Pruney

Her temples felt as though countless silver needles were stabbing into them. Li Jia opened her eyes with a frown, every throb bringing a dull ache.

Was she hungover?

Unlike the haziness of her dreams, she clearly saw two figures in the mirror on the ceiling.

Though the two of them were covered by a thin blanket in the mirror, her exposed skin, collarbones, and cheeks were covered in red marks. Perhaps carried away by pleasure, the other woman had bitten deeply into her shoulder, leaving teeth marks like a brand, proof that she belonged to someone.

A faint woody fragrance lingered in the room, mingled with the bone-deep scent of lust, bearing witness to last night's lingering passion, when the two of them had shared the pleasures of the flesh.

When Li Jia made out the face of the person beside her, only one thought remained: I'm done for.

How had she ended up sleeping with her boss!

And her boss had clearly been the top.

How had she ended up being the bottom?

"Ugh, I wanted to be the top..."

At first, Li Jia had been a little frightened. One-night stands were perfectly normal among young people these days. Though she was a Little Yellow Chick who had never tasted meat, she more or less knew what had happened between her and Hera, and her mind filled in all sorts of things.

Li Jia's memory cut off after she touched the Light Vortex. After touching it, her body had burned uncontrollably, and she thought again of that little mermaid girl.

Once bitten, twice shy. It really was true.

From now on, she wouldn't pick wildflowers by the roadside, and the same went for unfamiliar little girls by the roadside!

From Li Jia's perspective, a god as haughty as Hera would never have taken the initiative to drag her into some stumbling entanglement. Most likely, she had fallen for the little girl's trick and been afflicted with some kind of lust poison that only existed in novels.

Then her body had erupted with strength, and she had forced herself on Hera.

What a sin, what a sin...

How could anyone make such a terrible mistake?

Still, apart from some soreness, nothing felt wrong with her body. The technique...

Excellent.

Had Hera done this before?

Then how many women had come before her?

Would a god this ridiculously powerful really have no beauties around her?

Her fear was drowned out by sourness.

Li Jia kept reassuring herself that she wasn't some old relic from the Qing dynasty. It was perfectly normal for Hera to have had a sex life, but something seemed to be blocking her chest, aching dully.

Unable to catch her breath and feeling terribly uncomfortable, Li Jia slowly slipped out of Hera's arms, where she had been sleeping, and turned onto her side so she no longer had to look at her.

Her eyes burned and swelled. Suspicion lodged in her heart like a thorn. Li Jia bit her lip to keep herself from crying aloud, but she couldn't stop her shoulders from trembling.

Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes, and muffled sobs still escaped her throat, like a kitten's whimpers. Her tears soaked a large patch of the pillow.

"Why are you crying?"

The woman's voice was a little softer than usual, though its tone remained cool. "You're not burning up anymore."

She turned Li Jia onto her back to face her. Li Jia saw Hera's sharply defined jaw, her fingertips resting against Li Jia's forehead. Her tightly knitted brows slowly relaxed.

Li Jia had her own stubborn streak. She didn't want Hera to see her jealousy and began, "It's nothing." The rest of her words stuck in her dry throat, leaving her unable to get out another syllable. She could only move her lips in vain.

The woman rose and brought over a prepared bowl of warm water from the table. The rim of the porcelain bowl still carried the particular warmth of body heat. "Have some water first. You had a fever for half the night. You'll get dehydrated."

Li Jia nodded and took the bowl. She was terribly parched. Her fingertips accidentally brushed Hera's palm, and her face began to heat up. As though burned, she drew them back beneath the bowl.

After drinking the water, she handed the empty bowl to Hera. Hera returned to bed, and neither of them spoke.

The atmosphere fell utterly silent for a while, leaving Li Jia on tenterhooks.

What was this supposed to be?

Post-sex water?

Didn't novels always say that after a night of passion, the male lead would lounge against the headboard and light a post-sex cigarette, then gaze lovingly at the female lead and say, "I'll take responsibility for you"?

Li Jia had never received systematic sex education. Everything she imagined or knew about sex came from adult books and films.

Her first proper introduction to sex had been in middle school biology, but the biology teacher had rushed through the chapter on reproduction. Below the podium, the boys hid their snickers behind their textbooks, while the girls lowered their heads.

Li Jia had laid her textbook flat on her desk, tracing words like "ovaries" and "fallopian tubes" with her fingertips. Those words in black printing ink felt unfamiliar and stiff, nowhere near as vivid as the descriptions in the novel she kept hidden at the bottom of her wardrobe.

She saw that the boy in front of her had his textbook open to the illustration of the reproductive system, looking at it with his male deskmate as though it were something funny.

Li Jia felt angry for no reason she could explain. After less than ten minutes, the biology teacher skipped ahead. "This chapter won't be on the exam. You only need a general understanding. You'll understand naturally when you're older anyway. It's common knowledge."

After the bell rang, the boys gathered in the hallway and jeered. The textbook's "fertilization process" had awakened some desire in them, and they began spouting dirty talk as though it came naturally. The girls blushed and moved away when they heard it. No one dared stop to discuss it.

Li Jia didn't understand. No one had told her, or rather, no one had ever told any of them how to understand the things beyond that "common knowledge."

For example, that the vaginal opening and the urethra weren't the same place, or how to keep tasting forbidden fruit from producing little fruits, and that the first time didn't actually cause bleeding; tears caused by overly rough movements did.

They had to rely on guesses and fantasies for all of that.

Reproductive knowledge was mumbled through, while reproductive demands were trumpeted aloud.

Li Jia sat on the edge of the bed with her back to Hera, knees drawn up and arms wrapped around her shins. Her gaze rested on the patch of morning sunlight on the floor, her thoughts unknown.

Her hair still hung loose, the ends a little crimped into curves from Hera's handling the night before.

Hera guessed that Li Jia was probably weighing things up. She had always been clever. Was she now thinking about how to start a conversation with her, or pondering what excuse she could use to hurriedly dress and run away?

Li Jia was so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn't moved for a long time. Seeing that she wasn't speaking, Hera reached out and pinched the soft flesh beneath her upper arm.

She pinched harder and harder, until Li Jia cried out in pain.

Looking at her like this, Hera suddenly found it a little funny, yet felt a little heartache too. She shifted closer, sitting beside her. "Come closer. Keeping so far away-are you afraid I'll eat you?"

Li Jia instantly flushed scarlet, the redness spreading from the tips of her ears all the way down her neck. She hesitated, but still obediently inched toward her. Her knees nearly touched Hera's leg before she quickly drew them back, like a kitten tentatively approaching warmth, sly and keen.

"What are you thinking about?"

She asked even more softly, afraid of startling her.

"What were you crying about just now? Are you still feeling unwell?"

Li Jia pressed her lips together. Only after a long while did she whisper, "N-no... nothing... I just think it's a little unfair."

Hera was puzzled, her voice full of bewilderment. "What? What's unfair?"

Li Jia clenched her teeth. Her sadness had already turned to grief and indignation. "It wasn't your first time, but it was mine. You're a liar!"

The moment she finished speaking, she saw Hera's expression freeze. Hera frowned, the confusion in her eyes deepening, her tone more serious than Li Jia had ever heard it. "What are you thinking?"

"It's just..." Li Jia's voice grew quieter and quieter, her face flushed bright red, but she forced herself to continue. "Last night... we did what only married couples do. I was all muddled and fell asleep, and you made me feel really good. You didn't seem nervous at all yesterday... have you had lots of other women?"

Only then did Hera understand. She looked at the tear-reddened corners of Li Jia's eyes and smiled helplessly, reaching out to draw her into her arms. Her voice softened. "I was so nervous I couldn't sleep for half the night, afraid I'd hurt you. Couldn't you tell?"

She lowered her head and pointed at her fingertips. "Look. From helping you last night, they got all pruney here. Didn't you notice?"