Spring Fever

A Snake Who Loved Kissing

Bu Yao's back stiffened. The anger she'd felt was worn down by how clingy Xing Yue had become.

She didn't seem used to this change in Xing Yue: the rare tenderness, the neediness, even the... obedience.

After all, Xing Yue rarely indulged her temper. Had becoming her girlfriend changed Xing Yue like this? Then didn't that mean Xing Yue had treated He Zhiwen even better? Those two had dated for seven whole years!

At that thought, Bu Yao nearly exploded. "Get off!"

She ordered Xing Yue to stop lying on her lap.

Xing Yue was baffled. How had trying to coax her only made her angrier?

She shifted onto her back and looked up at Bu Yao. "I can't. My leg hurts."

"Your leg hurts, not your waist. What's stopping you?" Bu Yao wanted to pull Xing Yue away, but she was afraid the pain was real. Her hand hovered in midair, unsure where to go.

In the end, Xing Yue caught it and pressed it against her cheek. Bu Yao's body ran warmer than most people's, and once Xing Yue felt that warmth against her face, she couldn't let go. She kissed and nuzzled Bu Yao's hand like a cat with catnip.

"Don't be angry yet. Save it for another day. Make time for something else right now." Xing Yue sat up, her throat tight. She cupped Bu Yao's soft, pale cheeks and bent to kiss her. "Go take a shower. I left some new clothes for you in the bathroom."

Bu Yao's cheeks were a little plump. After only a few gentle pinches, they turned red. Xing Yue let go, restrained the urge to keep teasing her, and brushed her lips over them instead. "Go on. I can't wait. I want to see you in them now. I'll turn off the lights, so don't be shy about coming out."

Xing Yue had been lonely for too long. After their wild night together, she wanted more.

She clung to Bu Yao and murmured against her ear, "Mm... I missed you. One day apart, and I already missed you so much..."

With those blunt words and Xing Yue's breath against her ear, Bu Yao could more or less guess what kind of new clothes awaited her. Her cheeks warmed. She was still angry, yet Xing Yue had coaxed her into a daze, and her feet carried her toward the bathroom.

When Xing Yue acted spoiled, she was hard to refuse. Bu Yao had fallen right into her hands.

The bathroom's pale lotus-pink tiles were soothing to look at. On a shelf mounted to the wall lay two pieces of clothing as thin as cicada wings.

Bu Yao didn't even pick them up. Just looking made her eyes feel as though they'd been scalded. The lace bandeau tied in a bow at the back, with a ruffled panel in front. Lift the panel, and there was nothing underneath...

The bottom was a one-piece pair of black stockings.

So Xing Yue liked this sort of thing, she thought, blushing. She liked it too.

Before showering, Bu Yao twisted her long hair into a bun. Afterward, it had come loose and tousled, a few damp strands falling over her shoulders.

She put on the clothes Xing Yue had been longing to see. She tied every slender strap into a soft bow. Before long, Xing Yue would undo those bows with her own hands... Bu Yao grew shy at the thought. Desire stirred within her, and she wound a silky ribbon around her index finger, again and again.

By the time Bu Yao came out of the bathroom, night had settled over the room. Moonlight streamed through the blinds. Though the lights were off, it wasn't completely dark; the soft glow was just right.

She had barely reached the bed when Xing Yue caught her wrist and pulled her onto it. Her bath towel fell away in the struggle.

"Xing Yue!" Bu Yao cried, startled.

Especially with Xing Yue acting so impatient...

Xing Yue reached up and pulled out Bu Yao's hair tie. Her fluffy, orange-red waves spilled down her back like a waterfall, fanning out over her waist. Xing Yue had always been captivated by hair the color of a sunset.

She held Bu Yao close and breathed in the scent at the back of her neck, kissing her half-damp hair along the way. "Baby, how did you manage this? You only grew soft in all the right places."

Her breathing grew ragged. She nibbled at Bu Yao's ear, her fingers threading through her hair.

Bu Yao crossed her arms over her chest. Her words came out muffled, but her voice was sweet. "So if I had a soft waist, you wouldn't like me?"

Xing Yue wrapped a hand around her waist, measuring it, and thought seriously for a moment. "That would be adorable. I could give you a squeeze while we slept. You'd be so soft I could hold you all day."

She was undeniably drawn to beauty. She didn't like deciding who was beautiful and who wasn't, though she had tastes of her own. But when she imagined Bu Yao a little plumper, Bu Yao with less fair skin, even an elderly Bu Yao with wrinkles, crow's feet, and dry hair, they all looked beautiful to her.

Perhaps once she loved someone enough, feeling outweighed everything else. When she loved a woman this much, her idea of beauty became simple: Bu Yao looked beautiful no matter what.

Bu Yao gave a little huff. "I don't believe you."

Talk like that might fool an eighteen-year-old girl.

A smile touched Xing Yue's lips. She laid Bu Yao back on the bed and straightened, her fingers lightly catching the ruffled lace over Bu Yao's chest.

Bu Yao folded her arms tighter.

"Don't be nervous. I won't touch." Xing Yue laughed softly at her reaction. She guided Bu Yao's hand to the fabric and coaxed, "Come on. Lift it."

She really wasn't going to touch it. She wanted Bu Yao to lift it herself.

Bu Yao's face went unbearably hot. "No..." she whispered.

Xing Yue pressed a finger to her full red lips, her gaze deepening. "Yes."

She kept coaxing Bu Yao in a low murmur. It took little effort to persuade her to do as she asked, one request after another.

*

Late that night.

Xing Yue still had to go over the script the production team had given her tomorrow, but she had no desire to rest. She only wanted to stay close to Bu Yao. Even in the middle of the night, she couldn't bear to sleep and kept cuddling the woman in her arms.

"You're that good? Then you'll be the one making a name for your firm." She patted Bu Yao's back idly and caught a lock of her hair, rubbing it between her fingers.

Bu Yao rested her forehead against Xing Yue's collarbone. "Of course. I'm a professional."

Xing Yue listened as her girlfriend told her about her first day at work. She'd handled divorce cases before, but this was her first time taking on a different kind of case. She complained about how strange it was, talked about the client, then about her colleagues at the firm.

Big things and small, interesting things and dull, Bu Yao told Xing Yue about them all. She looked so earnest as she spoke that Xing Yue couldn't resist stealing a bite now and then.

Bu Yao was far more capable than Xing Yue had realized. She had a temper and could be spoiled, willful, overbearing, and a little arrogant, but her professional knowledge was solid. She wore a cold expression when speaking with clients, and none of them dared complain to her face for fear she would quit.

The firm's owner had only recently returned to the mainland and was just starting out. When Bu Yao applied, she'd initially hesitated to hire her, afraid of offending the Bu Family. But Bu Yao assured her repeatedly that her family wouldn't interfere with her work. Besides, the firm needed a lawyer with a strong reputation to make its name. Bu Yao was the perfect choice.

To be precise, the firm had found a gold mine.

"When you came to see me, your mother didn't give you a hard time, did she?" Xing Yue's dark eyes gleamed like an ink-wash landscape. Her Phoenix Eyes were alluring, and after their time together, that allure seemed even more pronounced.

Bu Yao shook her head. "Why would my mom give me a hard time?"

Her mother hadn't made any demands. She had only asked Bu Yao to admire the flowers with her and reminded her to attend her birthday banquet next week. Even if her mother hadn't mentioned it, Bu Yao would have gone.

The banquet wasn't just about her. It concerned the Bu Family's standing and reputation. Her birthday was celebrated lavishly and publicly every year.

Madam Bu would have happily respected her daughter's wishes if Bu Yao refused, but Bu Yao wasn't that willful.

Xing Yue's gaze shifted. "Of course she couldn't bear to trouble her precious daughter. Other people are another matter."

Madam Bu truly missed Bu Yao. Something a phone call could have settled had turned into a request for Bu Yao to come home and look at flowers with her. But Xing Yue had helped create this situation, one where Madam Bu had to resort to little tricks just to see her daughter. Madam Bu would probably blame her.

Bu Yao raised her head and bit Xing Yue's chin. "Don't say bad things about my mom!"

"I won't. Give me a kiss?" Xing Yue cupped Bu Yao's face. Her Snake Tongue caressed her lips, then she caught lips lovelier than a Red Camellia's petals between her teeth.

Snakes actually loved kissing. Their tongues had many nerves, and a kiss let them fully savor the pleasure their partner brought them.

If one partner in a couple stopped wanting to kiss, it often meant she had someone else. Her Snake Tongue would carry the scent of that little wild snake, and one kiss would give her away.

Xing Yue didn't resent Bu Yao for defending Madam Bu. It would have been heartbreaking if Bu Yao had taken Xing Yue's side against her mother.

In Bu Yao's world, Madam Bu was the mother who could do anything and would give her whatever she asked for.

Perhaps Madam Bu was hurting now too. Her daughter wouldn't listen to her, insisted on being with a woman whose family background was no match for hers, and had even argued with her family and left home for that woman.

She had turned her back on the family's vast business to endure the hardships of working for someone else. Once, she hadn't given a thought to how much things cost; now she had to count every coin, even at breakfast.

How could Madam Bu not hate Xing Yue? To her, Xing Yue was the villain who had lured her daughter away, the kind whose crimes were beyond forgiveness.

Put that way, Xing Yue really was unforgivable.

"I'll work hard and earn money. Just don't leave me. I really can't go through this again." Their kiss was so passionate, yet Xing Yue's words sounded so helpless.

She knew that no matter how hard she worked or how much money she earned, she would never reach the Bu Family's level. How could an ordinary person's efforts ever match a family that had prospered for generations? To people like them, hard work counted for nothing.

Bu Yao pinched Xing Yue's ears, enjoying herself as she gave a playful huff. "I'll date you for a few years, then dump you when you're in your forties. Scared?"

Those two teasing sentences brought tears to Xing Yue's eyes. The moonlight didn't reach her, so Bu Yao couldn't see her expression.

Xing Yue only held the woman in her arms, breathing slow and deep. She smiled bitterly. "Scared. Scared to death..."