Her Tentacles 12

Chapter 12: Injured

The message had just been sent when Shu Yao felt it might be hinting at a different kind of invitation. She was about to explain, but before she could finish typing a single sentence, Lin Ran’s reply arrived:

“Okay.”

It seemed completely unhesitating.

And so, the one who started overthinking was Shu Yao. She held her phone, her expression dazed.

The cashier behind the counter had to raise her voice. “Hello, are you paying by QR code or card?”

Under the strange gazes of the people queuing behind her, Shu Yao hastily came back to her senses, paid, and grabbed the bag of instant noodles, about to walk out. But then she remembered the girlfriend she had just invited over, looked down at the pathetic offering, and let out a silent cry. She had no choice but to turn back into the supermarket—

Forty minutes later.

Carrying two large bags, Shu Yao saw Lin Ran standing by her car at the entrance of the residential complex.

The long ties of the thin, rose-colored casual top were tied into a beautiful bow at the neckline. Below, a snow-white fishtail skirt accentuated her tall, slender figure and commanding presence. Her long, straight, satin-like hair, worthy of a shampoo commercial, cascaded down her shoulders, making her the center of attention for the crowd coming and going from the nearby subway entrance.

Shu Yao’s inspiration for buying those casual shirts had come from her. They had been dating for a while, but every time she saw Lin Ran, she was stunned all over again.

The moment she saw her, the dark-haired woman was already walking toward her.

As the faint, unique, and refreshing sea salt scent of the other woman drew near, Shu Yao was once again enveloped in her aura after a long time, so much so that the first thing she said upon their reunion was:

“I—I mean, I have a spare room at my place.”

She had meant to explain the reason for her invitation, but after saying it and mulling it over, Shu Yao realized with despair that it sounded even more improper.

Lin Ran’s deep, dark eyes looked at her, then she nodded in cooperation. “Mmm.”

“…”

So, did her girlfriend understand or not?

…

But soon, Shu Yao had no time to ponder the subtext of her invitation for her girlfriend to stay over. The typhoon was coming, and the flowers on her balcony and rooftop needed to be trimmed and secured. These were all major projects that had to be completed tonight.

After Lin Ran parked her car, she led her home, bent down to take out a new pair of disposable slippers from the cabinet, and said as she handed them to her, “I need to go get my tools to secure the flowerpots upstairs first. Why don’t you sit in the living room for a while?”

But the person standing with her in the entryway didn’t move.

Lin Ran had already received eight gifts from Shu Yao. By all rights, she should be here this time to collect the last one. But at this moment, standing in the entryway, she had a clear view of most of the room—

The semi-transparent glass bowl with a floating lotus painting on the dining table.

The various rare perfume vials displayed on the bookshelf as decorations, with a single, extravagant summer flower interspersed among them.

The irregularly shaped, ruby-like vase on the coffee table.

And that row of succulents near the balcony, housed in transparent, half-open spheres and surrounded by colorful miniature fences.

In Lin Ran’s eyes, this translated to: bowls, jars, pretty bottles!

For a moment, she was like a child let loose in a room full of New Year’s goods, and to top it off, she was trusted with an unguarded invitation: “You can stay in this room by yourself for a while, right?”

Lin Ran closed her eyes.

She had to, lest she lose control of her pupils due to excessive excitement, and to restrain the tentacles that were already dancing ecstatically behind her.

“Lin Ran?”

When her girlfriend called out to her again in confusion, she uncharacteristically lost her usual composure and replied hastily, “Mmm.”

And quickly added, “You go ahead and get busy.”

Shu Yao was a little worried before she went upstairs, wondering if Lin Ran was feeling unwell.

Just as she had been lately, due to working too long, either in front of the computer or reading various documents, her vision would sometimes become blurry.

Earlier, in the underground parking lot of Nanshan Hospital, after she had spoken, she had been quietly waiting for her girlfriend when the garage environment in her vision had suddenly become unclear. But when Lin Ran touched the corner of her eye, it had returned to normal.

The same thing had just happened.

Perhaps the light in the entryway was too dim. In any case, when she turned back to look at Lin Ran after speaking, she had seen the door panel seem to come alive, with some of its lines bulging and twisting, as if it were about to open its mouth and devour her in the next second…

But with another blink.

Everything was back to normal.

She stood on the stuffy rooftop, with the storm brewing, and stared hard at the flowers and plants she had planted, hoping that looking at more green things would cure this intermittent little problem with her eyes.

Then, she moved the toolbox over, first using white zip ties to connect the small flowerpots to each other, and moving the heavy, large pots to the positions against the wall—

“Hiss!”

She shook her hand vigorously, which had just been pricked by the iron wire used to secure a branch in a ceramic flowerpot.

She had tried to convince herself that the prick wasn’t deep, but when she raised her hand, a winding red line was already dripping down her finger, landing with a pat on a green rose leaf.

Shu Yao stared blankly for two seconds, then turned to go downstairs, only to be met by someone who had appeared behind her at some point. Her wrist was caught. “You’re injured?”

Lin Ran, smelling the scent in the air, fixed her gaze on the hand she was holding. The glaring red blood was like a creeping vine, spreading across her palm.

Shu Yao nodded. Before she could speak, she was led downstairs.

…

The dark-haired woman lowered her eyelids, her expression calm as she rinsed Shu Yao’s finger with saline solution, then used a cotton swab dipped in alcohol to repeatedly squeeze and apply it to the small wound.

On the surface, she was professionally treating the external injury.

Behind her, some of her mimicked tentacles were still in a playful mood. One pushed open the glass bowl on the dining table, balled its tip up, and tried to stuff itself inside, pretending to be a covered dish. Another squeezed next to a vase, mimicking the color of the rose inside, as if it too could be picked…

And on the spiral staircase leading to the rooftop, a tentacle that had returned to its original size extended to its full length. Its tip brushed past the serrated rose leaves stained with specks of blood, and its suckers licked away the crimson—

【Sweet?】

【Fragrant… jar spirit! Fragrant!】

Lin Ran, who had just intended to casually send a tentacle to check if the wire that had pricked her was rusty, paused at this feedback.

Then.

The other tentacles, the ones playing with flowers and dishes, also paused, then all headed for the rooftop!

【Really?】

【Jar spirit? Delicious?】

Lin Ran’s pupils reflected the pale white finger, but her throat moved.

“I… I should be fine now, right?” In front of her, Shu Yao, who had let her disinfect the wound for a long time, carefully lifted her eyelids and confirmed with her.

The blood had even receded from the pinched fingertip. Lin Ran looked up at the person whose blood had been judged as sweet and fragrant by her tentacles, but saw that her lower lip bore the marks of her teeth from when she had been enduring the pain.

She paused for a moment, then reached for a band-aid nearby, and calmly gave her medical advice:

“You’re fine. Don’t touch the wound again. What else needs to be done? I’ll help you.”

Shu Yao, however, couldn’t sit still.

It was dinnertime, and it wouldn’t do to let her guest go hungry.

But as she was busy in the kitchen, she couldn’t help but peek out to watch Lin Ran tidying up the flowerpots on her small balcony, afraid that she wouldn’t know how to handle them, and afraid that she would get injured like herself.

The first glance.

The gorgeous figure was at the edge of the balcony, holding a coffee cup, the setting sun casting a golden shadow on her.

The second glance.

She was standing in the center of the balcony, the white coffee cup placed on the flowerpot stand. She was looking up at the homemade star-shaped lights Shu Yao had hung, probably thinking about how to display the similar gift she had received.

The third glance.

Lin Ran was sitting back on the sofa in the living room, but… the flowerpots on the balcony outside were already neatly secured with zip ties.

Shu Yao: “?”

She rubbed her eyes hard, then, unable to resist, walked over to the balcony with her spatula in hand. After confirming that everything here had been taken care of, she turned her head in disbelief and asked, “How… how were you so fast?”

The dark-haired woman was intently gazing at the succulents that could grow in the pretty little jars. At her words, she replied absentmindedly, “Hmm?”

She looked back at the chores that her tentacles had obediently taken care of.

They had just tasted Shu Yao’s blood and had classified her as a snack type that could be occasionally sampled. But compared to the pretty jars Shu Yao could make, and her ability to provide so many pretty jars for them at this moment, their young minds had come to a conclusion:

Jar spirit > snack

They couldn’t eat Shu Yao whole, but that didn’t stop them, now that they were hungry and had finished their work, from acting spoiled and asking their master for a small reward.

【More!】

【Just a lick! Jar spirit!】

【Another bite?】

…

Lin Ran looked at the woman wearing the apron with a large goose pattern, with the words “Just Cooking” printed on it. She hadn’t figured out how to satisfy the tentacles’ desire for a few more licks. Anyway, she wasn’t particularly hungry right now, and her girlfriend wasn’t on her menu, so she pretended not to hear.

On the coffee table, Shu Yao’s phone suddenly vibrated.

So she changed the subject. “Your phone is ringing.”

Shu Yao said, “Oh,” thinking it was a work message and not wanting to look at it. As she walked toward the kitchen, she said in a self-deceiving tone, “Can you check it for me? If it’s a work message, just leave it, and I’ll reply later?”

She had just stepped into the kitchen when a tentacle volunteered, rolled up the phone, and brought it to Lin Ran.

Lin Ran glanced at it nonchalantly.

Then her gaze froze.

It was a text message. The sender’s name: Lin Jingshu.

—I heard it’s going to rain heavily tonight, and there might be thunder. Do you want me to come over and keep you company?