Chapter 62: Bullying – Sister’s Request Part 2

“Sister.” Ye Xi leaned over, planting a gentle kiss at Shen Mingjin’s eye corner, her tender question following. “What’s wrong?”

“Xiao Xi, meeting you… I don’t feel lonely anymore.”

In the darkness, the quivering, tearful voice revealed her vulnerability, helplessness, and plea for reliance on Ye Xi.

Ye Xi embraced Shen Mingjin tightly, their bodies pressing close in the dark, listening to each other’s heartbeats.

She nestled into Shen Mingjin’s neck, feeling her scorching skin and fragile breaths. “Sister, how’d you secretly learn to talk like me?”

“Xiao Xi, I’m serious.” Shen Mingjin lay pinned beneath Ye Xi, arms hugging her tightly. “So… don’t leave me alone, okay?”

“Of course.”

Shen Mingjin still feared death and parting; tragic stories touched the soft hearts of the kind.

Ye Xi stroked the curve of Shen Mingjin’s waist, feeling faint heat even through her clothes. She undid Shen Mingjin’s top, pressing her palm to her heart, sensing the rapid beat—and suddenly felt a pang of panic.

She didn’t deliberately weave sorrow or promises, instead quietly shifting the topic. “Sister, doesn’t your family eat reunion dinners?”

“There was only Sister to eat with me. Later, Big Sis joined, and then…”

Shen Mingjin rarely called Shen Minghuan “Sister,” her brief words signaling something to Ye Xi. “Sister, want to go home and visit?”

Building Fourteen had dim lighting; without lamps, it was pitch black, making her hands like another pair of eyes.

They clearly felt the full, graceful curves, the tender skin, where heat rose, where it flushed faintly.

Fingers explored in the dark, ears listened in silence.

Shen Mingjin said, “Xiao Xi, actually, when you were unconscious, Shen Minghuan came to see me.”

That wasn’t surprising.

The Wenan District incident had been suppressed by the General Bureau immediately, but someone of Shen Minghuan’s level—a leader whose clan’s demon had died, including her Embracing Snow Clan members—would surely know the inside story. Thus, she’d know Shen Mingjin had nearly died.

Shen Minghuan was an emotional maniac.

She loved Si Ruoling and Shen Mingjin alike, but her extreme affections wounded everyone equally.

Shen Minghuan had never hurt Shen Mingjin because her love had faded; she cared deeply about Shen Mingjin, so of course she came to visit when Shen Mingjin was injured. What puzzled Shen Mingjin was that Si Ruoling, whom Shen Mingjin had praised to the skies, hadn’t shown up.

Even if Shen Minghuan had restricted Si Ruoling’s freedom and her contact with Shen Mingjin, at a time like this—when Shen Mingjin had nearly died at the hands of Yin Erou and Shao Yan—Shen Minghuan surely wouldn’t have stopped her from coming to visit.

Ye Xi’s fingertip slid to Shen Mingjin’s collarbone, her finger pad tracing its shape, and her lips followed the same path, leaving faint trails of moisture. She asked idly, “Did Sister Si not come?”

“My elder sister is ill,” Shen Mingjin replied. Her arms draped lightly over Ye Xi’s back, her palms slipping under the collar and into her clothes. As she answered Ye Xi’s question, she pushed Ye Xi’s jacket off her shoulders. “A disease of the heart.”

“Shao Li was the First Generation Leader’s guard. Back when the First Generation Leader was still alive, Shao Li stayed by her side. My elder sister grew up on the backs of those guards, so she had deep feelings for Shao Li.”

The coat was tossed to the foot of the bed, and the form-fitting sweater was pushed aside.

The voice paused the moment her palm pressed against the soft back. “Deeper than mine.”

These words carried another layer of meaning: Shen Mingjin also harbored deep feelings for Shao Li. She too grieved over Shao Li’s choices and death.

Ye Xi had asked knowingly. “Sister, are you very sad?”

Shen Mingjin neither denied it nor poured out her pain to Ye Xi.

She simply pressed the side of her neck against Ye Xi’s palm, savoring the warmth that belonged to Ye Xi. “Xiao Xi, those questions you had today are the ones I want to ask too. I can’t guess who’s scheming against the Ye Clan. You’ve already seen those phantoms signifying Ye Clan flesh and blood on so many demon bodies… How many more are out there that you haven’t seen? How could they do this?”

In Shen Mingjin’s eyes, anyone—human or demon—behind the harm to the Ye Clan was utterly ungrateful.

Shen Mingjin had forgiven Ye Xi’s offenses and tolerated her oversteps from their very first meeting because of Ye Xi’s identity. In her heart, the Ye Clan deserved the love of both races; they were givers, not harmers.

A healer who was always saving others shouldn’t face so much malice.

Ye Xi was uncharacteristically at a loss for words. She didn’t know how to comfort Shen Mingjin because she hadn’t even convinced herself not to question why.

The hand paused at her chest, but the heat didn’t diminish.

The Seal was like a switch for passion—once flipped on, it wouldn’t turn off. Shen Mingjin leaned over, her soft lips brushing Ye Xi’s jaw. “Xiao Xi, there are too many people who want to hurt you. I really want to protect you. I…”

Her tender lips pressed against Ye Xi’s lower lip, the soft flesh slightly compressed by both lips. “Will you love me?”

The soft voice spilled from their touching lips. Though low and faint, Ye Xi heard it clearly.

She had never heard such straightforward words from Shen Mingjin. The peak her palm clung to burned and trembled; her own palm grew hotter. Ye Xi’s other hand reached for the bedside lamp, turning it on urgently.

The bedside lamp wasn’t too bright—an orange-yellow warm light.

The warm light wasn’t intensely glaring, but Ye Xi still saw patches of red flush, interwoven with the peach blossom lips that hadn’t faded and the newly blooming ones. The warm yellow light turned ambiguous and affectionate. Following the light’s guidance, she bit toward the fragile, slender neck—but before she could touch it, Shen Mingjin pushed her hand. “Turn it off. Turn off the light.”

She had only dared say those words under the cover of darkness. Now that the room was lit, her shyness and embarrassment were laid bare, and Shen Mingjin lost her courage to face such direct words.

Her soft voice carried a sob, the delicate plea tugging at the ears—but it failed to sway the heart intent on admiring. “Sister, it’s not like I haven’t seen it before.”

Shen Mingjin was always accommodating. Her eyes brimmed with misty fog, and though Ye Xi didn’t turn off the light as she wished, she didn’t get angry.

The arms climbing upward hooked around Ye Xi’s neck, not pulling away but allowing Ye Xi to kiss even deeper.

They kissed passionately under the warm yellow light, their entwined nectar growing sweeter, red marks soon appearing at their lips.

“Mm… ah…” The sounds of water and swallowing overlapped. Shen Mingjin couldn’t withstand the pressure and tried to pull back slightly.

Before she could escape control, Ye Xi pressed her waist down again, forcing her to sink lower as her entire body fell back into that familiar embrace.

Palms pressed against the side of her thigh, lips against her skin.

A master sculptor would depict scenery unique to themselves, appreciating the state of the artwork after every stroke.

Ye Xi saw Shen Mingjin’s eyes growing redder, saw the teardrops sliding from the corners of her eyes, saw the red marks claiming vast swaths of skin, leaving less and less pale fairness.

Her ears were adept at appreciating too—the moans pushed by desire, the soft pleas, and those repeated cries: “The light…”

Tonight, Shen Mingjin was at odds with the lamp, stubbornly trying to hide her flush and shyness in the darkness, away from prying eyes.

Ye Xi pretended to listen but, upon seeing the rippling spring mist, finally turned off the light.

Such bewitching spring passion tempted her to drown.

Ye Xi needed to give Shen Mingjin a little time to breathe, time for her body to absorb Demon Power and undo the Seal, time… to keep her consciousness from fully sinking, ensuring the sounds didn’t rise too high.

There was still a little rabbit sleeping in the living room outside.

Shen Mingjin bit her lower lip repeatedly, suppressing her moans. The more restrained her breathing, the more alluring it became.

Her lips parted under the onslaught, the sounds growing muffled and low—not like the faint mosquito buzz, but accompanied by hot breaths blowing over.

Heat wrapped in sweet nectar invaded her skin. Ye Xi offered her neck to Shen Mingjin’s lips, letting her bite the red mole there.

She had long noticed that mark symbolizing the Ye Clan’s identity—it was like the sweetest candy in Shen Mingjin’s eyes.

Her palm rubbed along the waist and thigh, proposing a sweet exchange. “Sister, I want to touch your tail.”

“No… no.”

The low gasps mixed with whimpers reached her ear; only the refusal remained clear.

Rejected, Ye Xi didn’t get discouraged. She doubled her efforts to make Shen Mingjin’s body lose control completely, forcing the snake tail to emerge. Then she pressed close, stroking the snake tail, lightly kissing its scales, nibbling the tip.

Ye Xi tugged the snake tail gently, letting it wrap around her slender waist as her body sank lower. “Sister, hold me.”

Bare skin, still steeped in lingering heat.

The slightest closeness would carve new rivers.

Shen Mingjin bit her lip tightly. “No… no.”

“Sister.” In the darkness, Ye Xi groped for the pillow fused with the split soul body and silently pushed it into Shen Mingjin’s arms.

She pressed her chest against the pillow, making the colors even more vivid. “Sister, hold it.”

Before she could refuse, her body was flipped slightly, pressing her fully against the pillow.

The Red Scale on her wrist flashed—one piece, two… seven… more and more Red Scales lost control, passively opening the no-longer-sturdy chains.

“Xiao Xi, I… I can’t… no more… mm…”

Her jaw was gently pinched, her slightly tilted-back lips bitten, swallowing her protests.

After a plundering kiss, what rose wasn’t a more possessive sound but sudden fake sobbing.

It came from Ye Xi, who hadn’t let up for a moment. “Sister, you’re bullying me.”

The bedside lamp flicked on again, her pitiful expression perfectly framed. Shen Mingjin looked at Ye Xi in disbelief.

Dazed and nearly unable to open her eyes, facing Ye Xi’s blatant accusation, her clumsy tongue found no words to refute.

As she parted her lips to speak, it only gave Ye Xi the chance to kiss again, her tongue probing in—and the opportunity for further complaint.

“Sister, count carefully how many times you’ve said ‘no’ tonight. Look at what you’re saying; I say okay to everything.”

“Sister, will you stop bullying me?”

Shen Mingjin: “…”