Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 4

At Zanghai Bar, there was a thrilling performance every night. According to the rules, after an electrifying dance, the performer had the right to choose a guest to kiss.

The colorful lights overhead shone on the bar.

The dancer in chains picked up a strand of Gu Qing’s curly hair, sniffed it suggestively, and said, “My name is Li Juan.”

Gu Qing remained elegantly seated without moving or refusing.

This silent approval made the dancer bolder. Her long, crimson-lacquered fingers reached for Gu Qing’s thigh, moving up her leg.

“Do you like me?”

Gu Qing’s voice was clear and cold, betraying little emotion. But the swirling lights and the scent of alcohol made her amber eyes seem to shimmer with a hazy, alluring glow.

The dancer’s mouth felt dry. She had worked in this business for years, but it was her first time meeting such a perfect woman. It wasn’t just her looks; she had a kind of unattainable, “forbidden” beauty that made both men and women’s hearts race.

The dancer was bisexual, but at this moment, facing Gu Qing, she had the absurd urge to leave her profession and settle down for her.

A look of urgency appeared on the dancer’s exquisitely made-up face. She licked her dry lips and replied with a sultry look in her eyes, “I do.”

As she spoke, she lowered her body even more. In another second, she would be completely in Gu Qing’s arms.

Gu Qing pressed down on the dancer’s wandering hand and asked in a low voice, “Are you a lesbian?”

The dancer whimpered. “Of course.”

Ling Yu had just reached the top of the stairs when she saw this scene. The dancer’s hands were firmly held by Gu Qing, and most of her body was draped over Gu Qing.

The lights intersected, making them look like a pair of embracing lovers.

Normally, the dancer’s choosing a guest to kiss was the most exciting part of the night at Zanghai Club. At that moment, almost everyone’s eyes were fixed on the two women.

“Ooh, two women.”

“How hot.”

“Juanjuan is being so aggressive this time.”

“I’m not surprised. The woman she’s chosen tonight is a masterpiece. She’s been turning down everyone since she got here. I want to hit on her, too…”

…

“Kiss her! Kiss her!”

It took Ling Yu some effort to push through the crowd. By the time she got there, Gu Qing had said something, and the dancer had backed away a few steps.

Gu Qing sat at the bar, her expression unreadable. She raised her glass, bringing her pale lips to the rim, and took a sip of the cocktail.

Before Ling Yu could figure out what was happening, she met Gu Qing’s eyes, which were as clear as glass beads.

A flicker of surprise crossed Gu Qing’s face. Her gaze fell on Ling Yu.

Ling Yu was dressed exceptionally lightly tonight. Her lace dress had thin straps, and the frilled hem only reached her upper thighs. Her two legs were long and slender. The light made them look as soft and pale as jade.

Gu Qing frowned, aware of the gathering eyes. Her expression visibly turned cold, and her eyes held a hint of anger.

“What are you doing here?”

Ling Yu didn’t answer as usual. She was in a bad mood. She had been a devoted sycophant for two months. To win Gu Qing over quickly, she had even pretended to be poor and naive. If she had known Gu Qing liked a bold attitude, she wouldn’t have bothered to pretend.

Ling Yu looked away, her eyes passing over the thigh that the dancer had just touched. Then, in front of everyone, she sat on Gu Qing’s lap.

Gu Qing’s eyes darkened…

But Ling Yu didn’t give her a chance to push her away. She rested her chin on Gu Qing’s shoulder, looked at the dancer, and whispered softly, “She has a girlfriend!”

Her voice was low, and her breath tickled Gu Qing’s ear.

The latter’s jaw tightened, and her face turned incredibly ugly.

Ling Yu clicked her tongue inwardly. She was this close, practically breathing in Gu Qing’s ear. And yet, this woman, who had just been playfully flirting with the dancer, was completely expressionless toward her.

Ling Yu scoffed, feeling her “professionalism” was being insulted.

Her slender fingers rested on Gu Qing’s shoulder. She looked back at Gu Qing’s frigid eyes, not afraid at all. “Sister Gu… wanna play?”

Her tone was provocative, but her foxy eyes were hazy when she looked at people. The lights reflected in her clean, clear eyes.

Even though she was sitting on Gu Qing, she wasn’t putting all her weight on her, leaving some space between them.

She was clearly not used to physical intimacy. Her actions were bold, but her body’s response was timid and honest.

In reality, the word “timid” didn’t exist in Ling Yu’s world. She always wore her arrogance on her sleeve. But having been a “player” for a few years, her “game” was all talk and no action. She could easily get any man or woman she wanted with a simple flirtatious remark.

Only Gu Qing had been impervious to her charm. Now, she was going in for a real, physical approach, but her body’s old habits took over. When she touched someone, she instinctively recoiled.

Ling Yu didn’t even notice that her subtle evasion made her seem like a bold person in thought but a coward in action.

Gu Qing took in Ling Yu’s naive seduction, feeling a sense of helplessness.

She truly couldn’t understand what girls Ling Yu’s age were thinking. She had known Ling Yu for two months. Ling Yu always seemed enthusiastic, her family was a normal level of wealthy, she didn’t fight for anything, she was considerate, but sometimes a little spoiled—just like now, showing a tantrum. She fit all the characteristics of a university student her age.

If Gu Qing were just an ordinary master’s student about to graduate, she might have been moved by Ling Yu’s pure, innocent, and warm affection.

But she was Gu Qing, who had emerged from a drug den in Bangkok. Even though she wasn’t much older than Ling Yu, her past had been without light, and her future didn’t need any meaningless sunshine.

Gu Qing had given the woman in front of her all the patience she had in her life, but the other woman was only getting more and more invested.

Was she shameless? Was she really trying to seduce her in such a revealing dress?

Gu Qing was annoyed. She brushed her long hair back and asked, suppressing her emotions, “Play what?”

“Play what you were going to play with that dancer.”

Ling Yu blurted it out. She tilted her head up slightly, meeting Gu Qing’s gaze without flinching.

Other people were afraid of Gu Qing, but Ling Yu didn’t feel any pressure from her. She was just annoyed by the other woman’s arrogant, cold, and apathetic demeanor. They were both women; shouldn’t they be friendly to each other?

Why did she have to act like a man who just wanted to play around and treat people differently?

Ling Yu had been generous enough to give her ex-boyfriends breakup fees and was even more generous with other women.

But when it came to Gu Qing, she couldn’t feel any affection. She just wanted to pull her down from her pedestal and watch her fall into the mud.

Ling Yu ignored Gu Qing’s menacing stare and brazenly looked at her thin lips. A trace of the cocktail’s aroma lingered on them.

Ling Yu hesitated for a moment, her long eyelashes half-closed. She supported herself on Gu Qing’s shoulder, leaning in.

The soft parts of her body in the lace dress brushed against Gu Qing’s skin.

A cloud of perfume surrounded them. Gu Qing’s eyes became deep. Her fingers tightened, and just as Ling Yu was about to press her lips to hers, she quickly grabbed Ling Yu’s jaw.

She then forcefully pushed Ling Yu’s face away.

“Get off.” Gu Qing’s voice was filled with a suppressed rage. She shot up from the high stool.

Her face was as dark as water. “Ling Yu, this is your last warning. Don’t get close to me… you’ll only end up miserable.”

After she spoke, Gu Qing grabbed her houndstooth tweed coat and left without looking back.

••••

“I mean, Ling Yu, you’re a rich young lady. Jiangcheng is a big place. You can have any woman you want. Why are you so hung up on a difficult person like Gu Qing?”

The two of them were back in their second-floor booth. Xu Miao’s champagne had arrived. She took a sip and remembered Gu Qing’s murderous stare from earlier.

She gave Ling Yu a thumbs-up. “You were so… reckless. I heard Gu Qing deals with both legal and illegal things. Don’t let her master’s degree fool you; she’s nothing like a normal student. She’ll do anything for money. She’s not a good person.”

Ling Yu was playing with a pure black voice recorder in her hand. I know Gu Qing isn’t a good person, she thought. As the tragic and powerful protagonist of this “no-romance” novel, Gu Qing had been through a hellish life.

If her life hadn’t been so terrible, how could she have accumulated so much of the readers’ resentment, leading her to become unhinged?

That’s why Ling Yu had this mission.

Seeing that Ling Yu was unconcerned and seemed heartbroken, Xu Miao couldn’t help but offer a piece of advice. “Xiao Yu, if you really like her, just use money to ‘support’ her.”

Xu Miao lowered her voice. “There’s a rumor in the industry that Gu Qing is… desperate for money. You can tell by all the crazy cases she takes on…”

Ling Yu raised an eyebrow. “Why? Kaihe Law Firm’s income is mostly from Gu Qing’s cases. Why would she be short on money?”

The system had only given her a rough outline of the novel’s plot. To prevent Ling Yu from changing the main storyline too much, the details she received were minimal.

Now, hearing that Gu Qing was short on money, Ling Yu was so shocked she stopped drinking.

“Shh.” Xu Miao looked around suspiciously, making sure no one was paying attention to them. She then looked at Ling Yu. “Gu Qing is in debt… When she was fifteen, she borrowed ten million yuan from the founder of Kaihe Law Firm, Mr. Li. The condition was that she had to work for Kaihe Law Firm for ten years for free…”

Ling Yu’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Why?”

Xu Miao shook her head. “I just heard a rumor. But she’s definitely short on money. Otherwise, why would a promising lawyer whose salary should be in the millions still live in a university dorm?”

Ling Yu squinted. It did make sense.

[According to the plot, Gu Qing will be taken back by the Gu family, a jewelry dynasty from Hong Kong, next spring, right?]

008 replied with a yes.

[She’s already a famous lawyer. But there are still three months until she’s taken back. Why is she so broke at this point in time?]

When Gu Qing was one year old, she was taken by her family’s enemy and thrown into a drug den in Bangkok. At ten, the police raided the den, and Gu Qing was adopted by a police officer. Unfortunately, two years later, drug traffickers retaliated. To save Gu Qing, her adoptive father died in a gun attack. Gu Qing then lived with her adoptive mother.

As the protagonist of this “no-romance” novel, Gu Qing’s fate was tragic from the beginning. She had to fight for survival every step of the way, eventually reaching the pinnacle of her career. But her past was not something a simple plot outline could describe.

Ling Yu had only focused on her mission and hadn’t thought to look into Gu Qing’s history. But now, with Xu Miao’s reminder, she realized something was wrong.

Besides being cold and ruthless, Gu Qing was also a money-making machine without emotions.

[The protagonist’s adoptive mother was diagnosed with cancer a few years ago. The year her adoptive father died, her mother was pregnant. The boy she gave birth to after the gunfight was born with cerebral palsy… she needs money.]

Ling Yu’s fingers, which were turning the voice recorder, paused. The black pen dropped from her hand and rolled on the floor to Xu Miao’s feet.

Xu Miao bent down to pick it up.

Her finger accidentally pressed the power button.

“Do you like me?”

“I do.”

“Are you a lesbian?”

“Of course.”

…

The voice recorder was playing back the conversation between Gu Qing and the dancer.

Xu Miao raised an eyebrow. “Xiao Yu, I never knew you had this kind of thing. You’re even stealing Gu Qing’s voice recorder? Tsk, love really knows no bounds.”

“But what was Gu Qing recording?”

Xu Miao looked confused. The next second, Ling Yu took the voice recorder from her hand.

“Who knows? But I didn’t steal it. It fell out of Gu Qing’s pocket.” Ling Yu smiled at the entrance. “She left in such a hurry. What do you think that means about me?”

Xu Miao, of course, understood what Ling Yu meant. She thought Ling Yu’s intelligence had been affected by her heartbreak.

Why would an ice queen like Gu Qing have any feelings for a flirtatious vixen like Ling Yu?

She looked at the heartbroken and naive Ling Yu with pity. She said, insincerely, “Well, our Xiao Yu can have anyone she wants. Come on, let’s have another drink.”

Xu Miao raised her glass, trying to placate her. She was practically broadcasting that she would stay with her all night to drink away her sorrows.

Ling Yu: …