After I Finished, I Took a Mature Woman Out and One Midnight Kiss Broke Her Open

Zheng Xuemei's affection score had been stuck at 99 for four full days.

I glanced at it every day when I went to the company: 99, 99, 99, 99, like a boring four-beat song on repeat with no ending.

At first I thought it was interesting. By the third day it felt like torture. By the fourth, I was starting to wonder if the system's affection score had some invisible ceiling, a glass door specially installed at 99 so you could see it but never get through.

I told Wang Youmin about it. She was taking off her makeup at the time, standing in front of the mirror with a cotton pad in her hand. After listening to me, she answered calmly, 'She's thinking.' 'Thinking about what?' 'Thinking about what she feels for you, thinking about whether she wants to move forward,' Wang Youmin tossed the cotton pad into the trash. 'What are you in a hurry for? It's not like you're catching a train.' I wasn't in a hurry.

I was just curious.

Staying at 99 felt like an apple hanging at the top of a tree, the wind blowing it over and over and still refusing to drop. It had to wait until it had made up its mind before it would fall.

But before Zheng Xuemei finished working out that one point, I went through something else first.

That something was caused by Wang Youmin.

One Sunday afternoon she came back from outside with a pile of stuff, changed her shoes, dumped everything in the kitchen, then turned and saw me sitting on the sofa staring blankly at my phone. 'What are you doing today?' she asked.

'Looking at Zheng Xuemei's affection score,' I said. 'Still 99.'

She hung up her coat, walked over, and took my phone right out of my hand. 'Stop. No system-watching today.'

'Why?'

'Because,' she said, setting the phone on the coffee table and sitting down beside me, turning to look at me, 'your head has been full of the system and Zheng Xuemei lately. When was the last time you looked at me properly?'

That question left me speechless on the spot.

Truthfully, she was right.

During this time, every day when I got home, I'd report Zheng Xuemei's progress, report her affection score, report what she'd said, report how she'd leaned toward me at the exhibition that day, and I'd say so much that I'd turned Wang Youmin into my strategic consultant and intelligence station, forgetting that she was first my wife, and only then my consultant.

I put down my phone, turned around, and looked at her seriously.

Wang Youmin was sitting right beside me. Her face, bare after removing her makeup, looked clean and soft, her skin carrying a natural dewy sheen in the afternoon light.

She wasn't wearing makeup, but she looked better than she ever had.

Those eyes of hers, usually sharp and confident on the podium, were now quietly looking at me, with a little hurt, a little expectation, and more of the tenderness I knew so well.

I looked at her for about three seconds, and a sour ache suddenly welled up in my chest.

'Sorry,' I said very softly, but sincerely.

Wang Youmin blinked lightly and the corner of her mouth moved. 'Thank you for apologizing.'

She paused, then said, calm but weighted, 'But an apology isn't enough.'

'Then... what would be enough?' I asked.

She didn't answer right away. She just kept looking at me from the side. There was no anger in her eyes, no deliberate sulking, only quiet, tired waiting.

That kind of look that says, I'm waiting for you to realize it yourself. She knew I could understand, and she believed I would.

I took a deep breath, said nothing more, and simply reached out to pull her into my arms.

Wang Youmin didn't resist. She leaned into me naturally, her whole body going soft against mine.

Her face buried into my neck. The tip of her nose was cool, but her breath was warm and damp, brushing my skin again and again, carrying her own sweet scent from just after a shower.

I lowered my head and kissed the top of her hair gently. Her hair was still a little damp, with the fruity scent of shampoo.

After I kissed her, she shifted slightly, wrapped an arm around my waist, pressed her hand to my back, and lightly grasped my shirt without using force, just holding me quietly.

We stayed like that for three or four minutes.

Neither of us said a word.

The living room was very quiet, with only the distant sound of cars occasionally coming in from outside.

Sunlight poured through the pale curtains and painted the whole room in a warm golden color.

Her body was soft and warm, her chest rising and falling lightly with each breath. Through our clothes, I could still feel her soft breasts pressed against my chest.

In that moment, I suddenly realized that I really had neglected her too much during this time... My head had been full of affection scores, points, Zheng Xuemei, and I had nearly forgotten that the woman in front of me was my real harbor.

Wang Youmin's voice came muffled from where she was buried against my neck, carrying a faint nasal tone. 'Chen Mo, don't you feel like... the string in your head has been tight for too long lately?'

I thought about it and answered honestly, 'A little.'

'Then relax for a bit.' She finally lifted her head and looked up at me.

The corner of her lips curved with a sly, coaxing sort of sweetness, and there was light back in her eyes. 'Today, you're not allowed to think about any system. Just stay here properly with me, understand?'

'Got it.' I lowered my head and kissed her lips lightly.

She didn't dodge, but she didn't answer right away either. She just let me kiss her. Her lips were soft, carrying a trace of sweet lipstick. Then she opened her eyes slightly and said in a low voice, 'That's it?'

I understood.

This time I didn't stop at a taste. I lowered my head and kissed her deeply.

My tongue pried open her teeth, wrapped around her soft, wet tongue, and slowly, firmly sucked and tangled with it.

Wang Youmin's hand tightened around my waist, her fingers digging through my clothes into my muscles, her breathing gradually becoming irregular.

She started answering me, her tongue taking the initiative to entwine with mine, tangling together as soft, ambiguous wet sounds slipped out.

We stayed on the sofa and kissed deeply for a long time.

She smelled faintly of cleansing soap after removing her makeup, mixed with her own body scent, a smell I'd known for three years, and every time I caught it, it still made me feel safe and stirred at once... because this was Wang Youmin, a smell that belonged only to me.

My hand slipped unrestrained from under the hem of her loose home top, fingertips touching the smooth, warm skin of her lower back.

She let out a soft hum and shivered slightly, burying her face in the hollow of my shoulder, her nose brushing my neck like a clingy cat.

'Bedroom...' she said, her voice already noticeably softer, carrying a nasal warmth and moisture. 'The sofa's too small.'

'The sofa's fine.' I grinned wickedly on purpose, my palm slowly roaming over her waist, feeling her delicate skin and the slight tremble of her waist hollow from breathing.

'Chen Mo...' She called my name, her tone already carrying clear warning, but still soft and coquettish, like she was acting spoiled.

I couldn't help laughing, then finally stood up and lifted her cleanly into my arms.

Wang Youmin gave a soft gasp and instinctively wrapped her arms tighter around my neck, her legs slightly clamping around my waist, her body pressing close to mine.

'Why are you so strong today?' she asked, looking up at me with bright eyes.

'You're lighter today.' I lowered my head and pecked her lips, carrying her steadily toward the bedroom.

'How am I lighter? I even gained half a jin last week,' she protested, but the corners of her mouth stayed lifted, her eyes full of laughter and anticipation, a faint blush slowly rising on her cheeks.

Carrying her like that, looking down at her sweet, seductive expression, my heart went soft and hot.

At that moment, there was no system, no Zheng Xuemei, and no Lin Jia.

Only me and my wife.

I carried her into the bedroom and gently laid her on the bed.

Wang Youmin's hair spread out over the pillow.

She lay there looking up at me, her gaze moist and calm.

The pose instantly reminded me of college, of that small grove beside the dormitory building. She had looked up at me like this too, cheeks faintly red.

Back then I thought I'd never forget it for the rest of my life. Only later did I realize it wasn't that I couldn't forget-it was that every time I looked, it felt new, a fresh stir every single time.

I leaned down and kissed my way from her slender neck downward.

My lips pressed against her warm skin, gently sucking and licking, leaving one wet kiss mark after another.

One of her hands rested on my back, her fingertips moving lightly as if silently answering me, her breathing gradually losing its rhythm and her chest rising faintly.

'Slower...' she said softly, with a little nasal tone. 'No rush.'

'Mm.' I answered in a low voice, continuing to kiss her at the slowest pace.

The biggest trait Wang Youmin had in bed was one word... slow.

She didn't like hurriedly finishing. She liked being teased, tormented, and left hanging one little bit at a time.

She'd said many times: rushing through it is just making a delivery, not making love.

She'd educated me on that for three years. By now it was carved into my bones, and I knew the rhythm well.

I slid both hands to the hem of her loose home top. I didn't lift it up right away. Instead, I covered her through the soft cotton fabric first.

Two full breasts rose clearly under the shirt. I gripped them hard with both hands, kneading and squeezing slowly with my palms, shaping the soft flesh in the loose top until the fabric bulged into an enticing curve.

'Mm...' Wang Youmin let out a soft moan, her body trembling faintly. 'You're squeezing that hard even through the clothes... are you especially worked up today?'

'Not worked up,' I said with a low laugh, deliberately pressing her breasts hard toward each other and forcing a deep cleavage into the shirt. 'I just want to properly play with my wife's tits through her clothes first... the feel is different.'

I grabbed her breasts and jostled them up and down, kneading them left and right. Sometimes I spread my fingers wide to cup them full force; sometimes I used my fingertips to find the already slightly hardened nipples through the fabric, teasing them and tracing circles.

The fabric faintly revealed the shape of the pink areolas beneath.

Wang Youmin's breathing grew more irregular, her chest rising more and more noticeably. She bit her lower lip and looked at me, her voice soft and a little embarrassed. 'Chen Mo... you pervert... you're even playing so dirty through clothes...'

'With you, I'm always this dirty.' I lowered my head, took one nipple through the shirt into my mouth, bit gently through the fabric and tugged while my hands kept kneading her breasts hard, squeezing the soft flesh out between my fingers.

After playing for quite a while, I slowly lifted her top.

She cooperated and sat up a little, letting me pull the shirt off completely to reveal the pale pink lace bra underneath.

Two round, full breasts were tightly wrapped inside, squeezing out a deep, soft, enticing cleavage that glowed with a creamy sheen in the warm afternoon light.

'You've been hiding these beautiful tits all afternoon...' I praised, covering them again with both hands, this time continuing to toy with them through the thin lace.

I pressed her breasts hard together, deepening that cleavage even more, then lowered my face and buried it there, rubbing, kissing, and licking back and forth in the deep groove with my nose and lips.

The lace edge scraped my cheeks while the soft, warm flesh inside wrapped tightly around my face, carrying her faint body scent.

'Wife, your cleavage is especially deep today... can I bury my whole face in it?'

Wang Youmin was so worked up by me that her cheeks flushed red. She reached up and lightly pressed the back of my head, her voice already carrying obvious gasping breaths. 'Pervert... mm... don't lick there... it's itchy... ah...'

I deliberately pushed my tongue into the cleavage and licked along that soft, hot groove, while both hands kept squeezing her breasts inward, as if I were giving her a titjob with my face and tongue completely wrapped in the warm flesh.

Once I'd had enough of her cleavage, I turned my attention to her nipples.

Through the lace, I could clearly see both nipples were already hard.

I used my fingertips to flick, twist, and tug them quickly through the thin fabric, sometimes rubbing in rapid circles with my fingertips, sometimes pinching them lightly between two fingers and shaking them side to side.

'Ah... lighter... my nipples are so sensitive...' Wang Youmin arched her chest, her voice already taking on a slight sobbing edge. 'Chen Mo... you're deliberately trying to wreck me today, aren't you...'

'Yeah,' I said with a wicked smile as I looked up at her. 'I want to play with you until you're dripping down there for me to see.'

After saying that, I lowered my head and took the left nipple into my mouth through the bra, biting the lace and tugging lightly while the tip of my tongue licked quickly.

My right hand kept teasing the right breast, kneading it until it was red and hot, my fingertips never stopping as I flicked that hard nipple again and again.

Wang Youmin trembled nonstop under my hands. Her fingers buried in my hair, sometimes gripping tightly, sometimes pushing me away lightly, while soft, suppressed moans spilled from her mouth.

'Mm... ah... so itchy... and numb... Chen Mo... you're sucking too hard...'

I deliberately sucked louder, making obscene wet sounds until the lace around her left nipple was soaked through with my licking. Only then did I reach behind her back and unfasten the bra clasp.

Two snow-white, full, heavy breasts bounced free at once, swaying lightly in the air, their pink nipples fully engorged and erect, like two ripe cherries ready to drip.

'Damn, they're gorgeous...' I couldn't help praising them under my breath, covering them again with both hands, this time to play with them without any obstruction.

I grabbed a full handful of her tits and kneaded, squeezed, and jostled them up and down, working the soft flesh until it changed shape and spilled between my fingers before bouncing back, sending out enticing waves of flesh.

Sometimes I lifted them high, lowered my head, and took each nipple in turn, sucking hard, circling the tip of my tongue quickly, biting lightly, tugging; sometimes I circled the areolas with my fingers and slowly rubbed them, making the nipples even redder and more swollen.

'Ah... mm... slower... you're going to rub my tits swollen...' Wang Youmin gasped, her voice soft and seductive. 'Chen Mo... you really like playing with my tits today...'

'Because my wife's tits are the most fun,' I said muffled around her nipple, my right hand squeezing the right breast hard and pushing it high, while I lowered my head and sucked the entire nipple along with most of the areola into my mouth. 'So soft and springy... nipples so sensitive... I could play with them all night and never get bored.'

I deliberately pressed her breasts together hard, lowered my head, and licked and kissed back and forth in the deep cleavage, while both thumbs rapidly flicked at the two wet nipples, making her whole upper body tremble lightly.

Wang Youmin was so worked up by me that her eyes were practically spilling with moisture, and her voice had completely melted into softness.

'Chen Mo... enough... down there... I'm already soaking down there... if you keep playing with my tits... I won't be able to hold it...'

Only then did I reluctantly let go of her tits, already rubbed red and swollen, covered with kisses and bite marks, and let my hands slide down along her smooth stomach.

I slowly tugged down her cotton shorts along with her underwear.

Wang Youmin lifted her snow-white, round hips to cooperate with me, letting me strip off the last two pieces of fabric completely.

Now she lay completely naked on the bed, her legs slightly together, but unable to hide the already slightly wet slit.

I didn't touch there right away. Instead, I took one of her long, shapely legs in my hands and slowly stroked upward from the ankle.

Her calves were tight and rounded, her skin delicate as silk. I lowered my head to kiss the back of her foot, her ankle, then all the way up to her knee, the inside of her calf, and finally pressed my lips to the sensitive inner side of her thigh, gently sucking and nibbling.

Wang Youmin's legs went weak from my kisses. She couldn't help but squeeze them together lightly, her voice now carrying a clear trace of moisture. 'Chen Mo... not there... it's itchy...'

But I deliberately spread her legs wide, exposing her wet cunt completely before my eyes.

Then I knelt between her thighs, cupping both her plump legs with my hands and kneading and stroking hard along the inner sides.

My fingers dug firmly into her soft, springy flesh, rubbing the insides of her thighs until they were hot and red. Sometimes I lifted her legs and pressed them toward her chest, opening her cunt even wider.

While playing with her legs, I lowered my head to keep sucking her tits, while my hands moved back and forth between her thighs and breasts, kneading tits, playing with legs, and squeezing the inner thighs, taking care of all the softest, most sensitive parts of her body.

'So wet...' I finally covered the cunt that was already flooding, sliding one finger along the wet slit slowly and feeling the hot slick continuously welling up. 'You really miss me today, wife?'

Wang Youmin's cheeks were bright red from my teasing, and she lightly kicked my thigh with the back of her foot, her voice shy and soft. 'Cut the crap...'

That was her silent admission.

I threw away her thin underwear completely under the bed. Now she lay naked before me, her breasts rubbed red and swollen, nipples wet and erect, both thighs trembling faintly from how much I'd played with them, the area between her legs already a mess...

I still didn't rush. I stayed kneeling between her thighs and slowly stroked her cunt, already soaked through.

Sometimes my fingers gently toyed with that swollen, hard clit, circling and pressing it; sometimes they slid downward, lightly tracing around the opening of her contracting pussy, drawing out strands of clear, sticky slick before returning to torment her clit again.

Wang Youmin trembled continuously under my teasing, her white inner thighs shaking without stop, yet she was always just a little short of climax.

This was the teasing technique she had taught me herself... it had to be rubbed slowly like this, rubbed until she couldn't take it anymore and took the initiative to beg me; only then would fucking her later feel even better.

She held out for about seven or eight minutes before finally breaking down completely. She gripped my wrist with both hands and pressed it hard against her cunt, her voice soft and urgent with a crying edge. 'Chen Mo... stop rubbing... get in... put your fingers in already... I can't take it anymore...'

Only then did I slowly press one finger to her wet, hot opening and push in gradually.

With a soft pop, the finger was wrapped layer by layer by her tight, wet cunt flesh.

It was hot and tight inside, like countless little mouths sucking my finger, the inner walls' folds clearly writhing, winding and contracting around it.

I gently curled my finger inside, and her whole body jolted violently, a moan of pure satisfaction spilling from her throat: 'Ah...'

'Does it feel good, wife?' I asked in a low voice by her ear, my hot breath spraying across her sensitive earlobe.

'Mm... so good... deeper...' Her waist arched upward, actively trying to swallow my finger deeper.

I added another finger, the two side by side slowly pushing all the way in, stirring and digging gently inside her hot, slick cunt while my thumb kept rapidly rubbing her swollen clit outside.

Under the double stimulation, Wang Youmin's moans were no longer something she could hold back.

'Ah... mm... slower... so sore... it's so itchy inside... Chen Mo... your fingers are fucking me so good...'

Just then the system chimed.

'[Fingers inserted into the target's cunt and causing continuous wetness. Reward: 8 points. Current remaining points: 188.]

I kept count in my head, but right then my mind was full of her hot, tight cunt, and I couldn’t spare a thought for the system.

I kept working my fingers inside her for a while longer, feeling the muscles of her pussy start to contract in sharp, rhythmic spasms. When I knew she was almost there, I suddenly pulled my fingers out and rolled on top of her.

Wang Youmin was already past waiting. Her long legs spread wide on their own, her pale hips lifting, her wet pink cunt glistening as it opened and closed like it was greedily inviting me in.

I quickly undid my pants and freed the cock that had been hard and swollen purple for a while now. The glans was red and hot, with clear pre-cum beading at the slit.

Holding the thick shaft in one hand, I rubbed the head back and forth against her slick opening, grinding the ridge of the corona between her sensitive lips over and over without pushing in.

"Chen Mo... stop grinding... shove it in already... I want your dick," Wang Youmin said, her eyes teary at the corners from the rubbing, her voice needy and soft.

I pushed my hips forward. The head slowly pressed apart her plump, slippery labia, stretching her narrow entrance little by little before sinking in.

With a filthy wet sound, my cock bit by bit forced its way into her scorching, tight cunt.

Layer after layer of hot flesh clenched around my shaft, and the overwhelming pleasure of being squeezed and sucked by countless folds shot from the head all the way through my body.

Every centimeter I pushed in, I could feel different textures inside her pussy rippling and contracting.

Once the head got past the tightest ring of flesh, the whole eleven centimeters finally slipped in with a wet pop, and the glans slammed hard into the soft center deep inside her.

"Ah...!" Wang Youmin threw her head back. Her pale neck arched beautifully. "So deep... your dick... you’re filling me up... it’s so hot..."

I didn’t start thrusting right away. I stayed buried all the way to the hilt and felt her pussy clench hard over and over, like countless little mouths were sucking greedily at my cock.

I lowered my head and kissed her collarbone, my voice rough. "Youmin..."

"Mm..." Her voice was full of wet heat, her eyes looking up at me, shiny and dazed.

"I’m here," I said.

Her hands let go of the bedsheet and wrapped tight around my back instead, her nails digging into my flesh as she whispered, soft enough to drip with moisture: "I know..."

Then I started thrusting slowly, unhurriedly, pulling nearly all the way out each time before driving back in to the hilt.

The sound of bodies slapping together gradually filled the room. Every time I pulled out, strings of slick followed after me; every time I pushed in, I rammed into her throbbing center and made it quiver.

Wang Youmin’s moans rose higher and higher. Her waist moved to meet me, and her legs looped around my waist, tugging me deeper.

After fucking her dozens more times, I suddenly flipped her over so she was on all fours on the bed, her round white ass lifted high, changing to a rear-entry position.

I gripped her soft waist with both hands and lined the glans up with the cunt that had already been fucked red and swollen open. With a filthy wet push, I drove all the way in again.

This angle went even deeper, and the head slammed viciously into the most sensitive part of her center.

"Ah...! Too deep... it’s so deep from behind... you’re going to fuck straight through me..." Wang Youmin cried out, both hands clutching the sheets hard, but her ass still pushed back to meet me.

I fucked her hard like a pile driver. "Pa! Pa! Pa! Pa!" The crisp, sharp slapping echoes bounced through the bedroom, and with every thrust her pale ass flesh shuddered and rippled.

Her slick was flying everywhere from the way I was fucking her, streaming down the insides of her thighs.

As I fucked her, I reached around to grab her bouncing breasts, pinching and tugging at her sensitive nipples with my thumb and forefinger.

"Baby... your slutty cunt gets especially tight when I fuck you from behind... do you like it that much when I take you from the rear?"

"I do... ah... I like it when you fuck me like this... Chen Mo... harder... deeper..."

After I’d driven into her from behind like that for dozens more strokes, I felt her pussy spasm violently again.

Wang Youmin suddenly went rigid all over. Her toes curled tight, and a long, high cry that was almost a sob burst out of her throat.

"Ah...! Chen Mo...!!!"

Her eyes rolled up, showing a swath of white. Her tongue slipped helplessly out, and her whole body trembled like it was collapsing.

Deep inside her pussy, the spasms clenched furiously around my cock like a tiny mouth sucking madly, and a surge of scorching female ejaculation flooded out and splashed over my glans.

The system chimed twice in a row.

[Target called out the host’s name during orgasm. Bonus: 30 points.]

[Detected target entering a tongue-out, eyes-rolled-back state. Bonus: 10 points. Current remaining points: 228.]

I was driven past my own limit by the fierce sucking of her orgasm. With a low roar, I clamped my arms around her waist and shoved into her deepest place more than ten times in a row, dumping the thick semen I’d been holding back for days all into the depths of her womb...

In the end we were piled on top of each other, both of us gasping hard.

After a while, her hand slowly slid down my back and fell onto the bed with a long, satisfied exhale.

"Chen Mo," she called me.

"Mm."

"Today you did," she paused, "better than last time."

I looked up at her. Her gaze was still a little unfocused, her lips soft, her whole face relaxed in the afterglow. She looked damn good.

"Better how?" I asked.

"Slow," she said. "You really weren’t in a hurry today." Then after a beat: "It felt like you were keeping me company, not just using me."

That made me freeze.

The words "using me" coming out of her mouth carried something with them. She had put into words something she had felt before.

I realized it. During this period, when I came home at night after reporting on Zheng Xuemei, I was still riding that excitement. When I got into bed, I brought that same energy with me too, carrying a kind of overflowing desire. It was real, but the source of that desire wasn’t entirely her.

Today was different. Today that buzz wasn’t there. It was just the two of us, the afternoon sunlight, and that long-missed feeling of being completely, clearly focused on her alone.

"Youmin," I said.

"Mm," she answered lazily, like a cat full of sun.

"I’m sorry about this whole period," I said.

"You said that already," she replied. "An apology isn’t enough, but today it is."

Then she rolled over, turned her back to me, and said, "Sleep for a bit. I’ll make dinner tonight."

I pulled the blanket over her, kissed her shoulder, then lay down too, staring at the ceiling and listening to her breathing gradually even out, listening to the occasional birdcall outside. I felt calm, steady, the kind of steadiness you only get when you set all the complications aside and there’s only one person left in your world.

The system panel hung quietly in the upper right of my vision. I didn’t pull it open. I just let it sit there.

Sometimes, points like that just aren’t worth worrying about.

On Monday, when I got back to the office, Zheng Xuemei’s favorability had changed.

It had jumped from 99 to 103.

I stared at the number for three seconds to make sure I wasn’t seeing things, then silently repeated the word finally in my head, as if that were enough to put an end to these four days of waiting.

What did 103 mean? It meant she had made up her mind.

That morning, we ran into each other in the hallway. She saw me first and nodded. The corner of her mouth curved a little more than usual.

For someone like Zheng Xuemei, who was used to restraint, that tiny difference was the equivalent of someone else breaking into a grin.

In the afternoon, she sent me a WeChat message:

[Chen Mo, are you free tomorrow night? I want to see a new movie, and after that... if you have time, want to eat together?]

I read it and my heartbeat sped up slightly. This time she didn’t mention garlic shrimp again. She went straight to the movie and dinner, and the initiative was much more obvious than before.

I replied: [I’m free. What time?]

She answered: [6:30 screening. I’ll send you the ticket.]

I replied: [Okay, dinner’s on me.]

She answered: [All right, then it’s settled.]

Then the system popped up a notification:

[Detected a mature woman taking the initiative to invite the host out (fourth time). Bonus: 20 points. Current remaining points: 248.]

248 points. The progress was real, but I was still a long way from 500. Right now I was mostly relying on instinct and experience, taking it step by step.

I told Wang Youmin about it. She was grading students’ homework and didn’t even look up.

"Tomorrow night you’re going out, so I’ll make dinner myself. Buy groceries tonight when you come back."

"I mean Zheng Xuemei invited me..."

"I know," she said, flipping a page of homework. "So tonight you buy the groceries, and tomorrow I’ll eat by myself. You go watch your movie and eat your dinner."

I stood there for a moment. "You’re not going to ask me anything?"

"Ask what?" She put a checkmark on the page. "If there’s progress, you’ll tell me naturally."

I didn’t say anything else and turned to go buy groceries.

That was Wang Youmin. She didn’t pry, didn’t pressure me. She just quietly waited for me to come back and report on my own, because she knew I definitely would.

The next evening at 6:20, I arrived early at the movie theater.

Zheng Xuemei got there at 6:25. Today she was wearing an off-white trench coat over a light gray turtleneck sweater, with a fitted black long skirt below and her hair tied into a low bun, giving her a gentler, more intelligent elegance.

We went into the theater together.

This time it was an art-house romance film. Once the lights dimmed, she sat quietly beside me, with a shared armrest between us.

We exchanged a few quiet comments about the plot now and then, though I missed a lot of the details.

Halfway through the movie, there was a scene where the male and female leads kissed in the rain. She watched it a little absentmindedly, and when I turned to look at her, I saw that the tips of her ears were faintly red.

By the time the movie ended, it was already past eight. When we walked out of the theater, the night air was cool. She drew her trench coat closer and said softly, "Hungry? Let’s find somewhere to eat."

I nodded. "I checked nearby and found a Japanese place that’s pretty good and quiet. Want to try it?"

She smiled. "Sure. I haven’t had Japanese food in a long time."

We took a taxi to the restaurant. It wasn’t large, but it was tastefully decorated, with soft lighting and bamboo blinds separating each seat, giving it a very private feel. We chose a booth by the window.

After we ordered sashimi, tempura, sushi, and a pot of sake, Zheng Xuemei seemed much more relaxed than she had in the theater.

Today she talked more than usual, from the movie to how she’d liked art films back when she was a student, and then on to the change in style of the new leader who’d recently joined the company.

Halfway through the sake, she suddenly stopped and looked at me.

"Chen Mo, why do you keep looking at me tonight?"

I said, "Because your expression in the theater looked really good, and because... you seem much softer today overall."

She froze for a second, then lowered her head and laughed softly, the tips of her ears turning red again. "You really are... pretty direct sometimes."

"Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" I asked with a smile.

"A good thing." She didn’t hesitate much.

Then she looked up at me, her expression becoming serious.

"Chen Mo, I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

She slowly turned the sake cup in her hand. "Your wife... does she really know you’re out here having dinner and watching movies with me?"

"She knows," I said with a nod. "She knows every time."

"How does she feel about it?"

"Her exact words were," I thought about it, "‘Eating, chatting, and watching movies outside are fine. Just keep your boundaries in check.’"

Zheng Xuemei fell silent for about ten seconds. With her head lowered and her fingers rubbing the rim of the cup, she said quietly, "You two... are really special."

"What do you mean, special?"

"I mean... I know a lot of couples. Some husbands sneak around outside and never tell their wives anything. Some wives control their husbands so tightly they don’t get a single step of freedom." Her voice was soft. "I’ve never seen a couple like you. You’re out here watching movies and eating with another woman, and your wife not only knows, but... thinks it’s fine. I’ve really never seen that before."

I said, "She understands me, so she trusts me."

Zheng Xuemei raised her eyes and looked at me. There was a complicated mix of emotion in them, envy, feeling, and something else soft and hard to name.

"She knows what I’m doing out there, and she knows what matters most in my heart," I said, looking back at her. "So she doesn’t worry."

Zheng Xuemei kept looking at me, then after a moment lowered her head and took a sip of sake. Her voice grew much lighter.

"Your wife... is pretty lucky."

"I’m the lucky one," I said.

She smiled, but this time the smile was complicated, with something hidden inside it that I could feel but not quite name.

I didn’t keep pushing that topic. I slowed the rhythm down and talked about details from the movie and a dish she’d been learning to make lately. The atmosphere gradually loosened again.

By the end of the meal, she was already a little drunk.

We finished an entire pot of sake between us, and she had about seventy to eighty percent of it.

The aftereffect of sake was gentle but long-lasting. The alcohol slowly climbed up her cheeks, tinting her normally cool face a captivating flush and making her eyes shine.

Was this drunken daze? No, it wasn’t. It was the alcohol melting away the hard shell she usually kept on her, revealing her true self... soft, tired, lonely after being deprived of comfort for too long, real in a way that made my heart move.

I had the waiter bring her a cup of hot plum tea to help her sober up.

She held the warm cup with both hands, wrapped lightly around it, and took a few sips. The tea fragrance mixed with the sweet-and-sour plum scent, and the steam blurred her long eyelashes.

"Thank you for keeping me company tonight," she said, her voice much softer.

"Thank me for what?" I said with a smile. "You’re the one treating me."

"I’m serious." Zheng Xuemei looked up, her eyes wet with drink. "Recently, you... made me feel like someone was still paying attention to what I said."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she seemed to realize she’d been too direct, and the blush on her face deepened.

She lowered her head and slowly turned the teacup with her fingers. Her voice dropped. "I’ve had too much. I’m talking nonsense."

"No," I said, looking at her. "Not at all."

She said nothing else, quietly finishing the last of the tea. We paid and walked out of the Japanese restaurant, standing by the roadside in the cool night wind. She called a car, and I stayed with her while we waited.

The car arrived quickly. The driver honked twice. Zheng Xuemei opened the back door and bent to get in, and in that instant, the full shape of her generous ass, tightly wrapped by her fitted long skirt, was laid bare before me.

Those big hips, squeezed hard by the dress, were round and high, insanely full. The flesh was thick and springy. As she bent slightly, the skirt pulled tight to the limit, and the two heavy, luscious cheeks pressed together, outlining an exaggerated and irresistible heart-shaped curve.

Her flesh-colored stockings caught the streetlight with a delicate sheen, faintly marking the flesh at the top of her thighs and making that mature, time-softened ass seem even heavier and more alluring.

She seemed to notice my gaze. Her body stiffened slightly, but she didn’t straighten up right away. Instead, she turned her head and glanced at me.

After hesitating for two seconds, she suddenly turned back, stepped closer, and rose slightly onto the tips of her high heels.

At that moment, her full chest was almost touching mine, and when she shifted sideways, that pair of huge hips wrapped in the skirt swayed gently under the streetlight, sending out an enticing ripple of flesh.

Then she quickly and lightly pressed a kiss to my cheek.

Her lips were warm and soft, carrying the taste of sake and a faint trace of her own body scent.

After the kiss, she immediately stepped back, lowered her head, her ears bright red, and slipped into the car.

The door slammed shut, and the black sedan was quickly swallowed by the night.

I stood there and touched the cheek she had kissed. There was still a trace of warmth and dampness left there.

The system voice rang out at the right time:

[Detected a mature woman actively engaging in intimate physical contact, with a clear emotional reaction from the target. Bonus: 12 points. Current remaining points: 260.]

Immediately after that, the favorability value refreshed:

[Zheng Xuemei (39) favorability toward you: 118]

118.

That light kiss had pushed her all the way up to 118 in one shot. Her growth was all condensed into that one kiss, carrying drunkenness, hesitation, and something painfully real.

I stood by the roadside for about a minute, replaying the scene in my head over and over... the way she’d risen on tiptoe, the fullness in her chest, and that big, heavy, elastic ass tightly wrapped by the skirt as she turned and swayed.

What Zheng Xuemei had done wasn’t a casual probe, and it wasn’t a teasing flirtation.

It was a 39-year-old mature woman, lonely in an empty bed for far too long, telling me in her most restrained, gentle way that she had fallen for me.

After she said it, she didn’t wait for my response and immediately ducked into the car, because she also needed time to face the step she had just taken.

That’s how mature women express themselves.

They won’t grab your hand and demand, "What are we now?" They’ll only place that little kiss, warm with body heat, into your hand and leave the rest of the choice to you.

On the subway ride home, I thought everything through, then sent Wang Youmin a WeChat message: [I’m on my way back. There’s something I need to tell you.]

She replied instantly: [Say it.]

I told her, exactly as it happened, about Zheng Xuemei rising onto her toes and kissing my cheek tonight, down to the detail of her red ears and the way she lowered her head and got into the car.

Wang Youmin stayed silent for about two minutes, then sent back:

[I know. What do you want to do?]

I stared at the screen for a few seconds and replied: [I haven’t figured it out yet.]

She answered: [Then we’ll talk when you get back. I made hangover soup. You probably drank quite a bit too.]

I replied: [I didn’t drink much. She drank more.]

Wang Youmin: [Then a bowl of hot soup to warm you up is still good. Come back soon.]

I put my phone away and leaned back against the subway seat, closing my eyes.

Outside the window, the city lights slid backward frame by frame, neon reflections streaking colorful marks across the glass. I was riding the subway home, but in my head, I was carrying two women at once.

One was the 39-year-old Zheng Xuemei, probably sitting in the back of some car at that very moment, her cheeks still flushed from drink, having just done something she herself found surprising.

Inside that light kiss was loneliness held back for too long, hesitation, testing, and the courage she had finally managed to gather.

The other was the 28-year-old Wang Youmin, in the kitchen at home, making a pot of hangover soup for me and waiting for me to return.

She wouldn’t pry into the details, wouldn’t throw a fit. She would just quietly do what needed doing, then wait for me to lay everything out myself.

Both of those things were real. Both were part of my life now.

But they did not carry the same weight.

I knew that clearly, and I knew it even more clearly in my heart.