MAMA-26: Help Me Sleep.
Mi Shanxin had never used this kind of thing, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t curious.
Even though she had a very good friend, she would never bring this up with Li Yin.
More than shame, she was mainly worried Li Yin would try to drag her off to the hospital again, ultimately troubling Li Yin’s mother to send them back.
Her friend was very enthusiastic, but parents weren’t necessarily the same. After experiencing that, Mi Shanxin never opened her mouth about it again.
No matter how good someone is, there’s always politeness and formality. She had always wanted to experience a request made without such courtesies.
Jian Wanji was the air vent Mi Shanxin encountered while drifting; that’s how a plastic bag could dance too.
She had never been so grateful for her looks. Even though many people told her, “Mi Shanxin, you’re quite pretty, but you should smile more, be more cheerful.”
It was precisely because she hadn’t changed at all that she met Jian Wanji, who wanted her just as she was.
And at times like this, I need someone by my side too.
Mi Shanxin wouldn’t tell Jian Wanji that when she was unwrapping the packaging, what she was thinking about was how Jian Wanji had looked last night, frowning as she studied the finger cot instructions.
Jian Wanji had answered about her current relationship status: single, no romantic partner.
As for whether she had one before, or any experience, her answers were rather ambiguous, almost deliberate.
An ordinary person would judge by Jian Wanji’s age that she was lying. How could there be a woman nearly forty who’s never dated? How could a Big Boss stay so pristine, with no relationship history at the age of thirty-nine?
Besides, Jian Wanji had a flirtatious air about her, her body language was overly familiar, and her occasional speech carried a hint of frivolity, as if she was an easy catch. That was also why, at their first meeting, Mi Shanxin was convinced she was lecherous and committing sexual harassment.
Now that they’d spent this much time together, Mi Shanxin somewhat understood Jian Wanji’s disguise.
The saying “you can’t judge a book by its cover” has two meanings: besides the fact that an unattractive person isn’t necessarily bad, and a good-looking person isn’t necessarily good, there’s a third scenario.
For example, right now, Jian Wanji seemed to be faking composure, yet there were fleeting moments that betrayed her nervousness, her breathing too.
She didn’t know why, but Mi Shanxin found her very cute.
Could someone older than her not be cute?
Li Yin was very sensitive about age, perhaps influenced by her parents—the idea that every age should have its corresponding behavior, and that every age should match a certain type of person.
Top students were naturally meant to pair with top students; underachievers had no right to date.
Dating, like marriage, required matching social status. Any ambiguous relationship not aimed at long-term development was a shameless seduction and should be taken out and shot.
She couldn’t accept age gaps or education gaps. The only gap she might concede to was probably body type.
Back in middle school, when Mi Shanxin praised the PE teacher, Li Yin hesitated, as if she had trouble understanding what was so cute about a teacher so much older than them.
In her classmates’ eyes, the teacher was an old-fashioned woman who even wore a silk scarf during outdoor practice sketching. Back then, Mi Shanxin stood to the side, watching her stand under a tree, finding an angle to take photos. The autumn wind blew the maple leaves, and in that dancing moment, she just felt such a woman was very cute—a fleeting moment where she tried to reconstruct the other’s girlhood.
Who hasn’t been through that? Perhaps in my future, there will also be a moment like this.
Jian Wanji was even more interesting. Her nickname was Changchang, yet she hated eating any kind of offal.
Mi Shanxin heard this from the Auntie Caretaker.
During occasional meals with Grandmother, the busy employer would join. The old lady assumed Jian Wanji, like her mother, liked tripe or braised intestines and kept piling food onto her plate.
Because the meals were prepared for the elderly, the alcohol content in the wine-fermented intestines was greatly reduced, but the flavor was still very strong. The caretaker said Wanji actually seemed unable to stomach any of it and vomited it all up.
Even though the caretaker and Jian Wanji had an employment relationship, she too seemed to find this grandparent-grandchild dynamic strange.
Mi Shanxin was young, and her quietness gave people the false impression they could complain to her without anything leaking out. Over a meal or two, the information she gathered was far more than Jian Wanji could imagine.
“…Why are you so quiet? Then do it yourself.” Jian Wanji fidgeted irritably with the box in her hands, silently cursing Sui Yuqian god knows how many times.
The functional overviews on these kinds of product packaging were shockingly explicit. Jian Wanji was afraid the kid would be so overstimulated she’d faint. The reason for a hospital visit would be way too embarrassing then, and her relationship with Mi Shanxin would probably be misunderstood again.
“You… do it…” Mi Shanxin gasped in small breaths, her sudden mental wandering easily interrupted. “I’m… so dizzy, so dizzy… wuwu…”
Only at times like this did Mi Shanxin not seem like a little old soul burdened by hardship. The vibrancy a normal college student should have seeped from her skin into her soul. Her suppressed voice sounded very much like a kitten’s mewl.
Jian Wanji found it hard to imagine such sounds could come from Mi Shanxin. It was a tremendous test of her self-control.
Age was part of the reason, Jian Wanji’s personal preference was another. Some things could be suppressed, just like this kind of thing Jian Wanji had always found troublesome before.
She didn’t speak, resembling a very dutiful family doctor examining the girl’s body.
“…So reckless.” The woman sighed. “What if it breaks?”
She had gone to wash her hands just now. The coldness of her fingers made Mi Shanxin tense up even more.
Tears triggered by physical stimulation kissed her temples, making her look excessively bedraggled.
Jian Wanji scolded her in that lazy drawl, as if deliberately forcing herself into the role of a school infirmary teacher or an elder, masking something unknown.
Hypocrite.
Mi Shanxin inwardly judged Jian Wanji’s actions. Outwardly, she was already beyond speech.
Jian Wanji could understand a young girl exploring her body, but this thing’s intensity was way too high.
Sweat was practically trickling down Jian Wanji’s back. She put the thing aside and checked Mi Shanxin’s condition—not optimistic.
The woman sucked in several sharp breaths. “Maybe we should go to the hospital.”
“…No.” Mi Shanxin pressed her legs together, trying to pull the blanket over herself, but realizing Jian Wanji was there, she stopped.
“Then how will you use the bathroom?” Jian Wanji could be circuitous, but she could also be direct.
Some said she was moody; she was capable of smiling while rejecting someone. Doing business with her, it was too hard to read the final outcome from that face.
But Jian Wanji didn’t really need to beat around the bush with Mi Shanxin. The little girl was like a blank sheet of paper, ready for anyone to write on, and it was filled with trust for Jian Wanji.
Even the most insincere person in the workplace would lower their guard and show a bit of their true self.
Mi Shanxin thought she was too pragmatic, not frivolous enough, yet she still wasn’t quite satisfied.
“I can pee.”
The corner of Jian Wanji’s mouth twitched. “…A bit more elegance, please.”
Probably feeling the scene was too disastrous, the woman grabbed a throw blanket with one hand and draped it over Mi Shanxin. “You’ve had your fun, so you shouldn’t need me anymore, right? I told you, toys are better than people.”
Mi Shanxin lay under the blanket Jian Wanji had thrown over her, her clothes disheveled, yet this person was dressed so properly, as if just returning from some important meeting. Utterly unfair.
But Mi Shanxin couldn’t ask her to undress. The Additional Contract was originally for her service.
Jian Wanji wasn’t the bewitching mother-daughter commission service Mi Shanxin had purchased either.
“Is your hand still there? Very elegant, isn’t it?” Even though her face was flushed red, lust still struggled to moisten the girl’s eyes. It was as if she was born with an inherent severance from worldly desires, making one want to do something about it.
“Sorry.” Jian Wanji let go, noticed the string of fluid, and quickly wiped it away. “Then should I go buy some medicine?”
“You can order delivery.” Mi Shanxin ignored her, still needing to touch herself, like a robot performing self-repair, concluding, “It’s fine.”
Jian Wanji was amused by her actions. “You live alone; order delivery less often.”
“It’s already very rare.” Mi Shanxin finished speaking and collapsed onto her pillow, asking Jian Wanji, “You? Living alone, you never order delivery?”
“The neighborhood I live in is quite nice.” Jian Wanji, afraid Mi Shanxin would catch a cold, covered her with the blanket again. “Do you have a spare fitted sheet?”
She was inevitably embarrassed. “I probably don’t need to change it for you, right?”
“No need, just pull out the pad underneath.” Mi Shanxin stared at Jian Wanji’s face. “Are you feeling awkward?”
“It’s your space heater set too high.” Jian Wanji insisted on going to the pharmacy. Opening the door, she turned back to Mi Shanxin, who had flipped open the blanket again, and said, “Don’t catch a cold.”
Mi Shanxin gave a sound of assent.
Jian Wanji: “Best not to take time off.”
Mi Shanxin responded with a couple of “mm”s.
Jian Wanji asked: “Can you give me the key?”
Mi Shanxin stared at her. The woman explained, “So you don’t have to get up to open the door for me.”
“It’s on the table.”
“Okay.”
Once Jian Wanji left, Mi Shanxin casually picked up the instructions Jian Wanji had left nearby and also found her mobile phone.
The home Wi-Fi signal wasn’t very good; she had planned to replace it by year’s end but kept procrastinating until now. Downloading an app took ages.
Jian Wanji had offered to replace it for her, but Mi Shanxin refused.
Even the computer was forcibly replaced by Jian Wanji under the pretext of it being lightweight. Actually, after signing the contract with Jian Wanji, Mi Shanxin’s vlogging career had also come to a standstill.
In terms of overall benefits, meeting Jian Wanji was indeed a great fortune in Mi Shanxin’s life.
Mi Shanxin didn’t know where Jian Wanji went to buy medicine. Her craving hadn’t subsided, nor was she sleepy, so she had to take the toy and go take a shower.
