Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 53

The atmosphere in the hospital room turned awkward.

For a moment, Ling Yu suspected that Gu Qing had deliberately stood behind her to manufacture that little collision. But when she looked up and examined her carefully, she found the woman standing there casually, slender white fingers closed around her phone, apparently unaware that they had brushed against each other.

At this distance, Ling Yu could faintly hear a woman’s voice coming through the receiver.

“We pulled the records, Attorney Gu. Everything you predicted was right. There are signs someone tampered with them…”

Gu Qing gave a brief acknowledgment.

Noticing Ling Yu’s gaze, she raised her thick lashes halfway. Only half the curve of her phoenix eyes showed as she glanced lazily at Ling Yu.

The look she gave her naturally asked, “What is it?”

Ling Yu looked at Gu Qing’s chest, then brought her gaze back up to her face.

Gu Qing met her eyes openly, without the slightest evasiveness. It was clearly an instinctive inquiry from someone who had no idea what had just happened.

Ling Yu confirmed that she had, once again, been overthinking things.

She swiftly wiped the suspicion from her face, then reflexively stepped backward, distancing herself from Gu Qing as though avoiding even the appearance of impropriety.

Gu Qing’s eyes darkened at the gesture. Her pale lips pressed into a straight line.

She slipped the phone into her briefcase, then extended her other hand toward Ling Yu.

Ling Yu paused, staring at the bag of medical supplies hanging from Gu Qing’s fair wrist.

This time, she didn’t dare assume it was meant for her.

Only two days ago, Ling Yu had mercilessly severed all ties with Gu Qing. It made no sense that, less than forty-eight hours later, Gu Qing would have forgotten their grievances and started fussing over her well-being.

Still, Ling Yu had seen it clearly. Gu Qing must have said something to the little fatty just now, or he wouldn’t have charged into the crowd and rescued her from that predicament.

Ling Yu recalled her conversation with Doctor Qin not long ago.

What Gu Qing was doing today was exactly like what she had done with the umbrella two years ago.

When she thought about it carefully, Gu Qing’s behavior wasn’t that difficult to understand. She possessed an extremely complicated personality.

Perhaps, to Gu Qing, her actions were simply the casual kindness of lending a hand. She didn’t want to acknowledge it, nor did she want Ling Yu to show any unnecessary gratitude.

After thinking it over, Ling Yu relaxed.

She looked away, allowing the blood to continue dripping from her fingertips without sparing Gu Qing’s bag of medicine another glance.

For a moment, the room became so quiet that every rise and fall of the other woman’s breathing could be heard distinctly.

“Ling Yu.”

Gu Qing abruptly spoke. Avoiding Ling Yu’s injured arm, she seized her other arm with a grip that allowed no escape.

Ling Yu’s expression asked, “What?”

She looked up and found Gu Qing’s face covered in frost, her ice-blue eyes frighteningly still.

“I called you. Did you not hear me?”

She enunciated every word as if forcing them through clenched teeth, sounding faintly vicious.

Ling Yu: “?”

Puzzled, she answered, “I heard you.”

She had clearly responded, yet Gu Qing somehow seemed even angrier.

It made no sense whatsoever.

Ling Yu raised her eyes and met Gu Qing’s gaze again. The air between them appeared taut with hostility, as though they might start fighting at any second.

Ling Song suddenly burst into tears.

He was only three years old. He had already suffered quite a fright, and now, faced with Ling Yu and Gu Qing’s confrontation, tears poured from his large dark eyes like a breached river.

Only then did Ling Yu remember that there was a child in the room.

She was about to turn and comfort him when the hospital-room door was suddenly kicked open from outside.

The domestic-abuse power couple who had only just calmed the public outrage in the hallway now stood together in the doorway.

Yu Xin hadn’t cried even when Ling Taiguo slapped her, but the moment she saw her biological son crying, genuine tears welled in her eyes. She staggered forward, shoved Ling Yu away from the doorway, and scooped the little fatty into her arms.

“Song Song, I’m sorry… Mommy came too late…”

Ling Taiguo glared furiously at Ling Yu. Probably mindful of what had happened outside, he refrained from saying anything particularly vicious. He simply ignored her and strode over to Yu Xin and their son, gathering them both into his arms.

Ling Yu: “…”

She arched her brows and watched Ling Taiguo frolic beneath the lush green clouds over his head, struggling not to laugh.

A cold palm abruptly closed around her wrist.

Gu Qing’s grip was firm, her palm seemingly damp with a trace of sweat.

Before Ling Yu could react, Gu Qing pulled hard and dragged her into her arms.

The two women weren’t that different in height, but Ling Yu had been looking down. Following the force of the pull, she stumbled straight into Gu Qing’s embrace, the tip of her nose colliding with the soft curves carrying that familiar cool fragrance.

Ling Yu instinctively tried to pull away, only to bump around blindly and let her nose take advantage of Gu Qing several more times.

Once she regained her balance and looked up, she caught sight of Gu Qing’s stiffly raised arm.

It looked like she had been about to pat Ling Yu’s back in consolation.

Ling Yu stared in surprise at the half-raised arm, then shifted her gaze to Gu Qing’s face.

Gu Qing’s eyes darted away. She frowned, looking embarrassed enough to become angry.

A question mark slowly appeared in Ling Yu’s eyes: What did I do to annoy you this time?

Gu Qing, master of passive aggression, refused to accept the provocation. Lowering her eyes, she changed the subject herself.

“Why are you standing here like an idiot? Are you waiting for that couple to feed you another mouthful of shit?”

A rigid and meticulous lawyer of the people had become angry enough to use a vulgar word like “shit.”

Clearly, Gu Qing was furious.

Ling Yu couldn’t hold it in. She laughed right in her face.

The next instant, Gu Qing yanked hard on her wrist and dragged her out with a degree of force utterly unrelated to gentleness.

Before closing the door, Gu Qing looked back. Her cold gaze met Ling Taiguo’s across the room.

It was a warning.

Her pupils carried the briny menace of the ocean depths. She looked at Ling Taiguo as though he were a rotting corpse.

Ling Taiguo shuddered.

Then Gu Qing slammed the door shut.

The sound rang through his mind like a prolonged alarm warning him that his life was in danger.

“Honey, what’s wrong with your hand?”

Ling Taiguo’s back had broken out in a cold sweat. It took several seconds for him to turn around and absentmindedly tell Yu Xin, “Nothing.”

He had merely been rendered breathless by the imperious glance of a woman around his daughter’s age.

Gu Qing dragged Ling Yu to the hospital’s small garden before finally letting go.

Glancing at Ling Yu’s finger, she pressed her lips together.

“The wound looks serious. I’ll go to the emergency department with you. You should register and get a tetanus shot.”

“Ma’am, look at this tiny cut. Does it really look like something that needs an injection?”

Ling Yu had originally intended to thank Gu Qing sincerely. They had severed all ties, yet Gu Qing had still shown her kindness. It couldn’t have been easy for her.

But the moment Gu Qing insisted on a tetanus shot, that became a separate matter entirely.

Ling Yu immediately used every ounce of strength to wrench back her arm.

She dropped onto the bench before her and sat as though her backside had grown iron spikes fastening her immovably in place.

Her fox eyes swept across Gu Qing. Seeing her icy expression, Ling Yu decided to send her away.

“All right, that’s enough for today. Ling Song ran over just now because of you, didn’t he? I’ll consider myself owing you a favor—”

“Ling Yu.”

Gu Qing interrupted her abruptly. She planted one hand on the wooden backrest beside Ling Yu and looked down at her.

Was she seriously refusing to let this go?

Ling Yu lifted her eyelids. “Are you ever going to stop today?”

Gu Qing was an intensely disciplined career woman. Once she decided on something, she never compromised.

Unless Ling Yu made her position clear, Gu Qing might genuinely drag her off to get stabbed with a needle.

But she was truly fine.

Just because Gu Qing happened to be in a good mood today, had seen her suffering domestic abuse, taken pity on her, and shown her a shred of kindness—did Ling Yu really have to subject herself to the terror of getting jabbed in the butt?

Of course not.

Ling Yu’s reaction to Ling Taiguo and his wife had been completely deliberate. She wasn’t the poor, helpless victim Gu Qing believed her to be.

She simply couldn’t break character yet—not until she secured what Xu Qian had left the original Ling Yu.

Ling Yu treated it like role-playing, and she took the game seriously.

Therefore, Gu Qing’s favor wasn’t all that significant, though Ling Yu did appreciate the intention.

Naturally, she couldn’t tell Gu Qing any of this.

She leaned farther back, her bun resting against the back of the bench, and cast Gu Qing a sidelong glance. The words “There’s nothing to discuss” were written resolutely in her eyes.

Then she softened her voice and said, “Thank you.”

It was a clear dismissal.

Gu Qing laughed in anger. She raised the bag of medical supplies.

“You don’t have to get an injection. But when I offered you medicine earlier, I didn’t see you take that either.”

Ling Yu paused.

Gu Qing stared expressionlessly at Ling Yu’s bloodied finger, frost gathering in her blue eyes.

Did this woman actually think it was reasonable to leave her wound untreated?

“Where exactly are you planning to go with an open cut like that?”

Her tone was calm, but her rising and falling chest betrayed how far she was from composed.

“And don’t tell me anything about severing ties. I…”

Ling Yu looked up. “Hm?”

Gu Qing’s voice stopped abruptly.

She glanced at the wariness in Ling Yu’s eyes, narrowed her own, and swallowed the words already at the tip of her tongue. Suppressing her emotions, she changed her phrasing.

“There’s something wrong with me.” She pointed at her head. “I can’t stand watching someone bleed in front of me.”

Ling Yu raised her brows, then remembered what Gu Qing was like during her episodes.

Well, damn. How had she forgotten about that?

She had been resisting Gu Qing’s insistence earlier, and her attitude admittedly hadn’t been very good.

After all, Gu Qing rarely spoke, much less explained her inexplicable behavior.

If she needed Ling Yu’s bleeding to stop so she wouldn’t lose control, then there was nothing wrong with Gu Qing treating the injury.

Ling Yu remembered the umbrella from years ago, then thought of the woman’s ill-tempered help today. Abruptly, she lost all interest in arguing with her.

In truth, none of it was necessarily Gu Qing’s fault.

Gu Qing had only lashed out because she hated Ling Yu’s relentless pestering.

Now that Ling Yu had backed down, even if they couldn’t be lovers, they could still be strangers who acknowledged each other in passing. There was no need to make every exchange so unpleasant.

Feeling slightly embarrassed about continuing to quarrel with the mentally ill Attorney Gu, Ling Yu patiently explained in a pleasant tone, “I thought we’d severed all ties long ago. You hated me so much two years ago that I needed to learn to keep my distance. Under the circumstances, there’s no logical reason for you to buy me medicine or make me get an injection.”

She gave Gu Qing a helpless look and tucked her hands into her lap.

“How was I supposed to know you… hm?”

The implication was obvious: You’re acting extremely strangely today.

Gu Qing was rendered speechless.

She spent three full seconds taking deep breaths to calm her heaving chest.

Then, laughing from sheer exasperation, she seized Ling Yu’s injured hand.

She tore open the alcohol-pad packet with her teeth and flattened the gauze.

Ling Yu watched Gu Qing pull on rubber gloves and pick up a pair of tweezers.

Doubting her technique, Ling Yu tried to retract her hand, only for Gu Qing to yank it back roughly.

“I don’t think either your attitude or your technique is remotely professional,” Ling Yu said.

Gu Qing remained silent.

She could have been even less professional.

Originally, Gu Qing hadn’t planned to have much contact with Ling Yu yet.

But this woman didn’t know how to take care of herself. She had thrown herself in front of a weapon for someone else without hesitation, and even when she encountered trouble, she refused to ask Gu Qing for help.

Frankly, Gu Qing was furious.

Lowering her gaze, she leaned even closer. One stood while the other sat.

As Gu Qing bent down, the ends of her hair easily brushed against Ling Yu’s neck.

It was summer, and they were already dressed lightly. Gu Qing reached up and undid two buttons of her blouse.

As she leaned over, the soft curves beneath her collar compressed together, and the resulting cleavage abruptly sprang into Ling Yu’s field of vision.

With no way to avoid it, Ling Yu was forced to stare for a moment. She couldn’t help feeling there was something wrong with this supposed accident.

She looked up suspiciously at Gu Qing, then attempted to negotiate in a tone of supreme consideration.

“Could you button your blouse first? Treating my wound isn’t urgent. I can wait.”

Gu Qing’s thick lashes lifted like butterfly wings. She gave Ling Yu an indifferent glance, her gaze traveling downward until it settled on the even more scandalously low neckline of Ling Yu’s chiffon blouse.

A dazzling expanse of pale skin showed there, seemingly luminous beneath the sunlight.

Gu Qing stared for a couple of seconds longer than necessary before her pale lips curved into a meaningful smile.

“You should worry about yourself before criticizing anyone else.”

With that, she hooked a finger beneath Ling Yu’s sagging collar and pulled it up for her.

Ling Yu: “…”

Under Gu Qing’s hands, what should have been an ordinary wound treatment became a prolonged ordeal.

For someone like Ling Yu, her eyes possessed ideas of their own. Beyond her control, they kept coveting Gu Qing’s exquisitely sculpted figure.

And Gu Qing remained utterly oblivious, bad-tempered, and demanding.

“Raise your arm.”

“Sit closer.”

Holding the tweezers, Gu Qing glanced at Ling Yu coolly as she issued the instructions.

When Ling Yu refused to move, Gu Qing didn’t get angry. She simply frowned and demonstrated physically, lowering herself even farther.

The tip of Ling Yu’s nose came within a millimeter of brushing Gu Qing’s cheek.

At such close range, Ling Yu finally lost patience. Her temper soared.

She raised her eyes, hooked Gu Qing with her foxlike gaze, and drawled teasingly, “How much closer do you want me? Do I have to kiss you before it counts?”

Her words were brazenly explicit, her eyes filled with amused scrutiny.

Gu Qing casually swept back her hair, concealing her ears, then lowered her gaze and met Ling Yu’s eyes for two seconds.

“I’m finished applying the medicine,” Gu Qing abruptly announced.

Because they were so close, her cool lips, carrying the chill of ice cream, brushed across Ling Yu’s fair cheek, where the fine hairs gleamed gold beneath the sunlight.

Ling Yu narrowed her eyes.

“Remember not to get it wet when you go home.”

As though nothing had happened, Gu Qing pushed off with one long leg. Before Ling Yu could erupt, she strode away on her slender legs, her pace conspicuously hurried.

Ling Yu stared after her for a long time before suddenly taking out her phone.

She sent Q a message.

Fishy: [Are you busy?]

The response came almost instantly.

[On leave.]

[What’s wrong?]

Ling Yu hesitantly typed several lines.

Fishy: [How do you keep a respectful distance from someone you hate?]

Q didn’t respond for a long time.

Just as Ling Yu was preparing to leave, a message finally arrived.

Q: [How much do you hate her?]

Ling Yu thought about it.

She merely felt that it was too easy for her to misinterpret Gu Qing’s occasional attempts to draw closer.

Of course, Gu Qing definitely had no interest in her. Ling Yu’s judgment on that point was perfectly clear.

But if she had to describe exactly how much she hated Gu Qing… it really wasn’t that bad. It didn’t even rise to the level of hatred.

The problem was that Gu Qing exuded a seductive air.

Yet Ling Yu remained firmly opposed to returning to eat that particular patch of grass.

She considered her wording, then realized Q knew nothing about the complicated history between her and Gu Qing. Explaining it all would take far too long.

So she simply replied:

Fishy: [I don’t want to see her or have too much contact with her. I want to eliminate any possibility of randomly running into her anywhere—even of smelling her scent.]

Q: [Smile.jpg]

Ling Yu stared blankly at the emoji on the screen.

Had Q sent it by mistake?

Sure enough, the image was withdrawn a moment later.

[The other party withdrew a typo.]

Ling Yu didn’t receive another message from Q until the middle of the night.

Q seemed extremely busy. The message arrived at three in the morning.

[I don’t know what to say…]

[Couldn’t you give her a…]

A chance?

Gu Qing ground her cigarette into an ashtray crowded with upturned butts.

For the first time, she felt a visceral aversion to human language—and a fear she had no way to resolve.

Outside lay Jiangcheng at midnight, ablaze with light. Even the steel-and-concrete streets seemed to reflect the city’s gaudy prosperity and clamor.

Gu Qing stared at it indifferently.

Ten minutes later, she called Wei Minjun.

Amid the other woman’s sleepy, incoherent mumbling, Gu Qing closed her eyes and hoarsely forced a decision from her throat.

“Next week… we’re returning to Gangcheng.”

Gunfire and artillery had never frightened Gu Qing.

Only Ling Yu could make her afraid.

After ending the call, Gu Qing sent Old Master Gu a message in Morse code.

[Grandfather, I plan to move the operation forward.]

She could originally have planned everything carefully and steadily, even calculating herself into the operation.

But today, Gu Qing suddenly realized that probably wouldn’t work.

She possessed desires now.

She was unwilling to die alongside a group of disgusting, deranged monsters.

She even dared to dream of giving herself one chance—one chance to stand before Ling Yu without fear or reservation and tell her:

I never hated you.

Because from beginning to end, only one person in this world could make Gu Qing afraid.

Ling Yu.

She feared losing her.

And even more, she feared being kept at a distance.