Chapter 346 - 188: Master Shen, A Little Gentler
Her right ankle and entire heel were still being held and kneaded by his left hand, and now her left foot was also encircled by his scorching fingers.
Both of her small, delicate feet were now his spoils of war, firmly pinned to the soft bed.
The composure she had barely managed to maintain a moment ago was completely shattered by this sudden capture.
Li Zhi froze completely, her mind going blank.
The sensation of being controlled spread instantly from her feet throughout her body, rendering her immobile.
She even forgot to breathe. Her chest, which had risen slightly with her short gasp, now fell into a breathless stillness.
"You... You... You..."
Just as Li Zhi was about to speak, she felt Shen Yuan’s thumbs slowly caressing the soles of both her feet.
In that instant, it felt as if all the blood in her body was rushing to her captive feet.
The scorching touch through her socks felt like an electric current exploding from both points of contact at once. The sensation was several times more intense than when he had been massaging just one foot!
An indescribable tremor shot through her tightly held ankles.
Her toes, on both the foot already in his palm and the one he had just seized, instinctively curled downward in that instant.
But this only made them sink deeper into Shen Yuan’s scorching, powerful grip, a futile gesture.
At that moment, Li Zhi felt like a completely disarmed soldier. Trapped in Shen Yuan’s grasp, she could only stiffly endure the doubled dose of mortification, unable to mount any effective resistance.
Shen Yuan’s thumbs continued to knead her soles. The scorching pressure traveled through the sheer fabric of her thin, silky socks, shooting up her spine like a tiny electric current and intensifying the deeply shameful thrill.
Li Zhi felt as though her heart was about to burst from her chest.
She instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, her vision blurring as her panicked gaze darted to a corner of the bedsheet.
She didn’t dare look at Shen Yuan’s face, much less her own feet, now held captive in his hands.
Her throat was so dry and tight that even swallowing felt difficult, as if it were ensnared by invisible threads.
Li Zhi took a quiet breath, trying to calm her racing heart, but the continuous pressure on the soles of her feet brought a rising tide of unfamiliar shame, pushing her past her breaking point.
The girl’s lips parted, trembling. A voice as faint as a mosquito’s hum, tinged with a nearly imperceptible sob and a note of pleading, was squeezed out from between lips that felt scorched by mortification:
"Shen... Master Shen... Please... please be gentler... It... it hurts a little..."
Before the words had even faded, she buried her chin deeper into her chest, her cheeks nearly touching her collarbones, as if that faint plea had drained all her courage.
At the same time, her sock-clad feet recoiled deeper into Shen Yuan’s palms, which only gave her a clearer feel of his touch and elicited a short, irrepressible gasp from her throat.
Right now, Li Zhi was so abashed she felt like a piece of fruit, ripened to the point of bursting.
The wave of heat that burned all the way from her ankles to her cheeks, and the panic that had laced her voice when she was forced to speak, all declared that she was now a complete captive to pure, unadulterated shyness.
Hearing her plea, as faint as a mosquito’s hum, Shen Yuan’s heart gave a sudden lurch, as if snagged by the trailing edge of her soft cry of "hurts."
He nodded almost subconsciously. His Adam’s apple bobbed with difficulty as he answered, "...Okay."
The domineering, scorching pressure from his fingertips finally eased, the rhythm of his kneading slowing down.
The palms that had been like iron clamps now softened into a perfectly snug enclosure, leaving only a restrained and gentle warmth.
As the pressure receded, his knuckles relaxed slightly, but he stubbornly maintained his encircling grip.
The aggressive kneading was replaced by a careful caress, yet his hands stubbornly lingered on the delicate arches of her feet, right on the sheer, silky fabric, unwilling to let go completely.
Amidst this deliberately slow and ambiguous caress, Shen Yuan tightened his fingers slightly, his knuckles, as they circled her slender ankle, unconsciously brushing against the ruffled lace trim of her socks.
"How’s this?"
Li Zhi remained just as flustered.
The deliberately slowed kneading did nothing to relieve the heat; instead, it only made the embarrassing sensation seep more clearly through the thin socks and into her nerves.
"...Mm, it’s... it’s okay now."
The moment she spoke, her curled toes unconsciously brushed against the skin of Shen Yuan’s palm from inside her sock.
Feeling the light brush of Li Zhi’s toes—like the gentle scratching of a kitten—Shen Yuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed violently.
He felt a sudden, strange impulse to move her feet somewhere else.
With what little reason he had left, Shen Yuan’s thumb gave one last, extremely slow caress over her arch, through the misty layer of silky fabric.
After that, Shen Yuan suddenly blurted out, "Alright, all done! I’m going to go wash my face!"
As soon as the words were out, as if afraid he would change his mind, Shen Yuan abruptly pulled his hands away.
The hands that had been tightly gripping her delicate feet suddenly retreated.
Shen Yuan practically shot to his feet.
His movements were startlingly fast, tinged with an almost panicked haste. He even knocked his knee against the bed frame, making a dull THUD.
Ignoring the pain in his knee, as if he were being chased by monsters, Shen Yuan practically ran into the room’s bathroom.
SLAM! The bathroom door was thrown shut, and from inside came the immediate, fierce sound of a faucet being turned on full blast, the water gushing without pause.
The room instantly fell quiet.
All that remained was the abrupt sound of running water, and the faint, lingering sensation of a young man’s scorching fingertips against the sheer, silky fabric of her socks.