Chapter 44: Vanilla Mud
“When exactly are you going to do something about that messy hair of yours?”
Ji Yueling seemed very dissatisfied with Gu Qing’s hairstyle.
Gu Qing had medium-length hair that he wore loose. When it got in his eyes and bothered him, he would tie it up with a hair tie. Lu Qianqian had even tied it into two upward-pointing little braids before, which looked ridiculous.
“If I fix my hair, how will I beg for food? Doesn’t this messy hairstyle look perfect for getting food?” Gu Qing answered matter-of-factly.
“Do you really need to depend on begging for the rest of your life?”
“It’s not that I need to, but I like this lifestyle, just like how some people clearly know they’re being teased and played with like toys, yet still can’t help but throw themselves forward because they want to chase thrills, while lying to themselves that the other person is helping them. I think compared to me, the latter is more foolish.”
“The master can also be the slave’s slave.” Ji Yueling’s eyes looked at him playfully, “You’ve got the primary and secondary relationship wrong.”
“I like that title—can you call me master every time we meet from now on?” Gu Qing looked at her expectantly.
“Trash.” Ji Yueling didn’t hide the disdain in her eyes.
“Slut.” Gu Qing didn’t hesitate to begin his slut-shaming.
The two cursed at each other while finishing a dance, though their dance steps were surprisingly harmonious. When the ballroom music became upbeat, Gu Qing released his hold on her waist and started doing a silly dance. Ji Yueling also improvised, moving her body to his rhythm. Their bodies came close together at one moment—close enough that either could kiss the other’s cheek with just a slight bow of the head.
But neither lowered their head.
Lu Qianqian held her champagne, sipping it in small mouthfuls. She sat at the edge of the dance floor, with small cakes arranged on the table beside her. The cakes were really delicious—she had eaten four in a row, since Gu Qing had said she could eat anything here freely.
Her eyes just watched Ji Yueling and Gu Qing on the dance floor. There wasn’t any sour jealousy, just quiet observation, though her eyes held a hint of small confusion.

Gu Qing and Ji Yueling returned to the table, with Gu Qing bringing many small cakes to arrange on the table.
Ji Yueling was slightly tired from dancing. She leaned back in her chair, her snow-white slender legs under her dress pressed together, the slender high heels making her calf curves even more beautiful. She now sat beside Lu Qianqian, while Gu Qing showed no signs of awkwardness or pressure, just happily eating his little cakes.
Ji Yueling picked up her champagne and took a sip, then naturally let her gaze fall on Gu Qing, saying flatly, “Come to my place tonight?”
“What would I do at your place?” Gu Qing mumbled unclearly, perhaps having eaten his cake too quickly and choking. He picked up his champagne glass and drained it in one gulp. Ji Yueling’s eyes were still so cold as she asked back, “What else could we do?”
When she said this, she also gave Gu Qing a resentful look, her eyes performing a hint of shy annoyance, as if she were really complaining that Gu Qing was being deliberately obtuse.
Gu Qing looked toward Lu Qianqian with a “Qianqian save me” expression, but Lu Qianqian just blinked innocently and didn’t speak.
“I need to take Qianqian home.” Gu Qing hurried to say.
“I’ll take her.”
“Doesn’t your car only seat two people?”
“I drove a different one today.”
“No way, drunk driving is too dangerous. What if something happens and Qianqian gets hurt?” Gu Qing answered righteously and matter-of-factly, except under the table Ji Yueling quietly lifted her leg, the tip of her high heel lightly stepping on his shoe.
She leaned forward slightly, her eyes looking at Gu Qing while she leaned close to his ear to whisper.
Gu Qing’s eyes seemed to light up slightly.

In the end, Ji Yueling drove Lu Qianqian home first, with Gu Qing and Lu Qianqian sitting in the back seat. Because Lu Qianqian had drunk a small glass of champagne, her head was slightly dizzy, so she leaned against Gu Qing’s chest. Gu Qing gently held the girl’s slender waist while the wind from the window blew on her fair cheeks.
Ji Yueling just focused on driving carefully. Half an hour later, she dropped Lu Qianqian off downstairs. Gu Qing accompanied Lu Qianqian out of the car and upstairs, all the way to her front door. When the door opened, Gu Qing scratched his head and said, “So I’ll go now?”
“Are you going to do bad things with Sister Ji?” Lu Qianqian’s eyes gazed at him gently.
“Ahahaha no, I don’t know, maybe?”
Gu Qing’s guilt was completely exposed under this gentle gaze. He thought he probably wasn’t going to do bad things—he just wanted to… but of course he couldn’t say it out loud. Yet Lu Qianqian’s eyes were so gentle, just looking at him gently like that, saying softly, “Go ahead, be safe.”
“I’m leaving.”
“Mm.”
“Really leaving.”
“Mm.” Lu Qianqian nodded innocently.
So Gu Qing turned and walked out the door. He pressed the elevator button, dejectedly ruffling his messy hair.

Ji Yueling waited downstairs. Gu Qing got into the passenger seat, then naturally put his legs up on the front dashboard. Ji Yueling was already too lazy to remind him and just drove silently until they reached the residential complex, went upstairs, and arrived at her home.
“Go shower first.” Ji Yueling poked Gu Qing’s chest with her finger, but this time she threw him a bathrobe before he went into the bathroom.
When Gu Qing finished showering and came out wearing the bathrobe, Ji Yueling went into the bathroom. He sat on the sofa waiting boredly, with the sound of water splashing in the bathroom. Gu Qing suddenly thought he should have asked if they could shower together—that seemed like it would be interesting.
What Ji Yueling had whispered in his ear earlier was that she had bought a very sexy set of underwear.
When Ji Yueling came out, she had a towel wrapped around her body. The towel wasn’t long, and below it her legs were slender with a hint of pink. Her hair was still damp as she went to the vanity mirror to blow-dry it. Gu Qing sat boredly to the side until her hair was almost dry. Only then did Ji Yueling turn around and ask flatly, “What are you still sitting there for? Why aren’t you warming the bed?”
So Gu Qing silently got up and went to lie under the covers.
He wrapped himself tightly in the blanket. After a while, Ji Yueling came back. She untied the towel around her body, revealing light green French lingerie underneath. It wasn’t deliberately sexy—the mint green fabric clung to her snow-white skin like new grass sprouting in spring snow. Even though her eyes were so cold, just standing there in only underwear being watched by him, her snow-white cheeks still showed a trace of pink.
“Those hundred slaps—I want to give ten of them now.” Gu Qing suddenly said.
Ji Yueling glanced at him sideways, and after a moment of silence, she slowly came to the chair beside the bed, turned around with her back to Gu Qing, knelt with her knees against the chair, her hands gently holding the chair back, her slender waist sinking slightly. Her tender pink bottom wrapped in light green underwear now faced him, as if waiting for him to deliver the slaps.
Gu Qing wouldn’t be gentle with her.
If the atmosphere had been somewhat ambiguous the moment before, the next moment Ji Yueling’s angry cry changed everything, because Gu Qing had really used too much force. The sound of one slap nearly echoed throughout the entire bedroom, and her tender white skin immediately turned red, but this was only the first one. The next moment, Gu Qing delivered the remaining nine slaps with lightning speed.
The scene now didn’t look like foreplay, but really like a brutal parent disciplining a child.
Ji Yueling’s chest pressed against the chair back, tears now welling up in her eyes. When she looked back at him, her voice trembled slightly, “You don’t know how to be gentle at all.”
“Saying that shows you’re finally starting to understand me.” Gu Qing looked at her innocently, then suddenly spread his arms, “Come into master’s arms for a hug.”
“Go die.” Ji Yueling gave him a cold look, went to the closet to get another blanket, wrapped herself tightly in it, and the two lay down on the bed without turning off the lights. The lights were so bright, as if nothing could hide.
Gu Qing stared directly at the ceiling light until his eyes were nearly blinded by the white glare, then finally turned his head to look at Ji Yueling’s face. Ji Yueling was lying slightly on her side, her eyes already secretly watching him.
In the bright light, the two looked at each other. Ji Yueling’s body was now tightly wrapped in bedding. Gu Qing blinked at her, “Why didn’t you crawl into my blanket?”
“Don’t want to let you kiss and touch my legs and stuff.”
“Hey, when we slept together last time, I didn’t grope you, did I?”
“Just because you didn’t last time doesn’t mean you won’t this time.”
“Then what’s the point of calling me to your house? Just to watch you sleep?”
“Mm, when you’re beside me, I feel very secure and sleep better.”
“If you want the horse to run, you have to give the horse grass.”
Ji Yueling was first slightly stunned, then her cold voice accompanied his weird talk, “So, you want to fuck me?”
“Seeing your cold dead face makes me instantly lose my libido…” Gu Qing sighed, then lifted his blanket and began somewhat forcefully pulling at Ji Yueling’s bedding. Ji Yueling half-resisted, and soon Gu Qing had crawled into her blanket.
Gu Qing buried his face in her soft chest, greedily taking a deep breath and nuzzling against it. The underwear fabric was soft, her chest warm, and her freshly bathed body full of the light scent of jasmine flowers. Ji Yueling glanced at him flatly, “If you’re going to nuzzle, might as well take the bra off.”
So Gu Qing began trying to reach out and unhook her bra, but after fumbling for a long time, he couldn’t manage it.
“You actually don’t know how to unhook a woman’s bra?” Ji Yueling was now somewhat surprised.
“I’m a virgin, let me emphasize that again.”
“Why do you sound so proud?”
“Of course maintaining pure love in this absurd and crazy world is something to be proud of!” Gu Qing answered as if it were obvious.
“Then hold onto your pride until you die.” Ji Yueling said flatly, sitting up from the blanket with her back to Gu Qing, fully exposing her snow-white smooth back to his view, letting Gu Qing properly study how exactly to unhook a woman’s bra.
His fumbling, curious manner was like a baby full of curiosity about the new world. After a good while, there was a click as her bra was completely unhooked, but the next moment Gu Qing helped her put it back on, muttering, “Let me study how to unhook it one-handed…”