Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 4

Canghai Club featured an exciting performance every night.

According to the rules, once a passionate dance ended, the dancer had the right to choose a customer and ask them for a kiss.

Every multicolored light overhead converged on the bar.

The dancer in chains lifted one of Gu Qing’s curls and suggestively inhaled its fragrance.

“My name is Li Juan.”

Gu Qing maintained her elegant sitting posture. She neither moved nor refused.

Her tacit acceptance emboldened the dancer. Long fingernails painted crimson reached toward Gu Qing’s thigh and wandered along it toward the base of her leg.

“Do you like me?”

Gu Qing’s voice was cool and clear, revealing little emotion. Yet beneath the atmospheric lights and amid the drifting scent of alcohol, her amber eyes seemed veiled in a seductive haze.

The dancer’s mouth went dry.

She had spent many years working in places of entertainment and pleasure, but this was the first time she had encountered such an exceptional woman.

It was not merely Gu Qing’s appearance. More importantly, she possessed a restrained, abstinent beauty that could make the blood of both men and women surge.

The dancer was bisexual and welcomed both men and women. Yet at that moment, faced with Gu Qing, she absurdly felt the urge to reform herself and settle down for her.

An eager look appeared on the dancer’s exquisitely made-up face. She licked her dry lips and replied seductively, “I do.”

As the words left her mouth, she lowered her body even further.

In another second, she would be completely nestled in Gu Qing’s embrace.

Gu Qing caught her increasingly presumptuous hand and asked languidly, “Are you a lesbian?”

The dancer let out a soft sound.

“Of course.”

When Ling Yu descended the escalator and reached the foot of the stairs, this was precisely what she saw.

The dancer’s hand was firmly clasped in Gu Qing’s, while more than half her body overlapped with Gu Qing’s.

Beneath the interweaving lights, the two resembled a perfectly matched couple locked in an embrace.

Normally, the dancer asking for a kiss was the most thrilling part of the evening at Canghai Club. At that moment, nearly every customer’s eyes were fixed on the two women.

“Oh-ho, two women.”

“Exciting.”

“Juanjuan is unusually forward this time.”

“Can you blame her? The woman she picked tonight is an absolute masterpiece. How many people has she turned down since she walked in? Hell, even I want to hit on her…”

…

“Kiss her! Kiss her!”

Ling Yu had to expend some effort pushing through the crowd.

By the time she rushed forward, Gu Qing had said something unknown to the dancer, causing the woman to retreat several steps.

Gu Qing remained seated beside the bar, her expression inscrutable. She lifted her wineglass, brought her pale lips to the rim, and sipped her cocktail.

Before Ling Yu could investigate what had happened, she met Gu Qing’s clear, glass-like eyes.

A trace of surprise crossed Gu Qing’s gaze before it settled on Ling Yu.

Ling Yu wore unusually little tonight. The straps of her dress were extremely thin, while its ruffled hem barely reached the tops of her thighs.

Beneath the lights, her two slender, fair legs looked as smooth and pale as polished jade—soft and tempting.

Gu Qing’s brows drew together tightly when she noticed the increasing number of gazes gathering around Ling Yu.

Her expression visibly chilled, and concealed anger appeared in her eyes.

“Why are you here?”

Ling Yu did not answer immediately as she normally would.

She was currently in a foul mood. She had painstakingly played Gu Qing’s bootlicker for two entire months.

To win her over as quickly as possible, she had even pretended to be poor and acted younger and more innocent than she was.

Had she known Gu Qing liked slutty women, why would she ever have bothered disguising herself?

Ling Yu looked away from beneath lowered eyelids. Her gaze swept over the thigh the dancer had been caressing moments earlier.

Then, in full view of everyone, she sat directly on it.

Gu Qing’s eyes darkened.

[…]

Ling Yu did not give her an opportunity to push her away. Resting her chin on Gu Qing’s shoulder, she looked toward the dancer and whispered, “She already has someone!”

Her voice was not loud, and every breath she exhaled brushed against Gu Qing’s ear.

Gu Qing’s jaw abruptly tightened. Her expression became indescribably ugly.

Ling Yu clicked her tongue inwardly.

She was already leaning so close that she was practically blowing into Gu Qing’s ear.

A moment ago, this woman had been sitting elegantly and flirting with the dancer. Yet when facing Ling Yu, she remained entirely expressionless.

Ling Yu snorted, feeling that her professional abilities had been insulted.

Her delicate fingers rested on Gu Qing’s shoulder. She turned fearlessly and met Gu Qing’s openly frigid eyes.

“Gu…Qing-jiejie, want to play with me?”

Her tone was provocative, but when her foxlike eyes looked at someone, they appeared veiled in mist. The refracted lights made her pupils look pure, clear, and bright.

Although she was sitting on Gu Qing’s lap, she did not allow her full weight to press down through their clothes.

Perhaps because she rarely had intimate physical contact with anyone, her movements were bold, but her body instinctively reacted with restraint and honesty.

In truth, the word “restrained” did not exist in Ling Yu’s world. She had always carried her arrogance openly in her eyes.

However, after spending several years as a playgirl, her flirtatious talk had long surpassed her actual behavior.

In the past, a few casual flirtations had been enough for her to win over either men or women.

Only Gu Qing had remained unconquered after such a prolonged campaign.

Now Ling Yu had charged in alone and was attempting to engage in a genuine physical attack. Unfortunately, her body had already developed the habit of instinctively retreating whenever she touched another person.

Ling Yu herself did not notice how her tiny evasive movements made her resemble a fearless warrior in thought but a complete weakling in action.

Gu Qing took in Ling Yu’s inexperienced seduction and could not help feeling helpless.

She genuinely could not understand what girls of Ling Yu’s age were thinking.

She had known Ling Yu for two months. The young woman always appeared enthusiastic. Her family circumstances were neither good nor bad, and she never fought or competed with others. She was considerate and understanding, though occasionally somewhat spoiled—just as she was now, openly displaying her little temper.

She possessed every characteristic expected of a female university student her age.

If Gu Qing had merely been an ordinary master’s student approaching graduation, perhaps she truly would have been moved by Ling Yu’s pure, inexperienced, and warmly affectionate feelings.

But she was Gu Qing—a woman who had emerged from Bangkok’s poisonous underworld.

She was not much older than Ling Yu, yet there had been no light in her past. As for her future…

She had even less need for meaningless sunlight.

Over the past several days, Gu Qing had already given the woman before her all the patience she had accumulated in her lifetime. Yet Ling Yu was clearly falling deeper and deeper.

She was even shamelessly attempting to seduce Gu Qing while dressed in such flimsy fabric.

Gu Qing was thoroughly irritated. She smoothed her long hair, suppressed her emotions, and asked, “Play what?”

“Do whatever you were doing with that dancer just now.”

Ling Yu answered without hesitation. She raised her head slightly and met Gu Qing’s gaze without flinching or retreating.

Other people feared Gu Qing, but Ling Yu felt none of the pressure she radiated.

She was simply displeased by Gu Qing’s lofty, harsh, and indifferent attitude.

They were both women. Shouldn’t Gu Qing treat her with a pleasant expression?

Instead, she spent every day acting like some creepy man, insisting on treating people differently.

Ling Yu could generously provide her former boyfriends with breakup fees, and she treated women with even greater tenderness.

Gu Qing was the sole exception.

Ling Yu truly could not summon any tenderness for her. She merely wanted to drag Gu Qing down from her pedestal and watch her fall into the mud.

Under Gu Qing’s murderous gaze, Ling Yu brazenly stared at her thin lips. The rich fragrance of the cocktail still lingered on them.

Ling Yu hesitated briefly, then half-lowered her long lashes. Bracing herself against Gu Qing’s shoulder, she leaned forward.

As she bent over, the lace slip dress dipped lower. Her softness brushed across Gu Qing’s skin.

Fragrance washed over her.

Gu Qing’s eyes grew dark and unfathomable. Her fingers clenched tightly.

One second before Ling Yu’s lips could touch hers, Gu Qing reacted swiftly and caught Ling Yu by the chin.

Without allowing any argument, she shoved Ling Yu’s approaching face away.

“Get off me.”

Suppressed anger threaded through Gu Qing’s voice. She shot to her feet from the tall stool, her expression dark and stormy.

“Ling Yu, this is my final warning. Stay away from me…or you’ll become unfortunate.”

After speaking, Gu Qing grabbed her earth-toned houndstooth wool coat and departed without looking back.

“I’m serious, Ling Yu. You’re a wealthy young lady, and Jiangcheng is enormous. You could have any woman you wanted. Why did you have to fall for someone as difficult as Gu Qing?”

The two returned to their booth on the second floor. Xu Miao’s champagne had already been delivered.

She took a sip, recalling Gu Qing’s murderous gaze from earlier, then gave Ling Yu a thumbs-up.

“You were seriously reckless just now. I’ve heard Gu Qing has connections on both sides of the law. Don’t assume she’s like an ordinary student just because she’s completing her master’s degree. She’ll do anything for money. She isn’t a good person.”

Ling Yu toyed with a pure-black recording pen.

Of course she knew Gu Qing was not a good person.

As the beautiful, powerful, and tragic female lead of this novel without a romantic pairing, Gu Qing had suffered experiences during the early part of her life that could only be described as horrifying. She had endured every possible form of human misery.

Had her life not been so unbearably tragic, how could it have provoked the readers’ resentment and caused Gu Qing’s personality to move toward complete collapse?

That was precisely why Ling Yu had been given this mission.

Seeing Ling Yu’s unconcerned expression and assuming she was tormented by love, Xu Miao could not resist reminding her, “Xiao Yu, if you genuinely like her that much, why don’t you simply pay to keep her?”

Xu Miao lowered her voice.

“There are rumors within the industry that Gu Qing is desperately…short of money. You can tell from all the insane cases she accepts…”

Ling Yu made a questioning sound and raised her eyes.

“How could that be? Gu Qing is responsible for more than half of Kaihe Law Firm’s cases. Why would she be short of money?”

The system had provided only a rough overview of the main storyline of this novel without a romantic pairing. It wanted to prevent Ling Yu from learning too much about the plot and drastically changing its course.

As a result, Ling Yu knew very few of the finer details.

Now that she had heard Gu Qing lacked money, Ling Yu was so shocked that she stopped drinking.

“Shh.”

Xu Miao furtively looked around. After confirming that no one was paying attention to them, she met Ling Yu’s gaze.

“Gu Qing really does need money… When she was fifteen, she borrowed ten million yuan from President Li, the founder of Kaihe Law Firm. In exchange, she has to work for the firm without pay for ten years…”

A question mark slowly appeared in Ling Yu’s eyes.

“Why?”

Xu Miao shook her head.

“It’s only something I heard. But she truly is short of money. Otherwise, why would an extraordinary future lawyer like her—someone who should earn at least a million yuan a year—still return to live in a university dormitory?”

Ling Yu narrowed her eyes.

It did seem reasonable.

[According to the plot, Gu Qing will be acknowledged by the Gu family, a prestigious jewelry dynasty from Gangcheng, at the beginning of next spring, correct?]

008 gave an affirmative response.

[Before they acknowledge her, she’s already an elite lawyer renowned both domestically and internationally. Yet there are still three months before they bring her home. Why doesn’t she have money at this point in the story?]

When Gu Qing was one year old, she was abducted by an enemy of the Gu family and later abandoned in Bangkok’s drug-infested underworld.

When she was ten, the police destroyed the gambling den where she lived, and a police officer adopted her.

Unfortunately, two years later, drug traffickers returned for revenge. To save Gu Qing, her adoptive father died in a shooting. From that point onward, Gu Qing lived with her adoptive mother.

As the female lead of this novel without a romantic pairing, Gu Qing had begun with an exceptionally tragic fate. To survive, she had climbed upward one step at a time.

Naturally, her eventual ascent to the pinnacle of life was accompanied by countless moments in which she humiliated everyone who had looked down upon her.

However, the horrifying experiences she endured during the early years of her life could never be adequately summarized in a few lines of plot.

Until now, Ling Yu had focused solely on pursuing her mission target. It had never occurred to her to begin with Gu Qing’s past experiences.

After Xu Miao’s reminder, she finally realized something was wrong.

Aside from being cold and heartless, Gu Qing was also an emotionless money-making machine.

[The female lead’s…adoptive mother developed cancer several years ago. When her adoptive father died, her adoptive mother was pregnant. The boy she barely managed to give birth to after surviving the gunfight has suffered from cerebral palsy since birth… She needs money.]

Ling Yu’s fingers stopped turning the recording pen.

The pure-black device slipped from her hand and rolled across the floor until it reached Xu Miao’s feet.

Xu Miao lowered her head and picked it up.

Her finger accidentally pressed the switch.

“Do you like me?”

“I do.”

“Are you a lesbian?”

“Of course.”

…

The recording pen played the conversation between Gu Qing and the dancer from earlier.

Xu Miao raised an eyebrow.

“Xiao Yu, I never expected you to have this sort of hobby. You even stole Gu Qing’s recording pen? Tsk. Love truly leaves people without any boundaries.”

“But why was Gu Qing recording that conversation?”

Xu Miao looked puzzled.

The next second, Ling Yu stood and took the recording pen from her hand.

“Who knows? But I didn’t steal it. It fell out of Gu Qing’s coat pocket.”

Ling Yu smiled toward the entrance.

“She left in such a hurry. Tell me, could it be that she felt something for me just now? Hmm?”

Xu Miao naturally understood what she meant, but she suspected heartbreak had lowered Ling Yu’s intelligence.

How could an aloof beauty like Gu Qing possibly feel anything for a vixen like Ling Yu?

She gave the lovestruck, newly foolish Ling Yu a pitying look and insincerely agreed, “Mm-hmm. Our Xiao Yu can have anyone she wants. Come on, let’s have another drink.”

As she comforted Ling Yu, Xu Miao raised her glass.

Her expression practically declared that she would accompany Ling Yu until they were both drunk and help her drown her sorrows in alcohol.

Ling Yu: […]