After that day, He Hanzhou began calling Cen Lingqiu every few days, but Cen Lingqiu never answered.
Today, she and Yu Mingjiao were resting at home. Yu Mingjiao’s hair had grown very long, reaching her tailbone. It was black and straight.
Cen Lingqiu particularly loved her hair, but it was so long that it was a bit inconvenient for daily life. Her bangs had also grown long, nearly covering her eyes, and since she was unwilling to go to a salon, Cen Lingqiu offered to cut it for her.
She was very careful while cutting, afraid of messing it up. Cen Lingqiu focused intently, cautiously trimming the stray hairs on her forehead.
Yu Mingjiao was very well-behaved, remaining quiet the entire time.
Only her eyes were fixed on Cen Lingqiu’s serious and earnest face.
She found this serious side of Cen Lingqiu very beautiful.
After trimming the bangs, Cen Lingqiu shortened her hair a bit more. When she was done, Cen Lingqiu took a few steps back to admire her work.
The length of the bangs was just right, revealing her shimmering, beautiful eyes and her exquisitely delicate features. It lessened some of the gloomy aura she used to have.
Yu Mingjiao lifted a lock of long hair from her shoulder. “You don’t seem to have cut much.”
Cen Lingqiu hadn’t cut much, only shortening it to her waist. She smiled and explained, “It would be a shame to cut it all off. Your hair is so beautiful.” Yu Mingjiao murmured, “Do you like my hair that much?”
Cen Lingqiu admitted it.
An inexplicable joy filled Yu Mingjiao. She pulled Cen Lingqiu’s hand, placed it on her own hair, and tilted her head.
“You can play with my hair as you please.”
A nerve in Cen Lingqiu twitched.
She didn’t know why, but such a simple sentence, when spoken by Yu Mingjiao, inexplicably produced a secret, amorous spring-like feeling.
It was like an alternative way of expressing a certain emotion.
It wasn’t the first time Cen Lingqiu had touched her hair, but she had never felt such a flutter in her heart before.
Perhaps it was because Yu Mingjiao’s eyes were too beautiful. When they stared straight at her, they were like winter water melting, encountering peach blossom petals floating on a full stream—clear, translucent, and stunning.
Those eyes held only her.
Cen Lingqiu’s heart began to race again. In that instant, she almost forgot all her recent inner struggles; her mind was filled with nothing but Yu Mingjiao’s face.
Yu Mingjiao got the reaction she had expected, and a faint smile touched her lips.
Just then, a ringing phone shattered the ambiguous atmosphere. Cen Lingqiu snapped back to her senses, realizing she had been drawn in by Yu Mingjiao again. She pulled her hand back and went to find her phone.
Yu Mingjiao bit her lip, her gaze darkening.
Cen Lingqiu found her phone, glanced at it, and frowned.
It was that man, He Hanzhou, again.
He had been calling her every few days recently. Cen Lingqiu didn’t know him well, and thinking of his entanglement with Yu Mingjiao in the plot, she instinctively felt repulsed by him.
Out of selfish reasons, she didn’t want He Hanzhou to have any relationship with Yu Mingjiao. The plot was already a mess anyway, so the relationship between the second male lead and the female lead didn’t matter.
For various reasons, Cen Lingqiu wanted nothing to do with him and had never answered his calls.
But he was incredibly annoying. Even if she blocked him, he would just use a different number.
Utterly fed up, Cen Lingqiu wanted to know what on earth he wanted, so she answered.
“Lin Qiu, you finally deigned to answer.” He Hanzhou’s lazy voice came from the other end of the line.
The living room was quiet, and He Hanzhou’s voice carried clearly to Yu Mingjiao’s ears. Her grip on her wheelchair tightened abruptly, her eyes turning pitch-black and grim.
Cen Lingqiu’s tone was cold. “What is it?”
“Nothing much. We did play together as kids, after all. Can you do me the honor of joining me for a meal?”
“Sorry, I’m busy with work and don’t have time.” Cen Lingqiu had thought it was something important, but it turned out to be such a trivial matter. She had no interest in dealing with him and was about to hang up.
He Hanzhou spoke again, “Hey, I have something else to tell you. You’ll be interested—”
“Not interested.” Cen Lingqiu couldn’t even be bothered to be perfunctory and hung up directly.
“Who was that?” Yu Mingjiao’s tone was calm, as if devoid of any emotion.
Cen Lingqiu: “No one.”
Remembering something, she asked tentatively, “Jiao Jiao, do you remember that man who was with Lin Dong last time?”
Yu Mingjiao’s fingers curled. The fact that Cen Lingqiu was paying attention to a man made her feel inexplicably irritated. She didn’t want to hear any man’s name from Cen Lingqiu’s lips.
“Why?” Yu Mingjiao suppressed her tone, her eyes tinged with a displeased, cold smile. “Are you interested in him?”
Yu Mingjiao couldn’t accept an affirmative answer from Cen Lingqiu.
She felt agitated and panicked inside.
That beast within her began to roar again, and a nameless rage almost consumed her.
If she really answered that way…
“Hmm?” Cen Lingqiu was puzzled. “Why would you think that?”
She explained, “I was asking what your impression of him was. I hope you don’t get too close to him. No matter how he tries to approach you, you don’t need to pay him any mind.”
He Hanzhou was a smiling tiger. In the novel, he always appeared easygoing and proper in front of Yu Mingjiao, but in reality, he was a madman who would control Yu Mingjiao’s freedom at any given moment.
He was far from being as carefree as he seemed on the surface.
Cen Lingqiu didn’t want anyone with ill intentions around Yu Mingjiao. She just hoped that after she left, there would be no one left in Yu Mingjiao’s life to cause her pain.
This was what Cen Lingqiu was thinking.
Yu Mingjiao didn’t know her intentions and was just a little confused. “You think he would like me?”
Cen Lingqiu: “…It’s just a guess, and a piece of advice for you.”
“Do you want me to be with him?” Yu Mingjiao asked abruptly.
“…”
If asked, Cen Lingqiu’s heart would naturally be… unwilling.
But this feeling was too personal and inexplicable to voice. She just smiled. “That’s up to you. My thoughts aren’t important.”
“They are important,” Yu Mingjiao said softly.
She spoke so softly that Cen Lingqiu didn’t hear her clearly.
That night, Yu Mingjiao insisted that Cen Lingqiu sleep with her. For some reason, Cen Lingqiu had been intentionally or unintentionally avoiding her lately and hadn’t been sleeping with her much.
Today, it took both soft and hard tactics for her to get Cen Lingqiu to agree.
In truth, Yu Mingjiao was very unhappy. She hated that Cen Lingqiu was avoiding her, hated her lack of intimacy, and hated that someone was pestering her.
She hated many things, found it hard to be happy, and it was almost driving her mad.
Before falling asleep, Yu Mingjiao suddenly asked her: “Lin Qiu, am I important to you?”
“Yes.” Sleepiness washed over Cen Lingqiu, and she barely held on to a sliver of consciousness to answer her.
“If… someone hurt me, made me suffer, caused me pain, would you hate that person?”
“Who hurt you?”
“What if someone did?”
Cen Lingqiu was very sleepy and didn’t even know what she was saying, mumbling perfunctorily, “…Mmm, if you want me to hate them, then I’ll hate them.”
“You must detest them.”
“Alright, alright.” Cen Lingqiu patted her back. “Time to sleep, time to sleep.”
Sleeping together had already become a common occurrence for them. The bed in Cen Lingqiu’s room was practically just for decoration.
Cen Lingqiu fell asleep right after she spoke, but Yu Mingjiao didn’t. She lay there, quietly watching Cen Lingqiu’s sleeping face.
The closer their relationship became, the more terrified Yu Mingjiao grew. She was so afraid that Cen Lingqiu would leave her, just like that one time.
When she was with her, she always had the illusion that Cen Lingqiu would still leave her.
This illusion grew more severe as winter approached.
She always dreamed that Cen Lingqiu would vanish from this world in the next second, as if she had never existed.
She didn’t even dare to sleep. She could only watch Cen Lingqiu’s face every day like a mouse, peeking from the shadows.
Cen Lingqiu’s phone buzzed a few times, but she was sleeping so soundly she didn’t hear it.
Yu Mingjiao felt not the slightest bit of shame about prying into someone’s privacy. She directly took Cen Lingqiu’s phone and unlocked it. Cen Lingqiu had told her the passcode a long time ago.
A series of messages had all come from the same phone number.
Yu Mingjiao checked the phone and saw that this string of messages was all from He Hanzhou.
They were all insubstantial pick-up lines, and Cen Lingqiu hadn’t replied to a single one.
As Yu Mingjiao scrolled through these messages, she found them glaring and infuriating.
It was as if her most cherished toy was being coveted by someone else. Her extreme possessiveness made her want this thief to disappear.
In the darkness, her eyes grew even blacker.
A cold smile touched her lips as she typed out a few words.
The other end quickly replied with an “Okay.”
Yu Mingjiao then deleted the message she had just sent, as if nothing had happened.
Today, Cen Lingqiu had to go out for work. After she left the house, Yu Mingjiao also went out, but she didn’t go to the office. Instead, she went to a discreet and elegant cafe.
There were no other customers in the cafe. A waiter asked for her name, and Yu Mingjiao gave the name Lin Qiu.
The waiter understood and respectfully led her to the second floor. The decor on the second floor was even more elegant than the first, and perhaps it had been specially decorated—roses were visible everywhere.
The meaning was obvious; anyone could see the significance.
Yu Mingjiao casually plucked a rose and squeezed it carelessly. A small thorn quickly pierced her delicate skin, and a red bead of blood welled up.
Her expression was calm as she continued to toy with it, unconcerned.
A man was leaning against the second-floor railing, his back to her. Hearing the sound, he turned around in pleasant surprise, but his expression changed instantly. He gave a humorless smile. “Why is it you?”
“How tacky.” Yu Mingjiao crushed the white rose, its juices mixed with blood dripping from between her fingers. She tossed it away like trash, then raised her cold, calm eyes, a strange smile on her face. “How could I let her see something so disgusting and boring?”
Her words were pointed, and He Hanzhou understood.
He quickly figured out the truth. “Ah, so you were the one who replied to my invitation for coffee.”
Yu Mingjiao tilted her head nonchalantly, as if to say, ‘So what if it was me?’ showing no shame at being found out.
He Hanzhou found this amusing. He pulled out a chair and sat opposite her, smiling with narrowed eyes. “It seems your relationship with Lin Qiu is quite good. But I heard from Lin Dong that you two used to have a terrible relationship.”
Yu Mingjiao’s expression was light and breezy. “You want to know?”
“Of course.”
“Too bad—” Yu Mingjiao’s lips curled into a malicious smile. “I won’t tell you.”
He Hanzhou feigned regret. “Is that so?”
“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” He Hanzhou got straight to the point.
“Stay away from Lin Qiu.”
Yu Mingjiao’s eyes were like ice, cold and chilling.
“Why?” He Hanzhou laughed carelessly. “Who are you to her? In the end, you’re just a friend. You think you can control her romantic freedom?”
Yu Mingjiao’s expression was one of suppressed calm. She didn’t seem angry, merely asking in return: “What do you want to do to her?”
He Hanzhou chuckled a few times. “Isn’t it obvious? I’m a little interested in her, so I want to pursue her.”
“Pursue?” Yu Mingjiao murmured. “What would you two do?”
“What else?” He Hanzhou said dismissively. “If she likes me back, we’ll date, hold hands, then kiss, and finally—”
He Hanzhou, intending to tease her, mouthed two words.
Yu Mingjiao understood.
He had mouthed ‘go to bed’.
With that short sentence, a deep gloom settled over Yu Mingjiao’s features. A vein throbbed faintly on her forehead as she gritted her teeth and curled her lips into an icy smile.
“She won’t like you.”
“That’s not for certain. She’s single, I’m single. What’s so impossible about it?” He Hanzhou relentlessly danced on Yu Mingjiao’s last nerve.
Yu Mingjiao’s heart was pounding with a murderous rage. Just imagining the scenes he described was enough to drive her insane.
Unacceptable.
She couldn’t accept it.
That woman could only stay by her side! She absolutely could not go to another person.
It was the first time Yu Mingjiao had ever hated a man with whom she had no connection or grudge.
And it was because of that woman.
She dug her nails into the palm pricked by the thorn, using the pain to soothe the jealousy and hatred in her heart.
Her phone chimed with a message notification.
Yu Mingjiao glanced at it; it was a message from Cen Lingqiu.
Before leaving the house, she had sent a message to Cen Lingqiu, asking her to come pick her up at this cafe later.
Thinking about it now, she should be arriving soon. In that case…
“She will absolutely never like you.” Yu Mingjiao looked at the mango cream pancakes on the table. The desserts at this cafe were famous, especially the mango cream pancakes, which were a viral hit and practically a must-order. He Hanzhou had ordered them early, and they were sitting on the table.
He Hanzhou was curious. “Why do you say that?”
Yu Mingjiao took a few light bites of the pancake, her eyes dark and profound. “Because—she will only like me.”
He Hanzhou found her statement very strange. “What do you mean?”
Yu Mingjiao’s face began to flush slightly. She ate more than half of the mango pancake on the table, slowly took a few sips of water, and spoke with an ambiguous meaning.
“Because she likes me very much, she will also detest anyone who has ever caused me harm.”
The statement came out of nowhere. While He Hanzhou was still pondering her meaning, he saw Yu Mingjiao’s face turn crimson in the next second. Horrifying hives broke out on the back of her hands, and her breathing became rapid, even reaching the point of being difficult.
Cen Lingqiu had just managed to get into the cafe after arguing with the waiter. The cafe had been booked out, and it took her a great deal of effort to slip inside.
Just a short while ago, Yu Mingjiao had messaged her saying she felt very unwell and wanted to go home, so Cen Lingqiu had rushed over immediately.
As soon as she reached the second floor, she saw Yu Mingjiao clutching her chest, struggling to breathe in a wretched state, while He Hanzhou sat opposite her with a look of confusion.
“Jiao Jiao—”
Cen Lingqiu strode forward and supported Yu Mingjiao’s back. She looked at her face—her eyes were hazy, a large rash had broken out on her neck, and her breathing was abnormally rapid.
She saw the mango dessert on the table and couldn’t help but say to He Hanzhou in a cold voice, “Jiao Jiao is severely allergic to mangoes. Didn’t she tell you?”
Just as He Hanzhou was about to speak, Yu Mingjiao tugged on her sleeve, gasping for air as if trying to say something, but then she suddenly fainted and collapsed into Cen Lingqiu’s arms.
Enjoy uninterrupted reading experience with instant access to all chapters at your convenience.
