The Kindhearted Girl Gets a Wife 25

Chapter 25

Pei Yunle fanned away the dust floating wantonly in the air, then quietly moved over to fan Chen Qingtang. Her voice was like a saw cutting through wood. “Did I say—”

She deliberately trailed off at the last few words. Paired with her already hoarse voice, it was like a fish slipping into the boundless sea. A small wave rippled in Chen Qingtang’s heart, but she could only watch as the fish disappeared without a trace.

Pei Yunle was being mischievous again, throwing the question back to Chen Qingtang. “Did I? Did I?”

Seeing the person next to her as still as a mountain, but with her nails already digging deep into the soft flesh of her palm, Pei Yunle’s eyes darted around. She saw that their knees were very close, and she could even feel the warmth of the other person’s body.

Pei Yunle swung her leg, her knee lightly brushing against Chen Qingtang’s. She felt the other person’s leg suddenly tense up. Pei Yunle looked disappointed. “So it wasn’t? If not, then forget it.”

At her words, a stinging pain fell on her knee. Chen Qingtang had slapped Pei Yunle’s restless knee. She rubbed it a couple of times and had to pull her leg back, obediently keeping them together.

The midday sun only shone halfway into the store. The shadows of people outside came and went in that small patch of light. The bell of the elementary school next door had rung twice.

Pei Yunle was a little dizzy and flustered from hunger. Being sick consumed a lot of energy, and the emotional fluctuations had also taken their toll. Yet she hadn’t eaten anything. Even sitting here motionless, her blood sugar was still low.

She propped her elbows on the table, her palms cupping her face. Looking around the convenience store, there was a pile of food. She was hesitating whether to get a small bun to fill her stomach.

Suddenly remembering something, she leaned over and asked Chen Qingtang, “Did you eat those two bags of bread?”

Chen Qingtang shook her head. She had planted the wilted strawberry in the ground.

“By the way, why did you leave after putting down the thermal container just now?”

Chen Qingtang didn’t want to tell her it was because Pei Yunle had said that everything she had said was nonsense. What did the renewal last night count for then? So she took a pen from the pen holder and, with a few strokes, changed her true thoughts to—I heard you were so sick you became a simpleton.

“Ah, you’re disgusted with me?”

Chen Qingtang had wanted to shake her head, but in the end, she nodded.

“Wow, what am I going to do then? Don’t you know that simpletons are very annoying? Once they’ve decided who their relative is, they can’t escape for the rest of their lives. Wherever that person goes, she’ll follow them like a puppy. They have to sleep together, bathe together, and even be chased around to be fed…”

Pei Yunle listed several examples, counting them off on her fingers, and finally came to a conclusion. “Chen Qingtang, you’re done for if I get attached to you. You’ll have to take care of me for the rest of your life. So, it’s useless for you to be disgusted with me. You can only be with me for the rest of your life. Otherwise, the simpleton will call the police and say you abandoned her.”

Chen Qingtang listened to her nonsense, her small face wrinkling up even more, as if she had already been entangled by the simpleton.

Seeing her like this, like a round-faced kitten, Pei Yunle cupped Chen Qingtang’s face in her hands, a little soft flesh squeezing out from between her fingers. “See? So I immediately ran out of the health center to entangle you. You’re done for.”

Chen Qingtang tilted her head slightly and unceremoniously bit the finger that was restraining her face. It was like a needle prick. Pei Yunle pulled her hand back. The small mark on the surface of her finger was tingling and a little itchy.

Pei Yunle rubbed her hand. Although, she still hadn’t figured out what she had said in bed last night. She remembered confessing to Chen Qingtang in a shameless way, but then she had started dreaming. Plus, she was delirious with fever, so she couldn’t be sure that the confession wasn’t just a beautiful dream.

Her head was still hot, and even her eyeballs were warm, as if they were soaking in a hot spring.

“Chen Qingtang, if I remember correctly, I should have told you…”

Chen Qingtang was listening intently when she suddenly saw Pei Yunle’s body go limp. She slumped against the cabinet and then fell to the floor.

Hearing the loud thud, Ji Mingzhu ran in from outside and saw Pei Yunle collapsed on top of Chen Qingtang.

Ji Mingzhu took a deep breath and quickly brought in the thermal container from outside the store. “Wait, wait! She might have fainted from low blood sugar.”

With that, she hastily twisted open the lid and looked up at Chen Qingtang. “Is there a spoon in the store?”

Chen Qingtang hadn’t recovered from her shock yet. She found a plastic spoon and handed it to her.

Taking the spoon, Ji Mingzhu quickly scooped up several large mouthfuls of congee from the bowl. Seeing that Pei Yunle’s mouth was tightly closed, she used her other hand to pinch her jaw and force it open, then stuffed the congee into her mouth.

It was the first time Chen Qingtang had seen someone feed another person so wildly. It wasn’t until she saw Pei Yunle’s mouth and chest covered in white congee that the person suddenly woke up.

Pei Yunle didn’t wake up because she was full, but because she was woken up by the saltiness!

She tremblingly pointed at the spoonful of congee, grabbed Ji Mingzhu’s hand, her voice weak. “Stop feeding me…”

“I was just about to say, if you don’t wake up, I’m going to pour sugar into your mouth.” Ji Mingzhu put down the spoon and released her hand. Several red marks were left on Pei Yunle’s face.

How could Pei Yunle not wake up? The moment she regained consciousness, her mouth was filled with a salty taste. She couldn’t for the life of her understand why they would put salt in white congee instead of sugar!

“You might as well just give me some glucose water.” She stood up from the floor.

“Where can you buy glucose here? Do you think this is a hospital?”

At her words, two purple, grape-flavored candies were handed over in Chen Qingtang’s pink palm, her face full of worry.

Pei Yunle dazedly took the two candies, turned her head, and handed one to Ji Mingzhu. “Eat some real glucose to shut your mouth.”

Ji Mingzhu was speechless, silently cursing her for being so in love.

“I can’t take it anymore. I’m going home. Are you coming back?”

“No, you can mail my clothes to me when you get back.”

Ji Mingzhu glared at her, patted her clothes, and left with a huff.

Chen Qingtang pulled out a few tissues and handed them to Pei Yunle to wipe her mouth.

She wiped it hastily and looked down at the pajamas she was still wearing. “Oh no, I got your clothes dirty.”

—Go back and change. It can be washed out.

…

Dinner was early today. Considering that Pei Yunle was sick, Grandma Liu specially made her some bean and melon soup to reduce her fever and clear her internal heat.

Looking at the soup, which had no oil on the surface, Pei Yunle felt miserable. Seeing the bowl piled high with string beans, she felt even more miserable.

The small table accommodated three people. If they were a little closer, they might be poked in the face by the person next to them.

Chen Qingtang quickly noticed that Pei Yunle hadn’t touched her chopsticks much. She figured that the dinner was not to her liking. As if to comfort her, Chen Qingtang looked up and, while the old woman was busy eating, she squeezed Pei Yunle’s little finger.

At night, with the noisy sound of the television outside, Pei Yunle slipped into Chen Qingtang’s room. On the table was a bowl of minced meat noodles, with a few green vegetable leaves on top and a soft-boiled egg in the center.

The aroma rushed straight to her nose. “So there’s meat at home. I thought you guys were vegetarians.”

Chen Qingtang was organizing the clothes in the cabinet, picking out a few pieces that would suit Pei Yunle.

Pei Yunle was busy slurping her noodles, her words slurred. “I just washed my underwear, but I don’t know when it will be dry.”

Hearing this, Chen Qingtang poked her head out from the side of the cabinet door and glanced at Pei Yunle’s chest. She couldn’t help but reach out, her palm cupped.

Chen Qingtang buried her head back in the wardrobe and took out a few pieces of underwear. These were all her size. She didn’t know if Pei Yunle would feel uncomfortable wearing them.

After finishing the noodles, even the soup was drunk clean. Pei Yunle saw Chen Qingtang holding a few light-colored pieces of underwear with her fingers. They had no special patterns, not even a print.

“What… what are you doing?”

She looked down and saw Chen Qingtang sorting through the underwear and then holding them up to her chest to measure.

Pei Yunle stood up from the stool, her ears burning red. She looked away at Chen Qingtang in front of her and, based on her figure, came to a hasty conclusion, stammering, “I think it might be a little small…”

Chen Qingtang didn’t believe her and insisted that Pei Yunle try it on. Even if the mail was fast, it would still take two days for the clothes to arrive. She couldn’t possibly not go out for these few days, could she?

Unable to win against her, Pei Yunle had to casually take one and run to the bathroom to change.

Sure enough, you can’t judge a book by its cover. When Pei Yunle squeezed her two soft mounds, she was surprised to find that this size was actually a little bigger than her own. She scratched her head. But because of this, it would be a little empty, which felt very strange.

She shouted for Chen Qingtang across the room.

Soon, there was a knock on the glass door, and Chen Qingtang’s silhouette appeared on the door.

Pei Yunle opened the door, her hand reaching back to hook the clasp. “It seems a little big. It keeps riding up, and the shoulder straps are not quite right. Can you help me adjust it?”

The shoulder blades on her back moved under the thin layer of skin. Chen Qingtang’s fingers touched the groove of the large bone and then slid down the delicate skin to the few small metal clasps. She wasn’t sure which one to fasten.

So she asked Pei Yunle to bend over, her breasts naturally hanging down. Chen Qingtang didn’t dare to touch them directly. She also bent over and pushed her own chest with her palm, signaling to Pei Yunle to push her side boob over, so that the bra would support the entire shape.

This situation reminded her of when she was developing. Lin Zilan had taken her to a lingerie store to buy clothes, and the sales assistant had done the same thing. At that time, she had wanted to scream and run out of the store.

Pei Yunle didn’t dare to look at the full, moist mounds and the deep shadow. In her peripheral vision, she saw Chen Qingtang’s small, pointed chin, and below it, the peaks.

She bit her lip and straightened her back slightly. She felt an itch in the hollow of her collarbone and scratched it, leaving a few bright red marks.

Chen Qingtang didn’t know why Pei Yunle wasn’t following her lead. She just stared at her, but found that when Pei Yunle let go of her hand, she also caught a few strands of hair that had fallen into the cleavage, like a slippery little black snake slithering out of the mountains.

Chen Qingtang knew why the other person wasn’t following her.

Pei Yunle turned around and, following what Chen Qingtang had just taught her, quickly finished the action, leaving her fair back to the person behind her. She waited for a while, until her own fingers were burning hot, and the width at her sternum began to gradually narrow. It wasn’t until Pei Yunle’s breathing became a little ragged that she felt the few nimble fingers lock the metal clasp.

“Can you help me adjust this shoulder strap too? We’ll each do one side.” The words that came out of Pei Yunle’s mouth were like the bubbling of water that had been boiled to a certain temperature.

Chen Qingtang nodded and stood to Pei Yunle’s left, her finger lightly lifting the adjustment buckle. She wasn’t sure if the range was suitable, so she could only judge by the other person’s rapid or slow breathing whether the distance was just right.

At their feet was a disused bathtub. Grandma Liu couldn’t stand for long periods of time, so she had bought a bathtub. But the white porcelain surface was too slippery, and even more so when it was wet. After the old woman fell once, she stopped using it and switched to a wooden bucket.

The two of them were close, their breaths intertwining in the small space of a few square meters. The adjustment buckle on Pei Yunle’s hand became more and more difficult to move. The more anxious she became, the more it got stuck. A thin layer of sweat seeped out of her palms, and her fingertips couldn’t grip the buckle.

“Um, this side too. I can’t do it.”

Chen Qingtang stood on her tiptoes and looked up at Pei Yunle’s right shoulder. Pei Yunle turned around, and their knees collided. The only support Chen Qingtang had was Pei Yunle’s thin shoulder strap. She subconsciously used her elbow to brace herself against the wall, but behind her was the bathtub, with nothing to support her.

So she grabbed Pei Yunle’s shoulder strap, and the two of them fell into the bathtub together.

The shower curtain fell from above, covering the white light around them and enclosing them in the narrow bathtub, a dim yellow darkness swirling inside.

A coldness spread from Chen Qingtang’s palm, but a 37-degree softness and warmth fell from above.

She heard her own heartbeat, which was about to burst out of her chest. She also heard Pei Yunle’s, not with her ears, but with the trembling that fell on her palm, traveling along the complex and intertwined blood vessels, through every muscle group in her arm, and into her heart.

Their heartbeats began to synchronize. Their arms became a medium of perception. The shoulder strap was wrapped around her slender white fingers, the black and white creating a strong contrast. Pei Yunle’s deep and shallow breaths exhaled warm air onto the tip of Chen Qingtang’s nose.

This unreal and light heat violently struck Chen Qingtang’s nerves.