My Straight Girlfriend with Skin Hunger Syndrome - Chapter 65
Chapter 65
A violent accident had passed smoothly.
Ying Yuan had taken the boldest risk of her life, yet faced no punishment for it. Instead, she gained something priceless: Yi Shanshan’s trust and deep friendship.
Both were overjoyed.
However, Yi Shanshan was soon plunged into a relentless frenzy of activity.
Teacher Han’s special training camp was in another city, while the university had reached the critical final exam period.
Yi Shanshan couldn’t afford to neglect either commitment. She had to rush from one place to the other, shuttling between the two cities almost daily.
Fortunately, her privileged background provided her with a private car and driver. Combined with special leave approved by the university, she barely managed to keep up.
Ying Yuan’s exams were also coming one after another. Qi Hongyue had temporarily suspended the game project to allow everyone to focus entirely on their finals.
In this hectic environment, Ying Yuan could only fulfill her promise to “always be there” for Yi Shanshan through online communication.
Every morning, she would send Yi Shanshan a message outlining her schedule for the day, making it easy for Yi Shanshan to contact her whenever needed.
Most of the time, Yi Shanshan and Ying Yuan could only exchange text messages or voice notes intermittently. Only when something particularly exciting happened would they find a time when both were free to make a phone call.
These calls usually took place late at night, after the dormitory lights had been turned off.
Ying Yuan would put on her headphones and quietly slip out onto the balcony.
A crescent moon hung in the sky, gray clouds drifting in and out. Yi Shanshan’s voice would fluctuate in volume and pitch, shifting between joy and melancholy, and occasionally, she’d suddenly become as excitable as a puppy.
Ying Yuan listened intently, offering timely responses as needed. She treasured every word, as if etching them onto her heart with a soft feather quill.
Life was busy and fulfilling, but occasionally, in a moment of distraction, Ying Yuan would recall Yi Shanshan’s beautiful eyes—like a pair of brilliant, long-forgotten jewels stored away. It had been so long since they’d last met.
By late June, the weather was growing increasingly hot.
A light jacket was still needed when leaving early in the morning, but by noon, a short-sleeved shirt was all that was required.
After a quick lunch, Ying Yuan prepared to return to her dormitory for a brief nap.
A new message from Yi Shanshan popped up on her phone:
Aaaah! I think I totally bombed the exam! Why were there so many weird term definitions?
My brain’s already crammed with music scores! It can’t memorize anything else! These are completely different systems! Music rote learning should be banned!
Today’s exam would’ve been perfect for you, you photographic memory freak! You should take all the exams in the world!
Ying Yuan smiled and replied, I have to memorize things too, you know.
Yi Shanshan: How do you memorize things?
Ying Yuan: First, I understand the structure and definitions, then I read it three times.
Yi Shanshan was furious. She immediately called Ying Yuan. Aaaaaah! I want to rip your brain out and stick it in my head!
Ying Yuan burst out laughing, holding the phone to her ear and listening to Yi Shanshan’s frantic breaths on the other end.
Are you in the car? she deduced from the background noise.
Mm… Yi Shanshan’s energy immediately deflated, her voice dripping with exhaustion. The exam’s over, but I didn’t even have time to eat before leaving. By the time I get there and finish class, it’ll be past midnight. Barely a few hours of sleep before rushing back again—I have an 8 AM exam tomorrow! Ugh, I’m terrified I’m going to pass out…
You’ve been working so hard, Ying Yuan replied.
She wanted to offer Yi Shanshan some comfort, but when she considered Yi Shanshan’s recent schedule, she couldn’t find the right words.
Yi Shanshan was truly overworked and exhausted. Empty reassurances wouldn’t solve the problem.
“I can send you the materials, and I’ll go over the key points with you again. It’ll save you some effort.”
“Even after that, it’ll still be a mountain of stuff. Forget it,” Yi Shanshan sighed heavily. “We all have our own burdens to bear. Right now, I just wish…”
She trailed off abruptly.
A heartbeat later, Yi Shanshan’s voice was filled with incredulous delight. “Ying Yuan! Are you on Wutong Road? White T-shirt, black pants?”
Ying Yuan froze in her tracks, her eyes darting around.
“It really is you!” Yi Shanshan shouted. “Pull over! Pull over!”
At the same moment, a black sedan slowed to a crawl in the lane. Through the towering trunks of the plane trees, the car window lowered, revealing a snow-white arm.
“Ying Yuan!” The arm waved at her, the afternoon sun blazing down on it, blindingly bright.
Ying Yuan’s heart pounded wildly, her chest thrumming like a noisy drum.
Yi Shanshan’s voice was no longer just in her phone—it was in the air itself.
In the same sweltering air, the sound waves curled around her, a soft, sweet, coaxing plea.
“Come here, come here~~~” Yi Shanshan drawled. “Get in, get in, get in!”
Without hesitation, Ying Yuan strode toward the car.
By the time she reached it, the sedan had come to a complete stop.
The rear car door swung open without Ying Yuan lifting a finger.
Yi Shanshan appeared before her, her beautiful eyes curving into sweet crescent moons.
Her cheeks were pale and rosy, her lips a delicate yet luminous pink.
“Hurry, get in!” she urged, her impatience palpable.
Ying Yuan took a deep breath and climbed into the car.
As the door closed, Yi Shanshan glanced at the driver. “Find a place to pull over for a bit.”
The car slowly pulled away. Yi Shanshan turned to face Ying Yuan, repeating excitedly, “What a coincidence! I was just thinking about you when I saw you!”
Ying Yuan stared blankly. Having not seen Yi Shanshan in so long, her eyes, which had once grown accustomed to her beauty, were now recalibrating their perception anew.
How could she be so stunning?
Bright as the sun, radiant as an entire summer.
Her mind struggling to catch up, Ying Yuan could only manage a faint, questioning reply: “Thinking about… what?”
Yi Shanshan’s lips curved upward, and she pursed them slightly. Leaning closer to Ying Yuan, she whispered, “I’ll tell you later.”
Their arms brushed lightly as the car moved, swaying gently with each turn.
Yi Shanshan wore a soft, long-sleeved blouse. The silken fabric slid against Ying Yuan’s skin like a gentle caress.
After uttering that sentence, she stopped initiating conversation, as if everything she was about to say were secrets too intimate to share with outsiders.
But her gemstone-like eyes remained fixed on Ying Yuan, staring deeply with an enigmatic smile, as if all the words she would soon speak were already contained within those eyes.
Ying Yuan swallowed, her throat bobbing. The air conditioning was on, but she still felt hot.
She couldn’t hold Yi Shanshan’s gaze for long; her heart would skip beats, her breath catching sharply in her throat.
Yi Shanshan had caught her off guard. She needed to regain her composure.
Even though Yi Shanshan hadn’t done anything, her mere presence was once again proof of her endless allure for Ying Yuan.
The car pulled into a parking space hidden beneath lush greenery.
Yi Shanshan dismissed the driver, telling her to buy a drink and take a break.
Soon, only the two of them remained in the car. Yi Shanshan rolled up all the windows, creating a small, quiet space just for them.
“Mmm…” Yi Shanshan let out a long, drawn-out sound, her expression relaxing like a puppy returning home. “Finally, we can talk properly.”
“Mm,” Ying Yuan murmured softly.
“Why are you being so cold?” Yi Shanshan asked, propping her chin on her hand and gazing at her. “You sounded so enthusiastic on the phone, but now you’re just spitting out one word at a time.”
“I… I’m not.”
Ying Yuan didn’t know how to explain herself. She was simply nervous, a sudden, overwhelming nervousness.
“You haven’t eaten yet, have you?” she asked, grasping for a topic to fill the silence.
“Nope,” Yi Shanshan replied, her brows furrowing. “No time to eat. My stomach’s growling.”
Ying Yuan pulled out her backpack. “I have some yogurt here. It’ll tide you over…”
“Yogurt coats my throat,” Yi Shanshan replied. “I can’t have it.”
“There’s a convenience store up ahead,” Ying Yuan offered. “I can get you something…”
“I can’t have spicy food, anything too strong, or anything too sweet,” Yi Shanshan said. “Everything affects my voice. Teacher Han’s a real tyrant. She’d scold me if she heard me.”
“Oh…”
Yi Shanshan pulled out a bland, tasteless sandwich. “This is what I’m living on these days. Not enough to starve, but not enough to thrive either.”
The sandwich was tiny, practically devoid of filling.
Only then could Ying Yuan focus on Yi Shanshan’s appearance. She seemed to have lost weight. Her eyes were strikingly large, her chin sharp, and her waist was impossibly slender. The hem of her blouse was tucked into her skirt, a thin, fragile layer.
Yi Shanshan noticed Ying Yuan’s gaze and immediately straightened her back. “Aren’t you starving? I swear, I’m practically starving my abs into existence.”
She reached out, casually grabbing Ying Yuan’s wrist and pulling her hand toward her waist. “Don’t believe me? Feel it—it’s rock-hard.”
As if jolted by electricity, Ying Yuan recoiled violently, yanking her hand back before her fingertips even touched Yi Shanshan’s body.
Her reaction was too extreme, too deliberate.
Yi Shanshan froze, gazing at her blankly. Her eyes held confusion, and a hint of… hurt.
When she spoke again, her voice had dropped. “I’m sorry. I forgot you don’t like physical contact. I didn’t mean anything by it…”
Yi Shanshan’s shoulders slumped, and she curled into the seat, avoiding Ying Yuan’s gaze.
“It’s not from being hungry. Singing and practicing my breathing a lot just makes abs easier to develop. I was just showing off.”
Here she was, sitting in a luxury car, dressed in the extravagant attire of a young lady of means.
Despite her notoriously proud and flamboyant personality, she was now explaining herself to Ying Yuan with utmost caution, making no demands, voicing no grievances.
The slight estrangement Ying Yuan had felt, born of the temporal chasm between them, completely dissolved. Memories of their countless typed messages and voice calls over days and nights swirled in her mind, coalescing into a familiar, intimate Yi Shanshan.
Their relationship had long since surpassed its initial stages. Ying Yuan’s tenderness for Yi Shanshan now eclipsed all instinctive fears and worries.
Yi Shanshan had only wanted her to touch her belly, but Ying Yuan now yearned to do so much more.
Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around the dejected, petite Yi Shanshan.
The Little Fox had returned to her embrace.
Yi Shanshan’s eyes widened abruptly as Ying Yuan gently tightened her hold.
Their shoulders pressed together, their breaths audible beside each other’s ears, clear and distinct.
The car fell silent, as if they were in another realm—a realm where every sense was amplified a thousandfold.
Ying Yuan closed her eyes, focusing all her strength to clear her mind and center herself. Her lips parted, her voice hoarse as she said, “If this can bring you some comfort, I’m willing.”