Chapter 21: Applying Medicine

Bai Zhinuo’s face was completely red.

She finally understood. Shen Qingci was deliberately teasing her.

Thinking of their relationship, between getting angry and taking it quietly, she chose to take it quietly.

She still needed to eat. She still needed to live.

She couldn’t fall out with Shen Qingci.

People who’d eaten their fill didn’t want to go back to hunger. That was human nature.

She couldn’t afford to offend her and couldn’t hide from her, so she’d just have to endure her.

She looked down at her hands resting on her knees, neck drawn in, shoulders slightly hunched, as if she wanted to curl into a ball and hide.

But she didn’t move away. She just sat there and let Shen Qingci’s fingers toy with her ear, even softening her breathing.

Shen Qingci looked at her red ears and slightly trembling shoulders. The corner of her mouth curved.

She switched the hair dryer to her other hand and gathered Bai Zhinuo’s long hair again with her free hand.

This time her movements were slower. When her fingers passed through the strands, there was a teasing intent. She wrapped a half-dry lock around her fingertip twice, then let go, letting it drift apart in the warm air.

Once Bai Zhinuo’s hair dried, it became very soft.

When the white strands slipped through Shen Qingci’s fingers, they felt dense and soft, like a handful of water grass warmed through by sunlight, drifting gently in the warm air.

Shen Qingci’s fingers slid down the curve of her nape to her shoulder. Through the thin silky fabric, her fingertip pressed gently against her shoulder blade.

“You’re too tense here.”

Her voice was low, with a lazy seriousness.

“Relax. I’m not going to eat you. What’s there to be afraid of?”

Bai Zhinuo only then realized she had been holding her shoulders taut, her back stiff as a stone slab.

She tried to relax a little. Shen Qingci’s palm pushed outward along the line of her shoulder blade twice, helping loosen the stiff muscle.

“Mm.”

Bai Zhinuo squeezed out a vague reply from her throat, her whole body slowly softening a little under Shen Qingci’s palm.

The hair dryer stopped.

The bedroom fell quiet again, with only the night wind outside the window and the warm yellow glow of the bedside lamp.

Bai Zhinuo’s hair had been blow-dried fluffy and soft. White strands lay scattered over her shoulders and back, giving off a faint sheen under the light.

She looked as if she had a holy, pure halo around her.

Soft and cute.

Shen Qingci put the hair dryer back, then came around and crouched in front of Bai Zhinuo.

She looked up at Bai Zhinuo sitting on the edge of the bed. Their eyes were exactly level.

Those wine-red eyes curved slightly with a teasing smile, gaze resting on Bai Zhinuo’s still flushed cheeks.

“Are your ears still itchy?”

Bai Zhinuo looked away. The roots of her ears turned another shade redder.

“No, not itchy anymore…”

“Then why is your face still so red?”

Bai Zhinuo’s lips moved, but she didn’t know how to answer.

Her ears weren’t itchy anymore, but her heart was.

She lowered her head and looked at Shen Qingci crouching in front of her, at those smiling eyes and slightly curved mouth. Her heartbeat quickened again.

Shen Qingci reached out and lightly touched her cheek with her fingertip.

It was almost a touch and go, but it left a cool mark on Bai Zhinuo’s flushed skin.

“Your injury is this bad. Tsk. That bastard really hit hard. Come here.”

Bai Zhinuo stood barefoot on the carpet, toes curling.

Hearing Shen Qingci’s words, she unconsciously followed after her, step by step.

Shen Qingci stopped in front of the sofa and sat down.

She also stopped about two steps away from Shen Qingci, not daring to meet her eyes.

Shen Qingci put her phone aside and patted the spot beside her.

“Sit.”

Bai Zhinuo hesitated, then shuffled over and sat down.

She sat right on the edge, half her body hanging off the seat, ready to spring up and flee at any moment.

Shen Qingci turned to look at her. Her gaze fell on the swollen handprint on the left side of her face, then on the cut at the corner of her mouth that had already formed a thin scab. Her brow furrowed slightly.

“Does it hurt?”

Bai Zhinuo shook her head, then halfway through gave a small nod.

Shen Qingci sighed and dug a tube of ointment and a box of cotton swabs from the bedside table drawer.

She squeezed a little ointment onto the tip of a cotton swab, then looked at Bai Zhinuo.

“Turn your face here. I’ll apply medicine.”

Bai Zhinuo obediently turned her face, offering her left cheek to Shen Qingci.

Shen Qingci held the swab and leaned close, dabbing it very lightly on the swollen handprint.

When the cool ointment touched her skin, Bai Zhinuo flinched slightly, but Shen Qingci’s hand was steady. The swab moved slowly along her cheek.

She spread the ointment evenly, her touch practiced and experienced. She didn’t look at all like a young lady who never lifted a finger.

Instead, she seemed to have plenty of practical know-how.

Bai Zhinuo’s lashes trembled. Her gaze stayed down on her knees.

She could feel Shen Qingci’s breath on her cheek, warm and carrying the scent of body wash.

They were too close. Close enough that she could see the curve of Shen Qingci’s lashes and the slight upward tilt at the corners of her eyes.

Shen Qingci applied the medicine seriously, lips slightly pressed, a faint vertical line between her brows. She was focused and earnest while applying it.

Like this, she had none of that sinister, vicious feeling, nor any teasing mockery. She looked like a gentle, understanding older sister next door.

It made Bai Zhinuo’s tense body relax unconsciously. Her small frame instinctively leaned closer to Shen Qingci.

If only this gentleness could last a little longer, be a little more…

Bai Zhinuo thought in her heart.

“Your mouth.”

Shen Qingci changed to a clean cotton swab, dipped it in ointment again, and brought it to the corner of Bai Zhinuo’s mouth.

The wound had formed a thin dark scab, with slightly red and swollen edges.

When she applied the ointment around the wound, Bai Zhinuo’s lips trembled slightly.

“Bear with it.”

Shen Qingci’s voice lowered, much softer than before.

“This medicine stings a little, but the swelling will go down by tomorrow morning.”

Bai Zhinuo didn’t move. She gave a soft “mm” as an answer.

After applying the medicine, Shen Qingci threw the swab in the trash and took a small box from the bedside table drawer.

Bai Zhinuo glanced at it. It was a pack of mint candies in light green packaging. Once the lid was unscrewed, there were small round candy pellets inside.

This… was also medicine?

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