Chapter 42 Cupping

After a simple dinner, the two drove to the club that Lin Yu had mentioned on WeChat. Jiang Chuan went to park the car first, while Lin Yu got out and walked towards the entrance.

She had only taken two steps when she looked up and saw a gilded plaque. Greeters in white cheongsams stood on either side of the entrance, with polite smiles on their faces, and bowed to greet her as she entered the lobby.

Welcome!

Lin Yu smelled the sandalwood scent in the air and said to the staff who came to greet him, "Hello, you two!" He then pointed to Jiang Chuan, who had parked his car not far behind him and was walking towards him.

"My surname is Lin. This is my first time here. Could you please tell me about your set meals?"

"Okay, Ms. Lin!" The receptionist's voice was like a silver spoon dipped in honey, filled with a warm smile. "Our newly launched meridian massage package for two is very popular and is suitable for young customers like you two."

As Lin Yu listened to her enthusiastic introduction, he noticed out of the corner of his eye that Jiang Chuan was examining the ink paintings on the wall, his slender fingers casually tapping on the rosewood display shelf beside him.

"Let's choose this one." Lin Yu lightly tapped his finger on the set meal the receptionist was recommending; the price was just around the edge of his card balance. The receptionist nodded knowingly. "Please follow me, both of you."

As the elevator slowly ascended, Jiang Chuan stood at the innermost position with his hands in his pockets, his reflection in the mirror showing two overlapping figures, one tall and one short.

The car was not very spacious, and Lin Yu's back was almost pressed against Jiang Chuan's chest, as if he were being held in Jiang Chuan's arms. He could clearly feel the rise and fall of Jiang Chuan's chest as he breathed.

"Your company's benefits are quite unique." Jiang Chuan chuckled, his breath brushing against her ear, causing her to unconsciously shrink back.

The receptionist led the two to a spacious private room. Lin Yu looked at the two massage beds that offered no privacy and felt a sudden, inexplicable sense of embarrassment. "Could we change to two private rooms?" she hurriedly called out to the receptionist who was about to leave.

The other person glanced at Lin Yu, then turned to look at Jiang Chuan behind her, who was raising an eyebrow at her, and said knowingly, "I'm sorry, Ms. Lin, you didn't make a reservation in advance, and this is the only room left."

He pointed to the restroom in the corner. "That provides a private changing environment, and if you need, we can also provide a screen. Are you satisfied with this arrangement?"

Lin Yu could only nod helplessly and walked into the bathroom with the clothes he needed to change.

Jiang Chuan's voice could be faintly heard from outside the door. He was asking the receptionist whether the clothes they provided were disposable and whether they had been disinfected. Only after receiving an affirmative answer did the sound of the door being gently closed be heard.

Lin Yu couldn't help but laugh at his affectation. By the time she finished dressing and went out, Jiang Chuan had already changed his clothes and was leaning against the Xiangfei bamboo screen, calmly adjusting his cuffs.

The oversized kimono looked strangely out of place on him, and the gauze on his arm had been replaced with a large waterproof bandage. Lin Yu, who was used to seeing him in a suit and tie, couldn't help but laugh and say, "You look a bit out of place like this!"

Jiang Chuan looked up, and Lin Yu unexpectedly met his deep gaze. The dim light couldn't hide the sparks dancing in his eyes, and beneath his open collar, the faint lines of his muscles were visible. "You do look quite harmonious!"

Lin Yu felt Jiang Chuan was being sarcastic again, and irritably picked up the fruit plate from the coffee table and started eating. She watched as Jiang Chuan used the room's alcohol spray bottle to spray their bed. "You'd better not scream too loudly later, or I'll record it!" he said.

Jiang Chuan turned his head upon hearing this, looking at her with a half-smile. "Likewise."

He was right; one shouldn't make promises too easily. Throughout the two-hour treatment, Jiang Chuan kept his face buried in the ventilation holes of the massage bed, as calm as a corpse. Lin Yu's cries of pain, however, almost echoed throughout the entire floor, eliciting an awkward chuckle from the technician.

"Madam, it's obvious that you've been working at a desk for long periods of time, resulting in poor metabolism, insufficient kidney energy, and a weak spleen and stomach."

"We suggest you add cupping therapy to your routine. If you add it now, you can get a 20% discount, making it only forty yuan. Would you like to consider it?"

She finished speaking in one breath, and Jiang Chuan's muffled laughter came from behind the screen, making Lin Yu grit her teeth in anger. She immediately made up her mind. "No discounts, how about a buy-one-get-one-free deal?"

She pointed silently towards Jiang Chuan through the screen. "Get him an exact replica!"

Before long, Lin Yu and Jiang Chuan were like two insects nailed to a specimen board, their backs covered with round glass jars, lying on the massage bed unable to move.

The staff quietly covered them with towels, pressed the timer, and left the room. The cool air from the air conditioner seeped into her bare upper body through the gaps in the towels.

Jiang Chuan was separated from her only by a screen, and Lin Yu could hear his light breathing. This suddenly gave her a belated sense of crisis. To dispel this unfounded tension, she started making small talk with Jiang Chuan. "Does it hurt?"

"I don't feel anything!" Jiang Chuan said truthfully, his voice sounding somewhat low and hoarse from lying prone for so long.

"I've heard that the weaker your body, the heavier the marks on your back will be!" Lin Yu turned his head and exhaled, deliberately provoking him.

"Is that so?" Jiang Chuan chuckled. "Would you like to come over for a checkup?"

Lin Yu was speechless, her flushed cheeks pressed against the soft leather surface of the massage bed. She felt that Jiang Chuan seemed to have become a different person. Ever since he confessed his feelings to her, he had become increasingly shameless, and he would say inappropriate things without hesitation, making Lin Yu feel extremely uncomfortable.

She could even feel Jiang Chuan's faint gaze, as if it were sweeping over her through the screen. So Lin Yu decided to give up on trying to make conversation and let the awkwardness fill the room.

Shortly after, the notification sound from Jiang Chuan's side indicated the end of the task. A staff member entered, removed the glass jar, and then pushed the cart out. Lin Yu, through the screen, heard the rustling sound of clothes being put on, and a sudden, inexplicable sense of tension washed over her.

The phone suddenly rang, and Lin Yu stretched her arm with difficulty to reach the phone on the low table, but she was always just a few centimeters short. Just as she was about to give up in frustration, a hand with distinct knuckles reached out from above the screen and accurately picked up the phone.

Before Lin Yu could react, Jiang Chuan answered the phone directly, brazenly bypassed the screen, walked straight behind her, leaned down slightly, and put the receiver to her ear.

Lin Yu's breath suddenly caught in her throat. The crisp scent of white pine mixed with the bitterness of mugwort enveloped her completely as Jiang Chuan drew closer.

She remained frozen in the position of reaching for the phone, too afraid to move. The blanket behind her back slipped down to her waist as she struggled, completely exposing herself to the other person's view.

A chill crept up her bare back, yet under Jiang Chuan's gaze, a burning shiver rose within her, giving her the illusion of being torn between ice and fire. Meanwhile, the culprit was impeccably dressed, his fingertips lightly brushing against her cheek.

Suddenly, Lin Yu recalled Chen Guang's experience of being exposed in the hospital. At this moment, fate seemed to have delivered a precise revenge, making her personally experience the predicament he had back then when he had nowhere to escape.

Lin Min's familiar voice came from the other end of the phone. "Banban? Have you eaten?"

Jiang Chuan lowered his long, sharp eyes, his gaze moving from her flushed ear tips to her taut shoulder line, a smile playing on his lips.

"I've already eaten, I'm outside, what's wrong, Mom?" Lin Yu just wanted to end this awkward and submissive situation as soon as possible.

"It's nothing. I had a bad dream yesterday. I dreamt that you got fired from your company and then begged your way home, crying and telling me that you hadn't eaten for three days!"

Lin Min laughed as she recounted the dream, but the scene was too real. She woke up in a cold sweat and, worried about affecting Lin Yu's work, waited a day before calling her.

Lin Yu's fingertips unconsciously tightened around the edge of the massage bed. On the other end of the phone, her mother's concern felt like a soft thorn, gently pricking her heart. "Don't overthink it, I'm fine, I'll even get a raise at the end of the year!"

She had witnessed Lin Min's changes over the years. The once domineering and authoritarian head teacher would now hold up a newly bought watering can during video calls and introduce her to the newly planted roses on the balcony, one by one.

Since being with Uncle Liu, the sharp edges of my mother's personality seem to have been smoothed out by the gentle passage of time.

She no longer exerted all her control over Lin Yu like she did right after the divorce. Her biggest concerns every day, besides the graduating class she was teaching each year, were Lin Yu's job and marriage.

"Besides, it would be good for me to go back to my hometown and keep you company."

"Nonsense, I don't need you to keep me company. Seeing you every day will drive me crazy sooner or later." Lin Min stomped her feet anxiously on the other end of the phone.

"Can Shanghai compare to your hometown? Don't get more and more stuck in your ways!" Then came a barrage of the same old nagging. "Find a partner early, get married early, drink more water, eat less takeout, and stop thinking about all that nonsense!"

After a long, rambling conversation from Lin Yu that he couldn't get a word in edgewise, Lin Min hung up the phone on her own, and a sudden busy tone came from the other end.

With a flick of his slender fingers, Lin Yu's phone slipped into his pocket, but he remained motionless, still standing behind her.

His gaze fell on the purplish-red marks on Lin Yu's back; the bruises of varying depths stood out starkly against his fair skin. "Indeed, kidney deficiency!" Jiang Chuan remarked thoughtfully. "I'll have to see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor for a proper checkup!"

Lin Yu was filled with shame and anger. She grabbed a pillow and was about to turn around and throw it at him, but as soon as she moved, she realized how passive her situation was. She could only grit her teeth and threaten, "Have you seen enough? If you look any longer, you'll have to pay!"

She regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. Sure enough, Jiang Chuan raised an eyebrow. "WeChat or Alipay?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the timer beeped. The moment the staff member pushed the door open and entered, Jiang Chuan finally had a change of heart and left the room, making sure to pull the screen shut tightly before he left.

Hearing his footsteps as he left, Lin Yu breathed a sigh of relief and buried his burning face in the pillow.

......

The carriage was filled with a faint scent of herbs. Lin Yu shifted restlessly in the leather seat, each jolt causing a dull ache in his back, as if it were being licked repeatedly by countless tiny flames.

Through the reflection in the car window, she saw Jiang Chuan's well-defined knuckles casually resting on the steering wheel, maintaining a calm and composed demeanor at all times, and occasionally letting his mind wander to mock her.

Lin Yu suddenly regretted his decision to have cupping done; it was truly a case of hurting the enemy a hundred times while injuring himself a thousand times.

"Are your family pressuring you to get married?" he asked suddenly, looking straight ahead.

Lin Yu turned her head sharply, gasping in pain. "Doesn't Attorney Jiang's professional ethics include 'avoiding inappropriate listening'?"

The traffic light turned from red to green, and Jiang Chuan lightly pressed the accelerator. "Sorry, it's all because my hearing is too good!" he chuckled, clearly admitting his mistake, but his tone rose with a hint of pride at the end.

"Banban!" The familiar nickname rolled across his lips after being ground between his teeth, filled with a decadent, velvety smile.

Lin Yu's ears burned, so she turned to look out the window. The neon signs in the night cast flowing shadows on the car window, just enough to conceal her slightly flushed cheeks.