Drifting on a String - Chapter 27
Chapter 27
A monstrous wave came crashing down, sweeping Chen Piaopiao up and leaving her utterly helpless.
She felt as if she were unclothed, laid bare under Tao Jin's gaze. But Tao Jin was smiling, saying, You're so cute, so beautiful, I like you so much, even if your body and soul are completely exposed.
Chen Piaopiao had rarely experienced the feeling of being loved, so her first reaction was embarrassment and a bittersweet pang. A burning heat filled her ears, and her eyes stung.
She thought again of Tao Jin's profile picture. At this moment, Chen Piaopiao's heart was a cliff—gaunt, barren, with nothing growing on it. And Tao Jin was the ocean waves—surging, endless. They crashed against her heart again and again, making it feel full and soft, carrying a cluster of complex emotions that gradually swelled.
When would the tide recede?
Five, four, three, two, one.
Chen Piaopiao had never been someone who got what she wished for, so she liked to fight and snatch, just like with that bowl of zhajiangmian. She naturally assumed that winning Tao Jin's affection would require careful scheming.
But Tao Jin said—it wasn't necessary. She had liked her long before, and the prerequisite for that affection was: Chen Piaopiao being herself.
Could someone really like her just because Chen Piaopiao was Chen Piaopiao?
She moved her neck, finding it hard to believe.
But Tao Jin had a face that was far too convincing; lies could not survive in her expression.
Chen Piaopiao couldn't help but replay all her interactions with Tao Jin in her mind.
"Not quite what I'd seen."
"Pretty cute."
"I quite like her."
"You joined the Musical Theater Club, aren't you an actor?"
"You don't seem like someone who's so thin-skinned."
So that's how it was… Her words had always held a double meaning. With an innocent and open smile, she had been strategically casting her fishing line for her.
So wicked, Tao Jin.
Chen Piaopiao pressed her lips together, feeling as if she could faintly see the fox ears on Tao Jin's head twitching.
"So, when they asked you about your ideal type, and you said 'it depends on fate'… what you meant was…" Chen Piaopiao sat beside Tao Jin, confirming in a small voice.
Tao Jin blinked. "Don't you think there's a strong element of fate between us?"
If Chen Piaopiao hadn't joined the group chat on a day she happened to be free, if she hadn't idly clicked into Chen Piaopiao's profile, if she hadn't happened to see the ID Chen Piaopiao had retracted… A low-probability event—that's fate.
"I don't," Chen Piaopiao said, looking down and picking at her phone's camera. "Back then, I thought you were like a Lao T."
"Hm?"
Glancing at her sideways and seeing the look of astonishment on Tao Jin's face, Chen Piaopiao couldn't help but smile. She bit her lip to keep the smile from widening and continued to pick at her phone's camera.
Her movements slowed.
Her thoughts drifted back to the first time Tao Jin had invited her over. They had been sitting on the sofa just like this. Tao Jin had turned on a floor lamp and was sipping her milk tea through a straw. She had been wearing a tight-fitting utility vest that made her alluring curves stand out. She had curled up beside her without a word, her hair silently brushing against her fair neck.
The neck Chen Piaopiao had coveted for so long.
Chen Piaopiao's mouth went dry. She finally accepted the fact that Tao Jin truly liked her. The price was that she could barely control her violently pounding heart and the swelling sensation in her chest.
"I like Senior Tao Jin."
—And Senior Tao Jin likes me, too.
The emotion was a bit like having her vanity satisfied, but it was far more ferocious, rampaging through her small frame.
She desperately wanted Tao Jin to touch her, to kiss her, especially after they had done even more unspeakable things together.
Chen Piaopiao's snow-white, slender body shifted. She closed her phone in her palm and slapped it down lightly. "I am a little uncomfortable."
"Hm?" Tao Jin looked at her.
The concern in her eyes was a thrill for Chen Piaopiao, like a dose of medicine.
"It's what you asked me when we first got home," she said, her face red. She lowered her head and opened her phone, unhurriedly finding a delivery app. Her soft voice was slightly hoarse. "I'll buy some medicine to apply."
She sniffled, leaned over until her shoulder was touching Tao Jin's, and held out her phone screen to her. "What kind of medicine should I search for?"
"That place… how do you say it?"
Her eyelashes fluttered as she stared earnestly at the screen, a blush on her cheeks.
Tao Jin's heart also skipped a beat. Her breathing rose and fell with restraint, and the tip of her tongue gently pressed against the center of her lower lip.
She gets it, Chen Piaopiao thought.
The little fox's seduction was green and clumsy. The little fox's seduction was masterful.
Seeing no reaction from her, Chen Piaopiao pulled down her collar, revealing Tao Jin's teeth marks.
"And here, too," she said, touching it earnestly. "I don't know if I need to buy medicine for this."
Her fingers were grasped, and Tao Jin kissed her. Chen Piaopiao sighed comfortably in her heart. Finally.
She loved it when Tao Jin kissed her, cupping her face, gently sucking and caressing at the same time. The kiss made Chen Piaopiao's whole body go soft.
She wrapped her arms around Tao Jin's neck, pulled back a little, and tilted her head to give a light bite to the side of her neck.
As expected, she heard the senior's low moan. The slight furrow of her brow, the hum from her beautiful nose—it was so lovely to see.
She wanted to see more, to make all her fantasies a reality. She had been drunk yesterday, and the light had been dim; she hadn't gotten a clear look at Tao Jin's body. She didn't know if the cherry blossoms hidden by snow on Mount Fuji's peak were as beautiful as she had pictured in her mind.
But Tao Jin seemed unwilling. She pressed her wrist against Chen Piaopiao. "…We haven't finished talking."
She still had things she hadn't finished saying.
Chen Piaopiao started taking off her clothes. "Do you have a criminal record?"
"No."
"Then nothing else is important." Chen Piaopiao nibbled her ear.
"I want to do it," she said for the second time. This time, without the aid of alcohol, her voice lay in ambush by Tao Jin's ear, like a little hook, snagging her.
Tao Jin laughed again. Her eyes were misty from Chen Piaopiao's kisses, but she was still smiling. It was unclear if she was laughing at Chen Piaopiao's "criminal record" line or her "I want to do it."
Then let's do it.
Maybe it really wasn't important.
She pulled Chen Piaopiao into the bedroom and pressed down to kiss her.
Chen Piaopiao's skin was the best she had ever seen—snow-white all over, delicate and smooth. No one had ever had skin that seemed to exude such a gentle state. When Chen Piaopiao lay there, she was like a pool of water, or a pool of soft, downy light. Sometimes it would turn pink, and with a little more pressure, a deeper blush would appear. Her skin also often took on a state of attachment, telling you with her twining arms that she was feeling very good.
Don't go. She wouldn't let you go.
This sober interaction was more like a confirmation and a reassurance. Tao Jin was telling Chen Piaopiao that the parts of her she kept hidden were, in fact, even more beautiful than what she showed to the world.
Did you know? Gray can also attract white.
A flower under the moon, lulled to sleep by the spring breeze, would also be curious about a blended gray, and would also imagine what it would be like to be dyed with one of its shades.
They went another two rounds, but Chen Piaopiao still didn't get her wish. She simply didn't have the strength to counterattack.
But being held by Tao Jin, smelling her faint fragrance, pillowed on her arm, and listening to her heartbeat, she felt that this, too, was a form of possession.
If Tao Jin liked being the 1, then she was fine with always being the 0.
Click. Tao Jin turned on the table lamp and picked up her phone to check the time.
Her profile was stunningly beautiful in the lamplight, as were her collarbones and shoulders. Chen Piaopiao couldn't resist hugging her, pressing close.
Tao Jin smiled faintly. So the little fox's clinginess wasn't just a drunken habit.
She smoothed back Chen Piaopiao's sweat-dampened hair, blinked, and looked at her carefully, asking in a low voice, "What were you thinking when you woke up this morning? Why were you looking at me with one eye open?"
"I didn't know what you were thinking. I didn't know if I should turn a blind eye to this sort of thing," Chen Piaopiao answered.
Tao Jin had acted so normal, so calm, that Chen Piaopiao had even wondered a few times if she did this sort of thing often.
Pfft. Tao Jin broke into a smile, her bright eyes and white teeth radiant.
"So cute," she said again, tilting her head to look at Chen Piaopiao as if talking to herself.
Chen Piaopiao blushed. It was strange—she hadn't blushed when they were naked together, but she couldn't handle Tao Jin complimenting her.
"To this day, I still don't know what you like about me, or what's so cute about me," she said in a small voice, moistening her lips as she hugged Tao Jin.
She suddenly realized how superficial their previous interactions had been. They were only truly beginning to talk frankly and open their hearts to each other after their reckless escapade.
"I don't get it. Why would you like me after seeing my ID? If I had known your ID first, I never would have liked you."
Chen Piaopiao was starting to learn how to be honest. After all, having surrendered her account, body, and soul, she no longer had a ghillie suit to hide in when she was with Tao Jin.
"Why?" Tao Jin was a little surprised. Had her ID done something wrong?
"It's so old-fashioned. You use 'Hello' to greet people," Chen Piaopiao said after a moment's thought, smiling and pressing her lips together.
Tao Jin smiled as well. "But when I notified you that you'd passed the interview, I also said 'Hello,' and you didn't think I was old-fashioned then."
Right… Chen Piaopiao pondered. My stereotypes are just too strong. My apologies to all the penguin profile pictures in the world.
"Then what do you like about me?" Tao Jin asked softly after a few seconds of silence.
Chen Piaopiao wrapped her arms around her waist. "At first, it was because of vanity. I wanted someone who so many people liked to like me."
She said this in a hoarse voice, with her eyes downcast. It was the first time she had directly faced her own dark side. The unfamiliar feeling was terrible, yet strangely thrilling. The heat in her ears was soothed by Tao Jin's steady heartbeat, as if it were cooling her down.
"And later?"
"Later…" I don't know.
I liked her tolerance, liked that she could be my plan B, liked that she seemed like the person I'd want to see when I came home.
I don't know.
Seeing that Chen Piaopiao didn't want to answer, Tao Jin didn't press her and pulled her into a sitting position.
Chen Piaopiao obediently sat on the edge of the bed while Tao Jin tied up her hair.
Neither of them spoke, but the feeling of her scalp being gently pulled was very comfortable, as if it were massaging her wandering heart.
"But I really do like you," Chen Piaopiao mumbled. "I like you so much I don't even want to go on the forums anymore."
Her breath hitched slightly. Tao Jin laughed again, very pleased.
The hair tie circled around. As Tao Jin worked earnestly, she asked casually, "What does your ID mean? Your QQ name is Rabbit, and your forum name is 'Eat Rabbit.'"
Why are you always so fixated on rabbits?
"Rabbit is my persona," Chen Piaopiao explained. "It makes me seem well-behaved. So on the forum, eating the rabbit means… well…"
"Not so well-behaved," Tao Jin finished for her.
Chen Piaopiao cleared her throat.
Then she heard Tao Jin laugh behind her again.
She moved her slender neck and looked curiously at Tao Jin's smiling eyes. After thinking for a moment, she said slowly, "You don't like me because…"
"You think I'm a meme, don't you?"
That's why you always find me cute and funny. You browse my battle records every night and collect a bunch of memes.
Tao Jin likes memes, and Tao Jin likes to play with her. The logic was sound.
The person opposite her furrowed her brow slightly, looking blank for half a second before quickly smiling again, the smile blooming brilliantly on her lips. If she wasn't mistaken, Chen Piaopiao was actually feeling wronged. Her chin was a little wrinkled—a rare expression.
"Are you?" Tao Jin asked in return.
The next moment, she shook her head. "You don't seem like one."
No meme would meaningfully say "buy medicine" next to her, and no meme would say "I want to do it."
Tao Jin's gaze softened. She reached out and caressed Chen Piaopiao's face.
Chen Piaopiao tilted her head and naturally nuzzled against her hand, her eyelids drooping softly.
"Get up. Time to eat," Tao Jin said, breathing shallowly as she pulled her wrist.
"You're cooking?" Chen Piaopiao asked, lazily putting on her shoes.
"Who else? Do you know how?"
"I actually know how to do a lot of things."
"I know," Tao Jin chuckled, nodding in agreement, her eyes clean and clear.
But Chen Piaopiao suspected her words held a double meaning. After this battle, neither she nor Tao Jin was innocent in the other's eyes.
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