Fighting For My Wife With Myself After Being Reborn - Chapter 25

“I’m back.” Gu Yinghuai put down her backpack and kicked off the high heels she had been wearing all day, which were making her feet ache.

Her words received no response.

Strange, is Axu not home?

Gu Yinghuai looked toward the living room in confusion. The television was playing some unknown drama, but the sofa was empty.

She changed into cotton slippers and walked further inside. Before she reached the bedroom, she heard the faint sound of running water.

Oh, okay, she’s taking a shower.

For some reason, Gu Yinghuai felt a strange sense of relief.

The sound of the shower stopped quickly, followed by the buzzing of a hair dryer and the clinking of bottles and jars hitting each other.

Applying essential oils. Gu Yinghuai lay back in the beanbag chair, guessing what Shen Huaixu was doing just by listening to the sounds from the bathroom.

If it was a pssh-pssh sound, that was Shen Huaixu using a hydrating spray.

If it was just a single clack, it might be the sound of a comb being set on the counter, or an empty eye cream jar being put back in its place.

Gu Yinghuai didn’t even realize she was smiling as she guessed.

Click.

That was the sound of the bathroom door opening.

A moist, lingering mist drifted out, and a pair of long, straight legs stepped over the threshold.

“Hi.” Gu Yinghuai greeted her with a smile, her apricot-shaped eyes boldly “licking” up Shen Huaixu’s body from bottom to top.

Hiss, her Axu is getting hotter and hotter.

Shen Huaixu was slightly startled by Gu Yinghuai on the sofa.

“I thought you’d be back a bit later.” Shen Huaixu bent down and kissed Gu Yinghuai’s lips. She knelt with one knee on the sofa, cupping Gu Yinghuai’s face and gently nibbling her lips.

The two kissed for a good while before reluctantly pulling apart.

“I came back as soon as I finished my work. Give me another kiss; I need to recharge my energy.” Gu Yinghuai coquettishly hooked her arms around Shen Huaixu’s neck, actively tilting her chin up to chase her.

Shen Huaixu naturally wouldn’t refuse such a small request.

She held the back of Gu Yinghuai’s head and deepened the kiss.

Her tongue swept through every corner of the mouth, licking the sensitive palate, satisfied to hear Gu Yinghuai let out a soft moan. Gu Yinghuai’s waist lost its strength, and she slumped softly into her arms.

Gu Yinghuai was like a boneless kitten, shedding her usual cold exterior under her master’s touch to reveal a soft belly.

“Enough, enough! If I keep charging, I’m going to overload!” Feeling Shen Huaixu’s hand secretly slipping into her shirt and shamelessly rubbing the small of her back, Gu Yinghuai pushed the entranced Shen Huaixu away.

Her apricot eyes were watery from the kissing, her pink lips swollen and moist, and her breath carried a trembling sweetness.

Shen Huaixu kissed her a few more times before finally letting the panting, red-faced Gu Yinghuai go.

“I’m going to shower first. I have something I need your help with in a bit~” Gu Yinghuai stood up from the beanbag chair with a mysterious smile.

Shen Huaixu rolled over and flopped herself into the beanbag, looking like she was at Gu Yinghuai’s beck and call.

By the time Gu Yinghuai finished her shower and came out, it was already 9:30 PM. The person who had been on the beanbag was nowhere to be seen, and only a soft lamp remained lit in the bedroom.

She walked barefoot on the carpet; her cotton slippers had been abandoned at the bathroom door, leaving behind a pathetic-looking silhouette.

“Finished showering?” Just as Gu Yinghuai stepped out of the bedroom, Shen Huaixu happened to come out of the kitchen carrying a cup of hot cocoa topped with crushed nuts. She waved to Gu Yinghuai. “The cocoa just finished brewing. Come over and sit.”

“Why the sudden urge to make cocoa?” Gu Yinghuai sat opposite Shen Huaixu. She held the cup, the warmth of the cocoa transferring through the ceramic to her fingertips. The aroma of nuts mixed with the chocolate—one sip brought ultimate satisfaction.

Shen Huaixu reached out to wipe a bit of milk foam from the corner of Gu Yinghuai’s mouth and smiled. “This is a consolation prize for working overtime.”

“Ah~ only for overtime?” Gu Yinghuai looked at Shen Huaixu piteously.

“Mm-hmm. But if Huai gives me a kiss, she can drink it anytime.” Shen Huaixu winked playfully at her.

“I wonder how much the reward is to ask for a favor from our classmate Shen Huaixu?” Gu Yinghuai pretended to be shocked, her eyes wide and round.

Hearing this, Shen Huaixu mockingly brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and said boastfully, “It depends on my mood. If I’m in a good mood, one kiss is enough. If I’m in a bad mood, well, that’s hard to say—maybe two, maybe three, and maybe I’ll need compensation for mental distress.”

Gu Yinghuai deliberately didn’t respond. She put down her cup and walked toward the living room.

Shen Huaixu thought she was angry and immediately changed her tune. “Huai, don’t go! For your sake, one kiss is enough.”

Gu Yinghuai still didn’t answer her, busying herself with something at the entrance.

Shen Huaixu couldn’t help but lean out to see what her Huai was doing.

Unfortunately, the wall blocked the view of the entrance completely.

After a moment, Gu Yinghuai walked back clutching something in her hand.

“Ta-da! Help me paint my nails!” Gu Yinghuai opened her palm to reveal three bottles of nail polish.

Shen Huaixu stared at her face, trying to read any sign of anger, but found none.

“Is something on my face?” Gu Yinghuai felt strange being stared at for so long. She touched her cheek, wondering if she had gotten cocoa on herself somewhere else.

Shen Huaixu said “It’s nothing” and took the nail polish. She asked, “Why the sudden interest in painting your nails?”

During her wildest years, Gu Yinghuai’s nails had always been trimmed neatly—a healthy pink, clean and beautiful, without any polish.

Gu Yinghuai pulled up a chair to sit beside Shen Huaixu. “I went to an accessory shop with Yulan and the others after dinner. She gave these three bottles to me. I’ve never painted my nails before and wanted to try. Help me, Axu.”

Since her girlfriend was acting so cute, how could Shen Huaixu refuse?

“Alright, I’ll do it.” Shen Huaixu resigned herself to the role of manicurist. “Let me get some wet wipes. Wait for me.”

Before officially painting, Shen Huaixu used a wet wipe to clean any microscopic dust—which could hardly even be called dirt—from Gu Yinghuai’s nail beds.

Gu Yinghuai teased her, “So professional, Classmate Shen.”

Shen Huaixu gave a cocky smile. “Of course. How could I take on jobs without some skills? Come on, baby, let’s begin.”

Gu Yinghuai placed her left hand on Shen Huaixu’s hand. Her nail beds were long and neat, and her fingertips were naturally pink; they were already beautiful without polish.

Shen Huaixu lowered her head with a focused expression. Her hand holding the brush was very steady. Not a drop of the transparent base coat was missed, perfectly covering the entire nail.

In less than a minute, the base coat on the left hand was finished.

“How’s that? Not bad, right?” Shen Huaixu released Gu Yinghuai’s left hand and tilted her chin up modestly, waiting for praise.

Gu Yinghuai held up her left hand to examine it from different angles, offering sincere praise. “So impressive. As expected of my Axu; even your nail painting is better than the masters at the nail salon.”

“Ai, stay humble, stay humble. Careful, or the manicurists might hear you.” Shen Huaixu coughed twice. Despite her words, her smile was widening uncontrollably from the praise.

Gu Yinghuai watched Shen Huaixu’s undisguised smugness and pride with amusement. She wondered how this Axu managed to maintain such a cold image in front of outsiders when she was clearly just a childish, boastful kid.

“What? Afraid of getting beaten up?” Gu Yinghuai extended her right hand. Shen Huaixu immediately took the hint and continued painting.

Shen Huaixu: “No, I’m afraid they’ll die of shame. When professionals can’t beat an amateur, they should go back to school.”

Alright, she’s a sharp-tongued kid too. Gu Yinghuai propped her chin up with her free hand, watching Shen Huaixu’s serious face.

The silver-gray eyes were hidden behind lowered lashes, her long, heroic brows were slightly furrowed, and her pale, thin lips were pressed together. She didn’t look like she was painting nails; she looked like she was handling a task that required serious dedication.

After finishing the base coat, Shen Huaixu asked, “Which of these two do you want?”

The remaining two colors were pink and a sparkling silver.

Gu Yinghuai’s eyes curved into crescent moons. “I want to do alternating colors, and then add a very thin silver line down the middle of the middle finger.”

No pictures, just imagination.

If it were anyone else, Shen Huaixu wouldn’t even look at them—she would have dropped the polish and walked away.

Actually, if anyone else had asked her to paint their nails, Shen Huaixu would have found an excuse to decline long ago.

But because the person making the request was Gu Yinghuai, Shen Huaixu would do anything to satisfy her Huai’s needs.

“Understood, my lady.” Shen Huaixu resigned herself to creating the “alternating color” manicure and the silver-lined middle finger.

There were no specialized lining tools at home, and the brush that came with the polish was too large to achieve the effect Gu Yinghuai wanted.

In the end, Shen Huaixu had a moment of inspiration. She found two toothpicks and slowly drew the long, thin silver lines bit by bit.

The finished result was even better than Gu Yinghuai had imagined. The silver and pink neutralized the monotony of solid colors, and the best part was the silver line on the middle finger, which instantly became the highlight of the hand.

“Perfect!” Gu Yinghuai admired her painted hands, then turned and gave Shen Huaixu a happy kiss on the cheek. “My Axu is the best!”

Shen Huaixu felt her heart flutter from the kiss. She pressed her hands down in a “keep it down” gesture, signaling Gu Yinghuai to be humble. “Just painting nails—it’s a piece of cake for me.”

“Alright then, I wonder if I have the honor of painting the nails of ‘Ms. Piece-of-Cake’?” Gu Yinghuai propped up her chin, widening her eyes and trying to use cuteness to achieve her goal.

Shen Huaixu… she naturally couldn’t refuse.

“Remember to be gentle with me.” She feigned shyness, lowering her head and bashfully extending her hand to rest on the back of Gu Yinghuai’s hand.

Her thumb was particularly restless, gently stroking the tender skin of the palm beneath it.

Gu Yinghuai gave her what she thought was a fierce glare, but she looked more like a kitten baring its teeth—both cute and “ferocious.” “Keep teasing me and I might accidentally paint outside the lines! I’ll let you go to work with messy fingers.”

Ah, the kitten is angry. Shen Huaixu smiled as she listened to the threat, which had almost zero lethality. She even felt the urge to tease her a bit more.

“I was wrong, I won’t do it again.” Her apology carried no sincerity whatsoever.

Gu Yinghuai swished the nail polish brush, scraping off the excess against the rim of the bottle.

She heard the dismissive tone in Shen Huaixu’s voice and looked up at her with annoyance.

“I’m going to write ‘Big Bastard’ on your nails…” Gu Yinghuai muttered under her breath as she took hold of Shen Huaixu’s hand, clumsily painting the polish onto those long nail beds.

Shen Huaixu heard the muttering and couldn’t help but find it funny.

However, she didn’t want to go to work with the words “Big Bastard” on her nails just yet, so she suppressed her laughter and sat obediently.

Without Shen Huaixu’s interference, Gu Yinghuai marveled while she painted: Axu’s hands are so big, and her fingers are so long and beautiful.

Even though she was “angry,” Gu Yinghuai couldn’t help but be drawn to Shen Huaixu’s hands.

Shen Huaixu had slender, well-proportioned hands with well-defined knuckles and neat, rounded nails without a single hangnail.

It was these very hands that brought Gu Yinghuai overwhelming pleasure during every night of intimacy.

Gu Yinghuai’s brain uncontrollably recalled the details of those nights. She remembered the sensation of those hands stroking her body and the joy of deep exploration.

She also remembered Shen Huaixu’s lowered eyes and her crimson tongue.

The hand painting the nails shook, and as expected, she painted over the edge of the nail bed.

Gu Yinghuai: “!!”

Shen Huaixu glanced at Gu Yinghuai’s inexplicably flushed face. Although she didn’t know what Gu Yinghuai was thinking, it didn’t stop her from teasing her on purpose. “What are you thinking about? Your face is so red.”

The already red face became even redder.

“I wasn’t thinking about anything! I just feel a bit hot!” Gu Yinghuai argued with a blush. “Alright, stop moving, I need to keep painting!”

She pulled Shen Huaixu’s hand back and huffed as she worked.

As someone who wasn’t very good at painting nails to begin with, her hand became even unsteadier after the emotional surge.

The polish that had been so obedient in Shen Huaixu’s hands became uncontrollable in Gu Yinghuai’s. It was either overflowing or not covering enough, forcing her to repeatedly dip the brush and apply a thick, heavy layer.

Watching all of this, Shen Huaixu didn’t stop her or tease her further. Instead, she propped up her chin and watched with a doting expression as Gu Yinghuai furrowed her beautiful brows, seriously painting her nails.

“Ta-da! Finished!” Gu Yinghuai held up Shen Huaixu’s hand like a trophy. The long fingers were painted in the same silver-pink pattern, though the middle finger didn’t have the silver line.

“Not bad, right?” She had a “hurry up and praise me” expression, waiting for Shen Huaixu.

Shen Huaixu looked down at the polish that had overflowed quite a bit and the uneven application, then praised Gu Yinghuai against her conscience, saying her skill was great.

Hearing the praise, Gu Yinghuai instead stuck her tongue out sheepishly, as her lack of skill was painfully obvious to the naked eye.

She packed up the nail polish and suddenly remembered something she wanted to ask Shen Huaixu.

“By the way, have the photos we took in Dali been exported yet? I want to pick a few to post on my Moments~”