"Anyway, no matter where I sit, I can smell it."
Speaking, Tang Li turned her head to look at the cigarette between Song Baiyan’s fingers: "Have I ever told you, I can smoke too."
Hearing this, Song Baiyan cast his gaze on her petite face, a hint of interest tinting his eyes, yet his tone stiffened a bit: "Picked it up on set, did you?"
"No, a long, long time ago."
As Tang Li replied, she reached for the cigarette case on the table, drew out a cigarette with practiced ease, her left hand pressed the lighter switch on the box, but then something crossed her mind, and she put the lighter back, turning her head: "Got a light?"
The motion of bringing the cigarette to Song Baiyan’s lips paused.
The next moment, Tang Li leaned over.
Her hair tied in a ponytail that barely touched her shoulders, as she bowed her head, strands fell from beside her ear, casting shadows on her fair skin, two fingers of her right hand pinching the cigarette, her left hand grabbed the strands and tucked them behind her ear. Then, the tips of both cigarettes touched.
Tang Li inhaled lightly a few times, and sparks appeared at the tip of her cigarette.
With her cigarette lit, she returned to her seat.
Then, mischievously, Tang Li’s right hand climbed onto Song Baiyan’s shoulder, blowing a puff of smoke towards him: "Did it choke you?"
Song Baiyan didn’t reply, but instead took her slender waist into his arms, the cigarette she held also taken by him. Tang Li was about to retort with, "Officials are allowed to kindle flames but not the commoners," when Song Baiyan suddenly took a drag, bent down, and kissed her lips, his large hand pressing against the back of her head. Caught off guard, Tang Li inhaled quite a bit of the smoke, her throat tickling.
Before she could cough, a large tongue invaded her mouth.
Tang Li’s cheeks grew hotter and hotter.
Between kisses, she couldn’t help but cough lightly while also opening her mouth to respond.
Eventually, she found herself seated atop Song Baiyan.
Both cigarettes were snuffed out in the dish, Tang Li’s hands grabbing onto the man’s shoulders. Choked by the smoke and unable to stop the discomfort, she eventually leaned on Song Baiyan, coughing.
Song Baiyan held her, his low and slow voice coming through: "Still going to smoke after this?"
"..." Tang Li held back her cough, her face flushed as she countered: "Don’t you smoke too? A smoker has no right to stop anyone else."
This remark elicited a light chuckle from Song Baiyan.
His large hand gently patted her back: "Are adults and kids the same, are men and women the same?"
After a while, the girl’s voice came faintly: "Since we’re not the same, why didn’t the adult remember that when he was kissing the kid just now?"
Song Baiyan found it funny, but then heard her say: "Don’t know which adult dragged a kid into a pitch-dark room, did unspeakable things together, and after it was done, denied all acquaintance. Truly, men are no good."
Xiao Minglan, wiping her hands with a tissue, returned to see the scene at the dining room entrance, and ultimately did not set foot inside.
At the dining table, the girl sat on the man’s lap, their actions intimate, Song Baiyan held Tang Li’s back as if a father comforting his daughter, casually stroking her back—it had been many years since Xiao Minglan had seen Song Baiyan be so close with a woman.
Then, Xiao Minglan saw Tang Li reach back for the cigarette case on the table.
Song Baiyan pressed her small hand down quickly.
Tang Li grasped the man’s left hand, which was much darker than hers, with pronounced joints, not like a frail scholar, clearly strong. Her heart stirred, she pulled it towards her, kissed the back of Song Baiyan’s hand, and then said, "Let me read your palm."