AFMWDX Chapter 24.1

TL: Hua

Chapter 24: Fingertips

The layout of the bedroom was very simple: a double bed, a wardrobe, and…

Xu Baizhang’s gaze paused on the bedside table, where a large pack of condoms was contained in a pesticide box.

Yu Qingtang desperately wrung the corner of the quilt. “It was Third Aunt who gave them to me. She came and knocked on the door while you were taking a shower.”

“She said she didn’t need them, and the Village Committee handed out a lot more, so keeping them would be a waste.” Yu Qingtang believed his guilty look was utterly ridiculous, like a clown in a circus being watched. “I wasn’t going to take them at first, but Third Aunt was so enthusiastic, and she specifically came to deliver them. I—I couldn’t refuse her kindness.”

“Mmm, the Village Committee does like to hand them out; everyone who’s come of age gets them.” Xu Baizhang sat on the edge of the bed and even defended him.

Yu Qingtang felt a little touched.

Xu Baizhang had his back to him, drying his hair. His body was slightly bowed. The thin cotton shirt clinging tightly to his shoulder blades. The bone joint at the end of his spine protruded, and further down, his gluteal cleft was faintly visible.

Yu Qingtang stared at his back, unable to look away, thinking of the male lead in a black-and-white comic. “Did they give you some too?”

Xu Baizhang switched hands and began drying the left side of his hair, the ring encircling his finger as he pressed his finger between the towel and his hair. “Hmm.”

The ring on the ring finger symbolized being married and represented belonging.

Yu Qingtang knew he shouldn’t ask about the past, but sesame seeds had been sprinkled in his heart. Curiosity, suspicion, and jealousy were all soaked in wine, impossible to pick out one by one.

“Then, you must have used them.” Yu Qingtang hesitated, finding it difficult and embarrassing to ask.

“In the storage locker, never used.”

Alcohol really can amplify a person’s narrow-mindedness. If he hadn’t drunk that small cup, he probably wouldn’t have had such thoughts.

Yu Qingtang lay down on the inner side, twisting his own ring. “Turn off the light. Goodnight.”

Xu Baizhang draped the towel over the armrest and dragged the chair to a more distant position.

“Clatter.”

The chair leg knocked over the wastebasket, revealing a crumpled toilet paper wrapped in plastic packaging and an opened condom.

Xu Baizhang turned back. The person on the bed had his eyes tightly closed, his cheeks slightly flushed. He didn’t know if the redness was from the shower, the alcohol, or something else.

His hand rested on the quilt, a metallic sheen visible on his ring finger. In Xu Baizhang’s eyes, this Yu Qingtang could only be described with three words: at his mercy.

The bedroom light was off, and the surroundings were pitch black and dim.

Yu Qingtang tried to fall asleep but was constantly woken up by the barking of dogs. Or perhaps his mind wasn’t quiet, and he took every stray noise as an interruption.

He turned over, his forehead bumping against Xu Baizhang’s shoulder. His heart was stung, and he instinctively tried to pull away, but the man rolled over and pressed him back.

“Can’t sleep?” Xu Baizhang asked him.

Yu Qingtang closed his eyes. “Mmm.”

Xu Baizhang: “Is it too noisy outside?”

Yu Qingtang: “Probably.”

They remained lying on their sides. A warm breath wafted on Yu Qingtang’s forehead, like freshly baked pastries or a minty toothpaste with an alcohol filling. “Qingtang.”

“Mmm?” Yu Qingtang tilted his head up, his breath puffing against the other’s chin.

“Are you afraid of pain?”

The hot vapor started from his forehead, running downwards against the direction of hair growth. Certain areas became congested and swollen, like a sponge that had absorbed boiling water.

“It’s okay.”

Xu Baizhang curled his leg, sliding from Yu Qingtang’s calf to his knee. “Can I bite you?”

Yu Qingtang clenched his toes, drawing lines like bamboo segments from Xu Baizhang’s instep to his ankle. “Bite where?”

“Fingers, maybe? Is that okay?”

Yu Qingtang’s nails were clean and neat. There was an oily sensation between his fingers. If you leaned in closer, you could smell the natural latex, and only the latex.

In Yu Qingtang’s understanding, the tongue was mainly used for two things: tasting food or kissing. But today, his understanding was subverted.

Xu Baizhang’s actions were like an elaborate foreplay for an adult activity. He said he wanted to bite the fingertip, but he didn’t just bite the fingertip.

Starting from the joint between the finger and the palm, it spread little by little upwards. It was similar to soap scraping against the skin’s surface, or to put it more directly, it was like a bl*wj*b.

His left index finger was thoroughly licked wet, then completely enclosed in the mouth, and divided into segments by the teeth. Once the dividing line reached the very top, the tip of the tongue spun around on the pad of the finger and the nail.

Yu Qingtang bit his lip, suppressing his breath, under the control of an addictive and mesmerizing prelude.

He tensed his body, his breathing quickening by half a beat. Just when he thought it was finally about to start, Xu Baizhang released his finger.

The stubble growing on his chin rubbed against Yu Qingtang’s fingertip, one by one. It was very ticklish, yet had a grainy texture, like fine sand kneaded into clay.

His palm was squeezed, and the object of the licking moved, shifting from the index finger to the ring finger. The tip of the tongue slowly slid over the wedding ring.

This place symbolized being married, representing belonging.

They belonged only to each other.

The moment his finger was tightly wrapped in the mouth again, Yu Qingtang felt like he was sitting on a boat, and a flash of lightning had split the hull in two.

His finger was squirming, and his body was too.

He said he was going to bite his hand, but his finger was used, his lips moved, and his tongue moved. Except for his teeth, it felt like the whole world was moving.

The space under the quilt was narrow, so his toes kept brushing against his ankle. If fingers had clothes on like bodies, seven or eight layers would have been stripped off already.

Yu Qingtang firmly believed this was a form of torture, the torment of unsatisfied desire and insatiable greed. Xu Baizhang must have been doing it on purpose, wanting to slowly lure him and consume him. Like a seed, to be buried in his body and grow deep roots.

The licking and kissing paused. His palm was pressed tightly, and the teeth clamped down with force.

His pulse pounded frantically. Yu Qingtang tilted his head back, his jaw clenched, instinctively gasping.

“Ah, mm!”

A stinging pain on the pad of his finger struck, a spiraling sensation of pain that strangely brought with it a sense of excitement within his skull.

There was another knock on the door downstairs. “Qingtang, Baizhang, are you two asleep?”

The pain subsided, and Xu Baizhang sat up. “I’ll go check.”

The quilt was lifted and then put back down. The boat in Yu Qingtang’s heart was still adrift. He brought his hand into his embrace, his breathing still chaotic.

Yu Qingtang rubbed his still wet fingers. The skin was broken and a little swollen, like a wet cotton swab.

Xu Baizhang returned upstairs, hidden in the darkness, standing by the bed. “Can I turn on the light?”

Yu Qingtang turned to the side and pressed the bedside switch.

He noticed Xu Bizhang’s gaze upon him, and his body could still feel the swelling heat.

It’s like a lantern that’s fallen into the water during the Lantern Festival, all wet and still glowing red.

It was hot, hot enough to explode.

As ridiculous as it sounded, he had indeed been set on fire by having his hand bitten.

“Did Third Aunt need something?” As soon as he asked the question, Yu Qingtang noticed the extra quilt at the foot of the bed.

“She was worried we’d be cold, so she brought us a windproof blanket.” Xu Baizhang sat down in a chair. “Are you cold?”

Yu Qingtang leaned against the bed, wiping his sweat, with a self-mocking air of giving up. “What do you think?”

“Do you want to take a shower? It might make you feel better.”

The suggestion was a good one, but Yu Qingtang didn’t want to follow through.

Xu Baizhang handed him a tissue to wipe his sweat and then said, “Your hand, let me see.”

Yu Qingtang, with the quilt pressing down on his lower body, extended his hand.

Under the light, Yu Qingtang clearly saw the actual state of his finger. The pad of the finger was soft, wrinkled, and pale, with a very small wound right in the center. If Third Aunt had come two minutes later, it likely would have been a deeper puncture.

Perhaps it was his professional habit as a doctor; after every contact, Xu Baizhang would help him with disinfection.

He used 75% medical alcohol for areas without a wound and 3% hydrogen peroxide when there was a wound.

Not only the pad of the finger, but every area the tip of his tongue had touched was thoroughly disinfected.

Yu Qingtang drew his hand back, his fingertips still cold. “No need to do that; I don’t mind.”

Xu Baizhang tossed the cotton pad into the trash can and picked up the quilt from the foot of the bed. “I’ll sleep next door.”

Yu Qingtang turned his back. “Alright, good night.”

The light went out, and the sound of footsteps slowly faded away.

Yu Qingtang’s heart was tangled with chaotic threads of cotton, a knot of annoyance he couldn’t untie. He could only comfort himself that separating right now was a good thing.

Perhaps it really was the alcohol; he shouldn’t have been like that.

But really, who licks a finger longer than they spend on making love? He’d already bought his ticket, yet he still insisted on getting off the ship.

Yu Qingtang took a deep breath, calming his thoughts.

He was too greedy, actually wanting to play something stimulating with a detached and ascetic doctor.

He turned over to sleep, and his phone vibrated.

Baizhang: [/feeling wronged]

Yu Qingtang thought his eyes were playing tricks, so he looked twice, confirming it was indeed from Xu Baizhang. It was the system’s default yellow bean emoji with fingers clasped, frowning and shaking its round, dazed head.

He didn’t understand the other’s meaning and replied with a question mark.

Baizhang: [/feeling pitiful]

Another system emoji, with watery eyes, pouting lips, innocent, and pitiable.

Now Yu Qingtang was certain it wasn’t a mistake; he was genuinely wronged and genuinely pitiful.

Seeing that he hadn’t replied, the other party sent a few more messages.

Baizhang: [/feeling wronged/feeling pitiful]

Baizhang: [Pay attention to me. /feeling wronged/feeling pitiful]

The speed and frequency were comparable to Nianjiang, the little brother who loved to send bear emojis.

[What’s wrong?]

Baizhang: [I’m sorry [Worn-out emoji/feeling wronged]

Yu Qingtang laughed.

[Sorry for what?]

Baizhang: [I bit you too hard.]

[No, it didn’t hurt.]

Baizhang: [I was afraid you wouldn’t like it.]

[There’s nothing to dislike. You can be a bit rougher next time.]

Baizhang: [How rough do you want me to be? Is any roughness okay? Only with the mouth? Can other places be used? Can I use force elsewhere?]

The heat that had finally subsided was splashed with half a spoon of oil, mixed with unswept sweat, crackling in the bonfire.

Yu Qingtang’s hand trembled slightly. He typed a few words, deleted them, and sent a voice message instead. “Doctor Xu, are you doing this on purpose? Flirting with me through a wall in the middle of the night?”

Yu Qingtang’s voice was breathy, his dry throat hoarse, and he deliberately emphasized the word flirting.

After about half a minute, Xu Baizhang replied with a voice message as well.

Before clicking, every pore on Yu Qingtang’s body tensed up. He knew better than anyone the allure of the other person’s voice.

Especially on a late, quiet, and alcohol-fueled night.

The voice message started with two seconds of breathing, followed immediately by Xu Baizhang’s tone: “I’m merely acting from a doctor’s perspective, rationally inquiring about the patient’s condition to truly understand the illness.”

Yu Qingtang listened three times, then looked at the emojis above, feeling both annoyed and amused.

When he sent a voice message, he sounded like a cold, dominant CEO, an eternally unmelting ice cap; but when he sent emojis, he turned into a drenched puppy that would rub against your ankle if you didn’t comfort him, looking at you with glistening, wet eyes.

Yu Qingtang was frustrated and pressed the voice key. “Doctor Xu, if you have the guts, come over here! Let’s discuss the illness face-to-face. What’s the point of hiding next door?”

A message came from the other side: “Please do not provoke an intoxicated Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor.”

“What if I did? What are you going to do?”

“You’ll regret it.”

Before Yu Qingtang could reply, the other party sent another voice message.

“Sleep. Good night.”

Afterward, he also received a shy emoji and a kiss mark, along with the sentence [See you tomorrow.]

Yu Qingtang was both amused and exasperated; it felt like he could do whatever he wanted just by looking at the screen. But when they met in person, he was just like any other austere old Chinese medicine doctor.