Cen Lingqiu and Yu Mingjiao didn’t drive back. The temperature outside was cool tonight, and Cen Lingqiu didn’t want to go back so early, so she pushed Yu Mingjiao for a walk.
They arrived at a park with a lake in the center. The park was quite lively, with children and elderly people, full of the breath of life.
Cen Lingqiu saw someone selling fresh juice. She was a little thirsty, so she went to buy two cups. When the vendor handed them to her, her hand inexplicably went limp, and she failed to catch them. Both cups fell to the ground.
Cen Lingqiu stared blankly at the juice on the ground, not reacting for a moment.
It wasn’t until Yu Mingjiao called out to her that she came to her senses.
Cen Lingqiu said, “Please give me two more cups.”
Cen Lingqiu led Yu Mingjiao to a bench to sit down. Yu Mingjiao was still thinking about her odd behavior just now and asked, “Sister Lingqiu, your expression was off just now. What’s wrong?”
Cen Lingqiu smiled. “It’s nothing.”
She was just a little dazed.
In that instant, her hand had no strength at all. She couldn’t even hold a single drink; her hand was so weak it felt as if all its strength had been drained.
She knew that the original owner’s body was slowly breaking down, but she hadn’t expected it to be this fast.
If this continued, she wouldn’t even be able to carry on with a basic, normal life.
Cen Lingqiu’s hand holding the cup felt a little cold. Yu Mingjiao lowered her eyes. She was emotionally sensitive and quickly noticed Cen Lingqiu’s low spirits.
But she didn’t know why Cen Lingqiu was feeling this way.
She was a little flustered, nervously biting her lip, but didn’t dare to speak.
The person beside her suddenly fell silent. Cen Lingqiu looked over and saw that Yu Mingjiao had bitten her lip until it bled, yet she didn’t seem to feel it at all, continuing to bite her lip.
Cen Lingqiu pinched her chin, frowning. “Hey, stop biting.”
Cen Lingqiu took out a tissue to wipe the blood from her lips and said with heartache, “When will you ever get rid of this habit?”
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
Yu Mingjiao opened her mouth and said in a low voice, “It hurts.”
“If it hurts, then stop biting.”
“Sister Lingqiu,” Yu Mingjiao asked abruptly, “Did it hurt you a lot back then too?”
Cen Lingqiu threw the tissue into a nearby trash can and then gently rubbed her lip with her hand, not understanding what she meant. “What?”
Yu Mingjiao reached out and touched her neck, where she wore a collarbone necklace, and asked blankly, “Here… did it hurt a lot?”
Did it hurt?
Cen Lingqiu couldn’t remember clearly anymore. When Ning Jia slit her throat with a knife, her mind was filled with Yu Mingjiao’s crying face. At that time, heartache occupied all her thoughts, and she couldn’t perceive any pain.
Afterwards, she spent five years in an apocalyptic world, experiencing countless pains. She had long since gotten used to it and could no longer say whether it hurt or not.
She had always been like this.
In her youth, she was stabbed in the waist and bled to death. After coming to Yu Mingjiao’s world, she died in a car accident, and then had her throat slit.
She had experienced too much physical pain. These things were nothing to her anymore; she no longer felt pain from such physical injuries.
She was a person who was abnormally numb to everything, including pain.
In this life, the most pain she could feel was all because of Yu Mingjiao.
Her heart ached incomparably because of Yu Mingjiao.
This was her greatest pain.
So, how could this small wound possibly hurt?
“I’ve already forgotten, Jiao Jiao.” Cen Lingqiu held her hand, her tone gentle. Her misty eyes held a hazy clarity under the streetlight at night.
“This matter is already in the past. Let’s not talk about her anymore.”
Yu Mingjiao pressed her lips together, looking wronged and sad. She nodded.
“Sister Lingqiu, what was your past like?”
She said.
“I want to know about your past.”
“My past, huh?” Cen Lingqiu murmured, a slight smile on her lips. “My past is very boring, Jiao Jiao.”
“I want to know.” Yu Mingjiao was stubborn. “I want to know everything about you. Anything that belongs to Cen Lingqiu, I want to know.”
She spoke too quickly, and her lip started bleeding again. Cen Lingqiu thought, this won’t do. Yu Mingjiao’s lips had too many wounds. She wanted to go buy some medicine. Just as Cen Lingqiu was about to speak, her phone rang. She glanced at it; it was Wen Zhi.
“Jiao Jiao, I’m going to take a call and buy some medicine at the pharmacy on the way.” Cen Lingqiu pointed to a pharmacy across the street. “It’s right over there, very close. I’ll be back soon.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No need, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Cen Lingqiu kissed her cheek. “You stay here and be good. Don’t wander off. If anything happens, you must call me.”
With that, Cen Lingqiu ran to the pharmacy across the street.
Yu Mingjiao touched her cheek, where the warmth of Cen Lingqiu’s lips seemed to linger.
She sat there, obediently waiting for Cen Lingqiu to return.
A small dog suddenly appeared, running around Yu Mingjiao and affectionately trying to get at her legs.
Yu Mingjiao was afraid of dogs. Her face turned pale, and the hand holding the juice cup trembled, spilling half the juice on herself. She didn’t dare to move.
“Puppy.”
A woman in a white dress ran over, grabbed the leash, and pulled the puppy back. “Come back.”
The puppy was very obedient to the woman and ran back to her side.
“I’m sorry, did I scare you?” The woman’s voice was soft and gentle, a very mellow tone.
Yu Mingjiao looked up, a trace of surprise flashing in her eyes.
The woman before her had straight black hair, a long white dress, dark almond-shaped eyes, and a pale complexion. She looked exactly like her former schoolmate who had committed suicide by jumping off a building.
Didn’t she die?
“Your clothes!” The woman saw that Yu Mingjiao’s clothes were all wet. She took out a tissue to help her wipe them, her tone very apologetic. “I’m so sorry, the puppy must have scared you and gotten your clothes wet.”
Just as she was speaking, another woman in a black shirt ran over, panting. “Xiao Jin, it looks like it’s going to rain. Can I take you home?”
Yu Mingjiao recognized her. She was a client of their company, the CEO of CG Entertainment. In their circle, everyone knew that this beautiful and talented woman had exhausted all means to pursue another woman. Looking at it now, was that woman this person named Xiao Jin?
Was this woman in the white dress a person like Cen Lingqiu?
Perhaps, she wasn’t from this world either.
The woman called Xiao Jin had a calm and gentle expression, but her tone was distant. “Che Gulai, stop following me. Ming Yu will take me home. You can go.”
Then Yu Mingjiao saw the female CEO, who was usually cold and robotic in front of outsiders, wear an expression of unbearable bitterness. She seemed to want to refuse, but she still respected the opinion of the woman in the white dress.
She left.
Once again, it was just Yu Mingjiao and the woman in the white dress.
“Let me go buy you a new set of clothes.” The woman felt truly guilty. “My puppy is really disobedient. What do you think?”
Yu Mingjiao shook her head, her tone very direct. “Is she pursuing you?”
The woman was taken aback, then smiled and shook her head. “No, she’s not.”
“Do you hate her?”
Yu Mingjiao didn’t know why she was so curious about a strange woman’s affairs. Perhaps it was because she felt the woman before her and Cen Lingqiu were from the same world, which made her unavoidably curious.
But the woman didn’t answer.
Yu Mingjiao asked again, “Does she love you?”
The woman tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, smiling gently and sweetly. She rarely chatted with a stranger like this. “Do you think she loves me?”
Yu Mingjiao fell silent. She lowered her eyelids and asked, “What is love?”
She was very curious. “Can there be love between a woman and another woman?”
“Love is equal. It exists everywhere.”
Yu Mingjiao murmured, “Is that so?”
Can women love women too?
Is the love between this woman and that CEO also this kind of love?
Then, what about her and Cen Lingqiu?
Is it also this kind of love?
Does Cen Lingqiu love her?
Yu Mingjiao’s thoughts began to run wild.
“Does love make people feel warm and happy?”
She asked softly.
The woman was silent for a few seconds. “No.”
Yu Mingjiao looked up at her.
The woman started to laugh. Her clear, almond-shaped eyes held a deep layer of emptiness. She said.
“Love is a cold thing. It will lead to death.”
Cen Lingqiu ran towards them.
Yu Mingjiao said, “I understand. Don’t worry about the clothes. You can go.”
“Are you really okay?” The woman was a little embarrassed. “You don’t need me to buy you a new one?”
Yu Mingjiao shook her head. “No need. My sister is here. I’m going home.”
The woman followed her gaze and saw Cen Lingqiu striding over, carrying a large bag of medicine.
She seemed to understand something, smiled, and said, “Okay. I’m really sorry about today. I’ll be going then.”
Yu Mingjiao gave a faint “mm.”
The woman left, pulling the dog’s leash. Her friend seemed to have arrived, and then put an arm around her as they walked off in one direction.
“Sorry, Jiao Jiao…” Cen Lingqiu had practically run over. “I took a little while.”
Because Yu Mingjiao’s health was poor, Cen Lingqiu had asked the pharmacy staff if there was any medicine to strengthen the body. As a result, she was pulled aside by the clerk for a consultation and ended up buying a pile of medicine.
“It’s okay,” Yu Mingjiao said.
Cen Lingqiu saw her wet clothes. “How did your clothes get wet?”
Yu Mingjiao: “I accidentally spilled my drink.”
“Let’s go back first.” Cen Lingqiu pushed the wheelchair. “Go back and change. It looks like it’s going to rain again. We should hurry back.”
“Okay.”
When the two returned home, Cen Lingqiu remembered something as she took off her shoes. “Jiao Jiao, who were you talking to in the park?”
Yu Mingjiao didn’t want to hide it from her, so she told her the truth.
Cen Lingqiu was also surprised for a moment.
At the same time, she was curious. “What did you talk about with her?”
Yu Mingjiao wasn’t someone who liked to chat, let alone with people she didn’t know well.
But Yu Mingjiao didn’t answer.
She just asked, “Sister Lingqiu, what am I to you? A friend?”
Cen Lingqiu paused in the middle of sorting through the medicine. Her gaze met Yu Mingjiao’s, and she asked in return, “Jiao Jiao, do friends kiss every day?”
A tense ambiguity inexplicably filled the air.
Cen Lingqiu’s heart was beating a little fast. The feelings between her and Yu Mingjiao were actually already obvious, but neither of them had voiced these feelings or brought them out into the open.
Yu Mingjiao couldn’t help but bite her lip again. Her eyelids trembled. Recalling the woman’s words from that evening, her heart followed her thoughts, and the words practically tumbled out.
“Sister Lingqiu, do you love me?”
Cen Lingqiu walked over and pressed her finger against Yu Mingjiao’s lips, stopping her from biting them.
After five years, Yu Mingjiao was as straightforward as ever.
Cen Lingqiu found it a little amusing, and also thought she was cute.
She wasn’t a roundabout person. If a deep emotion was already a fact, she wouldn’t hide it, nor would she be passive.
Cen Lingqiu leaned in, kissed Yu Mingjiao’s wound-covered lips, and spoke in a tender and doting tone.
“Yes.”
“I love you, Jiao Jiao.”
Yu Mingjiao’s expression was shy. She grabbed Cen Lingqiu’s collar and kissed her forcefully and domineeringly.
Her empty, gloomy heart was filled to the brim with spring water. Her entire being, down to her limbs and bones, was dyed with an indescribable joy and palpitation.
She showed her excitement with an almost frantic kiss.
How could love be cold?
She was clearly so flushed and hot she couldn’t breathe.
