She Won’t Be The Alpha In A Redemption Novel - Chapter 5

Shen Banyan arranged a place for Su Xiqiao to stay. The flat, which was in a building with two units per elevator landing, was very close to the hotel where she lived.

On foot, it would only take five minutes to get there.

“We’re here. Go up to the fifteenth floor. You can enter directly with facial recognition.”

Shen Banyan’s indifferent tone was the same as when she negotiated every business case in the past.

When she learned of Su Xiqiao’s situation, Shen Banyan could not quite describe what she was feeling. But she had still prepared this apartment for Su Xiqiao at the first possible moment.

It was as if, as long as Su Xiqiao had this apartment, she could escape everything and say no to all the things she disliked.

And so, this apartment was even under Su Xiqiao’s name.

Only, Su Xiqiao did not know that, and Shen Banyan had never planned to tell her.

It was too much meddling.

If she truly died, then after her death, the apartment would go through the legal process and be transferred to Su Xiqiao.

Looking at it now, even Shen Banyan herself did not understand what she was doing.

Was she pitying Su Xiqiao?

But did Su Xiqiao need that pity?

Shen Banyan’s heart was in complete disorder. She did not understand what exactly she was doing.

And in the next second, that disorder was interrupted by Su Xiqiao.

Shen Banyan had only just finished speaking when Su Xiqiao yanked her over.

The next second, a pair of soft lips pressed against hers.

Shen Banyan almost sprang away. The roots of her ears were bright red, and she did not dare look at Su Xiqiao at all.

“You’re not allowed to dodge me!”

There was not the slightest blush on Su Xiqiao’s face. When Shen Banyan lowered her head and looked, she saw another scene instead.

She was crying.

Unlike how she had been in front of Bo Yi’an, Su Xiqiao’s face now only bore two clear trails of tears. According to the character setting in the plot, Su Xiqiao should now be delicate and helpless.

But the Su Xiqiao who fell into Shen Banyan’s eyes was not like that.

Her eyes were red, and what filled them was not fear, but anger—anger like a volcanic eruption.

“Why do I have to love her? Why!”

When she said this, Su Xiqiao nearly roared it out. Her originally fair face was flushed red with rage.

The redness at the roots of Shen Banyan’s ears gradually faded because of those words. She looked at the anger on Su Xiqiao’s face and felt as if she were seeing another person.

A person who could be angry.

A real person.

Not the heroine existing within the plot, not the so-called female lead of a redemption novel, not a symbol who had to be kind and had to give way.

But a living, breathing person who could feel anger and resentment.

“Help me! Shen Banyan! Help me!”

“I’ll help you escape your doomed ending. You help me escape this script!”

“If I can’t do it, you can kill me yourself!”

There were clearly still tears on Su Xiqiao’s face, yet there was not a single sob in her voice.

Shen Banyan only felt her heart tremble. Her gaze was drawn by the unwillingness and ambition in Su Xiqiao’s eyes.

For a moment, it was as if she had no choice but to agree.

“All right…”

After agreeing, Shen Banyan regretted it a little.

But regret was already too late.

Because Su Xiqiao had already taken her hand and pulled her down onto the sofa.

Yes, onto the sofa she had prepared for Su Xiqiao.

Su Xiqiao adjusted herself very quickly, as if the person who had lost control and been in pain just now had not been her at all.

After “throwing” Shen Banyan onto the sofa, she went to open the wine cabinet herself.

Shen Banyan had good taste. With one glance, Su Xiqiao saw only wines whose names she could recognize as excellent.

Of course, it was also possible that Shen Banyan had asked her subordinates to choose them.

Whichever it was, Su Xiqiao casually took a bottle of red wine and opened it with a corkscrew.

Her movements were not practiced. As Shen Banyan watched from the side, there were several times she wanted to go over and help, but she saw the look in Su Xiqiao’s eyes.

It was a very…

indescribable look.

A little stubborn, a little unwilling to admit defeat, and a little persistent.

So charming…

So captivating…

After Shen Banyan realized what she was thinking, she completely gave up on the idea of helping.

“Aren’t you… allergic to alcohol?”

After hesitating for a while, Shen Banyan still spoke when she saw Su Xiqiao pour the red wine into a glass.

If Su Xiqiao really drank it, Shen Banyan did not want to have to send her to the hospital in the middle of the night.

Besides, it was not as if she could just stand by and watch her die.

Shen Banyan tried to find a reasonable excuse for her concern.

“Why are you so serious?”

Su Xiqiao swirled the red wine in the glass, her eyes full of sharpness.

“I’m not drinking it. I’m just smelling it.”

“What’s this called again? The aroma of wine?”

Su Xiqiao did not speak quickly. The red liquid in the transparent glass swayed gently with her movements.

Realizing that she seemed to have meddled too much, Shen Banyan pressed her lips together and said no more.

Su Xiqiao set the wineglass on the table, then undid the top two buttons of the qipao.

She especially disliked this sort of “dignified” attire, this clothing that “matched the heroine’s identity.”

It was simply disgusting. Uncomfortable too.

After successfully making herself feel a little freer, Su Xiqiao held the wineglass in one hand and the bottle of red wine in the other, then walked toward Shen Banyan.

“Since I’ve already opened it, why don’t you drink?”

Shen Banyan frowned. She only drank when she was in a fairly good mood.

Especially red wine…

“You haven’t let it breathe…”

Red wine that had not been allowed to breathe would not smell very good either. Shen Banyan did not say the second half aloud. She kept feeling that if she did, it would sound as if she had brought up decanting for Su Xiqiao’s sake.

Shen Banyan thought her refusal was already obvious, but after Su Xiqiao heard it, she nodded lightly.

She reached straight into the coffee table in front of the sofa and took out a decanter.

After Su Xiqiao finished doing everything, all that was left was to wait for the time to come.

“Shen Banyan, you know I’m allergic to alcohol.”

“But why do you know me so well?”

“You’ve avoided me for so long. Shouldn’t you hate me?”

Su Xiqiao sat beside Shen Banyan, as if the person who had revealed both vulnerability and sharpness in the car had not been her.

She began putting layer after layer of armor back on herself again.

“I want to live.”

Looking at her like this, Shen Banyan only felt a little uncomfortable. She moved her gaze away, unwilling to face Su Xiqiao.

In truth, she did not understand why Su Xiqiao wanted to live.

Living was clearly hell. It was fifteen lashes for every mistake made.

And yet, there were still people like Su Xiqiao in this world.

She yearned so vividly to live, yearned so vividly for life…

How strange.

Then, in the next second, Su Xiqiao stared fixedly into Shen Banyan’s eyes. She looked like a fierce beast, and also like a demon from hell.

“I want freedom. Freedom as a person, Shen Banyan.”

“If you hate me, then help me. Let me gain freedom first, and then lose it. That way, I’ll suffer more than if I had never obtained it at all.”

The words Su Xiqiao spoke would make others think she was simply a lunatic. At the very least, they would think she was a terrifying person.

After all, no matter how one looked at it, revealing the deepest desire in one’s heart just so someone else could hurt them with it did not seem like something a normal person would do.

But Shen Banyan did not.

She looked into Su Xiqiao’s eyes, those eyes bursting with intense emotion, and Shen Banyan found that she could not refuse.

She could not say a single word of rejection.

“All right.”

Su Xiqiao looked at Shen Banyan’s earnest brows and eyes, and her heart suddenly stirred.

So obedient.

Like a very well-behaved little dog.

And as it happened, what she, Su Xiqiao, liked most was this kind of obedient little dog.

“In that case, help me…”

Su Xiqiao said weak words with her mouth, but her movements were very efficient.

She placed the wineglass on the table, then directly straddled Shen Banyan’s lap.

Shen Banyan only felt a weight settle on her thighs. She instinctively lifted her head and looked at Su Xiqiao, who was looking down at her.

Before any words of denial could leave her mouth, a fragrant kiss fell without warning.

Before truly meeting Su Xiqiao, Shen Banyan had been certain that everyone in this world was an independent individual.

No two people’s lives should be intertwined together. Shen Banyan knew very well why, every time she listened to news of Su Xiqiao, she refused to look at her face…

She was afraid. Terrified.

She was afraid that her life really would become entangled with someone else’s.

And then her life would no longer belong to herself.

One kiss after another, like the best velvet cake in the world.

Equally soft, equally fragrant and sweet…

As reason was gradually peeled away by those gentle kisses, Shen Banyan took a deep breath, gripped Su Xiqiao’s arms, and pulled some distance between them.

She needed to be a little more clear-headed.

But as long as she stayed by Su Xiqiao’s side, she could have nothing to do with the words “clear-headed.”

Su Xiqiao looked at the person whose eyes and movements were clearly so gentle. She watched Shen Banyan turn her face slightly away, not daring to face her.

She had met many so-called gentle people.

Only Shen Banyan was different.

So interesting.

Su Xiqiao’s eyes darkened, and she took advantage of the momentum to pull some distance between them.

But in the next second, the corner of Su Xiqiao’s mouth curved up.

Seeing Shen Banyan waver and push her away only made her even more…

Su Xiqiao took Shen Banyan’s hand and gently placed it against her own face.

Shen Banyan wanted to pull her hand back, and at that moment, her gaze met Su Xiqiao’s.

Those watery eyes, filled with countless emotions, suddenly appeared in her line of sight just like that.

Her heart seemed to fall from a cliff. The violent sensation of plummeting made Shen Banyan forget what she had just wanted to do.

“Why are you hiding from me? Hm?”

Su Xiqiao’s voice was low, and it even carried a trace of grievance.

World Consciousness 001, who had just experienced a desperate life-or-death struggle, came online and immediately saw this scene.

Hello?

How could this world stop telling her about everything that happened! Was this right?

No, she had just tried so hard to persuade Shen Banyan, persuading her until her brain was about to dry up…

And Su Xiqiao had already solved Shen Banyan just like that?

No! This made 001, the world consciousness, seem very useless!

World Consciousness 001 looked at the scene before her, pondered for a moment, and chose to shut up.

After all, Shen Banyan could only be considered a stubborn mule to her.

It was better not to run her mouth…