Chapter 10

Qi Xu had always vaguely sensed that she was a lesbian, but she had never taken any concrete action. She had only confirmed it right before leaving the hospital, and that was simply because she liked Xia Zhiming’s looks.

Her gaydar hadn’t even activated yet, and she had no idea if Xia Zhiming was a lesbian, so she naturally chose to keep her distance and just think about it. But even in that situation, Xia Zhiming had forcibly kissed her!

It was a real forced kiss, and she was like a little white rabbit, unable to do anything.

Even though Qi Xu actually harbored a bit of fondness for Xia Zhiming deep down, at that moment, she only felt violated and insulted.

But as the kiss continued, she surprisingly thought—it felt… kind of nice? It wasn’t unreasonable for Qi Xu to think that way. If it had been a man doing this to her, her mind would probably have raced with thoughts of kicking him in the crotch later and then reporting him for sexual harassment.

But with Xia Zhiming, a soft and fragrant girl, she actually didn’t find it particularly unbearable. Though she still felt offended, her mindset was much more tolerable overall, especially since she quite liked Xia Zhiming deep down.

Looking at Xia Zhiming again, Qi Xu felt her recently suppressed masochistic soul stirring once more.

Qi Xu had never kissed anyone else, so she only felt that Xia Zhiming’s lips were soft and warm. Moreover, Xia Zhiming didn’t do anything else; she just rubbed her lips against Qi Xu’s in a pure kiss for a while.

When Xia Zhiming kissed her, her eyes were wide open, locking gazes with Qi Xu. Qi Xu could only see the clarity in her eyes, which weakened Qi Xu’s own momentum considerably. Instead, Qi Xu couldn’t handle eye contact with Xia Zhiming and closed her eyes first.

After a while, she felt a lightness on her body as Xia Zhiming released her.

Qi Xu cautiously opened her eyes and saw Xia Zhiming sitting on the single sofa nearby, casually crossing her legs. Qi Xu felt extremely aggrieved at that moment, and her first reaction was to wipe her lips. But Xia Zhiming’s words stopped her: “If you dare wipe your lips because you disdain my mouth, I’ll make sure you don’t see tomorrow’s sun.”

Qi Xu sniffled but didn’t make a move.

She was really so aggrieved, but Xia Zhiming was a madwoman who just might do it. So she sat aggrievedly on the sofa, feeling like she was unclean now.

Seeing Qi Xu’s spineless appearance, Xia Zhiming even kicked her calf with her foot. When Qi Xu looked up at her, she said, “What are you thinking? I was transferring yang energy to you. Did you really think I wanted to kiss you?”

This statement made Qi Xu somewhat suspicious. If Xia Zhiming was also a lesbian, it would be normal for her to want to kiss Qi Xu—she was so pretty. Not to brag, but Qi Xu had been the most beautiful girl in her village for miles around. Though after entering university, she couldn’t compare to the campus belles or department flowers, she was more than enough as a class flower.

Moreover, everyone said Qi Xu had an approachable charm that made people want to get close to her involuntarily. In that case, it was very normal for a lesbian to like her. From childhood to now, she had been confessed to countless times. If not for feeling nothing for anyone, she wouldn’t have remained single since birth.

Wait, but if Xia Zhiming was a lesbian and they clicked, it… wouldn’t be impossible to date.

Qi Xu tossed the random thought from her head and refocused on the main issue. After a moment, she pouted and said, “But is yang energy transferred like this? Besides, you’re a girl too. Isn’t it said that men have more abundant yang energy?”

Xia Zhiming kicked her calf again, and to avoid another kick, Qi Xu could only scoot sideways a bit. Her legs pressed tightly together, looking pitiful and helpless.

“Even old fogeys aren’t as stubbornly traditional as you. Yang energy and yin energy have nothing to do with gender. So-called yang energy is the breath of the living, of daytime, of the sun. Yin energy is the breath of the dead, of the night.”

“Oh… I see.”

Having been criticized as “traditional,” Qi Xu felt a bit embarrassed. But after her embarrassment, she reacted: “But what does that have to do with you kissing me?”

Xia Zhiming glanced at her and didn’t bother explaining out of curiosity: “Staying with living people can indeed let you absorb a little yang energy, but it’s too slow. Transferring it directly mouth-to-mouth is faster. If you don’t like that, you can suck it from my nose.”

“…” Qi Xu imagined that scene and found it rather unappealing. She pouted for a while and still decided that kissing was the most acceptable option. And so, the matter of transferring yang energy via kissing was settled in a muddled way.

That evening, Xia Zhiming ordered two takeout meals. As a poor student, Qi Xu had the thick skin to rush forward. She ate happily because Xia Zhiming had ordered from that hard-to-get steak restaurant’s set meal—she recognized the logo right away. It was both expensive and difficult to book, something a student like her couldn’t even dream of.

But after a few bites, Qi Xu still sighed: “It doesn’t taste as good as the teppanyaki steak on the second floor of our school’s Canteen 2.”

This made Xia Zhiming so annoyed that she reached out and knocked Qi Xu on the head. Qi Xu pursed her lips and said nothing—she hadn’t lied; it was the truth. After a moment, she realized how hard to book and expensive that place was; Xia Zhiming must have spent a fortune. Now she somewhat felt that Xia Zhiming was sharp-tongued but soft-hearted.

Qi Xu leaned toward Xia Zhiming and whispered, “Next time, I’ll treat you to teppanyaki steak rice from our school cafeteria.”

Xia Zhiming glanced at Qi Xu. She still thought Xia Zhiming would be touched, but the latter directly said: “Who wants your twenty-five-yuan synthetic steak? That good taste is all from seasonings; who knows how long that zombie meat has been frozen. And you treat it like treasure. But it’s perfect—half-human half-ghost pairs well with zombie meat; it won’t kill you anyway.”

Wah wah wah, how could she say that?

But Qi Xu had dampened the mood first, so she had no face to retort.

After finishing dinner, Xia Zhiming kicked Qi Xu with her foot, telling her to clean up the table. Once Qi Xu had packed the takeout boxes into a trash bag and put it by the door, she came back. This time, Xia Zhiming’s expression was a bit more serious, as if she was about to discuss something important, and Qi Xu obediently sat on the sofa.

“Do you have your ID and student ID on you?”

“Yes.”

“Tomorrow, come with me to handle the internship. Our department will issue you a certificate. Skip the useless later classes. I’m telling you, this is a proper internship. There will be tasks later, and you must follow me out. Also, don’t think about sucking yang energy from others. Ordinary people don’t have enough for you, and they can’t transfer it themselves.”

Qi Xu nodded obediently and thanked her softly: “Xia Zhiming, thank you. Without you, I might have died.”

Though Xia Zhiming seemed somewhat unreliable and acted crazy, she had undeniably saved Qi Xu. That much, Qi Xu acknowledged.

Xia Zhiming “hmph”ed and then brushed back the hair at her temple, telling Qi Xu to scoot over properly.

Qi Xu blinked: “What’s up?”

“Transferring yang energy to you.”

“Oh… oh.” Qi Xu finally reacted, feeling a bit shy as her face flushed red. The first time she had been kissed, she felt insulted, but after Xia Zhiming explained, she knew it was for her own good, so she wasn’t as resistant now. Instead… she was even a little expectant.

Previously, she had been too focused on feeling insulted to notice her first kiss ending. Now… well, she should be able to experience what kissing felt like.

She sat upright properly, watching Xia Zhiming walk over. When Xia Zhiming sat on this double sofa, Qi Xu felt the cushion sink a bit toward her side. Then, she smelled a pleasant fragrance. She knew it was laundry detergent—she had used similar before—but on Xia Zhiming, it seemed upscale, like perfume.

Thinking of that, Qi Xu’s face reddened even more.

She was just an innocent, foolish ordinary female college student who had never dated. Because she knew she might be a lesbian, she hadn’t done anything particularly intimate even with friends. When she surfed online before, she had seen girls sharing “kissing their besties’ cheeks in middle or high school,” and she found it too stimulating.

She never expected that one day, she would kiss a girl she had just met not long ago.

As Xia Zhiming leaned in, Qi Xu instinctively closed her eyes. Though she had no experience, movies always said “close your eyes when kissing,” so she followed suit.

But Xia Zhiming wasn’t very satisfied. Her hand reached over and gripped Qi Xu’s chin again, turning her head toward herself: “Why are you squeezing your eyes shut so tight? It makes it seem like I’m taking advantage of you. Am I not at a loss? You’re acting like you’re the one being bullied.”

Qi Xu could only open her eyes and look at Xia Zhiming in front of her.

Her chin gripped, she was about to speak when Xia Zhiming pinched it, turning it into a duck beak.

Qi Xu really found Xia Zhiming so hard to get along with; she had never met someone with this personality. At that moment, she felt exasperated. Even her speech lacked confidence, and with the duck beak, it came out muffled: “No, I just… uh, have no experience…”

Hearing this, Xia Zhiming got even angrier and “tch”ed with a laugh: “What, are you implying I have experience?”

For some reason, hearing Xia Zhiming say that, Qi Xu suddenly felt: Not bad, even a little gain.

Xia Zhiming pinched her duck beak for a while, then suddenly let go. Before Qi Xu could react, she kissed her directly.