A Confession Misunderstood

“You were having a nightmare,” Xiang Qing stated, her gaze fixed on Shen Lanzhi’s eyes, trying to discern something.

“A nightmare?” Shen Lanzhi paused, her face flushing crimson, before asking, “I’m so sorry, was I holding onto you?”

Xiang Qing nodded.

“And… was there anything else?” Shen Lanzhi inquired, her voice laced with caution.

“You licked my face,” Xiang Qing stated plainly.

Shen Lanzhi’s face instantly flared crimson, like a ripe apple.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! Truly, I was deep in a nightmare; I don’t remember a thing!”

She swiftly released Xiang Qing, shifting herself away.

“It’s alright.” Witnessing Shen Lanzhi’s abashed expression, Xiang Qing felt a sliver of her suspicion recede.

Could she genuinely have been caught in the throes of a nightmare?

“Xiao Qing, you’re not angry, are you?” Shen Lanzhi pleaded, her eyes wide and mournful.

“No, not at all. I understand,” Xiang Qing replied, shaking her head.

Shen Lanzhi exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding, though a fleeting glint of triumph sparkled in her eyes.

“Then, let’s go back to sleep,” Shen Lanzhi suggested, lying back down, but this time maintaining a noticeable distance.

Xiang Qing, too, lay down, yet her thoughts churned in disarray.

That sensation from earlier… what exactly was it?

She tentatively touched the spot on her face where she’d been licked, still warm with Shen Lanzhi’s lingering heat.

‘No, forget it. Stop thinking. Sleep!’

Xiang Qing closed her eyes, striving to quiet the tempest within her.

Yet, the vivid image from moments ago refused to fade from her mind.

Shen Lanzhi’s lips… her tongue… and that peculiar sensation…

The more Xiang Qing dwelled on it, the more muddled her thoughts grew, leaving her to toss and turn, utterly sleepless.

It was then that Shen Lanzhi’s voice drifted over.

“Xiao Qing, are you still awake?”

“Mmm, I’m finding it a bit hard to sleep,” Xiang Qing admitted truthfully.

“Is it because of what happened earlier?” Shen Lanzhi’s voice was tinged with apology. “I’m sorry, it’s all my fault.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Xiang Qing countered, turning to face Shen Lanzhi. “You didn’t do it intentionally.”

Moonlight streamed through the window, bathing Shen Lanzhi’s face in its soft glow.

Her skin seemed to radiate a luminous pallor in the moonlight, her eyes shimmering, brimming with apology and… something more.

Xiang Qing found herself momentarily captivated.

‘How could this woman be so strikingly beautiful?’

“Xiao Qing?” Shen Lanzhi’s voice was a soft murmur.

“Huh?” Xiang Qing startled back to awareness.

“What were you looking at?” Shen Lanzhi asked, a faint smile gracing her lips.

“Nothing,” Xiang Qing quickly responded, averting her gaze.

“Xiao Qing,” Shen Lanzhi began, suddenly inching closer. “May I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“Have you… ever been in a relationship?”

Xiang Qing froze, taken aback.

‘How was she supposed to answer that?’

‘To say no would make her seem utterly pathetic.’

‘To say yes, when she’d never actually had a girlfriend…’

‘Wait, she was a woman now, so the correct question should be about boyfriends.’

“No,” Xiang Qing replied honestly. “I have no interest in romantic relationships.”

“Why not?” A flicker of excitement danced in Shen Lanzhi’s eyes.

“It’s too much trouble,” Xiang Qing mused. “Besides, I find money far more dependable than men.”

Shen Lanzhi burst into laughter.

“You’re truly amusing.” Her gaze softened considerably. “So, what are your thoughts on… women?”

Xiang Qing’s mind promptly short-circuited.

‘What about women? How on earth was she supposed to answer that?’

Knowing Shen Lanzhi’s preference for women, Xiang Qing realized that speaking ill of them would surely lead to tears, or perhaps even a full-blown meltdown.

Given Shen Lanzhi’s delicate health, and Xiang Qing’s reluctance to create any animosity, she could only bite the bullet and offer praise for women.

“Oh, women,” Xiang Qing began, her voice a touch dry, “are far superior to men.”

Shen Lanzhi’s eyes immediately sparkled with delight, her entire demeanor brightening with excitement.

“Really? You think so too?” Shen Lanzhi’s voice trembled with exhilaration. “Quickly, tell me, what makes women so much better than men?”

Xiang Qing’s scalp prickled.

‘Oh no, this woman is so eager to hear more; I’ll have to keep improvising.’

‘But as someone who was once a man, how was she supposed to know what was so great about women?’

“Well, it’s just… it’s just that…” Xiang Qing’s mind raced, “women tend to be more thoughtful?”

“And what else?” Shen Lanzhi pressed, her eyes wide with anticipation.

Faced with Shen Lanzhi’s eager, hopeful gaze, Xiang Qing had no choice but to continue fabricating.

“Women are generally gentler, not as rough or crude as men.”

“Exactly, exactly!” Shen Lanzhi nodded with fervent enthusiasm. “And what else?”

‘What else could there possibly be?!’ Xiang Qing roared inwardly.

Utterly out of ideas, she could only shift her gaze to Shen Lanzhi herself, searching for some redeeming qualities to mention.

“Well, take you, for instance,” Xiang Qing said, gesturing towards Shen Lanzhi. “You’re beautiful, your skin is fair and soft, and your figure is lovely. You’re good at housework, and you’re so gentle—what’s not to like?”

Upon hearing this, Shen Lanzhi’s face flushed a deep crimson, and her eyes sparkled with an excited gleam.

“Xiao Qing, you… you are confessing your feelings to me?”

Xiang Qing nearly sprang from the bed in shock.

“What?! A confession?”

“You just praised my beauty, my figure, and my gentle nature,” Shen Lanzhi said, shyly covering her face. “What else could that be but a confession? It’s rather embarrassing.”

Xiang Qing was utterly dumbfounded.

‘I merely offered a couple of casual compliments, and that constitutes a confession?’

‘What kind of fantastical interpretation was this?!’

“Sister Lanzhi, you’ve misunderstood!” Xiang Qing quickly waved her hands in denial. “I didn’t mean it that way! Truly, I didn’t!”

Shen Lanzhi, however, wore an expression that clearly conveyed, “I understand you perfectly.”

“Oh, Xiao Qing, I’m so sorry.”

Shen Lanzhi gently patted Xiang Qing’s hand, saying earnestly, “I shouldn’t have put you on the spot like that. You’re a young girl, after all, and shyness is perfectly normal. As your older sister, I should have been more thoughtful and avoided making you feel so awkward.”

Xiang Qing’s eyes bulged, as wide as copper bells.

‘How on earth did this woman’s mind work?!’

‘I explicitly stated I didn’t mean it, yet she still believes I’m simply shy?’

‘What twisted logic was this?!’

“Sister Lanzhi, you’re truly overthinking this!” Xiang Qing insisted, trying desperately to clarify. “I merely offered a casual compliment; I genuinely had no other intention!”

“Mmm-hmm, I know,” Shen Lanzhi replied, nodding with a knowing smile. “Young girls are all the same—they act tough but are soft-hearted.”

Xiang Qing was plunged into utter despair.

‘This woman wasn’t listening to a word she said!’

‘She was even concocting an entire scenario of a bashful young girl in her head!’

‘What in the world was happening?!’

“I’m not talking to you anymore!” Xiang Qing declared, seething with frustration, as she abruptly turned her back to Shen Lanzhi. “Sleep!”

She pulled the blanket up to her chin, huffing softly as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Watching Xiang Qing’s indignant posture, Shen Lanzhi’s heart swelled with delight.

‘Xiao Qing was clearly just shy.’

‘Those words earlier were undeniably a confession, and now that she’d been called out, she was simply feigning anger out of embarrassment.’

‘She was utterly adorable.’

Content, Shen Lanzhi settled back down, no longer teasing Xiang Qing.

Tonight had been incredibly fruitful; Xiao Qing had not only praised her beauty but also complimented her figure and gentle nature.

‘What else could that be but a confession?’

‘Even if Xiao Qing was still shy now, it didn’t matter; there was always tomorrow.’

Shen Lanzhi closed her eyes, a contented smile gracing her lips, and soon drifted off to sleep.

Only when Xiang Qing heard Shen Lanzhi’s steady breathing did she dare to glance back.

‘The woman had finally fallen asleep.’

Xiang Qing exhaled a long, silent sigh of relief.

This evening had been an absolute whirlwind: from having her leg touched, to her face licked, and then being utterly misunderstood as making a confession—this sequence of events left her questioning the very fabric of her existence.

‘Were all women in this world truly this terrifying?’

‘Gu Wei was a hooligan, and Shen Lanzhi was a peculiar, almost deranged woman with a baffling thought process.’

The more Xiang Qing pondered, the more her future seemed shrouded in an impenetrable darkness.

‘Forget it, stop thinking. She had work tomorrow anyway, so it was best to just sleep.’

Xiang Qing closed her eyes, making a concerted effort to calm herself.

Yet, the image of Shen Lanzhi’s bashful expression from earlier stubbornly persisted in her mind.

That fair complexion, flushed crimson like an apple, and those dewy eyes, sparkling with an excited fervor.

And the delicate, demure way she’d covered her face, like a shy young maiden…

Xiang Qing violently shook her head.

‘What on earth was she thinking?!’

‘How had she started noticing women’s appearances in such detail?’

‘This was truly terrifying!’

‘It must be the sheer number of women she’d encountered recently, distorting her aesthetic sensibilities.’

‘Yes, that had to be it!’

Comforting herself with this thought, Xiang Qing finally, gradually, succumbed to sleep.

****

The following morning, Xiang Qing was roused from her slumber by an enticing aroma.

Groggily, she opened her eyes to find that Shen Lanzhi was no longer in bed.

From the kitchen, the clatter of pots and pans mingled with an alluring fragrance.

Xiang Qing glanced at the time; it was barely past six o’clock.

‘Why was this woman up so early?’

Rising from bed, she padded to the kitchen doorway, where she found Shen Lanzhi preparing breakfast.

Dressed in a delicate pink apron, Shen Lanzhi was gracefully frying eggs, her movements both skilled and elegant.

The soft morning light streamed in through the window, illuminating her and casting a gentle, ethereal glow around her entire being.