Chapter 89: The Forceful Kiss of the Iron-Willed Woman

When Zhou Yu struck Huang Gai, one was willing to hit, the other willing to endure. Sometimes, when we see a couple where one seems to suffer and we feel indignant on their behalf, the truth is often more complex. We are not them—how can we possibly understand their happiness?

Now, Tan Linlin dragged Xu Tong into a densely wooded area. She glanced around to make sure no one was nearby, then promptly pinned Xu Tong against a tree. Her eyes, round and bright as bronze bells, fixed on him with the predatory gaze of a wolf sizing up a rabbit.

“What are you doing? What do you want?” Xu Tong stared at Tan Linlin’s wide, unblinking eyes and felt a trace of dread flutter in his heart.

Suddenly, Tan Linlin puckered her lips and lunged toward Xu Tong’s mouth. With a thud, her head collided with his. The unexpected assault left Xu Tong completely bewildered. He stood frozen, unsure what play she was acting out—was she trying to force a kiss on him?

“Ow! Tan Linlin, are you crazy? That hurts!” Xu Tong’s pained cry echoed through the woods, reaching the ears of Xiao Lin and his companions who were resting just ahead.

“Brother Xiao Lin, what’s going on? Why is Brother Xu Tong yelling? We should go see if something happened,” Er Pang said anxiously, springing to his feet and preparing to follow the sound.

Xiao Lin, however, grabbed his arm. “Relax, Er Pang. It’s nothing. Your Sister Linlin is just fooling around with him. Leave them be, let’s enjoy our break.”

Although still uneasy, Er Pang chose to trust Xiao Lin. Meanwhile, Wang Yuqing exchanged a look with Xiao Lin, both of them wearing helpless expressions. Clearly, Tan Linlin was bullying Xu Tong again.

“Tan Linlin, do you even know how to kiss? It’s bad enough you forced one on me, but why did you have to bite? Oh my poor, sexy lips, you’ve really abused them this time.”

Xu Tong clutched his mouth, his face twisted in pain. When he glanced down at his hand, he saw a smear of bright red blood. His lips throbbed with sharp stings.

“It doesn’t taste anything like the cotton candy Yuqing described. Why is there a metallic tang instead?” Tan Linlin licked her lips, puzzled by the absence of sweetness.

“What do you mean, sweet or not? Why did you bite me? It hurts!” Xu Tong glared at Tan Linlin, his temper flaring at her confusion.

“Yuqing said…” Tan Linlin began to explain her actions but thought better of it and kept the rest to herself. Curious about the flavor Wang Yuqing had described, she’d wanted to see what kissing was like with Xu Tong. But with no experience, she’d simply opened her mouth and bit him, drawing blood. Now, she blamed Wang Yuqing for misleading her; kissing was no fun at all.

“That Yuqing, she actually tricked me. I’m going to get my mountain sparrow back!” Disappointed by the reality, Tan Linlin immediately turned her mind to reclaiming her prized possession.

She stormed off to settle accounts with Wang Yuqing, leaving Xu Tong standing there in a daze, unable to make sense of what had just happened.

“That Tan Linlin, always so reckless, but I have to admit, she’s pretty adorable. If she doesn’t know how to kiss, I could teach her…” Xu Tong muttered, touching his wounded lip, a small smile playing at his mouth. If he knew he’d just been used as Tan Linlin’s guinea pig, he might think differently.

“Yuqing, you trickster! Give me back my mountain sparrow!” Tan Linlin charged up to Wang Yuqing, reaching out to snatch her treasure. But Wang Yuqing darted aside and handed the mountain sparrow to Xiao Lin instead. She knew that if she kept it, Tan Linlin would surely win it back, but with Xiao Lin, it was another story.

“Linlin, what’s going on? Why are you going back on your word?” Wang Yuqing, relieved, placed her hands on her hips and demanded an explanation.

“What’s going on? You tell me! Didn’t you say kissing was like eating cotton candy? Nonsense! I just tried it with Xu Tong—it tasted metallic. Give me back my mountain sparrow, or I won’t let this go!” Tan Linlin declared angrily.

“Metallic? That can’t be. When Xiao Lin kissed me, it was sweet and—uh…” Wang Yuqing blurted out before catching herself, sticking out her tongue and casting a furtive glance at Xiao Lin.

Listening to their exchange, Xiao Lin quickly put the pieces together. He glanced meaningfully at Wang Yuqing, who was blushing prettily, and then chuckled. Turning to Tan Linlin, he asked, “So, Tan Linlin, you just tried it with Xu Tong? Tried what, exactly?”

“What else? Kissing, of course!” Tan Linlin replied without a trace of embarrassment—just as Xu Tong arrived and heard her words. For a moment, Xu Tong wobbled in place; with a girlfriend like this, he wasn’t sure whether to count himself lucky or cursed.

“Hey, chubby, enough already! Do you even know what it means to have some shame?” Xu Tong hurried over and clapped a hand over Tan Linlin’s mouth, cutting off her next words.

Er Pang, however, noticed the blood at the corner of Xu Tong’s lips. He reached out, touched it, and realized it was blood. “Brother Xu Tong, what happened to you? Why are you bleeding?” he asked worriedly.

At this, Xiao Lin and Wang Yuqing also noticed. Unlike Er Pang’s concern, Xiao Lin smirked and said in a teasing tone, “Well, well, Young Master Xu, how did a kiss lead to blood? Care to explain?”

Xu Tong’s face flushed with embarrassment, and he silently cursed Tan Linlin for her lack of discretion—must she blurt out everything?

Wang Yuqing now understood: Tan Linlin had dragged Xu Tong off to experiment with kissing, but since she didn’t know how, she’d just bitten him and made him bleed. The thought amused her—what a true tomboy Tan Linlin was.

In the end, after much cajoling and threats from Xu Tong, Tan Linlin finally closed her mischievous mouth and forgot about reclaiming her mountain sparrow. Er Pang was reassured by Xu Tong’s explanation, though he did ask one last question: “You don’t have to be married to kiss, do you?” which left everyone speechless.

After all the commotion, their mountain outing concluded on a note of laughter and cheer.