Chapter 26

As soon as she spoke, Sheng Huaixi turned around and caught Jiang Chao still unable to tear her gaze away from her, stunned and lingering.

Her fingertips slid downward and came to rest right on the hem of her shirt over her lower abdomen. Sheng Huaixi arched her brows and eyes, alluring to the extreme.

Jiang Chao’s eyes followed those long, defined fingers almost on instinct; her thoughts split cleanly in two.

One half was frantically warning her that the scene from last night’s dream had been fabricated by the dream itself. The other half was the most honest human desire, reaching out to her with open arms. Both surged forward, refusing to yield.

Jiang Chao lowered her gaze, her mind tangled into a mess, but her eyes were hooked back to it anyway; her lashes trembled as she stared at Sheng Huaixi’s movements.

With a curl of her fingers, Sheng Huaixi lifted the edge of her shirt by half an inch, as if she might uncover it or not the next second. The thin fabric looked ready to flip up, revealing a strip of the pale, tender skin Jiang Chao had seen in her dream.

At that gesture, Jiang Chao’s pupils tightened abruptly and her breath caught. She had no doubt at all that Sheng Huaixi would really do it!

Just as Sheng Huaixi was about to slip her fingers under the shirt—

“No!” Jiang Chao’s pupils shrank. She stepped forward without hesitation, grabbed Sheng Huaixi’s wrist, and stopped her in one swift move; her eyes flew wide.

“Hm? Didn’t you like it?” Sheng Huaixi stopped at the force on her wrist, the corners of her mouth lifting as she tilted her head with a faint smile. “You were staring at me for a long time just now.”

At that, a flush rushed up Jiang Chao’s face. She looked at Sheng Huaixi in embarrassment, a trace of awkwardness sliding across her features; her lips pressed together before she could stop herself.

“How do you know that...?”

Jiang Chao had thought she’d hidden her peeking perfectly. She firmly believed Sheng Huaixi didn’t have eyes on the back of her head; how could she possibly catch her glances from behind?

She hadn’t expected Sheng Huaixi to have already noticed her sneaking looks.

“The elevator reflection told me.”

As Jiang Chao’s expression flickered through embarrassment, shock, disbelief, and more, Sheng Huaixi easily read what she was thinking and generously gave her the answer.

The elevator reflection? At that blurry angle, could it really even make out her peeking?

Jiang Chao shifted her eyes and, still confused, followed Sheng Huaixi’s explanation to look over.

The front of the elevator doors, polished bright by the cleaners, faithfully reflected the red flush on Jiang Chao’s face at that moment; as for their figures, they were even clearer.

It was like another mirror, helping Sheng Huaixi keep watch over her standing behind.

Then, when she’d been thinking about the waist-grabbing scene from the dream just now, had her expression also been seen clearly by Sheng Huaixi?!

At the thought, Jiang Chao’s neck, which had already turned away, stiffened in place, like a swan being held by the neck, motionless.

“Then—” A gentle pinch lifted her chin, and Jiang Chao turned her face back.

Sheng Huaixi’s smiling face filled her vision. The wrist Jiang Chao had been holding down had somehow already turned around and caught her instead; the warmth of her body spread across Jiang Chao’s wrist.

“The thing you wanted and the thing I wanted; now we can continue.”

Her voice was light. Sheng Huaixi’s soft breath brushed Jiang Chao’s cheek, and a faint fragrance seeped silently into her breathing, taking everything from her.

Jiang Chao looked down in shock and saw Sheng Huaixi guiding her own wrist forward, fingers already lifting the shirt hem, as if the next second she would grab Jiang Chao’s hand and make her touch.

The elevator was closed on all sides; only the two of them were inside.

But—

There was a surveillance camera above them!

The instant those trembling fingers lifted the hem, Jiang Chao’s pupils tightened. Without hesitation, she reached out with her other hand and tugged hard at Sheng Huaixi’s shirt hem.

Because of her movement, Sheng Huaixi’s collar opened wide, and a broad stretch of her straight, slender collarbone was exposed, bright white and dazzling.

“We’re in the company elevator right now! People will see you; are you crazy or what!”

Jiang Chao spun around to block the camera behind them, glaring at Sheng Huaixi in irritation, breathing hard.

Did this person even know they weren’t at home right now? How could she still be this unrestrained?

Their wrists overlapped again and again; Sheng Huaixi’s palm and the back of her hand were both wrapped in Jiang Chao’s warmth, especially the force in Jiang Chao’s grip. She could even feel the slight dampness of Jiang Chao’s palm.

She really was nervous.

Sheng Huaixi’s lips curved slightly. Her tongue slowly brushed over the sharp edge of a tooth, the faint sting lingering there.

Jiang Chao kept her eyes locked on Sheng Huaixi and didn’t dare relax for even a second.

She was genuinely afraid Sheng Huaixi would ignore everything and keep going, seize her wrist right under the camera, and force her hand onto that lower abdomen.

If someone saw that...

Just imagining it made Jiang Chao’s pupils contract. Her grip tightened even more, and she absolutely didn’t dare let go.

Compared with Jiang Chao’s tense vigilance, Sheng Huaixi still wore the same smiling expression as at the start, letting her wrist remain bound by Jiang Chao, standing there entirely passive.

“Didn’t you like it?” Sheng Huaixi asked back, her fingertips brushing the back of Jiang Chao’s hand. “You kept looking for so long and couldn’t bear to look away.”

A shiver of itchiness scraped over her skin. Annoyed by Sheng Huaixi’s matter-of-fact tone, Jiang Chao’s face flashed with embarrassment and indignation.

“I was admiring it, okay? I was looking with praise and appreciation in mind, not wanting to touch it. That would make me sound like a lecher or something.”

So focused on refuting her, Jiang Chao didn’t notice that this sentence had unknowingly revealed that she’d been peeking.

She only kept arguing with Sheng Huaixi, cheeks red.

Amusement flickered in Sheng Huaixi’s eyes as she listened to Jiang Chao repeatedly defend herself by saying how slender her waist was, how good her figure was, praising her over and over without pause.

She was like a little flat-bottomed boat drifting on a lake, powered onward by Jiang Chao’s compliments, sailing farther and farther away.

“Cough... Anyway, I’m not trying to touch you, understand?”

Only belatedly did Jiang Chao realize that after all that explaining, she seemed to have made it even more obvious that she’d long had designs on Sheng Huaixi’s waist. She shut up decisively.

Sheng Huaixi’s lips lifted. “Understood.”

She shook the back of Jiang Chao’s hand and signaled, “Are we going to walk into the office holding hands like this the whole way? Of course, I don’t mind.”

Jiang Chao immediately pulled her wrist back.

The other hand was still caught by Sheng Huaixi.

Jiang Chao glanced at the elevator floor number and shook her wrist, urging, “Hurry up and let me go.”

The elevator was almost there. Jiang Chao hurriedly checked the floor display, her features colored by urgency.

Just as she was about to say something else, the movement and sensation around her wrist made her look down at once.

“Sheng Huaixi!”

Jiang Chao cried out. Shock flashed through her eyes as her brows drew together and she lowered her head. Sheng Huaixi’s sudden action startled her so badly that she quickly tried to pull her hand back.

This time, it came free very easily.

But the feeling on her skin still lingered. Jiang Chao tucked her hand behind her back, her wrist trembling there, the tips of her ears turning red.

Her eyes were wide as saucers, completely caught off guard by Sheng Huaixi’s behavior. “What are you doing!”

What was with suddenly grabbing her wrist and rubbing it frantically through her shirt?

“I can’t let it leave empty-handed, can I? Feel it through the shirt; it’s fine.”

Sheng Huaixi blinked innocently, the corners of her mouth dimpling into a faint smile, her expression even vaguely aggrieved, as if she didn’t understand why Jiang Chao was so worked up.

Looking at her expression, Jiang Chao was speechless, only feeling that no matter what she said now, it would sound wrong.

She had already touched it; the sensation was still there in her memory.

The lines of Sheng Huaixi’s abs were obvious. When Jiang Chao, completely unguarded, was led by her to brush across them quickly through the shirt, her palm wandered over them in disorder and sank into a shallow groove.

The pale, soft skin seemed faintly laced with the blue of flowing veins, thin and slightly raw.

Jiang Chao turned away to hide the red at the tips of her ears, her fingers behind her back unconsciously rubbing together.

“Don’t be mad. Come here, and I’ll quietly tell you a secret.”

Sheng Huaixi beckoned, signaling Jiang Chao to lean in and press close to her ear.

The fleshy red of her earlobe was right there by her lips. Sheng Huaixi glanced at it, her tongue sliding lightly over her own lips; she found herself a little hungry for it.

Jiang Chao’s irritation was flooding through her, but seeing Sheng Huaixi’s mysterious look, she still chose to lean in and listen, hair falling against her cheek, curiosity flickering in her gaze.

After all, Sheng Huaixi had been so bold and swaggering as to grab her in the elevator and make her touch her abs; now that she was telling a secret, she had become cautious instead.

“The elevator camera is broken,” Sheng Huaixi said softly, amusement thick in her eyes.

After her warm breath finished speaking, she blew once against the flushed earlobe on her way out, watching it tremble in shy reaction before she laughed under her breath and pulled away.

After saying that, Sheng Huaixi turned around, leaving Jiang Chao alone frozen in place. Her emotions bounced up and down like a bungee cord, and she stared blankly at Sheng Huaixi’s back.

In her head, the words Sheng Huaixi had just said kept echoing over and over—

“The camera is broken.”

If the camera was broken, then what were her own tangled, panicked thoughts just now? Did that count as a face-changing performance she’d put on just for Sheng Huaixi!

“Sheng Huaixi, don’t let me catch you next time,” Jiang Chao said through gritted teeth.

When she finally got a chance to tease and fool Sheng Huaixi like this, she was absolutely going to record a video and show it to her from every angle at home! And she would even grab Sheng Huaixi by the throat and force her to watch!

Sheng Huaixi turned back. The side of her face was full of delight, with no trace of fear at all. Her voice was low as she looked at Jiang Chao’s face and said softly, “I’m looking forward to it.”

No matter what Jiang Chao did, she would take it gladly.

“Ding~”

The elevator doors opened. Sheng Huaixi smoothed the smile from her face and returned to her usual cold expression, stepping out without hesitation.

Jiang Chao adjusted her expression and followed behind.

As they walked along the corridor, greetings of “Director Sheng” rang out one after another. Even Jiang Chao, as her assistant, drew quite a few looks, all with different meanings.

For Jiang Chao, walking this stretch of road felt like a pre-work execution; there was nothing but pain.

In order to end this "disaster" as quickly as possible, Jiang Chao unconsciously quickened her pace, hustled to her seat, put down her bag, and collapsed onto the desk with a long, relieved breath.

She had only come to work with Sheng Huaixi, but she felt even more exhausted than if she’d danced all night.

Tired in body; even more tired in heart.

Yuan Bai poked her head out. Her bright eyes darted about before she made sure Sheng Huaixi had already entered the office, then she turned and came close to Jiang Chao with a tense look.

“You’re finally here! I thought you weren’t coming in to work today!”

With her arm on the desk and her chin propped there, Jiang Chao lazily glanced up. “How could I not come? Isn’t today a makeup day off?”

“That’s not what I meant!” Yuan Bai scanned the surroundings, then lowered her voice, worry in her eyes. “What was with the thing you asked me to check last night?”

Jiang Chao nodded in understanding. So it was about last night.

“Nothing serious. It was just that when I was leaving, I happened to see a Sheng Group business card at the front desk, and on a whim I asked you to look into it.”

“It’d better be just that.”

Seeing the look on Jiang Chao’s face, Yuan Bai’s tightly furrowed brows slowly loosened, and she let out the worry she’d been holding.

Jiang Chao watched her expression change, sat up straight, and let her relaxed face turn serious. “What, did you find something else?”

Yuan Bai covered her face and sighed, parting her fingers slightly to reveal apologetic eyes, looking very much in the wrong.

“I should say up front that I didn’t do it on purpose. When you asked me about it, my mom happened to be right beside me. It wasn’t like I intentionally told her.”

“Aunt Zhou?” Jiang Chao froze, then patted Yuan Bai’s arm, signaling her to continue. “What did Aunt Zhou say?”

Seeing that Jiang Chao looked normal and wasn’t angry about her leaking the information, Yuan Bai relaxed back into her chair.

She unconsciously fiddled with a fountain pen between her fingers and slowly relayed what she’d heard last night.

“Mom said that Sheng Huaixi broke ties with the Sheng family six years ago, and the Sheng family is in a pretty complicated mess right now too. She told us not to get mixed up in it.”

Six years ago.

Jiang Chao frowned. A faint thread of thought slipped through her eyes. What a coincidence; she had gone abroad six years ago too.

With the distance between Sheng Huaixi’s family and hers, it was strange enough that they hadn’t known each other when they were children, given how extroverted she’d been back then; now there was this shared six years as well.

“Strange..."

Jiang Chao ran a fingertip over her thumb pad. The slight sting helped her focus, and her delicate brows tightened and loosened as she thought.

Yuan Bai turned her head, her long lashes drooping in confusion. “What’s strange?”

“Wait!” Yuan Bai slapped a hand onto Jiang Chao’s swivel chair and spun her around to face herself in one motion. Her brows were knitted tight, shock on her face. “You’re not planning to get involved, are you?”

All her thoughts were thrown into chaos by Yuan Bai’s movement. Jiang Chao gathered herself and picked up the employee badge on the desk, letting the cord dangle from her fingers.

“Do you see the big words ‘assistant’ on there?” Jiang Chao shot her an annoyed look. “I’m Jiang Assistant, not President Jiang. How am I supposed to get involved?”

“That’s good, then.”

Having received Jiang Chao’s definite answer, Yuan Bai clasped her hands behind her head and leaned back in relief. Her shirt collar opened slightly, revealing a stretch of pale collarbone.

Jiang Chao glanced at it, just straightening up when she suddenly reached out and grabbed Yuan Bai’s chair arm; her pupils contracted in shock as blue veins tensed on the black handle.

“Wait! Yuan Bai, what’s with this mark on you?”

From that hurried glance when Yuan Bai’s collar had opened, Jiang Chao had vaguely seen dark red, mottled marks; there seemed to be more than one.

Hooking a finger under the shirt collar, Jiang Chao mercilessly brushed away Yuan Bai’s hand as she tried to hide it, determined to see it clearly.

“At least go to the bathroom!” Yuan Bai couldn’t push away Jiang Chao’s concern, so she clutched her collar, her face red as she spoke.

Jiang Chao swept her gaze around the area, saw the camera above them, confirmed that its red light was blinking, then steadied her breath, stood up, and silently tugged Yuan Bai away.

In the restroom, bands of soft, bright white light shone over both of them.

Yuan Bai’s eyes darted everywhere; she didn’t dare meet the face of Jiang Chao, who was standing sternly before her with a hint of anger. Her fingertips hid behind her back guiltily.

The slightly open collar was fully pulled apart by Jiang Chao, and the marks Yuan Bai had been hiding were now on full display.

The pale red at the edges blurred out in an unmistakably suggestive way; blue-purple mottling was visible at a glance, and a neat row of red marks lay across the collarbone, with the force spreading gradually toward the chest, carrying a distinctly erotic air.

Jiang Chao let out a long breath, suppressing the anger in her chest; only the usual gentleness on her face faded away.

Having learned her lesson, Jiang Chao turned and checked every stall, making sure no one was inside.

Turning back, she looked at Yuan Bai with a serious expression. Yuan Bai turned her face aside, still dodging her gaze and refusing to face her.

“Yuan Bai.” Jiang Chao stepped forward and tapped Yuan Bai’s collarbone with her fingertip. The skin where she pressed was hot; her face was expressionless. “Tell me. What happened here?”

“It’s just, y’know, from going to bed with someone... it’s normal...”

Watching Yuan Bai hedge and avert her eyes, Jiang Chao let out a choked laugh from deep in her throat.

What, did she look like someone with “easy to fool” written on her face? First Sheng Huaixi lied to her; now Yuan Bai dared to lie too.

“Do you think I can’t tell those are whip marks?” Jiang Chao asked coldly.

Yuan Bai fell completely silent. Her fingers fidgeted aimlessly, her lashes trembling as she said nothing.

Jiang Chao rubbed at her temples, which were starting to ache faintly, and looked at the silent Yuan Bai before her, not knowing what else to say.

Lately, most of her attention had been on Sheng Huaixi, and her interactions with Yuan Bai had lessened a great deal. Yet it just so happened that during this stretch of time she hadn’t been involved, Yuan Bai had acquired these marks.

Rubbing hard at her forehead, Jiang Chao thought of what Yuan Bai had told her last time and paused, frowning. “Your partner is Fang Yunxi?”

“Yes.” Yuan Bai bit her lip and lowered her voice. When she looked up and saw Jiang Chao’s brows tightening as if she were about to lecture her, she hurriedly added, “I swear it’s normal between us, with no coercion involved.”

Normal between us.

Jiang Chao looked at the slightly open collarbone and couldn’t help twitching the corner of her mouth. Just those whip marks, barely breaking the skin, were enough to make her unable to believe those words.

It looked exactly like the marks she’d gotten as a kid when she was beaten for being naughty.

Yuan Bai and Fang Yunxi; were they fighting in bed or making love?

Playing this wildly.

Lowering her gaze, Jiang Chao swept over Yuan Bai’s V-neck shirt. The hollow design faintly revealed her pale skin, bold and sensual.

Paired with Yuan Bai’s innocent, pure face...

Jiang Chao was silent, her brows lifting a little despite herself.

She guessed this outfit must have been bought by Fang Yunxi for Yuan Bai; she had never seen anything like it in Yuan Bai’s closet before, and if there had been, she couldn’t possibly have missed it.

“Here. Wear my coat today.”

Jiang Chao took off her trench coat and handed it over, her gaze passing helplessly over the marks that would show with even a small movement from Yuan Bai.

Jiang Chao was wearing a sweatshirt underneath, so she wouldn’t be cold without the coat. Besides, the office had air conditioning.

As Yuan Bai took the clothes, Jiang Chao turned toward the mirror and raised a hand to fix her hair.

For convenience, Jiang Chao casually rolled up one sleeve; her pale skin glowed softly under the indoor light as she bent her elbow to press down the stray hairs springing up over her head.

Regarding that relationship, Jiang Chao reminded Yuan Bai, “If you’ve developed feelings, then go after her properly. Also, don’t get drunk recklessly again and end up with a second Fang Yunxi.”

At that, Yuan Bai knew Jiang Chao didn’t intend to keep questioning her, and that matter was over.

A smile bloomed on her face as Yuan Bai flung herself onto Jiang Chao’s back, familiarly rubbing her cheek against her in clingy little spoiled-child gestures.

“Okay~ There definitely won’t be a second one!”

But as for pursuing her, Yuan Bai’s eyes flickered faintly; her gaze slowly turned to the mirror, and she pressed her lips together.

Yesterday, she and Fang Yunxi had just agreed to only have sex and not talk about feelings.

Seeing how obviously she wasn’t taking it seriously, Jiang Chao could only sigh in her heart. When it came to matters of the heart, even as Yuan Bai’s cousin, she couldn’t interfere too much.

She only hoped Yuan Bai would meet someone she truly liked.

Her thoughts tangled, Jiang Chao lowered her eyes and absentmindedly stroked her hair a few times, the motion sliding down to expose the inner skin of her arm.

Yuan Bai stared blankly at the mirror, and in a daze her eyes caught a familiar-colored mark; her lashes stopped mid-blink, and her expression snapped into sudden clarity.

“Jiang Chao, wait, don’t move!”

Startled, Yuan Bai rushed forward in several quick steps, grabbed Jiang Chao’s wrist, and lifted it, shock all over her face.

A faintly bluish-red mark was plainly visible on the inside of Jiang Chao’s arm!

“You’re playing this wild too?!”

Yuan Bai’s cry rang out, leaving Jiang Chao’s ears buzzing. She blinked and looked down in confusion.

Her lovely, lively peach-blossom eyes flew wide open!

When had this thing appeared on her arm?

Blue-purple against pale red, a small irregular circle hidden on the skin of her inner arm.

If Yuan Bai hadn’t said anything, she never would have noticed it at all.

“When did this get there?” Jiang Chao leaned toward the mirror, raising her arm for a closer look, surprise flashing through her eyes.

The mark was very clear; clearly it had appeared not long ago, but Jiang Chao had no memory of it at all.

Standing to the side, Yuan Bai looked at the mark on Jiang Chao’s arm, her expression unreadable. A range of emotions flashed quickly in her eyes as she stared for a while.

“Could the owner of it be Sheng Huaixi?” Yuan Bai forced out the words, her expression complicated.

“How could that be.” Jiang Chao denied it without hesitation. “She didn’t have the time.”

Jiang Chao remembered every moment she’d spent with Sheng Huaixi clearly. How could it have been her?

The corner of Yuan Bai’s mouth twitched. At Jiang Chao’s immediate answer, however, she only became more certain of her own guess.

“You’re that sure? You two live under the same roof; maybe she came over quietly while you were asleep.”

Jiang Chao’s denial caught in her throat and could not continue.

She felt that—Sheng Huaixi might, should, perhaps really be capable of doing something like this.

But sneaking to her bedside at night just to leave a hickey seemed a little too perverted...

Jiang Chao’s expression grew complicated.

“Speaking of which, why do I feel like you’re especially hostile toward Sheng Huaixi?” Jiang Chao turned around and looked at Yuan Bai with confusion.

Yuan Bai’s gaze darted away. “Mm, from the rumors, she seems like she might really be that kind of person.”

Rumors. The corner of Jiang Chao’s mouth twitched. “Fine.”

She understood very well how Sheng Huaixi got demonized in rumors.

With a deep sigh, Jiang Chao said, “I’ll ask her later. Come on, let’s go back to work first.”

Yuan Bai nodded, and the two of them returned to their stations.

Enduring miserably at her desk, Jiang Chao’s mind was surging with thoughts; all sorts of guesses flashed through her head without pause.

She forced herself to endure until lunchtime. The instant the break arrived, Jiang Chao let out a breath, shot up from her seat, and headed straight for Sheng Huaixi’s office.

Knock, knock.

Biting her lip, Jiang Chao felt that every second of waiting stretched unbearably long.

At the permission from inside, Jiang Chao slipped in quickly.

Sheng Huaixi was lazily leaning on the sofa, rubbing her temples. Seeing Jiang Chao push the door open, a smile spread across her face.

“You’re on time today. Are you here to have lunch with me?”

Jiang Chao said nothing. She walked quickly to Sheng Huaixi’s side in a few steps and stared closely at her face, serious.

“What is it?” Sheng Huaixi turned slightly, frowning as she reached out to test Jiang Chao’s forehead. “Feeling unwell?”

Jiang Chao shook her head. “No.”

“Then why does your face look so strange?”

After studying Sheng Huaixi’s face for a long moment, Jiang Chao pressed her lips together, her throat tightening nervously.

Then Jiang Chao decisively rolled up her sleeve, showed the mark on her arm to Sheng Huaixi, and fixed her gaze on her face, refusing to miss even the smallest reaction.

“Do you know how this happened?”