Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 42

The 2022 Spring Festival Gala.

The second-to-last sketch was called Acacia. The actress wore a white dress, and her hair was tied up high.

She had beautiful hands. When her delicate fingers plucked the zither strings, her voice was full of emotion.

“Guarding the love, afraid of people laughing, and afraid of people seeing clearly… Fireworks embrace the fleeting true feelings that are gone.”

Gu Qing turned the television volume to the maximum. In front of her was a cage full of laboratory mice.

The mice were running around constantly in the cage. Gu Qing held a syringe and slowly moved her gaze from the cage to the television.

The sketch was drawing to a close. It was a story about an irreparable broken mirror.

The host held the microphone and greeted the actors one by one.

Finally, the topic turned to the actress.

“Ling Ling, when you sang the last part of Acacia, it felt very genuine. Can you tell us if you were embodying the character…”

The actress had foxy eyes, shaped like petals. Although they weren’t particularly lively, when she smiled, the shape of her eyes resembled a crescent moon: “If I said no, no one would believe me… I was actually thinking of my father. He died in the line of duty during the flood relief efforts in ’13. The last thing he told me before he died was, ‘Be a good person’…”

Be a good person?

Outside the window, clusters of colorful fireworks exploded in the sky. The firelight spread across Gu Qing’s face.

Her bloodshot blue eyes were instantly covered by the magnificent, even decadent colors. Gu Qing stood still for a long time.

Until the phone on the coffee table vibrated.

On the television, the final chorus of the Spring Festival Gala had ended at some point. The hosts excitedly took turns with the microphone: “The 2022 Spring Festival Gala ends here. Let us meet again next year.”

“Wishing everyone a Happy New Year.”

“Good health.”

“May all your wishes come true.”

“And wishing our motherland a brighter tomorrow.”

Her ears were filled with the music of Unforgettable Tonight. Gu Qing’s eyes were fixed on her phone in the distance.

A moment later, she trembled and clutched the syringe. As if using all the strength in her life, she closed her eyes and broke the syringe in half.

After doing this, she walked around and picked up the phone.

[Have you considered developing your career in Hong Kong City?] Sender: Gu Bingcheng.

Gu Qing glanced at the sender’s name and did not reply immediately. Instead, she pressed the exit button.

She scrolled back and forth through all the text messages on her phone.

This was Gu Qing’s private phone. The people who knew her number could be counted on one hand.

She flipped through the only three unread messages for a long time.

The moment she looked up, she gave a self-mocking smile.

It was the first day of the new year, and fireworks were exploding everywhere outside.

Even though only the wall lamp was on in the villa, the light from the fireworks outside the floor-to-ceiling windows made the room look brightly lit.

But this excitement was for others. Gu Qing put a lady’s cigarette in her mouth.

[No.]

The text message was sent, and the other party replied almost instantly.

[Don’t rush to make a decision.]

[You are a smart child. Although the Jiang family has fallen, the forces behind them will not let you off easily. Qing Qing, your surname is still Gu… Come back.]

Gu Qing curled her lips and casually replied: [We’ll see.]

After sending this message, Gu Qing didn’t have much patience left to stay in this environment. She picked up the wire cage containing the mice with one hand.

She was about to take them back to the underground lab.

Suddenly, her phone rang again. This time it was an unknown number from Jiangcheng.

Gu Qing’s eyes narrowed. She glanced at the screen, and the corner of her tightly pursed lips slightly lifted.

Perhaps it was the resentment from being blocked for a month. For the first time, she had enough pride not to answer immediately.

She took the cage to the basement and fed the mice.

Only then did she casually walk back up.

The phone she had casually thrown on the sofa was, as expected, vibrating relentlessly.

Gu Qing poured herself a glass of water and stuck the half-burnt cigarette into the ashtray.

After doing all the preparatory work, her slender fingers slowly slid the button to answer the call.

“Hello.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a few seconds. This reminded Gu Qing of Ling Yu’s action when she blocked her number that day.

She voluntarily lowered her tone and spoke with her usual magnetic, cool voice, which held a hint of compromise that she herself didn’t realize: “Speak!”

“Happy New Year, Lawyer Gu. I apologize for calling so late. I’m Xu Miao. We spoke on the phone before.”

Gu Qing flipped her phone over and looked at the area code of the number.

“According to the amendment to the Criminal Law (Nine), selling or providing citizens’ personal information to others, if the circumstances are serious, is punishable by fixed-term imprisonment of up to three years or criminal detention.”

Gu Qing asked unhurriedly: “Who gave you my number? Speak!”

Xu Miao was so choked up she couldn’t speak for a long time. Her hand holding the phone was trembling. She cursed Ling Yu a hundred and eighty times in her heart.

She took a deep breath and stuttered for a long time.

Gu Qing lightly tapped the table. Through the phone line, Xu Miao was somehow intimidated.

Unable to withstand Gu Qing’s serious talk about the consequences of leaking information, Xu Miao rubbed her face and spoke in Ling Yu’s usual rebellious tone, going all out: “Don’t make it sound so serious. You and our Yuyu were good friends, weren’t you? She asked me to call you every month to say hello.”

Gu Qing’s eyes moved, and her voice lowered: “Why doesn’t she call herself?”

Xu Miao shrugged: “How should I know? She said it was the prostitution fee she was paying you. To settle the debt.”

At 12:15 a.m., the fireworks and firecrackers outside continued to explode without stopping.

Gu Qing was curled up on the sofa, her expression slowly fading into silence.

She lowered her eyes and stared at the constantly flashing screen. Her beautiful phoenix eyes were covered in a layer of bright red blood vessels.

A minute later, she ended the call and went to the lab.

Ling Yu’s study abroad life was not smooth at first. Because she was new and the language barrier was significant, she struggled with her academics.

Especially since she was in a strange place and had just started university.

Fortunately, her roommate was also a student from Z Country named Gu Xiu.

When they first met, Ling Yu thought Gu Xiu was a bit eccentric.

This girl had short, bobbed hair, three earrings clipped to her ears, and wore leather pants and a leather jacket, singing rock and roll at the DJ University welcome party.

Colorful lights shone on Gu Xiu’s painted face. Ling Yu took a glance, and her initial impression was just “cool.”

There was just one drawback: this girl was infatuated with foreign culture. After Ling Yu got to know her, the latter insisted on a polite goodnight kiss before going to sleep every night.

Ling Yu, of course, refused. She was allergic to men. Since childhood, she had maintained a normal social distance from everyone.

But because of Gu Xiu’s closeness, Ling Yu realized that she also didn’t particularly enjoy the closeness of the same sex.

Perhaps it was because of what happened with Gu Qing.

That night, their chests were pressed together, and she could feel the warm breath near her ear. She could hear the frantic pounding of the other person’s heart.

Everything seemed to indicate that Ling Yu might be gay.

Because she didn’t resist the tangible body that night.

Finding out that she might be gay, Ling Yu, of course, wouldn’t give her roommate, Gu Xiu, a chance.

One time, she gave her a cold-faced punch, and Gu Xiu toned it down slightly.

Apart from this small flaw, Gu Xiu was the first friend Ling Yu made during her study abroad experience.

Since their majors were different, and Gu Xiu was fluent in the language, she couldn’t help Ling Yu with the specific terminology in her professional courses.

Ling Yu was helpless. As an external soul in this fictional world, she had only been here for three years in total. The original host’s memories she inherited didn’t include the language of M Country.

All beginnings are hard. Ling Yu signed up for a foreign language online course based on the recommendation of her main course professor.

It was in this online course that she met Q. Q was a well-read adult woman with witty conversation.

She seemed very busy and was only online at night.

Ling Yu initially only exchanged notes on the online course, but as they got closer, the topic somehow shifted to the academic challenges she faced.

Q had her own unique perspective on things, while Ling Yu’s ideas were more conservative.

In academics, she belonged to the conservative and rigorous side. But every time she debated with Q, Ling Yu unexpectedly gained more insights.

For example, Q believed that vampires were real in the early Middle Ages.

Ling Yu initially thought, Damn, you’ve read too many novels.

Later, Q didn’t get angry. She was very gentle and patiently found evidence of the existence of the Maya on Earth. She listed the characteristics of vampires and the living conditions of the Mayans throughout human history.

In short, although Ling Yu still didn’t agree with the conclusion, she was able to see the inevitability of certain anomalous life forms existing beyond science in the cultural history Q had laid out for her.

During her two years abroad, Ling Yu and Q’s chat intensity grew from a small flame to a massive ship.

Of course, Ling Yu wasn’t completely undisturbed during these two years abroad.

Ling Taiguo’s business was thriving in Jiangcheng now that the Xu family’s checks and balances were gone.

He was currently planning to enter Hong Kong City, and the idea of marrying off Ling Yu for a political alliance was rekindled.

After all, Ling Yu’s reputation as a “player” was only notorious in Jiangcheng. Few people knew about it in Hong Kong City.

Ling Yu curled her lips when she received the mail from Xu Miao.

If it weren’t for this email reminder, she would have forgotten that her study abroad was about to end.

Ling Taiguo was quite pathetic. The wife and son he doted on were not his own.

He would probably never know that while he was plotting against his own daughter, Yu Xin had already siphoned off a third of Ling Taiguo’s company.

Ling Yu had endured hardship for five years, just waiting for Yu Xin to commit a crime on her own.

After receiving the email, Ling Yu called Xu Miao.

Xu Miao: “When are you coming back?”

Ling Yu: “Next month.”

“Yuyu, let me ask you something.” Xu Miao’s tone was a bit hesitant, even a little awkward.

Ling Yu: “Go ahead.”

Xu Miao: “What do you think of Gu Qing?”

Hearing Gu Qing’s name again, Ling Yu felt a momentary trance, as if ages had passed.

Since she went abroad, only in the first few months.

Xu Miao had complained to her about Gu Qing’s cold-blooded and heartless actions.

Later, Ling Yu didn’t ask, and Xu Miao never brought her up again.

For Ling Yu, the auditorium two years ago was her last farewell to Gu Qing.

She had gained a chance to live by pursuing Gu Qing, but at the same time, Ling Yu didn’t feel that she had truly deceived Gu Qing.

She hadn’t treated Gu Qing like a fictional character.

Whether it was the fight in bed or her joining her in the fall later.

Ling Yu didn’t deny that she had genuinely admired Gu Qing. Every part of that woman, from her figure to her features, seemed meticulously carved to her liking.

Ling Yu was certain that if Gu Qing hadn’t been so disgusted with her, hadn’t treated her like disposable filth.

She might have genuinely fallen for her.

But “if only” was just “if only.” Ling Yu couldn’t be a sycophant. Her bones were filled with an unyielding dignity and rebellion that wouldn’t tolerate being offended.

Therefore, Ling Yu left decisively and had no intention of interacting with Gu Qing again. There were many ways to avoid a person in this world. As long as she didn’t deliberately pay attention to her.

She would simply disappear from her world, and even the memory would become hazy.

She just hadn’t expected that when Xu Miao brought up Gu Qing.

The woman’s ice-blue eyes suddenly flashed in Ling Yu’s mind. She scoffed: “She’s alright. I almost forgot about her until you brought her up.”

On the other end of the phone, Xu Miao suddenly breathed a sigh of relief: “Yuyu, you won’t like Gu Qing again, right?”

Ling Yu raised her eyebrows and gave a lazy “mm.”

“If, I mean if…” Xu Miao took a deep breath and asked cautiously: “If I pursue Gu Qing, will you still consider me your cousin?”

Ling Yu held the yogurt carton and slowly lifted her eyelids.