Chapter 3

Gu Nianxi thought Bai Jin was insane.
Were they close enough to apply medicine for each other?
Did Bai Jin think that just because Gu Nianxi had defended her today, she truly regarded her as a younger sister now?

She struggled, but could not break free. Instead, Bai Jin pushed her skirt upward, revealing the dark purple bruise covering her left knee.

Gu Nianxi snapped in irritation, “Bai Jin, who gave you permission to touch me? Get out. Give the medicine to Xiao An and have her apply it for me.”

She braced both hands against the bed, sat fully upright, and glared at Bai Jin.
To emphasize her refusal, she planted her free foot against Bai Jin as well and applied some force.

Only the wall lamp was on in the bedroom, its dim yellow light spilling in from the wall. From this angle, Gu Nianxi could not see Bai Jin’s expression clearly. All she could see were Bai Jin’s pale irises gleaming in the darkness as they reflected the light, like a wild beast that had locked onto its prey and was ready to attack at any moment. Gu Nianxi instinctively held her breath, the urge to flee rising within her.

In the next instant, the sensation vanished so quickly that Gu Nianxi wondered whether her exhaustion had caused her to imagine it.
Bai Jin lowered her eyelashes. Paying no attention to the foot pressing against her, she shifted into a more comfortable kneeling position, held Gu Nianxi’s calf with one hand, and unscrewed the cap of the small medicine bottle with the other.

“Let me do it, Sister.” Her voice was soft, yet carried an unmistakable note of authority.

The hand Gu Nianxi had placed beside herself twitched. Being held in place while someone applied medicine made her distinctly uncomfortable and somewhat embarrassed. With Bai Jin as the one doing it, that embarrassment became even stronger. In the end, however, she sheepishly lowered her foot.

This was truly unbelievable. There had actually come a day when she and Bai Jin could coexist peacefully in the same room—not glaring daggers at ​unauthorized copy​each other with hostility crackling between them, but in such harmony, so loving and affectionate!
Bai Jin, who would one day become exceptional, powerful, and utterly untouchable, had voluntarily knelt to apply medicine for her!
Was it because her own attitude had changed?

Gu Nianxi suddenly found it amusing.
So repairing her relationship with Bai Jin was this simple—she did not even have to do much. She only needed to take one step forward, and Bai Jin would cross the remaining ninety-nine steps herself.

Why had their relationship become such a complete mess in her previous life? Why had she been so stubborn that she refused to take even that single step?

The pain in her knee interrupted her thoughts.
“Mm…”
She could not help pulling her leg back.

Bai Jin paused and looked up at her, her upturned gaze intent as though carefully observing her expression.
Gu Nianxi felt ashamed. Counting her previous life, she was already in her twenties. She really should not be this afraid of pain.
“I’m fine! Just—just keep applying it.”

She drew a soft breath and endured both the pain and her urge to pull her leg away, her slender, pale fingers clutching wrinkles into the bedsheet.

She had thought she only needed to endure it for a short while, but after applying the medicine, Bai Jin actually began massaging it into the bruise.
This time, Gu Nianxi finally could not bear it. “B-Bai Jin!”

The sharp pain pierced directly into her brain. Gu Nianxi felt her nose sting, and her cursed tendency to shed tears uncontrollably left her vision blurred.
Through her hazy vision, Bai Jin seemed to look up at her again. Her movements also became gentler, resembling soft caresses more than an attempt to rub in the medicine.
…Damn it.
Gu Nianxi thought that if she cried in front of Bai Jin over something as trivial as applying medicine, she would have no dignity left!

She desperately held back her tears. “That’s enough! It only… only looks serious. It doesn’t actually hurt that badly. It’ll be fine tomorrow.”
Her skin was delicate, and the slightest bump or scrape easily left a mark. Sometimes, she would somehow bruise her knee merely by sleeping. It looked frightening, but even without medicine, it would heal within a couple of days.

Bai Jin released her.
Gu Nianxi sighed in relief.

At last, she no longer had to behave so melodramatically in front of Bai Jin—

But in the next moment, Bai Jin’s hand unexpectedly climbed back onto Gu Nianxi’s knee. She used her palm to press the medicine into her skin in circles, her movements gentle but firm.
Gu Nianxi had already relaxed and was completely unprepared. Under the sudden pain, tears burst from her eyes.

“Mm…”
A sound escaped along with her tears.

Gu Nianxi bit the soft flesh inside her mouth and glared tearfully at Bai Jin, her fingers digging deep creases into the bedsheet. “I-I already told you it was fine!”

Humiliating. This was truly too humiliating.
Gu Nianxi wished the entire room were pitch-black so that Bai Jin would not be able to see her tear-streaked face.

“It’ll be over soon. Just endure it a little longer, Sister…”
Bai Jin held that trembling stretch of flesh in her hand. Gu Nianxi’s pain was displayed before her in such a vivid, tangible form that it completely occupied her sight, hearing, and sense of smell.

Gu Nianxi was crying.
Two tears rolled from the corners of her eyes before she haphazardly wiped them away with her long sleeves. There was always a childlike quality to her movements that stirred one’s protective instincts—something Bai Jin had never seen in anyone else.

Her eyes were red and glistening with tears as she glared at Bai Jin. Her voice had turned nasal and would not stop trembling.
From this close, Bai Jin could smell the medicine and perfume on her body. The scent of roses and champagne was richer than it had been on the blanket Gu Nianxi had thrown to her during the day. Beneath the perfume lay another, fainter fragrance—a light, fresh sweetness drifting from Gu Nianxi’s skin into Bai Jin’s nose. It was Gu Nianxi’s natural scent, and it excited Bai Jin more than any other fragrance.

The sight before her overlapped with the dreams she had been having for the past month, making Bai Jin feel as though her very soul were trembling before Gu Nianxi.

She continued moving mechanically, feeling the warmth and trembling beneath her palm. Almost without needing to be taught, coaxing words automatically slipped from her lips. “Be good. Bear with it a little longer, Sister…”

Only after speaking did she realize that her voice had grown hoarse from the thoughts running wild through her mind. Her mouth and throat were parched, as though she had just taken part in a debate competition.
She swallowed, then looked at the skin that had completely absorbed the medicine. Only then did she reluctantly release it. “All done.”

No matter what Bai Jin thought inside, she never allowed it to show on her face. When she looked at Gu Nianxi, she still wore the same gentle, humble expression.

It made Gu Nianxi want to stomp on that face twice.
Bai Jin’s face was only six or seven centimeters away from her foot. This was probably the closest she had ever been to Bai Jin across both of her lifetimes. If she wanted to kick Bai Jin in the face, this might also be her only opportunity in this life.

But reason ultimately prevailed. Gu Nianxi swung her foot slightly, but not only did she refrain from kicking her, she even said resentfully, “…Thank you.”
After all, Bai Jin had come to apply medicine for her.
It was not as though Gu Nianxi could not recognize another person’s goodwill.

Bai Jin smiled.

She lowered Gu Nianxi’s skirt again. “Rest early, Sister. Don’t forget that we still need to get up early and go to the company tomorrow.”

The company?
Gu Nianxi remembered.

To train the family’s younger generation, when they reached seventeen or eighteen, the Gu family would select one or two projects from the group’s unauthorized copy companies for them to handle. Regardless of gender, anyone who completed their project successfully would be rewarded with shares.
Although these were only a small number of shares in a subsidiary, they were nevertheless a stepping stone toward joining the group’s upper management.

In her previous life, Gu Hongzhuo had confined her for three days, so she had naturally missed the company inspection and project selection the following day.
The promising project had naturally gone to Bai Jin. In reality, however, that project concealed a serious trap. Even Bai Jin had needed to expend considerable effort to resolve it at the time…

Gu Nianxi sank into thought, her bright eyes gleaming in her slightly baby-faced cheeks. In Bai Jin’s eyes, she looked unbearably adorable.
Bai Jin wanted to stroke Gu Nianxi’s head. But she had already crossed enough boundaries today… If she went any further, even Gu Nianxi would become wary.

Bai Jin felt somewhat regretful. After rubbing her fingers together, she still bade Gu Nianxi good night and left her room.

“Second Miss, shall I take this blanket and wash it for you?” a servant asked, reaching for the blanket Bai Jin had neatly folded and placed on the sofa.
Bai Jin moved faster than she did, snatching the blanket up and clutching it against her chest. “Thank you, but there’s no need.”

“Oh…” The servant blinked, thinking that the newly arrived Second Miss truly liked to do everything herself and did not particularly enjoy having other people touch her belongings.
She insisted on cleaning her wardrobe and bathroom herself and even changed her own sheets and duvet covers.

Bai Jin closed the door, leaned against it, and exhaled deeply.
The image of Gu Nianxi crying with a flushed face lingered stubbornly before her eyes. She lowered her head, sat on the floor, and buried her face in the blanket.

Bai Jin knew that something was wrong with her.
Having such intense desire for another woman and wanting to sleep with her every moment of every day was neither proper nor reasonable.

Before meeting Gu Nianxi, she had been perfectly normal. She had strictly abided by the gentlemanly principles of looking at nothing improper and listening to nothing improper. Not only had she never indulged in desire, she had even been somewhat frigid.
It was not as though she had never heard of or witnessed desire between men and women, or even between those of the same sex. Bai Jin had attributed it to the animalistic instincts of human beings and had looked down somewhat upon people who allowed themselves to be led around by their desires.
Bai Jin had never considered that she might become the same way.

Bai Jin still remembered what Gu Nianxi had looked like the first time they met.
The young woman had descended the spiral staircase, looking down at Bai Jin from above. Her features, seemingly granted Nüwa’s special favor, were astonishingly beautiful. It was an impossible-to-ignore beauty—passionate, proud, and dazzling—one that could never be forgotten after a single glance.
She had ​Read on BaiLianTales​glared haughtily at Bai Jin. The vivid arrogance and disgust in her gaze burned so fiercely that Bai Jin could not help curling her fingers, while the pounding of her heart thundered against her eardrums again and again.

After that, everything began spiraling out of control.

Bai Jin dreamed every night, and there was always only one person at the center of those dreams.
She dreamed of Gu Nianxi’s eyes clouded with desire. She dreamed of her stirred by passion. She dreamed of her sobbing and panting softly as though she could bear no more. She dreamed of her raven hair spread across the bed, the sweat seeping from her body carrying her warmth, its fragrance intoxicating.

She had become the very kind of person she despised.

Bai Jin closed her eyes and allowed her fantasies to run wild through her mind.
Only after a long while did she rise and go into the bathroom. Then she folded the blanket again and stored it in her wardrobe.

Ultimately, this was merely the effect of certain hormones, some kind of… physiological reaction, Bai Jin thought.
I do not like her.
To truly like someone was to cherish them above all else and be unable to bear hurting them, while all Bai Jin wanted was to break Gu Nianxi.

It was nothing more than the most despicable urge to possess and destroy her… There was not a single trace of love in it. Nor could such a thing ever exist between her and Gu Nianxi.

She looked toward the bathroom mirror.
In the mirror blurred by the gathering steam, Bai Jin could not make out her own reflection.