I raised stunning young ladies, but they all wanted to possess me.

Gu Yan silently made a mental note of the name Ya Song.

She was the one who showed Elena campus romance comics last time, and she's the one who copied a crash course on romance for Pei Youyi this time.

The top poker player under the gambling king of northern Myanmar is now the love consultant for several leading ladies on the global power rankings, a truly astonishing career leap.

"What else is on that hard drive?"

"There are still some I haven't had time to watch."

"The catalog lists tutorials on 'wall slamming' (a romantic gesture involving slamming someone against a wall), practical tips on using a knee pillow, and how to get a guy to confess his feelings in just three sentences."

Pei Youyi frowned slightly as he read this.

I've finished watching the episode on "How to Get a Guy to Confess His Feelings in Three Sentences".

"I don't think it's scientific."

"...Why?"

"Because I said more than three sentences to you."

"You didn't confess your feelings either."

Gu Yan was speechless for a moment.

Pei Youyi took the pillow out of her bosom and put it back on the bedside table.

She moved half a palm's distance away from Gu Yan, the hem of her moon-white cheongsam brushing against his trouser leg.

Her voice was extremely soft, as if she were making a small request to him.

"Then I thought about it."

"Since strong people don't need to take things step by step in love, then I'm probably not strong enough."

"So I want to try again tonight."

"I didn't learn it from anime; it's something I wanted to do myself."

"Close your eyes."

Gu Yan's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason.

He looked at her, and she looked at him too. Her eyes were even brighter than before, and the very faint pink tinge around her ears rose again. But her expression was very serious, as if she was making a promise to him about a secret that belonged only to the two of them.

He closed his eyes.

Then a warm and soft hand gently covered his eyes.

Just like last time, it carried a very faint magnolia fragrance, as if her scent had seeped into her skin.

Her fingertips were slightly cool, her palms were warm, and her thumbs gently brushed across the corner of his eye, as if wiping away some unseen tear stains.

She gently pushed him onto the headboard.

His back was pressed against the soft cushion, and through the cushion he could feel the cold hardness of the metal bulkhead, but his chest was filled with another kind of warmth.

She leaned closer, and even through her cheongsam, I could feel the softness and warmth of her body.

She didn't let go of his eyes with her hand, but gently cupped his cheek with her other hand.

Her fingers were cold, but the side of her face that she was holding was starting to burn.

When her kiss landed, it was lighter than ever before.

Her lips lingered on his for a long, long time, not to ask for anything, not to prove anything, but simply to feel.

Feel that he is still alive, feel his body temperature and breathing, feel his heartbeat that quickens slightly in the darkness.

In the darkness, his sense of touch was magnified several times over.

The soft pressure on his lips, the warm breath brushing against his cheek, the slight trembling of the hand covering his eyes, the crisp sound of the red string bell on his wrist with each tiny movement.

He smelled the faint scent of shampoo in her hair, the fragrance of magnolia blossoms emanating from the side of her neck due to her body heat, and the unique smell of the fabric when the collar of her cheongsam was wrinkled.

These scents mingled together in the darkness, making him feel slightly dizzy.

As she kissed him, she suddenly let out a very soft laugh.

The laughter was right at the corner of his mouth, brushing against his skin with his breath.

Your heart is beating so fast.

"Do even strong people get nervous?"

Before he could answer, she kissed him again.

This time it's deeper, no longer a mere touch.

Her lips slowly traced their paths across his, her tongue lightly brushing against his lower lip, as if savoring a dessert that had been sitting out for a very long time before finally being served.

His hand instinctively rose and pressed against her back.

This time she didn't knee him, nor did she tell him to stop.

He trembled slightly the moment his hand touched her back, then relaxed completely, as if he had finally found a safe harbor after a long and seemingly endless journey.

Her cheongsam was made of very thin fabric, and through the layer of moon-white silk, he could feel the curves of her back.

Warm, plump, and graceful, her waist wasn't extremely thin, but it harmonized perfectly with her full figure.

She let him hold her, burying her face in the crook of his shoulder.

The lip gloss still retained a very faint sweetness, mixed with the salty smell brought in by the sea breeze, a unique scent on the aircraft carrier deck, but now it seemed like some secret ingredient known only to the two of them.

She could feel her breath trembling slightly in the wrinkles at the neckline of her cheongsam, and her hand was still covering his eyes, not letting go for a long time.

She habitually closes her eyes when she kisses, and she doesn't want him to see her with her eyes closed.

That was the last bit of girlishness she had retained over the years.

"Sister Youyi, what are you thinking about?"

Pei Youyi did not answer immediately.

She remained turned to the side, tilting her head to look out the porthole at the boundless, deep blue sea. Occasionally, one or two fleet navigation lights would flicker beneath the clouds on the horizon, like a few still-burning sparks scattered on the edge of the night.

She remained silent for a long while before speaking, her voice very soft.

"Thinking of Yu Ran."

"Her plane should have already crossed the International Date Line."

Gu Yan looked at her profile.

The moonlight outside the porthole softened and clarified her exquisitely sculpted features, but her fingers, resting on her knees, were curling up slightly, her knuckles turning white as if she were struggling with herself.

"Don't worry too much."

"Yu Ran will understand your predicament."

Pei Youyi remained silent for a long while.

She didn't look at Gu Yan, but instead looked down at the faded red string on her wrist, the bell swaying gently twice with her slight trembling.

Then she looked up at him.

The moonlight fell into her pupils, illuminating her deep brown eyes with an intense brightness, as if something within them was silently shattering.

"Xiao Yan."

"Don't you think... I'm a shameless woman?"

"I've fallen for the boy my daughter likes."

Gu Yan was dumbfounded.

He guessed that Pei Youyi had something on her mind, and that she was probably struggling with the fact that Yu Ran was coming.

But he didn't expect her to be so direct.

When she asked that question, her eyes were deep and unfathomable. She wasn't being coquettish or testing the waters; she had truly held it in for a very, very long time, so long that she thought she would never ask it in her entire life.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Pei Youyi suddenly smiled.

It wasn't a very faint smile, but a more relaxed, slightly self-deprecating laugh.

That smile looked especially genuine on her gentle and refined face, as if saying, "Just as I thought."

You don't need to answer.

"I know the answer."

"It's unreasonable for an elder, a mother, to fall in love with the person her daughter likes, no matter where you look at it."

"Actually, I had thought about it when I was in Kyoto."

"If you had rejected me back then, I might have been sad for a while, but at least I could have continued to be the dignified and proper matriarch of the Pei family."

But you didn't reject me.

"You hugged me, kissed me, and took my sunflowers."

"I knew I could never go back after that."