Chapter 24: Yao Qiyun, why don't we make a bet?

  When Yao Qiyun handed the medicine and water to Situ Xuan, her face and arm had added a few blood marks scratched by fingernails. It was obvious that she hadn't listened to Yao Qiyun's words at all, which made him feel both annoyed and heartbroken after seeing it.

  The medicine was taken, but the effect did not appear for a while. Cui Yue loved beauty and would not go out to see a doctor unless absolutely necessary. The rash spread all over her body, itching unbearably, yet scratching didn't help. The itchiness seemed to be in her bones, making her feel like she was going crazy with frustration, how could she remain calm?

  Fortunately, at home there was Xue Shaoping, a seasoned pharmacist, and all kinds of common medicines were very complete. Yao Qiyun listened to her continuous muttering complaints, but didn't make a sound, opened a bottle of peppermint oil, and applied it along her skin outside her clothes.

  Situ Xuan's hand started to disobey again, and as she rubbed the medicine on her left hand with her right hand, it secretly reached for the most severely damaged neck. Yao Qiyun couldn't remember how many times he had told her that if she continued to scratch like this, she would definitely hurt herself, but she was so stubborn and disobedient that even he lost his patience. After another ineffective warning, he slapped her disobedient hand heavily without saying a word.

  "Ouch."

  Xīu Yuè's hand suddenly clenched, and the pent-up anger in her heart finally found a way to vent. The old grudges and new grievances that had been temporarily thrown to the back of her mind due to this sudden allergic reaction now surged up again. If she wasn't mistaken, they hadn't even made amends yet. She still hadn't figured out how to forgive him for those heart-chilling words he said that day, but this guy actually took the initiative to lecture her first.

  "Why are you hitting me? I haven't even settled accounts with you yet." She said viciously.

  "Who told you to be so unmanageable? I'm all doing this for your own good."

  Little did he know that Situ Xuan couldn't bear to hear him make decisions on his own like this, as if a single phrase "for your own good" could justify imposing all the decisions he thought were right on her without ever asking for her feelings, and even the rift that day was done under the guise of being considerate of her.

  She was furious and let out a cold laugh, "Do I need you to worry about me? Who are you to me?"

  Yao Qiyun was trying his best to avoid the unpleasantness of that day, but Situ Xuan's counterattack hit him right in the sore spot, leaving him speechless and unable to respond, with nothing but silence.

  Actually, Situ Xin was not completely unaware of his attempts to make amends during this time, but what she wanted was not such a passive and hesitant attitude. As long as he refused to take back what he said that day, she could never let go. Seeing Yao Qiyun still placing her hand on his knee and refusing to let go, she pulled her hand back and said, "Aren't you very self-aware? You said I was a piece of jade that you couldn't afford to raise, if so, then you should keep your distance from me, be careful not to break it, or you won't be able to afford the compensation."

  "Fine, have it your way. You'd better be prepared to end up like a stray dog, and by then, you won't even be worth the broken tile you threw away today. See who'll still want you!" Yao Qiyun also became sharp-tongued under her relentless pressure.

  Situ Xuan was furious upon hearing this, and in his anger he grabbed the plush bear that had just been picked up and threw it at him. The plush bear hit Yao Qiyun's hand, which was holding a small jar of menthol ointment, causing the jar to slip from his grasp and fall to the floor, rolling away to the base of the wall.

  There was only one can of external medicine for eczema at home, and Yao Qiyun was anxious to get up and pick it up. Fortunately, it didn't spill or stain, so it could still be used.

  He had just stood up when he saw Situ Xuan sitting cross-legged on the bed, deliberately staring at him and scratching his arm with a show of force.

  "Situ Xuan, try again." His patience was also pushed to the edge of the cliff, barely holding on with a single breath, shaking and about to collapse.

  Situ Xuan's scratches became more forceful, her skin itching to the point where she didn't feel any pain, only the bloody marks left on her body were shocking. Yao Qiyun's sympathetic gaze was just as startling, yet it brought her a strange sense of comfort. He had said they should just drop it, so why make such a fuss? She thought this way, but her hands didn't stop moving, instead becoming even more provocative, as if saying: "I'll scratch you, what can you do to me?"

  Yao Qiyun never dared to do anything to her, the two of them had countless times of friction since they met, no matter what the reason was, at critical moments he always gave in to her. This time, Situ Xuan seemed to have guessed correctly, he turned away his face in anger, refusing to let his gaze meet hers. Inhaling, exhaling, inhaling, exhaling... as if taking a step back, and then another, could really bring about "a vast sky and open sea".

  Situ Xuan sneered and laughed. Just as the corners of her mouth were raised, she suddenly saw Yao Qiyun take a step forward, pinning down her unstoppable hand and twisting it backwards. She was completely unprepared for this sudden turn of events, and under his force, she involuntarily tilted to the right, and he didn't care, letting her fall sideways. Situ Xuan hadn't even had time to make a sound before her face quickly kissed the beloved pillow, with both arms pinned behind her back by his single hand.

  She murmured a few monosyllables in vain on the pillow, struggled to turn her head, and finally found an angle for smooth breathing. With a frightened tone, she shouted: "Don't you want to live? I'll count to three, if you don't pull me up..."

  "You can count however you want, I've told you to stop scratching, now remember it for good." Yao Qiyun's resentful voice came from behind her.

  Cen Jun had never seen such a scene before, and his usual spoiled and arrogant attitude was completely forgotten in the face of fear. In desperation, he could only threaten: "If you do this again, I'll tell my mom!" His tone and expression were no different from those of a kindergarten student who had been bullied and was eager to find a parent to report to.

  Yao Qiyun also twitched at the corner of her mouth in a place where she couldn't see.

  "Don't move, after applying this, it won't feel so itchy. The medicine you took earlier will also start to take effect slowly, and then you can go find your mom." He continued to apply the menthol ointment to the other half of her arm with eczema at a moderate pace.

  Situ Xuan struggled for a while to no avail, so she changed her approach. She conceded and said in a dejected tone: "Alright, stop it. Can't I just give up? You're twisting my arm so hard it's almost broken, let me sit up and talk."

  She didn't hear him speak, after a while, she felt the force in her hand loosen, and with a burst of joy, she used all her strength to struggle free, turned around and kicked him with one foot, "You dare to bully me!"

  Who would have thought that the struggle didn't work, and the kicked foot was empty. Yao Qiyun pressed her down again, holding her hand even tighter. Originally, Situ Yue didn't feel any pain, but she frowned, fearing that her feet would make more trouble. So he knelt on the bed, using his knees to firmly press against her.

  "Situ Xuan, I really admire you. Every time you use this trick, you never keep your promise once, and yet you still think others are as foolish as you."

  He said, already wiping her cheek, Situ Xuan's heart was not reconciled, where would she be willing to eat this loss in front of her eyes. Taking advantage of his hand approaching her lips, she opened her mouth and took a bite. Fortunately, Yao Qiyun had anticipated her and dodged in time, barely avoiding being bitten by her teeth on the tip of his finger. He was fine, but Situ Xuan was choked by the scent of menthol ointment on his hand, her face scrunched up into a ball.

  Yao Qiyun finally couldn't help but laugh, "If you love eating this, it's a good deal, I can feed you a few more bites."

  She was speechless in that pungent flavor, knowing she was at a disadvantage now. He didn't have any malice, so he didn't continue to fight back futilely, and instead lay there like a dead man, letting him apply the stuff all over her visible skin covered in rashes.

  In fact, as long as she calmed down, the itching that gnawed at her bones wasn't so intense after all. Moreover, wherever his hands touched, they brought a thick and icy sensation of menthol ointment. After a tingling pain, the taut skin and nerves relaxed all at once.

  "How's that, you should know by now that it won't kill you if you don't struggle. Look at you, still not knowing what's good for you." Yao Qiyun got up and tightened the lid of the thin gauze bottle, both hands having left Sito Yan's body, but she didn't move for a while.

  "Is it better now?" He smoothed her ponytail with his hand. Si Tu Jue's head, buried in the pillow, shook slightly.

  Yao Qiyun's expression turned skeptical, "The medicine didn't work? Impossible?" He pondered for a moment, then exclaimed in surprise, "Could the allergic reaction be more than just hives on the skin? Have you felt short of breath? Speak up, don't scare me."

  Xīng Tuò Jìn gritted her teeth and weakly looked at him. "Take a deep breath, even if the medicine you applied is effective immediately, the problem is that there's still a large area that hasn't been applied to yet." As she spoke, she pulled the collar of her T-shirt back, revealing that the areas around her neck, shoulders, and back were severely affected.

  Earlier, Yao Qiyun was not completely unaware of this problem, but the two had been very close in the past, and there were still places to avoid suspicion, so he didn't dare to take advantage of her.

  "Can you do it yourself?" He handed her the just-combined ointment.

  "Needless to say, I can handle it myself, no need to tell you."

  "Or I'll go call my aunt..." Yao Qiyun asked tentatively.

  "Sideways, angrily said:" I will let her touch me? "She glanced at Yao Qiyun, who was quite embarrassed, and said ruthlessly:" What are you pretending to be, half of your body is still pressing on me, how can you not think of courtesy and shame?"

  Yao Qiyun was shut up by her in one sentence, and there was nothing that Situ Xuan couldn't say.

  He patted her shoulder, "Don't talk nonsense... don't move."

  She was wearing a long T-shirt that she often wore at home, with a not-too-deep neckline. Yao Qiyun tried to pull it down further, but was worried about tearing the clothes, so he stretched out his hand and lifted up the hem of the shirt. Sure enough, in the place where he couldn't see before, the rash was even more shocking, especially... at the position where her underwear was tight, not only was it red, but it had also swollen slightly. He gently pushed aside the shoulder strap on her back, and saw that on the skin below, there was a clear mark, as if it had been branded on.

  Yao Qiyun lifted the thin shoulder strap with one hand and applied the ointment along the scar with the other, moving downwards. It was still a bit awkward, especially since those areas were red and swollen, making him feel itchy and uncomfortable just by looking at them. No wonder she had looked so distressed earlier when she was lying there.

  He decided to undo the buttons that were hindering him, and without saying a word, he just stopped his hand there for a moment, seeing that she didn't make a sound either, took it as her silent consent. In this process, they both tacitly did not speak, because they both knew that any words would only make this scene more awkward and embarrassing.

  His hand moved very slowly, and after one pass, he still suspected that there were omissions, and he refined it again from the beginning. He didn't know why, but his throat was inconveniently dry and itchy, and he tried his best to hold back, not daring to make a sound. He felt like he was in a huge seven-colored soap bubble, with everything outside except for her beside him, separated by a layer of something that seemed transparent but wasn't, making everything unclear, giving him a strange illusion, an intangible sense of touch, and the real thing was even more blurred than the illusion. Any slight movement would make this shimmering barrier shatter into nothingness.

  Xīng Xīnghuá's profile on the pillow was also dyed with a red glow, as if by some unknown substance. She thought that normal people should have been burned to death in such high temperatures, but she was still awake, and extremely sensitive to every slight touch of his fingertips. The coolness he brought fell on her back, like a heavy rain pouring down on parched earth, the most extreme cold and heat merged, not annihilating each other, but steaming out a hazy mist...

  Just then, several urgent and brief knocks on the door made the two young people suddenly wake up from their "fantasy", but before they could react, the unlocked door was opened from the outside, and Yao's aunt stood at the door with a few ice-cooled wet towels in her hand, looking somewhat uneasy.

  Yao's aunt had not expected that Situ Xuan would have an allergic reaction, and fearing that things would get out of hand, she thought about coming to see if there was anything she could do to help. Unexpectedly, however, she saw a scene that left her staring in shock: her good nephew was half-kneeling and half-sitting on the bed of Situ's eldest daughter, while the owner of the room was lying under him with his clothes half undone, and from her angle, all she could see was a whole expanse of bare back.

  Aunt Yao was a traditional woman in this regard, and when she saw the situation, she didn't even dare to stop and take another look, taking two steps back and turning her face away. She was so ashamed for those two shameless young people that her face turned completely red, especially since one of them was her own proud relative.

  Yao Qiyun and Situ Xin both sat up immediately under this sudden change, Yao Qiyun quickly pulled down Situ Xin's clothes, jumped off the bed and was about to walk out the door to clarify things in front of his aunt, but Situ Xin held him back.

  She walked ahead of him to the door, looking at Yao's aunt who still refused to turn her face around. Although her face was still flushed, she spoke without any ambiguity.

  "Auntie, next time don't knock on the door so hastily, it's better for everyone's sake."

  "You're simply... simply... infuriating! You... oh, how can you be so muddle-headed!" Aunt Yao's face flushed red with anger, and she couldn't find the words to express herself.

  "I'm telling you, we didn't do anything, but I guess you won't believe me either." Just then, Situ Xuan noticed the ice pack on Yao's hand that had been overlooked and asked hesitantly, "Is this for me? Did you come all the way upstairs to bring it to me?"

  Under the reminder of this sentence, Yao's aunt, who was too stunned to react, remembered her own guilt. The red bumps on Sutu's skin didn't look like a joke at all. She turned away and said vaguely: "The steamed buns at noon, I didn't do it on purpose, I didn't know you really couldn't eat that thing..."

  Situ Xin was taken aback, her mouth half open, and she almost let out a surprised "oh". She couldn't help but turn around to glance at Yao Qiyun, and suddenly everything became clear in her mind. Just as she was about to point at Yao's nose and loudly scold her for her viciousness, the words reached the tip of her tongue but were abruptly suppressed. With great effort, she restrained her indignation and deliberately touched the most severe red rash on her neck with her hand, letting out a half-true, half-false sigh. "I don't even know how I'll explain this to my mom when she gets back... But Auntie, you shouldn't take it too seriously either. You're not someone who likes to make trouble, and neither do I. We've already agreed on everything, haven't we? Let's just get along peacefully, that way everyone will be happy."

  Situ Xuan deliberately emphasized the word "who" and then ignored the reaction of the person outside the door, heavily closing it and even locking it.

  She turned around and looked at Yao Qiyun who had already walked up to her side, his face full of anxiety.

  "A Yu, you..."

  "Ah, that's your aunt," Situ Xin said in a low voice. "You don't know, she has always disliked me from the bottom of her heart. In her opinion, it would be abnormal if I didn't try to seduce you. Do you think she'll listen to your explanations? Don't be silly. But now it's fine, I bet she won't dare to spout nonsense in front of my parents."

  "The problem is that it's not good for you." Yao Qiyun still frowned.

  "I'm not afraid, what's it to you?"

  Situ Xuan bit her lower lip and glared at him.

  Yao Qiyun...

  "Huh?"

  "Don't you think our crime in broad daylight is already a foregone conclusion?"

  "Stop talking nonsense!"

  "Haven't you ever thought of it like that?"

  “……”

  "In that case, why don't..."

  "What?"

  "Make the charges stick."

  Yao Qiyun stood with one hand on the door frame, her head bowed as she stared at Sutu Xuan, who had just uttered astonishing words. For a long time, she didn't say anything.

  Situ Xuan straightened his back, and his hands still remembered the beautiful curve on top.

  He heard a faint sound coming from his own throat.

  Situ Xin always did things in a way that was lawless and unbridled, doing as he pleased. He had always been clearer than anyone else about what needed to be done, and what he needed to do was absolutely not accompany her in her craziest moments. So he had to refuse.

  However, Situ Xuan once again cut in front of him. She said: "Yao Qiyun, why don't we make a bet."

  "What's the bet?" Even if what was ahead seemed like a siren's temptation, he had a mind to refuse, yet didn't want to miss out. Because that temptation was like a marsh full of blooming flowers, he was afraid of getting trapped, but too enchanted by the fragrance of those flowers.

  "Situ Xuan smiled slightly: 'I bet you dare not to love me with all your heart?'"

  Yao Qiyun didn't respond. He had once used his principles to create a perfect, flawless collar, which he put around his own neck with his own hands, just like a gentle and reliable loyal dog. Now that collar was in danger of being broken under the desperate struggle, and it seemed as if he could hear its faint cry. The desire for power was like a wolf in the vast wilderness.

  ……

  Auntie's dragging footsteps had faded into the distance, and Situ Xuan's heartbeat was accompanied by an even more urgent sound swirling around his ears. It wasn't until much later that Yao Qiyun suddenly realized it was her own gasping for breath.

  Ah Wei's body was filled with the scent of peppermint oil, but this so-called sacred object that was supposed to refresh and awaken the mind now made people dizzy. Yao Qiyun soon tasted the pungent and choking flavor as well, which spread from the tip of his tongue to the depths of his senses, making him want to cry. He furrowed his brow tightly while searching for a place to land, reluctant to let go.

  She slowly regained her composure and leaned back against the slightly cool door, chuckling "heh heh" as she whispered in his ear, returning to him the words he once said.

  "If you like eating this, it's a good deal, I can also feed you a few more bites."

  Yao Qiyun's reaction was to directly return with action, inextricably entwined lips and teeth, no one could escape that stimulating taste.

  She said she was itching badly, and the more emotional she was, the faster her blood flowed, and those red marks bloomed even more on her body. He didn't let her scratch, but physically helped her instead.

  Ah Wei, as he approached, filled with a deadly attitude and kindly reminded: "Yao Qiyun, you said it before, we are not wrong, just shouldn't be put together. You can still regret it now, rather than taking advantage of it..."

  He bit her heavily and said, "Who says it's still too late?"

  They chattered on and on about nothing in particular at this juncture, as if that would make the two equally tense and awkward faces look less ridiculous.

  Zui Si Tu Xuan's fingernails were dug into the flesh of his arm, and he opened his mouth with difficulty. "Yao Qi Yun, can I ask another question? Are you comfortable?"

  Yi Yun smiled softly, gazing at him with a misty and hazy gaze. "It's fine, how about you?"

  Her previous arrogance and determination were all gone, and she said in a sobbing tone: "I just feel pain."

  "How did I remember you just said it was itchy?"

  "The problem is it's itching somewhere else!"

  That itchy feeling had perhaps been transmitted to his body at an even crazier speed, extending all the way to the depths of his soul, stirring restlessly. That was the unbearable itch that couldn't be scratched, and could only be alleviated by the most primitive contact and friction between two young bodies.

  Another set of footsteps grew clearer in his ears, urgent yet steady, and it was Xue Shaoping returning from the company to change her clothes. At this moment, continuing would be a kind of torture, but pulling out could cost someone their life. When she approached, Situ Yue bit down on Yao Qiyun's hand that he had hastily covered over his lips, and as the sound of his mother opening and closing the door came from inside, he slightly twisted his body, and his senses quickly reached a climax under the intense stimulation from both inside and outside the door, his brain suddenly going blank, and then everything came to a standstill, but no one moved.

  Xue Shaoping quickly changed her clothes, and when she passed by her daughter's room, she paused for a moment. The two people on either side of the door held their breath, with only their heartbeats racing uncontrollably.

  "Is Yao's sister and Situ Xuan at home?"

  Yao Qiyun and Situ Xin exchanged a glance, both their hearts rising to their throats.

  It seemed like they had been waiting for half a century, and they all heard the response from Aunt Yao in the kitchen downstairs, "Qiyun hasn't come back, and Situ Xue seems to have gone out with Wu Jiang too."

  "Alright then, neither I nor Sze-to's father will be back for dinner tonight."

  Xue Shaoping's voice faded away with the footsteps downstairs. Yao Qiyun finally let out a sigh of relief, reaching out to touch Situ Yue's sweaty hair.

  "Are you afraid?" Si Tu Jue rubbed against his hand like a little cat.

  Yao Qiyun fell silent for a moment before nodding honestly.

  She didn't stop there, looking into his eyes and asking: "Are you not afraid of being a thief who steals my parents' precious treasure? Are you not worried about breaking it, nor afraid of living in constant fear?"

  Yao Qiyun pushed forward with her. "I was afraid, so I swallowed it into my belly."