Amnesia Trap (GL) - Chapter 29

Sheng Zhi continued walking downstairs in a huff, without looking back.

She walked quite a distance before realizing that the sounds behind her had stopped at some point.

She looked back now, and not only were the sounds gone, but there wasn’t a person in sight.

Already angry, she instantly became even angrier.

Was Ji Qingfan’s patience so thin?

That’s all it took? She stopped chasing after only a couple of steps?

Well done.

Absolutely well done.

The more Sheng Zhi thought about it, the more convinced she was that Ji Qingfan never intended to chase her. It was just a token gesture since it wasn’t time to clock out yet. She’d probably go complain to her mother about her leaving early.

No doubt about it, that must be the case.

As Sheng Zhi thought this, the fire in her heart flared up even more. She immediately turned around, deciding to go back and confront Ji Qingfan.

With every step she took up, she muttered an angry insult about the “wicked woman” in her mind.

But as she walked up a bit, not quite reaching the upper floor, she saw the person she had been mentally cursing just moments ago, holding onto the stair rail, sitting on the stairs. She hadn’t gone back after all.

But she looked terrible. Her face was very pale, her hand covering her heart was white, and the fingers clutching the handrail were equally white from strain. Even the earlier moist, red color of her lips had faded, and without lipstick, they looked even more fragile.

She must be in real distress.

It was only when Sheng Zhi got closer that she noticed the tear stains on Ji Qingfan’s face.

The woman was breathing lightly and quickly, gasping for air as if suffocating, her eyes closed, her trembling eyelashes blurred with tears. She kept murmuring something under her breath.

At first glance, Sheng Zhi was startled by Ji Qingfan’s appearance.

She knew Ji Qingfan was in poor health. Coupled with her neglectful childhood, various factors combined to make her already fragile body worse. She often fell ill when they were in high school.

Especially during the change of seasons to spring, she would easily catch a fever or cold. If anyone around her was coughing, Ji Qingfan would be the first to get infected. For a while, Sheng Zhi always carried an extra jacket when she went out, not for anyone else, but specifically for Ji Qingfan.

Her immunity was low, and she was anemic, often experiencing low blood sugar. Sheng Zhi tried every possible way to improve her health. The household chef’s menu was completely changed to recipes for Ji Qingfan’s health. After hearing that sucking on a piece of candy helps a lot with low blood sugar, her pockets were always filled with candy and chocolate.

At that time, Ji Qingfan would sometimes ask when Sheng Zhi magically produced candy and chocolate. Whenever that happened, Sheng Zhi would unwrap a lollipop.

She seemed to lack patience even when eating a lollipop; she would simply bite it into pieces. She would lean lazily in her chair and look at Ji Qingfan with her bright, cat-like eyes, saying casually: “Why ask such a stupid question? Of course, it’s because I like sweets.”

Even after her relationship with Ji Qingfan deteriorated, it took her a long time to shake off these small habits.

The memories were many, but they flashed through her mind in an instant.

Sheng Zhi walked up a bit further and crouched down in front of Ji Qingfan. Just as she was about to call her name, she unexpectedly heard the fragmented words she was murmuring.

One after another, they were all “Don’t go.”

Interspersed with her name.

Sheng Zhi suddenly felt she couldn’t understand Ji Qingfan anymore.

Or rather, she had never truly understood her.

There was a moment of silence.

“I didn’t go,” she bit her tongue accidentally when she spoke, wincing with a hiss of pain. “Ji Qingfan, I’ve been crouching in front of you for a while now. Open your eyes and look.”

Ji Qingfan was completely taken by surprise to hear Sheng Zhi’s voice again. She opened her eyes, staring blankly, unable to react.

“Where does it hurt?” Sheng Zhi asked. Seeing her dazed expression, she tossed her hair back and stood up again, muttering, “Forget it, let’s just go straight to the hospital.”

Ji Qingfan’s pupils constricted. She reached out and grabbed Sheng Zhi’s sleeve, “No need…”

She managed two words, then gasped for breath, but her action clearly indicated she didn’t want her to leave.

After a moment to steady herself, Ji Qingfan seemed much better: “Just stay with me for a while. No need to go to the hospital.”

So Sheng Zhi looked at her for a moment and then sat down on the stairs as well.

She figured she was just soothing the nerves of some sickly person. Maybe she was the one who made her angry earlier.

Few people passed by this stairway. The atmosphere was quiet, yet it felt like some intense emotion was hidden beneath the silence.

Since sitting down, Sheng Zhi felt Ji Qingfan continuously looking at her.

She didn’t look back at Ji Qingfan.

Ever since she clearly heard what Ji Qingfan was murmuring, her mind had been elsewhere.

Her gaze involuntarily fell on the steps, counting them one by one.

One step, two steps…

She wanted to ask her why she kept murmuring about her not leaving.

Three steps, four steps…

But seeing her face quickly return to normal, she worried it was another trap, afraid that Ji Qingfan had deliberately put on a pitiful act, knowing she would return.

Five steps, six steps…

Actually, she also wanted to ask her: Was kissing her for so long really that unbearable?

Her gaze jumped from the seventh step to the eighth, then back from the eighth.

To ask, or not to ask?

“Zhi Zhi.” Just then, Ji Qingfan beside her suddenly called her name.

Her sight was fixed on some step, and in a moment of distraction, everything blurred.

Sheng Zhi turned her attention back to Ji Qingfan, looking at her face.

She noticed her significantly improved complexion and quickly spoke before Ji Qingfan could continue: “No, you don’t need to go to the hospital. I see you’re recovering quite fast.”

Just a moment ago, she looked so pitiful, gasping for breath with tear stains all over her face, but now she seemed perfectly fine.

Ji Qingfan heard her words and neither confirmed nor denied them.

“Because Zhi Zhi came back for me,” she leaned closer, sighing softly, “I really thought Zhi Zhi left. I was so sad, so sad…”

Perhaps it was somewhat related to having just cried; the corners of her eyes looked subtly red, an appealing vulnerability.

Sheng Zhi suddenly felt a tickle spreading to the tip of her tongue. Ji Qingfan looked at her with the same gaze: “Zhi Zhi, did you bite your tongue earlier? Does it hurt?”

Her voice was very gentle. Even though she was sitting right beside her, her hand was still clutching her clothing tightly.

Actually, it didn’t hurt that much. Sheng Zhi met her gaze.

Under her exceptional acting skills, Sheng Zhi was starting to confuse her judgment. Perhaps the sight of her sitting on the stairs and shedding tears was so impactful that she truly couldn’t help but wonder if there was, maybe, a zero-point-one percent chance…

She looked into Ji Qingfan’s eyes, “Just a little bit.”

She had accidentally bitten it while speaking. The worst of the pain had passed, and now there was only a slight sting. She wasn’t sure if it was broken skin.

Ji Qingfan seemed genuinely concerned: “Can I take a look?”

Sheng Zhi slightly parted her lips.

However, as soon as she opened her lips, she felt Ji Qingfan lean in even closer. She kissed her lips without any warning.

Wet breaths exchanged. Sheng Zhi even heard Ji Qingfan’s soft, breathy voice, “A kiss will make it better.”

Ji Qingfan actively traced her lips with her own, but there was no sense of aggression. Instead, it made one feel the urge to kiss back more aggressively and wantonly. But Sheng Zhi didn’t move, suppressing the feeling. She also didn’t close her eyes, watching Ji Qingfan close hers, looking completely lost in the moment.

The scene before her eyes gradually overlapped with the scene in the conference room.

After a moment’s pause, she responded to her, just as she had in the conference room, and even more excessively.

This time, the duration seemed longer than in the conference room. When Sheng Zhi released Ji Qingfan, she observed her reaction.

Ji Qingfan didn’t try to pull away. Instead, she just held her in that position.

“Zhi Zhi, it’s so good that you didn’t leave. I’m so happy.” She felt Ji Qingfan seemed about to cry again, her eyes glistening with moisture.

She was like a wet flower petal in the early morning, covered in dew. Sheng Zhi began to waver in her previous judgment.

Intimate skin-to-skin contact was quicker to win her over than her own thoughts, once she got used to it. Just like she was still hesitant in her mind, yet she allowed Ji Qingfan to hold her.

“Why don’t you want me to go?” The question she had wanted to ask earlier naturally came out in this atmosphere.

Mere hugging and leaning seemed insufficient. Ji Qingfan took her hand, threading their fingers together, tightly inseparable, “Zhi Zhi, I’m very afraid of losing you.”

Her voice and words were so helpless.

Sheng Zhi’s tone was dismissive: “Really? You looked so displeased when I called you ‘Dearest’ in front of others. Aren’t you afraid of being seen and heard now?”

After saying this, she added with emphasis, “Sometimes, I really can’t help but wonder if you’re lying to me when you say our relationship is great.”

She expected Ji Qingfan to immediately deny and explain, but instead, she spoke calmly, maintaining the same slow pace as before: “Zhi Zhi, I’m sorry. I did lie to you.”

Sheng Zhi froze, thinking that admitting it outright was completely unlike Ji Qingfan. Soon, she heard Ji Qingfan continue—”But I didn’t lie to you about our relationship and our feelings.”

“Actually, I love it when you call me ‘Dearest.’ I didn’t intentionally put on a cold face. I just wanted to hear you call me that, but if I hadn’t said that, you definitely wouldn’t have used an intimate term in front of others.”

Ji Qingfan spoke each sentence with deep affection, “I was a little unhappy that you called that junior employee ‘Sister’… because I want to hear Zhi Zhi call me ‘Sister,’ too.”

Soft power is hard to resist, and sweet words are even harder to guard against.

After one question was posed, asking others also became easier.

Sheng Zhi was a little skeptical: “Then why did you act that way in the conference room, suddenly getting up and turning away…”

“Because… I made Zhi Zhi’s lap wet,” Ji Qingfan’s cheeks instantly flushed crimson as if rouge had been spilled on them, whispering weakly and ambiguously, “It wasn’t sweat like Zhi Zhi said. I really couldn’t take it.”

It was the same phrase, “couldn’t take it,” but after Ji Qingfan’s explanation, the meaning was completely different.

Listening to Ji Qingfan’s explanation, Sheng Zhi initially didn’t understand what she meant, and when she realized what was actually happening, a blush also crept onto her face.

As if sensing her shyness, Ji Qingfan, still in the intimate position, lingered and kissed her chin.

“I still remember when we were in high school, we often kissed in secret,” her face was flushed with a faint cherry-blossom pink, and she spoke as if recalling a beautiful past, “It feels the same as it did then.”

Sheng Zhi looked at Ji Qingfan’s aroused face.

But when she heard her last few sentences, her emotions slowly sank.

She suddenly recalled a lesson from a long, long time ago, perhaps in an elementary school class, where the teacher explained the function and effect of the literary technique of “suppress first, raise later.”

All the dots connected, and she suddenly had the disturbing illusion that every one of her emotional states was actually part of Ji Qingfan’s plan.

…Sure enough, all of this was still a carefully designed lie, a sweet trap to lure her in deeper.