This is boring, Shi Yang thought, slouched in the passenger seat as raindrops blurred the passing streets. At last, he realized how dull his mortal life had been a few years before moving out—school, endless cleaning, homework piled high, scoldings for every little thing, and now this: being ferried to and from markets like a child. His only real entertainment back then had been his phone.
Oh, right… my phone.
He stopped staring out the window and dug it from his pocket, swiping the screen. To his relief, his password still worked. He smirked, plugging in his earphones, and despite his "aunt" being right beside him, he slipped into secret mode.
A few taps later, half the screen was filled with thighs and fishnet stockings. He scrolled through bunny-girl cosplays, skimpily dressed cultivator maidens wielding swords that glowed in all the wrong ways, and titles that left little to the imagination. His lips curled upward as he shifted, adjusting himself beneath the seatbelt.
Then he typed it in, chuckling under his breath: How to spot a ladyboy.
The video loaded, and a man's cheerful voice spilled into his ears: "Well, first thing you'll want to look at is the jawline. See here, sharper edges—usually a giveaway. Next, the shoulders, much broader if—"
"Yang Shi!"
His aunt's sharp voice cut through the rain. He stiffened as her hand shot out, yanking his earphones free.
And then the phone's speaker blared for the entire car to hear: "—but the easiest way to tell a ladyboy is by the Adam's apple, though surgery can sometimes—"
Yang Lianhua froze mid-scold. Her head turned slowly, her umbrella resting forgotten on her lap, eyes wide with disbelief. For a moment, the storm outside seemed quieter than the silence in the car.
Then she snatched the phone right out of his hands. "What nonsense are you into nowadays?" she snapped, scrolling once before paling and immediately locking the screen.
Shi Yang tried to stifle his grin but failed, shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.
Her cheeks flushed red with a mix of fury and embarrassment as she barked, "Out! Get the fish and pack them inside—now!"
The car jerked to a stop. Only then did Shi Yang realize they had already reached home. His aunt shoved her door open and stepped out, phone still clutched firmly in her grip. "This is mine until you learn some discipline!" she hissed, slamming the door shut behind her.
Shi Yang sighed dramatically, dragging himself out into the drizzle with the bags of fish. Confiscated again. Just like old times.
But his grin never left.
The rest of the afternoon passed in the strange rhythm of mundanity. Shi Yang carried fish bags, helped unload groceries, and endured his aunt's sharp tongue as she berated him for slouching, for tracking in mud, for "acting like a spoiled young master when you don't even earn a cent."
Yet the more she scolded, the more he found himself oddly amused. Each flick of her hand, each flustered expression when she caught his wandering gaze at the curve of her blouse, seemed to stir something inside him. A resonance. A ripple in his meridians.
Strange… the more perverted this gets, the clearer I feel it.
His water Dao, normally cool and elusive, seemed to seep through his bones, flowing into his body like hidden tides. The connection only deepened when she bent over to stack vegetables in the fridge, muttering about bills, her skirt riding ever so slightly higher.
By dusk, rain pattered softly against the windows. On their way back from another trip to the market, they were stopped by Mrs. Zhao, the neighbor across the lane, an elderly woman in a green shawl.
"Lianhua," she called warmly, "I've set you up for Saturday, for a blind date. He's a surgeon—getting steady work and a good income. You're too young to waste away alone forever."
Shi Yang watched his aunt stiffen, lips pressing together before she managed a polite smile.
"Thank you, Auntie Zhao. I'll… consider it."
"A surgeon?" Shi Yang muttered under his breath, grinning. How boring. If she only knew the 'Dao' I'm offering her.
Later that night, the house grew quiet. The faint creak of pipes, the hum of rain gutters, the sigh of a woman's tired breathing beyond thin walls.
Shi Yang lay awake in his own bed, staring at the ceiling. His body buzzed with restless energy, his Dao surging faintly with every impure thought that crossed his mind.
Finally, unable to resist, he slipped from his sheets. Silent as a shadow, he padded down the hall and gently pressed his aunt's door open. The room smelled faintly of lavender oil and rain-damp clothes. The figure beneath the covers stirred faintly, but did not wake.
With deliberate care, Shi Yang slid beneath the blankets, the warmth of her body enveloping him at once. He spooned against her back, fingers tracing the curve of her side.
Her breathing hitched, soft and hazy, as she began to stir awake. "...Yang Shi?" her voice was thick with sleep, confusion lacing the syllables.
He leaned closer, lips brushing her ear as he whispered, "I couldn't sleep… not without my phone. To… relieve myself."
His hand pressed more firmly to her waist, the heat of his body pressed tight against hers as rain pattered steadily outside.
_
A/N
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