As Yang Wuxu stepped outside, she happened to see Su Ziceng hurrying downstairs, oblivious to her hidden presence. She sighed deeply and headed back to her room. After closing the door, she deliberately didn’t lock it, curled up under the covers, exposing only her nose, breathing in the air outside.
She still had not eaten, only today she truly didn’t feel like it; her stomach and eyes felt sour.
After Su Ziceng had left, she didn’t return immediately. Yang Wuxu guessed that she went to look for Hang Yishao. "Foolish woman," Yang Wuxu mused under the covers, "once a man’s heart changes, how could it return."
After a good two hours, the room remained eerily quiet, leaving Yang Wuxu in some despair. The door was gently knocked upon, someone entered, and then it closed and locked.
The sound of the lock made Yang Wuxu shiver; she dared not pull the covers down, instead curling up even tighter.
The room now filled with another’s breath, and the sound of a cane placed on the nightstand. The mattress sank slightly, Yang Wuxu took shallow breaths, feeling the suffocating figure looming over her, as a thick quilt seemed to spread over her body.
A hand, cold with a touch of snow, reached to her forehead, sensing a normal temperature but did not move away immediately. Yang Wuxu fluttered her eyelashes like butterfly wings, itching the hand of Su Qingzhang.
The fingers slightly bent, the index lovingly grazed her cheek, all the way down, pausing by her mouth.
Yang Wuxu clenched her teeth, her lips turning from red to white with tension, revealing delicate lines, which Su Qingzhang continued to touch with his fingers.
The covers were pulled down a bit; Yang Wuxu dared not move abruptly. She breathed softly, symbolically resisting with her hands, but her eyes were filled with temptation, a male voice whispered in her ear, "I received the chocolates. All these years, you’re the only one who noticed my sweet tooth. They’re delicious."
Following that statement, Yang Wuxu gave a small "eeh" sound. Her earlobe engulfed in warm moistness, gently nibbled by a liquor-flavored tongue, training her sensitive lobe.
Her curled body gradually relaxed. The hand initially on her lips, like a cold snake, slithered downwards. She couldn’t resist, nor did she want to, her consciousness being stripped away by the snake on her body and in her heart.
On the windowsill, snow fell, blending with the garden, symbolizing another patch of snow fallen to the mortal world.
Swirling the vodka and ice in her glass, Su Ziceng was, this time, wrong in her guess; she did not go looking for Hang Yishao. The alcohol numbed her thoughts, seemingly dulling her concern for that man.
The night before Valentine’s, the bar was overflowing with single men out on the prowl. After being approached for the fifth time, Su Ziceng decided to find a drinking companion; Pello was a fit candidate.
"Women should drink less," said Pello, as he immediately snatched the glass from her hand. Vodka with ice is hardly a strong drink; it’s more diluted with water.
"A Salt dog for the lady, and a Bloody Mary for me," Su Ziceng said, gulping down the pleasantly sweet and sour grapefruit vodka, tossing two ties to Pello.
"Two? Identical," Pello remarked, eyeing the ties, Liu Liqing, shimmering tourmaline under the glitzy lights.
"Keep it for swapping another day," Su Ziceng fumbled with the gift box, carelessly tossed aside, hanging the tie around Pello’s neck like a noose, awkwardly tying it into a knot.
Her tying was poor, the result, as you might imagine, after repeatedly loosening and fastening, went from a scarf style to a bow tie style. Strangely enough, whatever kind Su Ziceng tied, Pello looked at her with a tolerant gaze.
"Should I give you a return gift," Pello didn’t plan to schedule the return gift for White Day, after all in the Kelly Women’s College, hundreds of eyes sharply watching, and with many ears that could lead to troublesome gossip reaching Wen Maixue’s ears.
"Do you remember this?" Pello drew a ring from his pocket, Su Ziceng glanced at it, rose gold, indeed it was her pair of Venus rings that she seemed to have gifted Pello as some sort of thank you.
"Alnis and Venus rings, this female ring, I made a slight modification, now giving it back to you," Pello removed the glass from Su Ziceng’s hand and slipped the small diamond ring on.