Chapter 21 Chapter 21 Asking for Trouble
"How about going hiking tomorrow?"
Before going to bed at night, Tang Ningyue leaned against the door of Li Jinglang's room, wiping her hair casually while inviting him. The water droplets on her hair slid down her slender neck, stopped on her delicate collarbone, and immediately rolled into her pajamas, soaking a small piece of silk fabric.
She had just put on a facial mask, her skin was translucent under the moonlight, the corners of her lips were slightly raised, and her eyes were seductive.
The lights in the corridor were not on, and only a bedside lamp was on in Li Jinglang's room. The only light around her was the warm yellow light projected from her room opposite. Tang Ningyue had one leg slightly bent, and water droplets on her calf reflected a faint light.
The shadow she cast on the ground seemed so unreal...
Li Jinglang leaned against the bedside holding a yellowed book, pinching a page with his two hands, looking up at her for a long time without moving.
She had clearly told him that afternoon that she had had a fight with her boyfriend, but she didn't look sad at all, let alone like the girls in his school who were heartbroken and wanted to make a scene to let the whole school know.
Tang Ningyue looked relaxed and at ease, as if she had told him that she had had a bad meal in the afternoon and felt a little nauseous, that was all.
It can even only be mentioned as a topic of casual conversation.
He squeezed the paper tightly, his fingertips turning even pinker due to the force.
"Do you want to go relax?"
With a tentative tone, Li Jinglang changed the wording of the question. He couldn't help but want to know what she was thinking.
Sometimes he felt that he was more important than other men around her. Perhaps those men knew the lock screen password of her phone and her lifestyle habits, but they did not know her heart, let alone her nature. Those men only saw her disguise. All of this was known to him, and only he knew it.
Every time he thought of this, the surging emotions he had during the day would dissipate a lot. She just liked some novelty for a while. They would all go away. Only he, only he would always appear in her life.
"Relax?" Tang Ningyue raised an eyebrow. "Didn't I promise you that we'd go hiking but kept breaking the promise?"
"I have some free time lately," she said.
It was specially for his company, and Li Jinglang loosened his grip on the paper.
"What time do you leave?"
He regretted it the moment he said it. He was afraid that she would see through his thoughts. He wanted to pretend that he didn't care but he couldn't control his primitive impulses, and every time he put himself in an extremely passive state.
Li Jinglang stared at her wet hair stuck to her arms, feeling a little nervous.
He always looks forward to this kind of time that belongs entirely to the two of them. This feeling has not changed since she was a child, but when she was a child, she did not learn the disguise that is unique to adults now. Most of her emotions are revealed on her face, and even the unpleasant feeling will be revealed every time she is alone with him.
Tang Ningyue didn't like playing with him. She had her own friends, but there were always times when all her friends went home. That was when Li Jinglang was happiest and she was most depressed.
But even if she would deliberately ignore him, even if she would only think of him when she was happy occasionally, he still liked her, liked to stick to her, and even said something like "I'm happy to be beaten by my sister". It's just that they were both children at that time, and the adults would just laugh it off when they talked about it.
Later, when she grew up, she changed a lot. She seemed to become very gentle and no longer showed all her emotions on her face. She treated him much better and even took care of him when he was hurt. But she would no longer kiss his face like she did when they were children. Perhaps it was because everyone had entered the orderly period of adolescence. But before Li Jinglang could react to what had changed, she disappeared from his life and cut off all contact.
The days when he was sick after Tang Ningyue left were the most painful time in his life. He didn't understand why Tang Ningyue didn't answer the phone, and it was hard for him to accept the loss of all news from her for a while.
He didn't understand why the grievances of the elders had to involve them. Sometimes when he had a fever and passed out in the middle of the night, he would uncontrollably beg Zhou Su to contact Tang Ningyue again. He wanted to ask her if he had made her angry, and she could hit him, or do anything. He just wanted to see her again and hear her voice again.
But this wish had never been fulfilled until he was discharged from the hospital, until so long later, she suddenly came back and appeared in his life again, hatred and longing mixed together, he didn't even know what to express.
Even though Tang Ningyue was right in front of him, he still felt it was unreal, as if she would disappear again when he woke up from his dream tonight.
"Do you want to have breakfast outside?" Without waiting for her to answer, he changed his mind, wanting to extend tomorrow's time.
"what ever."
With the word "light and graceful", she left in a carefree manner. He lay in bed for a long time, unable to fall asleep.
-
The next morning, Tang Ningyue saw Li Jinglang still dressed in black, but different from usual, he was not wearing a hat, and he seemed to be scratching his hair.
But Li Jinglang would never tell her that he changed several sets of clothes in the morning. He didn't want to be too different from usual, for fear that she would see his anticipation and the urge to show off in front of her.
With a conflicting mentality, he finally wore a more expensive all-black suit, so much so that whenever he thought of that day in the future, he wanted to slap himself. He should have been more obvious. His evasive and twisted personality would only give up the hard-earned opportunity to other peacocks.
The mountain they climbed that day was a small scenic spot, and almost all the people coming and going were locals. There was a temple on the top of the mountain that was not very popular, and two breakfast shops.
Having gotten up too early, Tang Ningyue fell asleep as soon as she got in the car. Li Jinglang, on the other hand, was in good spirits and drove smoothly on the winding mountain road. He was in a good mood the whole morning.
Lu Yi was the only one who knew that they were going on a date today. The message he sent angrily, "The scar has healed and the pain has been forgotten," was still visible on the screen of his phone.
At the bottom is Li Jinglang's reply: [Whatever you say is what it is.]
He doesn't care.
Lu Yi on the other side wanted to throw his phone into the lake. Sometimes he couldn't understand why so many girls were secretly in love with Li Jinglang, and there were countless girls who were openly in love with him. Lu Yi really didn't understand why he liked a woman who had a completely different life from his, even a fickle "Queen of the Sea". Of course, Li Jinglang would not allow him to say that about her.
Tang Ningyue is indeed capable. It's not just that she is beautiful. She always feels at ease and comfortable with anyone she is with, no matter whether the other person is in a superior position or not. She seems to have a natural ability to control other people's emotions.
Li Jinglang was in a lot of trouble. On the one hand, he wanted everyone to like her, love her and treat her well, but on the other hand, he wanted her to be the only one around him. This was a contradiction in itself, and this impossible condition would bother him for the rest of his life.
He was always upset, it became his normal state, but she didn't take anything to heart and could sleep soundly even if the sky fell and the earth broke.
"Are we there yet?" Tang Ningyue opened her eyes in a daze. Li Jinglang had already parked the car for a long time.
"You're awake."
"Why didn't you call me?"
"Don't be in a hurry." Li Jinglang pursed his lips. She didn't know that he had been staring at her for a long time after parking the car. Now his neck had begun to turn red and was gradually spreading upwards.
Tang Ningyue chuckled and glanced at him: "You have become very patient now."
"Really?"
"Yes." Tang Ningyue said while putting on makeup, "When you were little, you always liked to urge me to go home quickly and leave quickly."
"You also like to get angry so much that I almost forgot what you looked like when you were a kid and not angry."
She smiled, but he didn't answer.
The road up the mountain was not too rugged. Li Jinglang was carrying a mountaineering bag with not many things in it. Most of the things were Tang Ningyue's. She wanted to take a video, so he brought a camera. She was afraid of the cold, so he brought a thicker coat. She liked cleanliness, so he brought an extra pack of cleaning wipes.
Fortunately, compared to his heavy heart, this was not too heavy.
They stopped and walked along the way. Tang Ningyue rarely went to the gym after returning to China. She was a little tired when she reached the top of the not-too-high mountain. Li Jinglang thought the mountain was very low and they arrived there quickly.
The most popular dish at the breakfast shop on the top of the mountain is buttered toast with hot spring eggs. Tang Ningyue flipped through the menu and asked him what he wanted to eat.
Li Jinglang was putting away his camera and casually replied, "Give me the ones you don't like."
He told her to order whatever she wanted.
"I'm your elder sister. It's not good to always bully you." She said secretly, without any remorse.
He can be my brother.
He would never treat others like she did, and he would never hurt others' feelings.
Li Jinglang opened a piece of wet tissue and handed it to her. His deep eyes were a little wet at this moment. "You didn't bully me..."
Tang Ningyue smiled and raised her eyebrows slightly, "It would be nice if some people could be as obedient as you."
"....." Li Jinglang didn't respond and changed the subject, "Wipe your hands."
Raw coconut bread dipped in hot spring egg and paired with a cup of fragrant white coffee has a strong Nanyang flavor.
The owner of this shop is Singaporean. Tang Ningyue stared at the mural on the wall and murmured, "It's been a while since I last saw that silly boy. Last time, he said he would take me to eat the internet-famous white curry noodles near their school."
Although Tang Ningyue always said that Tang Zhaoming was bad in this way and annoying in that way, she always talked about him and occasionally compared him with Li Jinglang. If something Li Jinglang liked happened to be what Tang Zhaoming liked, she would definitely mention it and even remember to send him various gifts.
She kept Tang Zhaoming in her heart no matter where he was.
Li Jinglang always felt unhappy at this time. He was not qualified to be compared with Tang Zhaoming, but he couldn't help it. The comparison would always hurt one of them, but he always liked to rub salt into the wound.
After the meal, Li Jinglang didn't say much, but just listened to Tang Ningyue's talk silently, secretly hurting her heart again and again. He liked to make trouble for himself the most.
No hardship, no suffering.
After dinner, the two went to another temple. Tang Ningyue picked out two bracelets in the cultural and creative store at the entrance. She liked to buy some small things wherever she went, but her interest could only last until the end of the day. She would take them off when she rested at night and would definitely not wear them again. So that day, Li Jinglang paid the bill quickly like a child and asked for her guarantee.
"Can you not take it off?" He lowered his head to help her put on the bracelet. His fingertips touched her cold wrist, and he subconsciously wanted to warm the cold skin, but quickly retracted his hand under her gaze.
"It's not heavy." After putting it on, he held her wrist and looked at it carefully.
"Will you wear it all the time?" Tang Ningyue leaned against the stone pillar beside her, her eyes lazy, like a clear spring that had just been thrown into a stone, with ripples rippling in circles.
"Yes." Li Jinglang answered seriously.
"Aren't you afraid that your classmates will laugh at you? Don't boys hate carrying these things the most?" Tang Ningyue was not being stereotypical, she just wanted to tease him. She had liked to provoke him since she was a child. Seeing him cry or lose his temper made her feel a sense of joy rising from the bottom of her heart.
"They're not that naive."
"Oh~ It turns out that our Jinglang is already an adult~" Tang Ningyue smiled, like a proud white cat.
He stared into her eyes, unable to discern any deeper meaning, and suddenly exerted force on the hand that was pinching her wrist, pulling her into his arms.
The sudden weightlessness caught Tang Ningyue off guard and she bumped into his chest. He had indeed grown up, and his broad back was enough to wrap her up completely and easily support her falling body.
Meeting Tang Ningyue's reproachful gaze, he replied lightly, "There's a bug."
"I'm not afraid of bugs, your sister!" She punched him in the chest and pushed him away.
"I'm scared..." His face showed no expression, but he said it with certainty, "I'm really scared."
“…”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
