Wen Zhi helped the drunk Cen Lingqiu onto the bed. Seeing that there was nothing else for her to do, and with the ice-cube-like Yu Mingjiao in the room, she really couldn’t stay any longer and left.
After Wen Zhi left, only Cen Lingqiu and Yu Mingjiao remained in the bedroom.
Yu Mingjiao stared straight at Cen Lingqiu. She had been drinking, and a blush spread across her pale face. Her lips were a vibrant red, messy strands of hair clung to her cheeks, and her eyes were slightly narrowed. Gone was her usual cool and detached appearance; she now exuded a hazy, sensual aura.
The difference was so great that it inexplicably made Yu Mingjiao feel a little dry and thirsty.
She wanted to go out for some ice water. Just as she turned, Cen Lingqiu grabbed her wrist and pulled her directly onto the bed.
Yu Mingjiao’s chin knocked heavily against Cen Lingqiu’s collarbone. The sudden, forceful contact of their skin left her slightly stunned. Immediately after, Cen Lingqiu cupped her face, smiling with narrowed, drunken eyes.
“Jiao Jiao.”
Her tone was much lazier than usual. She tilted her head, looking at her face with a loose, scattered smile playing on her lips. “Are you still in pain just from being alive?”
With her face cupped in Cen Lingqiu’s hands, Yu Mingjiao’s cheeks puffed out slightly. Her eyes revealed a hint of bewildered helplessness, looking both dazed and well-behaved.
Seeing this rare, silly look on her, Cen Lingqiu couldn’t help but let out a low laugh. She pulled Yu Mingjiao into her arms and stroked her back.
“How nice.” She seemed to be sighing with emotion, yet also with a hint of envy.
Held tightly in her embrace, Yu Mingjiao didn’t struggle. She asked in a muffled voice, “What’s so nice about it?”
Cen Lingqiu’s rationality had been eroded by the alcohol. Her usual restraint and indifference were cast aside; she spoke whatever came to mind, devoid of reason.
“What’s so nice about it?” She pondered for a moment before drawing out her words. “It’s nice that you were able to live safely into adulthood. Isn’t that a good thing?”
The words were nonsensical. Yu Mingjiao didn’t understand, so she asked, “What do you mean?”
Cen Lingqiu toyed with her long hair and said lazily, “Jiao Jiao, can’t you tell? I’m envious of you.”
Yu Mingjiao was even more confused. “Is that something to be envious of? You’re clearly the same as me.”
Cen Lingqiu suddenly fell silent.
The air was filled with only silence.
Feeling Cen Lingqiu’s slightly cool skin, Yu Mingjiao grew nervous because of her strange silence, her hand tightly clutching the fabric on Cen Lingqiu’s chest.
Cen Lingqiu finally snapped back to her senses. She subconsciously patted Yu Mingjiao’s back and seemed to let out a sigh. “Jiao Jiao, I’m not the same as you.”
“How are we different?”
Perhaps only when one is drunk does the long-suppressed, silent pain get a chance to breathe, tearing open the sealed heart to expose itself to others.
“Me? I’ve never received a gift.” Cen Lingqiu’s eyes were half-open. She was too drunk to lift her eyelids and could only move her lips. “…Whether it was for my tenth birthday or my twentieth, I’ve never received one.”
Yu Mingjiao was completely bewildered. “So many people like you. Why wouldn’t you have?”
Cen Lingqiu just smiled.
But Yu Mingjiao felt an inexplicable panic. She moved closer to Cen Lingqiu’s face, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Why are you smiling? Answer me.”
Her breathing was light and slow, making it seem like she had fallen asleep. But Yu Mingjiao had a wicked urge to wake her. She was a stubborn and serious person; a casual remark from Cen Lingqiu was enough to make her ponder it over and over.
“Lin Qiu.” Yu Mingjiao called her by her name. “Answer my question first.”
Shaken back and forth by her tugging, Cen Lingqiu had no choice but to forcefully pull her into an embrace again, murmuring groggily, “Don’t shake me, I feel like throwing up…”
“Answer my question,” Yu Mingjiao insisted, refusing to let it go.
Cen Lingqiu’s drunken mind was filled with Yu Mingjiao’s voice. She subconsciously gave in, her voice responding slowly.
“Because… I never had a twenty-year-old’s life, Jiao Jiao.”
She had died at eighteen, so how could she have a twentieth year? More than once, she had imagined being like any normal person, enjoying university life, traveling occasionally, and having a vast, unseen future.
To her, entering the Book Transmigration Bureau after death didn’t count as living. In a sense, she was already dead.
Therefore, she couldn’t help but envy everyone who was able to live past adulthood.
Cen Lingqiu was merely stating the sorrow in her heart in a sighing, indifferent tone, but Yu Mingjiao seemed to feel a deep and sharp sadness.
Her body stiffened. Cen Lingqiu’s words echoed in her mind. She didn’t understand, couldn’t comprehend. She had heard every word clearly, but when put together, she didn’t understand them at all.
“What do you mean!” Yu Mingjiao’s voice was slightly hoarse. “Lin Qiu, I don’t understand.”
What did she mean by not having a twenty-year-old’s life?
Isn’t she alive and well right now?
Why would she say something so nonsensical?
For some reason, her body began to tremble inexplicably. Cen Lingqiu felt the person in her arms shivering and sobered up a little from her daze. She cupped Yu Mingjiao’s face, her expression carrying a hint of accustomed helplessness.
“What’s wrong with you now?” Cen Lingqiu patted her head. “Why do you look so uneasy? What are you afraid of?”
Yu Mingjiao lowered her eyes, looking pitiful. “I don’t know.”
“Hold me.”
“Alright, alright.” Cen Lingqiu held her, cooing as if to a child. “What will you do in the future if you always want to be doted on?”
Yu Mingjiao hugged her tightly, feeling her beating heart.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
It was like the beautiful, clear sound of a cello, capable of soothing all anxieties.
Cen Lingqiu was completely drunk now. Yu Mingjiao lifted her head from her embrace and slowly moved closer to her face, stopping just inches away.
In her line of sight, Cen Lingqiu slept peacefully. The alcohol added a touch of vibrancy to her usually plain and sharp features.
The beast in her heart began to struggle and leap again, clamoring to get closer to Cen Lingqiu, even closer if possible.
Yu Mingjiao stared at her face without blinking.
Since when, she didn’t know, but she had already separated the woman before her from the person of the past. She had always felt that the current Cen Lingqiu was a completely new person, not that harsh and malicious Lin Qiu.
She even had the absurd thought at times that this cool and gentle woman before her was someone else entirely, that she wasn’t Lin Qiu.
And today, that conjecture seemed even more plausible.
Thinking of this, Yu Mingjiao truly felt she was going quite mad.
Cen Lingqiu had been sleeping on her side, but she suddenly turned her head to face Yu Mingjiao. Because they were so close, her lips lightly brushed against Yu Mingjiao’s, a touch as light as a feather, almost negligible.
But Yu Mingjiao felt as if she’d been pricked by a needle. Her eyes widened slightly, her expression freezing like a jammed machine.
That feather-light touch seemed to land on her lips with substance; even now, she could still feel the soft texture of Cen Lingqiu’s lips.
Yu Mingjiao’s heart was beating very fast.
She licked her dry lips.
The cicadas outside had fallen silent. It was late summer now, and the surroundings were utterly quiet.
In the silent night, Yu Mingjiao curled up in Cen Lingqiu’s arms, trying to calm her wildly beating heart.
Her dark eyes seemed to hold a rising tide, turbulent and murky, like a serpent in the night, possessing an endless, sinister desire.
The next day, Cen Lingqiu was woken by pain. A headache.
She forced her eyes open, and the first thing she saw was Yu Mingjiao’s beautiful face. Seeing a beauty of this caliber first thing in the morning, Cen Lingqiu couldn’t help but admire her for a moment.
After a good while, she realized she was in the same bed as Yu Mingjiao. She couldn’t remember much about last night, only that she had lost consciousness after drinking that glass of wine.
As for how she ended up sleeping with Yu Mingjiao, she had no memory of it at all.
This was the second time she had slept with Yu Mingjiao.
Cen Lingqiu’s head was throbbing from the hangover. She carefully got out of bed, wanting to make a cup of honey water.
Even though her movements were very light, Yu Mingjiao was still woken up. She reluctantly opened her eyes. “You’re pressing on my hair.”
Cen Lingqiu glanced over. Her right hand was indeed on Yu Mingjiao’s hair. She pulled her hand back. “Sorry, does it hurt?”
Yu Mingjiao shook her head. Perhaps because she had been woken up, she didn’t look very pleased.
Cen Lingqiu knew her morning grumpiness was acting up again. She habitually patted her head. “Throwing a little tantrum again? Jiao Jiao.”
Like a puppy whose fur had been smoothed, Yu Mingjiao’s expression calmed down.
“How did I end up sleeping in the same bed as you?” Cen Lingqiu asked.
Yu Mingjiao answered honestly, “You pulled me onto the bed.”
The sentence was clearly very ordinary, but for some reason, when it came from Yu Mingjiao’s mouth, it inexplicably gave rise to an indescribable ambiguity.
Cen Lingqiu was embarrassed. “Did I?”
Yu Mingjiao didn’t speak, only looked at her with those dark, glossy eyes.
Being stared at like that, Cen Lingqiu began to doubt herself.
She rarely got drunk and didn’t know what she was like when she was. Judging by Yu Mingjiao’s expression, it seemed it wasn’t good.
Cen Lingqiu felt a rare sense of embarrassment. “Maybe I can’t hold my liquor well. Other than that, did I say anything I shouldn’t have?”
Yu Mingjiao smoothed her messy hair and said pointedly, “Do you have anything you shouldn’t say?”
Cen Lingqiu was silent for a second. “I don’t think so.”
She wanted to get out of bed, but her body still felt weak. The aftereffects of last night’s drink were too strong.
Yu Mingjiao pressed her down. “You should rest.”
After saying that, she got up and left the room. Cen Lingqiu, with her hangover headache, didn’t get out of bed and lay there for a while.
About ten minutes later, Yu Mingjiao brought in a cup of honey water. She had to maneuver her wheelchair with one hand and hold the cup with the other, so she moved very slowly.
Cen Lingqiu quickly got up and took the cup. “You went out just to make this for me?”
Yu Mingjiao hummed in affirmation.
Cen Lingqiu smiled. “Thank you.”
She took the cup and drank a few sips, moistening her dry lips. Then she unconsciously stuck out her tongue and licked them.
Yu Mingjiao was inexplicably reminded of the light touch from last night. She touched her own lips, her gaze darkening.
“Jiao Jiao,” Cen Lingqiu said, puzzled. “Why is your face suddenly so red?”
Yu Mingjiao: “…Is it?”
Cen Lingqiu: “It’s obvious. Are you not feeling well?”
She shook her head. “No, I’m just a little hot.”
Cen Lingqiu glanced at the weather outside. It was already late summer, early autumn. How could it be hot?
Yu Mingjiao also felt that she was being strange and inexplicable.
She didn’t want to be in close contact with Cen Lingqiu for the moment, so she found an excuse: “I’m going to be late for work. I’m leaving now.”
With that, she zipped out of the room.
Before Cen Lingqiu could even react, she was gone.
Why does it feel like she’s hiding from something?
Cen Lingqiu didn’t understand.
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