ulnar styloid process.”

Pei Yunle gently squeezed Chen Qingtang’s wrist and, after a moment, said with a sigh, “You should eat more. It’s not good for a girl to be too thin. You need a little fat to protect yourself. Hey, before you get fat, I’ll protect you. After all, you can’t get fat in one bite.”

Pei Yunle’s gaze suddenly shifted to Chen Qingtang’s body, as if she were admiring her bones through her skin.

“Chen Qingtang, you’re so beautiful.” Afraid that Chen Qingtang would think she was being vulgar, she quickly waved her hand and explained, “I’m not saying your face is beautiful. Okay, your face is beautiful too. I actually meant that your bones are beautiful.”

The words sounded too creepy. Pei Yunle felt like she was sick, like some kind of strange fetishist. She bit her tongue and quickly tried to explain again, “I didn’t mean it like that. I mean… um, I just feel that you’re like a masterpiece carefully crafted by Nüwa.”

Pei Yunle covered her eyes with her arm. “Oh my god, what am I saying? Anyway, just know that I’m complimenting you.”

After speaking, Pei Yunle’s face felt like it was on fire. She had never praised anyone out loud before. Lin Zilan had always used a suppressive method of education with her. Other than praising her for her grades, she would always find fault with her in terms of her life, appearance, and figure. Over time, Pei Yunle came to feel that praise was a very difficult thing to say.

Tonight was the first time in her life that she had sincerely praised someone.

She wanted to pull the quilt over her head, but it was trapped underneath her. She had to do a fish-flop to pull it out, the bed board creaking wildly.

Chen Qingtang looked down at the person next to her. She had only covered her head with the quilt, her arms and legs still outside.

It was very late. Chen Qingtang turned off the light and prepared to sleep.

The night was very quiet, so quiet that they could even hear each other’s breathing.

Chen Qingtang thought she could hear her own heartbeat. She lay flat on her back and felt that the places Pei Yunle had touched were still hot. She raised her hand to her chest. It was still beating wildly. Was that electric current still there? She closed her eyes, trying to fall asleep quickly.

The quilt was still over Pei Yunle’s head. The air was getting thin, but she still didn’t want to take it off. Her hands lay limply on the pillow, palms up. She was searching for Chen Qingtang’s breathing, wanting to fall asleep to its rhythm.

After a long time, Chen Qingtang felt that it was too noisy by her ear. She opened her eyes in a void. She had only one thought: it was very hot.

The two of them were almost pressed together. The air around them was hot and dry. Pei Yunle had just taken a shower, and her skin still had the coolness of evaporating water. Chen Qingtang felt this and couldn’t help but wonder why such cool skin would give her such a hot sensation.

She was not used to such close contact. She simply rolled over to face Pei Yunle.

After keeping your eyes open in the dark for a long time, you get used to it and can see the blurry outlines of objects. She saw the hand lying by the pillow, long and slender with distinct knuckles. She couldn’t help but put her own hand on her pillow, carefully and cautiously, afraid of touching Pei Yunle and waking her up.

Their hands were very close. Chen Qingtang tilted her head and looked for a while. Pei Yunle’s hand seemed to be a little bigger than hers. She didn’t know how much bigger, unless their palms were pressed together for comparison. She only knew that her palm was a little bigger than her own.

There was a fortune teller under the bridge who always asked people to extend their palms to read their fortunes. He would examine their life line, career line, and marriage line, chanting words that Chen Qingtang couldn’t understand, and then tell them that their fate was very good. As for whether he was a scammer, Chen Qingtang didn’t know. She only knew that those who went to have their fortunes read just wanted to hear something nice. Whether it was accurate or not didn’t matter.

Chen Qingtang had never believed in these things. She never believed that you could tell anything from just a few lines. When she was a child, she had even pressed a ruler against her palm and deliberately drawn a few lines to show the fortune teller. He had just treated her as a child and didn’t take it seriously, even praising her for having a good marriage line and being destined to find a good partner.

Chen Qingtang was a little shaken now. There was a very faint line on the outer edge of her palm. That was the marriage line. She moved her marriage line closer to Pei Yunle’s. In the complete darkness, the lines on their palms were invisible, but Chen Qingtang still foolishly tried to find hers.

The two faint marriage lines were close, with a thin gap between them.

Pei Yunle probably didn’t expect that someone was looking for her marriage line right now. All she felt was that she couldn’t breathe. The air under the quilt was too thin, and it was uncomfortable.

Chen Qingtang looked at their two palms and felt her seventh cervical vertebra begin to heat up again.

She began to have a faint expectation that Pei Yunle’s palm would begin to merge with her destiny.

This night, the two of them were destined to be sleepless.