Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 15

As soon as Ling Yu stepped out of the restaurant, her phone vibrated dozens of times. She raised an eyebrow and tutted. “So eager?” she thought. However, when she looked at the screen, the sender wasn’t Gu Qing, but Yu Xin. Ling Yu skimmed the messages. The general idea was for her not to take the misunderstanding to heart. It also included an extra allowance for the month. Ling Yu wasn’t surprised by this; the couple was always like this. They didn’t want to give up 50% of the company shares, but they also wanted to maintain their image as a loving father and mother. So, money was their way of glossing over things.

Ling Yu glanced at the transfer amount with little interest, and her smile deepened. This time, the allowance number had an extra zero at the end.

[Yu Yu, if you don’t want Juan to live with you, that’s fine. But can you do me a favor and give her some money? That child has gotten into some trouble recently… Poor thing.]

Ling Yu narrowed her eyes, her gaze lingering on the phrase “some trouble.” She thought about the special attention Gu Qing had shown to the pole dancer the other day and the voice recorder she still had. After a moment of thought, Ling Yu replied, [Okay.]

At midnight, at the Zanghai Club.

“I think she’s completely into me.”

The woman speaking was wearing a crop top and hot pants that barely covered her thighs. From a close distance, you could see the lotus-leaf lace trim of her panties through her flesh-colored stockings. She sat with her legs crossed, leaning bonelessly against the bar. Because of her seductive posture, most of the customers in the noisy club were staring at her. The woman didn’t seem embarrassed. She took a sip of her drink and smiled back at the customers around her.

“Really? Juan Juan never fails. So what if she’s a straight woman? When she sees a beautiful woman like you, she’ll kneel and surrender.” The bartender, a guy with dyed yellow hair, obsequiously handed the woman a freshly made cocktail. His hand, however, made a detour and groped her chest.

Li Juan frowned and slapped his hand away. “Be careful. I just got involved with that woman. She’s a lawyer, apparently. What if she comes to pick me up tonight? You all need to be on your best behavior…” The yellow-haired guy saw that she was upset and awkwardly pulled his hand back.

At midnight, the last dance of the night at the club had ended. There were only a few people left on the dance floor, but the booths in the main hall were full of drunk people. The yellow-haired guy yawned, feeling sleepy. He decided to continue talking with Li Juan about the person she had just gotten involved with.

“Speaking of, I’ve seen her before,” the guy said sweetly. “Sis, she’s really good-looking. The way she dresses, she must be a rich woman, right? Is she generous with you? Is it more than what that rich second-generation guy gave you last time?”

A flash of embarrassment crossed Li Juan’s eyes. She vaguely replied, “Sigh… We’re not together yet.”

The yellow-haired guy was incredulous. “I thought…”

“She’s not that eager,” Li Juan said, frowning and interrupting him. “She’s quiet and very decent.”

“Sis,” the guy said suspiciously, “Then how do you know she likes you?”

Li Juan raised her chin. “Come on. Liking someone isn’t just about what you do in bed. She’s different from all of you. She talks to me about my life.” Seeing the guy scoff, Li Juan hammered his chest with her empty glass. She cautiously looked around and then hooked her arm around his neck, whispering, “You know my friend Yan Shu, right? The girl who died at that rich second-generation guy’s villa in Hong Kong two months ago… I never told anyone, but I was there that night.”

“Holy crap!” The yellow-haired guy almost spat out his drink. His eyes widened. It sounded like he had heard something terrifying. After confirming with Li Juan, he finally calmed down, patted his chest with lingering fear, and whispered, “No wonder you haven’t been home for so many days… and have been staying at the club. Speaking of, Sister Juan, the Hong Kong side is pretty powerful. Are you going to be okay?”

Li Juan gave him a reassuring look. “Don’t worry. My sugar mommy is helping me…” Li Juan and the yellow-haired guy had an unusual relationship. They quickly put their heads together and whispered for a while.

Ling Yu was sitting in a dark corner. She waited until the yellow-haired guy stood up to make drinks before walking over to Li Juan. She was wearing a warm knit top and a pair of dangling diamond earrings. She looked sweet and innocent, different from the other customers in the bar.

Li Juan glanced at her. When she saw Ling Yu’s face, her body, which had just sat up straight, slumped back down. She took a sip of her cocktail and asked Ling Yu flirtatiously, “Little sister, want a drink?” She thought that a student like Ling Yu would turn away in disgust. To her surprise, Ling Yu smiled and nodded. She sat down next to Li Juan and asked the yellow-haired guy for a Margarita. Aside from her looks, her every move showed a sense of calmness.

A hint of suspicion flashed in Li Juan’s eyes. She forced herself to suppress her sudden panic and looked at Ling Yu again. It wasn’t that she was making a big deal out of it. Li Juan was on thin ice, like a bird with a broken wing. The whole thing started two months ago when her best friend was raped to death by a rich second-generation guy. Li Juan was brought there by her sugar daddy to celebrate the birthday of the villa’s owner. She wasn’t on the third floor at first. She only went up after her friend Yan Shu texted her for help. Then she witnessed the entire process of her friend being tortured to death.

Li Juan hadn’t seen much of the world, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew she was in big trouble. She didn’t call the police immediately. Instead, she chose to leave quietly. But then, another girl at the party recorded a blurry video of the rape on her phone, and it went viral online. Li Juan thought the matter was over. She didn’t plan on coming forward and causing trouble for herself. But to her surprise, the Jiang family somehow found the surveillance footage and discovered her whereabouts. As the only witness, the Jiang family demanded that she give false testimony.

Li Juan was born weak, but she didn’t want to use her friend’s death to her advantage. So two months ago, she fled Hong Kong overnight. Her apartment was already full of people, and her phone cards and bank cards were all being monitored. Li Juan was at her wit’s end. She stayed in a place like the Zanghai Club, a hidden sanctuary in plain sight. To be honest, her situation was very unsafe until the Jiang Wei case was settled.

Aside from the yellow-haired guy and Gu Qing, she had a gut feeling to be wary of strangers who approached her.

“Little sister, how old are you? Why aren’t you home this late? Aren’t your family worried about you?” Li Juan stared at the colorful cocktail in her glass, pretending to be nonchalant as she probed.

“My name is Ling Yu.” Ling Yu took in her expression and smiled calmly. She had just heard Li Juan and the yellow-haired guy talking about Gu Qing, so her gaze on her was a little dark. This made Li Juan acutely aware of it. For a moment, she wasn’t sure if Ling Yu was from Hong Kong. Li Juan quietly gestured to the yellow-haired guy and then raised her glass to Ling Yu in a silent toast. She then stood up and said to the yellow-haired guy, “Haozi, I’m going to leave early. Can you cover for me? Is that okay?”

The yellow-haired guy glanced at Ling Yu and nodded slightly. “Sure. Call me if you need anything.”

“Wait.” Ling Yu slowly blocked her way. She took out the text message Yu Xin had sent her at noon and handed it to Li Juan. She said, “Yu Xin is my aunt.”

Li Juan was surprised. She looked at the string of phone numbers in Ling Yu’s hand. After confirming her identity, she subtly gave the yellow-haired guy a look to calm down. Ling Yu wasn’t in a hurry for her to agree. She looked around at the many eyes on them. After a moment, she said to Li Juan with a troubled expression, “It’s too noisy here. Ms. Li, do you mind if we go somewhere else to talk?”

Because of the connection to Yu Xin, Li Juan was quite open with Ling Yu. They sat in a late-night food stall near the Zanghai Club, eating skewers and chatting. Li Juan was the one doing most of the eating. Ling Yu, as a beautiful woman with fair skin, didn’t care for barbecue at night.

“It’s a shame you’re not eating. This is the best barbecue I’ve ever had in all my years of traveling.” Li Juan sat with her legs crossed. Her signature short shorts lifted up, revealing a small part of her panties. It looked quite sexy. But her heavily made-up face was now stained with a few specks of chili. She didn’t look particularly vulgar. Her demeanor inexplicably gave off the illusion that she wanted to be a better person.

It was hard for Ling Yu to imagine how Gu Qing could look at Li Juan’s half-exposed underwear and talk about her life with a straight face. With Gu Qing’s extremely rigid personality, she was actually able to control herself and not sew Li Juan’s shorts to her skin. Thinking about this, Ling Yu smiled again.

Li Juan looked at her strangely. “I feel like the way you’re looking at me is the same as my sugar mommy.”

Ling Yu raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“No, no, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you like me,” Li Juan said, waving her hands and trying to explain. “I mean, the way you and she look at me… it’s a look I can’t quite describe…”

Li Juan stammered for a while, unable to find the right words. Ling Yu lowered her eyes. “Your sugar mommy is Gu Qing, right?”

Li Juan said, “Oh? You know her?”

“Yes,” Ling Yu said calmly. “We’re going to be colleagues. But I didn’t know she was dating anyone.”

A flash of embarrassment crossed Li Juan’s eyes. In reality, they weren’t together yet. But she was sure that a stranger who cared about her life dreams and called her every night to make sure she was safe must have feelings for her. “Little sister. You must have never been in love before,” Li Juan said, her eyes sparkling. “A woman who calls you every night late at night must like you…”

Ling Yu narrowed her eyes. “Does Lawyer Gu call you every night?”

“Yes.” Before Li Juan could finish, her phone rang. She held up her phone and showed it to Ling Yu. “See, it’s her.”

Because they were so close, Ling Yu could hear the voice on the other end of the line clearly.

Gu Qing: [Are you off work?]

Li Juan: [Gu Gu, I got off work early today. I’m eating with a friend outside.]

Gu Qing: [Which friend? Are you safe?]

Li Juan glanced at Ling Yu. [I’m very safe. It’s a very innocent-looking little sister. Gu Gu, you wouldn’t believe it, but my heart started beating so fast the moment I saw her.]

Li Juan winked at Ling Yu. [I think I’ve fallen for her.]

Gu Qing on the other end said, [As long as you’re safe… Goodbye.]

Ling Yu had thought that Gu Qing was really into Li Juan’s type, but that was it! That was it!

Li Juan, sitting across the table, was smiling foolishly at her phone, lost in her happiness. Ling Yu glanced at her. “Why did you lie to her? Aren’t you afraid she’ll misunderstand?”

Li Juan ordered another skewer and smiled at Ling Yu. “You wouldn’t understand, little sister. My relationship with Gu Gu is just a matter of breaking through the final barrier. I have to make her jealous so she’ll do it herself.”

Ling Yu raised her chin and smiled lazily. “You sure dream big.”

Their late-night meal lasted until 3 a.m. When they were done, Li Juan insisted on taking a picture with Ling Yu. The next second, she posted it on her social media with the caption: “Thank you for the company tonight. I will be faithful to you.”

Ling Yu was expressionless. “…You’re not serious.”

“Yu Yu, don’t mind it,” Li Juan said, scratching her head. “I just want to make my sugar mommy jealous. As soon as she sees it, I’ll delete it, I promise.”

Ling Yu didn’t know whether to burst her bubble. The woman, Gu Qing, was about to sell her out for money. And this silly woman was still dreaming. Thankfully, the voice recorder was still in Ling Yu’s possession. She tilted her head and said to Li Juan, “Do you want me to help you with your trouble?”

Li Juan said, “Huh?” feigning ignorance.

Ling Yu looked at her, seeing that she didn’t want to talk about it. She looked so silly, she probably wouldn’t notice if someone tried to swallow her whole. Ling Yu sighed, touched the voice recorder in her pocket that she hadn’t returned to Gu Qing, and said lazily, “Never mind. Just consider it a good deed.”