Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 39

Ling Yu had assumed her plan to force another intimate encounter tonight was doomed.

Unexpectedly, as midnight approached, the sound of a car horn broke the silence of the mountain road.

A Porsche was slowly climbing from halfway up the mountain. Because ice covered the road, it moved cautiously.

Two people sat inside.

Despite the distance, Ling Yu could see Gu Qing in the passenger seat.

The driver was probably a designated driver without experience navigating mountain roads. He drove the Porsche at the speed of a tractor.

The hazard lights kept flashing on and off as though he were playing with them.

Fortunately, those ridiculous flashing lights allowed Ling Yu to immediately recognize Gu Qing’s ostentatious limited-edition Porsche.

A smile entered her eyes.

She casually placed her laptop on the floor and hurried back to her room to change into the outfit she had prepared for tonight.

Ling Yu had made thorough preparations to throw herself at Gu Qing.

Over a black camisole, she wore a low-necked, openwork knit top trimmed with ruffles. The sweater was tucked into high-waisted jeans.

The fabric was rather thin, but the outfit was easy to remove—and seductive.

Ling Yu pulled out her hair ribbon. As she reached the door, she placed a pink knitted hat on her head.

Her outfit made her look both innocent and wild.

Hearing the commotion behind her, Xu Miao shouted:

“Fuck! You’re still going on a date this late?”

“Don’t run! Have I completely lost the ability to control you today?”

Ling Yu was speechless.

She wondered how she had offended Cousin Xu tonight. Why did Xu Miao suddenly decide to interfere with her date at such a crucial moment?

Ling Yu gave her a playful look signaling her to be quiet, then shut the villa door behind herself.

“Ling Yu, if you aren’t back by the time I finish this round, don’t ever come home again!”

Xu Miao issued her melodramatic threat from behind.

Ling Yu lowered her eyes.

If she returned tonight, then she truly would have lost—and lost completely.

Gu Qing considered herself someone who honored her word and never broke a promise.

Even if Ling Yu waited outside her house until the end of time, it had nothing to do with her.

With a cigarette between her fingers, Gu Qing repeatedly reminded herself to stop before she went too far.

It did not matter whether Ling Yu attracted men or women.

It did not matter whether she was a serial flirt.

Gu Qing should not continue maintaining this dangerous relationship.

She believed that if she ignored Ling Yu, the other woman would not continue humiliating herself.

Gu Qing had assumed her heart was unshakable.

But one hour earlier, she had left the nightclub and hired a designated driver.

The middle-aged driver was exceptionally talkative. When Gu Qing remained silent, he began discussing his recent troubles to relieve his boredom.

His daughter was currently in high school. Some time ago, she had fallen for an older girl at the same school and come out to her family.

“She used to like male idols. I never imagined she’d suddenly start liking someone of the same sex.”

“Miss Gu, you’re a lawyer, so you must have studied psychology. Could you help me analyze this?”

“Is something psychologically wrong with my daughter? Someone told me that this kind of mental illness requires electroshock treatment at a hospital.”

“Mental illness?”

Gu Qing narrowed her eyes and replied coldly:

“Same-sex marriage is commonplace in Country R. What mental problem does your daughter have? The person she happens to like is simply the same sex.”

The driver felt the oppressive atmosphere radiating from Gu Qing and wiped cold sweat from his forehead.

He laughed awkwardly and changed the subject.

“Forget it. Let’s not talk about her.”

“It’s certainly cold tonight. I heard it’s Christmas Eve. Miss Gu, would you like to stop and buy an apple?”

His expression turned melancholy again.

“Do you know why I’m familiar with a holiday celebrated by young people like you?”

Gu Qing gave no response.

The driver did not feel embarrassed.

“My silly daughter’s crush is attending evening study at First High School. She informed us in advance that she was going there tonight to deliver an apple.”

“Ah… It’s already five degrees below freezing. It’s hard to imagine someone so small and thin standing outside, shivering in the cold wind…”

Gu Qing’s slender fingertip rested on the trembling-in-the-snow sticker displayed on her phone.

She abruptly raised her eyelids.

The scent of alcohol accompanied her breath as she turned toward the driver and said:

“Go to the Xishan villas.”

Ling Yu waited outside for more than ten minutes before Gu Qing’s striking Porsche finally crawled to the entrance of her home.

It was nearly midnight, and the temperature was extremely low.

Ling Yu did not need to pretend to be pitiful. Her soft, pale face had already turned slightly red from the cold.

Gu Qing extended one long, slender leg and stepped out of the car.

Tonight, she wore a lake-blue plaid wool coat. Her chestnut curls fell to her waist.

Her posture was impeccable. Although her high heels sank into the snow, she showed no trace of awkwardness.

Every step was slow and graceful, making her resemble a runway model.

Ling Yu craned her neck to look, allowing cold wind to pour down her collar.

Before she could force out a smile, Gu Qing’s striking face had already appeared before her.

Ling Yu’s curled lashes fluttered.

A snowflake fell at that moment, landing on her shivering lips.

Gu Qing’s expression abruptly changed.

She looked angry.

A layer of dark-red lip glaze covered her naturally pale lips, lending her a touch of vintage elegance.

Even the beautiful landscape decorated with soft falling snow could not rival her cold, overwhelming beauty.

But now, the beautiful woman wore a grim expression, her lips pressed into a straight line.

In Ling Yu’s opinion, that reduced her beauty by half.

Did Gu Qing need to display her disgust so openly merely because she saw her?

Suppressing the urge to let her lips twitch, Ling Yu raised her head and greeted Gu Qing with practiced familiarity.

“Why did you come home so late?”

She deliberately slowed her tone, giving her clear voice an innately coquettish softness.

Gu Qing glanced at her and quietly stepped backward.

Her cold eyes were half-lidded as they traveled over Ling Yu with casual yet meaningful scrutiny.

Ling Yu had expected this coldness and paid no attention to it.

Maintaining her bright smile, she said, “It’s freezing. Come on, let’s go somewhere private and talk.”

As she spoke, Ling Yu tugged Gu Qing’s arm.

Her gaze immediately shifted toward Gu Qing’s pocket.

Her expression could not have been clearer.

She was signaling for Gu Qing to open the door immediately.

Gu Qing gave a humorless laugh, rendered speechless by Ling Yu’s entitled expression.

She could not understand how someone like Ling Yu managed to pretend to be deeply affectionate as though nothing had happened.

They had been at each other’s throats only a few days earlier.

Yet today, Ling Yu could effortlessly change her demeanor and become gentle and obedient again.

Gu Qing had assumed she would immediately curse her thoroughly and drive her away.

But when she raised her eyes, she noticed Ling Yu’s remarkably light outfit.

Her fine brows drew together.

Ling Yu stood beneath the vintage searchlight beside the entrance.

Only a black camisole lay beneath her openwork sweater. Cold wind poured through its low neckline.

As Gu Qing looked over, every patch of Ling Yu’s exposed skin seemed to be painted pale pink by the wind, the color winding all the way down toward her chest.

She looked both proud and bashful, making Gu Qing want to reach out and squeeze her.

Gu Qing irritably curled her fingers.

Perhaps it was because she had consumed a glass of eighty-percent vodka earlier. Her long eyelashes lowered to conceal the darkness gathering within her eyes.

Only one thought remained in her mind.

She hoped Ling Yu would recognize the difficulty and retreat before Gu Qing was forced to make her cry again.

As the temperature fell further, Ling Yu pulled her thin top more tightly around herself.

She glanced at the hand Gu Qing extended and asked tentatively, “What is it?”

Ling Yu’s first thought was not that Gu Qing wanted to hold hands.

Instead…

Was Gu Qing going to slap her?

Ling Yu became troubled.

She had not come tonight to fight.

If she failed to control her violent instincts and ended up fighting Gu Qing, she might not even make it through the woman’s front door.

How would she complete her mission then?

Ling Yu frowned slightly and instinctively withdrew, revealing an uneasy smile.

That gesture successfully demolished the defenses Gu Qing had just constructed.

A helplessness she did not notice entered Gu Qing’s features.

But when she recalled Fang Jia’s words, she narrowed her eyes and suppressed her emotions.

“Leave the coat. You can go.”

Gu Qing wanted to offer Ling Yu every scrap of kindness she possessed and allow her to leave with dignity.

She spoke those words with the greatest gentleness and patience she had ever displayed in her life.

She even forced herself to suppress the fury she had felt after learning from Fang Jia at the nightclub that Ling Yu was a manipulative player.

Gu Qing had yet to understand why that revelation angered her.

But in any case, regardless of Ling Yu’s motives, Gu Qing believed there was no need to waste more time entangled with an irrelevant person.

It was better to separate peacefully.

Ultimately, she did not want Ling Yu to leave only after being driven away by vicious insults.

The cold wind dispersed the alcohol clouding her mind.

Gu Qing adjusted her expression and decided to speak calmly with Ling Yu.

Unfortunately, that conversation never happened.

At such close range, Gu Qing caught sight of the wrinkled windbreaker in Ling Yu’s arms.

The anger she had suppressed inexplicably surged again.

Dust covered the coat.

Ling Yu’s perfunctory attitude toward her had been apparent from beginning to end.

Only now did Gu Qing realize the source of the discomfort that had plagued her all evening.

She had been deceived.

A serial flirt with unknown motives and malicious intentions had slowly cooked her like a frog in warm water.

She had nearly been cooked through.

Fortunately, Gu Qing had stopped herself in time.

Mockery entered her eyes.

She stepped toward Ling Yu, removed the coat from the crook of her arm without allowing any objection, and crumpled it into a ball.

Under Ling Yu’s gaze, she threw it into the trash with a sharp slap.

“What are you doing?”

Ling Yu was so angry she could no longer maintain her smile.

Gu Qing examined her casually and said coldly, “If you possessed even a shred of self-respect, you wouldn’t have come here tonight.”

As she spoke, Gu Qing hooked one finger beneath Ling Yu’s black camisole.

“Is there any point in dressing this way? Do I look like I feel anything for you?”

Her tone was exceedingly frivolous.

She looked at Ling Yu as casually as one might inspect a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Unrestrained contempt filled her cold, beautiful face.

Ling Yu felt deeply insulted.

Did compromising herself to survive mean she had no self-respect?

When Ling Yu pinned her to the bed that night, Gu Qing had certainly felt plenty.

Otherwise, why had she reached her peak again and again?

Anger flashed through Ling Yu’s eyes, igniting the rebellious arrogance inside her.

She smiled and gave a pretended “oh,” then brushed suggestively against Gu Qing’s body.

“You seem to feel quite a lot for me.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Ling Yu swiftly wrapped an arm around Gu Qing’s neck.

She turned sharply and bent one knee, advancing in an attacking posture before pinning Gu Qing against the iron gate.

Flames leaped within Gu Qing’s ice-blue eyes, flickering like ghostly fire in the darkness.

Ling Yu seemed oblivious to the danger.

She stroked the woman’s thick eyelashes while her other hand traveled down along the curve of Gu Qing’s hip.

Gu Qing’s body abruptly stiffened.

Ling Yu’s unrestrained touching enraged her. Murderous intent surfaced clearly within her ice-blue eyes.

Instead of displaying anger, Gu Qing laughed and seized Ling Yu by the throat.

Her fingers pressed into Ling Yu’s neck, quickly leaving a bright-red nail mark on her pale skin.

The pain made Ling Yu clench her teeth.

She did not evade Gu Qing’s gaze.

As the grip around her throat tightened, Ling Yu suddenly offered a provocative smile.

She exerted more force, dragged Gu Qing’s head down, and moved closer.

Swiftly and precisely, she caught Gu Qing’s pale lips between her own.

Gu Qing carried the cold fragrance of a snow lotus.

Ling Yu’s lips held the sweetness of milk candy.

Blended together, it was like both women were eating a chilled piece of candy—not overly sweet, yet not excessively cold.

Their teeth grazed against each other.

Ling Yu heard Gu Qing’s muffled groan.

Taking advantage of the vicious woman’s momentary distraction, Ling Yu bit her lip until it bled.

But she gained no advantage.

Gu Qing was furious.

She seized the low neckline of Ling Yu’s sweater and lifted her entire body.

Her movement resembled the way she had just discarded the windbreaker.

She threw Ling Yu aside like a piece of garbage.

Fortunately, her raised arm withdrew some of its strength halfway through the motion.

Ling Yu’s toes touched the ground. She staggered twice before barely regaining her balance.

Gu Qing did not even look at her.

She walked to the entrance without turning back, retrieved the key from her coat pocket, opened the door, and shut it behind herself.

From beginning to end, she never spared Ling Yu another glance.

Ling Yu laughed in anger.

No one in either of her lives had ever driven her away with such humiliation.

The angrier she became, the wider the curve of her lips grew.

She slipped both hands into her pockets and looked through lowered eyelids, her smile hovering between presence and disappearance.

Endless darkness stretched behind her.

It seemed an invisible hand suddenly emerged from the night and gathered the fragments of her dignity.

Ling Yu abruptly called out:

“Gu Qing.”

Gu Qing did not turn around. Half of her back was hidden in darkness.

“I don’t know why you’re so hostile toward me.”

Self-mockery entered Ling Yu’s voice.

“I don’t think I’ve ever forced or harmed you. But just now, you wanted to kill me, didn’t you?”

Her voice was extremely soft, like a murmur beside the ear.

Gu Qing remained where she was and gave no response.

She treated herself as an emotionless machine, listening to Ling Yu’s final dying struggle.

When Gu Qing remained motionless, disappointment finally crossed Ling Yu’s face.

She had been far too self-important.

Gu Qing did not merely dislike her.

She profoundly detested Ling Yu’s approach.

Whenever they came together, Gu Qing had consistently communicated that she found Ling Yu unbearable.

Ling Yu desperately wanted to survive.

Tonight, she had even considered offering her body and providing compensation afterward.

She had been willing to do anything.

But it was useless.

If she forced Gu Qing into intimacy, how would her behavior differ from that of a rapist like Jiang Wei?

Ling Yu admitted defeat.

Her foxlike eyes curved as she stared at the woman’s proud back.

She scoffed.

“What kind of person do you think I am? I’m not as shameless as you imagine.”

“It was only…”

Ling Yu’s voice traveled through the wind and snow.

Perhaps because she had decided to abandon the mission, genuine relief entered her tone.

“Forget it. I won’t bother you again.”

She stared at Gu Qing’s back and said goodbye with careless nonchalance.

“Goodbye, Gu Qing.”

Gu Qing’s long, slender legs instinctively stiffened.

Dim yellow light fell across her silken-straight back, scattering countless fragmented shadows.

For one moment, the displaced light made the woman’s upright figure appear slightly hunched.

The air in the darkness became thick and oppressive.

Gu Qing found it difficult to breathe and instinctively reached for her cigarette pack.

A rapid series of phone rings suddenly interrupted her attempt to light one.

Gu Qing curled her fingers and removed the phone from her pocket.

“Attorney Gu! It’s Li Juan.”

“Would you like to hear Young Master Jiang’s voice?”

“Beast, make some noise for your accomplice.”

…

“I’m on the rooftop of Kaihe Law Firm. I hope you can arrive within half an hour.”

Amid the noise on the call, a sudden, urgent cry pierced Gu Qing’s eardrum.

Jiang Wei screamed:

“Save me!”

Gu Qing held the phone and turned around.

Her gaze met Ling Yu’s inquisitive eyes in midair.