Shi Wenli understood. She was trying to get closer to him.
He brushed his lips against hers and murmured, “There are other ways to be intimate. Do you want to try?”
Xu Qinghe asked, “How?”
“Try not to turn your face away when we start.”
Xu Qinghe was too shy to respond. By “start,” he meant foreplay.
Every time, not only did she turn away and close her eyes, but she also squeezed them tightly shut.
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she kissed him.
She held his lips with hers and kissed him for a long time before finally responding, “Okay. I'll try tonight.”
Shi Wenli's lips moved downward, aiming for her neck. Xu Qinghe cupped his face in her hands and prevented him from kissing there, pressing her own lips against his instead.
Last night, he had kissed her neck for a very long time, and her body wouldn't stop trembling.
Not just trembling.
That part of her had soaked through the fabric.
It clung to her skin, sticky and uncomfortable.
She held his face, forbidding him to kiss her neck. Shi Wenli laughed and promised, “I won't kiss it tonight.”
Xu Qinghe still didn't let go. She seized the opportunity to say, “You said earlier that if there's anything I want to do with you, I should tell you directly. So I'm telling you now.”
Shi Wenli: “Go ahead.”
Xu Qinghe: “Tonight, could you not kiss any other part of me first? Can we just kiss?” She said, “What I want most is to kiss you, for a really long time. I've wanted it for a long time, but I was too embarrassed to say it.”
“That's completely normal. Why be embarrassed?” Shi Wenli kissed her, encircling her with both arms, letting her rest her head on his arm.
Xu Qinghe closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around his back.
Their breaths mingled.
Their tongues tangled, each seeking to conquer the other.
When their tongues touched and he gently licked, Xu Qinghe's breathing became unsteady.
The air was filled with the fragrance of roses and the scent of their body wash.
For the first time, Xu Qinghe realized that a kiss between lovers could be so passionate.
So heart-stirring.
They held each other, their lips never leaving the other's for a moment.
It no longer felt like going through the motions of married life.
Xu Qinghe didn't know how long Shi Wenli kissed her.
Until the familiar melody of the washing machine's completion echoed through the quiet home, they were still kissing.
She had no recollection of when the buttons of the shirt were undone one by one.
Today, Shi Wenli hadn't kissed her neck at all, but the fabric hidden under the shirt hem was just as soaked through.
Shi Wenli reached down. Feeling how damp it was, likely uncomfortable for her, he helped remove that piece of fabric and casually tossed it onto his pajamas.
He said, “It's unwearable now. I'll get you a clean one tomorrow morning.”
In the past, Xu Qinghe would have been too shy to let him touch her underwear.
But since they got their marriage certificate, he had hand-washed her bras and panties for her.
Without the fabric between them, Shi Wenli's fingertips pressed gently against her.
At that moment, the washing machine's music came to an abrupt stop.
But her voice grew clearer.
Xu Qinghe felt that tomorrow night, she wouldn't need to deliberately leave the washing machine running.
She was no longer too embarrassed to let her voice out, unlike last night.
Today, she would just go with the flow.
Their lips parted briefly. She looked at Shi Wenli and said, “From now on, we don't need to time it with the washing machine anymore.”
Shi Wenli met her eyes: “Okay.”
His fingers worked gently.
Xu Qinghe instinctively wanted to turn her face away.
“Qinghe.” Shi Wenli kissed her, reminding her, “Didn't you say you'd try not to turn away?”
Xu Qinghe kissed him through the waves of tingling pleasure.
Shi Wenli couldn't help it after all. He planted a kiss on her neck.
Xu Qinghe shrank back involuntarily, her body tensing.
His finger got caught.