Her Tentacles 17

Chapter 17: The Bathroom

When Shu Yao woke up, she first saw a pink ceiling, then her eyes were dazzled by the overly lush green of the lawn terrace right in front of her bed.

“You’re finally awake?” A pink head squeezed into her field of vision. “How are you? Do you feel uncomfortable? Are you dizzy? Do you want to throw up? Where does it hurt?”

She blinked, meeting her chattering friend’s eyes, and belatedly remembered what had just happened. “Jin? Are you okay?”

“…”

Situ Jin reached out to poke her, then paused, and finally said in a huff, “You’re the one lying in the hospital bed, you know. Who are you asking if they’re okay? Next time you encounter this kind of danger, don’t just go saving people. Your own safety is the most important, do you hear me? Of course, of course, as the one who was saved, I’m super touched, but you’re not allowed to do this again…”

Seeing her still full of vitality, Shu Yao couldn’t help but curve her lips into a smile.

Situ Jin’s nagging abruptly stopped. She stared at her smiling face, her expression changing from realization to a deep frown, as if a thousand curses were about to erupt, which made Shu Yao’s smile immediately disappear. “…What’s wrong?”

“No wonder. I was thinking it looked so familiar.”

Situ Jin said to herself.

She thought of Lin Jingshu, who had just been questioned by the police along with her. Because the cameras in the shop and nearby were all broken, she had no evidence to send her to jail. Yet, despite having committed such a cold-blooded and ruthless act, she had shamelessly accompanied her to send Shu Yao to the hospital.

She even had the air of being willing to be beaten and scolded, just waiting for Shu Yao to wake up.

Unfortunately, another girl had arrived halfway through, apparently having heard about the incident at Century City. She came up and linked arms with Lin Jingshu, acting very intimate with her. She even knew Situ Jin and introduced herself as an employee from the headquarters’ secretarial office, named Chu Wan.

As soon as Chu Wan arrived, Lin Jingshu, who had been acting so devoted and had seemed rooted to the spot, was easily led away.

Although Situ Jin had visited her father’s company many times, she had never seen this Chu Wan. It was only when Shu Yao smiled just now that she realized the two of them had similar smiles.

—No matter who was whose substitute, it didn’t stop her from mentally beating Lin Jingshu up again.

“Forget it, it’s not important,” Situ Jin leaned in closer, under her friend’s curious gaze. “Although the doctor already gave you a full-body MRI when you fainted, I still have to ask, are you uncomfortable anywhere?”

Shu Yao felt herself over carefully. “My arm hurts a little?”

Situ Jin immediately ran out to find a doctor in a flurry.

…

“It’s all bruised, of course it hurts.”

A few minutes later, the doctor looked at the patient’s arm, which was being held up dramatically by Miss Situ, his expression full of exasperation. But thinking of the Situ family’s shares in the hospital, he could only smile. “How about I prescribe some plaster? And we can keep her here for observation tonight?”

Shu Yao glanced at the prime-location, beautifully decorated private room, and just as Situ Jin was about to nod, she secretly pinched her waist.

“Why are you tickling me?”

Shu Yao braced herself. “I’m fine, I don’t need to stay. It’s not convenient to go to work from here tomorrow.”

“What work? I just called Uncle Zhou. He said he’s already helped you take three days off so you can rest well.”

“…I still want to go home.”

“Why? There’s no one at your place. Why are you in such a hurry to go back?”

Seeing Shu Yao start to guiltily shift her gaze from side to side, Situ Jin crossed her arms and studied her. A moment later, she let out an exaggerated cry of realization:

“Ah, ah—ah! I get it. So there is someone at home!”

Under the doctor’s suddenly gossipy gaze, Shu Yao wished she could dig a hole and crawl into it.

Fortunately, Situ Jin finally remembered that she was teasing her lifesaver. Seeing her face flushed to the point of bleeding, she stopped. “Fine, I’ll take you back.”

As she spoke, she handed her the red umbrella from the bedside table. “Here, the treasure you were trying to hold onto even when you fainted. I brought it for you. Hiss, don’t tell me this is a gift from the one at home?”

Shu Yao: “…”

She remembered a saying: all introverts are but the playthings of extroverts.

Half an hour later, in the private hospital’s garden parking lot.

Shu Yao sat in Situ Jin’s beautiful pink sports car, holding the umbrella. As she turned her head, she saw a familiar figure in the distance. Before she could see clearly, with a swish—

Situ Jin remotely raised the window, blocking the unlucky sight. “It’s windy outside. You just hit your head, it’s not good to be in the wind.”

Shu Yao, looking at the blazing sun outside: “…” didn’t dare to make a sound.

She let Situ Jin slowly move the sports car out of the parking lot at a turtle’s pace of forty kilometers per hour, merging into the always-bustling city traffic of Nancheng.

The eye-catching sports car, the cool pink color, the beautiful women—they were the most beautiful scenery of the summer after the rain. Not only did the drivers passing by slow down, but the pedestrians on the side of the road also turned to look.

Shu Yao still saw the familiar back she had seen earlier.

It was Lin Jingshu.

Beside her was a frail-looking girl, clinging to her tightly, but she seemed a little stiff.

As the sports car slowly drove past, the other person noticed her gaze and looked in their direction, narrowing her eyes. Her bloodless lips opened and closed, saying a few words.

It wasn’t until her friend’s car stopped in front of her apartment building that Shu Yao finally read them. The words were:

“Her Highness.”

Perhaps it was an inauspicious day to see an ex. Shu Yao had encountered the strange, terrifying monsters at the fruit tea shop, and then experienced this scene of being called out. After saying goodbye to her friend and returning home, she went into the bathroom, wanting to take a bath to relax, when her foot slipped—

Just as her head was about to hit the edge of the marble bathtub for a second time.

She squeezed her eyes shut tightly.

…

A force suddenly came from her waist, saving her from falling.

The presence that pressed against her from behind carried the scent of the sea breeze, and a voice like flowing water poured into her ear. “Injured again?”

She was stunned, barely managing to hold onto the bathtub. After turning around, she crashed into those deep, dark eyes.

“Lin Ran? Why didn’t I see you when I came home just now?”

The predator, who had just returned through the rooftop door after searching for traces of the monsters, smiled faintly. “I was in the bedroom.”

Shu Yao was helped to sit on the edge of the bathtub, relieved that she hadn’t had time to take off her clothes yet.

The bathroom, which had been renovated after she moved in alone, was particularly spacious. The walls, floor, and bathtub were all made of the same color marble, with a white base and gray-black veins, like ink plum blossoms growing all over the room. The two of them were now, one tall and one short, by the central round bathtub.

She just assumed she had been too lost in thought earlier and hadn’t heard any noise. Then she saw the other person magically pull out a kraft paper bag from behind her, which contained the X-rays Shu Yao had taken at the hospital.

“Is it your head that’s injured?”

“It’s not injured, I just fell by accident. It just hurts a little now…”

As she gestured and told the story of what had happened at Century City today, the woman casually placed the X-rays nearby, her snowy white fingertips sinking into her hair, slowly tracing the back of her head.

As she leaned in, the pendant on her necklace brushed against Shu Yao’s nose, creating a cool sensation. Shu Yao’s eyes dared not look at the snowy white skin in front of her, but her heart began to itch strangely, and her words became more and more jumbled.

So much so that the moment her wound was touched, she almost bit her tongue in pain.

“!”

When she reacted, she dodged forward into Lin Ran’s arms.

Lin Ran, who had just happened to catch her perfectly, looked down at her, who had thrown herself into her arms, and was inexplicably in a good mood. So she laughed softly, and the vibration of her chest made the tips of the person in her arms’ ears also turn pink.

But Shu Yao did not let go. Instead, she let her ears turn as red as cooked shrimp and even wrapped her arms tighter around her girlfriend’s waist.

Lin Ran looked at the environment, then at her actions, and thinking that she might have a dizzy spell as an aftereffect of hitting her head, she asked, “Do you need my help?”

Shu Yao: “!!”

This was beyond the limit of her shame.

She retreated, waving her hands frantically, and accidentally touched a switch. Instantly, colorful round bubbles blew out from the toy bubble machine on the edge of the bathtub, like a gust of wind.

Strings of soap bubbles landed on their hair, shoulders, and clothes, popping with a soft sound. Others flew toward the bathroom ceiling and the ink-plum-patterned tiled floor.

The bathroom suddenly turned into a fairy tale world.

Lin Ran’s pupils unconsciously followed these round, slippery bubbles—

Shu Yao summoned all her courage and pushed her. “No, no, I don’t have any open wounds. I can do it myself. You—if you’re not at ease, you can wait for me outside. If you’re bored, you can see if you like the cold dish in the fridge. If you like it, I’ll make it for you again next time…”

Lin Ran was kicked out of the bathroom.

Her mind was still stuck on the moment those colorful bubbles had floated past Shu Yao’s cheeks.

Just then, she was poked by a tentacle.

She looked down and saw a white insulated box, which they had taken out of the fridge, being stuffed into her hand.

【Cold dish?】

【Look?】

【Like?】

The tentacles urged her on, parroting the words.

She absentmindedly opened the lid of the insulated box, but the next moment, her gaze froze.

In the delicious, dark sauce, drizzled with cilantro, chili peppers, lemon slices, garlic, and other seasonings, snow-white tentacles, curled like petals, marinated and flavorful, in the form of octopus, thus crashed into her view.

Lin Ran: “…”