Lu Jia lowered her head and picked up another bottle of mineral water, twisting it open with ease.
The cool liquid slid from her mouth into her throat, cooler than the pool water from earlier, clearing her thoughts a bit.
“Whatever works,” she said.
Sheng Shubai smiled, her reaction from Lu Jia entirely expected.
She figured with Lu Jia’s blockhead personality, both kinds of relationships probably seemed reasonable and could coexist side by side. So she didn’t comment and casually shifted to another topic.
Soon, evening arrived.
Located in the suburbs, but delivery was still an option. The woman held up her phone to Lu Jia. “What do you want to eat? We can have the restaurant deliver it straight here.”
She didn’t come here often, so aside from shelf-stable staples like rice and flour, she naturally didn’t keep fresh ingredients in the kitchen.
Lu Jia thought for a moment and named two dishes.
The restaurant was quick; when the delivery person rang the doorbell at the front gate, the sky was just starting to darken.
“The scenery here is really nice.”
Lu Jia had just showered and changed into one of Sheng Shubai’s nightgowns as she came down from the second floor. “But the occupancy rate doesn’t seem very high.”
Those who could afford a villa here naturally owned more than one property. Most, like Sheng Shubai, only came occasionally to stay a few days for relaxation.
Aside from the uniform streetlights, not many indoor lights were on in the villa district. The neighbors on both sides were pitch black.
As Lu Jia descended the stairs, she glanced casually out the floor-to-ceiling window.
In the distance stretched a continuous mountain range, shrouded in a hazy layer by the faint night. During the day, it was lush green scenery; now it appeared even more profound and serene.
She casually remarked that the view was beautiful, something hard to find in central C City.
Little did she know that two hours later, Sheng Shubai would pull her into an embrace, pressing her against the floor-to-ceiling window, forcing her to take in the distant mountain nightscape up close.
The nightgown had been swapped for the daytime swimsuit, its ties easily undone from the small of her back.
Moonlight shone brightly outside the window, while the living room glowed with warm light.
Last time it had been the city center’s nightscape; this time, the suburbs.
In the city center, the brilliant lights outside had covered most of the glass reflection. But now, aside from the soft moonlight, the only light source came from inside—or rather, from behind her.
That meant the shadow reflected on the glass was fully visible to Lu Jia, almost like a mirror.
As her earlobe was nipped, Lu Jia shrank back into the woman’s embrace behind her. “Miss Sheng, please slow down a bit.”
Her knees, pale with a hint of pink, bore two rounded red marks.
Sheng Shubai tsked lightly and grabbed another cushion, handing it to her. “If you can’t kneel, don’t force it.”
It wasn’t that she couldn’t kneel.
Lu Jia thought to herself that the unrelenting, layered thrusts inside her simply made her waist go weak.
Lying back on the blanket at last, she could finally rest for a moment.
And she no longer had to face the curves outlined in the glass reflection, or… the evening scenery outside the window that she had praised.
In the brief respite, Lu Jia let out a breath of relief.
Over the past half hour, the distant mountains had blurred into a massive dark shadow in her vision, barely distinguishable from the horizon, leaving only the rustling of nearby trees in the wind and the continuous babbling of a stream by her ear.
Even knowing it was one-way glass—and having faced mirrors plenty of times before—being made to admire the scenery so intently in front of the floor-to-ceiling window was a first.
The discomfort of being forced to scrutinize her reflection blended with the illusion of being under the open sky.
She didn’t dare think too much, and certainly couldn’t.
Sheng Shubai, who knew Lu Jia’s stamina well, looked down at her, her palm resting on the girl’s waist and abdomen to massage it. “Any discomfort?”
Lu Jia nodded and shifted her waist. “It’s okay, just a bit sore.”
With the cushion under her waist, she tilted her head up toward the warm spotlights, her eyes half-closing against the unaccustomed brightness.
The woman’s lips were too soft as they descended.
They traced nearly every inch of her, and when they probed deeper, she accepted them with practiced ease.
Her palm on Sheng Shubai’s nape, Lu Jia’s fingertips inadvertently hooked a strand of long hair—soft and smooth to the touch—but she had no mind to praise it.
All her attention focused on the accumulating sensations from the repeated peaks; her slender, pale foot arched taut, clutching a corner of the blanket.
The blanket clearly wouldn’t do for lying on anymore.
Sheng Shubai looked down at her, considering herself a considerate bed partner, and asked warmly, “Want a kiss?”
The next second, Lu Jia hooked her neck and proactively offered her lips.
Mumbled words spilled between their lips and teeth: “Yes.”
She paused for a moment before kissing back, her jaw still slick with the clear, sticky wetness from before, which Lu Jia licked clean bit by bit.
It was rare for Lu Jia to take the initiative in kissing her.
Sheng Shubai’s eyes fluttered shut lightly; at an angle hidden from the girl beneath her, her lashes trembled.
Only when their breaths were nearly exhausted did they part.
Neither felt anything amiss—it was just soothing, something they did regularly.
“Want me to carry you to the bathroom for a rinse?”
Sheng Shubai retrieved the nightgown from the sofa, shook it out simply, and handed it to Lu Jia. “Want to put this on first? I’ll get you a fresh one later.”
It was a shame—her nightgowns were mostly made of scant fabric, and she’d deliberately chosen an easy one for the evening.
But before starting, the girl had asked if she wanted to see that swimsuit.
Of course Sheng Shubai did.
And right in front of her, while changing.
So the prepared nightgown went unused.
Sheng Shubai carried Lu Jia into the bathroom, then turned to head to the guest room for her own shower—she needed to clean up too.
“Next week, I’m going to Z City for an exhibition. Advisor Rong and another professor are leading us; it’ll be about six or seven days before I get back.”
She had just gripped the bathroom door handle when Lu Jia grabbed her wrist.
Sheng Shubai turned back. “Hm?”
Her cheeks still flushed and uncalmed, the girl’s eyes glistened as she pursed her lips and asked softly, “So, we might not be able to fulfill the contract next week.”
Sheng Shubai raised a brow and looked at her but didn’t rush to speak.
Lu Jia hesitated a few seconds before continuing, “How about we prepay those two times tonight?”
By the time she returned, it would nearly be their physiological periods.
Half a month without fulfilling the agreement weighed on Lu Jia’s mind.
Since signing the contract, they’d faithfully kept to the stipulated twice a week, with sessions nearly doubling that.
Even when Sheng Shubai went to other cities or provinces, it was only two or three days, never a full week.
This time, she was the one leaving for so long. She worried the other might not adapt, or go too long without, and truly felt bad about it.
Sheng Shubai smiled with understanding, her tone ambiguous. “Then, if we meet next week, do these prepaid sessions still count?”
Lu Jia fell silent.
She didn’t know the exact days—Advisor Rong said at most a week, maybe a day or two early.
Upholding the spirit of honoring agreements, she shook her head. “If we can meet then, tonight won’t count.”
“Deal, then.”
Sheng Shubai untied the nightgown’s sash, the soft fabric slipping from her shoulders. “As for next week… we’ll see.”
