Chapter 3: Early Morning Part 2

She watched Jiang Huaining wash her hands clean, pull out a dozen glass cups of various colors, and open cabinets one by one. She instinctively stood and followed to the counter.

Unlike traditional milk tea shops, the cabinets in Four Spirits Shop held delicate sachets.

The moment a cabinet opened, a rich fragrance filled the entire shop.

The sachets contained things Yu Ruoyin mostly didn’t recognize—except for a few ginseng roots she could identify.

Jiang Huaining then opened a drawer lined with rows of small wooden boxes. The contents were recognizable: fresh flowers.

Unusually, these flowers had long lost their roots, sealed in boxes yet bloomed vibrantly tender, without a trace of wilting even at the petal edges.

“Hey, if you haven’t got the guts, don’t drink her tea.”

Xia Yu’s voice rang in her mind. Yu Ruoyin watched the glass cups turning in Jiang Huaining’s hands and nervously clenched her palms. “I think… I might not need it.”

Jiang Huaining tossed a lily petal into a pale pink cup. “I know what you need.”

Yu Ruoyin watched that lily petal move on its own in the cup, gradually crushing itself into juice.

She swallowed hard, placed the kraft envelope on the counter, and pointed at the cash inside. “What I need, you’ve already given me.”

Jiang Huaining gripped the glass cup and slowly raised her head. “Yu Ruoyin, do you trust Xia Yu, or me?”

Jiang Huaining had peeked into her thoughts again, but Yu Ruoyin didn’t want to quibble over her lack of respect for privacy.

That question wasn’t even accusatory, yet Yu Ruoyin inexplicably grew overly tense. “No, it’s not Xia Yu. This has nothing to do with Xia Yu. I… I… I’ll drink it.”

In a moment of impulse, she agreed, only to regret it immediately after.

Just as Yu Ruoyin tried to take it back, Jiang Huaining placed the prepared milk tea right by her hand.

Yu Ruoyin hesitantly took the glass cup of milk tea from Jiang Huaining. Staring at the oddly colored straw, she hesitated to drink.

Seeing her unmoving, Jiang Huaining reached out to pat her head again. “Good girl.”

Yu Ruoyin finally pinpointed what was strange about Jiang Huaining.

She was treating her like a pet—in her coaxing tone, in praising her cleverness, in repeating how lucky she was because she thought herself unlucky, even calling her “good girl” over and over. It was just like how she usually teased stray cats and dogs, and that stack of money was like pet food.

She suddenly remembered Jiang Huaining had called her a little dog.

Yu Ruoyin turned the glass cup, using its surface to carefully examine her reflection.

Though not as beautiful as Jiang Huaining, she was still pretty and delicate. Most importantly, there wasn’t the slightest animal resemblance.

‘Did she look like a dog?’

‘Not at all.’

Yu Ruoyin thought indignantly.

While she was distracted, Jiang Huaining pushed up the hand holding the cup. The straw pressed against her lower lip, and Yu Ruoyin instinctively took two sips. By the time she came back to herself, the milk tea was nearly gone.

In horror, she let go. The glass cup shattered completely on the floor.

Jiang Huaining didn’t get angry at her for damaging shop property. Instead, she smiled more. “Such a good girl.”

Jiang Huaining looked beautiful when she smiled.

The red mole at the corner of her eye shifted, full of bewitching allure.

Yu Ruoyin’s head swam a little. She reached across the counter toward that dancing red mole before her eyes.

Jiang Huaining didn’t look young, yet her skin was fine and smooth.

Her fingertip felt like it touched soft jade—slippery smooth, tempting her to stroke it properly the moment it made contact.

Yu Ruoyin slowly touched that red mole, the only distinctive spot on the fine jade-like skin, slightly raised and eye-catchingly bright, yet irresistibly tempting to smooth it over.

She rubbed it quite rudely, making it even redder, and even the faded flush around it reignited.

The flush climbed from the core along her fingertip. Yu Ruoyin lost herself in a daze. “Can I kiss it?”

Yu Ruoyin almost thought she had gone mad, but instead of refusal, she received permission. “You can.”

Jiang Huaining’s voice carried encouragement, stirring her restless, craving heart.

She went around the counter and walked to Jiang Huaining’s side.

She had originally meant to kiss the mole, but as she leaned in, she uncontrollably kissed Jiang Huaining’s lips instead.

She had been too distracted earlier and hadn’t tasted the milk tea at all, but now she remembered the flavor of the person who had made it for her.

Jiang Huaining’s lips were very sweet.

Like honey.

Yu Ruoyin savored it obsessively. She cupped Jiang Huaining’s face, her tongue tip hooking the other’s lip and slowly swirling, as if determined to lick off every bit of the honey.

It was too sweet.

The honey seemed wrapped too thickly; after struggling for a long time, Yu Ruoyin had only tasted the outer layer.

Yu Ruoyin grew impatient and wanted to devour all the honey into her belly.

Her licking turned into nibbling, and Jiang Huaining’s lips nearly swelled with blood from her bites.

Jiang Huaining did not push her away. She just watched her with a smile and whispered softly during a gap in her panting breaths, “Little dog.”

Yu Ruoyin bristled instantly. She wrapped her arms around Jiang Huaining’s waist, stared into her eyes, and rubbed her own nose tip lightly against the other’s. “I’m not a dog. Dogs bite people.”

Jiang Huaining looked at her with a smile. “Aren’t you biting me right now?”

“No! I’m not!” Yu Ruoyin went a bit crazy and started showing some strange, quirky behavior.

She gripped Jiang Huaining’s waist and bit down on her shoulder, leaving a tooth mark before releasing it. “See, that’s what a bite looks like.”

The deep mark slowly brought Yu Ruoyin back to her senses. She felt she had gone too far. “I…”

She wanted to apologize, but her brief moment of clarity caught something more important. “The milk tea you gave me has something wrong with it. How could you…”

Jiang Huaining shook her head and pressed her finger to Yu Ruoyin’s lips, silencing her protest. “You need me.”

“No, I…” Yu Ruoyin buried her head into Jiang Huaining’s neck, her nose tip bewitched by the fragrance as she rubbed against the delicate skin again and again, mumbling, “Although you’re so beautiful, so fragrant, so sweet…”

She mumbled for a long time, every sentence praising Jiang Huaining, but the “but” at the end never came out.

Jiang Huaining steadied her restless head, her breathing already a bit disordered. “Yu Ruoyin, are you clear-headed right now?”

Jiang Huaining’s question left Yu Ruoyin dazed once more.

She realized she was clear-headed.

She knew the person before her was Jiang Huaining, knew that the drink Yu Ruoyin had given her had something in it, and could even argue with Jiang Huaining.

She had not only just now found Jiang Huaining beautiful, nor had she only just now found that red mole at the corner of her eye alluring.

From their first meeting, she had acknowledged Jiang Huaining’s beauty; she just hadn’t dared to act so offensively.

That cup of milk tea had simply given her the courage.

Jiang Huaining’s swollen red lips and the tooth mark on her shoulder reminded her that she was the one taking advantage.

No, that wasn’t right.

At least before this, she hadn’t thought of doing anything with Jiang Huaining, no matter how beautiful she was.

She couldn’t let Jiang Huaining lead her around. She…

The more Yu Ruoyin thought, the more confused she became. Her lips didn’t leave Jiang Huaining’s neck and slowly shifted to her collarbone.

Her teeth left a shallow mark, and she muttered, “I’m not taking a loss.”

“Then I’ll take a little loss.”

Jiang Huaining’s teasing voice wrapped around her ears, and Yu Ruoyin’s thoughts grew complicated again.

Jiang Huaining didn’t seem wrong.

Besides being younger, she couldn’t compare to Jiang Huaining in anything else.

What did Jiang Huaining want from her?

Yu Ruoyin recalled every conspiracy plot she had seen in movies, and her body shivered. “Jiang Huaining, are you going to suck my vital energy?”

In the movies, they always said living people’s vital energy was the best supplement for non-human beings. The more she thought, the more possible it seemed.

She was terribly afraid; her groping hands on Jiang Huaining trembled lightly, yet her mouth had already bitten Jiang Huaining’s shoulder strap off its original position.

Jiang Huaining looked at her with a mix of laughter and exasperation, gently patting the back of her head. “Be good, focus a bit. Don’t overthink. I don’t want your vital energy, nor your life.”

“Then what do you want?”

Jiang Huaining was a master at silence.

She fell quiet again, even holding back her faint pants in her throat.

Yu Ruoyin felt they couldn’t continue so muddleheadedly, but her hand had already squeezed to Jiang Huaining’s chest. She glanced sideways at the manila envelope on the counter. “I…”

She was a bit conflicted about how her salary would be calculated if things continued like this.

Jiang Huaining covered her lips, turning a bit serious. “Be good, focus.”

Jiang Huaining no longer entangled with her words. She silently half-pushed and half-hugged the groping, biting Yu Ruoyin upstairs.

No matter how Yu Ruoyin guessed, she only responded with “focus.”

Yu Ruoyin gradually stopped talking. She only felt that the faint red on Jiang Huaining’s fingertips no longer looked like blood.

It was more like fire, burning on her skin.

She was almost swallowed by the flames, sweating profusely from the heat, finding only a bit of coolness when she bit into Jiang Huaining.

By the time tooth marks densely covered Jiang Huaining’s body, Yu Ruoyin even began to doubt herself.

Could she really be a dog?