Chapter 3: “Teacher, do you know how?”
Yan Junzhu naturally and clearly perceived that gaze falling upon her, carrying the unique heat of a youth, making the tips of her ears burn.
She almost hurriedly turned her face away, not daring to meet his eyes.
Bai Lengci saw her evasive profile and also realized his own loss of composure, calmly withdrawing his gaze.
He spoke unhurriedly.
“Teacher Yan, I’m done. You can go now.”
The moment the words left his mouth, Bai Lengci regretted it.
This phrasing, this process… no matter how it sounded, it was just like those terrible lines from some second-rate storybook!
Sure enough, upon hearing it, Yan Junzhu’s cheeks instantly burned scarlet, and even her neck was dyed with a thin red.
She almost buried her head, limping in panic as if escaping, rushing into the bathroom and slamming the door shut with a “bang.” The hinges let out a sharp groan.
Fortunately, the dim light became her only veil at that moment, preventing the youth from seeing her face flushed red as if bleeding.
Inside the cramped bathroom, the steam had not yet dispersed.
Yan Junzhu leaned against the cold door panel, her heart pounding like a drum inside her chest, the composure she had forced earlier completely collapsing.
Heavens! Yan Junzhu, are you out of your mind?!
In the middle of the night, following your own student home?
And… wearing his clothes?!
What’s more, these clothes… were almost no cover at all!
She lowered her head and looked at the boy’s T-shirt she was wearing, still carrying a faint scent of laundry detergent.
The fabric rubbing against her skin brought a kind of indescribable shame.
Yan Junzhu, what do you call this?
Was this… was this seducing your own student?
The rationality of being a teacher clashed violently with the current humiliating reality, making her almost suffocate.
Yet, uncontrollably, the face of Bai Lengci flashed through her mind—steamed by the mist, carrying a fragile, sickly aura, delicate to the point of being nearly androgynous…
Ah——!
A silent scream exploded in her heart.
No! Stop it! Yan Junzhu!
Was your brain ruined by the rain?!
......
When Yan Junzhu pushed open the bathroom door and walked out with a body full of lingering warmth and steam, she saw Bai Lengci focusing intently on that laptop, the screen’s glow illuminating his profile.
She did not speak to disturb him, only enduring the sting in her ankle, limping toward the old sofa, and gently sitting down beside him.
A faint fragrance, mixed with the freshness of shampoo and the soft warmth unique to women, quietly drifted over.
Bai Lengci froze slightly and turned his head.
Yan Junzhu was sitting right next to him, wearing his oversized T-shirt.
Her hair fell across her collarbone, with a few strands slipping into the neckline.
His gaze subconsciously swept downward, landing on her bare feet.
At her pale ankle, a patch of glaring swelling ruined the original delicate beauty.
Bai Lengci silently rose to his feet, walked to the bookcase against the wall, pulled open a drawer, and took out a small household medicine kit along with a neatly folded clean towel.
He sat back on the sofa, spread the towel across his lap, and looked at Yan Junzhu, his voice calm.
“Teacher Yan, put your foot here.”
“Ah? No no, really… it’s nothing serious.”
Yan Junzhu waved her hand in a fluster, her face carrying a trace of unnatural panic.
Bai Lengci did not speak, only tilting his head slightly, the corner of his lips curving into the faintest, almost invisible smile.
His clear eyes quietly looked at her, as though they could pierce through her forced composure.
“Re… really, it’s nothing serious\~”
Yan Junzhu’s voice grew softer and softer under his gaze, her tone carrying a guilty tremor.
“I… I can do it myself.” She tried to regain initiative.
“Teacher.”
“Do you know how?”
Bai Lengci’s voice was very light, carrying a touch of barely perceptible teasing.
Yan Junzhu choked on his question, glaring at him in shame and annoyance.
That look was less of reproach and more of a coquettish scold.
She reached for the medicine kit in defiance, but her movements appeared clumsy and unfamiliar.
When she twisted open the cap of the safflower oil bottle, her hand slipped.
“Ah!”
The dark brown liquid spilled out, spreading into a small puddle across the old coffee table, and the strong medicinal smell instantly filled the cramped space.
Bai Lengci looked at the flustered Yan Junzhu, her face full of regret, and a faint trace of laughter flickered in his eyes.
“Let me.”
He pulled a few tissues to wipe the spilled medicine clean, then took out a new bottle of safflower oil from the kit.
Afterward, he looked at Yan Junzhu again, his gaze signaling.
Her cheeks were already flushed, her teeth lightly biting her lower lip.
At last, as if resigned, she slowly stretched her injured foot onto the sofa cushion, placing it beside the towel spread on his lap.
Her teacher’s foot was fair and delicate, elegant in its shape and lines.
Only the abrupt swelling at the ankle marred that perfection, making it appear especially fragile and pitiful.
Yet Bai Lengci’s expression remained calm, without a trace of change.
He first used the towel to carefully and gently wipe the water off her foot, from the rounded toes to the slender ankle.
The towel’s rough texture contrasted strangely with the unexpected gentleness of his fingertips.
After drying, he twisted open the safflower oil cap, poured some into his palm and rubbed it warm, before placing his heated hand over her swollen ankle.
“Hiss…”
The slight sting from the oil touching her skin made Yan Junzhu involuntarily draw in a breath.
“Endure it.
The medicine has to be massaged in.” Bai Lengci’s voice was low.
His fingers were long and strong, his fingertips carrying a thin callus, the pressure perfectly controlled.
The warmth of his palms and the oil covered the injury, first pressing lightly with his palm to let it seep in, then his fingertips moved along the ankle’s acupoints and meridians, kneading with just the right strength.
Clearly, this was not his first time doing such a thing.
Yan Junzhu only felt warmth spreading from her ankle, mixed with the pungent scent of the medicine, and the strange sensation of the boy’s fingertips.
An indescribable tingling numbness quietly crept up her calf, throwing her heartbeat into chaos.
She bit her lip tightly, not daring to look at him, turning her head to the side instead, her gaze falling aimlessly upon the books on the shelves, her long lashes trembling slightly.
For a time, only the faint sounds of their breathing and the quiet noise of the massage filled the small living room.
The air seemed to solidify, thick with the smell of medicine, the steam, and a silent, unsettling intimacy.
Bai Lengci also seemed to sense the awkwardness of this silence.
His hands did not stop moving, his eyes slightly lowered, focusing intently on her swollen ankle.
After a moment, as if to break the stillness, he spoke softly, his voice especially clear in the quiet.
“It’s done, Teacher Yan.”