Chapter 44.4

ji qingzhou’s lips trembled imperceptibly. it took a long time for her mind to sober up. her eyes were hazy, and she didn’t dare to look straight at shen rongyu.

shen rongyu gently caressed her lips. he still felt familiarity with their contours, and it was apt to say that he was deeply attached to them.

“zhouzhou,” he called her. his voice was still deep and calm, exactly the same as how he had called her in the cultivation space.

this was him. nothing had changed.

ji qingzhou reacted almost reflexively. she didn’t look at shen rongyu but only raised her head as she heard his call.

as she did in the cultivation space, she followed his voice, her lips parted slightly, and she moved to kiss him.

all of a sudden, the cool night wind hit her cheeks. she came to an abrupt halt and her eyes widened.

at this time, her lips rose halfway and fell on his chin. her eyes were slightly dazed.

oh, right. she realized that this was not the cultivation space.

she wanted to get out of his arms in a panic, but shen rongyu gathered her waist and pulled her back.

“zhouzhou, what did you want to do?” shen rongyu asked seriously. he looked down at her face and found that her cheeks were rosy. she had always been so shy.

ji qingzhou turned her face away. she was an incompetent liar, so she could only zip her lips.

shen rongyu’s eyes traced her lips, which were tightly pressed and trembling.

how would it feel to kiss her? such an idea popped in his mind all of a sudden.

nonetheless, he didn’t move. he just hugged her and restrained the surging waves that wanted to break through the thin ice in his eyes.

he kept wondering why ji qingzhou acted like this every time they finished cultivating. he didn’t know anything about what occurred in the cultivation space, and all he could feel was his qi intertwined with ji qingzhou’s vital energy…he himself didn’t know why he was sticking to her, though.

shen rongyu was puzzled. he didn’t want to ask, however, because he guessed that ji qingzhou didn’t know either. after all, her cultivation base was too low.

ji qingzhou pushed his shoulders with both hands. “xiao yu-shixiong, i’m going back.”

“let’s go.” shen rongyu released her and didn’t say anything more.

when ji qingzhou stepped on his burial snow sword, she was even more confused. however, she was sure that shen rongyu’s divine sense in the cultivation space was definitely teaching her something.

— is that what i’m going to learn, shen rongyu?

they arrived in front of her small courtyard and she stepped down from the burial snow sword.

when shen rongyu saw her turn and prepared to enter the courtyard, he put his hand on the gate and gently opened the latch with a ‘clack’.

he remembered what she said not long ago. she asked him to teach her.

what was he supposed to teach her? if she didn’t know it, did he know?

shen rongyu decided to spout nonsense and stopped ji qingzhou, “zhouzhou.”

ji qingzhou turned her head but didn’t look at him. “yes?”

“lip to lip is a way to express love between lovers,” he said casually, using his poor knowledge about couples to popularize science to ji qingzhou.

“so, even if you can use it to cultivate, it’s not enough,” he added. he thought ji qingzhou was silly, so it’d be better to remind her. “i can’t do that, and naturally no one else can either.”

“oh,” ji qingzhou replied expressionlessly.

you can’t do it?

you’re quite good at it, shen rongyu.

ji qingzhou told him. “thank you. xiao yu-shixiong. i understand.”

she watched him leave, and his figure disappeared under the autumn moonlight along with the cool air.

ji qingzhou wondered, was the red qi expressing love?

how was that possible? otherwise, the system would have jumped out and said that she had succeeded in capturing her target.

she was bewildered, and became more and more confused. consequently, when she was feeding maomao green peaches in the yard, her movements were a little flustered.

maomao’s moist nose gently nudged her, seemingly playing with her.

ji qingzhou liked maomao very much. she didn’t need to worry about him, and with fodder and carrots in the yard, he would find food by himself. he ate his three meals on time, and he would not eat randomly.

you you always troubled her and asked her to feed him.

she patted maomao’s back and climbed onto the bed after washing.

before drifting off to sleep, ji qingzhou asked the system, “system, is what shen rongyu said true?”

“yeah,” the system answered her and even encouraged her, “host, he definitely wanted to kiss you, but was too shy to do so.”

“do you think a villain will be shy?” ji qingzhou asked suspiciously. “system, don’t lie to me.”

“er…” the system was also speechless.

ji qingzhou didn’t share what happened in the cultivation space, and now she began to wonder if everything that happened there was real. maybe it was her fantasy.

she had always been fond of fantasizing and coming up with some strange things.

she covered herself with her quilt and went to sleep. tomorrow was the alchemy class assessment. she didn’t have to participate, so she should be able to sleep all day and take a rest.

unfortunately, shen rongyu knocked on her courtyard door the next day. ji qingzhou had no plans of going out at all, so she didn’t even change her clothes, just put on her outer robe, rubbed her eyes and opened the door for him.

shen rongyu looked down at her, and asked, “do you want to go to the alchemy class examination, zhouzhou?”

“i want to sleep,” ji qingzhou whispered.

shen rongyu put a letter in front of her. ji qingzhou didn’t know who would send a letter to her, so her eyes cleared a bit, and she took the letter.

in the letter, the note said that someone had invited ji qingzhou to watch her alchemy class test, and it was signed by ying xiu.

ji qingzhou didn’t understand why ying xiu invited her to go and watch, but since she invited her, she should just go and take a look.

thus, she nodded to shen rongyu and said, “xiao yu-shixiong, then let me go change my clothes and go with you.”

——————–

the author has something to say:

zhouzhou: i don’t know anything about love and affection. if you know about it, just teach me.

shen rongyu outside: kissing is a way to express love (academic tone).

shen rongyu inside: wild kisses.