29

"Are you serious?" Cen Lingqiu asked.

Yu Mingjiao stared at her without blinking, then softly replied, "You haven't found a place yet, right? Live with me. I have an extra room here."

It was rare for her to speak so much, but Cen Lingqiu couldn't focus on that. Her mind was still echoing with the shock of Yu Mingjiao's unexpected request.

She had thought sharing a bed was already crossing a line, but now this? Living together was something people who were close or completely at ease with each other did.

Had their relationship really evolved to that point?

Cen Lingqiu suddenly realized that her relationship with Yu Mingjiao was heading in a direction she hadn't anticipated. Coming to this world again had been so easy that she almost forgot she had a mission. Certainly, living with Yu Mingjiao would be beneficial to her task, but Cen Lingqiu hesitated.

She couldn't ignore the strange behavior Yu Mingjiao had been showing lately. She seemed to enjoy being close to Cen Lingqiu, and while Cen Lingqiu didn't mind, even found it enjoyable, the thought of what might happen if they grew too close gave her pause. What would she do when it was time to part?

They were never meant to get this close; it wasn't right. Yu Mingjiao was her mission target, and Cen Lingqiu couldn't stay in this world forever. Deepening their connection would only lead to regret.

Cen Lingqiu feared this outcome.

Curious, she asked, "Mingjiao, why do you want to live with me?"

Yu Mingjiao didn't answer immediately. The truth was, she didn't know why she made the request either. She just wanted to see Cen Lingqiu every day, that was all.

Instead of responding directly, she quietly asked, "Do you not want to live with me?"

Cen Lingqiu responded, "Why do we have to live together? I could live next door or across the hall, and we'd still be close."

She was subtly refusing.

Yu Mingjiao clutched the blanket, staring at its patterns as her eyes darkened. She remained silent for a long time.

Though her exterior appeared calm, inside, she was in turmoil.

She rejected me. She doesn't want to live with me.

Why?

Why could she live with Wen Zhi but not with me?

The thought that perhaps they weren't close enough to live together gnawed at Yu Mingjiao, stirring a wild frustration within her. It was like a slow, dull blade cutting through her bones and flesh, causing a subtle yet maddening pain.

Damn it.

How could she refuse me?

What right does she have to refuse me?

After all, it was she who owed me. How could she deny me such a simple request?

Yu Mingjiao felt as if countless bugs were biting her skin, making her itch and hurt. She couldn't resist digging her nails into her wrist, leaving long, deep scratches.

Cen Lingqiu, unaware of Yu Mingjiao's inner turmoil, had fallen asleep from exhaustion. She didn't notice the sinister expression on Yu Mingjiao's face in the dim light.

Yu Mingjiao pressed her lips together, tortured by her own thoughts, her nails raking over her wrist until it was covered in red marks.

Her dark eyes were fixed on Cen Lingqiu's sleeping face.

She wanted to kill her.

The thought startled Yu Mingjiao. She curled up, clutching her throbbing head, seeking comfort by moving closer to Cen Lingqiu.

In her half-asleep state, Cen Lingqiu sensed someone approaching and, recognizing it as Yu Mingjiao, instinctively pulled her into an embrace, gently patting her back and murmuring, "...Go to sleep."

Yu Mingjiao stiffened, remaining still for several minutes. Then, with bloodstained hands, she awkwardly, yet cautiously, hugged Cen Lingqiu around the waist.

It felt strange, but not unpleasant. Instead, her anxious heart began to calm down.

Yu Mingjiao nestled her head into Cen Lingqiu's embrace, her long hair spilling across the bed like a cold puppy seeking warmth, clinging tightly to her.

That night, for once, Yu Mingjiao didn't have any nightmares.

Cen Lingqiu woke up feeling suffocated. Opening her eyes, she found Yu Mingjiao's arms wrapped around her neck, her head tucked into Cen Lingqiu's shoulder. All she could see was a cascade of black hair.

This was too close.

Cen Lingqiu, who rarely had such intimate contact with anyone, carefully loosened Yu Mingjiao's grip and slipped out of bed.

Yu Mingjiao was still asleep, her face partially hidden by her hair, revealing only her pale lips.

It still seemed unbelievable that she had slept in the same bed as Yu Mingjiao.

Cen Lingqiu watched her for a few seconds, gently stroked her head, tucked her back in, and then quietly left the room.

By the time Yu Mingjiao woke up, Cen Lingqiu was gone. The breakfast she had made was still warm in the kitchen.

Yu Mingjiao ate quietly.

With graduation behind her, Yu Mingjiao could now focus entirely on her work at X.R. Her job was flexible; she didn't always have to go to the office.

Today, feeling a bit dizzy, she informed her boss she'd work from home, which they approved.

After finishing a few client designs, Yu Mingjiao, feeling exhausted, went to her room to rest.

Cen Lingqiu had to drive to another city for a business interpretation job, which took two to three hours.

The event was a large corporate exchange summit, with many company leaders networking and forming partnerships.

Cen Lingqiu was working as an interpreter for a British pharmaceutical company when she spotted Lin Dong.

As the heir to a family business, it made sense for him to attend such events. It occurred to her that Yu Mingjiao had likely forgotten about Lin Dong, the male protagonist of this world.

His family had pressured him with heavy work responsibilities over the past six months, often sending him abroad for projects, leaving him little time to bother Yu Mingjiao.

Lin Dong noticed her too and approached during a break. "Sis, how's your health? Why are you working so soon after being discharged?"

Though Lin Dong had a nasty temperament, he genuinely cared for his sister.

"I'm just doing it for fun," Cen Lingqiu said, her mouth dry from translating so much. She gulped down a bottle of water.

Lin Dong frowned. "But you were bedridden for six months. You shouldn't be working. It's not like the family doesn't give you money."

Cen Lingqiu wasn't used to his concern and casually replied, "It's no big deal."

Lin Dong hesitated, then asked, "Sis, have you been seeing Mingjiao lately—"

Before he could finish, a young man in a pink suit called out to him, walking over and throwing an arm around his shoulder. "Lin Dong, long time no see! Didn't expect to run into you here."

"Ge Hanzhou, aren't you supposed to be in France?" Lin Dong said.

Ge Hanzhou, with his carefree and flirtatious demeanor, replied, "Oh, there was this girl in France who kept bugging me, so I came back."

It was then that Ge Hanzhou noticed Cen Lingqiu, his eyes widening. "And this is—"

"My sister."

The name sounded familiar to Cen Lingqiu, but she couldn't quite place it and didn't dwell on it. Her phone buzzed—it was her client. Cen Lingqiu told Lin Dong, "I have to go."

Without a second glance at the two men, she walked past them. As she passed Ge Hanzhou, her gaze briefly flicked to his neck before returning to her path.

Ge Hanzhou patted Lin Dong on the back. "Hey, your sister just looked at me!"

Lin Dong rolled his eyes. "She was checking out your mismatched buttons, idiot."

Ge Hanzhou looked down and saw his shirt was indeed buttoned wrong. He unbuttoned it but didn't bother fixing it.

"Your sister's got quite the presence," Ge Hanzhou commented, watching Cen Lingqiu calmly translating for the foreign guest, her expression indifferent and aloof.

Lin Dong scoffed. "Don't even think about using your usual tricks on her."

Ge Hanzhou grinned lazily. "Just kidding."

By the time the event ended, it was already evening. Knowing it would be late by the time she got home, Cen Lingqiu decided not to visit Yu Mingjiao that night, sending her a message instead.

—Just got off work. It's late. I'll see you tomorrow.

When Cen Lingqiu finally got home, she checked her phone to see if Yu Mingjiao had replied, but there was nothing.

She hadn't even responded to the message Cen Lingqiu had sent that morning.

That wasn't like her.

Yu Mingjiao always replied to her messages.

Could she be angry?

Maybe because she had turned down her offer.

Cen Lingqiu decided to ask her about it tomorrow.

The next day, with no work scheduled, Cen Lingqiu decided to drop by X.R. in the late afternoon, hoping to pick her up after work.

"Oh, Mingjiao hasn't been in the office the past couple of days," her colleague said.

"Why not?"

"No idea. She usually comes in. We're not sure why she hasn't."

"Thanks."

After thanking her, Cen Lingqiu drove to Yu Mingjiao's apartment.

By now, the fact that Yu Mingjiao hadn't responded to any of her messages was making Cen Lingqiu uneasy.

She rang the doorbell, knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

Her worry grew.

Cen Lingqiu knocked for nearly ten minutes before the door finally opened.

Yu Mingjiao stood there in a nightgown, her hair a mess, her lips pale. She glanced at Cen Lingqiu with dull eyes before silently turning away and wheeling herself into the living room.

"Why didn't you reply to my messages, Mingjiao?" Cen Lingqiu asked, following her.

Yu Mingjiao acted as if she hadn't heard, reaching for a glass of water from the dispenser. Just as she was about to lift it to her lips, her hand lost its strength, the glass slipped from her grasp, and she collapsed from her wheelchair, crashing heavily to the floor.

"Mingjiao—" Cen Lingqiu rushed over, helping her up, only to find her face flushed, her breathing labored, and her skin burning hot.

She had a fever again.

—

Yu Mingjiao's head was heavy and clouded as she drifted into another dream.

She dreamt of Cen Lingqiu.

In the dream, Cen Lingqiu stood by the sea, her back to Yu Mingjiao, hair blowing in the wind. Yu Mingjiao wanted to walk over to her, but waves kept rising, blocking her path.

Yu Mingjiao called her name.

Cen Lingqiu turned around, her expression calm.

"Where are you going?" Yu Mingjiao asked.

Cen Lingqiu didn't answer, just watched her silently.

"Will you come back?"

"..."

"Are you going to leave me again?"

"..."

She didn't say a word, her gaze as distant and inscrutable as winter fog.

Yu Mingjiao panicked, desperately trying to wade through the waves toward her, but the water kept rising until it engulfed her.

Until she could no longer see Cen Lingqiu.

The suffocating waves made it hard to breathe, and Yu Mingjiao felt her heart gripped by a terrible unease.

She jolted awake, gasping for air, her vision filled with Cen Lingqiu's concerned eyes.

They were filled with worry, nothing like the eyes in her dream.

Yu Mingjiao's chest heaved as she slowly calmed down, reassured by the warmth of Cen Lingqiu's body.

Her voice was hoarse as she spoke, "...I had a nightmare."

"Hmm?" Cen Lingqiu gently patted her back. "What kind of nightmare?"

Yu Mingjiao hesitated for a few seconds before replying, "I dreamt... you left me again."

Cen Lingqiu: "..."

She fell silent, unnerved.

Yu Mingjiao buried her face in Cen Lingqiu's waist, her voice muffled, "Will you?"

Cen Lingqiu licked her dry lips, laughing lightly as she tried to comfort her. "Who knows what the future holds? Dreams are just dreams, don't take them too seriously."

"Here," Cen Lingqiu changed the subject, "Take your medicine first."

Yu Mingjiao obediently took the medicine.

Seeing she was back to normal, Cen Lingqiu couldn't help but scold her, "I told you I'd infect you, but you didn't believe me, and now you have a fever. If you're not feeling well, you should call me. What's the point of having a phone?"

"It hurts." Seeing that Cen Lingqiu was about to continue lecturing her, Yu Mingjiao softly whispered.

Cen Lingqiu paused, "Where does it hurt?"

"My hand."

Yu Mingjiao showed her arm. There was a deep bruise on her pale, slender arm, standing out starkly against her cold, white skin.

"It must have happened when you fell from the wheelchair and hit the water dispenser," Cen Lingqiu said, fetching the first-aid kit to apply ointment and then gently scolded her, "You bruise so easily, and you get sick so often. You're really delicate. Why are you even called Mingjiao? I should just call you Jiao Jiao from now on."

She spoke slowly, her tone light yet tinged with concern.

Yu Mingjiao enjoyed seeing her worry; it filled her with a deep satisfaction.

A little more.

A little more concern.

"It's fine," Yu Mingjiao replied, "Call me whatever you want."

Cen Lingqiu: "..."

She sighed, "Can you focus on what's important?"

Cen Lingqiu bandaged her up, then casually remarked, "Good thing I came over. If I hadn't, and you didn't call anyone else, what would you have done?"

"Just move in with me."

Cen Lingqiu: "..."

She laughed, realizing that all of this was leading up to the same request.

"So insistent on living together, huh?" Cen Lingqiu asked as she put away the first-aid kit.

"Yeah," Yu Mingjiao replied honestly.

Cen Lingqiu's expression faltered, showing a hint of hesitation, but she still didn't agree outright. "I'll think about it. I've already found a place on the same floor."

Yu Mingjiao's face darkened, her expression becoming ominous.

"Oh, right—" Cen Lingqiu suddenly remembered, grabbing her right wrist with a serious tone, "What's with these scratches all over your arm?"

Yu Mingjiao, still upset, didn't want to talk to her. She yanked her hand back, her tone icy, "None of your business."

Cen Lingqiu was taken aback by the sudden coldness. She bent down, trying to catch Yu Mingjiao's gaze, but she turned away, avoiding eye contact.

Cen Lingqiu followed her line of sight, tilting her head to look at her face. "Why so angry all of a sudden? Are you mad?"

Yu Mingjiao stubbornly refused to look at her, her words as cold as ice. "You find me disgusting, don't you? I don't need your concern."

"...When did I say I found you disgusting?"

"You did."

"Tell me how."

"You won't even live with me."

"..."

Yu Mingjiao coldly added, "It doesn't matter. One day, I'll die here, and you won't even know. Save your concern."

Cen Lingqiu felt a little wronged.

"You're being unreasonable, Jiao Jiao."

At the sound of that name, Yu Mingjiao's ears turned bright red.

Cen Lingqiu could feel a headache coming on. Young people were so hard to deal with these days.

She rubbed her temples, sighing. "Alright... Let me think about it, okay?"

Yu Mingjiao nodded, "Okay."

"I don't want to see those scratches on your wrist again," Cen Lingqiu said, her tone serious. "Can you do that, Jiao Jiao?"

Yu Mingjiao held her scratched arm, pushing her luck with another demand, "Sure, as long as you live with me."

Cen Lingqiu: "...Be quiet."

Yu Mingjiao: "Okay."

—

Over the next few days, Yu Mingjiao frequently messaged her, always with the same type of content.

—Bumped my waist on the table, it hurts.

—Accidentally rolled off the bed, hit my head.

—Slipped in the shower.

And so on, all sorts of minor accidents in her daily life.

It made sense, though. Yu Mingjiao was physically disabled, so her daily movements weren't as convenient as most people's.

Cen Lingqiu was suddenly reminded of the time she saw Yu Mingjiao in the manor, covered in scars. At the time, some of those didn't seem like injuries caused by the original host. Now, it seemed they might have been the result of Yu Mingjiao's own clumsiness. Her delicate skin bruised easily, leaving marks that lingered.

Today, after finishing a simultaneous interpretation, Cen Lingqiu received another message from Yu Mingjiao.

This time, it was a photo of her hand, covered in glass shards and smeared with blood.

Cen Lingqiu's pupils contracted as she immediately called her.

"What happened to your hand?"

"I wanted to cook something but dropped the bowl. The floor was slippery, and I fell."

She spoke nonchalantly, but Cen Lingqiu's heart was in turmoil.

"I'll be right there."

Yu Mingjiao hung up, staring at her bloodied hands. The shards were still embedded in her skin, but she didn't plan on removing them. After all, it made her look more pitiful this way. She would wait for Cen Lingqiu to arrive.

Ever since realizing how much she enjoyed Cen Lingqiu's concern, Yu Mingjiao had been deliberately causing minor injuries.

Pain brought Cen Lingqiu's worry, and it also softened her stance on moving in together.

Something so simple could bring so much, Yu Mingjiao thought it was well worth it.

Maybe it was the anticipation of seeing those anxious, concerned eyes again, but Yu Mingjiao couldn't help but smile, her expression both joyful and a little deranged.

It only took about ten minutes for Cen Lingqiu to arrive. She had already registered her fingerprint in Yu Mingjiao's door lock, so she entered the apartment freely.

"Jiao Jiao."

Cen Lingqiu rushed into the kitchen, finding Yu Mingjiao slumped on the floor, her right hand dangling limply, blood pooling around it.

Yu Mingjiao looked up at her, her expression innocent, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes slightly upturned, exuding a mix of allure and purity.

Her face was somehow stained with blood as well, and sitting there in a pool of it, she looked oddly fragile and dazed.

Cen Lingqiu stood frozen in the doorway, her heart pounding wildly before she snapped back to reality.

The sight of so much blood made her feel nauseous. She carefully removed the glass shards from Yu Mingjiao's hand.

"Does it hurt?"

Yu Mingjiao nodded, "It hurts. A lot."

Cen Lingqiu carried her back to the living room, setting her down on the sofa before fetching the first-aid kit.

These days, it seemed to be in constant use.

"Why did you suddenly decide to cook?" Cen Lingqiu asked.

Yu Mingjiao usually never went near the kitchen.

Yu Mingjiao lowered her gaze, "Hungry."

"Takeout is terrible."

Cen Lingqiu couldn't argue with that. She cleaned the blood from Yu Mingjiao's hand, applied ointment, and wrapped it up like a little bundle.

Looking at all the wounds on Yu Mingjiao's body, Cen Lingqiu couldn't help but sigh, "How do you end up with so many injuries? You're not a child."

Yu Mingjiao blinked, slowly reaching out with her uninjured hand to tug at Cen Lingqiu's clothes, fixing her dark eyes on her. "You know I'm just a crippled waste of space. Getting hurt is normal for me."

She moved like a snail, her fingers gradually wrapping around Cen Lingqiu's wrist, savoring the cool touch of her skin.

"Lin Qiu, I'm scared of pain."

Her voice was soft, almost pleading, with a tone so fragile and vulnerable that it tugged at the heartstrings.

Cen Lingqiu wasn't naive—she could see the underlying meaning.

After all the recent back-and-forth, Cen Lingqiu's resistance finally crumbled. Faced with Yu Mingjiao's delicate wounds, she couldn't hold out any longer.

She sighed in defeat.

"Jiao Jiao, you've won."