Evening. 10 pm.
County Party Committee Quarters, Xie Huilan’s apartment.
People are celebrating Lunar New Year with firecrackers outside. It was so loud until Dong Xuebing cannot hear the TV. He closed the curtains and increased the volume of the TV. After that, Dong Xuebing thought for a second and wore back his shoes.
“Sister Xie, are you done?”
“Haha… I am wearing my clothes. Stop hurrying me.”
A few moments later, the bedroom door opened, and Xie Huilan walks out. “Alright.”
“Eh? Didn’t you go and wear your clothes?” Dong Xuebing blinked and asked. “Are you sure you are done?”
“Yes. Let’s start.” Xie Huilan sat down gracefully on the leather sofa.
Xie Huilan was about the same as before, and her hair is pinned up into a bun. Her black ladies’ suit is tight-fitting and showed her figure. Under her suit, she wore a white blouse, and she had put on a pair of black heels. Other than putting on the suit’s jacket and heels, she did not put on anything else.
Dong Xuebing thought Xie Huilan would put on at least three more layers of clothing. He laughed. “Sister Xie, you are the one who did not put on more clothes. Don’t blame me if you lose later.”
Xie Huilan smiles. “We still don’t know who will lose.”
“Shall we start?” Dong Xuebing asked. “What do you want to play, and what are the rules?”
“I don’t know a lot of card games. How about we play something simple? Let’s play ‘Pull the cart.’”
“No… a game will take too long. It will take a long time before I can take off your…” Dong Xuebing quickly stopped. “This game is too simple and will not show our skills. If we are going to play ‘Pull the cart,’ we should choose the sequence of the cards we draw and not the first card. This way, the game will be based on how well we can remember the cards.”
Xie Huilan laughed and nodded. “Ok.”
“Let’s shuffle the cards.” Dong Xuebing rubbed his hands together.
The first game started. Xie Huilan place a card down, followed by Dong Xuebing. She placed another card, and Dong Xuebing place a card down.
Dong Xuebing was very confident initially, as he had played this game since he was young and has lots of experience. Xie Huilan is from a well-to-do family, and she should not have played many card games when she was young. So, Dong Xuebing thought he will win for sure. But after the game started, he realized he was wrong. After both of them had placed all the cards, Xie Huilan showed her amazing memory. Every card she drew from her stack matches the card on the table, and she gets to take away five to six cards from Dong Xuebing.
Dong Xuebing started to sweat.
Xie Huilan drank her tea while playing and even set a trap for Dong Xuebing. When there are more than a dozen cards on the table, she smiles. She drew nine hearts from her stack, and the top card on the table is also nine! She took away all the cards, leaving Dong Xuebing much lesser cards. After that, Dong Xuebing lost all his cards to Xie Huilan.
Dong Xuebing lost the first game.
Xie Huilan laughed. “I said we don’t know who the winner will be, right?”
“Don’t be so happy first. This is only the first game.” Dong Xuebing replied. “Again! I don’t believe I will lose again!”
“Did you forget something?” Xie Huilan laughed as she looks at Dong Xuebing’s body. “The loser must remove a piece of his clothing.”
Dong Xuebing bends over and slowly took off his shoes.
Xie Huilan said. “Shoes are not counted.”
“Why not? If shoes are not counted, why did you put on that pair of high heels?”
“That is to match my clothing. Even if I lose, I will also not take off my heels.”
Dong Xuebing does not believe her. “Socks?”
Xie Huilan laughed and shook her head. “Shoes are not counted, so does socks.”
Dong Xuebing got mad and pointed at Xie Huilan’s feet. “You had taken off your stockings before we ate. Why did you put them on? You must be preparing to use them as one of your clothing pieces. If you lost this round, you would take off your shoes or stockings.”
Xie Huilan crossed her legs and laughed. “Have you been looking at my feet all this while?”
“No. I did not!” Dong Xuebing quickly denied.
“Then how did you know about my stockings? The stockings I wore these few days are a very light color. No one will notice if I am wearing stockings unless they purposely look at my feet. Hahaha…” Xie Huilan wriggled her feet and slipped the back of her feet out of her heels. Leaving her heels dangling on her toes. “You even notice when I had taken off my stockings, and when I put them on again.” Xie Huilan seems to be seducing Dong Xuebing by swinging her heels by her toes slowly in front of him.
Dong Xuebing swallowed his saliva and insisted. “Why should I pay attention to your feet? I just saw it unintentionally when you changed into your slippers.”
“Really?” Xie Huilan batted her eyelashes. “Then I must have misunderstood you.”
When they were in Beijing, Dong Xuebing had used Xie Huilan’s worn stockings to do something bad and was caught red-handed by her. Dong Xuebing is too embarrassed to bring this up again and quickly change the subject. “Alright… socks are not counted. I… I will remove my coat.” Dong Xuebing said and threw his coat on the chair.
“Shall we start the second round?”
“Sure. Shuffle the cards!”
After the first game, Dong Xuebing realized Xie Huilan has an amazing memory. She can remember most of the cards and sequence in her stack. Dong Xuebing no longer took Xie Huilan lightly and started to play seriously. Come on! I don’t believe I cannot strip you naked today! Xie Huilan’s perfect figure is too tempting for Dong Xuebing, and he is determined to see her naked today.
Lady luck is on Dong Xuebing’s side this time, and he finally won.
Xie Huilan laughed. “You are quite lucky.”
Dong Xuebing did not reply and looks at Xie Huilan.
“Stop looking. I did not forget. Hahaha.” Xie Huilan looks down and seems to be considering which piece of clothing to remove.
Dong Xuebing got anxious and lit a cigarette.
Suddenly, Xie Huilan looks up at Dong Xuebing. “Which piece should I remove?”
“Are you asking me?” Dong Xuebing choked. “I get to pick the piece of clothing?”
“I will consider your suggestion.”
“Then…” Dong Xuebing had wanted to say her suit jacket but changed his mind. He gritted his teeth and said. “Take off your blouse!” It is meaningless to take off the jacket as he will not get to see anything. But if the blouse is removed and Xie Huilan is not wearing long john underneath, he will get to see something.
Xie Huilan laughed. “My blouse? No problem.”
Xie Huilan slowly took off her jacket and started unbuttoning her blouse from the top. When she unbuttons the second button, Dong Xuebing was disappointed. He saw a long white john underneath, and the material is very thin. After unbuttoning the last button, Xie Huilan slid the blouse off her shoulders and wore back her jacket.
Although nothing was exposed, Dong Xuebing was still getting excited.
Xie Huilan looked at Dong Xuebing and laughed. “Is it really so attractive?”
“Yes.” Dong Xuebing did not pretend. “You don’t know how beautiful you are.”
“Haha… Thanks for the compliment.” Xie Huilan suddenly said. “Since I had let you pick which clothes to remove, I will get to pick which piece of clothing if you lose, right?”
“… ok.” Dong Xuebing replied.
The third game started.
About fifteen minutes later, Dong Xuebing lost badly to Xie Huilan again.
Xie Huilan laughed. “It’s my turn to pick, right?” She looks at Dong Xuebing from top to bottom.
“Which do you want to pick?” Dong Xuebing felt the hair on his back stands.
Xie Huilan’s eyes stopped at Dong Xuebing’s pants and narrowed her eyes. “If you are wearing something underneath, take that off, ok?”
Dong Xuebing took a deep breath. “What do you mean?”
“… what do you think?”
“Sister Xie… can you don’t do this?” Dong Xuebing grumbled. “This is too progressing too fast, and you are asking me to take off my underwear?!” If he knew earlier, he should have… Sigh… Dong Xuebing is regretting choosing the piece of clothing for Xie Huilan. He recalls back what Xie Huilan said earlier. If he wants Sister Xie to remove her underwear, she will definitely refuse. This is cheating. “No. Cannot.”
“Are you trying to go back on your words?”
“Your request is ridiculous. Fine. I will remove it, but I will remove it in the toilet.”
Xie Huilan refused. “Haha… It will not be fun if you are not taking it off in front of me.”
Dong Xuebing grumbled in his heart. You might find it fun… but you had made me hard, and it is too embarrassing if I take off my pants now.
Xie Huilan finally gave in and suggested. “It’s fine if you don’t want to take it off your underwear. But you must remove two pieces of clothing.”
Dong Xuebing thought for a while, and took off his shirt and pants, leaving only his long john. I don’t believe I cannot strip you naked today! You dare to laugh at me?! I will make you cry!
Translator’s notes:
Pulling the cart is a poker game played in China. Each player will get a stack of cards, and they are not allowed to see the cards. The players will have to draw the top card of their stack and place it face-up on the table. If another player places a card that is the same as the previous card, the player will get to take away all the cards on the table. The first player who loses all his cards will lose the game.
For example, the card on the table facing up is J, and if the next player drew J, he would get to keep all the cards on the table. If the top card is an ace, and the next player drew an Ace from his stack, the previous player must give five extra cards to the player who drew Ace.
