Following lunch and a short conversation planning out their upcoming date, Lin Songmei and Yan Mingqing’s day fell back to relative peacefulness and relative mundaneness. Spending the rest of their day cultivating, both of them managed to make good progress. Songmei, in particular, managed to open her fifth meridian around four in the afternoon.
That meant too though, that the rest of her day was then spent doing the most mind-numbing work possible, basic technique practice to get used to her new Qi reserve and smoother Qi flow. It just felt like a lot of extra work and a lot of extra exercise—even though Songmei knew that it was important and would help a lot.
Now, it was the next morning, the crack of dawn, or as Songmei felt was appropriate to call it: the ass crack of dawn. This was just something that she had seen on those forums or whatever, but ever since it had been burnt into her memory.
It wasn’t that bad though, Songmei had slept like a log after spending the night with Mingqing. They didn’t do anything radically different, but now, knowing that there were indeed feelings and that they were dating, the cuddling had become a little more a little more direct, a little more common, and a little more... intimate?
That sounded wrong again...
Sleeping too—although comfortable as always—was even more wondrous! Songmei could cuddle as much as she wanted, attach herself as aggressively as possible, all without fear of judgment!! It was great, Songmei could now live out her koala dreams, both in dreamland and in physical land.
Getting dragged out of bed with—and by—Mingqing to the bathroom, Songmei brushed her teeth while Mingqing showered. Spitting her toothpaste out, Songmei cleared her throat as she croaked, “good morning, how did you sleep?” over the sound of the shower running.
Shocked by how low her voice was in the morning, Songmei kept brushing her teeth as Mingqing called back, “I slept well, how did you sleep? And also, good morning to you too!”
“It wasn’t that much time, a little less than usual, but it was still heavenly,” Songmei nodded, pulling out a small towel to wash her face. “How about you?”
Freezing, Songmei smothered her face with the towel while letting out a quiet, embarrassed scream. “Sorry, I literally just said that...”
“Don’t worry,” Mingqing answered with a light-hearted laugh, “You’re cute as always, love.”
“L-Love?!” Songmei choked, almost dropping her towel on the floor. “I... I’m still not used to that sorry, but I mean, it’s not like it’s not nice it’s u... uhm... it’s nice yeah... l-love.”
Songmei herself never really had been one to use pet names—though, she didn’t mind them, of course—but after confessing to Mingqing, Songmei hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of pet names that Mingqing began throwing at her.
Some were out of... erm... love, some were just for a reaction, but, no matter what, they all did make Songmei want to curl up and hide. It was just an alien language that Songmei didn’t know how to speak.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
She had been pretty decent at learning language back in school, but the language of love? Songmei was about as experienced as a dead fish on rocky shores...
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Finishing up her morning routine, having taken a shower after Mingqing, then changed, then shared a small (embarrassing) kiss with Mingqing before leaving, the two of them ate breakfast before leaving their apartment once more, making their way back to the ever-familiar training center. Ambling through the streets now quiet after the morning rush was over, Songmei and Mingqing tried to get in contact with Han Youhong and Wang Taigang, their training buddies for the day, and their party mates for the foreseeable future.
“Have Youhong and Taigang even woken up yet?” Mingqing asked with a skeptical murmur as she laced her fingers with Songmei’s. “Knowing both of them they should’ve, but they haven’t responded to anything...”
“Believe in them, they’re probably awake,” Songmei reassured with a small hand squeeze. “Taigang is probably the most reliable person in our party, and Youhong values friends almost as much as he values lychee jelly.”
“What if Youhong was offered a crate of lychee jelly to come late, though?” Mingqing countered with a teasing smile, “You think he would take it?”
“... Probably...” Songmei sighed, shaking her head before giving Mingqing a squint. “Wait how does this have to do with anything? Aren’t we just trying to see if they’re there already, or not?”
Whistling and looking away, Mingqing hummed a quiet, “I have no idea what you’re talking about” before clarifying, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, it was just a hypothetical, I already asked them” with a teasing laugh and eyebrow wiggle.
Not expecting the flirtatious wink at the end of that, Songmei froze for a second, opening her mouth a few times before getting dragged out of the middle of the street by Mingqing. Blinking her brain back into function, Songmei coughed. “So... So... Uhm... Do you want to try and find a training room first or wait in the lobby?”
Seeing Songmei’s valiant effort to change the topic, Mingqing flashed Songmei another few blinks and blew her a kiss before answering a buzzing terminal to reveal Taigang’s sweaty faces.
[Hey, hey! Good morning!] Taigang greeted with his characteristic bright, perfect disciple smile. [Sorry about not responding earlier, Youhong and I were sparring. We have a room on the first level down, all the way down the hall on the left.]
Turning and looking away, Taigang called out a bored Youhong who was drowning himself in water in the corner of the screen that Mingqing and Songmei could see.
[Youhong! Could you check the room number?]
An okay sign being flashed, Youhong peeked his head out of the room, inhaling a lychee jelly while craning his neck to find the room number.
With a distant “Room 1-22” being called out by Youhong, Songmei gave a thumbs up while Mingqing gave a short “got it” before hanging up.
As their legs sped up as with their footsteps matching, Songmei and Mingqing had a short conversation about how traffic lights were an annoying innovation as they walked into the training center, nodding and waving to the receptionist before taking the elevator down to the first underground floor.
“Damn, they really beat us,” Mingqing laughed, waiting for the elevator to arrive. “There’s still half an hour... no, fifteen minutes, until our appointed meeting time, how did they manage to beat us?”
“I know...” Songmei murmured while walking into the elevator before giving Mingqing a hug. “Well, it’s kinda understandable with the spar, but both of them aren’t really early morning people. During our plant... observing... excursion, we were always the ones awake in the morning.”
“Crazy stuff...” Mingqing agreed, returning Songmei’s hug. “We gotta ask them how the duel went, though. Any bets on who won?”
“Taigang.”
“... Yeah, that seems about right.”