Chapter 141 — Old Buffon's Origins

"And then the two of you just... did it?" Yang Ce pressed on.

"Mm." Xiao Qing nodded, not quite daring to look at Yang Ce.

"Ha, what's the big deal?" Yang Ce shook his head. "You're acting like it's some enormous thing. Never mind a woman—even if you'd done it with a man, I'd forgive you."

"Huh? Isn't being with a woman even more serious than being with a man?" Xiao Qing asked, puzzled.

"How could that be the same? Being with a woman is far less serious than being with a man," Yang Ce said.

"Why?" Xiao Qing shot back, finding herself unable to follow his logic. "If you were with another woman, at most I'd feel a little uncomfortable. But if you were with another man, I absolutely could not accept it."

"Good grief." Yang Ce slapped his own forehead. "How can they be the same? Men and women are two entirely different concepts."

"Two concepts? How are they two concepts? Don't you think the same way?" Small wonder—as a woman, Xiao Qing found it very hard to understand how a man's mind worked.

"Of course," Yang Ce nodded. "Think about it—if two women were hugging affectionately out on the street, would anyone think it improper?"

Xiao Qing thought it over. Though she still didn't quite grasp his meaning, she shook her head.

"Exactly. Two women hugging—people who see them at most assume they're close sisters," Yang Ce said. "But if two men were hugging, that would be a bit improper. The principle is the same, really."

"Oh." Xiao Qing still didn't understand why Yang Ce wasn't bothered by this, but since he wasn't angry, that could only be good.

"So don't go carrying any mental burden over it," Yang Ce consoled her. "Actually, not only do I not find this disgusting—I find it rather exciting. If I could join in..."

"What are you thinking about?" Xiao Qing gave his forehead a none-too-gentle poke, then said, "It's only me who'd have you—a boy so much younger than me. Anyone else wouldn't."

"I was just saying it offhand, heh heh." Yang Ce scratched his scalp and changed the subject. "Sister Xiao Qing, why did you suddenly bring this up with me? It's all in the past—what made you think of it today?"

"I didn't want to bring it up either—it's all behind me, I'd practically forgotten it." Xiao Qing shook her head. "But yesterday, she suddenly called me."

Yang Ce understood at once who "she" referred to—it had to be that little lily who'd once fooled around with Xiao Qing.

"What does she want with you?" Yang Ce asked casually.

"I don't know. She asked me to go out and meet her." Xiao Qing sounded nervous. "It's been so long since we lost touch, and then she suddenly calls me out of the blue. I'm a little scared."

"What's there to be scared of?" Yang Ce said. "Don't tell me she wants to pick up where you two left off?"

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Xiao Qing sighed. "I didn't want to go meet her, but I was also afraid she'd come looking for me, and that you'd find out."

"Find out? Well, I know now, don't I?" Yang Ce teased. "So I get it—that's why you came to confess to me first, right?"

Xiao Qing nodded, a little embarrassed. "I was afraid you'd be angry if you found out, so I figured I'd better tell you first. Since it's come to this, I just won't go meet her, and I won't have anything to do with her anymore."

"I think you'd better go meet her after all," Yang Ce said after a moment's thought. "Tell her plainly to her face, so she won't keep pestering you afterward."

"But what if she clings to me anyway?" Xiao Qing said worriedly.

"No problem. How about this—I'll go with you," Yang Ce said. "We'll tell her you like men now, and that I'm your boyfriend. That should make her give up."

"Yang Ce, you'd really come with me?" Hearing his words, Xiao Qing felt a warmth in her heart and asked in delighted surprise.

"Of course. She's my love rival, after all—if I don't step up, who will?" Yang Ce nodded solemnly. "And if she really won't let go, then I'll have no choice but to settle it with force."

"..." Xiao Qing pursed her lips, half amused. "Don't do that. Actually, she's really a very nice person."

"Is she pretty?" Yang Ce asked instinctively.

"So what if she is?" Xiao Qing twisted her mouth. "Let me tell you—don't get any ideas. She hates men even more than I do."

"How's that?" Yang Ce said, surprised. "Weren't you a lily too, and didn't I change you?"

"How should I put it—I only hated Song Hang," Xiao Qing shook her head. "Besides, I had some... physical issues of my own, which is why I never dated another man. It wasn't that I hated men. So you got to take advantage of me. But she's different. She looks down on men from the bottom of her heart, and thinks anything a man can do, she can do just as well. To be honest, it was her seduction that led me into that foolish business in the first place."

To be continued

670. The Shu Family of Hong Kong

"Oh." Yang Ce laughed. "That kind of woman—forget it. I'm not interested."

Yang Ce's ideals might be grand, but he wasn't terribly fond of that sort of feminist woman. After hearing what Xiao Qing said, he lost whatever other interest he'd had in the woman she'd described.

"Heh, you—you're always joking." Seeing that Yang Ce truly wasn't taking the matter to heart, Xiao Qing felt her worries lift, and she laughed through her tears.

"I'm not joking," Yang Ce said. There was nothing to hide from Xiao Qing—though the two maintained a lovers' relationship, they didn't present themselves as a couple to the outside world. So Yang Ce had no need to be coy, and he laughed. "Sister Xiao Qing, didn't you know I have an ambition? It's to marry a pair of lilies as my wives—haha!"

Xiao Qing was speechless, staring at Yang Ce in sheer astonishment. "Are you serious or not? You really think that way? I can't help feeling there's something a bit off about your mind."

"Come on, what could possibly be off about my mind?" Yang Ce scratched his scalp and said, "I figure most men think the same way I do."

"Is that so? I really don't understand the workings of you men's minds," Xiao Qing said with a shake of her head. "I thought you'd be furious. I never expected you to harbor such an aspiration."

"Oh, right—I know a friend who's also a lady-lover. How about I introduce you two someday? Maybe you'd make a pair," Yang Ce said, his thoughts turning wickedly to Sun Jie. They were both his women anyway, so putting them together shouldn't be a problem, should it?

"Drop dead," Xiao Qing said irritably. "How about this: if she contacts me again, I'll call you, and you can accompany me while we explain everything to her."

"Of course, no problem," Yang Ce nodded and said. "All right, baby, don't worry about it. Oh, by the way—tell me, between women and women, how do you, you know, do that? And how come you're still intact?"

Yang Ce's relationship with Sun Jie had not grown intimate enough to be like his with Xiao Qing. Even if curious, he would never ask Sun Jie about such things. But with Xiao Qing it was different, so Yang Ce wanted to probe and find out.

"No way! What's there to talk about?" Xiao Qing lowered her head, deeply embarrassed.

"Fine, don't tell me. Then demonstrate for me," Yang Ce said wickedly.

"How could I demonstrate that? You're not a woman," Xiao Qing said, somewhat perplexed.

"Let's first demonstrate our own version, and then you can slowly tell me how you did it," Yang Ce said, his hands already beginning to roam restlessly over Xiao Qing's body.

And so, spring's splendor filled the garden once more. Inside the grand Shu residence in Hong Kong.

"Xiaoya, this time aboard the Alice, you suffered because of me. It was your father's incompetence—I couldn't protect you," Shu Haikuo said with some guilt. "You know as well as I do that our Shu family simply cannot contend with Dorsk. Ah, but heaven must have opened its eyes—someone went and did away with Dorsk. We really ought to thank that person. Xiaoya, are you truly sure you didn't see what he looked like?"