Chapter 20: Itch

“I… when I finished washing and stood up, my vision suddenly went black, and I lost my balance…”

“Low blood sugar.”

Shen Qingci interrupted her, gaze still averted, fixed on the tile pattern on the opposite wall.

“The food you ate for dinner hasn’t been fully absorbed yet. After a shower, your blood sugar fluctuates too much, and you fainted.”

Bai Zhinuo kept her head down, not daring to look at her. Her lips were pressed together, and her ear tips were red enough to burn.

She was curled up in the corner, hugging the loose bath towel. She was so thin that her shoulder blades pushed out two clear bumps beneath her skin.

Shen Qingci caught from the corner of her eye that the fingers gripping the towel were still trembling.

She took a deep breath and pushed down the inexplicable irritation rising in her.

“Where are your clothes?”

Bai Zhinuo’s voice grew even quieter.

“I didn’t bring them in…”

Shen Qingci closed her eyes in exasperation.

“Wait.”

She turned and walked out. The sound of the wardrobe door being pulled open came in, then the rustle of fabric.

Bai Zhinuo shrank in the bathroom, not daring to move. She pressed herself against the tiled wall, her mind a complete mess.

That scene from just now kept playing over and over in her mind.

When Shen Qingci pushed the door open, her towel had just slipped loose on one side.

Although it was only for an instant, the way Shen Qingci abruptly turned her face away when their eyes met, and the faint blush at the roots of her ears, were all caught in her eyes.

She had been seen. All of her had been seen…

Bai Zhinuo didn’t know whether she should feel ashamed or something else.

Her heart beat fast, so fast it made her a little panicked.

They were both girls. Actually, it wasn’t a big deal if she saw, right?

Bai Zhinuo had what Shen Qingci had; there was nothing to care about.

She comforted herself like this, but somehow, the more she comforted herself, the more panicked she felt.

Footsteps approached again. Shen Qingci’s voice came from outside the door, calmer than before.

“Hold out your hand.”

Bai Zhinuo carefully extended one arm, palm up.

A piece of soft fabric fell into her palm. It felt smooth and cool, with a faint fragrance.

She pulled it in and looked. It was a white silk nightgown, reaching mid-thigh, with a ring of delicate lace at the neckline.

She hesitated, then put it on.

The fabric slid over her skin like nothing. Bai Zhinuo looked down at herself. The nightgown was a little too big for her; the neckline hung loosely on her collarbone, and the sleeves were long enough to cover half the back of her hands.

With the slightest movement, her fair, round shoulder would slip out.

But where the fabric touched her skin, it was cool and soft enough that she couldn’t bear to take it off.

When she pushed the bathroom door open and walked out, Shen Qingci was already sitting back on the bed.

Shen Qingci leaned against the headboard, phone in hand. The faint glow of the screen lit her face.

Hearing footsteps, she lifted her eyelids and glanced over Bai Zhinuo.

The nightgown was indeed a bit big on her, hanging loosely on her thin frame. The neckline revealed a slender collarbone and thin shoulders. Her wet white hair hung at the side of her shoulder, giving off a soft luster under the light.

Her face was still slightly flushed from the steam, and her dark purple eyes were wet, like a kitten just pulled out of water.

Shen Qingci’s gaze rested on her for a moment, then shifted away unnaturally.

“Come here.”

“You’ll catch a cold if you don’t dry your hair.”

Shen Qingci said, then turned and took a white hair dryer from the storage compartment beside the wardrobe.

She plugged it in and checked that it had power, then patted the edge of the bed.

“Come sit here.”

Bai Zhinuo’s little face was red. Seeing that Shen Qingci didn’t seem to intend to make an issue of her body, she finally let out a breath of relief.

She obediently moved over and sat on the edge of the bed, hands on her knees, back straight, her whole body taut like a stretched rubber band.

Shen Qingci stood behind her and pressed the hair dryer’s switch.

The moment warm air rushed from the vent, Bai Zhinuo’s shoulders instinctively shrank.

The hair dryer was high-end, with barely any noise. A humming warm current brushed over her wet hair ends, and the warm wind scattered the water droplets on the side of her neck.

Shen Qingci’s fingers slid into her hair, slowly lifting from the roots.

The wet white strands slipped through her fingers, soft and dense to the touch.

This little one’s hair quality was really good. No wonder she was a character from an old-school romance novel.

In a world where even dogs looked delicate and pretty, Bai Zhinuo’s looks were not inferior to her own, the female lead of the main story.

That actually surprised Shen Qingci a little.

It was just that her own looks were those of a cool, aloof mature goddess with a sharp contrast. Now, because she had taken over, the contrast was gone.

Bai Zhinuo, on the other hand, was a soft, sweet little pitiful thing and a little cutie.

Different styles, but both were unquestionably beautiful.

She also didn’t understand why that author who dropped the story would give such high looks to a minor cannon fodder character who died in three chapters.

Shen Qingci didn’t guess any further.

Her fingertips pressed against Bai Zhinuo’s scalp and slowly massaged, with good control of pressure.

As they moved back and forth, Bai Zhinuo’s back became even straighter.

She could feel the path of Shen Qingci’s fingers moving through her hair. When those warm fingertips pressed over her scalp, they brought a tingling numbness that spread from the top of her head all the way to the back of her neck. It made her whole body feel like a small animal whose fur was being smoothed, and from deep in her bones rose an urge to lean into her palm.

She bit her lip and held it back.

But the tips of her ears betrayed her.

Those two ears had been red all along, and now under the warm air they were red enough to glow.

Shen Qingci gathered a strand of wet hair at the back of her head and slowly smoothed it down along the direction of the hair. The warm air followed the path of her fingers all the way to the ends.

Her fingertips occasionally brushed over the thin skin on the back of Bai Zhinuo’s neck, passing with a faint, barely-there touch.

Every time Bai Zhinuo was brushed, she trembled slightly. First her shoulders shrank, then her whole body tensed, and only after a few seconds did she slowly relax again.

Shen Qingci noticed this interesting point.

She said nothing, only her lips curved slightly. She gathered another strand of hair, and when her fingertips slid down from the roots, she deliberately slowed a little, her finger pads brushing past behind Bai Zhinuo’s ear.

This time Bai Zhinuo shivered outright.

“Shen… Shen Qingci…”

Her voice was hoarse and soft, coming from the front, with a pitiful pleading tone.

“C-Can you not touch my ear…?”

“Hm?”

Shen Qingci’s voice came from above her head, lazy, with a smile that showed she already knew the answer.

“What’s wrong with your ear?”

“It’s, it’s just itchy…”

“Itchy?”

Shen Qingci’s fingers brushed her ear again, very slowly, sliding from the earlobe along the cartilage all the way to the tip, carrying the lingering warmth of the hair dryer.

Bai Zhinuo’s whole body jolted as if struck by electric current. She shrank her shoulders sharply and let out a low “mm,” her voice trembling at the end.

“Then what about this?”

Shen Qingci’s thumb gently rubbed her earlobe, two rubs, the warmth on her finger pad melting into the thin skin of her ear.

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