The Art of Teasing - Chapter 106
Chapter 106
These two foolish decisions—hadn't they practically pushed the two of them into living together now?
Wen Zhengyu truly felt she had lost her mind.
She rubbed her hair vigorously, feeling that her relationship with Ye Ling was only getting more tangled the more she tried to sort it out. The harder she tried to distance herself, the less she could. Defeated, she lay on the bed, not wanting to get up at all.
After a while, Ye Ling finished washing up and came out. She approached the bed again, bent down, and looked at her with a face full of smiles, calling, "Time to get up."
Wen Zhengyu glanced at Ye Ling, pulled the blanket over her face, and let out a long sigh. "Ye Ling, stay away from me," she cried out.
Ye Ling couldn't help but laugh. "Don't be like that. What we have right now is still pure."
Wen Zhengyu pulled the blanket down, revealing her eyes. "You're fooling ghosts," she muttered. Then, having mulled things over, she said, "Yesterday morning, I only agreed to let you move in. I didn't agree to let you move your bodyguards in too."
"Grandpa agreed," Ye Ling said.
"My grandfather," Wen Zhengyu corrected.
Ye Ling echoed compliantly, "Mm, your grandfather agreed." She smiled again. "Be good, get up. The raw rice is already cooked—no point in being bashful now."
Wen Zhengyu shot a sidelong glance at Ye Ling, letting out a soft huff. "'Raw rice cooked into rice'? You think I don't understand?"
Ye Ling chuckled, not daring to respond to that comment. She coaxed with a smile, "Come on, get up."
Although it wasn't the kind of "raw rice cooked into rice" that happened from having that kind of relations, from the perspective of moving in together, it certainly was. Wen Zhengyu sighed inwardly and sat up. She glanced at Ye Ling again, thinking to herself: Actually, this feeling isn't bad. Though it was a bit awkward, her heart also felt sweet. Seeing Ye Ling smile so broadly her eyes curved into crescents, she wasn't sure if she thought it was nice herself, or if she was just infected by Ye Ling's mood.
Ye Ling's mood had been excellent all along—she was even smiling throughout breakfast.
Ye Ling's smiling was such that if Wen Zhengyu hadn't been one of the parties involved, she would have suspected whether there was really something going on between them. She simply decided to ignore Ye Ling and buried herself in her meal. However, worried that Old Mr. Wen Ru might misunderstand, she kept glancing at him from time to time.
Elder Wen was completely composed. Although the matter with Wen Shiyi had made him somewhat displeased with Ye Ling, to be honest, Ye Ling was indeed quite good. What satisfied him most was that his granddaughter hadn't been lured away—instead, Ye Ling had moved in. His granddaughter was grown up; she would eventually need to find a partner to live her life with. Having this happen in his own home—there could be nothing more reassuring.
After breakfast, Ye Ling and Wen Zhengyu went to the art studio together.
In the morning, Wen Zhengyu was taking inventory in the warehouse when Ye Ling walked in, beaming with joy, carrying a large bag full of celebratory candy. She proceeded to hand candy out to every person present.
Ye Ling even brought the candy right up to her, giving her a huge pile.
Wen Zhengyu did like to eat candy, but the candy Ye Ling was distributing today had a large double happiness character on it—what did that mean?
Ye Ling announced with a face full of smiles, "I'm in a relationship now. Please, everyone, have some candy."
The employees in the warehouse all offered Ye Ling their congratulations.
Ye Ling thanked them with a smile, then turned to Wen Zhengyu and said, "CEO Wen, please have some candy."
Wen Zhengyu looked at Ye Ling, utterly speechless. I haven't even agreed—what candy am I supposed to be eating?
Ye Ling unwrapped a candy and brought it to Wen Zhengyu's lips. "After all my waiting, the clouds have finally parted to reveal the moon. CEO Wen, won't you give me some face? How about a word of congratulations?"
Wen Zhengyu glanced at the candy being offered at her lips, then glanced again at Ye Ling, then swept her eyes over the crowd in the warehouse. She thought to herself: If I eat this candy, doesn't that mean I'm agreeing? She asked, "When is CEO Ye planning to bring this partner around for everyone to get to know?" Seeing that Ye Ling was still holding the candy with no intention of withdrawing it, she shot Ye Ling an exasperated look, opened her mouth, and took it.
Ye Ling laughed even more merrily. "My partner is right here in the art studio—her office is right next to mine."
"..." Wen Zhengyu had not expected that Ye Ling would have the sheer audacity to say that out loud. Her face instantly flushed bright red, and she ground her teeth. "When did I ever..." She stopped halfway, noticing Ye Ling leaning against the table, looking at her with those leisurely eyes that swept around the room, and even raising an eyebrow at her.
Wen Zhengyu remembered that this was the studio and there were so many staff members right here. She swallowed the rest of her sentence.
Ye Ling said, "CEO Wen, you're busy. I'll continue handing out candy." Then she added, "I specifically bought the kind you love to eat."
Wen Zhengyu held the candy in her mouth. She wanted to spit it out but felt it would be unseemly. She wanted to swallow it, but the whole situation made her chest tighten with frustration. She could only bury herself back in her work, too lazy to bother with Ye Ling.
Ye Ling went off to continue distributing candy.
Wen Zhengyu wanted very much to ignore Ye Ling, but the sight of the candy piled up like a small mountain in front of her kept the burning sensation on her face from subsiding. Fortunately, her expression remained tightly composed, and the warehouse staff had the good sense not to dare provoke the boss.
As soon as Wen Zhengyu left the warehouse, she went straight to Ye Ling's office to settle accounts. "CEO Ye, I did not agree to be your girlfriend. I only agreed to let you lodge here."
Ye Ling blinked innocently. "But last night... you let me onto your bed to sleep, and this morning you let me kiss you. I thought you were agreeing to be my girlfriend, just too shy to say it outright."
Wen Zhengyu was immediately choked up, not knowing how to retort. She held it in for a long time before she managed, "I did not let you kiss me."
Ye Ling's expression became even more innocent. "You were looking at me with your eyes wide open. That look in your eyes, and your lips, that angle—it was only missing the words 'kiss me' spoken aloud. Otherwise, I wouldn't have dared to do it." She paused for two seconds, then added, "That time before at my house, when I kissed you, you were unhappy. I still remember that. I've already been forward with you once—I wouldn't be presumptuous a second time."
Wen Zhengyu stared fixedly at Ye Ling, who was lying through her teeth while acting innocent. Unable to out-talk her, she silently turned and went back to her own office.
When she returned to her office, she found a box of candy sitting on her desk. Beside it was an exquisite card, bearing Ye Ling's handwriting: I'll buy you candy for a lifetime, okay?
Wen Zhengyu's gaze fell on the words, reading them over several times. She looked at the candy on the desk, and in her mind arose the image of Ye Ling's smiling eyes and the tone of her voice. Her heart felt a sensation akin to having eaten a piece of candy. Her eyes flickered, and she thought: I can buy my own. She placed the card Ye Ling had written into a drawer, then opened the candy box, took out one piece, and ate it.
With the candy in her mouth, she considered for a moment, then turned and took a box of candy from her cabinet. She went next door and placed the candy on Ye Ling's desk. "Courtesy demands reciprocity."
Ye Ling asked with a smile, "Does this count as an exchange of gifts between us?"
Wen Zhengyu said, "You're overthinking it. I just don't want to owe you candy." She finished speaking and was about to walk out.
Ye Ling said, "You owe a card."
Wen Zhengyu turned around, casually pulled an A4 sheet from the printer, and used the utility knife on the desk to deftly cut it to the size of a greeting card. Then she picked up Ye Ling's fountain pen and left a note: Returning one box of fruit candy. Now we're even.
Ye Ling watched Wen Zhengyu finish writing, then asked, "Zhengyu, does this mean that if I give you something, you'll always return something to me? Never owing?"
Wen Zhengyu's intuition told her that Ye Ling was setting a trap. She said, "It's also possible it might end up in the trash." She finished, swept her gaze over Ye Ling, then turned and went back to her office.
She didn't have a car. At noon, she took the car home with Ye Ling for lunch.
Wen Zhengyu had the habit of taking a nap after lunch; as long as she wasn't too busy, she would always sleep for a little while.
When she returned to her small courtyard, Ye Ling followed her back, wanting to take a nap as well.
Wen Zhengyu stood by the bed, watching Ye Ling approach. She wanted very much to defend her bed.
Seeing Wen Zhengyu's expression—which looked like both a dying struggle and a stubborn child hoarding their belongings, refusing to let anyone else touch them—Ye Ling wanted to laugh, but was afraid of angering Wen Zhengyu. She decided to retreat in order to advance. "Then I'll sleep on the Arhat bed?"
Wen Zhengyu nodded, even adding a forceful "Mm."
Ye Ling said, "But today, I already handed out the relationship candy for the two of us. And you ate it too."
Wen Zhengyu: "..." She took a deep, forceful breath. "I didn't tell you to hand out candy. It wasn't me..." The words "it wasn't that I wanted to eat it myself" halted halfway and were swallowed back down. Ye Ling had merely offered it to her lips—it really was she herself who had eaten it. Taking someone's gift makes your hands soft; eating someone's food makes your mouth soft.
Ye Ling saw that Wen Zhengyu was unhappy and silently went to sleep on the Arhat bed.
Wen Zhengyu then felt she was being a little unreasonable. "Sleeping on the Arhat bed will be cold. Your cold isn't better yet."
Ye Ling couldn't help but smile. She turned around and came back to the bedside. "Sleep a little. Otherwise, the nap time will pass."
She took off her outer clothes and got into bed first. Once Wen Zhengyu climbed in, Ye Ling immediately wrapped her arms around her.
Wen Zhengyu instantly went taut all over. She twisted her head towards Ye Ling. "Let..." Before she could finish, Ye Ling's lips landed on hers. This time, it wasn't a touch-and-leave. She kissed her lips...
Lips and teeth met, their breaths mingling together.
Wen Zhengyu felt her heartbeat and breathing fall into chaos, her thoughts completely drawn away by the sensation on her lips. It was a long while before she came back to her senses. This... this is kissing, right?
She couldn't quite say what it felt like. She just felt she had never been this intimate with anyone before. It wasn't unpleasant—rather, there was... a sense of closeness, mixed with a bit of uncertainty...
Ye Ling felt Wen Zhengyu tensing up more and more, even holding her breath. She moved her lips to Wen Zhengyu's forehead and pressed a soft kiss there. "I just wanted to kiss you a little. Don't worry. If you don't agree, I won't do anything else." She paused, then added an explanation for her actions: "I know you like me, and that you didn't reject being with me. That's why I went to hand out the candy."
It took a long moment for Wen Zhengyu to find her breath again and pull her thoughts back from the matter of that kiss. She asked, "Am I really annoying?" Even her maternal grandmother could hardly stand her. After she spoke, she saw Ye Ling let out a soft laugh, the kind of laugh as if they were talking about something particularly happy and delightful. She looked at Ye Ling, puzzled. "Funny?"
Ye Ling rubbed Wen Zhengyu's hair. "Not annoying. I like it."
Wen Zhengyu immediately decided that Ye Ling's aesthetic sense must be defective. Even her own grandmother found her nearly unbearable—and yet Ye Ling actually liked it.
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