Chapter 27

Jiang Chao trailed off, staring fixedly at Sheng Huaixi’s face, not daring to miss even the slightest flicker of expression.

Sheng Huaixi was good at hiding what she felt. If Jiang Chao missed this rare chance to ask her and read something from her expression, she’d probably never get another one.

Was it shock, or concern?

Her heartbeat pounded like a drum in her chest, so loud in her ears that it was starting to muddle her thoughts.

Jiang Chao watched Sheng Huaixi’s expression, unconsciously biting her lip. Her throat tightened as she waited nervously for an answer.

The room fell silent for a long while. Then, all at once, the figure in front of Jiang Chao moved past in a blur, leaving behind a cold, beautiful side profile.

When Sheng Huaixi spoke, her detached words struck Jiang Chao like thunder.

“You suspect I did this, don’t you?”

The guess Jiang Chao had buried deep in her heart was unexpectedly laid bare so casually by Sheng Huaixi. Her tone was calm and cool, as if she were talking about something as trivial as snowflakes.

The light in Jiang Chao’s eyes quivered faintly. Her hand resting on her lap jerked up in panic, and she looked at Sheng Huaixi’s lowered face in surprise.

“No..."

I haven’t even said what I was thinking yet; why are you the one looking wronged?

Hearing Jiang Chao’s weak denial, Sheng Huaixi made a soft sound in her throat. Her thin eyelids lifted slightly, and those always-smiling eyes were now full of coldness.

“Not that? You came to my office on purpose, showed me that injury out of nowhere, and deliberately looked at me when you asked that question; wasn’t it because you suspected I did it?”

“......” Jiang Chao froze in place, the gap between her lips leaving the tip of her tongue peeking out in helpless embarrassment.

Hearing her plan picked apart by Sheng Huaixi one piece at a time, Jiang Chao had no way to argue.

What left her even more tongue-tied than usual was the dejected look on Sheng Huaixi’s face.

Those long, beautiful eyes lowered, carrying a pitiful, fragile air. The brilliance on her usually dazzling features seemed to have taken a heavy blow and scattered away.

Jiang Chao was left speechless. Her lips pressed together.

“I thought you were here to ask me to eat with you, but it turns out you came to catch a criminal.”

Sheng Huaixi lowered her gaze, her expression dim, her voice sounding just as wilted.

The moment she said it, Jiang Chao saw the hurt on her face, and it felt as if someone had twisted her heart and squeezed. Sour and bitter all at once.

She looked exactly like someone whose hopes had been dashed, and the line about catching a criminal was a cool little jab aimed squarely at her.

Jiang Chao spoke, and without realizing it, her momentum had already weakened.

“Because at first glance, this mark doesn’t look like a collision, and we’re living together, so..."

“So you thought it was me.”

Sheng Huaixi turned slightly, her gaze flashing. Her tone was light and cool, but it completely overpowered Jiang Chao’s words.

As she turned, a faint smile appeared on Sheng Huaixi’s face. It wasn’t as languid as when she had first entered the room; her eyes and brows drooped softly.

“Jiang Chao, when I’ve done bad things before, haven’t I always told you honestly?”

Jiang Chao pressed her lips together and said nothing, her eyes dropping helplessly.

That was indeed the truth, and Sheng Huaixi admitted it without the slightest hesitation.

Silence spread between them.

In the end, Sheng Huaixi took Jiang Chao’s wrist and stared at her for a long while. Then she bit lightly at her lip and spoke in a gentle voice.

“For this kind of accidental bruise, as long as you apply medicine properly, it’ll go away in a few days. There’s medicine at home. I’ll go back and put some on for you, okay?”

Jiang Chao secretly glanced at her expression. The ice and snow seemed to be melting away; though her voice was still cool, she looked like she had returned to how she’d been when she first entered the room.

There was finally no more of that unbearable hurt on her face.

That’s good...

Fine, maybe she really was overthinking it.

Since Sheng Huaixi had said so, if she still didn’t believe her, she’d seem a little too much.

Jiang Chao rolled her shoulders, let out a breath, and with it let go of the suspicion in her heart. Her eyes curved as she nodded. “Okay.”

Her fair cheeks glowed softly, pure and harmless, like a rabbit in roadside grass; give it a handful of tender shoots and it would follow you away.

Sheng Huaixi’s fingertips tapped lightly together. As her tongue brushed over her lips and her gaze lowered, a dark glint flashed at the bottom of her eyes.

Her throat bobbed. Sheng Huaixi turned to look at Jiang Chao, the corners of her brows and eyes suddenly lifting. Sweet, tangled temptation rippled across her face as she asked in a low voice,

“Or do you need me to prove it to you?”

“Prove it?” Jiang Chao lowered her eyes unconsciously, looking at her hand. From that angle, she couldn’t see anything. After a soft cough, she asked, “This can be proven?”

“Of course. Give me your other hand, and I’ll prove it to you.”

Sheng Huaixi looked perfectly serious. She lifted her chin toward Jiang Chao’s wrist, signaling for her to bring it over.

Curiosity tugged at Jiang Chao at the mention of this so-called proof. She obediently held out her wrist in front of Sheng Huaixi and even took the initiative to roll up her sleeve, exposing the soft, pale skin.

“Go on,” Jiang Chao said, extending it.

Her arm was slender and fair, the line of it graceful like a finely crafted work of art; with just a little force, a mark could be left there easily.

Sheng Huaixi said nothing more. Her eyelashes lowered, and her palm slowly tightened around Jiang Chao’s wrist.

With the pressure of her hand, she seemed to feel the pulse of blood beneath the thin layer of skin and flesh; the faint movement of the veins was especially clear at this moment.

The gaze above her slowly descended. Jiang Chao watched Sheng Huaixi lean closer, her warm breath drawing nearer and nearer, denser and denser.

Loose curls fell beside her face, and Jiang Chao could no longer see Sheng Huaixi’s expression.

She could only feel the breath against her wrist trembling slightly.

Sheng Huaixi was excited.

What lay before her was fair, delicate skin, offered so openly and trustingly right in front of her. Jiang Chao had no guard against her at all and had believed her so easily.

So obedient. Truly very obedient.

The skin gathered in Sheng Huaixi’s palm was soft, extremely soft. She stared at the small patch of flesh enclosed by her fingers; a faint red ring was already showing.

It seemed very easy to leave a mark.

Her gaze deepened. A dark light flashed in Sheng Huaixi’s eyes. She lifted Jiang Chao’s wrist like that, then suddenly pressed her lips down and kissed it.

“Mm—?!”

Jiang Chao’s eyes flew wide open, staring at Sheng Huaixi in what could only be described as terror.

The faint sound of sucking and kissing on her arm was soft, but in the quiet room it sounded especially clear, making her ears itch.

“No... stop..."

A flustered blush rushed across Jiang Chao’s beautiful face like rosy clouds, and the emotion in her eyes was unmistakable.

She reflexively reached out to push her away, but her wrist hovered above Sheng Huaixi’s hair; her fair hand trembled slightly.

She wanted to stop her, but was she supposed to just press Sheng Huaixi’s head down and force her away?!

An intimate little sound kept slipping into her ears. Jiang Chao was panicking, especially because Sheng Huaixi showed no sign of stopping after that one kiss.

Why?! Why was Sheng Huaixi suddenly doing this?!

At the blush on the face before her, Jiang Chao’s mind went completely blank, hazy and confused.

She tried to pull her arm back, but Sheng Huaixi’s palm didn’t budge as she held her in place with force.

And even as she struggled, a flash of pain from sharp teeth pierced her arm.

“Sheng Huaixi?!”

Jiang Chao looked down in disbelief, only to see Sheng Huaixi continue without the slightest hesitation.

Her teeth were sharp, and then came a thin, damp sensation, carrying a numb itch. A tingling current shot up from the base of her spine, making her especially alarmed.

“Sheng Huaixi, let go of me.” Jiang Chao tugged at her wrist.

Sheng Huaixi rubbed the tip of her teeth lightly against Jiang Chao’s arm. It was only for an instant, but Jiang Chao felt it all clearly.

The heat of her breath, the warmth of her palm; Jiang Chao could feel all of it clearly in those few breaths.

Desire stirred restlessly; the air slowly heated.

Then came the voice to stop it.

Sheng Huaixi exhaled deeply, gathering up all the madness and obsession in her eyes before reluctantly loosening her grip on Jiang Chao’s wrist.

“This is my proof,” Sheng Huaixi said hoarsely.

Her voice was low and rough, carrying a heat that made her ears burn, as if she were suppressing something, holding herself back to the very limit.

“......”

Jiang Chao looked into her eyes. There, a faint smile was slowly swaying. Sheng Huaixi met her gaze without flinching, stubborn in a way that made her seem almost innocent, as if she had done nothing wrong and had been wrongly accused.

It made Jiang Chao doubt her original guess.

Warm fingertips touched her wrist, light and gentle, completely unlike the force from just now; instead, they carried a hint of caution.

“See? The shapes are different, aren’t they?”

Her face burning, Jiang Chao unconsciously followed the sound and lowered her head.

“!”

Why is the color so dark?!

The deep red mark before her swept away Jiang Chao’s muddled thoughts. Her reason came back all at once.

The mark Sheng Huaixi had just sucked out was deep and red, like a fully ripe plum blossom, kissed into a small, neat circle.

If left to settle overnight, Jiang Chao was certain—

It would turn bluer and more purple, and even more regular than the mark on the other arm.

Her fingertips rubbed lightly over the skin as Sheng Huaixi gave a soft laugh, her voice thick with allure.

“How is it? Have you remembered the mark I kissed?”

Her ears were hot, and a blush spread across the back of her neck. Jiang Chao looked at the mark on her wrist, pressing her lips together, at a complete loss for words.

What could she even say now?

Sheng Huaixi’s gaze stayed on her face, full of indulgent tenderness.

Waiting for an answer.

“Ring——”

At that moment, Jiang Chao had never found the sound of a ringing phone so pleasant. She shot to her feet, almost embarrassingly fast as she turned and ran.

She fled from this atmosphere, one that had left her speechless and made her feel so acutely embarrassed.

“I’m going to get the takeaway. I’ll come back later.”

Her steps hurried away, and her figure disappeared quickly from Sheng Huaixi’s view.

The smile on Sheng Huaixi’s face also faded bit by bit, turning cold and bleak.

She stood and returned to her desk. Pale light reflected off her face, and the click of the mouse sounded again and again in a strict, steady rhythm.

The images reflected in her pupils kept changing; in the end, Sheng Huaixi stopped her hand and stared at the paused frame, the corners of her lips pressing down slightly.

“Really, you’re getting in the way a little.”

Yuan Bai.

Sheng Huaixi narrowed her eyes slightly. A chill spread from the depths of her gaze as her fingertips tapped against the desk, her eyes fixed motionlessly on the screen.

In the frame—

Jiang Chao had accidentally noticed the marks on Yuan Bai’s collarbone and, pressed close against her, was about to pull Yuan Bai’s shirt aside. Her movements were intimate and natural.

Then, in the next shot, after the two of them left and came back, Jiang Chao’s windbreaker had ended up on Yuan Bai.

Jiang Chao was wearing a hoodie, but all morning she hadn’t, as usual, rolled up her sleeves while working.

Several times, when Jiang Chao had been troubled, she had unconsciously rolled up her sleeves, only to seem to remember something and quickly tug them back down over her forearms.

Her movements were so flustered that she had clearly already noticed the marks on her arm.

So when Jiang Chao and Yuan Bai left their workstations to check the marks on Yuan Bai, she had inadvertently discovered the marks on her own body.

The white light above fell on the woman’s hair, black and glossy, cold as ice.

Sheng Huaixi leaned back slightly in her chair, watching the intimate scene on the screen; a faint gloom gathered in her expression.

Like thick ink splashed across a fair, beautiful sheet of paper, slowly spreading into a dense black that gradually swallowed everything.

Her tongue pressed against the roof of her mouth. Sheng Huaixi’s brows and eyes darkened, and in the end she let out a soft hum.

“It should have been kissed below the chest.”

Below the chest, that seductive red would bloom quietly.

The soft, full curve would hide her crime; Jiang Chao wouldn’t see it in the mirror.

The thin, close-fitting underwear would block everyone else’s view, and only she would know the secret beneath that chest.

Only Sheng Huaixi would know.

Maybe next time, she could do it this way.

Sheng Huaixi tapped the armrest, her eyes lingering with obsession on Jiang Chao in the surveillance footage. She leaned forward slightly, her fingertips stroking the side profile in the air.

“Don’t be afraid.”

Madness was spreading; sticky fascination sank deep into Sheng Huaixi’s eyes.

*

After dinner and cleaning up, Jiang Chao lounged lazily on the sofa, completely unwilling to move.

The post-meal lull was perfect for doing nothing at all; there was no need to think about anything, just curl up on the sofa and that was enough.

“Jiang Chao.”

Hearing Sheng Huaixi call her, Jiang Chao gave a soft mm and tilted her head to look at her. Warm yellow light filtered through her lashes and over her eyes as she asked, “What is it?”

“Applying medicine for you,” Sheng Huaixi said, sitting beside her and lowering her lashes. The medicine box in her hand passed in front of Jiang Chao.

“Ah... I thought you were joking.”

The sofa dipped beside her. Jiang Chao scratched her cheek and watched as Sheng Huaixi seriously took out a cotton swab and really seemed ready to apply medicine for her. A small smile flickered across her face.

How to put it... this had completely exceeded her expectations. It was beyond surprising.

The whole day, Jiang Chao’s emotions had risen and fallen nonstop from the moment she saw that mark, and her concern for that red bruise had already worn thin.

But she hadn’t expected that what she thought was just a casual remark from Sheng Huaixi during the day would turn into this woman actually bringing ointment over at night to apply it for her.

“I wouldn’t joke about this with you.” Sheng Huaixi lowered her head to look at the instructions in her hand. Her voice was cool, and even the warm yellow light of home seemed unable to warm her.

Jiang Chao stared blankly at Sheng Huaixi’s profile. Rarely, she didn’t see that teasing, smiling expression on her face.

Right now, Sheng Huaixi’s thick lashes rested against her eyelids. Her profile was cool and sharp, the line of it clean and decisive, faintly carrying a detached chill.

Completely different from her usual teasing image.

But Jiang Chao felt that maybe this was the real Sheng Huaixi.

Resting her chin on one hand, she looked at that profile absentmindedly, her gaze sliding little by little downward.

Long lashes, a high bridge of the nose, pale pink lips... everything seemed beautiful.

Her lashes were lowered in earnest. The warm light above gave her a faint gilded glow, and paired with the casual clothes she was wearing, Jiang Chao suddenly felt that Sheng Huaixi looked like a sweet cake at the moment.

Maybe a mango chocolate filling?

Sweet and sour, eye-catching on the outside, making one mistake it for a sugary filling, only to find that the bite inside was bitter enough to twist a person’s face.

“Pfft.” Jiang Chao laughed at her own thought. Turning her body slightly, she leaned her face toward Sheng Huaixi’s profile, the corners of her lips lifting. “Sheng Huaixi, do you know what I’m thinking right now?”

Sheng Huaixi cooperated by turning toward her. Her long lashes blinked, a faint smile appeared on her face, and she gave a soft mm.

“I’m thinking that you look like a piece of cake in this outfit,” Jiang Chao said, curving her eyes as she pointed at the lemon yellow Sheng Huaixi was wearing.

A cake?

Sheng Huaixi narrowed her eyes and asked, “Your favorite kind?”

Her smile froze. Jiang Chao looked at the faint smile on Sheng Huaixi’s face and wondered if she had asked that on purpose.

Was Sheng Huaixi asking about the cake, or about her...

“What’s wrong?” Sheng Huaixi blinked, puzzled, her lashes fluttering across her face. She looked genuinely confused.

“Sheng Huaixi, do you talk to everyone this suggestively?”

“Suggestively?” Sheng Huaixi blinked again, as if she had thought of something, and her brows and eyes curved. “So you think what I just asked was suggestive?”

Jiang Chao was hit by her own boomerang all over again and fell silent, only staring at Sheng Huaixi with a long-suffering look, her lips pressed together as she waited for an answer.

“Only with you,” Sheng Huaixi answered, looking back down at the instructions in her hand.

Jiang Chao froze in place. Her heartbeat hadn’t even had time to surge with excitement before Sheng Huaixi’s next words made her heart ache instead.

“Except for you, when I talk to other people, I’m pretty harsh. Didn’t the company already have rumors that my mouth is basically poison?”

Sheng Huaixi spoke casually about those rumors, her eyes fixed intently on the allergy notes in her hand.

Jiang Chao thought of those whispers, and her lips slowly pressed tighter.

That was true. She had heard those rumors too, but as someone who understood Sheng Huaixi fairly well, she didn’t really feel anything about them.

To Jiang Chao, Sheng Huaixi seemed wildly extreme in her actions, but her words weren’t what she’d call harsh.

When Sheng Huaixi talked to her, her tone was soft and gentle most of the time.

And Sheng Huaixi’s admirers weren’t people who could be chased off with a few soft words. Take Zhou Xu, for example; if Sheng Huaixi wasn’t absolutely decisive, she would still be clinging to her without giving up.

And people like Zhou Xu weren’t just one or two.

In the simple material she had once read, there were as many as four people who kept relentlessly entangling themselves around Sheng Huaixi.

They were people Sheng Huaixi had tried every method on, yet still couldn’t drive away.

“It’s fine. You can say it to me.”

Jiang Chao looked at Sheng Huaixi steadily and made a soft promise.

“Whether you speak harshly or not, I’ll listen.”

Under the warm yellow light, the look Sheng Huaixi turned toward her was sticky enough to make one uneasy.

Jiang Chao’s heart gave a shiver.

*

“Damn Sheng Huaixi.”

The moon had risen higher outside the window, and the curtains let in no light at all. Jiang Chao looked at the time on her phone and let out a miserable groan.

It was already 1:00 a.m., and she still wasn’t asleep!

By habit, Jiang Chao usually got into bed around 10:00 and prepared to sleep. But then—

Three hours drifted by, and she had rolled from side to side, even hugging her favorite dinosaur plush, yet still hadn’t found the slightest trace of sleepiness.

The reason was simple: Jiang Chao’s entire brain was full of Sheng Huaixi.

Her mind kept replaying everything that had happened today, thinking about what Sheng Huaixi had said to her, thinking about the expression on Sheng Huaixi’s face when she said it...

Whether it was Sheng Huaixi’s eyelashes trembling slightly when she kissed the strawberry-colored mark on Jiang Chao’s arm at noon, or Sheng Huaixi’s gentle lowered brows and eyes at night as she applied medicine and spoke those caring words...

Only belatedly did Jiang Chao realize that somehow, her mind had remembered all of it with unusual clarity.

“Ah—” Jiang Chao sighed again unconsciously, her face faintly flushed.

Thinking it through carefully, Jiang Chao felt that Sheng Huaixi had been teasing her in subtle, almost invisible ways.

She hugged the plush tighter and turned over. Then she blinked and felt that maybe she was overthinking it; perhaps it was only Sheng Huaixi’s interest in her.

Just as she had said last time, interest, desire, and curiosity were all among the reasons Sheng Huaixi wanted her concern.

Since she wanted concern, then deliberately saying suggestive, attention-grabbing things and doing heart-fluttering things would be perfectly normal for Sheng Huaixi, wouldn’t it?

After all, that was Sheng Huaixi...

A madwoman who would put a phone under her bed and deliberately hurt herself just to get the concern she wanted.

And the thoughts of a madwoman were often impossible for other people to understand.

For example, Jiang Chao still didn’t understand how Sheng Huaixi could come up with those ideas even after she explained the reason.

The thoughts in their minds were like two parallel lines separated by a distance; they only looked at each other, but would never cross.

Sheng Huaixi’s thoughts were impossible for her to guess, impossible to understand.

That was how Jiang Chao judged it in her heart as she lay quietly in bed, her eyes flickering.

She tried to comfort herself with that thought and find sleep, but her mind remained stubbornly awake.

It was clearly the kind of time when she should already be sleepy, yet drowsiness still refused to come.

Her eyes were unfocused, her mind clear yet empty, muddled as if stirred into a paste.

The quiet night wore a thin veil, dim and hazy. Jiang Chao let out a silent sigh.

Just as she was drawing her gaze back from the faintly glowing ceiling, her ears twitched and her eyes suddenly sharpened. A wary look flashed at the bottom of her gaze, and her nerves tightened.

Was there movement at the door?!

Lying perfectly still, Jiang Chao looked toward the door and listened closely. The hand under the blanket tightened in caution, and the edge of her palm scraped against a faint sting of pain.

The movement at the door was slight; the sound was very shallow and low, like the rustle of a leaf blown down by the wind, a soft click.

If Jiang Chao hadn’t been awake, and if the room hadn’t been this quiet, she never would have heard it.

Jiang Chao kept staring at the door. The night wind blew through, bringing a chill, as though some cold, damp air had seeped in.

Her gaze locked on it. Suddenly, Jiang Chao’s pupils shrank hard, and her palm dug in unconsciously.

For a split second, a shadow seemed to flash past beneath the crack in the door.

Jiang Chao blinked in disbelief, lifting her fingers to rub her eyes, suspecting that staring at the ceiling too long after staying up had made her see things.

How could there be a shadow in the middle of the night?

A few scenes flashed through her mind, and Jiang Chao’s whole body trembled.

A winter night, 1:00 a.m. right now, with a cold wind cutting through the room; and all the horror films she had watched before flashed through her head one by one.

The arm Jiang Chao had poked out from under the blanket trembled uncontrollably, and she hurriedly patted her own face, hoping to calm down.

“Pah, pah, pah, stop scaring yourself.”

That was what she told herself, but as Jiang Chao stared at the faint strip of light seeping through the crack in the door, another thought suddenly popped into her mind.

Could it be that the figure flashing past outside the door was Sheng Huaixi?

Trying to slip quietly into her room in the middle of the night.

Jiang Chao’s heart gave a violent jolt, her eyes fixed tightly on the motionless door.

That light and shadow flashed again—

Jiang Chao’s breath caught!