"Going by what you said, the shop owner picked out this dress herself? You had no idea?"
Ji Lingruo sat upright in her chair, her gaze hostile. One hand gripped the hilt of her sword while the other rubbed and polished the Wooden Sword back and forth, as if she meant to hack someone apart with it.
Under the lamplight, her two jade-like legs, glistening with a fluorescent sheen, were crossed. The hem of her short, gauzy skirt draped down from the roots of her thighs. Above the skirt's edge, her waist was completely bare, boldly revealing the slender yet powerfully curved lines of the girl's waist. The curves extended upward into even fuller contours, wrapped in a silk bandeau embroidered with tassels. Its elaborate decorations seemed capable of drawing everyone's gaze to that very spot.
Of course, that excluded the blind.
The whole outfit did not look lewd at all. Instead, it openly displayed the beauty of a woman's figure.
You Su stood honestly beside the table, feeling his junior sister's disdainful gaze pricking his back like needles.
"Just a little. I only knew a little."
"Heh, so you really did pick it!" Ji Lingruo smacked the Wooden Sword onto the table, her expression saying that she had seen straight through You Su long ago.
"Not at all! I only felt the fabric. I couldn't exactly feel up someone else's dress from top to bottom, could I? And when the proprietress described it to me, she never said it would expose the waist!" You Su hurriedly explained.
Suddenly struck by an idea, You Su put on an utterly sincere expression and said,
"Besides, Junior Sister, what would a blind man like me buy you this kind of clothing for? I can't even see it!"
Seeing You Su's thoroughly cornered appearance, Ji Lingruo found it hilarious. Inwardly, she mocked him: You may not be able to see, but you know perfectly well that you can touch it!
Then she said with a teasing smile, "So you mean that if you could see, you would buy it?"
You Su was rendered completely speechless. She's playing word games now, is she?
He naturally knew that his junior sister was not actually angry that he had bought such clothes. Otherwise, she would never have put them on and come to meet him alone without permission. She simply found it amusing to tease him, and for the girl's happiness, he was more than willing to cooperate with her little interrogation game.
However, his junior sister's repeated provocations had already backed You Su into a corner. Could it be that you bear no responsibility at all in this matter, Junior Sister?
"I would."
You Su suddenly dropped his ingratiating expression, and his bearing abruptly became confident and imposing.
Ji Lingruo was at a loss in the face of You Su's sudden change. She instinctively raised the sword to shield her chest, astonished that this hopelessly proper blind man—who had always prided himself on being a gentleman—would actually admit to something like this. Wasn't that tantamount to indirectly admitting that he had designs on her...?
Ji Lingruo felt a little nervous. In her eyes, the youth now resembled the big bad wolf in You Su's stories, the one who had taken off Little Red Riding Hood and stopped pretending altogether. She leaned back slightly and forced herself to remain calm.
"Hmph, you should have admitted it sooner. I... I wasn't blaming you, anyway. The clothes look pretty good, they just can't be worn outside... You chose well. Just don't buy them again next time..."
You Su, however, had no intention of letting Ji Lingruo off so easily. He pressed forward step by step, and each time he took a small step closer, Ji Lingruo leaned back farther.
"What about you, Junior Sister? Why did you dare to wear clothes like this to your senior brother's room? If I could see, would you still dare to come here wearing them?"
The question left Ji Lingruo's face as red as blood. She shrank back and did not dare answer. Indeed, if You Su were not blind, she asked herself, she would never have dared come here dressed like this. It was his blindness that had given Ji Lingruo the courage to tease him so freely.
She had already imagined that You Su would react like a startled bird when she came dressed this way. But what she wanted to see was him struggling between his outward propriety and his inward impropriety. What she wanted was to make this blind man, who said "Junior Sister" at every turn, tear away his disguise with his own hands.
After all, they were about to part. If she could not make him confess his feelings aloud, how could she be content?
But why was she afraid now that he looked ready to lay everything bare?
"Why aren't you saying anything, Junior Sister?"
You Su stopped walking, smiling broadly. He was confident that no one understood Ji Lingruo's habit of being both timid and addicted to teasing more than he did.
Unexpectedly, a sharp gleam suddenly lit up in Ji Lingruo's beautiful eyes. The timidity vanished from her face, replaced by slyness and pride.
She straightened herself and even switched the order in which her legs were crossed, revealing a broad expanse of creamy skin. Raising her eyes to meet You Su's, she said calmly,
"Of course I dare. What's there to be afraid of? But what about you? Do you dare look?"
"?"
You Su was stunned for a moment. Junior Sister, are you serious?
Seeing You Su's frustrated expression, Ji Lingruo's heart filled with triumph. After letting out a derisive laugh, she stood up as well. Despite being half a head shorter than You Su, her momentum did not weaken in the slightest.
"What a pity. Someone here can't do it. Even if he wants to look, he can't see a thing."
You Su fell silent. He knew that he had lost this exchange, but that did not mean he had chickened out. He understood the hidden pain the girl before him carried, and that she had been trying to grow close to him in order to find a sense of security by his side. To pierce the thin paper separating their feelings at a time like this would be no different from taking advantage of her vulnerability.
You Su made a secret vow. Whether his junior sister accepted him or not, the day he cured her would be the day he confessed his feelings.
Seeing You Su remain silent, Ji Lingruo assumed she had gone too far and softened her voice.
"I never blamed you for not choosing the clothes well, so why aren't you saying anything? I... I quite like them. Oh, right, are you still going to teach me how to circulate my Qi?"
You Su came back to himself. "Junior Sister, aren't you going to change into another outfit before learning?"
Ji Lingruo turned her head aside and spoke in a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"Wasn't it you who said it before, when I complained that I couldn't feel anything in the thick skirt? You said the first thin skirt worked better, while the thick one made things difficult for you without giving you any benefit. Since the effect is related to the thickness of the clothes, then this time I thought... I thought we could try without anything between us... But on the condition that you be careful..."
You Su turned his ear toward her, furrowing his brows and apologizing.
"Junior Sister, could you say that again? I didn't hear you clearly."
Ji Lingruo grew so angry that she kicked You Su in the shin. "Stop pretending, or I'll ignore you!"
This senior brother, with a belly full of wicked schemes, had immediately tried to get his revenge after suffering a setback. He was truly detestable. She should never have gone soft on him!
"Are you going to teach me or not?"
"Teach, teach, teach. We'll still start by reviewing the first stance. Do the movements." You Su moved aside and began concentrating intently, observing the flow of every thread of Mystic Qi within his junior sister's body.
"Didn't I say it already? You have to go upward first, then downward."
"You need to gather your mind and draw in your abdomen. Sink the Qi first."
You Su pointed out every little flaw to the girl dressed like a Dunhuang celestial maiden.
"..."
Ji Lingruo gnashed her teeth. She strongly suspected that You Su was deliberately forcing her to speak first. Embarrassed and annoyed, she said,
"If I could do it, why would I need you to teach me? Why don't you just put your hands on me!"
"Oh, oh."
"Ah! You—you're shaking!"
"I'm not shaking. You're the one shaking, Junior Sister!"
"When did I shake? You're obviously the one shaking!"
"I really didn't shake."
"You did!"
"Fine, fine, it was me, it was me."
You Su inadvertently felt the heavy weight supported by the backs of his fingers and cautiously said,
"Junior Sister, why does it feel like you've... gained weight?"
"Get lost!"
Before you continue