Being a Tutor to a Rich, Psychopathic Young Lady - Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Shi Mingyue should have pushed her away, but that floral scent resonated in her heart, as if it had become a kind of medicine. She was momentarily intoxicated… finding a kind of anchor in a life of endless numbness.
Xiao Dengqu was following a certain agreement. She only kissed the corner of her lips, and her tongue only lingered there. Several times, it tried to enter her mouth, but the tip of her tongue skillfully retreated.
Several times, Shi Mingyue’s brain was blaring with warnings. This was wrong. She was a tutor, and she wasn’t in a relationship with Xiao Dengqu. This was wrong…
However, her body felt very comfortable with what Xiao Dengqu was doing. It was like a strange chemical reaction. She didn’t dislike this, so when she tried to refuse, she wasn’t completely focused.
If anyone was to be blamed, it was Xiao Dengqu’s fault.
But as soon as this thought came up, Shi Mingyue felt it was wrong. She couldn’t blame Xiao Dengqu. She pushed Xiao Dengqu away slightly.
Xiao Dengqu was still trying to get closer. Shi Mingyue said, “That’s enough…”
The teacher lowered her head, her cheeks flushed. Xiao Dengqu looked at her for a few seconds and withdrew her actions. The teacher said, “That’s enough,” not “Don’t do this” or “Don’t do this again.”
Xiao Dengqu backed away. She lay on the bed, looking up at the teacher from below. Shi Mingyue’s eyes were slightly red. “Poor teacher,” she asked, “Is it because I kissed you?”
“Or is it because of something else?” Xiao Dengqu asked. She said, “Kissing can release dopamine and make you very happy.”
Shi Mingyue didn’t answer. She started talking to herself, very seriously. “It’s true. If you don’t believe me, give me your phone, and I’ll search it for you.”
Shi Mingyue didn’t give her the phone. Instead, she asked, “Why did you pick the flower? The maid said that rose is very rare.”
“It opens in the flower room for a few days, and then it wilts. If I pick it, it’s also a few days. The teacher likes it, so I showed it to you.” Xiao Dengqu said, “Roses will bloom again.”
Shi Mingyue’s heart was pricked by something indescribable. “They will bloom again? How long?”
“After the dormant period, when the flower room is at the right temperature, it will bloom again.” Xiao Dengqu said. She had become an erudite person. “Teacher, roses will bloom repeatedly.”
The black petals, with their sparkling, dewy beads, were deep and mysterious, as if they were condensed from the most brilliant star river in the night sky.
Beautiful and expensive things. Just one look would make a person fall in love. The fragrance of the flowers was rich, soothing her nostrils. Shi Mingyue lowered her head and took a light sniff.
“You should go back,” Shi Mingyue said.
Xiao Dengqu said, “I’ll read for a little longer.”
Xiao Dengqu took the book and flipped through it. She lay down and read quietly, but it would have been better if she wasn’t using Shi Mingyue’s leg as a pillow.
Shi Mingyue was not used to this level of intimacy, and her body was stiff.
Under the light, the young lady resting on her leg turned the pages of the book one by one. Shi Mingyue looked down and saw her long eyelashes and fluffy hair. When she was quiet, it always made a person feel the urge to reach out and touch her.
Shi Mingyue picked up her phone to try and take a picture of the rose with the camera. She deliberately avoided Xiao Dengqu, but Xiao Dengqu was too close and kept accidentally getting into the shot.
Xiao Dengqu, who was flipping through the book, called out to her, “Teacher.”
“Hmm? What don’t you understand?”
“If you’re unhappy, a kiss will fix it.” Xiao Dengqu looked up at her. Under the light, her unique stubbornness was even more beautiful. She brought up the topic again, tirelessly.
“No, it won’t. It won’t get better.”
“Then I’ll kiss you again tomorrow, until it gets better.”
Xiao Dengqu didn’t finish reading and go back until after midnight. Before she left, Xiao Dengqu hooked her arm around her neck and kissed her again. Shi Mingyue carefully moved the rose to the side, afraid of crushing the flower.
This time, Xiao Dengqu kissed with a lot of force, biting her on the corner of her lips. She wasn’t satisfied, and she stuck out her tongue, tapping it with her fingertip. “Teacher, this is very strange.”
Shi Mingyue caught a glimpse of it in her peripheral vision but didn’t dare to look directly.
Xiao Dengqu said, “I always want to be bitten by you. It’s strange. I just really want that.”
Shi Mingyue had no experience with kissing. She had seen it many times when she was in school. The small grove on campus was filled with couples embracing and kissing. She could answer Xiao Dengqu’s confusion. Xiao Dengqu wanted her passionate response.
Xiao Dengqu licked her lips, staring at her moist lips. “Teacher, are you happy now?”
… It really wasn’t that bad anymore.
Shi Mingyue’s legs were numb from being used as a pillow. She sat on the bed and massaged her calves.
The rose was in the vase on the bedside table. Xiao Dengqu had gone and gotten the vase herself.
The faint floral scent wafted into her nostrils. Shi Mingyue thought about the study abroad program Cheng Jin had mentioned, and then she thought about her sister’s words today.
That woman missed her.
Her sister was still young and didn’t understand the weight of those words.
Her sister was sent to their grandmother’s house as soon as she was born. Only Shi Mingyue had lived with her mother the whole time.
When she was a child, she didn’t understand and thought all mothers were beaten like that. Later, once, that woman wasn’t home, and she was beaten. The woman saw that she wasn’t dead and put medicine on her. From then on, as long as she wasn’t beaten to death, the woman would only feel sorry for her when she was applying medicine.
At that time, the people outside who liked to gossip were incredibly kind.
The gossiping women would say, “Oh, you’re such a cheap woman. Your daughter has been beaten, and you’re still with him. Don’t think for yourself, think for your daughter…”
And they would say, “Mingyue, when you grow up, you should run away and don’t worry about your mom anymore. Your mom is just destined to be beaten. It serves her right. You should never care about her again.”
They would also say, “This woman is also cheap. Doesn’t she think about her daughter? Her in-laws will look down on her when she gets married. They might even abuse Mingyue. It was bad luck for her to be born to her. What a jinx.”
The woman would hug Shi Mingyue, who was bruised and swollen, and constantly explain. She talked about how she and the man met in elementary school, how he wasn’t like this before. “Mingyue’s dad wasn’t like this. He just likes to drink. He’s only like this when he drinks… Mingyue knows that, right? Dad also bought Mingyue a little duck, didn’t he?”
Fortunately, when Shi Mingyue was in first grade, they moved to a town. It was too far from home, so she started living in a dorm. She didn’t have to go home for seven days a week. In middle school, she moved to a farther county. Every week, she would receive a message: “Mingyue, Mom misses you. When are you coming back.”
The woman really did miss her. She would come to see her three times a week in elementary school. In middle school, she would come every week to bring her chicken soup and food, and she would buy her nutritional drinks and milk. Their family was the poorest and had the least amount of love, but the woman came more often than any of her classmates’ mothers. As long as she came home, the woman would definitely take her to buy clothes and shoes, and she would make a pile of delicious food for her to take to school. Shi Mingyue didn’t like going home, but when she did, she always saw the woman beaten until she was barely breathing. The woman would look at her as if she could come back to life.
All of Shi Mingyue’s tuition money came from the woman selling skewers. Later, the woman became pregnant. She said to the woman, “Let’s leave when I’m in high school…”
The woman said seriously, “What are you saying? Where would we go? What about your dad? What about your brother? Your dad will get better after I give birth to your brother.”
Shi Mingyue could still receive messages from that woman: “Mingyue, Mom misses you.”
It was like a last breath, a plea for help.
Shi Mingyue didn’t dare to tell her when she was coming back. She only secretly went to see her. The woman’s child was aborted. She was lying in bed, crying even though she wasn’t being beaten. It was as if her last bit of spirit had been sucked out of her.
But Shi Mingyue never said “Let’s leave” to her again. Her sister, whom she brought back from her grandmother’s, was so young, and she was still in school. The woman simply couldn’t leave, unless a miracle happened and the man was hit by a car and died.
In her third year of high school, Shi Mingyue was the top student in their small city. The woman prepared to hold a banquet for her to celebrate her admission to university. Shi Mingyue didn’t want to. She didn’t want the woman and the man to know which school she chose. But the woman smiled and said, “Your dad has run away. No one will bother us anymore.”
Tonight, Shi Mingyue had a dream. In the dream, the still beautiful woman found her in a closet. This time, what she smelled was not the pungent smell of medicine, but a beautiful floral scent. The woman said, “Mingyue, let’s go.”
However, Shi Mingyue, in her dream, knew clearly that it was a dream.
Because Mingyue was not the moon, and the moon had never illuminated the six-year-old Mingyue.