Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 42

The 2022 Spring Festival Gala.

The second-to-last performance was a sketch titled Yearning. The actress wore a white dress, her hair tied high in a ponytail.

She had a pair of beautiful hands. Her pale fingers plucked the strings, and the moment she began to sing, her voice seemed to carry a story.

“Guarding this love, afraid of ridicule, afraid someone might see through me… Fireworks embrace fleeting passion, but true love is nowhere to be found.”

Gu Qing turned the television volume all the way up. A cage of laboratory mice sat in front of her.

The white mice scurried ceaselessly around the cage. Holding a syringe, Gu Qing slowly shifted her gaze from them to the television.

The sketch was nearing its end.

It was a story about a broken relationship that could never truly be repaired.

The host held a microphone and spoke with each performer in turn before finally directing a question toward the actress.

“When Lingling sang the final verse of Yearning, it felt incredibly authentic. Could you tell everyone whether you drew from your own experiences while playing the role?”

The actress had a pair of petal-shaped foxlike eyes. They were not particularly lively, but when she smiled, they curved like crescent moons.

“If I said I didn’t, no one would believe me. I was actually thinking about my father. He died on the front lines during the flood-relief operation in 2013. The last thing he told me before he passed away was to be a good person…”

To be a good person?

Clusters of multicolored fireworks exploded outside the window, their light spreading across Gu Qing’s face.

The sticky scarlet in her blue eyes was swiftly buried beneath colors so brilliant they bordered on decadent.

Gu Qing stood motionless for a long time.

Only when the phone on the coffee table vibrated did she finally react.

At some point, the Spring Festival Gala’s final chorus had ended. Several hosts excitedly passed the microphone among themselves.

“This concludes the 2022 Spring Festival Gala. We’ll see you again next year.”

“We wish everyone a happy New Year.”

“Good health.”

“May everything go your way.”

“And may our motherland enjoy an even brighter tomorrow.”

The melody of Unforgettable Tonight filled the room, but Gu Qing’s eyes remained fixed on the phone in the distance.

After a moment, she clenched the syringe with a trembling hand.

As though summoning every ounce of strength she possessed, she closed her eyes and snapped it in two.

Only then did she walk around the coffee table and pick up her phone.

[Have you considered coming to Gangcheng to develop your career?]

Sender: Gu Bingcheng.

Gu Qing glanced at the name but did not reply immediately. Instead, she pressed the back button and searched through every message on her phone.

This was her private phone. The number of people who knew its number could be counted on one hand.

She repeatedly checked the mere three unread messages for a very long time.

When she finally raised her head, her lips curved in self-mockery.

Outside, fireworks soared into the sky on the first day of the New Year.

Only a wall lamp was lit inside the villa, yet the fireworks beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows illuminated the room as brightly as day.

But all that celebration belonged to other people.

Gu Qing took out a slim cigarette and placed it between her lips.

[No.]

The other person replied almost instantly.

[Don’t rush into making a decision.]

[You’re a clever child. The Jiang family may have fallen, but the forces behind them won’t let you off easily. Qingqing, your surname is still Gu… Come home.]

Gu Qing tugged at the corner of her mouth and casually replied:

[We’ll see.]

After sending it, Gu Qing no longer had the patience to remain in such an environment. She picked up the metal cage containing the mice with one hand, intending to return them to the underground laboratory.

Her phone suddenly rang again.

This time, it was an unfamiliar number from Jiangcheng.

Gu Qing’s eyes narrowed. After glancing at the screen, the corners of her tightly pursed lips lifted slightly.

Perhaps resentment from being blocked for an entire month had taken hold, because for once, she did not answer immediately.

Instead, she carried the cage down to the basement and fed the mice.

Only then did she leisurely return upstairs.

The phone she had tossed onto the sofa was still vibrating insistently, just as expected.

Gu Qing poured herself a glass of water, then stubbed her half-burned cigarette into the ashtray.

Only after completing all her preparations did she slowly slide one slender finger across the answer button.

“Hello.”

The other end remained silent for several seconds.

It reminded Gu Qing of the day Ling Yu had blocked her number.

Lowering herself first, she spoke in her usual cool, magnetic voice. Her tone contained a concession even she failed to notice.

“Speak.”

“Happy New Year, Attorney Gu. Sorry to disturb you so late. I’m Xu Miao—we’ve spoken on the phone before.”

Gu Qing turned the phone over and glanced at the number’s location.

“Under Amendment IX to the Criminal Law, anyone who sells or provides another citizen’s personal information, when the circumstances are serious, may be sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment or criminal detention.”

Gu Qing asked unhurriedly, “Who gave you my number? Speak.”

Xu Miao was choked speechless.

Her hand trembled around the phone as she cursed Ling Yu a hundred and eighty times in her head.

She took a deep breath and stammered for quite a while.

Gu Qing tapped the table—not too hard, not too softly. Despite the distance between them, Xu Miao somehow felt intimidated.

Unable to withstand Gu Qing’s solemn explanation of the consequences of illegally leaking personal information, Xu Miao rubbed her face. Imitating Ling Yu’s shameless manner, she abandoned all restraint.

“Could you not make it sound so serious? You and our Xiao Yu used to be fairly close, didn’t you? She told me to call and check on you every month.”

Gu Qing’s expression shifted, and her voice lowered.

“Why doesn’t she call me herself?”

Xu Miao spread her hands.

“How would I know? She said this was her payment to you, and that it would settle everything between you.”

It was twelve fifteen.

The fireworks and firecrackers outside continued exploding without pause.

Curled up on the sofa, Gu Qing’s expression slowly faded until only silence remained.

She lowered her eyes to the flashing screen. Scarlet veins crept across her beautiful phoenix eyes.

One minute later, she ended the call, turned around, and went to the laboratory.

Ling Yu’s life as an international student did not begin smoothly.

Newly arrived and unable to speak the language fluently, she struggled terribly with her studies.

Everything was unfamiliar, especially when she first entered the university.

Fortunately, her roommate was also an international student from Country Z. Her name was Gu Xiu.

When they first met, Ling Yu mistook Gu Xiu for some rebellious alternative rocker.

The woman wore her hair cropped to her ears, had three studs in one ear, and dressed in leather trousers and a leather jacket. At DJ University’s orientation party, she performed rock music onstage.

Colorful lights shone across Gu Xiu’s painted face. Ling Yu took one look, and her entire first impression could be summarized in a single word:

Cool.

She had only one flaw.

This woman worshipped everything foreign. After Ling Yu became familiar with her, Gu Xiu insisted that she could not sleep without a polite goodnight kiss every evening.

Naturally, Ling Yu refused.

Her body was allergic to men, and ever since childhood, she had maintained an ordinary social distance from everyone.

Yet when Gu Xiu approached her, Ling Yu discovered that she did not particularly enjoy women getting close to her either.

Perhaps it was because she had slept with Gu Qing.

That night, their chests had pressed together, warm breaths spilling over their ears as Ling Yu listened to the violent pounding of the other woman’s heart.

Everything seemed to suggest that Ling Yu might, in fact, be attracted to women.

After all, she had not rejected the body within her reach that night.

Once Ling Yu realized she might be bent, there was no chance she would let Gu Xiu take advantage of her.

Only after Ling Yu punched her once with an icy expression did Gu Xiu finally restrain herself.

Aside from that particular flaw, however, Gu Xiu was the first friend Ling Yu made while studying abroad.

Unfortunately, they studied different majors. Though Gu Xiu had no language difficulties, she could not help Ling Yu with the specialized terminology required by her courses.

Ling Yu was helpless.

As a foreign soul in the world of this novel, she had only lived there for three years altogether. The original owner’s inherited memories contained no knowledge of Country M’s language.

Everything was difficult at the beginning.

On the recommendation of the professor who taught her main course, Ling Yu enrolled in an online elective for a less commonly taught language.

It was through that class that she met Q.

Q was a knowledgeable adult woman with a witty way of speaking.

She seemed extremely busy and was only available online at night.

At first, Ling Yu merely discussed their online lessons with her. As they became more familiar, however, their conversations somehow shifted toward the academic problems Ling Yu encountered.

Q had her own distinctive perspective on everything, while Ling Yu’s ideas were comparatively conservative.

Academically, Ling Yu belonged to the cautious and rigorous school of thought. Yet every time she argued with Q, she unexpectedly came away with even more insights.

For example, Q believed vampires had genuinely existed in the early Middle Ages.

Ling Yu’s initial reaction had been:

What the hell? Have you read too many novels?

Q did not become angry.

She was very gentle. With endless patience, she found evidence of the Maya’s existence on Earth and compared the traits historically associated with vampires against the Maya’s way of life, listing everything point by point.

In the end, Ling Yu still did not agree with her conclusion.

Even so, from the history of cultural development Q had assembled for her, Ling Yu glimpsed the possibility that certain extraordinary beings beyond the boundaries of science might inevitably have existed.

Over the two years Ling Yu studied abroad, the tiny spark icon in her chat with Q gradually grew into an enormous ship—a symbol of their uninterrupted conversations.

Of course, Ling Yu’s two years abroad were not entirely peaceful or undisturbed.

With the Xu family no longer restraining him in Jiangcheng, Ling Taiguo’s business had expanded rapidly.

Recently, he had begun planning to enter the Gangcheng market. To establish a foothold there, his old idea of using Ling Yu in a marriage alliance resurfaced.

After all, Ling Yu’s reputation as a notorious player was widely known only in Jiangcheng. Few people in Gangcheng had heard of it.

When Ling Yu received the email Xu Miao forwarded to her, her lips curved.

Had that email not reminded her, she might have forgotten that her time studying abroad was nearly over.

In truth, Ling Taiguo was rather pitiful.

The wife and son he doted on both belonged to another man.

He might never imagine that while he plotted against his biological daughter, Yu Xin had already siphoned away a third of his company.

Ling Yu had endured in silence for five years, waiting for Yu Xin to commit a crime of her own accord.

After receiving the email, Ling Yu immediately called Xu Miao.

“When are you coming back?” Xu Miao asked.

“Next month.”

“Xiao Yu, there’s something I want to ask you.” Xu Miao sounded hesitant and faintly embarrassed.

“Go ahead.”

“What do you think of Gu Qing?”

Hearing that name again made Ling Yu feel as if an entire lifetime had passed.

After she went abroad, Xu Miao had complained to her about Gu Qing’s cold and heartless behavior, but only during the first few months.

Later, Ling Yu stopped asking, and Xu Miao never mentioned the woman again.

To Ling Yu, that day in the auditorium two years ago had been her final goodbye to Gu Qing.

By completing her mission involving Gu Qing, she had earned the chance to remain alive. Yet Ling Yu did not believe she had ever truly deceived her.

She had never treated Gu Qing like a fictional character on a page.

Whether it was their fight in bed or the moment Ling Yu accompanied her in falling from the roof, she could not deny that she had genuinely admired Gu Qing.

Every part of that woman—from her figure to her features—seemed to have been sculpted precisely according to Ling Yu’s preferences.

Ling Yu did not doubt that if Gu Qing had not despised her so deeply—if she had not treated her like filth she could not discard quickly enough—then Ling Yu might truly have fallen for her.

But if was only if.

Ling Yu could never be a groveling sycophant.

Pride and untamable defiance ran through her bones, tolerating no insult from anyone.

That was why she had left so decisively, with no intention of ever having anything to do with Gu Qing again.

There were countless ways to avoid someone in this world. As long as she made no deliberate effort to follow their life, that person would effectively vanish from existence.

Even her memories of them would gradually blur.

Yet the moment Xu Miao mentioned Gu Qing, those icy blue eyes unexpectedly sprang into Ling Yu’s mind.

She scoffed.

“She’s all right, I suppose. If you hadn’t mentioned her, I would’ve nearly forgotten her.”

Xu Miao suddenly released a breath of relief.

“Xiao Yu, you’ll never fall for Gu Qing again, right?”

Ling Yu raised an eyebrow and hummed lazily in agreement.

“If—and I’m only saying if…” Xu Miao drew a deep breath before asking cautiously, “If I pursued Gu Qing, would you still consider me your cousin?”

The yogurt carton remained between Ling Yu’s lips as she slowly raised her eyelids.