Pats Little Shrike's Tail - Chapter 131

Chapter 131

Shan Ling felt she didn’t quite understand Hu Aicai’s words. What did “get used to it” mean?

“Have you heard of psychological desensitization therapy?” Hu Aicai asked, holding the orange cat.

Psychological desensitization therapy?

Shan Ling didn’t fully grasp psychology, but she vaguely knew what Hu Aicai was talking about. However, she couldn’t articulate it, so she just frowned slightly and said, “I think… I don’t know.”

Hu Aicai stroked the little cat’s head and explained: “Psychological desensitization therapy is a common treatment for overcoming anxiety and fear. A psychologist will set different stages based on the patient’s condition and then proceed with the treatment gradually.”

She looked at Shan Ling and said, “For example, if you are afraid of cats. We can start by watching videos of cats, then touching cat-themed dolls. Once you get used to those, you move on to touching cat fur, cat paws, and gradually progressing until you are no longer afraid and can actively touch a cat yourself. That is a form of psychological desensitization therapy.”

There’s a treatment like that?

Shan Ling was hearing about this for the first time. She glanced at the fat cat in Hu Aicai’s arms and said in surprise, “If I underwent this therapy, would I be able to touch cats too?”

Hu Aicai smiled: “Actually, you can touch it right now. It won’t cause you any harm. The reason you are still afraid of it is purely psychological.”

Due to her animal instincts, Shan Ling couldn’t overcome this psychological barrier; she feared predators in the biological world.

This was like humans’ instinctive fear of the dark. Because various dangers lurk in the darkness, people instinctively fear it.

Some people are afraid of bugs, snakes, spiders, things with many legs, or things with no legs.

Some people even fear fish, large objects, or the deep sea.

All these fears are normal, as long as they don’t interfere with daily life. After all, no one mandates bravery.

Shan Ling stared at the cat in Hu Aicai’s arms. After struggling for a while, she said, “Actually, I don’t think I need it. I just need to stay far away from cats.”

Hu Aicai’s eyes flickered. She blinked and asked, “What about me?”

Shan Ling: “?”

Hu Aicai said, “Didn’t you say you wanted to be friends with me? But how can we be friends if we have to chat from such a distance?”

Shan Ling glanced at the distance between them, which was easily over ten meters.

Shan Ling chuckled dryly and said, “Haha, it seems so…”

Hu Aicai smiled faintly, not rushing her. She just adjusted the little fatty in her arms and asked, “Where is the property management office? I want to ask how to adopt this little cat.”

Shan Ling pointed in a direction and was about to speak when the elevator door opened again, and Shen Qingyi walked out with a dark expression.

“Miss Shen, why did you come down?” Hu Aicai turned to look at her, holding the cat, and smiled: “What a coincidence, I was just about to ask Shan Ling to show me the way to the property management office to see about adopting this cat.”

“Is that so?” Shen Qingyi narrowed her eyes slightly. She glanced at the innocent-looking fat cat in Hu Aicai’s arms and then at Shan Ling, who was miles away from Hu Aicai. Her face softened slightly, and she said, “Follow this road straight ahead. The property management office is right next to the North Gate. You’ll find it easily.”

She looked at Shan Ling and said, “Xiao Ling and I have things to do, so we won’t escort Miss Hu.”

Hu Aicai could sense that Shen Qingyi disliked her. Not wanting to get in their way, she moved aside when Shen Qingyi reached for Shan Ling. She watched the two of them hold hands and enter the elevator, then lowered her head to look at the equally innocent little cat.

She reached out and stroked the cat’s tiny whiskers, smiling: “Let’s go, little cat. Let’s ask the property management if you can come home with me.”

Meanwhile, Shan Ling, who was already in the elevator, let out a long sigh of relief.

“Good thing you came down in time. Otherwise, with the two of them blocking the entrance, I wouldn’t know what to do,” Shan Ling held Shen Qingyi’s hand, sounding relaxed.

Shen Qingyi glanced at her, pulled her close, and said, “I saw you two talking happily upstairs. What were you discussing?”

Shan Ling blinked and asked with a smile, “Yiyi, are you jealous?”

Shen Qingyi scoffed: “How could I be jealous of that stinky fox?”

“You’re already calling her names. Of course, you’re jealous!”

Faced with Shan Ling’s teasing, Shen Qingyi shot her a fierce look, then frustratedly pinned her against the elevator wall and said, “I’m your girlfriend. Can’t I be jealous?”

Shan Ling curved her eyes and smiled: “I won’t stop you if you want to be jealous, but you must know that my heart is only for you.”

Shen Qingyi paused, then realized what she meant and said, “Don’t sweet-talk me.”

“How could I lie to you?” Shan Ling, still in that position, looped her arms over Shen Qingyi’s shoulders and said, “My heart and eyes are all filled with you. Aren’t you the same? Otherwise, why would we be together?”

Such an honest confession made Shen Qingyi’s cheeks involuntarily flush. She felt that this little mountain sparrow truly understood her heart and knew exactly what she liked to hear.

The words were just a bit too direct, making someone who usually didn’t talk much, like her, feel awkward.

Fortunately, as the elevator door opened in time, Shen Qingyi aggressively grabbed Shan Ling’s hand and rushed back home. She slammed the door shut with a bang, turned, pinned Shan Ling against the door, and lowered her head for a kiss.

Shan Ling seemed to be waiting for Shen Qingyi’s kiss. She opened her lips cooperatively, giving herself entirely to the kiss.

After the familiar kiss ended, Shan Ling took a few low breaths.

“Are you still jealous now?” Shan Ling tilted her head and looked at Shen Qingyi. Noticing her eyes were wet and her breathing was unsteady, she generously leaned in and pecked her again.

“Yiyi, I love you, so you don’t have to be jealous,” Shan Ling said. “My heart is full of you. Forget people—there’s no room for even a bird; only you can live there.”

“Smooth talker,” Shen Qingyi was amused. She wrapped her arms around Shan Ling’s waist and said, “What’s the matter with you, little bird? Your words are better than any song.”

Shan Ling smiled happily: “I can sing for you if you like. I sing very well, too. It’s my natural talent.”

Shen Qingyi leaned in and said, “I’ll let you sing when we have a chance. Right now… let’s kiss again.”

Before Shen Qingyi could finish, Shan Ling leaned in herself, hugging Shen Qingyi and kissing her happily.

As she kissed, Shen Qingyi wondered, Where did this little bird learn how to seduce people like this?

Did she learn it all by herself?

Shan Ling lay on the bed, covered by a thick duvet, sleeping soundly.

The bedside clock showed it was past 2 AM.

The complex was very quiet. It was the time when most people were fast asleep. Only a few scattered lights were on in the entire neighborhood, including the one in Shen Qingyi’s study.

Due to other matters today, Shen Qingyi was delayed quite a bit. She had originally planned to finish restoring five pages today, but so far, she had only completed four.

She sat on the chair, rubbing her aching neck. Feeling the soreness in her shoulders, back, and neck, coupled with the onset of eye strain, Shen Qingyi decided to take a break and start early tomorrow to continue working.

Just as she stood up from the chair, Shen Qingyi felt a sudden, sharp pain in her head.

She thought the pain would quickly disappear, but this time, it lasted longer than the usual sharp sting.

Shen Qingyi pressed her temples to ease the pain, walked out of the study to the cabinet below the TV, rummaged for the medicine box, found the painkillers Zhou Shu had prescribed for her, snapped off two tablets, tossed them into her mouth, and haphazardly washed them down with water.

After taking the medicine, Shen Qingyi sat on the chair, waiting for relief. Fortunately, the medication worked very quickly. In less than five minutes, the agonizing pain in her brain gradually began to subside, and after a while, it was completely gone.

Looking at the messy medicine box, Shen Qingyi frowned helplessly.

Several boxes of painkillers were empty, with only the empty packaging remaining inside. The box Shen Qingyi held was also nearly finished. She figured after a few more episodes of pain, she would have to see Zhou Shu for another prescription.

When that happened, Shen Hongjun would definitely find out she had obtained another batch of painkillers, and she didn’t want to imagine how much he would fuss.

Thinking of her relationship with Shen Hongjun, Shen Qingyi felt inexplicably irritable again. She took all the empty boxes out of the medicine box and threw them into the trash can, wondering if she could find a way to get these painkillers from somewhere else.

Ever since she rescued Shan Ling from the fire, Shen Qingyi had been getting headaches sporadically. Especially when she stayed up too late or experienced something stressful, her brain would feel like it was being drilled, causing intense, agonizing pain.

After haphazardly covering the empty boxes with tissues, Shen Qingyi went to the bathroom to wash up, then returned to the bedroom and got into bed.

Shan Ling was still asleep. Shen Qingyi looked down at her sleeping face, finding that Shan Ling was sleeping very peacefully.

Shen Qingyi watched her for a few moments, then leaned down, kissed Shan Ling on the forehead, softly wished her good night, tucked her in, and turned off the light.

The next day, Shan Ling woke up on schedule at 8 AM.

She actually wanted to sleep in, but her biological clock was set. She woke up more punctually than the alarm clock at 8 AM. Unless she stayed huddled in bed playing with her phone, she had to get up and do chores.

Shan Ling huddled under the covers and turned to look at Shen Qingyi beside her, noticing she was still asleep.

Shen Qingyi seemed uncomfortable in her sleep, her brows tightly furrowed, looking distressed.

Shan Ling scooted closer to Shen Qingyi and gently massaged her eyebrows. When she saw her eyebrows relax, she quietly leaned in and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

“Good morning~”

Shan Ling quietly greeted Shen Qingyi, then climbed out of the duvet, got dressed, left the bedroom, and started preparing the buffet for the birds.

Shan Ling herself opened the refrigerator, crossed her arms, stroked her chin in assessment, took out two golden ears of corn and some eggs, grabbed a bag of steamed buns from the freezer, put a pot on the stove, and started boiling water to prepare breakfast.

After setting a 15-minute timer, Shan Ling began tidying the house. Since it was her day off, she tossed the clothes that had accumulated over the past few days into the washing machine and turned on the robotic vacuum cleaner to start working.

After arranging all this, Shan Ling gathered the trash, preparing to turn off the gas and take the trash downstairs when the alarm went off.

But when she saw a crumpled wad of unused tissues tossed in the living room trash can, she spotted the medicine boxes Shen Qingyi had thrown away last night underneath the tissues.

Shan Ling bent down, picked one up, looked at it, and muttered to herself in confusion, “What is this… for?”

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