Professor Shen’s Needy Little Lover - Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Shen Zaiqing gasped; Long Xin had actually bitten her.

When Long Xin’s lips pressed against her neck, she still thought she was joking, but the pain told her otherwise. No, Long Xin wasn’t scaring her, nor was she playing around; she really meant to bite.

Long Xin didn’t hold back; the force was significant, causing Shen Zaiqing to wince in pain.

“Long Xin!”

Shen Zaiqing pushed Long Xin’s head away, thinking her little dragon had certainly gained some nerve. Before, a single compliment or a poke would make her blush and turn shy sometimes she didn’t even dare to meet her gaze—and her personality was soft, gentle, and harmless.

Now, it was the exact opposite. She could look at her boldly without showing a hint of cowardice; sometimes a look of ridicule or disdain would appear on her face, making one feel she was covered in thorns.

Worst of all, she had bitten her in broad daylight.

“Apologize.”

Shen Zaiqing’s voice turned cold, as did her expression. Long Xin was her dragon; she had the right to discipline her, and even being drunk did not give her the right to do as she pleased.

“Why should I apologize?” A look of contempt reappeared on Long Xin’s face.

Those golden pupils remained bright even in the dim room. As soon as Shen Zaiqing moved her gaze to Long Xin’s face, she couldn’t help but be drawn to her eyes and involuntarily meet her gaze.

However, in those eyes, she could no longer see the clarity of the past, nor could she see through the thoughts Long Xin hid within them.

“Isn’t keeping one’s word a good quality? I warned you in advance. If your memory is bad, you’re going to blame me?” Long Xin’s voice was calm, logical, and well-supported, giving her an extraordinary sense of confidence.

Her current manner made Shen Zaiqing look like the one making a scene.

Her arms propped her up on either side of Shen Zaiqing, her body hovering, avoiding any other physical contact.

Though there was no physical restraint, Long Xin’s condescending gaze gave Shen Zaiqing an intense sense of pressure.

The pain where she had been bitten was still obvious; Shen Zaiqing was certain there would be a ring of red teeth marks there now.

Yet, the perpetrator showed no apology or regret, propping herself over her body and looking at her with a clear conscience, as if all the reason were on her side.

Shen Zaiqing grew more furious, reaching out to grab Long Xin’s collar, brewing words to make her realize her mistake.

But before she could speak, Long Xin spoke first and cut her off.

When Shen Zaiqing grabbed her collar, she glanced at her hand, seeing her arm draped over her shoulder, then looked back into Shen Zaiqing’s eyes and said with a smile: “I said if you touch me, I’ll bite you.”

“If you dare to touch me a second time, I’ll dare to bite you a second time. Want to see?”

Her voice wasn’t loud and her tone was gentle, but it made Shen Zaiqing retract her hand instantly.

The Long Xin in front of her was truly different.

Shen Zaiqing pulled her hand back to her side, placing it properly. Having learned a painful lesson, she knew to restrain herself in time; this out-of-control little dragon recognized no one, and going head-to-head with her would result in no good end.

Thinking of the phrase “recognizing no one,” combined with Long Xin’s lack of tenderness during the bite, Shen Zaiqing asked aloud: “You haven’t really forgotten who I am, have you?”

Except for when she first got drunk and called her “Professor” on the mini-train, Shen Zaiqing hadn’t heard her use that title again.

On the way to the farmhouse, and even now, her attitude toward her had been cold. Was it because… she didn’t know her? Or did she mistake her for an enemy trying to harm her?

“Of course I know who you are.” Long Xin’s tone was airy, her eyes full of disdain, as if Shen Zaiqing had asked a very stupid question.

Shen Zaiqing felt her line of reasoning might be correct. Looking at Long Xin’s cold eyes, she pressed: “Who am I?”

Long Xin gave a cold laugh, burying her head lower, very close to Shen Zaiqing’s face: “Aren’t you… the woman who hit me seven years ago? I’d recognize you even if you turned to ash.”

The wording and tone Long Xin used plunged Shen Zaiqing into deep thought.

She hadn’t expected Long Xin to bring this up voluntarily; she thought she was trying to avoid it.

“From your tone, you hold a grudge? You’ve been angry at me this whole time?”

Shen Zaiqing’s punch hadn’t been intentional; she had been startled and reacted instinctively. By the time she came to her senses, Long Xin had vanished, and she hadn’t seen her again until recently.

Therefore, this matter was like a knot tied firmly between them.

Shen Zaiqing’s inner feelings were actually quite complex; she didn’t know how to untie this knot. She had plenty of teaching experience, but her emotional experience was near zero. She herself wasn’t very enlightened in that regard, and dealing with a sensitive little dragon like Long Xin, she was even more unsure of how to treat her.

Long Xin bringing this up today was a good opportunity for communication.

But… could the two of them have an effective conversation?

“Of course I’m angry. I dig it up to reminisce every day, and then I think about how this woman is so impolite—hitting someone without apologizing or giving an explanation.” Long Xin tilted her head, speaking coldly.

Shen Zaiqing was usually modest and polite; this was the first time she had received such an evaluation, and the label of “impolite” coming from her own dragon made her feel even worse.

She had to argue with Long Xin: “It was clearly you who stole a kiss from me first. Without that, would there have been what followed? Now you’re blaming me?”

“But I already apologized to you. And you haven’t apologized to me, nor have you given me an explanation.”

“Just because of that, you’ve stayed angry? The anger hasn’t faded for seven years, and when I went to Longya Mountain, you wouldn’t even come out to see me?”

Long Xin looked at her and nodded twice.

Shen Zaiqing turned her face away, refusing to meet her gaze, her chest heaving with annoyance as she muttered: “Truly petty.”

Long Xin narrowed her eyes and countered: “I’m not even allowed to be angry? You really do try to control everything.”

She got off Shen Zaiqing and sat back on the nightstand from before, her body against the wall, her arms crossed loosely over her chest, looking incredibly cocky: “Think about how you’re going to apologize to me, otherwise I’ll just keep being angry at you.”

Once Long Xin moved away, the sense of pressure around Shen Zaiqing diminished significantly. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, then touched the spot where she had been bitten; the pain had largely faded and wasn’t serious.

She sat up, staring at Long Xin’s stubborn insistence on an explanation. A thought suddenly flashed through her mind, and she asked: “You didn’t come to Building No. 3 specifically to demand this explanation, did you?”

Long Xin, arms crossed, answered almost without thinking: “Not entirely for that reason, but it is one of the reasons.”

Shen Zaiqing felt she couldn’t treat the Long Xin before her as an out-of-control person. She hadn’t actually lost her mind; instead, she was terrifyingly sober, knowing exactly what she wanted and what she didn’t.

She was like a personality stripped away from Long Xin—quieter, wiser, and more prickly than the Long Xin she knew.

Talking to this Long Xin allowed for more effective communication.

However, because this personality emerged in a drunken state, it was effectively invalidated; no matter how much they said, it would be useless, because once Long Xin woke up from her sleep, she would completely forget everything she had done and said.

Shen Zaiqing changed her perspective: at least for herself, there was a benefit. This was an excellent opportunity to explore Long Xin’s inner heart.

She had one question she cared about deeply that she had to ask Long Xin immediately.

“Long Xin, you said you don’t like being a dragon cub. So, appearing in Building No. 3 in that state and doing those cute, soft things did you do that deliberately to win my favor?”

Long Xin, sitting on the nightstand, tilted her head and thought for a moment before quickly giving Shen Zaiqing an answer: “I won’t deny it.”

Again, it wasn’t the entire reason, but it couldn’t be denied.

Shen Zaiqing fell silent, her gaze falling vacantly on the floor in front of her, her long lashes trembling slightly.

Seeing her deep in thought, Long Xin suddenly gave a light chuckle, breaking the silence: “You asked me a question, so I’ll ask you one too, in the spirit of reciprocity.”

Her voice was steady and full, as if she possessed an endless well of confidence within.

“Ask then,” Shen Zaiqing lifted her eyes to look at her.

A smile touched the corners of Long Xin’s eyes. In this state, she was incredibly lucid, calmly and directly asking the most sensitive question in the depths of her heart: “You don’t like me, do you? I mean ‘that’ kind of like.”

“Even if it were another dragon, you would treat her just as well, wouldn’t you?”

This Long Xin really didn’t beat around the bush; she asked exactly what she wanted to know, unafraid of uncovering others’ scars or her own, having no reservations at all.

However, this question left Shen Zaiqing with nowhere to hide.

Shen Zaiqing broke into a helpless laugh.

This was a question Shen Zaiqing wanted to avoid. She rarely evaded things, but this was one of them. Since Long Xin entered Building No. 3, she had hidden the fact that she had recognized her that too was a deliberate evasion.

She didn’t know the answer; even now, she was still exploring and searching for the answer to that question.

Shen Zaiqing thought for a long time, her eyes darting away. Long Xin’s gaze, however, remained fixed on her, watching her for a long time.

She was being stubborn again; she wouldn’t stop until she got an answer.

“As far as my current feelings go, I won’t deny it.” After a while longer, Shen Zaiqing gave her answer.

Despite some complex and difficult-to-resolve emotions, Shen Zaiqing was clear that her feelings for Long Xin hadn’t reached an intensity that could be elevated to love.

If they were truly that intense, things would be much easier; Shen Zaiqing would definitely be very happy, as she had been troubled by this for too long. But if they were truly that intense, she wouldn’t be here now, hesitating and agonizing, nor would she list her true feelings in her diary like making a record, then analyze them calmly and objectively.

Long Xin was an existence she could never forget, but the “spark” was always missing.

“It seems I was right.” Long Xin’s face didn’t show dejection; she even gave a small shrug, as if she had guessed the ending from the start and was just verifying it now.

The result wasn’t a surprise to her at all.

The other party was too composed; Shen Zaiqing felt she was the one being publicly executed today.

“Then let’s return to that temporarily shelved question. Time is short; we need to resolve it quickly.”

“Regarding the matter from seven years ago, how are you going to apologize to me?”

With a shift in the conversation, Long Xin circled back to that issue. An abnormal flush reappeared on her face, and her eyelids were blinking more frequently than before.

By “time is short,” she meant she couldn’t hold on much longer in this state.

Shen Zaiqing followed her lead and asked: “What kind of apology do you want?”

A smile filled Long Xin’s eyes. She walked to the front of Shen Zaiqing and leaned over, saying: “How about you kiss me once, and I’ll punch you once? Let’s call it ‘returning an eye for an eye’?”

Shen Zaiqing stared into her eyes and didn’t speak.

She didn’t know if this seemingly joking suggestion was made with sincerity or pretense.

Long Xin brought her face even closer, her urging voice surrounding Shen Zaiqing’s ears, her burning breath spraying against her face: “Mhm? Have you finished considering?”

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