BSS - Chapter 125
Chapter 125
After the video call connected, Xu Wei saw Deng Chuan sitting at her desk, resting her head on her hand and smiling at her.
Deng Chuan was wearing white loungewear, one hand propping up her head, the other resting casually on the desk. Beside her hand was a pencil sharpened down to a stub, which made her fingers look exceptionally long and fair. In front of her was an open book, two or three watercolor pens, and an upright tablet. On a white sheet of paper in front of the tablet, two or three paragraphs of notes were scattered in English, written in light black pencil, the handwriting a bit messy.
The kid's note-taking habits seem to have changed, Xu Wei thought.
Xu Wei watched her without a word, and Deng Chuan smiled faintly, returning Xu Wei's gaze in silence, looking very composed. The kid's hair had grown much longer and was now tied in a low ponytail at the back of her head, revealing her entire clean face. It was late at night in England, but her eyes were still bright, beautiful as if holding a layer of shimmering water, as if she were gently and fully awake.
The Deng Chuan of this moment was, in part, a result of her own influence. The thought suddenly surfaced in Xu Wei's mind, and her heart immediately softened.
The kid was still looking at her, her gaze shifting slightly downward. Xu Wei subconsciously covered her collar, only then realizing that two buttons on her pajama top had come undone at some point. Her hand paused. After a moment's hesitation, she nonchalantly lowered it. A belated shyness crept in, and she cleared her throat to cover it up, feigning composure as she said, "The flowers are beautiful, thank you…"
Hearing this, Deng Chuan raised an eyebrow, used the hand propping up her head to rub her neck, and accepted Teacher Xu's thanks without a shred of modesty. "Yep." She seemed to think of something and laughed again. "It wasn't in vain that I pestered that shop owner for so long. After this order, the flower shop downstairs from you will probably blacklist me."
"Mhm." Xu Wei pressed her lips together, subtly hiding her delight, and said, "Your mission is complete."
"I'm glad I didn't fail," Deng Chuan said.
She brought her index and middle fingers together and gave a jaunty salute from her forehead.
Life in England had undoubtedly made her more cheerful. Xu Wei thought to herself as she saw the kid's gesture.
Of course, she was very happy to see this side of Deng Chuan. So she added, "How was your National Day outing with your classmates?"
Deng Chuan usually reported her outings to her, but yesterday the two had been on the phone all day, either studying or chatting idly, and hadn't gotten around to discussing the kid's daily life and entertainment as an exchange student.
"Yeah, we went boating," Deng Chuan said. Xu Wei nodded slightly, then heard her add, "The weather here is terrible. We'd been rowing for less than twenty minutes when it started pouring rain. Our whole group got soaked to the bone and ran to shelter under some eaves."
"Rainy eaves," Xu Wei said.
Deng Chuan laughed. "No story there."
She continued, "Only our boat had brought an umbrella, so we waited under the eaves for the others to go back to their dorms, change, and come back. By then, the rain had stopped. Then we went to the supermarket, bought groceries, and made hot pot at home."
"A classmate from Sichuan brought over some homemade hot pot base from her family back home, and it made everyone cry."
Seeing Xu Wei smile, she excitedly took her hand from her neck and held up five fingers. "No exaggeration, everyone used at least five tissues to wipe their noses and tears."
"Don't eat it if it's too spicy. It's bad for your stomach," Xu Wei said.
"I know." Deng Chuan reined in her smile. "I'll take good care of myself, Teacher Xu. Don't worry."
It was like she hadn't changed at all, Xu Wei thought.
Deng Chuan asked, "What are Juzi and Zhou Liu up to? How come they aren't bothering you?"
"I shut them out of the bedroom," Xu Wei said.
The kid drew out a long "Oh…"
Xu Wei bit her lip. "What are you thinking?"
"Nothing," Deng Chuan said with a grin.
"I was just thinking-" she dragged out her words, "without the little kitties watching, doesn't that mean we can do anything?"
Teacher Xu responded with a huff of laughter.
"How old are you?" Xu Wei said. "A kid should be a little more well-behaved."
Deng Chuan picked up a glass of water from the desk and drank, watching her from behind it. "What counts as well-behaved… Teacher Xu, could you give me a standard?"
Deng Chuan's gaze pierced through the transparent glass, seeming to carry some heat. As Xu Wei watched the water level in the glass drop, her own throat began to feel a little dry. The ordinary conversation seemed to be inexplicably veering off in another direction, and over video call, no less-a first for both of them.
Xu Wei remained still, her fingers nervously clutching the hem of her pajamas, but her voice was calm as she said, "What you're thinking right now isn't well-behaved."
Unfortunately, she had underestimated the kid's verbal sparring skills. Upon hearing this, Deng Chuan immediately retorted, "What am I thinking? Why don't you tell me, Teacher Xu?"
After Deng Chuan said this, Xu Wei fell silent, merely lifting her eyes to stare at her, perhaps with a hint of scrutiny. But Deng Chuan felt as if her gaze was coming at an angle, light and airy, sweeping back and forth across her heart. Being stared at like this, Deng Chuan was a little nervous at first, but as a small smile slowly appeared on Xu Wei's lips, her courage immediately grew a little.
She furrowed her brow and bravely met Xu Wei's gaze, her tone innocent and earnest. "I have a question. Can't my teacher answer it?"
"…Let your teacher think about it," Xu Wei said, her voice soft. Her gaze dropped, landing on Deng Chuan's lips.
As if sensing her gaze, Deng Chuan unconsciously licked her lips. Xu Wei felt even thirstier. She wanted to stand up, to pour herself a glass of water, but her body wouldn't move.
"You want to kiss me," Xu Wei said softly. "Right?"
"Mhm… and what else?"
"And…"
Deng Chuan tilted her head, watching Xu Wei's face turn red bit by bit. Her skin was fair, so the blush was especially obvious, not to mention that her neck was turning red as well.
"Your teacher doesn't know anymore," Xu Wei said after blushing for a good while.
Deng Chuan blinked. Xu Wei was blushing, watching her with a calm gaze. The roles and mindsets the two of them had always adopted in their relationship seemed to have been swapped in this moment. Deng Chuan thought to herself, So this is what it feels like when Xu Wei has me figured out, while also uncontrollably starting to feel shy.
"I want to… with you…" Deng Chuan pressed her lips together, the tips of her ears turning red as if in shyness, but Xu Wei saw that her beautiful eyes seemed to have ignited with flames, and they were fixed on her with a burning intensity.
"Is that okay?" she heard Deng Chuan ask.
When Xu Wei closed and then reopened the bathroom door, her mind hadn't yet grasped what was about to happen. It wasn't until she had changed into a slip nightdress and returned to the camera's view, seeing Deng Chuan already leaning leisurely against the headboard and watching her, that the reality of what she was doing hit her under that gaze.
Under Deng Chuan's watch, Xu Wei walked to the window and drew the curtains. The room instantly darkened. On this Sunday morning, the entire residential complex seemed to be sleeping in. It was quiet all around, everything was going smoothly, and not even Juzi and Zhou Liu came to disturb them.
Though it was a cool autumn, the temperature in the room felt hotter and hotter. Sweat beaded on Xu Wei's forehead, rolling down her upturned chin to her throat, and further down, to the dazzlingly white collarbones and skin set off by her black nightdress, which were already flushed slightly red from the heat.
Deng Chuan was still saying something. Xu Wei parted her lips, revealing a hint of snow-white teeth and the pink tip of her tongue, panting slightly. "Mmm…" She turned her face away, trying to hold back, her ears and neck completely crimson.
Deng Chuan patiently soothed her. "Good girl-" Her tone was very gentle. "Teacher Xu, teach me…"
Xu Wei's voice trembled. "Mmm…"
She didn't know when the video call had ended. Xu Wei had her eyes closed at the final moment, and the reason and consciousness that returned with the rise and fall of her chest made her wish she never had to open them again. Whose birthday was it today, anyway? Xu Wei thought in frustration. She kept her eyes squeezed shut, and in the end, only managed to haphazardly pull the blanket over herself before falling asleep.
Xu Wei slept straight through until two in the afternoon, the time she usually called Deng Chuan to wake her up. Her biological clock honestly made her open her eyes, but her reason made her bury her head in her pillow.
How had things developed to that point this morning? Xu Wei forced herself to overcome her shame and calm down, starting to recall everything step by step. She ultimately came to the same frustrating conclusion: it was all due to her own unresisting cooperation.
It wasn't that the enemy was too cunning, but that the traitor was me.
As Xu Wei thought about it, her mindset gradually adjusted. She even had the presence of mind to worry: she had just fallen asleep like that, had Deng Chuan said anything on her end? Would she be affected by her attitude and define this as something negative, or even feel that she had done something wrong?
Her powerful sense of educational responsibility, the need to establish a correct perspective for the kid, finally made Teacher Xu lift her head from the pillow.
She sat up halfway and searched around the bed for a while before finally finding her phone, which had automatically shut down, on the floor by the bedside.
So it wasn't hung up after all, Xu Wei thought with a strange feeling.
Along with the screen lighting up, many new messages from WeChat popped up. Xu Wei unlocked the screen to look. Sure enough, just as she'd expected, Deng Chuan had sent her tons of messages in the chat, so many that she couldn't see the beginning when she scrolled up.
The kid's emotional shift was also very obvious. During the period when the video call was still connected but Xu Wei was asleep, the messages she sent were still very tender and sweet, no different from the explicit sweet nothings they had exchanged before. Afterward, once Xu Wei's phone had shut down and the call was disconnected, Deng Chuan seemed to enter a post-nut clarity phase, beginning a period of self-reflection half an hour after sending her last sweet nothing.
After thoroughly reflecting on her actions, Xu Wei still hadn't woken up. Deng Chuan's guilt arrived along with her reflection. She started apologizing to Xu Wei, including a long and sincere self-criticism letter, the wording of which escalated to the point of her being morally corrupt and an educational failure, begging Xu Wei not to give up on her…
Although she was a bit silly, the effect was quite obvious. After reading through all the messages from beginning to end, Xu Wei was no longer shy or frustrated. She let out a laugh and poked the screen with a finger, as if poking Deng Chuan's face.
As expected, a kid is still a kid. She can't do without me. Xu Wei thought this with a bit of tsundere pride, while deciding to leave Deng Chuan hanging on WeChat for a little longer.
Reflect well, Xu Wei thought at her leisure. A little more reflection will make the proper lesson I'm about to teach more memorable.
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