Chapter Nine (Part 3): The Kiss
He had waited too long for this kiss. Like a person who had nearly drowned and finally regained life, he desperately breathed, desperately claimed. Only after he had taken in enough oxygen did he finally slow down and seriously savor its sweetness.
The deep kiss softened into a gentle touch. Lu Qiang drew back a fraction, greedily studying her eyes and brows. Lu Yin lowered her gaze, tiny droplets of water still clinging to her lashes. He leaned in and brushed them away with his lower lip, kissing softly all the way down before returning to her lips.
Lu Yin let out a soft moan. His movement paused for a moment. He tilted his head and took her lips into his mouth in one motion, his tongue slyly slipping inside as well.
The little boat moved very slowly, the surface of the water rippling like scattered scales.
From high in the distance, screams occasionally drifted down. Someone else was experiencing what Lu Yin had just experienced. Every sound seemed distant and unreal. A rumbling filled her ears, and she could hear nothing. All her breath was trapped inside her chest. Wanting to stay alive, she had no choice but to surrender her breath to him.
A boat passed in front of them. At the instant they crossed paths, the young boatman whistled toward them.
Lu Qiang paid no attention, deliberately kissing her as though he meant to consume her completely. The hand that had originally been holding the back of her head slowly moved downward, stopping at her waist. The breeze lifted the hem of her shirt and carried his rough palm underneath it, where it lingered over the delicate skin of her waist.
The person in his arms finally noticed. She stopped him through the fabric of her shirt, patting him a few times to make him stop. He remained unmoved. Her small hand then moved to his ribs and gave him a light pinch.
Lu Qiang shuddered and immediately caught that hand. He misjudged his strength, and Lu Yin let out a soft cry.
He finally pulled away, gritting his teeth. “Don’t touch my waist.”
Before Lu Yin could react, he tossed her over to sit properly opposite him. Her breathing was still unsteady. She bit her lip, secretly cursing the man for being so unpredictable.
Lu Qiang caught his breath and looked across at her. “Did you hurt yourself when you fell?”
Lu Yin said, “No.”
Lu Qiang reached down and rubbed himself through the waistband of his pants. Lu Yin turned her eyes away.
He took the cigarette from behind his ear. The cigarette had become crumpled, so he ran his tongue over it, then lit it and said, “I’m ticklish around the waist.”
Lu Yin said softly, “Oh.”
He held the cigarette between his lips at an angle and took a direct drag. Wisps of smoke streamed from his nose, making it seem as though a layer of mist separated the two of them. Lu Qiang narrowed his eyes and blew out a breath, dispersing the smoke. Only then did her face become clear again.
He said, “Your hair’s a mess.”
Lu Yin raised a hand and brushed it down. Her gaze wandered, never quite settling on his face.
“No, not there.” He reached over. “Over here.”
With his big, clumsy hands, Lu Qiang parted the messy hair on top of her head to either side. He accidentally pulled out two strands. Lu Yin shrank her neck slightly, enduring it without making a sound.
His hand slid downward, his thumb brushing over her brows and eyes and across her cheek. He rubbed her soft earlobe, then finally pressed against her lips, gently rubbing them.
Lu Yin had never kissed or flirted openly with anyone before. With the boatman still behind them, even thinking about it made her feel embarrassed.
She slapped his hand away and straightened herself a little.
Lu Qiang withdrew his hand and patted his thigh. “Still sitting here or not?”
Lu Yin said, “I’m not sitting anymore.”
“Why?”
“…The boat’s about to reach shore.”
The boat reached the shore and bumped against the crude pier. As the boat rocked, Lu Yin braced both hands against his back.
Lu Qiang reacted quickly, reaching back to steady her.
After getting off the boat, they needed to cross a hillside. There was an electric shuttle that went directly to the bus station.
Lu Qiang walked ahead, with Lu Yin following behind. He turned his head. The two of them had fallen several steps apart. Lu Qiang hooked a finger against his brow and stood there waiting for her.
When Lu Yin came up, he asked, “Can’t walk anymore?”
She put one leg on the step, curled her fist, and lightly pounded it. “My legs are weak. They’re not quite listening to me.”
Falling from more than a hundred meters in the air had pushed both her mental and physical endurance to its limit. For a woman, it was not easy that she had managed to hold herself together this long.
Lu Qiang stood on the steps, making their height difference even greater. He bent down and looked at her for a while, then pinched her chin.
The woods were utterly still. No one passed by. The path beneath their feet wound and twisted, layer upon layer of steps stretching toward a hillside that disappeared from sight.
Lu Qiang tugged his pant leg up, crouched down, and braced himself against his knees. “Where’s weak?”
Lu Yin’s gaze moved from high to low. Her foot shifted, wanting to pull away.
He put a hand on her leg.
Lu Yin pushed him. “No, no. I don’t need it. I’ll be fine after resting for a while.”
There was no way to stop him. Those rough, calloused hands pressed against her white pencil pants, moving upward slowly, little by little.
Lu Yin was both ticklish and sore. She caught his hand. “They’re not weak anymore.”
“Really?”
“…Really.”
“My technique’s pretty good.” He curled the corner of his lips. “Just a couple of squeezes and you’re better?”
Lu Yin said nothing.
Lu Qiang did not take his hand away. He lowered his eyes. Against the snow-white pants, his dark, broad palm covered her leg. The place where his fingers pressed sank inward, distorting the flesh of her thigh. Over his hand lay another, fair, soft, slender, and warm, covering only half of his palm.
That destructive urge inside Lu Qiang surged up. He licked his lower lip. His thumb pressed against the inside and gave a seemingly absentminded stroke.
Lu Yin immediately grabbed his hand.
For a full half-minute, Lu Qiang endured it. Then he let go and turned around. “I’ll carry you up.”
Lu Yin said, “I’m really fine now.”
“Hurry up. My leg’s gone numb from crouching.”
Lu Yin twisted her fingers together. Before she could move, the man in front had already lost patience. He reached back, hooked her behind the knees, and pulled her legs against his back.
Before Lu Yin had even steadied herself, he was already standing and walking uphill, his iron-like arm hooked firmly around her legs, his steps steady and powerful.
***
It was already evening by the time they returned from Qiluo Mountain. They parted at the entrance to the residential complex and went home separately.
Lu Yin entered her apartment. She did not even have the strength to shower or change her clothes. She threw herself onto the bed.
Her physical strength completely spent, her mind filled with a jumble of fragments she could not piece together. In the end, she did not even know what she was thinking about before she fell asleep face down.
When she woke again, the room was pitch-black. A streak of orange light from outside broke through the gauze curtain and shone in. She turned over and glanced at the time. It was already ten at night.
Still groggy, she put down her phone. Two seconds later, she picked it up again. There were two unread text messages. She tapped them open. They were from an unfamiliar number.
One said: Sleeping?
It had been sent two hours ago.
The other said: Still not awake?
Lu Yin sat up. The screen illuminated her face in the darkness. The last message had been sent half an hour ago too. Her finger moved, but she did not reply.
She casually switched on the bedside lamp, intending to go take a shower. Before she could get up, the phone rang.
It was the same unfamiliar number. She did not need to think to know who it was.
Lu Yin’s heart gave a little jump. She hesitated. What had happened today felt like an absurd dream, crazy, thrilling, liberating, and heart-stirring all at once.
She still had doubts. Was the perception she had gained while her mind was in a state of extreme exhilaration really accurate? And simple feelings of not disliking him, of not rejecting him, were still not enough to overcome the hesitation in her heart.
After zoning out for a while, the call automatically ended. She breathed a sigh of relief. But only a few seconds later, it rang again.
Lu Yin tightened her grip on the phone and, at the very last moment, finally answered.
The voice on the other end said, “What are you dawdling around for?” His tone was utterly lazy, carrying his uniquely distinctive voice, without the slightest hint of impatience.
Lu Yin said, “I was sleeping. I only just heard the phone.”
A low chuckle came through the phone. He did not call her out on it. “Are you eating dinner tonight or not?”
Lu Yin sat on the edge of the bed, head lowered. “I guess not. I want to keep sleeping.”
“Want me to bring you something?”
She abruptly raised her head. “Where are you?”
“Outside your door.”
Lu Yin’s breathing caught slightly, and she fell silent.
Lu Qiang laughed instead. “You really believe everything I say.”
She silently rolled her eyes and gave a soft snort.
After only a few words, the line suddenly went quiet. He said nothing, and between the two ends of the phone there was only the faint sound of static. Lu Yin held her breath. There was a rustling on the other end, then a soft *click*, followed by his exhale.
So he was lighting a cigarette.
Her shoulders relaxed slightly. She gently rubbed her foot against the floor. “Is there anything else?”
Lu Qiang asked, “Are your legs still weak?”
“They’re much better after sleeping.”
“Soak your feet later.”
“Mm.”
Lu Qiang took a drag of his cigarette. “You were pretty fierce today. You said you’d jump and then you jumped, like some recklessly fearless idiot.”
“I was actually pretty scared.”
Lu Qiang hummed. “The biggest obstacle is that moment right before you jump. Very few people can actually do it. You were pretty brave.”
Lu Yin was somewhat speechless. “You pushed me.”
A good-natured laugh came from the other end. “And afterward? How did it feel?”
Lu Yin thought about it. “Like I’d been tricked. I thought I was about to die.”
“But you’re still alive.”
“Mm.” And then she realized that nothing was more important than being alive.
There was silence on the phone for several seconds. Occasionally, children could be heard playing, accompanied by a few barks from dogs. Lu Yin guessed he was sitting on the bench outside the guard booth. As she thought this, his appearance had already risen before her eyes: his short-cropped hair, old scar, sharp, dark, cavernous eyes; broad shoulders, thin undershirt, security guard trousers, and those old cloth shoes…
Lu Qiang suddenly called out, “Yinyin.”
The way he called her that made her heart tremble. Her fingers curled into the bedsheet.
“Still sleepy?” Lu Qiang asked.
“…”
“If you’re not sleepy, I’ll come to your place.”
“What for?” she asked warily.
Lu Qiang said, “We’ve kissed, we’ve held each other. Don’t you think we should take things a little further?”
His words were three parts testing the waters and seven parts instinct. Ever since they had come down from the mountain, she had stirred up nothing but that sort of thing in his head, and even now, a certain part of him was still restless.
Once Lu Qiang set his sights on something, sooner or later it would not escape him. He had always been straightforward and direct. When dealing with prey, he struck as forcefully as a leopard. Yet he had never expected to encounter a little lamb, and all his usual decisiveness and authoritarian certainty had failed when it came to her.
Because the moment he finished that sentence, there was a sharp click on the other end, and the call was hung up.
Lu Qiang: “…”
He stared at the screen, which had gone dark, and froze for a moment. “That woman…” He nodded several times and said mockingly to himself, “Fine. That’s the reaction you should have had.”
He put his phone away and muttered under his breath, “Such a scaredy-cat. Jump ten times, eight times, and it’s no big deal.”
After taking his final drag, he looked up. A faint light glowed from the third floor across from him, dim and heavy, just like her.
Lu Qiang pressed down on the front of his pants, stubbed out his cigarette, and got to his feet. The breeze swept away a few fallen leaves. The cigarette ash scattered across the ground became the lightest of dust, drifting and floating through the air.
It was already deep into the night. Someone was tossing and turning restlessly.
Lu Yin was unable to sleep that night, but it was no longer because of the same man.
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