WS - Chapter 22
Chapter 22
Prompted by Yu Nianbing, Song Shiyue hurriedly fumbled to press the sleep mode on her wristband, but her mind was still a bit fuzzy.
So, last night... did I press it?
Seemed like I did?
Or didn't I?
Then, when I sat up just now in my pajamas, was I caught on camera?
Was it... clear...?
Song Shiyue had many things she wanted to say and ask, but before she could open her mouth, she felt Yu Nianbing's hand reach over beside her. That hand, still carrying a bit of warmth, slid in from the opening of the blanket near her neck and then pressed firmly on her shoulder.
"Teacher Yu... you...?" Song Shiyue suppressed the urge to fight back, a bit bewildered by this silent move from Yu Nianbing.
Yu Nianbing didn't answer. Her warm hand, exerting a little force, slid from Song Shiyue's shoulder down to her collar, and then her finger hooked inward...
Mm, it's there. Yu Nianbing let go.
Both had activated sleep mode, so the viewers watching the livestream naturally couldn't see these subtle movements.
Only Song Shiyue was jolted awake.
Well, to be precise, she was jolted by Yu Nianbing's unusually bold action.
Yu Nianbing thought back. Earlier after showering, Song Shiyue had worn a two-piece pajama set — a top and pants — in an unremarkable light yellow, with two white things embroidered on the hem, ducks or geese, she couldn't tell. The fabric was a bit thin though; under the light, one could vaguely see the slender waist inside... But just as she had taken a glance, Song Shiyue said her privacy shield time was almost up and, since they were done showering anyway, could they turn off the light.
Of course, there was no reason to refuse at the time.
But unexpectedly, after turning off the light, Song Shiyue didn't enable sleep mode, and who knew how much had been recorded.
Yu Nianbing had seen the first-generation night-vision recording of these cameras. While colors wouldn't show, people and clothes were captured quite clearly, though the light sensitivity certainly wasn't as good as when there was light. But she'd heard that the second-gen technology was now in use, and she didn't know if there had been even more impressive improvements.
When Song Shiyue sat up earlier, the intense light from the departing spaceship hadn't dissipated immediately. Presumably, it had been recorded.
But fortunately, she was wearing a bra.
Yu Nianbing recalled the elastic strap her fingertip had just hooked and felt a little more at ease. Then she extended her hand and gave Song Shiyue's shoulder strap a suggestive press through the pajamas, whispering, "Like this, even if it was captured, it's fine."
As she said this, Yu Nianbing's heart softened. Dressed so neatly yet still so afraid of being filmed — after all, she was still just a young girl...
With that, Song Shiyue immediately understood what Yu Nianbing's earlier action had been about. She guessed that since she couldn't directly ask "Are you wearing one?" for fear of being picked up by the audio, she'd just used her hands instead.
Song Shiyue silently cheered for Yu Nianbing's cleverness and reassurance.
But here comes the problem...
"Well... actually you didn't..." Song Shiyue was still somewhat concerned about that earlier segment under the strong light, and she wanted to discuss it with Yu Nianbing, but she realized that avoiding certain words made it extremely difficult.
"What?" As expected, Yu Nianbing didn't understand.
Song Shiyue thought for a moment and tried another approach. "Teacher Yu, have you ever heard the saying that some people look all glamorous on the outside, but the socks inside their shoes have holes in them?"
Yu Nianbing was silent.
Alright... Song Shiyue thought again and decided to follow the logic Yu Nianbing had just used.
Yu Nianbing was still wondering whose socks were torn, when she saw the girl wrapped in the blanket, twisting like a big spring roll, inch closer. Then... a warmth on her face. Yu Nianbing grabbed the hot paw that was pressing against her cheek and said with slight annoyance, "Song Shiyue!"
"My mistake, my mistake..." Song Shiyue didn't withdraw her hand but instead stroked upward from Yu Nianbing's forehead to the back of her head in one swift motion.
Song Shiyue's hand was very warm and very soft. Yu Nianbing had exerted some force to pull her wrist away, but still ended up being petted like a dog.
"Song Shiyue!" That hot, soft paw had rolled over her head and face, then followed down the back of her neck into her pajamas, hot and ticklish. Yu Nianbing really couldn't take it, and her voice rose.
"This, mine, is undone." Song Shiyue pressed one finger against Yu Nianbing's back through the pajamas, speaking with dead seriousness in a low voice.
Yu Nianbing's hand, which was pulling at Song Shiyue's wrist, suddenly froze.
Song Shiyue's words struck Yu Nianbing like a thunderbolt from a clear sky. The warmth and bashfulness that had risen from Song Shiyue's touchy-feely actions quickly vanished, replaced by a thick sense of apology.
What was I just thinking...? How could I interpret Song Shiyue's actions like that because of a fake confession from half a year ago...? I was the one who first used gestures to substitute key words — how did I end up misunderstanding this?
Looking at the serious, half-sitting big spring roll before her, Yu Nianbing deeply regretted her wild thoughts and silently released her grip — well, it hadn't really been doing much — on Song Shiyue's wrist.
Yu Nianbing reflected that even if it had come undone later, when she hooked it earlier it seemed fairly tight, so it should have been covered; nothing would have been exposed. Besides, wasn't it said that if the StarNet AI detected anything, it wouldn't let the camera broadcast even the tiniest detail? With this in mind, it seemed her earlier move had been a bit rash and unnecessary. But at that moment... what had she been thinking? How had she disregarded all reason and just wanted to check that one thing?
It must have been... led astray by that Song Shiyue, who never reads the rules properly and makes a fuss over everything.
Yu Nianbing steadied herself and decided to forget the earlier incident. She was about to urge Song Shiyue to read the wristband rules again, so they wouldn't have to keep panicking.
But just before she could speak, Song Shiyue, who had been waiting in silence without a response, couldn't help but blurt out.
"What I mean is..." Song Shiyue began.
As soon as she began, Yu Nianbing sensed something wrong. The finger that had been pointing at her back transformed into a full palm, rubbing her back in a blur, and then the scalding palm paused oddly before suddenly withdrawing.
Song Shiyue's words stopped abruptly. At the same time, the half-sitting big cocoon in front of Yu Nianbing collapsed onto the bed.
"What's wrong?" Yu Nianbing already understood that Song Shiyue's sudden intimate gesture was an imitation of her earlier use of action in place of words. Though she was still a bit flushed, her earlier annoyance was gone.
The big spring roll didn't speak, only wriggled a bit.
Yu Nianbing was somewhat puzzled. She reached to tug at the blanket covering Song Shiyue's head and asked again, "What's wrong?"
"Aiya... it's no use playing dead." Song Shiyue poked her small face out and said, a little embarrassed, "Sorry, I just wanted to point at that to show you. When I didn't find it, I was afraid you wouldn't understand, so I searched a bit... I didn't expect you, you didn't... ah, sorry."
With that, Song Shiyue's small face shrank back into the spring roll.
These words were vaguely worded and somewhat lengthy. Yu Nianbing took a moment to process them before realizing what Song Shiyue was saying, and anger surged up in her heart.
What 'I didn't'! I didn't what! I didn't wear a bra?
What do you mean I didn't? Don't you know what a lightweight sports bra is?
Are your hands that rough?
Could you not feel it?
So infuriating!
Staring at the balled-up quilt lump beside her that had shrunk into a cowardly ball, Yu Nianbing felt for the first time the urge to give it a kick.
But in the end, she had to calm down.
I can't very well invite Song Shiyue to touch me again, can I?
So how exactly did their topic veer from whether they'd been filmed to this?
A sigh...
Yu Nianbing could only cool herself down. Fortunately, she was quite good at that.
"You, get up." Yu Nianbing still gave Song Shiyue a light kick through the blanket, her voice regaining some coldness. "Get up and read the wristband rules three times before you can sleep."
Song Shiyue, still in the midst of self-reproach, froze in confusion.
Song Shiyue, forced to get up and study in the middle of the night, felt somewhat dazed.
Even more dazed, however, were the viewers on the StarNet livestream page, with Yu Nianbing's fans being the most dazed of all.
Yu Nianbing's fans had been thinking that once the cast turned off the lights to sleep, the battlefield belonged to the fans. They'd have to curse Song Shiyue for mooching sleep from head to toe three times over before they could sleep soundly.
But who'd have thought that just moments after lights out, before they'd even typed a few lines? The cursing from head to toe hadn't even gotten past the hair when sounds came from the livestream.
First, Song Shiyue faked snoring to comfort someone, which made Yu Nianbing's fans' hands pause for a moment. Just as they hardened their hearts again, things suddenly turned incomprehensible.
In the darkness, one mosaic soon became two, and the two mosaics pressed together, exchanging words that no one could understand.
Though the words were incomprehensible, as the two chatted, they would pause for a long time and then follow up with what sounded like surprised or annoyed calling of each other's names, such as "Teacher Yu" and "Song Shiyue." With the livestream's excellent audio, even just a name carried a hint of lingering emotion.
Against the pitch-black background, the two figures huddled extremely close together — well, actually two mosaics — viewers couldn't help but fill in the blanks with some strange images.
On their livestream pages, the complaints about Song Shiyue mooching sleep gradually dwindled, no one knew since when.
Many were silent.
More were filling in the blanks.
After all, sometimes, mosaics themselves represent the very act of filling in the blanks...
Just then, some fearless soul, nobody knew whose fan or a bored passerby, typed this danmaku on Yu Nianbing's livestream page: "Like this, even if it was captured, it's fine."
After that, a long blank gap appeared in the danmaku.
Then another sent one: "This, mine, is undone."
On the page, rows and rows of ellipses scrolled by.
Soon, everyone realized they weren't the only one filling in the blanks.
This fan service had come out of nowhere.
So abundant, so sweet, so real...
But it was so sudden that everyone looked at each other, not daring to take a bite.
Yet, just as there had been the first person to eat a crab in ancient times, there was a first person to take a bite of this fan service today.
"I declare... this CP, I'm sold!"
Amid the suddenly dwindling danmaku, a plain, ordinary line drifted by.
Shipping a CP just based on filling in the blanks... that's not very good, is it...
At the moment some were hesitating.
On the livestream page, a great swath of "Sold..." floated by.
The rumor was so juicy, even if it was a fake one, they kind of wanted to taste it!
On Wilderness Planet, Yu Nianbing, who was earnestly supervising Song Shiyue as she read the wristband manual, had no idea that, no matter how careful they had been, those fans out there who had long been — well, never been — fed, had already lost control...
On Beichen Planet, Ouyang Hui stared fixedly at Yu Nianbing's livestream page.
Those vaguely heard conversations, every word and sentence, hammered into her heart.
Didn't she say they'd only met twice?
Didn't she say there was nothing between them?
Yu Nianbing!
Ouyang Hui was so angry her liver hurt. She smashed another cup, and then belatedly realized that it wasn't just her liver that was hurting. And what wet the floor wasn't just the water from the cup.
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