Chapter 91: The Old Hand Steps In

In Xiao Cheng’s world, Wen Xiaodao was right beside Ding Sina, chattering away like a tour guide.

“Look here—black stockings and beautiful legs! Those long legs! She’s got to be over five foot seven, right? With legs like that over your shoulders, you could have the time of your life for a whole year!”

“And look here again: that little waist you can wrap a hand around, and above it that outrageously large chest. If the cup isn’t D, it’s not far off. Slender waist, long legs, easy to pin down—what are you still hesitating for? Stop pretending! I am you, and I know exactly what you’re thinking, so don’t bother acting innocent with me. I even know what you dreamed about the night before last when you got up to wash your shorts. Now this girl has come to your door; stop pretending to be a saint! If you don’t take advantage of her, do you deserve all my patient guidance?”

But Xiao Cheng still hesitated. A girlfriend? Impossible. That seat at the round table had already been reserved for Yang Liushan.

“She’s doing this for a reason—trying to lure disaster away from herself, because she herself is the very kind of beauty that brings disaster!” Xiao Cheng explained to Wen Xiaodao. “Ding Sina knows plenty of street punks. Why would those guys be willing to hang around her? Isn’t it because she’s pretty? If I were seen going around with her, trouble would come looking for me in no time.”

“What trouble could you not handle? A few little thugs?” Wen Xiaodao said.

“There’s just no need…”

“I think it’s worth it! How do you get revenge on a woman? Pin her down in bed and punish her, that’s how! Leaving everything else aside, right now she’s baring her chest and provoking you. If you don’t put your hands on her, are you even a man?”

Xiao Cheng said uneasily, “I… I don’t dare.”

Wen Xiaodao nearly wanted to bang his head against a wall. “Move aside. I’ll do it!”

Everyone has many sides to their nature. At times brave, at times timid; at times steady, at times almost naïve. Xiao Cheng used the mature, composed side of his personality to create this unique perspective of Wen Xiaodao, in order to make his reasoning more objective. But maturity always comes at a price.

Some things once cherished are cast aside like worn-out rags; some taboos once too frightening to cross are now treated without the slightest restraint.

At the very least, mature men are filthy, and they know a great many positions…

Under Wen Xiaodao’s direction, Xiao Cheng gave a cold snort, jumped down from the flowerbed, and stood before Ding Sina. One foot planted beside the girl’s thigh, he leaned forward until their noses were almost touching.

“Women hate men so much they want to cut them to pieces, but men hate women—especially beautiful women like you—and all they can think about is how to pin them to a bed! Watching her twist and moan beneath you is the only way to let out the resentment in your chest!” At that moment Xiao Cheng seemed like a different person. His index finger lightly brushed her thigh, then his middle finger followed. The two fingers, like little men, climbed diagonally upward along the girl’s thigh.

Ding Sina could feel the forbidden contact in that most sensitive place, yet she couldn’t lower her head. Xiao Cheng’s face was inches away, his eyes almost spitting fire, his breath warm and close enough to feel. If she leaned even a fraction forward, their faces would touch.

The girl began to panic as well.

“You want to play with fire? Do you really think this will work on me? I don’t mind being the bastard who seduces and then abandons you. Fake affection? Fine. But if we’re going to pretend, we’d better do it for real, right? Why use love to dissolve hatred when the body is so much more direct? A day as husband and wife means a hundred days of affection. So how about we start by going to bed?”

“Fine! But don’t say I didn’t warn you. We’re enemies. Aren’t you afraid I’ll accuse you of rape?”

“That would be a pretty good way for you to get revenge. Should I do you the favor?” The little man made of two fingers climbed over hill and dale until it reached her waist. That slender little waist, the thin cardigan as light as gauze, could not block the warmth and the shocking current coming from his fingers. The girl’s breathing grew even more rapid.

“If you’re not afraid, then come on! Perfect—I’ll just send you and your father to reunite in prison!”

The fingers continued upward, circling behind her back. With a pinch of the two fingers, the hook on her bra strap clicked open with a soft snap. Instinctively, the girl shoved Xiao Cheng away, her cheeks flushed red. Through her clothes, she tried to fasten it herself but found it awkward, and she glared at him furiously, as though fire were about to burst from her eyes.

“Scared now? You’re taking this game too simply. In truth, it’s only just begun. If you want to be my girlfriend, you’ll have to put up with my bad temper. Pushing me away like that makes me unhappy!”

The roguish grin on Wen Xiaocheng’s face was the very same one he had worn that day in the card room, before Ding the Lame.

“Giving up? If you want to be my girlfriend, you have to behave. Besides, aren’t you my captive? I’m very fond of abusing captives!” Xiao Cheng exaggeratedly shaped all ten fingers like an octopus. Even at a distance of two steps, that obscene gesture still made the girl blush scarlet.

“Wronged? I didn’t mean to bully you at first, but now I’ve grown fond of the feeling. Turn around—I want to see what’s behind you. That’s my handiwork!”

Ding Sina was truly panicking now. In her memory, Xiao Cheng was still that awkward boy who blushed at the sight of her and even lacked the nerve to speak. Even when he had, on a burst of blood and courage, beaten Qiu Hui and the others on the back hill, he had still been just an inexperienced big boy when it came to girls. She had never imagined she would misjudge him.

This was a veteran!

“You won’t obey me? Fine. I can’t exactly force you, can I? Looks like we’re not suited for each other. I’m going.”

“Wait!” the girl shouted through gritted teeth. Then she too climbed down from the flowerbed and silently turned around. Beneath the thin shirt on her back, one black strap had snapped into two, revealing a hazy patch of white flesh.

It was only a turn of the body, yet it felt so humiliating.

“You can fasten it now. Do you need help?”

“No need. I can do it myself!”

How a girl could fasten her bra behind her back without seeing what she was doing was, to a boy, mysterious high technology. Ding Sina did not give him the chance to observe and learn. Facing Xiao Cheng, she fumbled at her back for a moment and then clicked the strap into place.

“Come here,” Xiao Cheng ordered.

“You were the one who said you wanted to be my girlfriend, so you’ll have to chase me now. I’m a little interested in you, but nowhere near liking you. Enjoying bullying you doesn’t mean I like you, understand? You’re decent-looking, but the makeup is far too heavy. When you see me tomorrow, I want to see you without a drop of makeup.”

Ding Sina pressed her lips together, unsure how to answer.

“Did you hear me?” Xiao Cheng asked.

“I heard you.”

Xiao Cheng walked over and, like someone stroking a kitten along its spine, gently smoothed her hair. “Good girl.”

Head pat kill.

………………

In the pavilion on the back hill of the school, the spot with the best view on campus, Lu Qi stared fixedly at the scene without saying a word. After a long while, he suddenly turned back to Zhang Peiyue behind him and said, “All right! I’ll do it!”

Zhang Peiyue, who had already given up hope, lit up at once. He hurriedly took five hundred yuan from his chest and stuffed it into Lu Qi’s hand, as if afraid he might change his mind. “Brother Seven! That’s settled. Take this five hundred first. After you’ve beaten him, there’s another five hundred. I, Zhang Peiyue, keep my word!”

Lu Qi’s face was dark as he clenched that five-hundred-yuan note so tightly it seemed about to be crushed in his hand.

——————

The two-finger trick—an essential skill for a seasoned veteran! If I were updating once a day, this chapter could have lasted until the middle of the month. Three updates a day is really trying to kill me…