WS - Chapter 68
Chapter 68
Yu Nianbing swore she had only offered half the bed to Song Shiyue because she genuinely thought the floor wasn't very clean.
Her intention was purely friendly, without any ulterior motive...
But now that warm, wandering hand on her arm seemed to remind her that perhaps Song Shiyue didn't see it that way.
This person!
How could she?!
That confession half a year ago was just to ride the trending topics, wasn't it...
No, even if it was a real confession, even if it was real... she still can't do this!
Wait, could Song Shiyue's idea of repaying a debt of gratitude include offering herself?
What on earth goes on inside that head of hers?!
What was on Song Shiyue's mind, Yu Nianbing could hardly fathom — after all, she couldn't even make sense of what was in her own head right now, everything a muddled blur.
One thought after another rose, tangled, fought, tore at each other, each suppressing another, with new ones piling on until she no longer knew what was real...
Even in such a state, Yu Nianbing hadn't forgotten that little detail: in Sleep Mode, before you fall asleep, although the image is mosaicked, the audio keeps running.
Yu Nianbing felt both embarrassed and agitated; her arm, touched several times already, had gone stiff as a board. Biting her lip, she raised her other hand, but mindful of making noise, she didn't slap down hard — she just pressed down on Song Shiyue's restless hand with what force she could muster to convey her refusal, giving a firm shove.
That was the strongest shove Yu Nianbing could manage.
Yet that shove didn't budge Song Shiyue one bit; instead, that hand brushed hers away with a light flick, like dusting off lint, sweeping her palm aside.
Her hand, repulsed instead of succeeding, hung between them. Yu Nianbing paused for a moment, a chill running through her.
Right — she'd been careless, forgotten Song Shiyue's strength.
It was only now that Yu Nianbing realized: against Song Shiyue's strength, which could break walls and crush stones, that shove of hers probably didn't even qualify as an itch.
But no matter how strong Song Shiyue was, she still couldn't just...
What place was this, what time was it?! She hadn't even asked her — did she consent?! How dare she!
Yu Nianbing's eyes reddened with frustration; knowing full well it was like a mantis trying to stop a cart, she couldn't help reaching out to push again.
But before she could extend her hand again, that hand, which had been creeping up her arm, stopped at Yu Nianbing's shoulder and gave a few squeezes — not too hard, not too light, just the right pressure.
Yu Nianbing's half-raised hand froze in midair.
In a flash, another possibility occurred to Yu Nianbing...
No — if that were true, then what did all her previous thoughts amount to?
Yu Nianbing instinctively rejected this possibility, which was almost certainly the correct answer.
But that warm little hand, squeezing away on her shoulder, told Yu Nianbing over and over that she had... indeed been overthinking it.
In the darkness, Yu Nianbing's eyes, already pink, reddened even more.
What the heck!
A massage is a massage!
Why was she rubbing my arm like that earlier!
Thank goodness I didn't yell, thank goodness I didn't hit her! Otherwise where would I hide my face?! Throw it from Wilderness Planet all the way to Beichen Planet?!
After all, Song Shiyue still remembered that confession from the Original Host half a year ago. If she'd directly brought up the massage at night, it might not look good for Yu Nianbing if it got broadcast — there'd be room for imagination...
So Song Shiyue didn't say anything, instead using her actions to tell Yu Nianbing she was going to massage her, and even thoughtfully worked her way up the arm to find the shoulder. After all, if she'd just reached out randomly and touched somewhere inappropriate, that would have been far too unfriendly.
Unfortunately, Yu Nianbing didn't feel any of Song Shiyue's consideration at all...
Even if you loaned Song Shiyue five extra brains, she'd never have imagined that in the time it took to squeeze her arm a couple of times, Yu Nianbing's mind had already run so far...
Song Shiyue's simple mind was only thinking that Yu Nianbing was really a bit too thin — her arm felt about the same thickness all the way down, and her shoulder was a bit bony. In such a happy world, it would be so nice if she ate more.
In the darkness of the room, two Mosaics pressed close together — no matter how much StarNet viewers liked to imagine, they probably could never guess that such a sweet misunderstanding was happening right before their eyes. Perhaps that was the regret of Sleep Mode.
After massaging Yu Nianbing's shoulder for a while, Song Shiyue felt that both the arm she'd squeezed earlier and the shoulder she was working on now were a bit stiff. Probably she didn't exercise enough usually, and after a day's exertion today, she couldn't relax.
This wouldn't do.
It was only the first day and she was already like this; the next ten-plus days offered no proper rest — she'd only get more and more tired.
Thinking this, Song Shiyue, who had originally only intended to loosen up Yu Nianbing's shoulders after she'd carried things all day, now felt she couldn't stop there.
It had to be said: although Yu Nianbing was still mortified over her earlier wildly inappropriate assumptions, she was genuinely starting to enjoy Song Shiyue's massage.
After all, the pressure was really well-controlled; a few squeezes later, Yu Nianbing's originally sore shoulder already felt much more relaxed.
While Yu Nianbing, red-faced and red-eyed, was scolding herself on one hand while enjoying it on the other, Song Shiyue beside her stopped squeezing and switched from kneading her shoulder to prodding around it.
Fingers lightly flicked at her shoulder in an incessant rhythm, and the ticklish feeling spread beyond just the shoulder...
Yu Nianbing pressed her lips together at once, ashamed and annoyed at yet another instant of wrong thinking.
She clearly knew Song Shiyue couldn't mean that, but her body's reaction was really a bit too much.
Having learned from the earlier shoulder squeeze, this time Yu Nianbing didn't let her thoughts wander; she quickly caught on to what Song Shiyue wanted and turned over, going from lying on her back to lying on her stomach.
Sure enough, once the position changed, the massage resumed.
Yu Nianbing buried her face in the pillow, inexplicably a little annoyed.
Annoyed at herself — not only had she overthought, she'd even overreacted.
Also annoyed at Song Shiyue — with all that strength, why scratch at her shoulder to hint at turning over? She might as well have just flipped her over with her bare hands.
Of Yu Nianbing's newest round of embarrassment and irritation, Song Shiyue — whose mind was entirely focused on mastering the optimal massage pressure — remained, naturally, just as completely oblivious.
Shoulders, back, lower back, calves, ankles...
Song Shiyue was so proper she even avoided the thighs, and Yu Nianbing felt even more regret and shame about her initial assumptions.
This feeling trapped Yu Nianbing, making her utterly oblivious to the fact that, even when she'd been suspecting Song Shiyue of that, she'd stubbornly kept her mouth shut — not even hinting at refusal, not letting out a single sound that the audience might hear and that would reflect badly on Song Shiyue.
Although this stubbornness had saved her from the awkwardness that followed, given the circumstances at the time, such restraint had really been a bit too much...
The human heart is even more mysterious than thought; sometimes even you yourself can't see it clearly.
Song Shiyue massaged so diligently that no viewer could ever guess that the Mosaic, which grew a little longer for a while and then a little shorter, was working away so hard.
After that whole round of massage, Yu Nianbing was so comfortable she was dozing off.
Had things ended there, she would have fallen right asleep.
Who could have expected that, despite Song Shiyue's proper conduct, the ankle wouldn't be the end...
When her foot was grabbed, Yu Nianbing jolted, reflexively yanking her foot back with force, suddenly wide awake.
Only this time, Song Shiyue's great strength seemed to have vanished.
Yu Nianbing's foot pulled away smoothly, so smoothly and forcefully that her knee bumped herself, and it actually hurt a bit.
Before Yu Nianbing, just jolted awake and still a bit groggy, could even form a sentence, Song Shiyue had already rolled out of bed, opened the door, and left in one swift motion.
This person!
It's not because I thought something improper and blamed you that I pulled my foot away, okay!
It was just a reflex!
A reflex — do you understand that or not?!
And besides, grabbing a foot is really... it's too intimate!
Listening to the footsteps fading further away...
She got that angry, to go sleep in the Lean-to Shelter outside?!
Oh, maybe she's going to Ning Chuyang's place — there's a bed there too!
Yu Nianbing's heart seized with anger, but stubbornly she clutched her little blanket tight, refusing to extend a peacemaking foot.
Time passed quickly... and also very slowly.
She clutched the blanket, over and over.
She shifted her feet, again and again.
Her tumultuous feelings were hard to define: whether grievance or regret.
But why did it have to be like this?
Yu Nianbing felt a little dazed.
This was just someone she'd known for a short time — they'd shared some life-and-death entanglements, but didn't yet know each other deeply; their interactions were friendly enough, but she wasn't even sure if they could be considered friends... That's all.
With a relationship of this level, even if the other person stormed out in the middle of the night, she should be able to just pretend nothing happened, lie down, and sleep, right?
Logically, this analysis was flawless.
But...
Yu Nianbing looked down at the little blanket she had wrinkled in her grip and gave a wry smile.
It looked like lying down and falling asleep was out of the question...
Fine. In the middle of the night, the person she was staying with had run out — whether she'd left in a huff or not, no matter where she'd gone — she should at least go check.
Otherwise... the viewers still watching the livestream on StarNet might think she was cold-hearted.
By giving herself a reason why she had to go find Song Shiyue, when Yu Nianbing got up again, sure enough, she felt much less conflicted.
Groping her way to the desk, Yu Nianbing reached for the candle; only when she touched it did she remember that Feng Qianqian had come over with a lighter to light it earlier — she had no way of lighting it herself right now.
So Yu Nianbing couldn't help grumbling inwardly: it was so dark, yet Song Shiyue had been so quick to dash out — just how badly had she wanted to get away...
She slowly made her way to the door, and as she gripped the handle, Yu Nianbing let out a small sigh of relief.
But just as she'd never have expected, upon opening the door, along with a faint firelight in the distance, what met her eyes was Song Shiyue standing right at the doorway.
"What a coincidence — saved me the trouble of opening the door," Song Shiyue said with a cheeky grin, not a trace of the sulking, storming-off figure Yu Nianbing had pictured in the dark.
Somewhat awkwardly, Yu Nianbing stepped aside to let her pass, her gaze sweeping over the Stone Pot Song Shiyue was carrying. But because she'd been wrong so many times tonight, she couldn't quite bring herself to ask why she'd brought a pot inside at this hour.
All in all, Song Shiyue seemed perfectly reasonable tonight — it was Yu Nianbing who had been overthinking everything.
Sure enough, without Yu Nianbing asking, Song Shiyue set the pot on the floor beside the bed and spoke up on her own.
"Come on, soak your feet." Song Shiyue pointed at the Stone Pot she'd just carefully set down.
So that was it — foot-soaking water...
Yu Nianbing felt her face burn.
They had also slept together the night before, but tonight seemed to have so many extra incidents, so much extra overthinking.
With a guilty conscience, Yu Nianbing was more obedient than usual. When Song Shiyue said that, she docilely sat on the edge of the bed.
But...
Yu Nianbing held back for a moment, but still couldn't help saying, "But... if we use this Stone Pot for soaking feet, we can't boil water in it for the canteen tomorrow morning."
"Oh, that." Song Shiyue's smile turned a little sheepish and ingratiating. "This isn't the Stone Pot we boiled drinking water in just now. This is a foot-washing basin I just fished out of the stream. Use it without worry."
Yu Nianbing: "..."
Oh, I've lost again.
How could I forget that magical stream... heh.
"How's the temperature?" Song Shiyue asked. "The hot water in the Stone Pot had cooled a bit, so I reheated it before pouring. If it still feels cold, I can go heat up some more."
These caring words fell comfortingly on Yu Nianbing's ears, yet something still seemed off.
This time Yu Nianbing took a proper moment before carefully asking, "Isn't there hot water in the bathroom next door? Why did you have to heat it in a Stone Pot..."
Song Shiyue was taken aback for a second, then rubbed her forehead sheepishly and sighed, "Ha, I was so focused on getting this ready that I completely forgot there was a bathroom."
To Yu Nianbing, that little awkward moment seemed like an even greater measure of sincerity.
And besides... maybe she wasn't the only one feeling nervous?
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