Chapter 22
Her voice wasn’t loud, and when Jiang Chao heard those words, it was especially soft. For a moment, Sheng Huaixi’s earlier question surfaced in her mind.
In front of the restroom mirror, when Sheng Huaixi had tipped her chin up and looked at her with that teasing, seductive smile, she had asked her the same thing.
“Can I really kiss you?”
That familiar question surfaced again, and at this moment it seemed especially out of place. Yet Jiang Chao also felt that it wasn’t entirely abrupt.
Given the situation they were in now, with Zhou Xu refusing to admit her relationship with Sheng Huaixi, using a kiss to prove the bond between them—
it was simple and direct.
What Sheng Huaixi had asked was exactly the missing piece; it fit neatly into the gap in their current predicament. As long as they did it, everything could be resolved.
But Jiang Chao glanced sideways at Sheng Huaixi’s profile. Leaning against her while speaking to Zhou Xu, Sheng Huaixi was poised and calm, bright-eyed and elegant, handling things with complete ease.
Sheng Huaixi didn’t seem to need Jiang Chao’s help to get out of this.
As for that question, rather than a way to handle the situation, it seemed more like Sheng Huaixi’s private selfishness...
No, Sheng Huaixi probably had only said it because the timing happened to be right.
Jiang Chao blinked and pushed the many guesses in her heart down, collecting herself to focus on what was happening in front of her.
Zhou Xu’s mood was obviously already on the verge of exploding. Her eyes narrowed slightly, as if a raging fire had been smeared across her body; the cold look she turned on them was dangerous and deep.
In that instant, Jiang Chao almost felt as if she were being watched by a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, ready to open its bloodied mouth and strike at any moment.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Her vision flashed. When Jiang Chao blinked again, Sheng Huaixi’s hand was in front of her, her voice gentle and unhurried, carrying a reassuring warmth.
The embrace from behind fully enclosed Jiang Chao. Through her blurred vision, she pressed against Sheng Huaixi’s body, and the line of her shoulder blades suddenly felt much more solid.
Her nose twitched slightly, and Jiang Chao suddenly realized—
The early winter wind seemed to have softened out of pity at that moment, blowing gently, the chill on her face lessened. The perfume she caught was richer than ever before.
And then Jiang Chao realized what perfume Sheng Huaixi was wearing today.
A cold cedar scent, crisp and gentle at once, slipped into her nose and, in an instant, claimed all her awareness with swift, domineering force.
Heat rose unbidden to Jiang Chao’s cheeks. Her throat tightened, and her fingertips stirred.
After standing still for a long moment, Zhou Xu finally spoke.
“Sheng Huaixi, aren’t you going to give me an explanation?”
Seeing the two of them wrapped up in each other right in front of her, blatantly ignoring the intimacy she had taken the initiative to offer, Zhou Xu raised a brow, the anger of being deceived surging up in full.
The cold in her eyes could no longer be hidden. Zhou Xu leaned forward and stared straight at Sheng Huaixi—
like a lion ready to pounce, needing only the prey’s glance to trigger the violence.
Unlike Zhou Xu’s furious humiliation, Sheng Huaixi, standing before her, remained perfectly at ease.
“Mm, an apology?” she said dismissively. Sheng Huaixi narrowed her eyes in pleasure, lazy and unhurried, clearly enjoying herself as she toyed with the butterfly in her palm.
This was the butterfly she had personally caught.
Sheng Huaixi was very satisfied.
Delicate and exquisite, completely trapped in her arms, stripped of all freedom; when those lush wings gave a faint flutter, it felt as if poison had been injected into her palm, leaving behind a trail of numb, itching sensation.
The numbness spread from her hand, then followed her veins straight to her heart. The constant stimulation pulsed again and again, a thrilling pleasure that was hard to resist.
Most importantly, the butterfly’s beautiful wings had been pinned by her, and at this moment, it could no longer escape.
Under the pretense of protection, Sheng Huaixi recklessly coated the person in her arms with her own scent. The warmth in her embrace gradually turned scorching, and the cold wind could not put it out.
She wanted to hold her tighter... tighter still...
Sheng Huaixi let out a breath, the corners of her eyes tightening with restraint. Before this, she had never imagined that she herself would be someone so easily consumed by insatiable desire.
The cold wind blowing harshly only made Sheng Huaixi’s dissatisfaction deepen.
And now, the way Sheng Huaixi lowered her gaze to stare at Jiang Chao looked deeply affectionate in Zhou Xu’s eyes, which only fueled her rage.
“Heh. An explanation.” Zhou Xu laughed in fury. “You let me call whenever I want and dismiss me whenever I want; in your eyes, am I really that cheap?”
Jiang Chao’s fingertips stirred.
The flutter of the long lashes in the palm of her hand quickened. Sheng Huaixi shot her a quick glance, and her fingers unconsciously tightened.
When she lifted her eyes again, the chill on Sheng Huaixi’s face slipped through. “I already told you why you wanted to know. Since I’ve said it, what’s there left to talk about being cheap?”
Before Zhou Xu could speak, Sheng Huaixi went on.
“What we had between us should have ended long ago.”
“So now—”
Sheng Huaixi leaned forward slightly, her eyes slowly narrowing. Those peach-blossom eyes curved with a springlike smile; amid the cold, she looked like she was blooming on a high branch, beautiful to the extreme.
Zhou Xu’s expression stiffened, a flicker of fascination passing through her eyes.
The next second, after she made out the words Sheng Huaixi’s lips had formed, her body went rigid.
“Get lost.”
Sheng Huaixi didn’t care much. She flexed her fingers, then rested her chin on Jiang Chao’s shoulder and led her to turn around. Smiling brightly, she leaned close to Jiang Chao’s ear.
“Let’s go, girlfriend.”
As the words fell, Sheng Huaixi followed the curve of her smile and lightly brushed her nose against the soft earlobe in front of her. It had been turned faintly red by the cold wind, yet it was still soft.
At the corner of her lips, the bright red tip of her tongue flicked out and then withdrew behind her teeth. Sheng Huaixi suppressed the desire in the depths of her eyes.
Holding Jiang Chao’s hand, Sheng Huaixi looked back and left behind a bewitching, shallow smile.
The blur before Jiang Chao’s eyes cleared. She was still caught up in Sheng Huaixi’s few words, and by the time her vision sharpened, Sheng Huaixi was already leading her away.
Jiang Chao was just about to speak when hurried footsteps sounded behind them.
A figure swept in from the side.
“Sheng Huaixi, since I came all this way, you think you can just send me away that easily?” Zhou Xu’s expression was dark, clouds gathering between her brows; the tighter her grip became, the colder her voice turned. “Dream on.”
“Zhou Xu, let go!”
Jiang Chao turned with the force of the movement and saw that the hand Zhou Xu was gripping was exactly Sheng Huaixi’s injured wrist. Her brows jumped, and anger showed plainly in her eyes.
Annoyed at wasting any more words on her, Zhou Xu’s gloomy gaze turned fierce. She reached out, grabbed a blue-and-white porcelain vase, and hurled it hard at Jiang Chao. “Get out of the way.”
Her eyes were bloodred, madness fully showing. Her eyelids lifted sharply, and she had completely lost control.
Bang—
Jiang Chao instinctively dodged aside. The beautifully patterned blue-and-white vase shattered into pieces where she had just been standing, fragments flying everywhere.
Sharp, smooth... the broken pieces below were mottled with color, their edges so sharp they made her eyes sting.
Before Jiang Chao could react, the situation changed again.
“Sheng Huaixi!! What are you doing! Ah!”
A scream of pain rang out beside Jiang Chao’s ear. Jiang Chao turned, and the moment she saw what was happening, her pupils contracted violently.
“Sheng Huaixi!”
Had she gone crazy?!