"No."
Wu Li replied in a hoarse voice, releasing the warm white jade bead he had been biting, and instead buried his face deeply into the crook of her slender neck.
His hot breath spread across her skin, carrying an unyielding stubbornness.
She was so disobedient; if he let go, she might slip away to somewhere else in the blink of an eye.
It was best to tie her up at all times.
He would tie her up himself, using these arms, binding her firmly in his embrace.
"Please, dear Lili, let me catch my breath."
Chai Xiaomi's voice was naturally soft and sweet, like the most lingering wind in Jiangnan, dyed by the misty rain outside the window, drifting into a person's heart.
When she deliberately acted spoiled, she dragged out the end of her sentence, wrapping around him like melted honey.
It was extremely fatal.
Almost subconsciously, Wu Li's body reacted before his mind could think, as if controlled by an invisible force, and the tight grip of his arms loosened slightly.
But only slightly.
Chai Xiaomi pursed her lips, rolled her eyes, and brought out her killer move.
"Brother~~~"
With a trill that naturally came with three tildes, she even faked a Taiwanese accent.
Chai Xiaomi noticed that the dense, impenetrable dark aura surrounding them instantly retreated like a tide, as if thousands of beasts returning to their cages, all absorbed back into Wu Li's body.
Her vision quickly cleared, and the warm, moist white mist began to curl up again, lingering over the surface of the pool.
But Wu Li still did not make a sound.
The silence spread in the hot and humid mist, lasting so long that they could hear each other's crossing breaths.
He suddenly hugged her tightly and sank down without warning.
Chai Xiaomi found that her body seemed to have been unsealed and she could move again.
She hurriedly held her breath. She was submerged in the warm pool water for only a moment before he brought her back to the surface.
She hastily wiped away the splashing water in front of her eyes, only to see that the young man's face and high-tied black hair were already soaked, and water droplets were dripping down his handsome jawline.
An abrupt sinking and floating.
This action seemed like a cover-up, quietly washing away some traces on his face that he didn't want others to see.
Then, Wu Li pulled her to a shallower part of the pool, allowing her to step on the bottom.
"Speak." He reverted to his lazy and casual posture, even hooking up a fierce smile. "What's the best way to eat you? But I think pan-frying, stir-frying, boiling, deep-frying, braising, sautéing, simmering, and stewing can't compare to the original flavor."
He chuckled softly, his breath dangerous:
"How about I learn from how you ate that sugar figure last time and bite your head off first, what do you say?"
Here he goes again.
Putting on a nasty and annoying look, deliberately scaring her.
Chai Xiaomi looked at him quietly.
Those heterochromatic eyes were wet, sparkling like crystal-clear glass, but there was a faint, imperceptible redness at the corners of his eyes.
Her heart ached slightly, and she muttered inwardly: You brat, still pretending.
Wu Li: "Why aren't you speaking? Scared? Is this all..."
His voice abruptly stopped.
Chai Xiaomi suddenly raised her hands and gently cupped his face.
Her warm fingertips caressed the reddened corners of his eyes.
Then—
She kissed him deeply.
In the forest that time, he had called it "shutting her mouth" in a beautiful way.
So, this time, it was her turn to shut his.
Wu Li was clearly caught off guard, his body stiffened, allowing her lips, carrying warm water vapor, to press down fiercely, grinding and lingering for several bites.
Then, the kiss became fine and dense, like spring rain falling on petals.
She lightly pecked his nose tip, cheeks, and finally stopped at his eyes.
Her lips mischievously swept over the roots of his eyelashes, kissing once, pursing once.
She almost pulled his trembling eyelashes.
Even so, Wu Li didn't dare to move, silently enduring her mischief.
"Lili, I'll teach you a sweeter way to eat a person." Chai Xiaomi turned her face sideways and lightly rubbed his ear, which was red to the point of bleeding, her tone as soft as a cat's paw scratching the tip of a heart.
"Do you think that every time I said I like you, it was just because of the love gu, and I was just saying it?"
"When the fake becomes real, the real also becomes fake; where there is nothing, there is something, and yet there is nothing. You're so smart, why are you the only one who can't discern my heart? Since that's the case, I'll prove it to you."
Chai Xiaomi calculated in her heart that, as an older sister, she should at least guide her younger brother a little.
Although her practical experience was zero, she had at least talked about it on paper.
She looked into his suddenly contracting pupils, her fingers slowly moving to the ties at the waist of her ruqun skirt, and gave it a gentle tug.
"What... are you doing...?"
Wu Li's voice was so hoarse it was almost broken, and he suddenly reached out and grabbed her wrist that was untying her clothes.
"Doing something rated 18+." Chai Xiaomi lowered her eyelashes, glancing at his hand gripping hers, his knuckles distinct, slender and powerful, and she inadvertently thought of those taut and smooth muscle lines under his collar.
"Let me tell you a secret," she curled her lips, pretending to be calm and lowering her voice, "My figure is very graceful."
Amidst the swirling water vapor, she pulled the cold silver ring around his neck, drawing him closer. Her breath brushed against his tightly pursed lips, her heart beating like a drum, "Want to see more clearly? If you want to see, carry me to the shore."
God knows.
When she said these words, her legs submerged in the water were trembling slightly.
Her face, flushed like a rosy cloud, had already completely betrayed her raw panic.
Thus.
The mouth-strong king will eventually be punished.
At this moment, she was sitting in the lush and soft flowers on the shore, her wet head hanging down, her trembling fingertips tangling with the ties of her ruqun skirt.
But the more panicked she got, the messier it became. She actually pulled the wrong knot, and the tie twisted into a dead knot, binding her tightly.
Wu Li felt like he was undergoing a slow death by a thousand cuts.
For some reason, his body would always act before his consciousness, unconditionally obeying her every word.
By the time he came back to his senses, he had already steadily carried her onto the shore.
In front of him, she was soaked all over, the light green gauze clinging wetly to her body, outlining her slender and undulating contours.
The hem of her skirt was messily bunched up and piled on her fair calves. Her collar had been torn open by more than half in the panic just now, revealing half of her round shoulder.
Her long wet hair stuck to the side of her neck, water droplets sliding down her collarbone.
She looked exactly like a spirit transformed from the depths of the flowers.
Just one look made him want to fall into an abyss of eternal damnation.
He kept his eyes downcast, his Adam's apple rolling violently, using all his strength to restrain the crazy urge to swallow her alive.
But at this moment, she spoke again:
"Lili, this dead knot can't be untied."
A very ordinary sentence.
So ordinary, just like every time she encountered a small trouble, she would subconsciously call him over to help.
The difference was.
This time, her voice was so coquettish and sticky, the end of her sentence trembling and hooking his heart to beat crazily like a drum.
There was also a faint, weak crying tone seeping through. Knowing that she was truly anxious, he had no choice but to brace himself and lean over to untie it for her.
Chai Xiaomi knew that for a handicraft enthusiast who liked weaving grass ropes, untying a dead knot was a piece of cake.
But she didn't expect it to be so fast.
Before she could react, the ties of her ruqun skirt were loose, and the fabric slipped down without warning.
Both of them were stunned.
On her upper body, there was only a thin, bean-green dudou left, its thin straps digging into her shoulders, setting off her skin to be as white and lustrous as jade soaked in moonlight.
Chai Xiaomi blinked, her agile eyes covered with a layer of blurred water vapor, trembling in panic.
She decided to just smash the cracked pot and go all out.
"You were the one who carried me ashore," her voice dropped to a soft whisper. "If you truly want to look... you will have to... untie this one yourself..."
Yet, she waited for what felt like an eternity, and still, he made no move.
Feeling a mix of frustration and defeat, she raised her eyes.
Did she really have to spell it out for him?
She had bared herself to this extent; even a block of wood would know what to do by now.
Just as she lifted her gaze, a sudden, tight grip on her arm pulled her forcefully into his broad embrace.
The young man's familiar, crisp scent enveloped her as his scorching kiss crashed down upon her lips with a frantic, unbridled urgency.
Through half-closed eyes, she caught a glimpse of his heavy silver collars resting on the ground. He had taken them off and arranged them neatly among the flowers, where they lay quietly, gleaming under the dappled light.
So that brief moment of silence had simply been him removing the hard, intrusive ornaments from his chest so they wouldn't get in the way.
All living things are born with instinct.
And once that instinct is awakened, there is no holding it back.
