Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 17

Gu Qing’s office was just like her—clean, orderly, and completely devoid of anything unrelated to work.

The floor was spotless, without a speck of dust.

Every object was arranged neatly. Even the stacks of files on her desk seemed to have been aligned to exactly the same height.

Ling Yu lowered her head and glanced at the dirt clinging to the soles of her high heels. Then she looked toward the cold line of Gu Qing’s profile.

She abruptly stopped at the entrance and refused to move.

“What is it now?”

Gu Qing’s deep eyes suppressed a wealth of emotion.

She turned and stared at Ling Yu for three seconds before forcing several words from her throat.

“Ling Yu, do you find this amusing?”

Even with three meters separating them, Ling Yu could sense the anger Gu Qing was barely restraining.

She was momentarily confused.

Remembering Xiao Tao’s earlier warning that Gu Qing was in a foul mood today, Ling Yu made a questioning sound.

“What?”

“I told you to come inside. Are you blind, or have you gone deaf?”

Gu Qing was so furious that she did not even pause before asking, “Aren’t you usually extremely bold when flirting with people? You dared to eat with someone like Li Juan in the middle of the night and even get a hotel room with her. Why are you suddenly so frightened of entering my office?”

A hotel room?

Ling Yu froze.

She remembered the photograph Li Juan had taken the previous night and wondered what sort of story that woman had invented for Gu Qing.

Judging by Gu Qing’s accusatory expression, she looked as though she had come to demand an explanation.

Ling Yu asked uncertainly:

[Why do I feel as though she’s jealous?]

[That’s right,] 008 answered without surprise. [She’s jealous.]

Ling Yu rubbed her chin in confusion.

[That makes no logical sense. How could Gu Qing possibly be jealous?]

[What’s there to question? The female lead is obviously jealous. Look at her eyes. It couldn’t be clearer. Jealousy is churning inside her, and the scent of vinegar is practically pouring from her entire body…]

After speaking, 008 cupped its chin, its eyes sparkling.

[So sweet. This is far too sweet.]

[?]

Ling Yu was thoroughly disgusted.

[I don’t see anything sweet about it. Gu Qing likes Li Juan. Let me make this clear first: I refuse to become a third party.]

[…]

008 remained silent for three full seconds.

[What third party? The female lead is obviously jealous because of you. Host, what exactly are you so unconfident about? Come on, tell me.]

[I trust the data.]

Ling Yu laughed coldly.

[Please open the mission target’s conquest progress, enter the numerical data page, and check Gu Qing’s affection level toward mission participant Ling Yu. Daddy, read it aloud for me.]

008 looked at the enormous zero displayed under the affection category on the mission panel and covered its face in agony.

Meanwhile, Gu Qing’s gaze remained intimidating.

Ling Yu belatedly raised her head, a bitter smile appearing on her palm-sized face.

“Don’t be so fierce with me. I’m a little frightened.”

Gu Qing glanced sideways at her.

“Are you?”

Ling Yu nodded and clung timidly to the doorframe.

“I’m not refusing to listen.”

Hesitation appeared on Ling Yu’s face.

She cautiously glanced at Gu Qing. When the woman remained unmoved, Ling Yu pursed her lips and helplessly bent down to remove her high heels.

“I was in a hurry when I came to work this morning, so my shoes are dirty. I was worried I’d stain your floor.”

Gu Qing froze.

The layers of ice within her eyes seemed to have been pierced by an invisible awl and began melting in an instant.

Gu Qing had seen Ling Yu behaving arrogantly and baring her claws. She had also seen the fighting spirit burning in Ling Yu’s eyes whenever their gazes collided.

She had always assumed Ling Yu’s affection for her was direct and unrestrained, bold and fearless.

For the first time, Gu Qing realized that was not entirely true.

Aside from pursuing her, Ling Yu was also afraid of her.

After reaching this conclusion, Gu Qing narrowed her eyes and instinctively felt for the slim cigarettes in her pocket.

However, the moment her fingers touched the box, she noticed Ling Yu’s faintly furrowed brows.

Gu Qing looked away and discreetly returned the cigarettes to her pocket.

She raised a hand and tucked the loose strands beside her ear behind it. Still feeling irritated, she removed her coat and casually undid one button of her blouse.

Because the movement was too forceful, it pulled a silver chain into view from beneath her fair, slender neck.

The two women were not far apart.

When Ling Yu looked over, she saw a transparent crystal bottle hanging from the chain around Gu Qing’s collarbone.

The crystal bottle was approximately the size of a fingernail. Inside were strands of black-gray hair that resembled animal fur.

They appeared extremely old, and upon closer inspection, traces of dried blood could be seen among them.

Ling Yu froze.

She instinctively leaned closer, wanting to examine the contents more carefully.

In the next second, Gu Qing abruptly turned away, coldly seized the crystal bottle, and stuffed it beneath her collar.

“Put your shoes back on.”

Gu Qing’s voice had softened slightly. It resembled spring water trickling over stone, sliding across Ling Yu’s eardrums and leaving a tingling sensation in her heart.

When Ling Yu remained motionless, Gu Qing added, “I don’t have that many rules here.”

Her unspoken meaning was that she was not an unreasonable person.

Ling Yu was amused by Gu Qing’s unusually gentle tone and her willingness to explain herself.

This iron tree had finally blossomed. It was the first time Gu Qing had treated her so kindly.

Had the mission panel not continued displaying Gu Qing’s affection level as a bright-red zero, Ling Yu would certainly have accepted the opportunity to stop and rewarded her with an enormous smile.

“I won’t.”

A question mark seemed to appear within Gu Qing’s incredulous eyes.

Her gaze, which had only just softened, became scrutinizing again.

“Who do you think I am to you? Why should I tolerate you doing whatever you please again and again?”

Ling Yu ignored the warning.

She curled her toes and looked elsewhere.

“I’m nothing to you.”

“You’ve always treated my affection like filth, so I won’t enter and contaminate your territory.”

Gu Qing frowned, hearing the self-mockery woven through Ling Yu’s words.

For a moment, she did not know what to say.

She wanted to explain that she had not meant it that way. Yet she had never needed to explain her intentions to anyone before.

Besides, why should she explain?

A fleeting trace of confusion crossed Gu Qing’s eyes.

Ling Yu’s appearance had disrupted her previously orderly life.

Yet Gu Qing genuinely could not bring herself to be ruthless toward her.

She stared at the woman’s delicate, vulnerable neck with helplessness filling her heart and prepared to speak.

Ling Yu suddenly laughed.

“Sister, Li Juan likes you. Does she know you have ulterior motives toward her?”

Gu Qing abruptly turned her head.

A needle-sharp chill flashed through the gaze she directed at Ling Yu.

In truth, Ling Yu’s words were partly a test.

From the corner of her eye, she carefully watched Gu Qing’s face, attempting to find the slightest clue.

However, the woman opposite her displayed no trace of human empathy from beginning to end.

She merely lowered her eyes and stared at Ling Yu’s bare toes against the floor.

A moment later, she brushed past Ling Yu’s heels, approached her desk, and picked up the air-conditioner remote.

She raised the temperature by several degrees.

That meant she had no intention of answering.

Gu Qing had always been this way. She could openly display disregard in her eyes without changing her expression.

Even when someone stood directly before her, she could still treat them as though they did not exist.

Ling Yu scoffed, mottled provocation flashing through her foxlike eyes.

Sensing the change in Ling Yu’s mood, 008 began nagging inside her mind.

[Host, will you be unhappy if you go even one day without provoking her?]

[It’s always better to avoid unnecessary trouble. Don’t you understand that all you need to do is pretend to be a gentle little white flower, and you can smoothly reach a happy ending with the female lead? If you stubbornly insist on acting differently, you’ll eventually push her farther away.]

Ling Yu immediately sneered.

[It won’t come to that.]

[How could it not? Gu Qing used to show almost no emotion when facing you. Now, every time the two of you meet, it’s like lightning striking fire… Wait?]

[Well said.]

Ling Yu smiled.

[Continue…]

[…]

Ling Yu’s serene attitude left 008 speechless.

However, after thinking about it, the system realized that ever since its host began acting up from time to time, the emotions in Gu Qing’s eyes had visibly increased.

More importantly, according to the system’s readings, Gu Qing’s emotional fluctuations became markedly stronger whenever she faced Ling Yu. Her joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure all displayed obvious peaks and valleys.

008 remained silent for a while before abruptly changing its position.

[Host is brilliant. You behaved so obediently for the previous two months—was that preparation so the female lead would experience a sharp contrast afterward?]

Ling Yu laughed strangely and interrupted without sparing its dignity.

[No.]

Frankly, Ling Yu simply no longer wished to pretend.

The system had said that Gu Qing was gradually moving toward the path of destroying the world.

Most of the time they spent together, Gu Qing either ignored her or they clashed like two needlepoints.

Ling Yu could clearly sense the heavy, twilight-like gloom surrounding Gu Qing.

Sometimes, she even felt that Gu Qing cared about nothing and might drag someone into mutual destruction in the next second.

Jiang Wei’s case was a perfect example.

Gu Qing naturally knew Jiang Wei was guilty, yet she could calmly approach Li Juan while preparing to overturn his conviction.

Frankly, Ling Yu could not understand such behavior.

She needed to discover where Gu Qing’s moral boundary lay. Once she reached its bottom and provoked a reaction, Ling Yu could prescribe the proper remedy.

Furthermore, after the Xu family divided, Ling Yu would have very little freedom remaining.

She did not have enough time to remain in Yuncheng while continuing to make zero progress.

The office fell into deathly silence.

“Give me the recording pen.”

Gu Qing spoke first.

Suppressing the inexplicable tenderness and patience Ling Yu inspired in her, she instinctively retreated one step and restored an appropriate social distance.

A hand extended before Ling Yu.

With an ambiguous smile, Ling Yu removed the blue recording pen from her pocket and slowly spun it twice between her fingers.

She held it toward Gu Qing.

However, just as Gu Qing reached out and touched it, Ling Yu abruptly withdrew her hand.

Under Gu Qing’s glass-like, chilling gaze, Ling Yu curved her eyes and asked softly, “Why won’t you admit that you like me? Did you see the message I sent after our meal that day?”

At the mention of that message, Gu Qing’s face darkened completely.

The temperature in her eyes dropped to freezing point. Ling Yu had clearly touched the deepest layer of her anger.

She could feel the blade-like pressure descending from above.

Gu Qing approached her one step at a time, her deep, intimidating eyes fixed upon her.

“It seems you didn’t receive it. That’s all right…I’ll tell you in person.”

Ling Yu neither flinched nor retreated.

Smiling, she wrapped herself around Gu Qing’s arm when it came within reach, while her bare toes slid against the woman’s calf.

“Do you like me doing this?”

Gu Qing’s brows drew tightly together. Beneath the lights, her cold, pale skin acquired a smoky flush of pink.

With a dark expression, she snatched the recording pen from Ling Yu’s hand.

Then she caught one of Ling Yu’s high heels between two fingers and hurled it into the corridor outside.

Bang!

The solid wooden door slammed shut directly in Ling Yu’s face, stirring a gust that disordered the loose strands across her forehead.

Ling Yu glanced toward the high heel lying in the distance like a shattered corpse and clicked her tongue.

Expressionlessly, she walked to the door, raised her hand, and knocked three times.

Speaking loudly enough for the woman inside to hear, she turned the accusation back on Gu Qing.

“Acting like this only makes me think you’re afraid. Your face was clearly red again. Do you enjoy teasing me…?”

“You know perfectly well that I like—”

Before Ling Yu could finish, the elevator opened with a ding.

She instinctively looked back.

The provocative expression on her face froze when she saw the two men emerging from the elevator.

At that moment, she was barefoot, and Gu Qing had wrinkled her clothes while throwing her out.

When Ling Yu turned, the ends of her hair brushed across her exceedingly fair cheeks. Her foxlike eyes were veiled in the mist of early morning because of her earlier anger.

Her watery eyes and delicate posture made her resemble a willow bending helplessly in the wind.

The two men ten meters away simultaneously fixed their gazes on her and could not look away for a long time.

The air fell silent.

Then two shouts erupted.

“Yuyu!”

“Ling! Yu!”

The two deep male voices sounded simultaneously—one tender and affectionate, the other gritted with hatred.

Ling Yu stiffly turned her head.

In the next second, a shadow descended before her.

Jiang Wei looked considerably different from several years ago.

His hair had been cut short, and he wore a hooded sweatshirt. Blue-black stubble covered his chin, giving him a fierce appearance.

Had it not been for the knife scar beneath the corner of his eye and along his jaw, Ling Yu might not have recognized him.

“Ling! Yu!”

Jiang Wei stared at her with a mixture of fury and hatred.

Remembering the hidden condition this woman had left him with years ago, he raised a hand and swung his broad palm toward her face with ruthless speed and precision.

His hand stopped three inches from Ling Yu’s cheek.

The moment his gaze met Ling Yu’s pitch-black, cliff-like eyes, his fingers abruptly began trembling beyond his control.

The door behind Ling Yu opened at that exact moment.

Gu Qing stepped forward twice and discreetly stopped beside her. Her frost-covered blue eyes swept casually toward Jiang Wei.

The man’s emotions toward Ling Yu were overwhelming.

Anger and complexity intertwined, practically overflowing from his eyes.

Gu Qing’s gaze settled on his bulging muscles.

She seized Ling Yu’s elbow and pulled her into the office.

At the same time, Li Jun finally reacted. He stepped forward and blocked Jiang Wei’s arm.

“Young Master Jiang, what are you doing?”

Jiang Wei shook off Li Jun’s arm and glared fiercely at Gu Qing.

“Who are you?”

Gu Qing glanced at Ling Yu and smiled without warmth.

“Repeat what you just said to me.”

She looked toward the two men.

“Tell them who I am.”