Chapter 40 What would happen if they kissed?
In that instant, Su Cheng felt as if something had exploded inside her chest.
A scorching heat surged from my heart, spreading like wildfire, rushing along my nerves and blood vessels to my cheeks, bringing a blush of shyness.
Jiang Muzhou bent his knees and straightened his back.
Seeing that Su Cheng didn't move, he pursed his lips, and his prominent Adam's apple bobbed slightly.
The entire arm was visibly red, as if you could see the blood pulsating rapidly under the skin.
He stared into her dark, bright eyes, pointed to the back of his neck, and said in a low, husky voice, "Put your hands here."
Su Cheng's ears started burning slowly, almost instantly.
Although she would occasionally drool over Jiang Muzhou's chest muscles, and even had a blushing, heart-pounding dream after accidentally catching a glimpse of him after his bath, she suddenly froze when it came to actually being intimate with him. Her arms, like a wind-up puppet, mechanically climbed onto his neck.
Her cool skin was instantly enveloped by his body heat, and beneath that thin layer of skin, her carotid artery was throbbing powerfully, one beat after another, as if it were about to crash into her palm.
She was wearing a burgundy silk midi skirt today, which originally hung neatly below her knees, but now, because she was curled up, the hem of the skirt had quietly rolled up to her knees.
Jiang Muzhou's right hand passed under her knees, his five fingers hovering loosely, using only his wrist to exert force.
Before Su Cheng could react, her feet lightened, and she was lifted into his arms.
The high heels landed with a "thud," and the bare feet trembled in the air before instinctively crossing and tightening, like a startled butterfly folding its wings.
With a swift movement of his left hand, two silver ribbons wrapped around his knuckles. He then straightened up and lifted her steadily into his arms with one hand.
This was the first time she had been held in someone's arms like this, and through the thin fabric of her clothes, she could clearly feel the warmth of the man's chest.
Su Cheng's heart suddenly skipped a few beats, pounding so loudly that she could hear it herself.
She stood frozen, her head hanging in the air, unsure what to do. She could only instinctively straighten her back, trying to create some space between herself and him.
What you could see was his short, choppy black hair falling across his forehead.
Further down, a pair of deep, dark pupils appeared, clear and cold, yet adorned with starlight, like a boundless, bottomless canopy of the Milky Way, captivating all who beheld them.
Suddenly, the night sky slid down, clearly reflecting her image.
"Su Cheng." He curled his lips into a smile, his breath brushing against her earlobe. "Is this... repaying kindness with enmity?"
Su Cheng's fingertips trembled, and she almost let go of the hands clasped behind his neck.
She didn't understand what he meant—was he referring to her pretending to have a foot pain that prevented her from walking earlier, or was she secretly watching him right now?
She guiltily looked away, feigning ignorance, "What?"
Her breath hit his chest and bounced back, burning her cheeks.
When Jiang Muzhou lowered his eyes, he took in all her little movements.
Thick, long eyelashes blinked rapidly, casting a flustered shadow beneath her eyes.
The person in his arms was clearly thin, but their body was as stiff as a steel plate, helping to fight against gravity.
He tightened his wrist slightly, and a soft chuckle escaped his throat. "I didn't read your physics notes carefully back then."
With a gentle curve at the corner of his eyes, he tapped his shoulder lightly with his chin, gesturing to the person in his arms: "Lean your head here, it'll save you some energy."
Su Cheng thought he thought she was too heavy, so she quickly lowered her head and gently pressed her flushed cheeks against his shoulder.
The pulsating gaze fell on the side of his neck, where pale blue veins were faintly visible beneath the skin.
They were so close that her nose almost touched his shoulder, and the deep, rich scent of cedar emanating from him irresistibly filled her breath, like falling into a pine forest in the depths of winter.
In the dim light, the senses are amplified infinitely.
The restlessness in her chest grew stronger, as if a restless little beast was pounding against her heart.
She deliberately slowed her breathing, trying to cover up the pounding in her chest.
But the warm breath, out of control, brushed past his Adam's apple, which was so close to his.
The raised curve trembled slightly.
What would happen if we kissed?
Her heart raced; she was startled by her own audacious idea.
The hug she received by taking advantage of his sympathy, and the unexpected kiss, were the most inappropriate contact they had ever had.
The thought that someone else would be able to be embraced by him legitimately and kissed by him sincerely in the future sent a tingling, sharp pain through her chest.
Loving someone as a friend only brings self-deceptive sweetness, while swallowing only the bitterness of saying one thing and meaning another.
Her arms tightened uncontrollably as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, greedily absorbing this moment of warmth.
Let's be reckless this once.
With a "ding," the elevator doors opened, and a warm tear fell onto Jiang Muzhou's collarbone.
He trembled and looked down at the person in his arms.
The cold light from the sedan chair made her skin appear even whiter than snow, except for her red eyes.
"Does it hurt a lot?" He unconsciously softened his voice.
Su Cheng's eyelashes trembled. She nodded first, then hesitated and shook her head.
It hurts a lot, but she can't pinpoint exactly where it hurts.
“Actually, you look good even without high heels.” Jiang Muzhou gently lifted her high heels to steady them, then used one finger to press the button for the 18th floor.
His gaze was so gentle it could melt away the darkness of the night, and his tone was like coaxing someone, "But if you like, I'm always willing to come and pick you up."
A warm feeling suddenly enveloped a part of Su Cheng's heart that was on the verge of breaking.
Tears blurred her vision, and she saw a thousand tender feelings in his eyes, yet she dared not be sure if they held a meaning unique to her.
-
When Jiang Muzhou opened the door again with shopping bags, Su Cheng was nestled on the sofa, playing with a cat toy with Yuanbao.
He arranged the ingredients one by one on the island counter, with corn, ribs, scallions, ginger, and garlic neatly arranged.
After washing his hands, he filled a pot with water and placed it on the stove. While the water was boiling, he began washing and chopping vegetables.
Su Cheng gently shook the cat toy, and the fluffy tufts of feathers fluttered up and down along the black elastic thread, like a mischievous little bird.
She skillfully controlled the strength of her wrist, sometimes flicking lightly, sometimes pulling back sharply, neither letting the gold ingot get its way easily, nor letting it get within her reach.
Watching the feathers swaying in front of him, Yuanbao opened his round cat eyes and watched intently, jumping up every now and then to try and grab them, his little paws waving back and forth in the air.
If you make it too easy to catch, it will quickly lose interest, but if you tease it like this, it will become more and more enthusiastic.
While playing with Yuanbao, Su Cheng used her other hand to open the document Wendy had sent that afternoon, which was the rescue station's income and expenditure details for the month.
Wendy compiles and organizes this data every month, and then publishes it on her official WeChat account at the beginning of the following month.
Su Cheng had noticed before that the reports clearly recorded every income and expenditure, allowing donors to see the flow of supplies and the specific funding gaps at a glance.
No matter how meticulously the accounts were kept, the rescue station was always operating at a loss, and the medical bills owed to the pet hospital kept piling up.
The table has two tabs, one for the first half of the month and one for the second half.
She started checking from the first half of the month. The first column showed her meager income from peripheral products. At that time, she had not yet opened a video account. She relied entirely on the promotion of volunteers' WeChat Moments and the spontaneous recommendations of college students to sell some peripheral products. Her revenue was 2,357 yuan. After deducting production and logistics costs, the net profit was less than 500 yuan, which was barely enough to spay one female cat.
She sighed softly, her fingertips sliding to the second column, "Social Donations."
As usual, there were small donations of 20 or 50 yuan at the beginning, but when her eyes swept to the last line, her breath suddenly caught in her throat.
She zoomed in on the cell in disbelief, pointing to each of the zeros at the end of the cell with her finger, counting them one by one—a genuine 100,000 yuan.
Moving to the donor section, it simply says two capital letters: OO.
It turned out to be a completely unfamiliar ID.
Just as I was wondering, I felt a cool, refreshing sensation at my feet.
She looked down and saw Yuanbao gently resting its furry paws on her calf, its round green eyes looking at her with a pitiful expression, silently protesting: You're so inattentive!
Su Cheng scooped Yuanbao up and placed it on her lap, gently scratching the softest fur on its chin with her fingertips. "Good boy, let your sister finish her work first."
The kitten, which had been restless, squinted and relaxed, letting out a long, soft purr, like a melting cotton candy.
She continued to review the expense details. Rent, utilities, and employee salaries were fixed monthly expenses, while daily purchases such as cat food, medicine, and vaccines were recorded as soon as they were bought, based on the cash basis. Occasionally, during major sales events, she could stock up on several months' worth of supplies at once, so these expenses varied in amount.
The largest expense is medical care. Most of the stray cats rescued suffer from common diseases such as stomatitis and infectious peritonitis. Not to mention special cases, such as a Decepticon cat that was shot through by a marble or a mother cat whose abdomen was wrapped in wire. The treatment costs for each of them are astonishingly high.
Su Cheng switched to the second half of the month's tab, which was the period when she started filming her cat's MBTI videos.
Thanks to the promotion of the video account and Fang Xin'ai's support, the sales of peripheral products increased tenfold, exceeding two thousand units.
Although it operates on a low-price model, with a net profit of just over 10,000 yuan after deducting various costs, the shelter's operations are indeed steadily improving.
With the addition of the 100,000 yuan donation, the rescue station not only paid off its long-standing medical debts but also completely reversed its long-term deficit.
Vaccine procurement, community TNR programs, and online adoption activities, which had been put on hold due to funding shortages, can now be launched one after another.
However, such large donations are rare and hard to come by; the key is to seize the current traffic dividend.
If this wave of attention can be further amplified and a stable revenue-generating mechanism can be established, the rescue station can truly achieve sustainable development and better carry out its rescue work.
Su Cheng stroked Yuanbao's soft fur, and the words Wang Yuemeng had said flashed through her mind.
It seems she still has to keep an eye on one sheep.
She shuffled slowly into the living room, wearing pink bunny slippers.
Three dishes and a soup were freshly prepared, and the steaming hot Jiang Muzhou dish was served on the table. The dishes included rose soy sauce chicken, loofah soaked in fish tofu, stir-fried shrimp with scrambled eggs, and corn and pork rib soup. Each dish was a feast for the eyes, nose, and palate.
Su Cheng sniffed; the sweet aroma of pork rib soup mixed with corn wafted up.
She hesitated for a moment. Would it be too businesslike to talk about business directly at the dinner table?
"Wang Yuemeng said you two are roommates?" She had to lay the groundwork first, "Do you usually cook for him?"
"Him?" Jiang Muzhou placed two bowls of rice on the table, casually pulled off his apron, and scoffed, "A wild boar can't eat fine bran."
But he can benefit from the increased traffic!
Su Cheng poked a few small holes in the rice with the tip of her chopsticks, and she called him in Wang Yuemeng's tone, "A-Zhou".
She looked at him with bright, almond-shaped eyes, "Would you like to take things further with me?"
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