Sweet, yet slightly fishy.
This is the taste Qi Buyan experienced. He only had a taste tonight, and his fingers were still wet, with a color resembling rare water-white honey, sticky and dripping between his fingers.
He Sui’an also glanced at Qi Buyan’s fingers. A few drops of water-white honey fell along the crevices of his fingers, drawing a silver thread. This was the water-white honey he had spent a long time coaxing out.
Why eat this?
Is it really that delicious?
She didn’t understand, always feeling the taste couldn’t be that good, yet he tasted it twice.
He Sui’an wanted to say something but hesitated, her face turning red with embarrassment, realizing she had nothing to say because she could have stopped it every time, but she didn’t.
For instance, this time, when she saw Qi Buyan just touching the small crevice, wanting to gently give it pleasure like in the books, gradually inducing it to produce the sweet, fishy water-white honey.
She actually wanted him to continue.
She even subconsciously adjusted her position slightly to facilitate his extraction of the water-white honey.
Watching him focus on drawing out the water-white honey, He Sui’an felt a strong visual and sensory impact, her body and mind uncontrollably delighted. She wondered if someone else would make her feel the same.
Probably not.
Qi Buyan was different for He Sui’an. He was the person she met the day she lost her memory. At that time, she was almost a blank slate to the world, and he stepped into her life.
A blank world first painted with a shade of indigo.
Indigo is beautiful and mysterious.
Later, various colors were gradually added to He Sui’an’s blank world, but indigo would always be different because it was the first color completely painted in.
And this indigo belonged to Qi Buyan. Initially, she had nowhere to go and stayed by his side, both anxious and timid. The world was too unfamiliar to her, and she wanted to hold onto someone first.
Coincidentally, it was Qi Buyan she held onto.
He raised her like a Gu.
Because before meeting He Sui’an, Qi Buyan’s world was only filled with Gu. Just like after losing her memory, before meeting Qi Buyan, her world was empty, needing to be constantly filled.
They filled each other’s worlds. He Sui’an learned a lot in Qi Buyan’s world, and Qi Buyan found some never-before-felt emotions in hers.
She was still young and had lost her memory, so she couldn’t be certain what this feeling was.
Not everything needs to be done with confirmed feelings. He Sui’an’s temperament is mild, but in some aspects, she is somewhat like Qi Buyan—she often follows her instincts.
In their time together, He Sui’an instinctively trusts that Qi Buyan will not harm her.
As they grew closer, He Sui’an instinctively accepted Qi Buyan.
It’s inexplicable.
Yet, she naturally followed her instincts.
Moreover, He Sui’an could have directly told him tonight that what she did earlier was not her true intention. She was just being clever and messing around, causing him to misunderstand, which led to the subsequent events.
But she didn’t.
Humans are inherently pleasure-seeking animals, and He Sui’an is no exception.
The fact that it was Qi Buyan made her feel strangely wonderful. Could it really be just because he had a good appearance?
There’s no doubt that Qi Buyan is good-looking, but in such a vast world, there must be those who look better. He Sui’an asked herself honestly—if one day she met those people, would she want to get close to them?
No, she wouldn’t.
He Sui’an immediately had her answer.
The beauty of strangers has nothing to do with her. It’s because Qi Buyan is different to her that she is willing to get close to him.
However, He Sui’an still couldn’t figure out whether her feelings for Qi Buyan were a result of their long-term, subtle mutual reliance and closeness, or something else entirely…
She didn’t know.
Having never experienced it before, He Sui’an couldn’t determine whether it was the former or the latter. Given this, she would still choose to follow her heart in her actions.
She didn’t quite understand Qi Buyan’s repeated tasting of the water-white honey, but He Sui’an could enjoy the unfamiliar sensation during his attempt to extract and explore the water-white honey.
Although she sometimes felt shy about facing Qi Buyan’s actions directly, she enjoyed it.
He Sui’an lowered her eyes.
Her thoughts were fleeting and uncertain.
Qi Buyan didn’t taste the water-white honey on his hand again. Instead, he placed a finger back near the small crevice. Seeing that she didn’t stop him from extracting the water-white honey, he went in, curving his finger to scoop inside.
Just like the steps in the book.
He gently and slowly scooped out more. Then, feeling that the skirt covering the place producing the water-white honey was obstructing his view, he lifted it.
The place where the water-white honey was produced was exposed.
This area seemed to have been rubbed and scooped for quite a while, turning a shade of pinkish-red, like two tender, juicy peaches, but it didn’t hurt; instead, it felt tingly.
His fingertip was still inside.
He Sui’an hadn’t yet looked away, staring blankly at Qi Buyan’s actions.
Qi Buyan gazed at that spot, feeling a sense of satisfaction. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was extracting more and more water-white honey, or because he wanted to explore this new experience with her.
It seemed that no matter what he did with He Sui’an, Qi Buyan could always maintain his joy.
Even extracting the water-white honey.
“Do you like it too?” he asked, staring at his hand soaked in the water-white honey. The book said that this would only happen if there was a lot of enjoyment.
Even if she did like it, she couldn’t say it directly. She grabbed Qi Buyan’s hand: “Don’t scoop it out anymore, it feels so weird.” For a moment, she couldn’t find any other words and just said “weird.”
“Okay.”
Qi Buyan believed that doing something like extracting the water-white honey with He Sui’an should be enjoyable for both of them. He liked seeing He Sui’an’s happy and joyful expression.
He Sui’an needed to experience things slowly to feel joy, while he only needed to see her joyful to feel happy himself.
She said she didn’t want to continue.
If she wasn’t enjoying it, Qi Buyan couldn’t gain joy from it either, so he didn’t want to continue.
He withdrew his finger, looking at the spot where the water-white honey was still flowing, and frankly said, “I want to drink it, like we did in the treehouse. Can I?”
He Sui’an didn’t respond, lifting her hands to cover her face with her sleeves, avoiding eye contact with him.
Qi Buyan always said these things so directly, making her embarrassed every time. She didn’t know whether to answer or not, and couldn’t help feeling a bit flustered and annoyed.
He pulled her hands down.
“Is that not okay?”
He Sui’an covered her face again with her sleeves. Qi Buyan gathered her sleeves together, revealing her flushed face again. Her skin was pale with a hint of pink, making him want to kiss her face for no reason.
Without any specific reason or purpose, he wanted to kiss her. Was this what He Sui’an meant by sometimes acting on impulse rather than purpose? But Qi Buyan just looked at her without kissing.
He Sui’an hadn’t answered his question yet, and Qi Buyan would wait for her reply.
But her embarrassment was greater than her anger, making her reluctant to answer.
He Sui’an jumped off the table and directly into Qi Buyan’s arms, hugging his waist with her head burrowing into him instinctively, not giving him a chance to continue.
“It’s getting late, and we still have to investigate the jade pendant tomorrow. I want to rest early, and you should rest early too, okay?”
She said.
Qi Buyan noticed that whenever He Sui’an wanted to avoid a topic, she would habitually hug him and burrow her head into him. But he really liked this feeling.
He unconsciously rubbed his chin against the top of her head.
Her hair fragrance filled the air.
Qi Buyan murmured an acknowledgment, then took a damp cloth to wipe away the water-white honey from their bodies, especially from He Sui’an. He cleaned her for a long time before it was all gone.
He Sui’an initially wanted to clean herself, but she seemed to lack the courage to face the mess. Seeing Qi Buyan already wiping her down, she let him continue, thinking he wasn’t embarrassed at all.
She bit a dry cloth in self-defeat, thinking.
Back on the bed, He Sui’an rolled herself into the innermost part of the blanket. She remembered that the room only had one blanket, so she left half for Qi Buyan. Though it was early summer, it could get chilly at night.
Qi Buyan untied his belt and outer robe, then lay down in the space next to her.
He Sui’an turned to face inward, her back to him, lightly picking at her fingernails. She was normally an honest and straightforward person, but she always felt bewitched by Qi Buyan, ending up doing some ridiculous things with him.
The more she thought about it, the redder her face became. The scenes replayed endlessly in her mind. She forced herself to close her eyes and sleep, trying not to think about it anymore.
Sleep, sleep, sleep, He Sui’an silently chanted three times.
It proved effective.
After silently chanting “sleep” hundreds of times, He Sui’an fell asleep. Her head rested on the soft pillow, her black hair spread out. As she slept, she turned over, lying on her side facing Qi Buyan.
Qi Buyan was also lying on his side, his head resting on his bent arm, his eyes open, looking at He Sui’an who had turned towards him.
The only sound around them was their breathing.
Her eyelashes occasionally fluttered, her nose slightly red. In her sleep, feeling her face itch, she rubbed it. Her dress had become wrinkled, and her sleeve slipped down, revealing a slightly plump wrist.
Qi Buyan, as if guided by a mysterious force, caressed He Sui’an’s face, his fingertips slowly tracing her forehead, brows, eyes, nose, and lips, lingering fondly.
He seemed to really like He Sui’an’s face, but not just because she was pretty.
It was like his love for raising Gu.
No matter what a poisonous Gu looked like, as long as it was a poisonous Gu, Qi Buyan would like it. He liked poisonous Gu for their toxicity. As for He Sui’an, she naturally had no poison.
But he just liked to keep her.
Qi Buyan wanted to keep He Sui’an by his side for a lifetime. He didn’t know how long he would live and never cared about it before, but now he wanted to live a bit longer.
Living to keep He Sui’an was fun, more fun than raising Gu.
He lightly pressed his fingertips against her cheek.
He Sui’an felt her face itch again and slapped Qi Buyan’s hand away with a crisp sound. She didn’t hold back, leaving his hand red and slightly painful, but he derived a strange pleasure from it.
Before Qi Buyan could fully process this odd pleasure, He Sui’an automatically rolled into his arms, burying her head in his chest and wrapping her arms around his narrow waist, which was no longer bound by the sash.
Then, she threw her leg over him.
In her search for a comfortable position, she stepped on him a few times. Once she found it, she kicked off the blanket, casually draping her foot over his leg. Her sleeping posture was always like this.
Qi Buyan’s body was warm, and in this weather, He Sui’an didn’t need the blanket if she was holding him. It was one or the other, otherwise, it would be too hot, even in her sleep she knew that.
He Sui’an hung onto him like an ornament, and Qi Buyan closed his eyes.
He twirled her hair around his fingers.
—
The next morning, the sun was shining brightly.
As usual, they had breakfast in the western market. He Sui’an, overwhelmed by the stimuli from the previous night, felt ravenous upon waking. She dressed quickly and went out to eat with Qi Buyan.
He Sui’an took a bite of the golden fried pastry and sipped the fragrant, soft porridge. Qi Buyan was eating botou, small thumb-sized pieces of dough cooked in a flavorful broth.
He held a spoon in one hand, eating the botou, and in the other, he held the jade pendant, examining it.
