After Transmigrating as a Scumbag Alpha, I Marked the Crazy Hotshot – Chapter 52
by Little PandaMy Rules
The first thing Cheng Jiqing thought of when she saw the bracelet was the burning, scorching, suffocating orange-yellow background, and the woman reaching out to her… picking her up, and rushing out of the fire.
To be more precise, it was picking up the original owner of this body.
Cheng Jiqing touched the crack on the bracelet, her heart pounding—peng peng—and looked again at the person sleeping fitfully on the bed.
For a brief moment, she was in a state of suspension.
She was thinking, and at the same time, her consciousness was being drawn into something—a tunnel like a black hole, the same fragmented passage she had seen in her dreams.
In just a second, Cheng Jiqing once again entered the fire scene from fifteen years ago…
She was still lying on the ground. This time, it was earlier—the flames weren’t as fierce as in the previous two instances.
She scanned her surroundings and found that the room wasn’t large, like a storage room, with two doors, front and back. The fire was coming from the small back door…
She vaguely recalled something; this seemed to be a certain detached villa of the Cheng family. The room next door, connected by the small door, should be the kitchen.
As for why she was here, she couldn’t remember for a moment.
The flames and thick smoke surged menacingly. Cheng Jiqing knew in her heart that this was just a kind of latent memory prompt, not real, but it still felt as if she were there, panic and suffocation assailing her…
Thick smoke filled her lungs. Gasping for breath, she slowly collapsed to the ground. After a short while, amidst the crackling of the fire, she heard knocking on the door and anxious shouts from outside.
Having dreamt this several times, Cheng Jiqing knew the person outside was Cheng Jing.
Only this time, she discovered that Cheng Jing didn’t open the door immediately. She heard the sound of her smashing the door… It seemed the door was locked.
A thought flashed through Cheng Jiqing’s chaotic mind.
And then, it was the same scene as before: the fire growing larger, the smoke thickening, Cheng Jing being pulled away by Fu Rongjun, and her being left in the heart of the blaze. Then, the woman reached out to her, and she saw the bracelet…
Her gaze shifted upwards. Cheng Jiqing finally saw the face clearly.
It was a beautiful woman.
Peach blossom eyes, delicate features, looking to be less than 40 years old.
She bore a one or two-tenths resemblance to Bai Xin.
After Cheng Jiqing saw the face clearly, a sudden ringing filled her ears. She covered her ears as if experiencing a nightmare and instantly snapped back to reality.
Because the terror and suffocation from just now had been too intense, Cheng Jiqing propped her palm on the edge of the bed, gasping for air.
She lowered her head, sweat dripping from her forehead and splattering on the ceramic tiles, exploding like fireworks.
“How did Bai Xin’s mother die?”
“A fire.”
Cheng Jiqing recalled her conversation with Qin Yufu.
So, fifteen years ago, the person who saved the original owner of this body from the fire was Bai Xin’s mother…
At that time… she remembered that after the woman saved the original owner of this body, she suddenly turned and went back into the fire.
Which meant—that auntie went back and didn’t make it out.
She died in that fire.
Cheng Jiqing turned her head to look at the person on the bed, whose expression was pained. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed. So, the original owner of this body and Bai Xin had this kind of connection.
She suddenly understood why the Bai Xin in the book hated the original owner of this body so much. It was probably also for this reason—Bai Xin’s mother saved the original owner of this body, yet the things the original owner of this body did to Bai Xin and Qin Yufu were not humanly decent. How could she not hate her?
But what did Bai Xin’s mother’s death have to do with Bai Zhaoliang? Or was Bai Zhaoliang also at that detached villa that day?
Cheng Jiqing couldn’t figure it out at the moment; any thoughts were just conjectures.
She needed to wait for Bai Xin to wake up to ask and understand clearly.
Actually, she also wanted to know what happened in the fire that day, because Cheng Jing had also concealed something about it.
She sat by the bed, looking at Bai Xin. The woman’s skin was delicate; after the high fever and crying, her face was flushed red like a dewy rose.
Reaching out, she tucked Bai Xin’s hair behind her ear, a sense of pity rising in her heart.
After a while, she stood up, took the basin out, planning to use it again later.
Her phone vibrated.
She sat down on the sofa. It was a text from Tang Jia.
【How’s the situation?】
Cheng Jiqing smiled, a bit of bittersweet amusement. Tang Jia was indeed very responsible towards Bai Xin.
She pondered for a few seconds and replied: 【Okay for now. Dr. Tang, how long have you and Bai Xin known each other?】
Tang Jia replied quickly: 【Since university until now, about ten years.】
Cheng Jiqing asked: 【Then how much do you know about Bai Xin’s mother? Or about the Bai family’s affairs?】
Besides Tang Jia, Cheng Jiqing didn’t know anyone else close to Bai Xin.
She thought perhaps Tang Jia might know something.
She could also wait for Bai Xin to wake up, but people are like that, always hoping to understand sooner.
Or rather, she wanted to understand everything about Bai Xin sooner.
Tang Jia: 【How much do you know?】
Cheng Jiqing: “…”
This wasn’t some spy operation. Cheng Jiqing asked if it was convenient to take a call.
Not two seconds after the message was sent, a voice call came through.
The sound of wind could be heard through the receiver, and from time to time, what seemed like the sound of water, like ocean waves.
“Dr. Tang, still out so late?”
“En, just out for a walk.” Tang Jia got straight to the point: “I don’t know much about Bai Xin’s mother. You’d better ask Bai Xin. But I can tell you a bit about the Bai family’s affairs.”
“Such as?”
“Such as that trash Bai Zhaoliang.”
That evening, after Tang Jia had been stood up1 by Bai Xin, she had actually called Zhou Yushu. From Zhou Yushu, she learned that Cheng Jing, because of Cheng Jiqing, had sent people to help Bai Zhaoliang, which had somewhat disrupted Bai Xin and Zhou Yushu’s plans.
Combined with Bai Xin’s state these past few days and Cheng Jiqing’s today, she roughly guessed the two had quarreled, possibly related to this matter.
So, she decided to reveal a bit to Cheng Jiqing.
Although Tang Jia was occasionally gossipy, loved hearing stories, and would joke around, she didn’t like to meddle in affairs. She spoke and acted with great discretion, always touching upon things lightly and then stopping, and was mostly calm and composed.
It was rare for Cheng Jiqing to hear such direct disgust from her.
Cheng Jiqing said softly, “I naturally know he’s trash.”
“No, he’s filthier than you imagine.”
Tang Jia didn’t mention the follow-up regarding Lu Man’s plot of land, nor Bai Xin and Zhou Yushu’s Zhou Corporation’s connection. These were things Bai Xin needed to reveal herself one day.
She only said that Bai Zhaoliang, for that plot of land from Lu Man, divorced Zhou Ping, and even after Lu Man’s death, he didn’t give up on that land. His initial intention in taking Bai Xin back was merely because he thought Bai Xin knew where the money was.
Hearing this, Cheng Jiqing already felt dejected, especially when Tang Jia spoke of the suffering Bai Xin had endured in the Bai family for over ten years, making her heart ache even more.
She suddenly somewhat understood why Bai Xin had become like this.
After her mother’s death, Bai Xin had never received the warmth of a home, with no one around her to trust or rely on.
“You should also know that Bai Xin’s mother died in a fire, right?” Cheng Jiqing asked.
Tang Jia heard this: “I know a little. It’s not very convenient for me to say much about that. I can only tell you that the Bai family is a hell for Bai Xin. She hates Bai Zhaoliang.”
Cheng Jiqing said no more.
If it were her, she would hate him too.
Cheng Jiqing put down the phone, refilled the basin with warm water, and walked into the room. The person on the bed was curled up on her side, the ice pack on her forehead having fallen onto the pillow.
She walked over, helped the person lie flat again, replaced the ice pack, then wrung out a warm towel to wipe the flushed face.
Cheng Jiqing then took Bai Xin’s hand, spread her fingers, and patiently wiped them.
Her gaze fell on the wound on the fingertip. She pinched it up to look closely; the crescent shape looked very much like a mark from digging her nails in… Comparing it to the bloodstains on her white dress, Cheng Jiqing’s heart skipped a beat.
If Bai Xin really did it to herself.
How hard must she have pressed back then?
What happened to Bai Xin before she came today?
So upset that she had to dig her nails into her own fingers?
And so harshly.
Cheng Jiqing wiped Bai Xin’s hands finger by finger, her thoughts drifting back to her conversation with Tang Jia. After a moment, Cheng Jiqing put Bai Xin’s hand down.
She sighed and murmured.
“Actually, you could have told me. If you had told me, I wouldn’t have meddled in this.”
Why let Cheng Jing step in to help Bai Zhaoliang?
And she wouldn’t have been upset for so many days because of that sentence, ‘Don’t interfere in the Bai family’s affairs.’
She had thought Bai Xin was rejecting her goodwill, feeling that she wasn’t qualified to meddle at all.
It was past four in the morning.
Cheng Jiqing took Bai Xin’s temperature: 37.5 degrees Celsius2. It had come down.
She took a quick shower, put on a set of Bai Xin’s pajamas, and then returned to the room.
By then, she was also very tired, to the point where she could fall asleep the moment she hit the bed.
She took Bai Xin’s temperature again, worried it might rise or that Bai Xin might feel unwell again. After some thought, she pushed the single armchair from by the window closer, sat in it, and then leaned over onto the edge of the bed.
She didn’t know what time it was.
Bai Xin opened her incredibly sore eyes, which felt as if they were full of sand, extremely uncomfortable.
Bright sunlight shone in, casting a golden patch on the quilt.
Then her gaze paused. She saw Cheng Jiqing’s profile, resting by the side of the bed, a section of her wrist exposed from the light blue pajamas, strikingly pale.
Cheng Jiqing’s hand was holding her right hand.
Intertwined, like a castle enveloping her, vast, warm, safe.
Bai Xin squinted her tired eyes. She wasn’t fully awake yet. Perhaps feeling the distance was too great, her fingers moved unconsciously.
Then Cheng Jiqing let out a soft moan, frowned, and opened her eyes a slit.
She didn’t look at Bai Xin’s face, just loosened her grip on Bai Xin’s hand, and her other hand reached for Bai Xin’s forehead. Probably feeling the temperature was normal, she withdrew it again.
Cheng Jiqing did this subconsciously, just like the previous two times she had woken up.
“Wu, sleep a bit more.”
Cheng Jiqing was truly sleepy. After murmuring this, she drifted back to sleep.
Bai Xin listened to that low whisper, and without any thought, also closed her eyes.
This time, she curled her body and proactively moved her head closer to the edge of the bed, until she could feel Cheng Jiqing’s breath and warmth.
She pulled Cheng Jiqing’s hand closer, pressing her forehead against the back of it.
They both fell into a deep sleep.
The phone vibrated for the nth time.
Bai Xin woke up again. She was a light sleeper; it was already rare that she hadn’t woken up at the first vibration.
She lifted her head slightly and stared blankly at the exquisite face for a few seconds. Noticing Cheng Jiqing’s brow was slightly furrowed, as if also disturbed by the vibration, Bai Xin got up unhappily to hang up the phone.
It was a call from the company. Looking at the time, it was already past one in the afternoon.
She sent a concise message on WeChat and put the phone down.
Bai Xin sat up. Her strength hadn’t fully returned. She rubbed her still somewhat dizzy forehead and then looked at Cheng Jiqing.
Then she blinked, now fully awake.
Why was Cheng Jiqing here?
Yesterday…
Yesterday, she had followed Cheng Jiqing into the bar, then saw Cheng Jiqing with Qin Yufu… Bai Xin pressed her hands to her temples. Later, she drank a bit, felt unwell, and was pulled into a corridor by Cheng Jiqing.
She had hugged Cheng Jiqing, and then, was taken away by Cheng Jiqing.
Nothing else seemed to have happened.
Suddenly, her gaze froze. She saw a small piece of white fabric at the foot of the bed. Looking closely, it was her under, pants.
A fragment of memory suddenly flashed through her mind.
*”Cheng Jiqing, I feel awful… help me take them off.” *
Like unraveling silk from a cocoon3, one fragment after another popped up.
*”I don’t like you being with other people!” *
*”Just dote on me alone, okay?” *
“Wuwuwu… you’re all going to leave me.”
Bai Xin: “…”
Bai Xin closed her eyes, bit her lip, her expression slightly stiff, while the tips of her ears unconsciously turned a little red.
She actually cried like that in front of Cheng Jiqing.
What would Cheng Jiqing think of her?
She must have looked so ugly last night… and this was just what she could remember after racking her brains. What about the parts she couldn’t remember?
Who knows how embarrassing it was.
Bai Xin glanced sideways at the sleeping person, then, with a complicated mood, bent down to pick up her under, pants, preparing to get out of bed.
Her alcohol tolerance wasn’t usually bad. Yesterday, perhaps because she wasn’t feeling well and drank too quickly, she got drunk rather fast.
Just as her feet touched the ground, she heard Cheng Jiqing inhale sharply: “Awake?”
Her voice was hoarse, sounding tired.
Bai Xin turned around nonchalantly: “En.”
Her voice wasn’t much better, so she didn’t really want to talk, feeling that speaking would remind Cheng Jiqing of how she cried like a dog last night.
Cheng Jiqing, eyes bleary, leaned back on the sofa and yawned, then sized up Bai Xin, gazing at her usual indifferent expression, and asked in a hoarse voice, “Do you remember what happened last night?”
She could tell Bai Xin didn’t want to bring it up. If it weren’t for important matters, if Bai Xin didn’t mention it, then that would be the end of it.
But they had to talk about the bracelet eventually, so it had to be brought up.
Might as well be the bad guy and bring it up first.
Besides this, Bai Xin was too fickle. Last night she was all delicate and compliant, letting her do whatever she wanted, but once her temperature dropped, her human warmth diminished again.
Of course, this was Bai Xin’s usual self.
It was just that she herself wasn’t satisfied.
“What happened?”
Cheng Jiqing raised an eyebrow. She guaranteed Bai Xin remembered, at least part of it—she could tell from the moment their eyes met just now.
If you want to act, let’s act together.
Cheng Jiqing kindly reminded, “Miss Bai, why are your eyes so swollen?”
Bai Xin: “…”
Bai Xin turned her head slightly, avoiding Cheng Jiqing’s gaze.
She had drunk last night, cried, and didn’t know what she looked like now.
She unconsciously avoided Cheng Jiqing’s gaze, her mood also somewhat foul. She said, “They wanted to be.”
Such a deadpan reply. Cheng Jiqing remembered how Bai Xin had insisted unreasonably last night that she wasn’t fierce.
Yet she bit her the very next second.
Cheng Jiqing wanted to laugh but held it back.
“Is it that they wanted to be, or that you don’t want to own up to it?”
Hearing this, Bai Xin looked over again: “Own up to what? What did I do to you?”
Even if she wasn’t clear-headed, she knew Cheng Jiqing hadn’t let her do anything. At most, she had thrown her under, pants at Cheng Jiqing’s face.
Anything else that might have been over the line… well, nothing really happened anyway.
Thinking this, she squeezed the thing in her hand.
Cheng Jiqing said, “Haven’t you done enough to me?”
Bai Xin heard Cheng Jiqing deliberately contradicting her: “Is that so? I didn’t feel like I did anything. Has Little CEO Cheng considered that maybe you’re the one who’s not up to par?”
Cheng Jiqing: “…”
Cheng Jiqing sneered.
“On this point, I thought Miss Bai was very clear.” Cheng Jiqing stared at those slightly swollen yet still beautiful eyes and said, “Haven’t you tried?”
Bai Xin didn’t yield an inch: “Tried. So-so.”
Cheng Jiqing: “…?”
Oh, sobered up, and her mouth is hard again, is it.
Cheng Jiqing was now completely awake too, biting the tip of her tongue. This was challenging the absolute authority of a fierce top4, an Alpha’s absolute authority.
A dangerous glint, an Alpha’s instinct, showed in her eyes.
“I really should have recorded it for you.”
“What a pity.”
After saying that, Bai Xin paused slightly. She had let her thoughts wander, revealing her hand first.
Their tone wasn’t actually argumentative; it was more of a mutual probing.
Bai Xin wanted to know Cheng Jiqing’s attitude towards last night; Cheng Jiqing wanted to know if Bai Xin truly didn’t remember.
Cheng Jiqing stood up: “Looks like you do remember, otherwise you wouldn’t have reacted so strongly.”
Bai Xin pursed her lips. Her earlier verbal sparring with Cheng Jiqing actually carried a bit of last night’s anger. She could still remember Cheng Jiqing and Qin Yufu huddled together on the bar sofa, looking at a phone.
Since Cheng Jiqing had laid it bare, Bai Xin couldn’t be bothered to pretend anymore. After all, Cheng Jiqing had seen her at her most embarrassing.
She asked directly, “Did you invite Qin Yufu there last night?”
Cheng Jiqing was taken aback. Besides a slight surprise, there was also a faint joy in her heart. She asked uncertainly, “You were unhappy and drinking yesterday because of this?”
“I asked you first.”
“Alright.” Cheng Jiqing nodded and said, “Then let’s talk about the important matter first, and then this, okay?”
Bai Xin was puzzled: “What important matter?”
Cheng Jiqing’s expression turned serious. She took out the box from yesterday from the drawer and opened it.
“Bai Xin, I want to ask you about this bracelet… whose is it?”
Bai Xin looked at the jade bracelet. This bracelet was given to her mother by her maternal grandmother, and it was also her grandmother’s only heirloom.
Therefore, her mother cherished it greatly and was never willing to wear it.
When she was little and didn’t know any better, she secretly took the bracelet out to play with, dropped it on the floor, and cracked it.
Her mother was heartbroken but didn’t blame her. Instead, after having it repaired, she started wearing it.
Her mother said, “Originally, I wanted to leave it for you, but everything has a lifespan. It would be too much of a pity if I never wore it before I died. It’s better to cherish the present.”
Her mother said, “If this bracelet is still around after I die, then it’s for you. If the bracelet is gone, there will still be other things left for you. Or maybe one day, someone else will give you something even more precious.”
“It was my mother’s.”
Bai Xin had actually dreamt of Lu Man last night. Lu Man told her she would come to pick her up at nine o’clock. She sat at the entrance of Zhou Yushu’s house waiting all night, but no one came.
She had had this dream for many, many years.
Every time she woke from it, she often found it hard to fall back asleep.
After Bai Xin finished speaking, she vaguely remembered waking up around midnight last night. She had smelled the reassuring scent of peach blossom wine, saw Cheng Jiqing holding her hand, and then felt at ease again.
She also remembered crying last night, for her mother.
And for the complex, overwhelming emotions deep inside her.
“Why are you asking this?” Bai Xin looked up.
Although it was the expected answer, Cheng Jiqing’s heart still sank. She said, “I’ve seen her… in that fire fifteen years ago, I saw her.”
Bai Xin’s body hadn’t recovered yet, her legs still felt weak. She was a bit unsteady and sat down on the bed.
Cheng Jiqing walked around and stood in front of her, looking down at Bai Xin’s expression. She was afraid Bai Xin would cry again, but she didn’t.
Bai Xin’s expression was calm, so calm it made Cheng Jiqing’s heart ache.
More heart-wrenching than when she had buried her face in her shoulder and cried her eyes out last night.
“Bai Xin.”
Bai Xin looked up: “So she could have come out with you, she could have survived, right?”
Cheng Jiqing stared at those bloodshot eyes: “Yes.”
“Then do you know why she went back?”
Regarding this point, Cheng Jiqing wasn’t entirely sure, so she hesitated.
Bai Xin asked her seriously, “Do you know?”
Cheng Jiqing spoke truthfully: “Bai Xin, I’m not sure.”
“What?”
“I heard a cry for help, a man’s…”
Because the first time she saw the memory fragment of the woman going back was during the fire at that shopping mall.
At that time, the cries for help were too chaotic, and that faint man’s cry for help appeared in her ears, half real, half illusory.
She wasn’t sure if it belonged to the memory or to the environment at the time.
But she leaned more towards it being a memory fragment.
Meaning, Bai Xin’s mother went back to save someone…
“It was Bai Zhaoliang.”
Bai Xin’s eyes suddenly reddened, but still, there were no tears. Her tone carried a bone-chilling coldness, like the calm before a glacier collapses.
Cheng Jiqing sat down beside her, turning to ask, “Were you there that day too?”
Bai Xin shook her head.
Cheng Jiqing, as if afraid of disturbing something, asked gently, “Then how do you know? A suspicion?”
Bai Xin also turned to look at her. She said, “Not a suspicion, it’s a certainty.”
“Why?”
“Because I went to the hospital to see my mother for the last time.”
Bai Xin looked into Cheng Jiqing’s eyes. Perhaps by gazing at the tenderness within them, she could endure the hatred without losing her reason.
Even if this lifetime passed, she would remember standing by the hospital bed, looking at her mother covered in bandages, unable to even shed tears.
Her mother could no longer speak.
She could only ask, “Did he harm you, did Bai Zhaoliang harm you? Mom, without you, I can’t go on.”
She was thirteen that year. Even then, she already knew Bai Zhaoliang’s intentions and his true face.
She knew her mother wouldn’t make it.
She couldn’t make it either.
Then she saw her mother blink three times—just like in their childhood ghost-catching game. If it was true, a teammate blinked three times.
If there was a connection, twice.
False, no blinks.
That day, she asked a total of three questions.
“Mom, will you leave me?”
Her mother didn’t blink.
The second question she asked was about Bai Zhaoliang. She cried and said, “Without you, I can’t go on.”
Her mother blinked three times.
The last one she asked was whether this matter had anything to do with the Cheng family.
She received no answer.
Because all she could hear was a flatline ‘dii—’5 sound.
That sound made her ears ring, made her dizzy.
…
After Cheng Jiqing heard this, she connected it to what Tang Jia had said yesterday about the plot of land, Bai Xin’s firm assertion, and the image of Bai Xin’s mother going back to save someone reappeared in her mind. A cold sweat broke out on her back—Bai Xin’s mother went back to save Bai Zhaoliang, but Bai Zhaoliang came out, while she died in the fire.
It was truly terrifying to think about in detail.
Bai Xin’s expression was still calm, like a withered vine, like the deathly stillness of a lake surface, without a ripple.
“Why did Bai Zhaoliang come out alive, but she didn’t?”
Cheng Jiqing couldn’t give an answer: “I don’t know, I don’t remember everything either.”
She paused, looking at Bai Xin’s disappointed eyes, and said, “But Cheng Jing might know.”
Perhaps Fu Rongjun also knew.
“Don’t worry, I can help you ask.”
“Cheng Jing probably won’t say easily.”
Cheng Jiqing said, “So I’m telling you not to rush. I’ll help you find the truth you want to know. Actually, I also want to know what happened that day.”
Bai Xin looked at the faint dark circles under Cheng Jiqing’s eyes and said, “Don’t force yourself.”
Cheng Jiqing had PTSD from the fire. Would revisiting past events affect her?
Cheng Jiqing said, “It’s not forcing myself…”
She fell silent for a moment: “Bai Xin, if it weren’t for your mother, perhaps I wouldn’t be sitting in front of you now.”
Bai Xin’s mother saved the original owner of this body.
She became the original owner of this body, prevented Bai Xin from blackening, and saved herself.
Hearing this, Bai Xin’s eyelashes fluttered. She heard Cheng Jiqing ask seriously, “Now that you know it was your mother who saved me, will you feel uncomfortable seeing me?”
Even though that person wasn’t her, but the original owner of this body.
She didn’t feel guilty, because she wasn’t at fault, but from Bai Xin’s perspective… perhaps if the original owner of this body hadn’t been saved, Bai Xin’s mother could have survived.
“It has nothing to do with you.” Bai Xin shook her head calmly: “Even if it wasn’t you, she would have gone back to find Bai Zhaoliang.”
She had merely received another confirmation from Cheng Jiqing.
Confirmation that her mother did indeed go to find Bai Zhaoliang.
Indeed, died because of Bai Zhaoliang.
Hearing this, Cheng Jiqing felt a sense of relief, yet also a bit pained.
Bai Xin was too calm. How had she managed all these years by herself?
She called out.
“Bai Xin.”
Bai Xin looked up.
Cheng Jiqing said, word by word, “I was unaware of the Y2 matter. I won’t interfere again in the future. From now on… if there’s anything, you can tell me, and I’ll help you.”
Bai Xin’s fingertips curled slightly, brushing against the palm of her hand, and she unconsciously applied a bit more force.
“En.”
A few minutes passed.
Only then did Cheng Jiqing feel the sun shining on her feet. Just now, she hadn’t felt it at all. Now, her skin belatedly registered the warmth.
“What do you want to eat? You haven’t cooked these past few days, have you? There’s nothing in the fridge.” Cheng Jiqing said in a low voice, “Should I order takeout for now?”
Bai Xin didn’t say anything. She hadn’t eaten much at all these past few days.
Seeing Bai Xin remain silent, her full lips dry and slightly chapped, Cheng Jiqing stood up: “I’ll go get you some water.”
Halfway up, her wrist was grabbed.
Bai Xin looked at her and said slowly, “Last night you said, if I still remembered what I said when I woke up, we would talk.”
It was the first time Cheng Jiqing had seen someone who, after getting that drunk, could still remember their words verbatim upon waking.
This mental capacity was truly terrifying.
“I remember.”
“Then what do you remember?”
“I don’t want you to be with other people. I want you to dote on me alone.”
“…”
So direct it was about to kick a hole through the net7.
Cheng Jiqing didn’t realize that the same words, spoken by the other person when drunk versus when sober, could evoke such different feelings in her.
The former brought joy and shock; the latter, a bit more… embarrassment.
Yes, she seemed even more embarrassed than Bai Xin.
Bai Xin looked as if she didn’t feel shy at all.
Actually, Cheng Jiqing didn’t know that when Bai Xin first remembered saying those words, she too had blushed a little. Of course… to a negligible degree.
“So what are we talking about? Cheng Jiqing.” Bai Xin turned her head, her gaze fixed directly on Cheng Jiqing’s face.
Cheng Jiqing wasn’t a coy person either. Since the other party had said so much, then it was time to be open and honest.
“You just asked me if I invited Qin Yufu yesterday. I can answer you now. No, it was Song Ling’s idea. She didn’t tell me beforehand; I only found out after I arrived. And… it’s impossible for me to like another girl while I’m falling for you. My heart is very small, it can’t hold that many people.”
Bai Xin’s heart beat steadily, gradually gaining a deafening momentum.
Cheng Jiqing’s hoarse voice carried seriousness and tenderness. Bai Xin found that voice incredibly sexy.
Almost enough to suck a person in.
She said, “Yes, because I didn’t like you being with Qin Yufu, so I was unhappy.”
This was Bai Xin answering Cheng Jiqing’s earlier question—You were unhappy and drinking yesterday because of this?
Cheng Jiqing smiled and nodded, “En, then why did you suddenly leave in the early hours that day?”
Bai Xin hadn’t expected Cheng Jiqing to hold onto this matter, nor had she expected it to have hurt Cheng Jiqing so much.
But how should she answer?
It came back to that question. She trusted Cheng Jiqing, but it wasn’t time to take the risk yet.
Cheng Jiqing was, after all, part of the Cheng family. For the Y2 project, she and Zhou Yushu had actually included the Cheng family in their calculations.
When Cheng Jiqing found out that this matter involved the Cheng family, would she still help her instead of the Cheng family?
Wait a little longer.
Just a few more months, it would be soon.
In a flash of thought, her mind raced.
Bai Xin said, “It was for a friend who’s helping me with the Y2 project. She ran into some trouble.”
She paused, “I won’t suddenly leave like this in the future. I’ll tell you first.”
Cheng Jiqing knew Bai Xin probably still had many things hidden in her heart, keeping them to herself. She felt a slight, faint disappointment, but then thought, that’s why they needed new communication.
“Okay.”
“So Cheng Jiqing, are we reconciled?”
Those eyes became lively again.
Was there any other choice? Cheng Jiqing thought to herself.
Although she had kept herself busy these past few days, spending time in the dance studio, even taking on extra roles, generally speaking, it hadn’t been easy.
She had never been in love, but she had experienced infatuation and disappointment.
She felt like she was experiencing a breakup.
That sense of loss, the daze when thinking of someone, the person she would associate with the sofa when waking up late at night. Such ties could be severed with determination, but everyone craves sweetness and happiness.
If one could have it easier, who would choose hardship?
Cheng Jiqing said, “Of course, but… we need to change the way we interact.”
“What way?”
“Bai Xin, we need to understand each other.”
They desperately needed to understand each other.
And they needed trust.
If these two things were absent, then continuing would just be ‘entanglement’.
Neither would be comfortable.
In the end, they would still be adversaries8.
Cheng Jiqing said, “Just like I want to understand where you’re going, I want to understand what you usually like, what you dislike, what your habits are. I need understanding, I need trust, I need equal treatment, and not just making, love. This is what I want, can you understand?”
Bai Xin: “I’m not just…”
She wanted to refute the last part, but after a moment’s thought, she felt she couldn’t quite justify it.
So she said no more.
Cheng Jiqing waited for two seconds. Bai Xin had nothing more to say. She asked again, “So what about you? What are you thinking?”
Bai Xin was silent for a moment.
Before last night, she didn’t know the extent to which she cared about Cheng Jiqing. Now she knew. Since Cheng Jiqing had proposed it, what could she refuse?
There was nothing to refuse.
She was willing to be with Cheng Jiqing; as long as Cheng Jiqing was by her side, that was enough. She wanted Cheng Jiqing. When Cheng Jiqing was around, she felt physically and mentally at ease. She could sleep well. It was that simple.
As for other things, she couldn’t think that far ahead for now.
She calculated everything, mulling over one matter for who knows how long, unwilling to proceed until she had clearly weighed the gains and losses.
Cheng Jiqing was an exception; there was no doubt about that.
Rarely did she take things one step at a time like this.
Now Cheng Jiqing was asking her, what did she think?
Bai Xin answered truthfully, “I want you. I want your person, and I want your body.”
This was actually re-answering the question Cheng Jiqing had asked her that morning.
—Do you want my person, or do you want my body?
Couldn’t be more serious.
Sunlight streamed in through the window, warming Cheng Jiqing’s calves, and her heart too.
Cheng Jiqing paused, took a light breath, and looked at Bai Xin, saying, “Okay, then starting today, we’ll follow my rules.”
Bai Xin, out of curiosity, unconsciously tilted her head, revealing a hint of dazed cuteness, but her tone remained indifferent: “What rules?”
Cheng Jiqing said, “We’ll take it step by step, starting with spending time together and understanding each other. For now, no more casual kissing. For three months, I won’t touch you, and of course, you shouldn’t provoke me either—if it’s suitable, we’ll continue. If not…”
Cheng Jiqing didn’t finish her sentence, but Bai Xin understood. Subconsciously, she lowered her eyelashes, hiding the dangerous glint of dissatisfaction within. If not suitable, then what? Break up, is it?
She wouldn’t let go so easily.
But the next second, Bai Xin shifted her attention from the last sentence to the one before it.
Bai Xin: “Three months?”
Cheng Jiqing: “…”
Cheng Jiqing didn’t know that Bai Xin had already gone through a whole thought process in her mind. She just wondered why this girl’s focus was always on that aspect.
“And ‘no more casual kissing,’ what’s that supposed to mean?”
Dissatisfaction was written all over her face.
At this point, hearing her complaining tone, Cheng Jiqing joked, “Afraid you won’t be able to resist temptation, of course.”
Bai Xin: “…”
Bai Xin: “Three months, can you endure it?” Although, given Cheng Jiqing’s endurance, it was possible she could.
Cheng Jiqing: “…”
Cheng Jiqing: “Fine, then it’s a mutual restraint.”
Did Cheng Jiqing really have a concept of time?
Bai Xin ground her teeth against the tip of her tongue, making it hurt before releasing it. Sometimes, pain could help her think calmly.
She liked this kind of pain.
Bai Xin thought to herself, she agreed to Cheng Jiqing’s idea of mutual understanding, but had Cheng Jiqing forgotten about their agreement?
Her once-a-month estrus period, Cheng Jiqing would have to be responsible for that, right?
Besides, even if an Alpha’s restlessness period was rare and not necessarily once a month, Cheng Jiqing would still have times when she was restless.
When that time came, would it be a competition of who could endure more?
However, Bai Xin didn’t remind her. She was afraid Cheng Jiqing would say the agreement was temporarily invalid, which would just create more trouble.
She was willing to cooperate with Cheng Jiqing step by step, but she didn’t want to completely lose all the sweet perks.
Bai Xin said, “Okay.”
After talking for a while, they were both thirsty. There was still more than half a glass of water on the table. Cheng Jiqing picked it up and handed it to Bai Xin: “Have some water to moisten your throat first. Think about what you want to eat. Your stomach must be uncomfortable now. How about some porridge?”
Bai Xin took it and drank two mouthfuls, leaving some: “You drink too.”
Cheng Jiqing didn’t refuse. After drinking, she licked her lips. The cool water moistened the dry earth, and her red lips gained an alluring sheen.
Bai Xin asked, “When do we start?”
Cheng Jiqing paused, then realized Bai Xin was talking about the rules. She said, “Today.”
“What time and minute?”
So precise? The person who set the rules hadn’t even thought of being so strict.
Cheng Jiqing grabbed Bai Xin’s wrist, glanced at the delicate gold watch: “It’s now 2:03 in the afternoon. Let’s start at 2:05.”
Bai Xin picked up her phone and opened the clock app.
“It’s now 2:03 and 45 seconds p.m.” Bai Xin put down her phone, suddenly knelt on one leg on the bed, straightened up slightly, and placed her hands on Cheng Jiqing’s shoulders.
Like a tempting Eve, Bai Xin lowered her gaze, leaned towards Cheng Jiqing’s lips, and said:
“Then in the remaining one minute and fifteen seconds, I can kiss you as I please.”
The author has something to say:
Tried my best to add an update. The little couple is entering a new stage.
Chengcheng: Wifey is still the better calculator.
Bai-jie: If I can endure it, consider it my loss.
Footnotes
- 放完鸽子 | fàng wán gēzi | Lit. “finished releasing pigeons.” An idiom meaning to stand someone up, to fail to show up for an appointment.
- 37.5 degrees Celsius ≈ 99.5 degrees Fahrenheit. A low-grade fever.
- 抽丝剥茧 | chōusībāojiǎn | Lit. “to reel silk from a cocoon and peel it layer by layer.” An idiom meaning to get to the bottom of something by careful investigation; to analyze meticulously.
- 猛1 | měng yī | Internet slang. “1” (yī) refers to the “top” or dominant partner in a same-sex relationship (often male, but used in GL/yuri as well). Měng (猛) means fierce, ferocious, or strong.
- 滴 | dī | Onomatopoeia for a drop, or in this context, the continuous beep of a flatlining medical monitor.
- 因果循环 | yīnguǒ xúnhuán | Lit. “cause and effect cycle/circulation.” A concept rooted in Buddhism and traditional Chinese thought, referring to karma; actions have consequences, and these form a cycle.
- 直白的快要把球网踢个窟窿了 | zhíbáide kuài yào bǎ qiúwǎng tī gè kūlong le | Lit. “so direct it’s about to kick a hole in the ball net.” A vivid metaphor to describe extreme directness or bluntness, as if a statement is so forceful it could break through a barrier (like a soccer goal net).
- 冤家 | yuānjia | Lit. “enemy” or “one with whom there is a grievance.” Can also refer to “ill-fated lovers” or “bickering lovers,” implying a complex relationship with elements of conflict and attraction. Here, it leans towards the “adversary” or “source of frustration” meaning if things don’t change.
- 露骨 | lùgǔ | Lit. “to expose the bones.” Means frank, blunt, explicit, often in a way that can be considered risqué or overly direct.
0 Comments