She Is Such A Jerk, And Yet She’s The One Crying! - Chapter 28

“You come…”

Lin Dongruan spoke these words.

Qiang Ning’s eyes lit up, and without a word, she pounced forward—only to receive a solid flick to the forehead.

Only then did Lin Dongruan unhurriedly finish the rest of her sentence: “…and you shall be beaten.”

Qiang Ning clutched her head: “…”

But since she had already taken the hit, she couldn’t let it be for nothing, right? Steeling her resolve, Qiang Ning simply dragged over a Huanghuali wood folding stool and sat down directly in front of Lin Dongruan as she bathed. Lin Dongruan supported her shoulders and shielded her chest, gracefully turning away in the water; Qiang Ning simply picked up her small stool and followed her to change directions, determined to watch the other woman bathe.

“A-Ning,” Lin Dongruan called out helplessly. “Stop fooling around. How am I supposed to continue bathing like this?”

Qiang Ning: “Then, Sister, shall I help you?”

Lin Dongruan sighed: “A-Ning is becoming more and more disobedient.”

“What are you saying? Sister, you are truly slandering me.” Qiang Ning spread her hands, explaining with an air of righteous indignation, “If you asked me to help wipe your body or anything else, I would certainly agree and be completely obedient.”

“Fine.” Lin Dongruan simply tidied her dark tresses and said to her, “You come, then.”

Qiang Ning had not expected her to give in so quickly. She had intended to cause a bit of a fuss before leaving on her own, but she hadn’t expected Lin Dongruan to actually let her take advantage of the situation.

Qiang Ning’s face remained calm, but as she stepped closer, her movements were a bit stiff: “Sister, do you know? You are really, really easy to talk to.”

Lin Dongruan openly allowed her to look: “Because you are A-Ning.”

The hand Qiang Ning held with the soft silk paused on Lin Dongruan’s shoulder, and the corners of her mouth quietly lifted: “Oh? Is that so?”

Lin Dongruan placed her hand over the back of Qiang Ning’s, saying soothingly: “A-Ning has a good temperament, is well-behaved, and beautiful. You are the best in the world.”

Qiang Ning: !!!

Qiang Ning was quickly left lightheaded by these words of praise. She felt the warmth from Lin Dongruan’s body transferring through the back of her hand, and she felt like a bundle of dry firewood, ignited the moment the other touched her.

“Sister…” Qiang Ning didn’t know what to say. She murmured, her palm stroking along Lin Dongruan’s neck, the more she touched, the more it felt like a piece of fine, white, warm, and soft mutton-fat jade.

Lin Dongruan noticed her constant swallowing and asked: “Is A-Ning hungry?”

Qiang Ning looked suggestively at her neck, her eyes darting toward the bathtub like a lecher: “Not hungry, just a bit… craving.”

“It stands to reason. After the hardships of this journey, A-Ning hasn’t had a good meal.” Lin Dongruan apologized with a sense of guilt, “It is my fault. If I hadn’t been in a coma all this way, A-Ning wouldn’t be so tired.”

All of Qiang Ning’s stray thoughts couldn’t withstand Lin Dongruan’s earnest expression. The other was too sincere, making her feel too embarrassed to continue taking advantage.

“Sister, you finish washing first, I’ll wait for you outside.” Qiang Ning looked away and said, “This house is very close to the market. Let’s go for a walk later.”

Lin Dongruan smiled and agreed.

It wasn’t until Qiang Ning’s silhouette vanished that Lin Dongruan looked at her own body with a hint of sorrow—A-Ning was like a wild cat that loved to bite, leaving many red marks on her body, from her neck to her legs, shades of red both deep and shallow, clearly not all from the same day.

She really is…

Lin Dongruan leaned against the rim of the tub, pressing her brow, suddenly feeling a heat identical to that day at the cold spring.

She truly couldn’t bear to look at these dense red marks.

After all these years, why couldn’t she suppress this old ailment of hers? Lin Dongruan wiped her body dry but was in no hurry to put on clothes. She casually draped a soft robe over herself and rested briefly on the small couch. Then, with one hand holding the robe closed, she used the other to find several acupoints. Guanyuan, Sanyinjiao, Zhongji… pressing these was the fastest way to suppress those feverish desires.

She didn’t know how long she massaged them, but even when the areas around the acupoints became achingly sore, Lin Dongruan still found it difficult to calm down.

It had been too long—

How could it be like this?

Lin Dongruan couldn’t help but feel a bit dejected, leaning against the couch, unwilling to try any longer.

Perhaps because she had taken too long, Qiang Ning outside finally couldn’t wait any longer. Qiang Ning peeked her head out from behind the corner of a floor screen and asked: “Sister, are you done washing?”

Lin Dongruan’s cool voice carried a hint of lethargy and melancholy: “A-Ning, I lack strength. Could you come and help me massage some acupoints?”

Because the other had been unconscious and without food for days, Qiang Ning knew she truly had no strength. Thus, she happily agreed and moved to Lin Dongruan’s side.

“A-Ning, on the posterior border of the tibia of the lower leg, above the ankle, a distance of four fingers’ width…” Lin Dongruan softly guided her to find the spot, but did not tell her the name of the acupoint or its function.

Qiang Ning asked: “Sister, does it feel very relieving?”

Lin Dongruan gave a soft hum of affirmation and said no more.

Qiang Ning didn’t think in any “indescribable” directions, assuming these were just good acupoints for relaxing the muscles and relieving fatigue, so she massaged with extra effort and focus.

Lin Dongruan’s fingertips trembled slightly. Even with her eyes closed, she couldn’t suppress that surge of arousal. She silently bit the tip of her tongue, trying to use pain to numb herself, but it ended in failure.

—There was even a sense of it intensifying.

Logically, it shouldn’t be so. These acupoints were like a balance scale within the body; if a normal person with calm or low desire massaged them, it could increase arousal, but for someone like her, born with naturally hyperactive desires, pressing these points should instead suppress the negative aspects.

So… where exactly did it go wrong, causing the effective method to lose its utility?

Lin Dongruan looked at her reddened fingertips, frowning in confusion.

Seeing this expression, Qiang Ning curiously let go and asked: “Does it hurt a lot?”

“It’s nothing.” Lin Dongruan shook her head, mocking herself with a bit of discouragement, “It’s due to my own body. Thank you for your hard work, A-Ning. You should go out first.”

Qiang Ning didn’t suspect anything and obediently went out.

A moment later, Qiang Ning once again improperly peeked from behind the screen, quietly watching Lin Dongruan dress. She didn’t blink as she watched the other move the soft robe aside, revealing a beautiful pair of dimples on her lower back.

Truly beautiful, she thought.

Qiang Ning covered her nose, fearing she might have another nosebleed.

In front of her, Lin Dongruan was unaware. Qiang Ning saw that she didn’t put on her clothes immediately, but instead picked up a fresh, soft bath cloth. What was she doing? Qiang Ning didn’t quite understand, thinking the other was just exceptionally fond of cleanliness and needed to wipe herself repeatedly.

But in the next instant, Lin Dongruan’s actions left her utterly shocked.

Lin Dongruan actually, with a calm face, used that cloth to lightly wipe her lower parts… and not just once.

Qiang Ning was stunned, nearly losing her balance and falling.

“Who is it? A-Ning?” Lin Dongruan folded the cloth and turned her head.

Qiang Ning held onto the screen and replied: “It’s me, Sister. What are you doing…”

“An old ailment. It has flared up again recently.” Knowing that Qiang Ning had already seen, Lin Dongruan mentioned it calmly, no longer avoiding her. “Perhaps it was the stimulation from the cold spring that day, or perhaps it’s because my body has been ill recently. A chronic condition, incurable.”

“In… in… incurable?” Qiang Ning was so shocked that she didn’t even focus on anything else. She asked: “Then, Sister, have you just endured it all these years?”

Lin Dongruan exhaled calmly: “If one’s body is not broken, and one does not know pleasure, then one will not suffer through the torment. It is no matter; I have made A-Ning worry.”

Qiang Ning covered her mouth, thinking of something else from Lin Dongruan’s words, feeling a secret joy in her heart.

Although the thought was a bit unprincipled, Qiang Ning grew excited just thinking about it—if she succeeded with Lin Dongruan, wouldn’t the other be unable to leave her in the future?

Even if the two had a quarrel, Lin Dongruan would still have to come looking for her with reddened eyes at night.

What a wonderful thing that would be!

The corners of Qiang Ning’s mouth simply couldn’t stop turning up, yet she tried to force them straight, her whole face turning red from the effort.

This drew a look of confusion from Lin Dongruan.

Lin Dongruan looked at her, her gaze mournful: “That day at the cold spring, if not for the sudden flare-up of the old ailment, it wouldn’t have reached that point.”

Qiang Ning paused, realizing the subtext—in other words, the fact that Lin Dongruan had suddenly become wet at her fingertips wasn’t because of her, but because the other simply couldn’t be touched.

And to think she had been so smug, believing she had stirred Lin Dongruan’s heart!

Qiang Ning finally couldn’t laugh anymore: “I am also to blame for pointlessly offending Sister that day.”

“It’s no matter.” Lin Dongruan shook her head, taking the opportunity to bring up a matter: “A-Ning, now that we have come to this house, you and I no longer need to share a bed. We…”

“No!” In her haste, Qiang Ning nearly bit her tongue. She demanded: “Why!”

Lin Dongruan lowered her eyes: “Because my old ailment has flared up, I should not be in close proximity to others.”

Qiang Ning: “But… however… this…”

Hearing such a frank reason, Qiang Ning couldn’t think of any way to argue. She stammered “but” for a long time without managing to follow it with anything, forced to suffer this setback in silence.

The good mood from moving into a large house was completely ruined by the news of sleeping in separate beds. Qiang Ning was somewhat dissatisfied and anxious, like a puppy eager for a pat who didn’t get the expected stroke, her heart feeling continuously empty.

In the blink of an eye, Lin Dongruan had finished dressing.

“Let’s go, A-Ning. We’ll go for a walk outside.”

Lin Dongruan reached out to take her hand, but pulled back just as she was about to make contact.

Qiang Ning stood there helplessly, suddenly feeling wronged: “Sister, are you unwilling to hold my hand?”

Lin Dongruan’s eyes were filled with sadness: “A-Ning, could you give me a few days to recover? When my body is better, we will return to how we were.”

Qiang Ning pressed: “Then can I move back in to sleep?”

Lin Dongruan nodded, finally soothing her.

“Okay,” Qiang Ning said. “I can wait.”

Lin Dongruan then asked her to wait a moment, then asked Qiang Ning if she had a ribbon for tying hair.

Qiang Ning quickly fetched a crimson hair ribbon decorated with bat and cloud patterns and handed it to Lin Dongruan: “Sister, here… are you going to use it to tie your hair?”

Lin Dongruan denied it. Instead, she took one end of the ribbon and wrapped it around Qiang Ning’s wrist a few times, neither too tight nor too loose, just wide enough to fit a finger.

Qiang Ning’s breath hitched, puzzled: “What is this for?”

“The market is crowded and busy, with many vendors. I’m afraid of losing A-Ning, and I’m also afraid A-Ning might accidentally follow a bad person away.” Lin Dongruan tied it seriously, looking at Qiang Ning reassuringly. “This way, A-Ning won’t be afraid of getting lost.”

This method was quite fresh and interesting. Qiang Ning was very pleased, completely letting go of the “no hand-holding” agreement.

Lin Dongruan held the other end of the ribbon in her palm, wrapping it once around her four fingers and gripping it tight.

Qiang Ning felt a gentle tug, and her heart seemed to be pulled tight along with it. In a good mood, she followed Lin Dongruan, staring at the other’s silhouette as they headed out together.

The hidden guards near the house saw this scene and suddenly exchanged glances. Everyone understood the look in each other’s eyes; they all saw that there was something not quite right about this way of “leading.”

Her Royal Highness the Princess was the master and had never personally gone to the slave market to buy servants, so naturally, she hadn’t seen this way of leading someone. But they, as shadow guards and attendants, were very familiar with it.

Was the Imperial Preceptor doing this on purpose, or was it an accident?