Chapter 40 Sending flowers: Do you mind if others find out about our relationship...?
Having been through so much, Lin Yu woke up close to noon. She moved her eyelids and slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was light-colored fabric curtains and a glass vase on the desk. The flowers were ones she had bought casually on the roadside. So much time had passed that the pale pink petals had curled at the edges, and the leaves were drooping. She stared at the bouquet, lost in thought, for a long while before rubbing her head and sitting up.
Her gaze fell to the clothes she was wearing—a light pink, loose-fitting cotton nightgown. She blinked, then looked closer and realized that the sheets and duvet cover had been changed.
She remembered that last night, at the very end, she was so exhausted that she couldn't even lift a finger. She could only let him carry her to the bathroom to wash up. The water dripped down, and the steam swirled around her. She was held limply by Zhou Ke, feeling his hands, covered in fine foam, gently caressing her body inch by inch.
She forgot to feel ashamed and simply enjoyed his service.
As the night passed, the smell in the room became fainter, not as strong as it had been the night before. When I got up, I could still feel the soreness in my body.
Stepping out of the room, I saw Zhou Ke on the balcony making a phone call, speaking very softly.
Seemingly sensing someone watching him from behind, Zhou Ke snapped out of his reverie and saw Lin Yu standing at the door. His eyes suddenly softened, and he quickly hung up the phone and walked towards her: "You're awake."
Lin Yu nodded slightly, looking at him listlessly, "I'm hungry."
As if he had expected her to say that, Zhou Ke smiled and said, "There's soup in the kitchen for you. Go wash up first, and I'll serve it to you."
"good."
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Lin Yu held a toothbrush in one hand and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was loosely tied up, her mouth was full of foam, and looking down, her neck, which was not covered by her pajamas, was covered with red marks of varying shades, which extended all the way to the neckline of her pajamas and seemed to be spreading downwards.
She froze instantly, raised her hand and tugged at the loose neckline. Sure enough, the color inside was even more intense, like a tender red plum blossom blooming in the snow, dazzling and beautiful.
After she finished washing up, Zhou Ke had already served her chicken soup and placed it on the dining table.
Perhaps due to overexertion, all the energy stored in her body was depleted. She finished a full bowl of chicken soup with a great appetite, but when she asked for more, Zhou Ke stopped her, saying, "Just have something to eat. I'll take you out to eat later."
...
After changing her clothes, Zhou Ke took her out to a quiet Japanese restaurant, where the plum wine they served was the most famous.
When she finished her third cup, Zhou Ke silently took her cup. Plum wine is sweet and easy to drink, but it's also the easiest to overindulge in.
Lin Yu put down her chopsticks, rested her chin on her hand, and chatted with him: "Brother, would you mind if people knew about our current relationship?"
Zhou Ke asked, "Why do you mind?"
When they first got together, Lin Yu admitted that she was happy and excited. But after that feeling passed, she couldn't help but start thinking about their relationship. Everyone knew they were siblings, even if they weren't related by blood, they had lived together for almost twenty years. It was a bond that was thicker than blood. They weren't relatives, but they were closer than relatives. No one could accept that they had gone from being siblings to lovers.
Zhou Ke understood what she meant, and he explained directly: "I never thought about having a secretive relationship. Now that we're together, I'm not afraid of others finding out."
Zhou Ke spoke calmly and firmly, seemingly unbothered by her being the younger sister. Lin Yu blinked. "I've already told Jia Yi about us being together, and—" She paused, then slowly added a name: "Cong Yi."
Having not heard that name from Lin Yu for so long, Zhou Ke subconsciously wanted to frown, but his brows relaxed as soon as he realized what was happening. He gave a soft "hmm," picked up his chopsticks, placed a piece of grilled beef in her bowl, and said calmly, "Yan Yadong knows too."
Lin Yu: "Was he very surprised?"
Zhou Ke nodded and said helplessly, "They were so surprised that they scolded me for almost ten minutes."
Lin Yu blinked: "Why did I scold you?"
Zhou Ke: "I'm afraid I'll take you away. After all, if we're together, it sounds like you'll be the one who suffers."
Lin Yu was stunned for a moment, then almost blurted out, "Then why don't you tell him that I liked you first?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ke remained silent. In terms of who fell in love first, it was hard to say. Perhaps a long, long time ago, he had already fallen in love with his sister, but he had always mistaken it for familial affection. It wasn't until Cong Yi appeared this time that he clearly realized it.
Zhou Ke lowered his head, his face hidden in a faint shadow, and said nonchalantly, "There's no need."
After finishing their Japanese meal, Zhou Ke thought it was still early, so he asked her if she wanted to wander around. There was a shopping mall right downstairs, with all kinds of shops. Normally, Lin Yu might have been in the mood to stroll around, but today she really didn't want to waste any more energy on it. Coincidentally, there was a movie theater downstairs, so Lin Yu suggested going to see a movie.
Zhou Ke naturally went along with her. The two went downstairs, and Lin Yu chose a suspense film that had been quite popular recently. The film's opening scene used an eerie atmosphere to frighten everyone in the theater, and later it used violence and gore to bring the whole film to a climax.
The film is two and a half hours long, and the ending twist is even more unexpected.
Summer in Tongcheng is coming to an end. When I came out of the mall, the sky had turned indigo, and there were many vehicles on the road and pedestrians on the zebra crossing.
Across the street, an elderly woman was selling flowers from a cart, and occasionally one or two passersby would stop to watch.
Lin Yu remembered the bunch of irises on the desk that were about to wither and suddenly became interested. She took Zhou Ke's hand and pointed to the opposite side, "I want to go buy flowers."
Zhou Ke looked in the direction she pointed and saw the old lady across from him, her back hunched, taking a wrapped sunflower from a bunch of colorful flowers and handing it to the little girl across from him.
The old lady sells mostly common varieties of flowers at reasonable prices. In addition to selling flowers, she also makes bracelets from fresh flowers.
Lin Yu glanced at it, her gaze lingering on the gardenia bracelet for a moment before she looked away.
She picked out a bunch of pink roses and was about to take out her phone to pay when a clear voice came from behind her: "Payment has already been made."
After saying that, he took her hand and asked her if she wanted to buy anything else.
Lin Yu shook her head.
An airplane flew overhead, leaving a wavy contrail. Lin Yu held flowers in one hand and her brother's hand in the other, walking with the flow of people towards the intersection. After a while, she suddenly smiled and turned to look at Zhou Ke: "Does this count as the first time you've given me flowers?"
Zhou Ke thought for a moment, then suddenly smiled and shook his head: "It doesn't count."
Lin Yu stopped and looked at him suspiciously.
Zhou Ke looked at her with a faint smile: "Any ordinary thing seems to be especially precious when it is the first time. It seems a bit too hasty to use this bouquet of flowers to commemorate the beginning of our relationship. You suggested buying the flowers and you chose them. I only paid a little money and did not put in any effort. In fact, you are the one who lost out."
Lin Yu understood what he meant, but she didn't mind: "Since we've already bought it, there's nothing wrong with treating it as the first time."
Zhou Ke: "You can think of it as a gift from your brother, not your boyfriend."
Lin Yu's long eyelashes trembled. Zhou Ke's voice was not loud, and his pace was even but slow. The emphasis was on the last three words. This was the first time Lin Yu had heard him refer to his new identity. She looked at him and suddenly felt a part of her heart sink. She wanted to go up and kiss him, but due to the occasion, she held back.
After a long pause, she slowly asked, "What about my boyfriend's? When are you going to send it?"
Zhou Ke stood opposite her, his gentle gaze falling on her face, a slight smile playing on his lips: "I won't tell you yet."
A gentle breeze brushed past the two of them. Lin Yu held the flowers, her long, flowing hair billowing in the wind. She didn't press for a specific date, but she looked forward to each day that the person she loved would knock on her door with a bouquet of flowers filled with his love.
After it got completely dark, the two went home.
Lin Yu returned to her room, threw the withered flowers into the trash can, and then placed the newly bought flowers in a glass vase. After doing this, she looked at Zhou Ke sitting on the sofa and walked over.
Zhou Ke put down the book he had casually picked up and turned his gaze to her. "You've been out all afternoon, aren't you tired?"
Under normal circumstances, Zhou Ke might not have asked such a question, and Lin Yu wouldn't have thought much of it. But that's the extent of their tacit understanding. As soon as the words were spoken, both of them fell silent. Zhou Ke was waiting for her answer, while Lin Yu's mind was filled with many erotic images because of the suggestive words. Her ears turned red, she bit her lip, met Zhou Ke's dark eyes, and said truthfully, "A little."
After saying that, Zhou Ke didn't suspect anything. He patted his thigh and gestured to her, "Put your legs up here, I'll massage them for you."
Lin Yu was wearing a gray-brown short skirt today, revealing a pair of long, straight, fair legs. She placed her calves across Zhou Ke's thighs, feeling his rough fingertips gently caressing the outside of her calves. When he kneaded them forcefully, it felt like an electric current seeped from his fingertips into the blood vessels beneath her skin, then surged through her spine with lightning speed. Her back tingled and her toes involuntarily tightened.
While kneading her hands, Zhou Ke suddenly turned his gaze to her side, his face solemn, and asked if she felt any discomfort anywhere.
These pointed words made Lin Yu's face instantly burn red. She whispered an "ah" and pretended not to understand.
Zhou Ke stopped what he was doing. The light from the floor lamp illuminated his profile, highlighting his sharp and smooth features. He looked over with deep eyes, his thin lips pressed tightly together, as if he wouldn't be at ease until he got an answer.
Lin Yu was most afraid of being looked at like that by him. He didn't say a word, but he carried the oppressive aura of an elder, making her feel as if she had to go through all the wrong things she had done in her life in her mind.
She slowly bent one leg and stepped on his thigh, deciding to lay it all out since he was the culprit anyway: "It's... a little sore."
After speaking, Lin Yu lowered her head. Her words were subtle, but both of them understood.
It doesn't seem quite right to say that the brother was the culprit, since she was also aiding and abetting the evildoer.
...
As he finished speaking, a hint of tenderness and guilt flashed in Zhou Ke's eyes. He always tended to spoil her too much and agree with her, while at the same time losing his sense of self-control. The moment he saw her, the seeds of desire would sprout.
It was his fault.
Zhou Ke sighed helplessly and stretched out his left hand to Lin Yu, "Come here and sit next to me."
Lin Yu blinked, her mind still reeling, but her body had already moved first. She reached out her right hand and grasped his palm, using the leverage to sit up.
Seeing this, Zhou Ke wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her to sit between his legs, and let her back rest against his chest. He lowered his head and rested his chin on the crook of her neck.
Zhou Ke wrapped his arm around her waist.
Lin Yu turned around, and as soon as she looked up, she met his deep, dark eyes.
"Brother." Lin Yu pursed her lips, her moist eyes like a spring filled with moonlight, and pleaded, "Give me a kiss, okay?"
Zhou Ke held her waist, his eyes lowered, watching the faint blush on her fair face. He swallowed hard, but before he could speak, Lin Yu pressed herself against him. With the experience from last night, she had learned to smoothly slip her tongue into his lips.
The room was quiet, with only the soft sounds of pecking echoing in the dim light.
He sighed, grabbed her waist and lifted her up, then laid her down on the sofa beneath him.
The kisses slowly moved down her jawline, his breath landing on her collarbone, as he continued to move on to other areas.
Lin Yu looked down, and could only see the back of a dark, fuzzy head. As her breath settled, Lin Yu suddenly trembled, as if fireworks had exploded in her mind.
Completely unfamiliar with the experience, Lin Yu closed her eyes and gasped for breath. The air slowly changed its scent in the misty breeze. Her body trembled uncontrollably. She wanted to retreat yet also wanted to move forward, completely unsure of what to do. Lin Yu raised her slender neck, revealing the beautiful lines of her neck. Tears from the corners of her eyes slid down to her temples. She moved backward shakily, only to be pulled down again in the next moment.
She heard the babbling of a stream beside her, her lips parted wide, her breathing became uncontrollably heavy, and her chest heaved violently. She bit her lip, her eyes unfocused as she stared at the ceiling, the halo of the overhead light spreading outwards, turning into a vast emptiness.
The tear that had been clinging to her eyelashes finally fell, streaming down her cheeks to her temples.
Zhou Ke knelt on one knee beside her. His sister's dazed expression caught his eye. He looked down at her, gently kissing away the tears at the corner of her eyes: "Do you like it?"
Lin Yu lay beneath him, taking a long time to recover. She took a deep breath, then opened her arms to Zhou Ke and said in a hoarse voice, "Brother, please hug me."
She had just cried, and her voice still had a slight nasal tone, sounding sticky and muggy, like stringy maltose.
Zhou Ke stretched out his long arm and pulled the person into his arms.
Lin Yu blinked, her pupils shimmering with a watery light: "Can I sleep with you tonight?"
“Okay.” Zhou Ke reached out and brushed aside the wet strands of hair clinging to her cheek, tucking them behind her ear.
Lin Yu lowered her head and looked at her brother kneeling between her legs. The living room lights were off, leaving only a floor lamp that was still dimly lit. The hazy light and shadow fell on his back. Her eyes were wet, and her eyelashes were stuck together. She blinked, trying to see her brother's face clearly, but she could only see a hint of ambiguous moisture at the corner of his mouth.
The suppressed emotions had taken root in her heart, and finally, the day had come. She had suffered too much in this relationship, and now it was finally time to reap the rewards. So she made endless demands, again and again. Last night she had already made too much of a scene, so he could only give her what she wanted in a gentler way.
In the end, she was truly exhausted. Her pants were soaked with water. She hugged him, wrapped her arms around his neck, and buried her head in the crook of his neck, trembling incessantly, like a begonia flower being battered by a rainstorm.
He carried her back to the room with one hand. She was so tired that her mind was foggy. When she nestled in her brother's arms, she smelled his familiar scent.
Looking down at her younger sister lying quietly in her arms, she saw that her eyes were closed, and her fine eyelashes cast a faint shadow on her eyelids.
He reached out and pinched her cheek, calling her softly, "Xiaoyu..."
"Ugh..." She was too tired to speak, and could only respond with some faint syllables.
Zhou Ke: "Say goodnight to me."
"Goodnight..." Lin Yu moved her head, groggily tilted her chin up, and gave him a quick, haphazard kiss on the chin.
The last time we hugged each other like this was more than a decade ago.
He raised his hand and smoothed the hair at the back of her head, running his fingers through her hair. He kissed the corner of her lips and praised, "Good girl."
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Author's note: I'm tired, numb.
...
(Omitted 1000 words) [Chin resting on hand]
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