Chapter 112: Chapter 15: Really awesome! Really big!
With the company’s business wrapped up, Sun Dasheng arrived at the newly purchased villa.
Jiang Ziyan and Xiang Yiren had already moved in, each having chosen a room on the second floor. The two women had also set up his master bedroom, changing all the sheets and duvet covers.
"You’ve worked hard." Seeing the newly refreshed house, Sun Dasheng accepted the meal Xiang Yiren handed him. Upon learning he was coming, the two had personally cooked a lavish feast for him.
"Sit down and eat with me. Stop bustling around," he said, seeing the two of them still busy in the kitchen.
"The last dish is a lotus root and pork rib soup. We know you love it, so we sisters specifically looked up tutorials online to learn how. Give it a try and see if it’s any different from what you’re used to," Xiang Yiren said, bringing over a large tureen of soup.
The two women sat down, gazing at him like kindergarteners waiting for a teacher’s praise.
Sun Dasheng smiled and tasted the soup. "It’s excellent. Exactly how I like it." He gave them the highest possible praise.
The women smiled so wide their eyes curved into crescent moons.
After dinner, it was time for some fun. But happy times are always fleeting. Xiang Yiren had a weaker constitution—at least compared to Jiang Ziyan, the yoga instructor—and went to her room to rest early on.
Only Jiang Ziyan remained on the living room sofa, continuing on. Although her physical fitness was good, she had a fatal weakness: she was far too sensitive. The living room was littered with the traces she had left behind.
"I can’t take it anymore!" Jiang Ziyan finally threw her hands up in surrender. Her beautiful hair was drenched in sweat, and wisps of steam rose from her head. An unknowing observer might have mistaken her for a fairy from heaven cultivating her immortality.
"Your yoga training doesn’t seem to be very effective, does it?" Sun Dasheng teased, kneading a fleshy spot.
Lying in his arms, Jiang Ziyan replied helplessly, "You can’t blame yoga for this. Even if I were practicing some secret martial arts technique, it probably wouldn’t help much. You’re just a monster."
"Am I?" Sun Dasheng asked.
Jiang Ziyan didn’t answer, instead just stroking the muscles on his body in fascination. For a yoga instructor, his physique, brimming with explosive power, was what she found most captivating. She truly couldn’t get enough. She had never seen muscles with such a potent sense of strength. To use a certain turn of phrase, wouldn’t he be the kind of Muscle Immortal that only appears once every few hundred years? Jiang Ziyan thought to herself and chuckled aloud.
"Still have the energy to laugh? It seems you haven’t reached your limit yet."
Then, her plump bottom was met with another series of impacts.
Tragically, the spacious living room began to echo with wails and cries. If the detached villas in the community weren’t so far apart, someone would have undoubtedly called the police by now. The noise was a serious disturbance!
The battle came to a halt. The defeated Jiang Ziyan didn’t even have time to pick up her clothes from the floor before scrambling upstairs. She didn’t dare stay in her room alone; instead, she burst into Xiang Yiren’s room and dove under the covers.
"Who is it?"
Startled awake by a naked body suddenly burrowing into her bed, Xiang Yiren cried out.
"Sister Yiren, it’s me," Jiang Ziyan said, clinging to her.
"What’s wrong?" Xiang Yiren tried to push her away, but she refused to let go. Annoyed, Xiang Yiren gave her plump bottom a firm slap. "Why are you hugging me? Did you see a ghost in the middle of the night?"
Even with her bottom under attack, Jiang Ziyan wouldn’t let go. "Sister Yiren, he’s scarier than any ghost."
"Oh?" Hearing the "he," Xiang Yiren seemed to understand. She smiled mischievously. "And who was it earlier, howling about how I couldn’t keep up? When I left, I told her to pace herself, but she just scoffed and said she could go another three hundred rounds."
"Heh heh... Sister, I was young and foolish. Please don’t hold it against me," Jiang Ziyan cooed in her embrace.
Xiang Yiren ran a hand over her body and gave a squeeze. "Not bad, Zi Yan," she laughed. "You can’t tell with those thick winter clothes, but have you gotten bigger here again? Are you a 36 now?"
"No way," Jiang Ziyan squirmed uneasily in her arms, trying to escape her grasp.
But Xiang Yiren was in no mood to let her. Being woken up in the middle of the night by someone diving into her bed deserved a small "punishment." Otherwise, how would she learn her lesson? She squeezed harder, as if kneading dough.
Jiang Ziyan quickly begged for mercy. "Sister, I know I was wrong! Please, spare me this time!"
Seeing her admit defeat, Xiang Yiren stopped teasing her. Still, she remarked with a click of her tongue, "In the future, when we have children with Brother Sun, you can be in charge of nursing. That way, the babies will never go hungry."
"What are you talking about, Sister Yiren?"
Having not been in the workforce for very long, Jiang Ziyan was much more thin-skinned than Xiang Yiren, despite their similar ages. How could she speak so openly about something as private as having children?
"Aww, you’re blushing!" Xiang Yiren found this amusing. "I never thought the Jiang Ziyan who had the guts to seduce a man would be so shy. Where did all that courage go?"
Jiang Ziyan bristled at that. Seducing a man? That sounded so sordid. Besides, it was Xiang Yiren who told her to do it in the first place. Of course, she would never say that out loud; it would make her seem emotionally inept and hypocritical.
"We’re still young. Shouldn’t we wait a while before thinking about children?" Jiang Ziyan ventured. "Besides, who knows, maybe Brother Sun will get married again someday, and we..."
She wanted to ask if they would be abandoned, which would be even more tragic if they had children.
Xiang Yiren looked at her mockingly.
"What is it, Sister Yiren? Did I say something wrong?" Jiang Ziyan asked, confused. She thought her concerns were perfectly reasonable.
In response, her large, shapely bottom was slapped hard again.
"Ouch! Why do you always hit me there?" Jiang Ziyan whined.
"Because it feels so good," Xiang Yiren chuckled. Soon, however, she lowered her voice and became serious. "Zi Yan, I’m only going to say this once tonight, so you listen carefully. And once you walk out that door, I’ll deny ever having said any of this."
Hearing the gravity in her tone, Jiang Ziyan listened intently.
"Have you ever wondered why I pulled you onto the same boat with me?" Xiang Yiren asked.
Jiang Ziyan shook her head. She had never even heard of best friends sharing the same man, let alone seen it. That was why she had been so shocked at first, only to somehow agree in a daze.
"Did you really think I’m that generous?" Xiang Yiren sighed. "I know my own ability is limited. I can’t keep his heart tied down by myself, so I asked you to come and help me. We sisters must be united against the outside enemy."
"Huh? An outside enemy? Who?" Jiang Ziyan asked, surprised.
Xiang Yiren smiled at her astonished expression, thinking what a simple girl she was. "You didn’t actually think we’re the only two women he has, did you?"
"Ah!" Jiang Ziyan covered her mouth, staring at her in shock. "Don’t tell me he has a wife? Are we... the other women?" She found this hard to accept.
"Not at all," Xiang Yiren shook her head. If only you hadn’t left early the day his ex-wife came to cause trouble, you wouldn’t be asking this, she thought. She wouldn’t tell Jiang Ziyan that, at the very beginning, she herself had suspected he had a wife and was still willing to throw herself at him as a mistress. Although the "mistress" label was gone, she never harbored illusions of becoming his official wife. She could tell the man had no intention of remarrying.
"Whew!" Jiang Ziyan let out a long sigh of relief, patting her chest. "That’s good. Otherwise, I really couldn’t bear the thought of having been turned into a mistress without even realizing it."
"He probably has quite a few other women, but they’re all in the same position as us. That’s why I said what I did. Do you understand now?" Xiang Yiren asked.
Jiang Ziyan nodded. "So what should I do?" After watching so many palace intrigue dramas, the idea of putting those schemes into practice was strangely appealing. She found herself somewhat eager to try. Was some ancient gene buried deep in her bones stirring to life?
"Do nothing. Just as we are now is best," Xiang Yiren said.
Jiang Ziyan tilted her head. Why is real-life palace intrigue so different from the shows?
"What are you thinking about?" Xiang Yiren tapped her on the forehead.
"I was just wondering why what you’re saying is so different from TV," Jiang Ziyan blurted out.
Xiang Yiren laughed. "You silly girl, you’ve been watching too many dramas. The first rule of real-life palace intrigue is: the more you do, the more mistakes you’ll make. The harder you fight and the more you scheme, the more a man will dislike you. If your head is full of the schemes from those shows, you might as well surrender now."
"I get it, Sister Yiren," Jiang Ziyan cooed. The tactic worked, as Xiang Yiren stopped her mocking laughter.
"So if we do nothing, we’ll win?" Jiang Ziyan said naively.
"Of course not! How could it be that simple? What are you thinking?" Xiang Yiren was speechless. This girl was too much of a little white rabbit. The partner she’d chosen, this teammate, seemed a bit unreliable.
"Then what should we do?" Jiang Ziyan asked earnestly.
Xiang Yiren leaned in and whispered her instructions in her ear.
"Ah!" Jiang Ziyan exclaimed. "Like... like today?" The thought made her blush. The act itself—something two people enjoy in private—was an intimate affair. Adding a third person made it terribly awkward, right? Today had only happened because two big, bad wolves had ganged up to trick a naïve little rabbit.
"And who was it that was screaming the loudest just now?" Xiang Yiren teased.
"Ah!" Jiang Ziyan buried her head under the blankets, too mortified to face anyone.
"Alright, I won’t pressure you. It’s not like we’d do this every day. That damn man would get bored of it eventually. But doing it every once in a while... that makes things more interesting," Xiang Yiren consoled.
So that’s how it is! Jiang Ziyan felt a bit better. She poked her head out from under the covers and nodded in her good sister’s embrace, accepting her words. She didn’t, however, see the sly, fox-like glint in Xiang Yiren’s eyes.
Mr. Lu Xun truly never lied. The theory of "threatening to tear off the roof just to get them to open a window" was incredibly effective!
"Look at you, all sweaty. Go get washed up and squeaky clean, or else I’ll send you back to a certain someone."
"Don’t! I’ll go wash right now!" Jiang Ziyan scrambled out from the covers and rushed naked into the en-suite bathroom.
Her swaying hips provided Xiang Yiren with quite an eyeful. So shapely! And so big!