My Straight Girlfriend with Skin Hunger Syndrome - Chapter 43
Chapter 43
Yi Shanshan left, beaming after receiving Ying Yuan’s response.
Ying Yuan filled an old water jug with fresh water and carefully arranged the bouquet of vibrant flowers.
As she tended to the blossoms, Qi Hongyue approached and tucked her own stem into the makeshift vase.
“These flowers are beautiful, but they’re not mine. It’s best to return them.”
Ying Yuan paused, then said with a hint of exasperation, “Senior, I’m not used to you speaking like this.”
Qi Hongyue smiled. “I occasionally use metaphors, hints, and sarcasm. Emotional expression can be useful for discussing matters of the heart.”
Ying Yuan looked up sharply. “This isn’t a matter of the heart.”
Qi Hongyue raised an eyebrow. “Then what were you two doing earlier, backs pressed together, heads touching, whispering secrets? What were you discussing?”
Ying Yuan hesitated. “Work-related matters.”
Qi Hongyue pressed, “What kind of work-related matters?”
Ying Yuan mumbled, “I can’t say yet.”
Qi Hongyue’s eyes narrowed. “What work-related matter in this Project Team is off-limits to me? If you can’t tell me, it means personal feelings are involved, doesn’t it?”
Ying Yuan: “……”
Debating Qi Hongyue was always a losing battle.
Ying Yuan withdrew her gaze, cradling the vase as she placed it on the center of the table. “Anyway, Senior, you can rest assured that everything I’m doing is completely under control.”
Qi Hongyue didn’t press further, simply saying, “Alright, I wish you well.”
Ying Yuan stayed in the Activity Room until evening.
Considering she was going out with Yi Shanshan, she returned to her dorm to shower and change, out of respect.
As she headed downstairs, she passed the convenience store and remembered how demanding studio work must be. She bought some nuts, chocolate, and other snacks, stuffing them into her bag.
At 8:20 PM, she arrived at their agreed-upon meeting spot.
After waiting seven or eight minutes, Yi Shanshan arrived.
Yi Shanshan still looked like the delicate princess from earlier that afternoon, dressed in layers of frilly blouses and a short skirt. Her slender, pale limbs were bare.
“Aren’t you cold?” Ying Yuan asked, stepping forward.
“What season is it, you little old cadre?” Yi Shanshan grabbed the sleeve of Ying Yuan’s jacket. “Young people have plenty of inner heat—we don’t mind the cold.”
Yi Shanshan tugged Ying Yuan forward, pulling her along.
It was peak activity time for college students at night, and the streets were crowded. Yi Shanshan attracted plenty of attention, but she didn’t care. Focused and unapologetically pulling Ying Yuan along, she navigated through the throng, even waving casually at acquaintances as they passed.
The recording studio wasn’t far, just a ten-minute walk from campus.
Hidden within a bustling shopping mall, the discreet studio was unassuming and empty. Yi Shanshan pulled out her key and unlocked the door.
Ying Yuan: “!”
Yi Shanshan pulled Ying Yuan inside and locked the door behind them.
Seeing Ying Yuan’s surprised expression, she smiled and explained, “I’m really close to the boss here~ They’re always short-staffed.”
Ying Yuan nodded in understanding.
Yi Shanshan was the kind of person who effortlessly charmed everyone she met.
As they walked down the studio corridor, Yi Shanshan turned on the lights ahead and turned them off behind them.
The lights illuminated their path for only a moment before darkness closed in again, enveloping everything around them.
In this way, Yi Shanshan’s grip on Ying Yuan’s sleeve seemed all the more necessary.
They moved through the shifting darkness and light until they pushed open the door to a control room, arriving at their destination.
The room was filled with strange equipment, resembling the control panels of spaceships from movies.
Everything was foreign to Ying Yuan; only Yi Shanshan, who led her, seemed familiar.
Ying Yuan glanced around but didn’t dare move.
“Doesn’t this feel like an adventure?” Yi Shanshan asked with a smile, turning back to her.
Ying Yuan nodded earnestly.
“Then you’d better listen to me here~ Otherwise, watch out for the evil dragon!”
Yi Shanshan joked, pulling Ying Yuan to the control panel. The complex array of buttons on the black panel was dizzying, like the protruding scales and claws of a dragon.
“Mm,” Ying Yuan responded.
The complex and unfamiliar equipment posed a daunting challenge. She relied completely on Yi Shanshan’s expertise.
“Good girl, sit down now,” Yi Shanshan said in a gentle, praising tone.
She pressed Ying Yuan’s shoulder, guiding her to sit in the chair before the console. With practiced ease, she flipped a few switches.
Ying Yuan watched her movements intently. Yi Shanshan glanced at her, then suddenly turned around and moved behind Ying Yuan.
“This will be easier,” Yi Shanshan said, draping one arm casually over Ying Yuan’s shoulder while her other hand gently grasped Ying Yuan’s wrist, guiding her toward the console.
“You don’t need to operate much,” Yi Shanshan whispered close to Ying Yuan’s ear, her voice clear and sweet. “Just control the volume and pause the recording.”
For a moment, Ying Yuan could barely hear her voice. Her attention was completely absorbed by Yi Shanshan’s actions.
It was almost a back hug, Yi Shanshan enveloping more than half of Ying Yuan’s body in her embrace. Their faces were so close that a slight turn of the head would bring them together, their arms nearly overlapping.
Yi Shanshan’s fingertips rested lightly on the back of Ying Yuan’s hand, like a delicate controller who could steer Ying Yuan’s direction with the slightest touch.
“Here—push this slider up to increase the volume, down to decrease it.”
“Just adjust the master volume for the left and right channels,” Yi Shanshan said with a soft laugh. “Later, you can play around with it, pushing the sliders back and forth, left and right, like an electrical current coursing through your ears. It’s quite interesting.”
Ying Yuan was already feeling it.
A subtle current was coursing through her body, making her ears itch and her skin tingle where Yi Shanshan had touched her. Every point of contact between them felt like countless invisible threads were pulling taut, connecting them so that the slightest movement of one sent tremors through the entire system.
Yi Shanshan had bound her heart and hung it from a swaying suspension bridge.
“Here’s where the recording starts,” Yi Shanshan leaned forward, her shoulder pressing against Ying Yuan’s. Strands of hair slipped down, tickling the back of Ying Yuan’s neck. “Here’s playback, and here’s stop.”
Ying Yuan’s gaze froze on the black console before her, afraid to even glance away because her mind was filled with unspeakable thoughts. She desperately tried to focus on Yi Shanshan’s instructions, but her mind floated in mid-air, her senses easily hijacked by Yi Shanshan’s proximity.
Even though a thick chair back separated them, even though Yi Shanshan’s words and actions were perfectly ordinary…
“Alright, that should be about it. For now.” Yi Shanshan exhaled softly, her fingers brushing Ying Yuan’s cheek, leaving behind a warm, sweet peach scent. “I’ll let you know if we need anything else on the fly.”
She straightened up, leaving Ying Yuan’s body. A cold, stark air rushed into the space between them. Ying Yuan’s suspended heart finally began to descend, swaying gently as it fell. She opened her mouth, only to find her throat dry and raspy, able to manage only a single, croaked syllable: “Okay.”
“Don’t be nervous,” Yi Shanshan said, leaning against the table and gazing at Ying Yuan with her characteristic bright and sunny demeanor. She was the most honest, lovely, and kindhearted friend anyone could ask for. She smiled reassuringly. “Even if you mess up somewhere, it’s fine. I won’t tell anyone.”
Ying Yuan lowered her lashes, inwardly scolding herself for her mind’s strange and irrelevant thoughts.
She took a deep breath and told herself, “I won’t mess up.”
I won’t mess up. We’re here to work.
As the truest of friends, all they needed to do was complete the tasks originally planned.
“Alright, let’s get started then!”
Yi Shanshan pulled out the prepared scripts from her bag. “I’ll try out a few lines for each character. You tell me which ones sound the best!”
Ying Yuan: “Okay.”
Yi Shanshan turned to leave, while Ying Yuan lowered her gaze, struggling to recall the key points of their earlier discussion. Suddenly, Yi Shanshan returned, picking up the monitoring headphones hanging nearby and, before Ying Yuan could react, gently placing them over her ears.
This abrupt action shattered Ying Yuan’s painstakingly gathered focus once more.
Yi Shanshan cupped Ying Yuan’s head with her hands through the headphones, and the world’s cacophony vanished from Ying Yuan’s ears.
Only Yi Shanshan’s eyes remained, blinking like the brightest stars.
Yi Shanshan’s lips moved, as if she were saying something.
But her voice was too soft, and the headphones were too effective at blocking sound. Ying Yuan heard nothing, only remembered Yi Shanshan’s glistening lips—a delicate pink, like cherry blossoms.
Just as suddenly as she had drawn close, Yi Shanshan retreated.
Moments later, the massive glass wall facing Ying Yuan lit up. Yi Shanshan appeared in the recording booth, walking to the central seat with the microphone stand and donning her own set of headphones.
“112233…”
Ying Yuan heard the clear voice through her headphones.
She looked up to meet Yi Shanshan’s gaze. Yi Shanshan smiled at her, and the voice in her ears seemed to carry that radiant smile as well.
“Hey, Ying Yuan, can you hear me?”
Yes, I can hear you.
I’ve never heard you so clearly before.
It was as if all the world’s clamor had been silenced, leaving only Yi Shanshan.
Only Yi Shanshan’s voice remained, every breath distinct, each exhalation vibrating her vocal cords and transmitting the sound directly into Ying Yuan’s ears.
Ying Yuan opened her mouth to speak, but Yi Shanshan cut in, “Get closer to the microphone and remember to press the talk button.”
Ying Yuan followed her instructions without hesitation. When the world narrows to a single voice, you can’t help but listen to it.
Speaking into the microphone, Ying Yuan replied, “I can hear you.”
“Mmm~” Yi Shanshan drawled, her eyes narrowing in a blissful expression. “Ying Yuan, your voice sounds so… flavorful like this~”
Ying Yuan’s ears secretly flushed beneath the headphones. Whether it was the intimacy of their isolation that emboldened her, or Yi Shanshan’s voice, so close to her soul, that made her feel intimately connected, the question slipped out effortlessly: “What kind of flavor?”
Yi Shanshan laughed, the sound like a gentle tap on the tip of Ying Yuan’s heart.
“You really love being praised, don’t you?” Yi Shanshan tilted her head, gazing at her. “Since you snuck out to play with me, I guess I have no choice but to indulge you.”
“It’s like a layer of fine sand scattered across smooth marble. If you ran your fingertip across it, it would feel like being nibbled by tiny, gritty teeth—cold and ticklish at the same time.”
Ying Yuan swallowed hard. Hearing Yi Shanshan deliver such a metaphor with such delicate articulation made her heart feel like it was being grazed by those grains of sand—a fine, tingling itch.
Ying Yuan cleared her throat softly, lowering her gaze. “You’re very good at giving compliments.”
“Knowing how to praise humans in a specific and profound way is the most fundamental social skill,” Yi Shanshan replied. “Ying Yuan, your greatest strength isn’t your looks or your voice. These outward appearances have even solidified into a stone shell that hides your true core.”
“The real you is utterly unique and precious. You possess a serenity like a still lake and a goodness that far surpasses human moral standards. Beyond that, you have ever-growing wisdom and pure, untainted rationality. Being with you makes me feel incredibly safe…”
Yi Shanshan’s voice trailed off, tinged with a hint of confusion and daze.
“This sense of security is so rare. I’ve only ever felt it with you.”
Ying Yuan froze, utterly unprepared to hear such a confession at this moment.
The Yi Shanshan who stood at the center of the crowd, controlling everything with flamboyant arrogance, had suddenly bared her chest, pulling out her heart to show it to Ying Yuan.
The question Ying Yuan had buried deep within her heart seemed to have found its answer.
Why had Yi Shanshan chosen her?
Because to Yi Shanshan, Ying Yuan truly was special.