As She Wished - Chapter 17

Fu Jing felt that it was a little strange, so she turned to look at her.

Why was Qin Zijin greeting her in the tone of someone who had skipped class and been caught on the spot by the fiercest professor?

“Miss Qin.” Gu Qingci nodded slightly and revealed a smile. It was proper, but the smile did not reach her eyes. Her voice was light and clear, polite yet distant. “An said a little beauty came to the bar, so I stopped by to take a look since I was passing by—sure enough, you’re very pretty.”

“Sister, you’re joking…” Qin Zijin understood those words as carrying a hidden edge. Her voice was a little dry. After a pause, she adjusted her expression and smiled in a friendly, harmless way. “I’m really shocked. Fu Jing has always told me how devastatingly beautiful the Sister she likes is. I thought she was exaggerating, but it turns out she wasn’t exaggerating at all. You’re so beautiful I almost don’t dare talk to you!”

She had originally thought she would see an arrogant fool who had been praised too much by the people around her because of a bit of beauty, someone floating on air and unable to judge her own worth.

She had come prepared to give her a warning—to let her understand that although Fu Jing was silly, every single person around Fu Jing was not easy to provoke.

But Gu Qingci, from head to toe, was completely different from what Qin Zijin had imagined.

Her expression was indifferent, and her pitch-black eyes held a calm gaze that seemed able to see through people’s hearts.

She was dressed solemnly and understatedly, yet she was unbelievably graceful and imposing.

People with this kind of aura were difficult for Qin Zijin to see even in her father’s reception tea room. Without exception, they were all people of high position and great authority, long accustomed to standing above others.

So Qin Zijin began to show weakness.

And she quickly adjusted her original goal of giving a warning into quietly probing.

Beside them, Tao Xian held her wineglass, her eyes sparkling with the light of watching a show.

She was full of anticipation, preparing to see how the cold, detached Gu Qingci would lower herself to deal with a little girl who had come to test her.

But the show had not even begun.

In the next second, the stage that had just been built was casually dismantled by a dazed cutie.

Fu Jing widened her eyes in confusion. She stared at Gu Qingci, reached out to pull Qin Zijin over, pointed at her, and said, “She came over to see me, but you came over to see her?”

Her tone was utterly puzzled.

“…”

Everyone present fell silent for a few seconds.

Tao Xian lowered her head and covered her mouth to hold back her laughter, managing not to make a sound.

The corner of Qin Zijin’s mouth twitched. Even Cheng Nannan and Ye Xinyi vaguely felt that there was something quite wrong with Fu Jing’s words.

Only Gu Qingci remained calm. Her gaze turned along with Fu Jing’s words and landed on Fu Jing’s face, which was covered in long paper whiskers. Only then did the smile on her lips carry a bit of sincerity. Amused, she asked, “Little girl, weren’t you very good at playing cards?”

Hearing her mention this,

Fu Jing immediately felt wronged. As she raised her hands to tear off the paper strips, she complained like a child seeing a parent. “They were all targeting me. They were especially excessive. They were just short of directly mixing their cards together and teaming up against me!”

After saying that, she stood up and quickly pulled Gu Qingci to sit beside her. “Team up with me.”

She poured her a cup of tea too.

Fu Jing put down the little backpack she had just picked up, happily returned to the card table, and announced, “Then now it’s the tea-drinking team versus the alcohol-drinking team.”

“Sure,” Ye Xinyi said, not feeling that the two of them together could beat the four of them.

“Bring it on!”

And so everyone began playing cards again.

Qin Zijin: “…”

On the surface, she smiled, looking exactly as Fu Jing had said, like she had only come to play with her friend. She focused on playing cards. In reality, she repeatedly pondered Gu Qingci’s earlier words and observed her.

Then she reminded, “Fu Jing, don’t forget the gift.”

The lipstick and charm they had previously picked out at the mall had been left at Fu Jing’s home all this time because she had never found a chance to give them. After leaving them there for so long, she had almost forgotten. Today, Qin Zijin had reminded her to put them in her bag and bring them.

“Oh.” Fu Jing remembered and turned to rummage through her bag. “Sister, this is something we bought when we went shopping before. It’s for you to play with.”

Hearing this, Qin Zijin’s brow twitched. She did not understand why Fu Jing was so honest that she even said “we.” Gifts were meant to bring two people closer together. Why mention someone else?

Gu Qingci froze slightly, opened it, and glanced inside. She pressed her lips together. “You picked the lipstick?”

“Mm.” Fu Jing nodded and said full of expectation, “I looked at the color for a long time and thought this one especially, especially suited you.”

“…All right. I’ll use it.”

Gu Qingci glanced at it and accepted it.

She casually fastened the plush charm that had cost several thousand yuan onto Fu Jing’s little backpack.

Then she pinched Fu Jing’s cheek, curved her lips, and said, “Thank you.”

Fu Jing was intoxicated by the curve of her lips and her intimate actions. She smiled foolishly and sweetly, completely forgetting how much she usually disliked being touched by others.

“…”

Qin Zijin, watching from the side, was stunned.

—

Fu Jing completely failed to notice the few probes hidden in the seemingly harmonious and cheerful conversation between card games, nor did she sense how changeable and complicated her best friend’s emotions were tonight.

By the time they finished playing cards, it was already very late. At this hour, Qin Zijin could not return to school anymore.

So from the start, she had said that she would stay over at Fu Jing’s place tonight.

Everyone went downstairs together.

Fu Jing turned toward the bar to get her charging phone. When she turned back, in her haste, she tripped again.

The little step in front of the bar counter often tripped Fu Jing, and she was almost used to it. Since she would not actually fall, she was not panicked at all.

But this time,

her body swayed, and Gu Qingci, who was beside her, quickly supported her by the waist.

Fu Jing’s expression was still dazed, but her body was very honest as she leaned closer into Gu Qingci’s arms to take advantage.

The smile on her lips instantly rose as well.

“…”

Gu Qingci steadied her and silently calculated how many times this had happened already. In a low voice, she said, “Looks like this step should have been flattened long ago.”

The smile on Fu Jing’s face immediately stiffened. She lifted her eyes to look at Gu Qingci and said in an incredulous tone, “I only leaned on you a little. You don’t have to be that angry, right?!”

Gu Qingci: “…”

Qin Zijin: “…………”

She quickly walked over a few steps, pulled Fu Jing away, and smiled generously as she said goodbye to everyone.

—

The two of them left the bar together.

After Qin Zijin had only walked a few steps, the relaxed smile on her face immediately disappeared. Her brows furrowed, and soon her whole face wrinkled up. She felt that nightclubs had become so complicated after she graduated high school.

She could not figure them out at all anymore.

After a long while, she raised her hand to rub her face and sighed.

“What’s wrong? Are you already that sleepy?” Fu Jing turned her head and asked with concern.

“…”

Qin Zijin took something out of her pocket, spread it in her palm, glanced at it, clenched it, then loosened her hand again, casually tossing it up and down a few times.

Fu Jing noticed the conspicuous style and asked curiously, “Did you buy that recently? Didn’t you say before that you didn’t like wearing brand logos on your body?”

“I don’t like it, but if I don’t make it exaggerated, who would notice that you’re wearing something worth several thousand yuan… Today, I wore it on purpose to play the role of one of your friends who isn’t easy to mess with.”

“Does that need acting? But you’re already my friend who isn’t easy to mess with.”

“Hehe.” Qin Zijin suddenly gave a cold laugh. As they passed a large blue trash can, she casually threw the earring in her hand into it.

Fu Jing was startled when she saw this. “Why did you throw it away?”

“Don’t worry, this thing only cost five or six yuan,” Qin Zijin explained. “Anyway, even if you buy this kind of fake jewelry at a boutique, it’s still street-stall quality. Better to just buy it from a street stall directly and save money.”

Fu Jing continued asking, “Then why did you throw it away? Was it already broken?”

“…”

Qin Zijin did not answer this overly simple and honest question.

When her gaze met Gu Qingci’s earlier, her heart had been filled with endless annoyance and regret. Why, of all nights, had she worn such a tacky fake accessory tonight?

Even though no one could tell whether it was real or fake, she still felt guilty out of nowhere.

So the moment she went out the door, she immediately took it off and hid it in her pocket.

After a moment of silence,

Qin Zijin quietly said, “Forget it.”

The frustration in her heart soon eased. She was not entirely reconciled, but slowly accepted it as she said, “Anyway, even if I had carried seven or eight Birkin bags tonight, I still would have lost. So forget it… forget it!”

Fu Jing was puzzled. “Why do you look so unhappy? Didn’t you just lose a few card games? We weren’t even playing for money. You all bullied me so much earlier, and I didn’t even mind.”

“…”

“Then should I treat you to something delicious?”

“…”

While waiting at the traffic light, Qin Zijin stopped walking.

She ignored Fu Jing beside her and carefully reviewed and summarized her own behavior tonight, as well as the things she had observed.

The more she thought about it, the more complicated it became.

In her heart, she actually began to agree with the words Fu Jing had previously fed her, which she had originally thought were very wrong.

—Gu Qingci was an aloof beauty who was gentle and considerate toward Fu Jing.

Although her whole body carried an aura that was not easy to provoke, along with a dangerous, mysterious feeling that made alarm bells ring in Qin Zijin’s heart, the way she looked at Fu Jing was unexpectedly gentle.

Qin Zijin was usually used to being arrogant at school, so the feeling of being instantly crushed when facing Gu Qingci

made her especially frustrated.

It felt like a little monkey grabbing a branch, swinging lawlessly and freely, only to swing too far and accidentally fall in front of a great tiger, then become pinned beneath the tiger’s gaze. Even if they only looked at each other quietly for a moment, the invincible pressure belonging to the king of the forest was enough to make it tremble.

Qin Zijin murmured, “I thought it was strange before. Since she works at her friend’s place, logically speaking, shouldn’t she come more often?”

“There’s nothing strange about it,” Fu Jing answered. “If I opened a bar and you wanted to come work for a little while each week, I’d also be especially willing to pay you a full month’s salary so you wouldn’t have to worry about anything else and could just play at home and do things you like.”

Qin Zijin held her forehead. “Right. I was fooled by these nice-sounding words of yours before and didn’t think further.”

Fu Jing did not understand. “What else do you need to think about?”

What else did she need to think about…

The way Tao Xian and Gu Qingci interacted was definitely not like a capable, wealthy boss casually supporting a freeloading friend.

It made more sense if it were the other way around.

But Qin Zijin had not seen much of the world after all, so she did not dare easily draw a conclusion.

Thus, she did not tell Fu Jing about this guess.

After crossing the traffic light,

they swiped their cards and entered the residential complex. The night breeze was pleasant.

Qin Zijin slowly said, “Gu Qingci is definitely not simple. But even if I said she was a great tiger from a primeval forest, you would still think that even if she’s a tiger, she’s made of butter.”

Fu Jing disagreed. “A tiger made of butter? What kind of lousy metaphor is that?”

“The source is Haruki Murakami.”

Fu Jing remained confident. “What village, what tree? I’ve never heard of him. He must not be famous.”

After taking a very, very deep breath, Qin Zijin muttered to herself, “…This great illiterate whose humanities knowledge has not increased since graduating middle school. I have to tolerate her, I have to understand her, and I even have to take half the responsibility.”

“What are you muttering about?”

“Nothing!”

“If it’s nothing, then it’s nothing. Why are you being so fierce? I know you’re in a bad mood because you lost at cards, but even if you’re in a bad mood, you can’t take it out on me. Do you want me to treat you to something? Cake?”

“…”

Qin Zijin weakly rubbed her brow and sighed. “Anyway, after growing up this much, I don’t have any other skills, but I’m still decent at judging people. She’s definitely not a simple person! No wonder you’ve spent so much effort and still haven’t won her over. But this also proves that her character is actually pretty good. Otherwise, you would have long since fallen deeply in love and been played in circles.”

Fu Jing was even more confused. “What does that mean?”

“You don’t need to understand what it means. Chase her. Keep chasing.” Qin Zijin’s tone was deep as she concluded, “A calculating woman like that is most suited to fall into the hands of a silly, sweet, innocent girl like you.”

Soon, they reached the door of Fu Jing’s home.

Fu Jing immediately smiled like a silly, sweet, innocent girl and nodded. “I’ll take your auspicious words.”