The Art of Teasing - Chapter 95
Chapter 95
Wen Zhengyu paused briefly, glanced back, and replied to Ye Ling: "I'm sorry, CEO Ye, I don't know who you're referring to. I have matters to attend to, so I must take my leave." With that, she ignored Ye Ling and went off to find Daoist Priest Yan to paint. After walking a distance, she thought to herself: She wouldn't follow me, would she? She turned to look back and saw neither Ye Ling nor Ye Ling's bodyguards. Gone? A thought flickered through her mind: Gone, then. Let her be gone. When Ye Ling followed her, she found it annoying; when Ye Ling didn't follow her, she found it detestable.
Wen Zhengyu couldn't quite articulate why, but suddenly she had no mood for painting anymore. She walked over to the railing to look at the scenery.
Below the railing was a slope, overgrown with weeds and dotted with trees. Further down lay covered corridors and buildings. Standing here, one could see the rooftops below. Black bricks and tiles, gray roof ridges, faded red eaves—everywhere bore the marks of age, sedimented with the traces of years.
Her gaze crossed over the eaves and rooftops, looking into the distance, and her thoughts drifted along with it.
She hadn't been standing there long when someone came to her side. Wen Zhengyu turned her head slightly, catching a glimpse of Ye Ling from the corner of her eye. She thought to herself: Why is she back again?
Ye Ling said: "Just now my bodyguard told me the temple doesn't have enough guest rooms. I went to check—it's barely enough for a few bodyguards to squeeze in."
Wen Zhengyu looked at Ye Ling in astonishment and asked, dumbfounded: "CEO Ye, do you mean you intend to sleep in my room tonight?"
Ye Ling asked: "May I?"
Wen Zhengyu said: "CEO Ye, this place is close to the city—just over an hour's drive."
Ye Ling said: "I want to watch the sunrise tomorrow morning." She looked at Wen Zhengyu and added: "And I'd like to invite you to watch the sunrise together."
Wen Zhengyu paused briefly. Her gaze settled on Ye Ling's face. She saw the smile playing at the corner of Ye Ling's lips, yet the look directed at her was especially earnest, eyes slightly curved, a gentle smile within them.
She suddenly remembered sitting on a mountain peak watching the sunrise, when the dawn light broke through the darkness and cleaved the horizon, dyeing the clouds at the sky's edge in dazzling colors—colors like a phoenix spreading its wings, brilliant gold, yet bearing a fiery hue, intense and burning. That color reminded her of the Phoenix Bird, and then reminded her of Ye Ling...
A finger waved in front of her face, followed by Ye Ling's voice: "Hey, come back to earth."
Wen Zhengyu withdrew her gaze, somewhat embarrassed, and looked elsewhere. She wanted to refuse Ye Ling's invitation to watch the sunrise together, yet felt it would go against her true feelings; not refusing, she felt a bit shy. She thought to herself that she seemed to like Ye Ling, just a little.
Ye Ling took Wen Zhengyu's hand and said: "Come on, let's stroll around the temple."
Wen Zhengyu thought to herself: I haven't agreed to watch the sunrise with you yet. She glanced again at Ye Ling's hand.
Ye Ling, as if only just realizing her impropriety, quickly released the hand and said: "Oh, sorry, my apologies."
Wen Zhengyu knew Ye Ling had done it on purpose. She ignored Ye Ling and continued walking forward.
When they reached a shrine in a side hall, Ye Ling suddenly grabbed her hand again and said: "This one."
Wen Zhengyu first glanced at Ye Ling's hand, then at Ye Ling who seemed inexplicably excited, then looked up at the plaque above the hall. She saw it read "Matchmaker's Hall." The next moment, she was dragged inside by Ye Ling.
Ye Ling said to Wen Zhengyu: "Let's pray to the Matchmaker, seek fortune in marriage."
Wen Zhengyu thought to herself: You believe in this? But standing before the Matchmaker deity, she felt it would be disrespectful to voice such doubts.
Ye Ling said: "Just pray, come on."
Wen Zhengyu hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.
Ye Ling glanced at Wen Zhengyu, then knelt before the Matchmaker herself. She prayed to the Matchmaker and sought a fortune stick. She didn't believe in gods or spirits, but today, she wanted to draw a stick.
Wen Zhengyu stood beside Ye Ling, watching as Ye Ling first prayed to the Matchmaker with utmost devotion, then picked up the fortune cylinder and shook it for a good while before finally shaking a single stick onto the floor.
Ye Ling picked up the stick and saw that it bore only three characters: "A worthy wife indeed." She smiled so broadly she couldn't close her mouth and said: "I just knew I should draw a fortune stick today." Seeing Wen Zhengyu curiously leaning over, she hastily covered the stick with her hand, not letting Wen Zhengyu see.
Wen Zhengyu swept a glance at Ye Ling, then went to draw a stick herself.
Her stick fell to the ground. She picked it up and saw Ye Ling leaning over. Wen Zhengyu covered it too, refusing to let Ye Ling see. She cupped it in her palm and cautiously peeked: "A perfectly matched couple, an immortal pair destined for each other, growing old together through a hundred years; there is no need to seek any other match."
She paused. She truly didn't know whether this Matchmaker was accurate or not. She hadn't made any wish at all; she had merely knelt on the prayer cushion and casually shaken the cylinder, and out came this very stick.
Ye Ling leaned over and said: "Let's exchange and look. Fair and square."
Wen Zhengyu shook her head and moved to put the stick back.
Ye Ling said with a look of regret: "You really won't let me see?"
Wen Zhengyu glanced at this petty person. After a brief hesitation, she handed the stick to Ye Ling.
Ye Ling took the stick, read it, and immediately the smile on her face grew even brighter. She handed her own stick to Wen Zhengyu as well.
Wen Zhengyu looked at the stick Ye Ling handed over and was speechless. This was the shortest fortune stick she had ever seen, and also the most speechless one.
Ye Ling clasped the stick between her palms and bowed sincerely to the Matchmaker once more before placing the stick back.
Wen Zhengyu bowed to the Matchmaker and placed her stick back into the cylinder. She silently followed behind Ye Ling. Once outside the Matchmaker's Hall, she stood beyond the threshold and glanced back once more at the kind-faced, long-bearded Matchmaker deity before continuing her stroll through the temple with Ye Ling.
She discovered that Ye Ling had no habit of bowing to deities. After that, Ye Ling passed every hall without entering, merely tugging her along to walk through the temple grounds.
It was the crisp autumn season, the courtyard full of golden fallen leaves. Not a holiday, there were few visitors today. The two of them simply strolled in quiet peace. The scenery was still the same scenery, but the feeling of having someone beside her was somewhat different from walking alone.
She looked at Ye Ling beside her and saw that Ye Ling was also lifting her head to observe the temple scenery.
The sunlight today was very fine.
When Ye Ling lifted her head, the sunlight fell perfectly upon her face, making Ye Ling appear especially radiant and dazzling. Even her slightly curled long hair shimmered with a faint glow. The antique Daoist temple, the leaves slowly drifting down from the trees, and Ye Ling bathed in sunlight formed a beautifully aesthetic tableau.
This image seemed to pierce through time and space.
Wen Zhengyu gazed at the light reflecting before Ye Ling's face and unconsciously reached out her hand. Her hand settled before Ye Ling's face. At her fingertips, flowing light seemed to brush past, as if gathered in her hand.
Ye Ling looked at Wen Zhengyu's strange behavior with slight confusion and raised her hand to place it on Wen Zhengyu's forehead.
Wen Zhengyu came back to her senses, stepped back, and said with slightly flushed cheeks: "On your face... just now... there was light. It was very beautiful." She quickened her pace a few steps, putting distance between herself and Ye Ling. Her heart thumped wildly, uncontrollably, and a burning sensation spread from her face all the way to her ears.
At noon, after she and Ye Ling had lunch, they went to her room to rest.
One of Ye Ling's bodyguards had made another trip to the city to purchase toiletries for Ye Ling.
The guest room was simply furnished: a bed, an Eight Immortals table, four long benches, plus a luggage rack to one side, a washbasin stand, and a place for toiletries.
In the corner stood a bamboo pole for hanging clothes.
Wen Zhengyu's clothes were hanging on it. Upon entering the room, she quickened her steps and headed straight for the clothes pole to gather up the undergarments hanging there.
Ye Ling entered and, seeing Wen Zhengyu's actions, teased: "And I thought you were above mortal concerns."
Wen Zhengyu replied: "Even immortals have to wear clothes."
Ye Ling joked: "Indeed, Immortal Wen."
Wen Zhengyu paused. She thought to herself: Good thing there's an "Immortal" after it, otherwise I'd think you were cursing at me.
The washroom and bathroom were not in the room but outside the guest quarters.
Ye Ling took her toiletry bag and went out to brush her teeth and wash her face. After returning to the room, she closed the door and windows. With her back to Wen Zhengyu, she began undressing and asked: "Are you taking a nap?"
Wen Zhengyu didn't answer but asked in return: "And you?"
Ye Ling said: "I didn't sleep well last night. I need to catch up on sleep today." As she spoke, she removed her outer jacket and the base layer underneath, leaving her upper body in only her underwear.
On her back was a golden phoenix tattoo. The phoenix spread its wings, soaring straight toward the ninth heaven.
Wen Zhengyu gaped in astonishment, her lips half-parted. It wasn't until Ye Ling had even removed her underwear that she came to her senses and exclaimed: "Ye Ling, your... your back..."
Ye Ling twisted to look behind her and asked: "What is it?"
Wen Zhengyu said: "There's a phoenix."
Ye Ling thought Wen Zhengyu was being a bit silly today. She gave an "Mm" and asked: "Does it look like the Phoenix Bird?"
Wen Zhengyu said: "Yes." Even her breathing trembled slightly.
Ye Ling said: "Good that it does. Then all that pain I endured when getting the tattoo wasn't for nothing."
Wen Zhengyu: "..." She was instantly deflated, a deflation that cascaded a thousand miles. She didn't even want to speak anymore. She then immediately felt that her painting had nearly driven her to mental illness—to actually subconsciously think that this phoenix bird was something Ye Ling was born with. She said: "I'm not taking a nap. You sleep." Right now, she only wanted to distance herself from Ye Ling.
Ye Ling unbuckled her belt and removed her trousers.
Black underwear against that curvaceous figure was unexpectedly sensual. Ye Ling had an excellent figure, not an ounce of flesh on her waist. That fair back, tattooed with a brilliant golden phoenix—the phoenix was rendered so vividly it seemed as though it might at any moment seep through the skin and break free.
Ye Ling turned her head to look at Wen Zhengyu and saw Wen Zhengyu staring fixedly at her back. She gave a soft laugh, picked up her sleeping robe and put it on, tied the robe's sash, and obediently lifted the neatly arranged quilt to crawl in and sleep.
A bed that Wen Zhengyu had slept in, the bedding still carrying the faint fragrance of her body—very pleasant to smell.
Ye Ling thought to herself that if this weren't a Daoist temple, she would truly have pulled Wen Zhengyu under the big quilt for a good, long chat. But this was a Daoist temple—no improper sights, no improper thoughts, no improper reflections.
She hadn't slept well the entire previous night and had risen early this morning. Altogether, she had slept less than two hours, and those two hours were of extremely poor sleep quality. Now utterly exhausted, she quickly fell asleep.
Wen Zhengyu picked up a scripture book from the table and leafed through it, trying to quiet her mind, quiet her spirit. Ye Ling had stirred her entire being into restlessness.
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