Chapter 47

“No.”

Sheng Huaixi narrowed her eyes and looked at Jiang Chao’s face as she answered with certainty.

That firm tone reached Jiang Chao’s ears; her expression softened noticeably, and the tight knot in her chest slowly loosened. Even her breathing grew lighter.

Jiang Chao herself did not notice the change.

Compared with Sheng Huaixi hiding things from her, what Jiang Chao found even harder to accept was that Sheng Huaixi had lied to her because of Xu Jingwen.

But Xu Jingwen’s inexplicable involvement made Jiang Chao’s mood even more complicated. The anger she had already sunk into confusion only grew harder to untangle, her thoughts blurring further.

Lowering her gaze, Jiang Chao met Sheng Huaixi’s eyes head-on. Her deep, dark pupils stared at her without blinking; when Sheng Huaixi looked over, Jiang Chao’s fingers, which had been tugging at the corner of the blanket, caught on her sleeve instead.

She gave it two gentle shakes. Sheng Huaixi’s eyes half-lidded, and she said softly, “Don’t be mad at me.”

That rough voice, carrying those tender words, came out easily, without any need to gather herself first.

It only made her seem especially awkward; no one knew exactly what she was being awkward about.

Thinking of that, Jiang Chao felt a breath lodge in her chest, stubbornly refusing to move.

That unresolved feeling was like a lump of soft cotton; it wasn’t heavy, but it was impossible to ignore.

Worse still, Sheng Huaixi kept her gaze on Jiang Chao for a long time, staring straight at her.

Jiang Chao’s palm tightened as she kneaded the soft flesh unconsciously. After a long struggle, her lashes trembled, and she finally let her shoulders sink before exhaling.

“Sheng Huaixi, I’m in a really bad mood right now. I don’t want to talk.” Jiang Chao forced herself to speak calmly, stating her current state in a flat, emotionless way.

She reached out, grabbed Sheng Huaixi’s wrist, and held it, looking at her steadily and unhurriedly as she finished the rest of her words.

“Lie down and rest. Give me a little time; I want to think things through on my own.”

After a slight pause, Jiang Chao added, “Right here in your room.”

Hearing that, Sheng Huaixi’s fingers paused for a moment, and the intensity in her gaze slowly faded; she no longer stared so fixedly.

The fingers pinching the hem of Jiang Chao’s clothes were guided down little by little. Sheng Huaixi answered in a hoarse voice, “Okay.”

With her agreement, the tension in Jiang Chao’s knitted brows eased at once. She carefully tucked the blanket around Sheng Huaixi, then turned and walked out.

She left Sheng Huaixi’s phone beside her and told her to call anytime if anything came up, then turned to leave.

Sheng Huaixi watched Jiang Chao’s back disappear little by little. Her eyes flickered. The fingers beneath the blanket slowly clenched, carrying a trace of nervousness, yet there was also a faint anticipation in her heart.

Anticipation that Jiang Chao would discover her secret.

Fear that even after discovering it, Jiang Chao still would not react.

The two emotions collided inside her; the result was a bloody mess, and neither side came away with a complete victory.

Only after the figure had stepped out the door did Sheng Huaixi slowly draw her gaze back.

Inside the room, a long sigh dragged on, heavy and drawn out.

Through a thin wall, in the room next door, Jiang Chao let out the same kind of deep sigh.

The mess on the floor had not yet been cleaned up. Jiang Chao forgot for a moment; when she walked in, she nearly slipped on a shard.

Everywhere she looked was a scene of wreckage.

Just seeing the devastation on the floor was enough for Jiang Chao to roughly imagine what state Sheng Huaixi’s emotions had been in last night in this room.

Mad and obsessive; on the scales, her feelings had been pushed to one extreme and then tipped all the way to the other side.

Alone in an empty room, what had Sheng Huaixi been thinking when she smashed the decorations into this state…

“Didn’t they say she only really goes crazy later on…” Jiang Chao muttered, covering her face. She spoke slowly, blankly, her gaze lost and hesitant.

Just looking at this scene, Jiang Chao had already been shocked into silence.

If this was only the early stage, she truly did not dare imagine what Sheng Huaixi’s “peak” would look like.

And right now, they had only dealt with one Zhou Xu; people like Xu Jingwen were still far off.

If, Jiang Chao only imagined if——

If after she helped Sheng Huaixi deal with all of those pursuers, she still had not reached zero; if it really came to that point, could she still successfully pull away from Sheng Huaixi?

The thoughts flashing back and forth in her mind slowly made an obvious answer rise in Jiang Chao’s heart.

She couldn’t do it.

She couldn’t pull away from Sheng Huaixi, and Sheng Huaixi would never let her do it easily either.

“Terrible beyond belief…” Jiang Chao sighed under her breath. Thinking of Sheng Huaixi lying in the next room only made her already chaotic mood worse.

Propping her chin in her hand, Jiang Chao sat alone in the room, quietly sorting through the mess in her head, slowly untangling thoughts that had become a knot.

As she thought about it, a bold idea suddenly sprang up in Jiang Chao’s mind——

Why not cut off this danger before Sheng Huaixi met those people?

Solve this problem before Sheng Huaixi discovered it; remove the danger surrounding her.

Resolve it before Sheng Huaixi’s interest in her grew any stronger; get it done early, and also try to fix the relationship between her and Sheng Huaixi in time, so it stayed at friendship.

Maybe she should even try to work hard at bending Sheng Huaixi’s dangerous way of thinking back a little.

Just like this time. Jiang Chao had not said it directly, but Sheng Huaixi had once admitted that she would hurt herself on purpose to get Jiang Chao’s attention and win her concern.

This strange aphrodisiac reminded Jiang Chao of what Sheng Huaixi had said before.

Sheng Huaixi was alert and smart, and she also knew exactly what kind of person Xu Jingwen was. She had had a chance not to drink the wine Xu Jingwen handed her.

But Sheng Huaixi had still been drugged; after being drugged, she had even had the presence of mind to consider Jiang Chao’s feelings, and after much thought, she chose not to tell her.

Jiang Chao exhaled slowly.

Every time she thought of this, the anger in her heart would surge uncontrollably, making her chest ache with fury.

She simply could not imagine how ruthless Sheng Huaixi was being toward herself.

Her lips pressed together lightly. Jiang Chao worried at them several times before grabbing the blanket beside her and curling up on the sofa.

The more she thought, the more annoyed she became; the more she thought, the softer her heart grew.

Because she truly could feel it——

The core of all of Sheng Huaixi’s outrageous behavior was her.

Just as Sheng Huaixi had said, she was trying hard to win Jiang Chao’s concern, craving her attention every moment of the day.

Like a cat that had been wandering outside for a long time and, after being carefully cared for by its owner for a while, had become especially clingy.

She could even deliberately hide her vicious nature for this, showing Jiang Chao a gentle, easy-to-bully side instead.

“You annoying liar,” Jiang Chao murmured softly. A sigh slipped from her lips as she slowly closed her eyes.

She fell asleep in the room filled with Sheng Huaixi’s scent.

Time passed minute by minute. The white noise of the air conditioner was the best lullaby; Jiang Chao clutched the warm blanket, her sleeping face peaceful.

A slender figure appeared at the doorway.

Sheng Huaixi walked into the room without making a sound, easily avoiding the shards scattered across the messy floor. Narrowing her eyes, she took in the scene and walked toward Jiang Chao.

She finally stopped beside the sofa and slowly crouched down.

“Why aren’t you curious about me at all…” Sheng Huaixi said softly. Her fingertips brushed the air over Jiang Chao’s cheek, slow and gentle.

With just a glance, Sheng Huaixi could tell that all her earlier fear and anticipation had turned into bubbles, silently vanishing in a gust of cold wind.

Jiang Chao had no intention of exploring her secrets at all.

And yet Sheng Huaixi was intensely curious about that.

“More curiosity, more concern; why don’t you have any?”

Sheng Huaixi leaned down. Her lips parted slowly as she spoke those intimate words, inching closer.

She moved toward Jiang Chao’s slightly parted pale pink lips.

Hot breath brushed against her cheek.

Sheng Huaixi was blocked in place by a hand.

“Trying to steal a kiss?”