Online Romance with an Iceberg Professor Backfired - Chapter 29

Chapter 29: Cohabitation

“Can you come up and sleep holding me?”

The moment the words fell, the entire room was silent. Only Jiang Xianhan’s slightly rapid breathing could be heard.

Ji Pei had long known what Jiang Xianhan was up to. Even if she was slow in understanding relationships, how could she not know the meaning behind Jiang Xianhan’s words? What a liar, full of tricks.

However, since Ji Pei was the one who hurt Jiang Xianhan first, she already felt guilty. Even if Jiang Xianhan now asked her to run outside naked, Ji Pei might even consider it.

“Are you very cold?” Ji Pei pretended not to understand the underlying meaning. She grabbed Jiang Xianhan’s wrist and touched the temperature of her palm. It was quite hot. “Your hand is very hot.”

Jiang Xianhan curled up her body. “My body is cold.”

Ji Pei’s eyes rolled. She turned around, intending to leave. “Then I’ll get you another quilt…”

“Ji Pei.” Jiang Xianhan grabbed her wrist in return. The eyes that were previously blurry and hazy instantly became clear. “Come up.”

Ji Pei stopped. Her wrist was held by Jiang Xianhan and couldn’t move. She turned to look at her, took off her shoes, and climbed onto the bed.

The sheets and quilt were imbued with Jiang Xianhan’s body temperature and scent. Ji Pei always felt a faint citrus fragrance on her, wondering if it was perfume. Ji Pei was completely enveloped in the softness and warmth. As soon as she lay down, Jiang Xianhan wrapped her arms and legs around her.

“Are you really that cold?” Why is the sick Jiang Xianhan so clingy? Could she be deliberately using her illness to act like this?

Ji Pei turned, facing Jiang Xianhan, and loosely wrapped her right arm around the other woman’s waist, enveloping her in her embrace. She pretended not to see the successful smile on the corner of Jiang Xianhan’s lips, gently patting her back with her palm. “When I was little and sick, my grandmother would hold me like this, pat my back, and sing to lull me to sleep.”

Jiang Xianhan buried her entire face in Ji Pei’s chest, inhaling her unique scent, and said in a husky voice, “I want to hear you sing too.”

Ji Pei blinked, trying to recall songs she could sing. Her mind was blank. She couldn’t even remember the name of one song. The nursery rhymes her grandmother sang to her felt strange to sing to Jiang Xianhan, and she felt embarrassed. “What do you want to hear?”

Jiang Xianhan’s hand was warming itself on her lower abdomen. Ji Pei’s palm covered the back of Jiang Xianhan’s hand, and she leaned close to her ear. “Then I’ll sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ for you.”

“‘Twinkle, twinkle, little star.'”

“‘How I wonder what you are.'”

“…” Jiang Xianhan buried in Ji Pei’s chest, couldn’t stop laughing.

Ji Pei sighed when she saw this and said, “Now you know why I don’t sing, right? Tone-deaf and off-key.” Ji Pei recalled a while ago when Bai Yin invited her and Ye Wenzhu to sing karaoke. After she and Ye Wenzhu sang a duet, she saw Bai Yin’s shocked expression.

The person in her arms was still trembling slightly. Ji Pei couldn’t resist gently pinching Jiang Xianhan’s lower back. “You asked me to sing. Now look, you can’t sleep.”

Ji Pei opened her phone and checked the time in the dark. It was almost ten o’clock at night. Neither of them was asleep, staring at each other with open eyes. Ji Pei finally couldn’t help but blink and say, “Didn’t you say you go to sleep at ten every night? Why aren’t you closing your eyes now?” She actually wanted to wait for Jiang Xianhan to fall asleep, then quietly get up to wash up, and finally go to sleep in the adjacent room. Jiang Xianhan didn’t have classes tomorrow and could sleep in.

Jiang Xianhan’s gaze rested unwaveringly on Ji Pei, scanning every inch of her face, finally settling on her eyes. “No one has ever taken care of me like you.”

Hearing Jiang Xianhan utter these words one by one, Ji Pei opened her mouth. She also remembered that the other woman had said her parents were gone, and her only sister was in a vegetative state. Jiang Xianhan asked again, “Would you take care of others the same way you take care of me?”

Ji Pei cupped Jiang Xianhan’s warm cheeks with both hands, planting a light kiss on her slightly cooled forehead. “No. You are my lover. I will only be good to you.”

Ji Pei’s entire face was flushed when she said this. She bit her lower lip and kissed the corner of Jiang Xianhan’s mouth. People tend to become suspicious when they are sick. Jiang Xianhan couldn’t help but ask, “Really?”

Ji Pei nodded heavily. “Really.”

Half an hour later, Jiang Xianhan’s temperature dropped. Ji Pei used the ear thermometer to check it, and it had dropped to $37.5°C$, which was within the normal range.

Jiang Xianhan was drenched in sweat and felt sticky all over. She wanted to shower, but Ji Pei stopped her. “You can’t shower now. Did you forget what the doctor said?”

Jiang Xianhan stared at Ji Pei’s rosy lips and said word by word, “The doctor said someone could help me wash.”

Ji Pei: “…” Could it be that all this vulgar material has completely invaded Jiang Xianhan’s brain because of her illness?

“That was before you had a fever. Now that your fever has just broken, you can’t wash your hair or shower, nor can you wipe your body. Otherwise, you’ll catch a cold again.” Seeing Jiang Xianhan’s dazed, flushed appearance, Ji Pei felt she was already fine and that this was just a trick she was pulling. Ji Pei wouldn’t fall for it. Ji Pei was not someone who had never had a fever, so she naturally knew that Jiang Xianhan was mostly pretending.

However… Ji Pei crawled off the bed, tucked the blanket around Jiang Xianhan, and kissed her on the tip of her nose before leaving. “I’m going to take a shower and will be back soon. Don’t run around.”

Ji Pei went into the bathroom, closed the door, and with only her underwear left, she went to the door barefoot and locked the bathroom door from the inside. She was a little uneasy sharing a room with Jiang Xianhan. What if she was in the middle of her shower and the other woman, being disobedient, broke in? After locking the door from the inside, Ji Pei breathed a sigh of relief and lay in the bathtub to wash her hair and bathe.

Jiang Xianhan lay on the bed, touched her forehead, and realized it was no longer hot. Her mind gradually became clear. She recalled the things she said to Ji Pei earlier and lowered her eyes, smiling. She was covered in sticky sweat, which made her uncomfortable. She unbuttoned her shirt, intending to take off her innerwear, just as Ji Pei came out, wrapped in a towel, drying her hair. She saw Jiang Xianhan sitting up on the bed, one leg stretched out, looking like she wanted to get out of bed.

“What’s wrong? Thirsty again?”

Jiang Xianhan shook her head. “I want to change clothes. The sweat is making me uncomfortable.”

Ji Pei dried her dripping hair and walked toward her. “Lie down first. I’ll go find you something.”

Jiang Xianhan obediently lay down on the bed, smiling as she asked, “Do you know my measurements?”

Ji Pei’s face instantly heated up. “Of course, I do. I’ve touched them before. You’re about the same size as me.”

Jiang Xianhan insisted, “Then do you know my bust size?”

Ji Pei: “…” She hugged the towel and ran off. “Anyway, it’s not bigger than mine!”

When Ji Pei returned, she was no longer wearing the towel. She was dressed in a pink bunny pajama set and held an identical set in her hand. The innerwear was clean. Ji Pei’s face was a little red. She placed the innerwear on the bed and gently lifted the quilt covering Jiang Xianhan. “I brought it for you. Remember to wear it.”

Seeing Ji Pei turn to leave, Jiang Xianhan called out to her, “My arm hurts. Can you help me change?”

Ji Pei: “…” She turned around stiffly, her eyes darting around randomly, but in the end, she gave in.

Jiang Xianhan’s two long legs dangled on the carpet. She sat up straight, looking composed. It was Ji Pei who was blushing, looking as if she had been severely taken advantage of while unbuttoning Jiang Xianhan’s shirt.

When the wet outer shirt was removed, Jiang Xianhan’s fair and delicate skin came into view. Ji Pei quickly glanced at it, feeling her eyes were covered with a blinding whiteness. She held her breath and looked away.

But soon, her breath hitched. Because she saw that the needle mark on Jiang Xianhan’s left arm had changed color. It was dark and bruised, starkly contrasting against her fair skin.

Jiang Xianhan noticed Ji Pei’s gaze and turned her head to look. Ji Pei looked worried. “Why did it turn like this? Does it hurt a lot?”

Jiang Xianhan shook her head. It was her first time getting a vaccine, and she hadn’t expected her arm to look like this. “It hurts a lot. It’s sore and aching.” This time, she wasn’t exaggerating the misery. Her arm really couldn’t be lifted. Her entire left arm was sore and painful. A slight movement made her gasp for air.

With the outer shirt removed, Ji Pei faced a huge challenge. Although she had studied countless human bodies before, this was the first time she was in such close contact with a naked person. And this person was the Jiang Xianhan she really liked.

Ji Pei held her breath. Her two arms wrapped around Jiang Xianhan’s shoulders, helping her unhook the back clasp of her bra. Fine, soft hair strands fell onto Jiang Xianhan’s neck. Ji Pei had just washed her hair, and her body carried a strong scent of roses, mixed with a faint fruity aroma. She almost suffocated herself by holding her breath. She took a quick, quiet breath and continued to hold it, afraid Jiang Xianhan would notice her erratic breathing.

Damn clasp! Why is it so hard to unhook! Ji Pei felt like her fingers were about to tie themselves into knots. The more she tried to unhook it, the more tangled it became. It was just an ordinary clasp that should only take a few seconds to unhook, yet she felt like she had been fumbling for an eternity. What should I do? Will Jiang Xianhan think I’m doing this on purpose?

Ji Pei hardened her heart. Her shoulder brushed against Jiang Xianhan’s chest, and the clasp instantly came undone. She pretended to be expressionless as she removed Jiang Xianhan’s innerwear, but in reality, her heart was pounding in her throat.

Steady! Ji Pei! You are a human being! What’s the difference between a person who can’t control themselves and a beast!

After quickly completing a series of actions, Ji Pei lowered her head and quickly picked up the new innerwear to put on Jiang Xianhan. As she was putting it on, she asked to cover up her embarrassment, “How is it? Is it too tight?”

“Didn’t you say you were bigger than me?”

“I’m not asking for your size right now. Don’t answer irrelevant questions.”

Jiang Xianhan chuckled. “It’s not tight. It fits well.”

Ji Pei secretly glanced at Jiang Xianhan, feeling guilty yet addicted, until the other woman grabbed her hand and pressed it tightly against her chest. “Why are you so shy? Aren’t we a couple?”

Jiang Xianhan saw that every movement Ji Pei made betrayed her inexperience, and a smile of ambiguity curled on her lips. “Why not look openly? If you want to touch, you don’t need to ask for my permission.”

Ji Pei took a deep breath, then withdrew her hand. The lingering fragrance and warmth of the soft skin still remained on her fingertips. When she heard Jiang Xianhan mention “openly,” she pursed her lips, swallowed, and stared at her.

Her chest was soft and full, mostly concealed but clearly ample. Even sitting on the bed, Jiang Xianhan’s exposed waist, hips, and thighs revealed how magnificent her figure was. Normally, when she wore a fitted shirt, you couldn’t tell much, but once she took off her clothes, you would realize she had all the right curves.

Plop. A drop of warm liquid fell onto the back of her hand. Ji Pei looked down with a bewildered expression. “…” She’s having a nosebleed!

Ji Pei immediately jumped off the bed, covering her face with both hands, and ran to the bathroom. Jiang Xianhan stepped onto the soft slippers, put on the couple’s pajama set Ji Pei brought for her, held the soaked innerwear in her hand, and walked toward the bathroom.

Ji Pei patted her forehead, trying to stop the nosebleed. She found that the backward flow of bl00d almost choked her, so she simply lowered her head, letting all the fresh bl00d drain into the sink. Bright red bl00d continuously dripped down her nose. Ji Pei kept her mouth open, only tasting a metallic, sweet scent in her throat.

She swore the nosebleed was absolutely not caused by looking at Jiang Xianhan’s chest. It must be because the weather in B City was too dry recently, and she hadn’t been drinking enough water. Yes! That must be it!

After desperately trying to brainwash herself, the nosebleed slowly stopped. Ji Pei had just breathed a sigh of relief when she looked up in the mirror and saw Jiang Xianhan standing behind her. The other woman was holding the dirty clothes, standing behind her and subtly observing her.

Ji Pei sniffled, her eyes red, and she turned her head innocently, staring at Jiang Xianhan. “Don’t look at me.” Her voice was tearful. Jiang Xianhan put the dirty clothes into the hamper, walked over, and hugged her from behind. “I won’t look at you. Can I hug you?”

Ji Pei rubbed her nose, wiping the residual bloodstains with a tissue, her face miserable. “Do you think I’m a coward and a loser?”

Jiang Xianhan stood behind Ji Pei, her entire body pressed against hers, affectionately rubbing her nose against Ji Pei’s jaw. “How could I? Where are you a coward and a loser?” Her fingers rested on Ji Pei’s abdomen, patting gently, comforting her. “It’s just a nosebleed. The weather is too dry. Just drink more water.”

Ji Pei took two deep sniffs, realizing the bleeding had stopped, but there was still a faint metallic smell in her nasal cavity and mouth. She was too embarrassed to look at Jiang Xianhan. Seeing that the other woman had already changed into the pajamas, with both of them wearing identical outfits, she pursed her lips and smiled. “You look so cute in the bunny pajamas.”

Jiang Xianhan pinched the bunny ears, lightly touching the back of Ji Pei’s hand with the long pink ears. “Alright, let’s go to sleep.”

Ji Pei used her cool, water-soaked hand to touch Jiang Xianhan’s forehead. “It’s cool. Does that feel good?”

Jiang Xianhan held Ji Pei’s wrist, pressing the back of her hand against her own face. “Very comfortable.”

In bed, before sleeping, Ji Pei thoroughly checked Jiang Xianhan’s body. She stared at the other woman’s right ankle, saw that there was no longer any swelling, and breathed a sigh of relief. “Does your foot still hurt?”

Jiang Xianhan shook her head. “No pain. It recovered quite fast.”

“You absolutely must not sprain it again in the future. If you sprain it once, the second time will be even more serious.”

Jiang Xianhan leaned against Ji Pei’s chest and nodded. “Mhm, I will be careful.”

Turning off the mushroom nightlight, Ji Pei held the soft and warm Jiang Xianhan, lowered her head, and kissed her forehead. “Goodnight.”

Ji Pei didn’t have the habit of sleeping with others. This was her first time sleeping while holding another person, and she felt a little strange. Mhm, Jiang Xianhan is soft and fragrant, and surprisingly comfortable.

Ji Pei slept very comfortably. She didn’t want to open her eyes when she woke up the next morning. Her hand moved to her abdomen but touched a smooth, soft belly, and Jiang Xianhan’s hand, which had somehow slipped inside her clothes. “…” One of Jiang Xianhan’s legs was also thrown over her thigh.

The seemingly respectable Professor Jiang was unexpectedly like a koala when sleeping, hugging her tightly, impossible to peel off. Is this the Jiang Xianhan I know? This is too much of a contradiction. Could Jiang Xianhan have multiple personalities? She uses one personality when teaching at school, and switches to another personality when she’s being affectionate with me. Ji Pei considered this and thought it was quite possible. Furthermore, Jiang Xianhan was a philosophy professor. Her spiritual world was far richer than ordinary people’s. Perhaps a secondary personality had developed at some point.

Her flat lower abdomen was exposed. Although she was covered by the blanket, Ji Pei still pulled her pajamas down. It was really uncomfortable to sleep with an uncovered belly button. Jiang Xianhan, too, was either doing it on purpose or accidentally. Why would she put her hand there?

Jiang Xianhan was sleeping on her side, her head resting on Ji Pei’s shoulder. From Ji Pei’s angle, she only needed to lower her gaze slightly to see Jiang Xianhan’s long, dark eyelashes and the tiny tear mole beneath her eye. Ji Pei never thought a tear mole could have such an alluring charm.

She gently lowered her head, rested her chin on the crown of Jiang Xianhan’s head, and couldn’t resist lightly rubbing it. Jiang Xianhan was still asleep. Her lips were slightly parted, revealing her white, even teeth. She seemed to be sleeping very soundly.

Ji Pei didn’t look at her phone because any movement would wake Jiang Xianhan. She glanced at the white light outside the curtain and knew they had slept until noon.

Jiang Xianhan unconsciously hummed twice. Her right hand, resting on Ji Pei’s chest, moved, tracing down her soft skin.

Ji Pei: “…” How can she still be acting like a rogue while sleeping? She truly has a natural talent. But whatever, whatever. Jiang Xianhan can be as much of a rogue as she wants. They’ve already confirmed their relationship. Is a little bit of physical closeness really a big deal?

After an unknown amount of time, Jiang Xianhan finally slowly opened her eyes. Her fingers were still resting on Ji Pei’s waist. Jiang Xianhan stroked her for a while. Memories returned from her dream. She remembered sleeping at Ji Pei’s house last night. The person holding her was soft and warm. Jiang Xianhan took a deep breath and asked in a husky voice, “What time is it?”

Ji Pei saw that Jiang Xianhan was awake, so she picked up her phone to check the time.