Chapter 25: The Girl’s Hands Were Playing with a Thin Silver Chain

The cold water washed away the foam on her hands, and Pei Ruyu squeezed another pump of hand soap to scrub them again.

She repeated this several times. Looking at her reddened hands from the scrubbing, Pei Ruyu was lost in thought for a long time.

In her daze, a warm, soft body suddenly pressed against her back.

The familiar scent reached her nose first, snapping Pei Ruyu back to reality.

Without turning around, just by the smell, she knew who it was.

Looking at the hands silently circling her waist, Pei Ruyu had no choice but to stop her hand-washing. She dried her hands, carefully grabbed the injured wrist, and turned around to ask.

“Why aren’t you waiting outside?”

The person in front of her burrowed directly into her arms again.

Clingily wrapping her arms tighter around her waist.

Helplessly, Pei Ruyu could only force a smile and whisper by Miao Qingzhi’s ear.

“The clothes might have touched her a little. Don’t you mind?”

“I do mind.”

Miao Qingzhi’s nose rubbed against Pei Ruyu’s chest. “I almost wanted to tear off Sister’s clothes.”

Saying she minded, but her arms only wrapped around Pei Ruyu even tighter.

Such fierce words spoken in such a soft tone sounded more like flirtation to Pei Ruyu’s ears.

Pei Ruyu laughed helplessly, unable to resist reaching up to smooth her hair, teasing, “If you mind, why are you holding me so tight?”

“Because Sister is sad right now.”

The voice in her arms was muffled. “I feel sorry for you.”

The smile at the corner of Pei Ruyu’s mouth froze for a moment.

She lowered her eyes, meeting the gaze looking up at her.

In those eyes at this moment was a thick, deep pity, and even the slight grievance was almost invisible.

“So even if I mind, I have to hug Sister first.”

Her heartbeat became uncontrollable at that moment.

Racing, aching.

The irrepressible heartbeat overwhelmed the original bone-chilling coldness.

A warm current climbed up Pei Ruyu’s heart, surging from her chest to her limbs.

Even her eyes felt a little hot.

Pei Ruyu quickly raised her hand to press Miao Qingzhi’s head down, keeping her pressed against her chest.

So she wouldn’t see her momentary helplessness and embarrassment.

“I’m sorry.”

Pei Ruyu wrapped her arms around Miao Qingzhi’s shoulders, tightening them more and more, speaking in a muffled voice, “I’ve made you suffer again. I’m sorry.”

The force was too tight, as if trying to knead her into her body.

As if that could hold onto this rare warmth.

Enduring the suffocating force, Miao Qingzhi remained silent, obediently pressed against her chest.

Listening to the violent heartbeat, Miao Qingzhi silently hooked her tongue against her teeth and licked.

Hold it in. Can’t bite yet.

Although Pei Ruyu couldn’t indulge her girlfriend’s bold idea of tearing off her clothes in public, after getting through that moment of vulnerability and helplessness, she did take the initiative to find a women’s clothing store and buy new clothes, changing out of the ones that might upset her girlfriend.

Only then did Miao Qingzhi agree to hold Pei Ruyu’s hand again.

Si Yao was dumbfounded.

Si Yao was deeply shocked.

Although she couldn’t understand what kind of kinky play they were into, watching her childhood friend, who had gone off dejectedly to wash her hands, return with a soft smile she couldn’t hide.

She could only sigh, baby sister was truly amazing.

After that, none of them were in the mood to continue playing.

After safely sending Miao Qingzhi back to the hospital, Si Yao said goodbye and left.

Before leaving, she didn’t forget to pull Pei Ruyu aside and ask quietly.

“Tell me honestly, what are you thinking now?”

Her expression was too serious, completely unlike her usual joking self. It caught Pei Ruyu off guard.

“What do you mean, what am I thinking?”

“Bai Qingjia! What she said today. Don’t let her fool you again, okay? Don’t actually believe she’ll cancel the wedding and come back to you?”

Looking at her suspicious and worried expression, Pei Ruyu smiled helplessly. “A-Yao, do I look like a fool?”

“Take out the ‘look like’ and that’s exactly what you are.”

Si Yao said seriously, “A few years ago, when she insisted you buy that apartment in that neighborhood, didn’t I stop you? You didn’t listen. When it was 80,000 per square meter, you bought it just to make her commute easier? Look at how much the housing prices have dropped now!”

“And then because you didn’t add her name to the deed, you had a falling out, and you had to buy her a car as compensation! A Maserati worth over nine hundred thousand! In the end, it was all just to show off for her blind dates! If Shen Wangshu hadn’t stopped you and made you register the car under the company name to save on taxes, you would have just put it in her name!”

Si Yao got angrier as she scolded. “If you weren’t a fool, would you have let her bleed you dry for so many years? And you pay the car insurance every year! In the end, she still calls you stingy!”

“Calm down, calm down. It’s not a big deal. It won’t happen again, don’t worry.”

Pei Ruyu patted Si Yao’s shoulder, smiling awkwardly. “Of course, I have to thank my brilliant and wise good friends for helping me avoid many pitfalls. When my girlfriend is discharged, I’ll organize a gathering to formally introduce you all to her.”

Si Yao still reminded her, “This time, it better be real! Baby sister can do this much for you, you should cherish her. Love brains of this quality are rare these days.”

It seemed her birthday wish this year hadn’t been wasted. Her idiot childhood friend could finally have a good life.

Finally meeting a good girl willing to protect her with her life.

Raising a sensible, considerate, innocent college girl was much better than Bai Qingjia, who ate soft rice with a hard attitude, hurting both money and feelings, right?

“And her eyes seem to have no worldly desires, only you.”

When Pei Ruyu returned to the ward, she was still savoring Si Yao’s words “her eyes only have you.” The more she thought about it, the sweeter it was.

The person in the bed, however, looked listless, silently staring out the window.

Pei Ruyu put away her phone and instinctively lightened her steps as she walked over.

Before she even reached the bed, the person had already turned her head.

“Sister.”

It was obvious she was forcing a smile, and it wasn’t hard for Pei Ruyu to guess why she was unhappy.

Kneeling beside her, Pei Ruyu gently tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“I just sent you a WeChat message. Take a look?”

Miao Qingzhi seemed different from her peers. At least, the girls her age around her, like her cousin, basically had their phones in their hands all day.

But when she was with Miao Qingzhi, she rarely looked at her phone.

It seemed like besides contacting people, she wasn’t interested in any of the entertainment apps on her phone.

Miao Qingzhi raised the hand with the IV drip. “You get it for me?”

Pei Ruyu quickly got her phone and held it in front of her.

“Password 0812.”

Pei Ruyu was stunned.

0812, that was her birthday.

Suppressing a smile, she unlocked the phone. Opening WeChat, Pei Ruyu immediately saw that the pinned chat at the top was her avatar.

It was the only pinned chat.

The WeChat messages were clean. Besides her at the top, the latest messages below were just official accounts and a few of her relatives’ and friends’ avatars.

Pei Ruyu didn’t feel comfortable prying into her privacy. She directly tapped into their chat, accepted the transfer in front of Miao Qingzhi, and then held it up for her to see.

A screenshot of a 52,000 yuan transfer, with the note: Wife, Happy Valentine’s Day! (Voluntary gift)

On holidays like this, people’s Moments were either showing off transfers or gifts.

Pei Ruyu followed the trend, just to make the little girl happy.

But unexpectedly, seeing the note, her usually passionate little sweetheart still had a plain expression.

“Sleeping with me once and you give this much.”

It was clearly passive-aggressive. “Sister is so generous. You wouldn’t do the same for other little sisters or good besties, would you?”

The sourness was too strong.

Pei Ruyu laughed.

Unable to hold it in, she directly kissed that bitter-melon-like face.

“Which little sister could be as troublesome as you?”

She cupped Miao Qingzhi’s cheek with one hand, stroking the delicate skin, and looked into her eyes seriously. “Miao Qingzhi, you’re my girlfriend now. You have the right to be jealous. If you’re unhappy, tell me. If I can change, I will, okay?”

The bitter melon face remained scrunched.

“But Sister said she doesn’t like people who are too possessive.”

Vaguely remembering the views on love she had casually mentioned to her in that remote mountain village, Pei Ruyu’s heart ached even more.

She really had taken every word she said to heart.

Pei Ruyu sighed and lightly bit her lip again.

“If it’s you, even if you’re possessive, I like it.”

Only then did the bitter melon face ease slightly.

“Really?”

Pei Ruyu leaned in and captured her lips again.

“Really. I like it.”

Only then did a hint of a smile appear in Miao Qingzhi’s eyes, and she parted her lips to respond.

“Sister said it herself.”

“I’ll take it seriously.”

Pei Ruyu just vaguely hummed “Mm” and continued to nibble on her lips.

Indeed, there was no jealousy that a kiss couldn’t solve.

After that, Miao Qingzhi wasn’t angry anymore, nor did she bring up the unpleasant things. She was still as clingy as ever, demanding kisses and hugs.

Pei Ruyu was overjoyed, thinking this little episode wouldn’t cause any ripples.

Mm, her little girl was indeed easy to coax.

Until night fell, Pei Ruyu lay on the hospital bed as usual, holding Miao Qingzhi and sleeping peacefully.

But in tonight’s dream, she once again saw that gloomy-faced Miaojiang girl from that night.

The girl was dressed in Miao ethnic clothing, with silver chains around her body moving without wind.

The surroundings were filled with an indistinct thick fog. In that unreal scene, Pei Ruyu could only feel herself restrained in a chair, unable to move.

And the Miaojiang girl in front of her was walking towards her slowly with a smile on her face.

At this moment, the girl’s hands were idly playing with a thin silver chain.