Chapter 53
He Xiu stared at his cell phone after sending that message, waiting for Jian Yan’s reply. A moment later, the dark screen lit up once more.
「I apologize. I’m not for sale. :)」
He Xiu quirked his lips, his fingers flying across the screen with lightning speed. 「There’s a dance three days from now; may I invite you as my dancing partner?」
Tang Zhi: 「What dance?」
Nan Si: 「Just some wealthy people who are idle and bored senseless, so they’re looking for an excuse to eat, drink, and be merry.」
Tang Zhi: 「Sounds too depraved. I want to go.」
Nan Si: 「233333」
Tang Zhi: 「Yi, I just realized that Valentine’s Day seems to be three days from now, ei~」
Nan Si: 「Yes :)」
Tang Zhi: 「:)」
Nan Si: 「I’ll pick you up on time in the afternoon『cute』」
Tang Zhi: 「But there’s still a problem. I think I can’t dance『sweats』」
Nan Si: 「No problem. There’s still 3 days. I can teach you. :)」
“Come come come, let’s take advantage of Teacher Tang Zhi playing on her phone to eat all the meat on the table!” Lin Zhen’s voice suddenly resounded. Jian Yan put down her phone at once and moved to protect the meat in front of her.
Everyone had fun at this make-up annual meeting until 11:00PM. By the time Jian Yan got home, she was already exhausted to the point of death. Before she went to sleep though, she opened QQ to check for messages and discovered that He Xiu had sent her a video.
『Waltz Instructional Video』
Jian Yan: “…”
Some of these rich folk really liked to act elegant, ke—ke—
But in order to not lose face at the Valentine’s Day Ball, she still earnestly watched it once, even standing on her tiptoes on her fluffy carpet to try to twirl.
She felt it was pa.s.sable.
He Xiu really did do what he had said he would, visiting with the express purpose of teaching her to dance. Because work was busy during the day, he wouldn’t arrive until evening, conveniently freeloading food at Jian Yan’s place too.
Jian Yan went bare feet as she learned to dance with him, afraid that she might step on his feet. He Xiu turned on the music and walked over to stand in front of her, saying, “There’s a crash course method: you can stand on my feet, and I will twirl you around.”
Jian Yan raised her brow and pointed out, “I’m very heavy. It would be awkward if you can’t lift me.”
He Xiu chuckled softly. “That won’t happen. Plus, you’re not heavy.”
“Eh…then hold on. I’ll go put on high heels.”
“Hey…”
“Hahaha.” Seeing He Xiu’s helpless appearance, Jian Yan couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “I won’t tease you anymore; let’s start.”
He Xiu wrapped one arm around her waist, his other hand moving to hold her right hand. He murmured, “Come up.”
Jian Yan stepped forward to lightly rest on his feet, further closing the distance between them. Despite this, He Xiu drew her closer still. Gazing into her eyes, her face only a whisper away from his, he asked, “Are you standing firmly?”
“Mn.”
“Then I’m going to move.”
“……Can you not say something so dirty? I’m still a lady, okay?”
A quiet laugh escaped He Xiu. “I apologize, my lady. It is I who is too vulgar.”
“It’s good that you know this. Next time, don’t say it like that.”
“Then can I just do it?”
Jian Yan’s brows twitched twice. She just knew He Xiu being so enthusiastic to teach her to dance was not because he harbored good intentions.
How did that line go? Beware of suspicious folk bearing gifts, they are sure to be ill-intentioned.
“Can we start?” He Xiu asked very gentlemanly.
Jian Yan curled her lips and replied, “Mn, standing like this is strangely tiring.”
The corner of He Xiu’s lips curved into a smirk as he began taking light steps to the beat of the music.
The lights in the living room were turned off because He Xiu said this increased the ambiance. The window curtains for the balcony had been left open. Moonlight spilled over the two of them as they stood in front of the French window. He Xiu bowed his head to look at her, and Jian Yan unconsciously looked up to meet his eyes, neither breaking free of their gaze as they began dancing.
Once the song came to an end, He Xiu breathed into her ear, “Have you learned?”
Jian Yan slowly returned from the trance his charm placed her in. “Eh…seems like I haven’t.”
She stared back into his eyes.
He Xiu chuckled before he moved closer to her. His voice reverberated through her ears as he said, “It’s fine. We can do it again.”
His warm breath swept over Jian Yan’s ear, rapidly turning it bright red. He Xiu’s lips slightly twitched upward upon seeing this minute change.
“I’ll play another song.”
He Xiu released her hand as he said this and switched song tracks. Instead of having Jian Yan directly step on his feet, he stood in front of her and invited her to dance with perfect etiquette—his right hand drew a circle in front of him before he brought it to rest very gentlemanly over his heart, bowing slightly.
“Shall we dance?”
Jian Yan had no choice but to admit that, at this time, he had ruthlessly pierced her heart. It was not like she hadn’t heard him speak in a foreign language before. Back when they were in France, he had also readily spoken fluent French, but that simple line just a moment ago—’Shall we dance’—instigated a change in her heart.
She never knew a man could be so s.e.xy when speaking English.
No-no-no, with this excellent voice, anything said would be s.e.xy. Jian Yan stared at him. He wasn’t wearing formal dance attire, but the ordinary suit he typically wore to work. He was devastatingly handsome.
The seconds ticked by. No longer able to wait for her response, He Xiu finally glanced up and met her stare.
Jian Yan squirmed under his gaze, as if she was a little girl who had her first awakening of love and was stealing glances at the boy she was secretly in love with and was caught in the act by someone else. She dry coughed and masked her helplessness and awkwardness. “Acting so formal, I don’t know how I should respond.”
He Xiu slowly raised his head, his lips curving as well. Looking at her, he warmly said, “You only need to give me your hand.”
Jian Yan’s eyes fluttered as she offered him her hand.
Once again dancing to the music, even if she wasn’t stepping on He Xiu’s feet as he led her across the floor, Jian Yan was still doing very well. He Xiu smiled in approval. “You are a naturally talented student.”
Jian Yan demurred, “My elementary teacher has given me such praise before.”
She startled a laugh from He Xiu. “Did you score first in your cla.s.s during exams as a child?”
Jian Yan corrected, “First in my year.”
He Xiu lowered his gaze and chuckled softly. Jian Yan relaxed slightly in response only to misstep and tread on his foot. He Xiu’s head shot up to look her in the eye, his eyes smiling. “It seems that this first-rate student has made a mistake.”
Jian Yan curled her lips and didn’t reply.
Even when she was a first-rate student, however, she had never dreamed that she would one day be dancing like this with a man.
“Being absent-minded in cla.s.s is not something first-rate students should do.” He Xiu’s dissatisfied voice rang out from above her head.
Jian Yan tilted her face up, her eyes glittering with the moonlight’s brilliance. “I somewhat question your teaching. Does this dance really necessitate us to be this close?”
He Xiu answered, “Theoretically, no, but…I like it.”
Jian Yan: “…”
She had more and more grounds to suspect that this was a premeditated dance.
He Xiu once again locked his gaze with hers. The music seemingly faded, yet their breathing and heartbeat became clearer and clearer. Jian Yan watched as her own reflection in He Xiu’s eyes slowly grew larger and larger. At last, He Xiu’s lips pressed against hers.
Jian Yan’s eyelashes trembled before she closed her eyes. He Xiu’s scent overwhelmed all her senses, a flavor that she wasn’t even slightly disgusted with and was instead becoming all the more intoxicated for.
His kisses trailed down her fair neck before finally falling upon the middle of her chest. With central heating warming her home, Jian Yan had chosen to only wear a loose wool sweater. He Xiu tugged down her neckline with ease and pressed light kisses onto her skin.
A moan slipped from Jian Yan’s lips, causing He Xiu to tighten his embrace even more. Her eyes cracked open a smidge to skim the top of his head. “I just knew…you coming over so late in the night was not as simple was wanting to teach me to dance.”
He Xiu raised his gaze, the desire in his eyes plain to see. “At first, it was teaching you to dance, but midway…there was a slight change of plans.”
Feeling her legs being lifted off the ground, Jian Yan shoved his shoulder. “Go to my room…”
He Xiu carried her in his arms and walked upstairs.
Although Jian Yan had always lived alone, the bed in her room was an awfully big double bed. Not only that, lying down in it was very comfortable. He Xiu placed her on the mattress, trapping her beneath his body. The wool sweater she wore had, at some unknown time, been divested by He Xiu. At the moment, only her long hair could help her suppress her embarra.s.sment.
He Xiu kept pressing kisses all over her body, drawing her body into a state of complete relaxation; but when she recalled that last time in France where he had not taken that final step all along, Jian Yan became worried about whether he would stop halfway again.
She was really caught up in it. He Xiu, though, actually stopped for a moment and lowered his head to nestle into her side. His voice trembled, sounding as if he had difficulty holding back. “I originally planned for this to happen during Valentine’s Day…”
Jian Yan: “…”
She took the initiative to soothe him. “There’s really not much of a difference…”
“I had prepared several gifts for Valentine’s Day…” It clearly could be more romantic…
Jian Yan felt this was quite funny. She tilted her head to gaze into He Xiu’s eyes. “Last time when I had said I would hang myself on Lin Zhen’s door, she had said, ‘A virgin who hangs herself cannot reincarnate.’”
He Xiu: “…”
“And then she asked me, ‘Could it be that Eldest Master He is no good?’”
He Xiu: “……”
So as it turned out, girls would also talk about this topic.
He moved so both his hands were propped up on either side of her and looked down at her. “This misunderstanding, it’s better to get rid of it as soon as possible.”
“Mn, I also think this.” Who said a virgin who hanged herself couldn’t reincarnate?
He Xiu’s lips tightened before he asked her, “But can you really follow through?” He had been worried the entire time about Jian Yan not being very accepting of such intimacy, even if he was her boyfriend.
“I’m all right.” Jian Yan looped her hand around his neck. “I like doing this kind of stuff with you.”
……
With her saying something like this, it was impossible for He Xiu to endure any longer. Like last time, he gradually made her to melt before immersing himself further down her body—and then, he became unprecedentedly close to her.
Jian Yan’s brows furrowed tightly, as if she was in agonizing pain. He Xiu kissed her and restrained himself, a nigh difficult task. “Very painful?”
“A little…”
“Do you still want to go on?”
“…Of course; wouldn’t I have been in pain for nothing then?”
He Xiu laughed in spite of himself. “Endure a bit more. You’ll feel better very soon.”
“Mnnnn…”
“Although you are a lady, I still want to say, I’m going to move.”
“…Didn’t we agree that you wouldn’t say that?”
He Xiu laughed lightly and kissed her lips instead of answering. He placed all those pale words into action.
Author’s Note:
It’s nearly Chinese New Year, not in the mood to count the days 『covers face』Update time might become a little unstable, so hoping everyone will please forgive me 『covers face』
Additionally, low-key novel, low-key work