Compared to skin that has never been damaged in the past, the skin around a scar always seems to be more sensitive than other areas.
Xu Shiyue's kiss landed on it, the warmth of her nose caressing the skin that rubbed against each other, softening the slightly dry lips and moistening the uneven scars.
The sudden and overly intimate gesture left my unprepared nerves trembling slightly under its tenderness.
It was like a thread embedded in a person's body, causing Lu Shizhen to tremble slightly, and the hair that was barely hanging on her shoulders fell down in a rustling sound.
Lu Shizhen had never felt that any kiss other than a kiss could make her feel weak.
Even though her lips weren't blocked in any way, her breathing became heavy, as if she were kissing, and her blood seemed to boil and surge within her, consuming her oxygen.
The hospital gown that had been hanging down from her shoulders was now draped over Lu Shizhen's arm, its smooth surface exposed to the sunlight.
Xu Shiyue pressed a light yet profound kiss onto the scar on her shoulder, and softly asked her question, "Why won't it heal?"
Lu Shizhen felt her mind go blank. She barely understood what Xu Shiyue meant, and replied breathlessly, "Because the projects are different..."
“Restoring health and optimizing the body are two different projects, and you have to pay for them separately.” Lu Shizhen said, her voice lowering slightly, as if she were complaining and grumbling, “And both projects are so expensive…they’re just profiteers.”
Upon hearing this, Xu Shiyue raised her hand and pinched Lu Shizhen's earlobe: "That's because I made you spend money."
“How could that be?” Lu Shizhen disagreed. She tilted her head, her eyes smiling as she looked at Xu Shiyue. “What could be better than getting you by paying just a little money?”
"Of course."
Xu Shiyue replied, her voice light and tinged with a cryptic smile.
Before Lu Shizhen could even understand what Xu Shiyue meant, her lips, which had just caught their breath, were kissed by someone leaning down.
A faint, pleasant fragrance wafted from the familiar smell of disinfectant, gradually enveloping Lu Shizhen as the kiss landed.
Her knees, kneeling on the hospital bed, overlapped with the hem of her draped skirt, radiating warmth.
The once tightly sealed buttons had been undone by one or two, and the drooping collar revealed the skin that was originally hidden inside.
A patch of white stands proudly amidst the deep black, delicate and warm, with a color like jade, like moonlight falling on the night, bright and containing emotions that cannot be expressed in words.
A misty haze had settled in those cool eyes, a wisp of hair lay across her face, exuding a captivating tenderness, looking down from above with an air of unparalleled charm.
Lu Shizhen felt as if something was boiling over, and it suddenly rushed into her brain.
She raised her hand and pressed it down on Xu Shiyue's neck, her lips parting to return her kiss.
Despite not knowing how many times they had kissed, Lu Shizhen continued to tirelessly trace and outline Xu Shiyue's lips.
It's as if he's repeatedly releasing his emotions, yet he can never be satisfied.
Suddenly, Lu Shizhen's legs, which were dangling by the bedside, sank slightly. Xu Shiyue's cool hand grasped her wrist, as if guiding her to the next step, but she suddenly stopped, her voice hesitant: "Um, Xu Shiyue..."
Xu Shiyue breathed heavily, her clear, cold eyes now tinged with a faint red: "Don't want to?"
Lu Shizhen pursed her lips slightly, her voice barely audible, "...No."
Upon hearing this, Xu Shiyue was stunned for a moment.
This stunned silence was completely unexpected; the astonishment was undisguised in his frozen eyes.
Seeing Xu Shiyue's expression, Lu Shizhen felt a surge of shame and indignation, and her already flushed face turned even redder.
She raised her arm to cover her face and Xu Shiyue's face in her line of sight, repeating with a sense of despair, "No way, no way... I, I haven't seen it..."
Xu Shiyue seemed to have ended a lagging program and suddenly laughed.
She stared at Lu Shizhen's flushed face, her fingers reaching out and seemingly unintentionally twirling a strand of her hair: "So there are things our Sixteenth Teacher doesn't know?"
Lu Shizhen's face was already flushed with embarrassment. She avoided eye contact and muttered softly, "It's all your fault. I didn't like girls before."
Upon hearing this, Xu Shiyue narrowed her eyes slightly and pulled Lu Shizhen even closer to her: "Did you have a boy you liked before?"
“No, not at all!” Lu Shizhen immediately shook her head in denial. “I’ve never had any friends growing up, and I’ve never had a romantic student life like other people. The place I’ve been to most in my life is the hospital, and the people I’ve met most are doctors and nurses.”
Having experienced enough embarrassment just now, Lu Shizhen was no longer so shy.
She looked at Xu Shiyue, who was standing very close to her, and looked into her eyes. She said to her, "Before I met you, I had given up hope that I would ever have someone I liked or be liked by anyone in this life."
This was the first time Xu Shiyue had heard Lu Shizhen talk about her past. Although it was just a few examples used to prove her point earlier, Xu Shiyue didn't know if it was because Lu Shizhen's later words were too heartbreaking or what, but her heart ached dully.
Without pressing her to continue what they hadn't finished, Xu Shiyue gently stroked Lu Shizhen's cheek and asked, "Why do you go to the hospital so often? Are you unwell?"
"Yes." Lu Shizhen nodded and frankly told Xu Shiyue about her past, "From childhood to adulthood, I have performed no less than thirty surgeries, big and small."
Xu Shiyue paused for a moment.
She seemed to understand why, on that night five years ago, Lu Shizhen's figure seemed thinner than before.
Gently rubbing Lu Shizhen's slightly chubby face, Xu Shiyue asked again, "Have you checked what illness it is?"
“We can’t find anything.” Lu Shizhen shook her head, but her tone wasn’t as heavy as the words suggested. “They said it’s like some gene is faulty, it didn’t split according to the rules, which caused the person to be unwell.”
"But this must be a mutation. My sister is very healthy, she can eat and drink a lot, and she's 1.75 meters tall. My parents love her very much."
Lu Shizhen deduced, speaking with great interest, even displaying a sense of pride and joy that shouldn't belong to her.
Of course, she should be happy.
She heard her family say this with her own ears when her sister had safely passed through her second New Year.
—This child won't be the second burden; he'll definitely be a healthy and lovable child.
Everyone welcomes children like this.
Lu Shizhen thought that Xu Shiyue would ask about her sister like everyone else, but to her surprise, Xu Shiyue asked her, "And what about you?"
"Me?" Lu Shizhen was a little surprised; not many people had asked her that before.
She suddenly felt a little lost, yet also strangely pleased.
It's as if, after more than twenty years, a gaze has finally fallen upon her, and finally someone cares about her.
It took her a while to organize her thoughts before she could say something she'd never said before. After a few seconds of hesitation, Lu Shizhen said, "The doctor said I wouldn't live past ten, but I lived to be twenty. And my condition stabilized afterward. I've basically spent my whole life in the hospital."
Perhaps realizing that her words had been a bit too heavy, Lu Shizhen changed the subject and said jokingly, "By the way, you know, until I came here, I didn't have my own room at home. I would occasionally go there and have to share a bed with my sister. But the hospital always reserves a room for me."
As Lu Shizhen spoke, she smiled at Xu Shiyue, her expression relaxed and somewhat bittersweet.
But the sunlight didn't notice that there was a hint of loneliness and bitterness in her eyes that was hard to detect.
If you don't have your own room at home, can it still be considered a home?
Lu Shizhen had never thought about this question, and her relatives also took it as a joke.
And many things, after being talked about repeatedly, gradually become something people become numb to.
But there was one person who pulled Lu Shizhen out of her numbness.
He wrapped his arms tightly around her, gently kissed her forehead, and said to her, "You will have many, many rooms of your own in the future, in your own home."
Suddenly, Lu Shizhen's eyes reddened.
She felt that even winning the lottery couldn't compare to her current good fortune.
How could I have met someone who could hug me so quickly and understand my sadness and sorrow?
In that unseen rift valley, someone brought countless flowers and candies, throwing them in handful by handful, constantly filling the hole that had been collapsing and sinking in the past.
Lu Shizhen didn't want Xu Shiyue to see her with red eyes, and suddenly she really wanted to hug her. So she put her head on Xu Shiyue's shoulder and hugged her even tighter than Xu Shiyue herself: "Actually, I think that devil is stupid. He thought he could use what I wanted most as a blackmail, but I don't care about what I wanted back then anymore."
"What I long for most right now is to live in a world with you in it."
Lu Shizhen hugged Xu Shiyue tightly, as if she wanted to embed Xu Shiyue into her body.
Xu Shiyue let her hug her and whispered in her ear, "What did you long for back then?"
“Health,” Lu Shizhen replied. “I long to have a healthy body, especially my legs.”
The faint smell of alcohol disinfectant mixed with the scent of soap wafted into Xu Shiyue's body through her nostrils. With Lu Shizhen's words, memories suddenly surged in Xu Shiyue's mind, making her finally understand the things Lu Shizhen had said when she was drunk in the past.
She praised her legs, not out of perverted lust, but because she genuinely liked them.
The first time she got drunk, she kept showing off her legs to herself, not to show off, but because she was genuinely happy.
She was overjoyed to finally have the healthy body she had longed for.
I'm so happy that she can finally stand up like a normal person.
Stand up...
Xu Shiyue turned her head slightly to look at Lu Shizhen, who was leaning on her shoulder.
They were facing away from the window, and the square ward seemed to have no windows. The little girl from her memory was pushing her wheelchair out of Xu Shiyue's sight.
The image overlaps with Lu Shizhen's current appearance.
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