Did the Tsundere Miss Get Slapped in the Face Again Today? - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: “Eyes Deepening, Breath Growing Heavier.”

 

Outside the hotel’s wide, bright floor-to-ceiling window was a world of white. Unbeknownst to them, snow had quietly begun to fall again. Feathery snowflakes drifted in the sky, as if dancing gracefully.

 

Lin Anran stood in front of the window, enjoying the snowscape while exhaling onto the glass, then writing on the fogged windowpane.

 

She wrote “Jiang Yi.”

 

Jiang Zhi had just come out of the restroom when she saw this scene: outside, the snow was falling thickly; inside, a cute little kitten was writing her name on the glass, over and over again.

 

Jiang Zhi’s eyebrows curved into an arc. She walked over lightly and hugged her from behind.

 

The little kitten jumped as if startled. After smelling the familiar scent, she relaxed. It was Jiang Yi.

 

“Jiang Yi, look, it’s snowing again. The snow you like,” Lin Anran pointed outside the window.

 

“Mhm, it’s snowing again.” Jiang Zhi rested her chin on Lin Anran’s shoulder, intimately rubbing her hair.

 

Her gaze, however, wasn’t fixed on the snow outside, but on the glass where Lin Anran had written her name repeatedly.

 

Jiang Zhi added the three words “Lin Kitten” next to it, and drew a heart afterward.

 

The writing was clumsy, and the heart was equally lopsided.

 

She successfully elicited Lin Anran’s honest evaluation: “It’s hideous.”

 

Snow City lived up to its name, perpetually covered in ice and snow, with snowfall every few days. The first sight was astonishing, and even after watching for a while, it remained stunning.

 

The room’s heating was ample. They didn’t feel cold in their thin clothes, embracing each other, one in front of the other, admiring the vast snowy scene.

 

Lin Anran slightly tilted her head and asked, “Do you like it here?”

 

Jiang Zhi replied, “I like it.”

 

What she liked wasn’t the place; it was the person in her arms.

 

But Jiang Zhi didn’t say that sentence. Perhaps she should have; expressing love is a very important part of a relationship.

 

Lin Anran often searched online for all sorts of dating advice, and even now, a “Relationship Expert” remained in her contacts list. But Jiang Zhi searched and studied how to maintain a good relationship no less often than Lin Anran.

 

The only difference was that Jiang Zhi was better at hiding it, preventing herself from being exposed after searching for such things…

 

Just as Jiang Zhi was debating whether to express that she “liked the person, not the city,” Lin Anran spoke first, interrupting the words she was about to say.

 

“If you like this city, let’s live here for a long time,” Lin Anran suggested excitedly.

 

“But what can we do?” Jiang Zhi chuckled into her ear: “I don’t particularly like this city. Although the snow is beautiful, it’s too cold. Our hands and feet stiffen up quickly when we go outside.”

 

The laughter tickled her ear. Lin Anran dodged slightly and said, “It tickles.”

 

Instead of stopping when she heard the word “tickles,” Jiang Zhi deliberately leaned closer and breathed into her ear: “Does it tickle?”

 

Lin Anran covered her ears and turned to glare at her.

 

Jiang Zhi laughed, “Haha.” The little kitten was so easy to tease into anger; it was amusing.

 

Lin Anran turned around to face her: “You don’t like it here? I thought you did.”

 

Jiang Zhi bit her lip, hesitating for a moment, then finally spoke the words: “I like you being here with me in this city.”

 

Lin Anran didn’t react at first, just nodding casually. A moment later, when she understood, she looked at Jiang Zhi with a blank expression.

 

“Jiang Yi likes Lin Kitten,” Jiang Zhi put her arm around Lin Anran’s waist, lightly bumping their heads together.

 

Lin Anran’s eyes curved, brimming with joy, yet what she said was: “Don’t like me too much. If you like me too much, I’ll be under a lot of pressure. I don’t like it.”

 

Jiang Zhi gently bumped her forehead: “Say that again.”

 

Lin Anran snorted: “Fine, fine. Looking at how pathetic you are, I know. Lin Kitten likes Jiang Yi too, okay?”

 

Jiang Zhi: “Say it again, properly.”

 

Lin Anran struggled for a long time before finally mumbling: “Lin Kitten… likes Jiang Yi too.”

 

Jiang Zhi lowered her head and kissed her: “I know.”

 

Lin Anran’s affection was passionate and obvious. Jiang Zhi had always known it. She didn’t need extra verbal confirmation; she could feel it every moment.

 

They kissed in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, with the vast snowflakes witnessing their love.

 

Ding-dong.

 

Ding-dong… Ding-dong.

 

Lin Anran’s phone, in her pocket, was buzzing incessantly.

 

The kiss was interrupted by the message notifications and had to stop. Jiang Zhi rested her forehead against Lin Anran’s: “Who’s messaging you? Check it; it might be urgent.”

 

Lin Anran’s red lips were slightly swollen, and her breathing was ragged. She took out her phone to look.

 

Her mind, muddled from the kiss, instantly cleared when she saw the messages. She immediately looked up at Jiang Zhi, then quickly locked the screen.

 

She looked guilty, her eyes darting nervously.

 

If anyone else showed that expression, one would suspect she was cheating, but for Lin Anran…

 

“What did your relationship expert send you this time?” Jiang Zhi saw through her immediately.

 

“Nothing,” Lin Anran flatly denied.

 

Jiang Zhi took a step back and held out her hand: “If it’s nothing, let me see your phone.”

 

Lin Anran quickly put her phone behind her back.

 

Jiang Zhi didn’t say anything, but kept her outstretched hand there, staring at her unblinkingly.

 

Finally, Lin Anran gave in, reluctantly handing the phone to Jiang Zhi.

 

The phone passcode was Lin Anran’s birthday. Jiang Zhi expertly unlocked it and saw several compressed file packages shared by the “Relationship Expert.”

 

The compressed file names were “Study Material 12345…”

 

Jiang Zhi knew exactly what those were just by looking at her fingernails.

 

Her mouth twitched twice. She looked at Lin Anran, amused and helpless, and couldn’t help but tease: “You’ve studied so much, but where did it all go? Even now, you still don’t know how to breathe when we kiss.”

 

Lin Anran: “Who doesn’t?”

 

Jiang Zhi leaned in close to her face: “Theory is useless. Your teacher is me.”

 

She kissed her again. In terms of learning capacity in this area, Jiang Zhi was clearly far superior to Lin Anran. They had started at the same level, but now Jiang Zhi had the capacity to guide her.

 

“Don’t hold your breath. Breathe, slowly…”

 

“Did you learn?”

 

“If you learned, shouldn’t you call me ‘Teacher’?”

 

“Say it once. I want to hear it,” Jiang Zhi’s voice was low and coaxing.

 

Lin Anran blushed from her ears to her cheeks. After a long moment, she whispered, mosquito-like, the phrase Jiang Zhi had been waiting for: “Teacher Jiang.”

 

Jiang Zhi curled her lips but wasn’t satisfied, continuing to coax: “Your voice is too quiet. I didn’t hear it. Say it again.”

 

She was then rewarded with a strong bite from the kitten, leaving a clear row of teeth marks on her chin.

 

Jiang Zhi watched the kitten slip out of her embrace, touched her bitten chin, and laughed softly.

 

Following her discovery that she liked being cursed at by Lin Anran, Jiang Zhi found another peculiar tendency in herself: she liked being bitten by Lin Anran.

 

It hurt a lot, but why did it feel so good? Maybe she really was a pervert.

 

Late at night, half-asleep, Jiang Zhi felt as if there were whispered sounds near her ear.

 

The muttering was very low, but persistent, making Jiang Zhi wonder if she was dreaming or if someone was truly talking.

 

The half-dreaming person gradually woke up and realized it wasn’t a dream; someone was truly muttering.

 

She looked down. The person who had been sleeping in her arms had left at some point. She was now sitting cross-legged on the bed, talking to the wristband on Jiang Zhi’s wrist… chatting.

 

Was “chatting” the right word? Jiang Zhi didn’t know, but Lin Anran was talking to the wristband very seriously, as if she could truly converse with a string bracelet.

 

“You’re an elder, so you shouldn’t be petty. Don’t be stingy. Even though Jiang Yi made a mistake, you have to forgive her.”

 

“Why don’t you say anything? Is what I’m saying wrong?”

 

“She’s your granddaughter. Grandmothers shouldn’t hold grudges against their granddaughters. At most, come and give her a beating. After the punishment, don’t be mad at her anymore.”

 

“She knows she was wrong, truly. I order you to forgive her!”

 

“Wait, I guess I can’t order an elder. Jiang Yi will say I’m impolite. Anyway, don’t be mad at her anymore. She was young then and didn’t know any better. She’s very sad, and I don’t want her to be sad. If she’s sad, I’ll be sad too…”

 

Jiang Zhi listened quietly to her words, her eyes rippling with emotion.

 

“Oh, right. Aren’t you curious who I am? I’m your granddaughter’s girlfriend. How about that? Isn’t your granddaughter’s girlfriend great? You should be secretly happy that she has a girlfriend like me!”

 

Jiang Zhi was amused and burst out laughing.

 

Lin Anran’s muttering abruptly stopped. She looked up.

 

Their eyes met.

 

A strange silence ensued.

 

Jiang Zhi sat up, raising her hand and shaking the wristband on her wrist: “Not sleeping in the middle of the night, are you chatting with my wristband?”

 

Lin Anran’s expression was unnatural: “No, you heard wrong.”

 

Jiang Zhi pulled her over and hugged her: “If you can’t sleep, why didn’t you wake me up? If you’re bored, I can chat with you. You don’t have to talk to yourself like this.”

 

“Stop being so arrogant. I wasn’t having trouble sleeping, and who cares about chatting with you.”

 

“Then let me put it another way: I want to chat with you.”

 

Lin Anran took her hand, pointed at the wristband, and said: “I just had a heart-to-heart talk with Grandmother. She said she forgave you. She told me… wait, let me imitate Grandmother’s tone.”

 

She cleared her throat. “Jiang Yi, don’t feel guilty anymore. Grandmother isn’t holding it against you. You are stingy, but I am not. You must be happy every day, be a happy Jiang Yi, do you understand? Don’t cry secretly. Grandmother doesn’t like it.”

 

Grandmother’s words sound suspiciously like Lin Anran’s mannerisms.

 

Jiang Zhi: “First, my grandmother wouldn’t call me Jiang Yi; that’s the name you gave me. Second, only you say ‘stingy.’ Third, ‘I don’t like it’ is your catchphrase. You need to at least drop your catchphrase for this to be somewhat believable.”

 

Lin Anran was startled, clearly not having considered those details.

 

Jiang Zhi leaned down close to her, their noses touching, rubbing affectionately.

 

“If you keep doing this, I won’t be able to hold back anymore,” As she spoke, Jiang Zhi leaned over, bracing her hands on either side, enclosing Lin Anran:

 

“What should I do? I suddenly don’t care if you’ve thought it through or if you’ll regret it.”

 

Jiang Zhi looked at the person beneath her, her eyes deepening and her breathing growing heavier.

 

She didn’t want to give Lin Anran any more chances to figure things out, or any room for regret. She wanted to be selfish for once.