Chapter 29
She cautiously reached out to touch the omega’s fingers. She gazed at the girl, as if she were looking at the stars and moon. "Would you teach me? Tell me what you like, what you don’t like, what makes you happy, and what makes you angry."
"I’ll learn well and change properly."
"If it’s my fault, then take it out on me, don’t hurt your body."
It was like a sudden surge of destructive desire, or a frozen body rushing to a warming heart. Xie Shiqing realized she was trembling, her bones knocking against each other, her body both cold and hot.
Was it the heat period again? Or was the sudden warmth so scalding it made her shiver uncontrollably?
It was all fake, she repeated to herself. This was a trap, a lie, a deception.
—But even if it was false tenderness, it had been so long, so very long since she last felt it.
The concern was fake, the gentleness was fake, the words of love were fake. She didn’t need false emotions—only pheromones.
Xie Shiqing suddenly reached out and grabbed Zhong Ning’s collar, pushing her down onto the sofa. In the scuffle, her arm knocked against a dinner tray, spilling milk everywhere in a dripping mess.
The rich scent of milk was immediately overtaken by the fresh fragrance of grapefruit blossoms. Xie Shiqing tore open Zhong Ning’s clothes and bit into the side of her neck without any pattern or control.
The latter let out a muffled groan but wrapped her arms around Xie Shiqing’s waist, shifting her body slightly to give her a more stable hold, keeping her from falling off the sofa.
"Sorry—"
A kiss cut off the words.
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Zhong Ning (launching a sincere attack): I like you!
Xie Shiqing (broken defenses) (taken true damage from the innocent girl): No one would care about me. You must be a liar! I’m not listening, I’m not listening!
Later, Xie Shiqing: What? It was the truth? Ababa ababa...
In the evening, Zhong Ning carried a tray of food upstairs, placing it on the pull-out table beside the bed, watching as Xie Shiqing slowly and methodically ate in small bites.
She suddenly felt that her recent life had taken on a strange turn—apologizing and having sex.
Wasn’t that a kind of a healthy lifestyle?
Faced with a new bank transfer notification, she had already grown numb.
When money became too much, it simply turned into a string of numbers. And for Xie Shiqing, this amount wasn’t even pocket change—barely a drop in the ocean. As the head of the Xie family, the assets under her control were beyond what Zhong Ning could even imagine.
Even the monthly salary of the household staff was outrageously high.
Xie Shiqing didn’t like crowds. Opposite to the Zhong family which was extravagant to the extreme—having staff specifically for incense burning and playing music.
Zhong Ning didn’t even want to know what their salaries were. Ever since transmigrating, she had refreshed her understanding of money.
Now, she simply embraced a state of accepting, receiving everything without question. No matter how extravagant, she was no longer surprised.
This calm attitude of hers made it so that her "personality changed," didn’t seem too strange. After all, the original host had always been unpredictable.
Xie Shiqing ate with elegant manners. She had been given elite education from a young age, raised as the heir to her family—everything about her was naturally refined. Every gesture and movement appeared graceful, causing others to overlook the fact that she ate very little.
Zhong Ning, rather than admiring the beauty, was more concerned about her health. Seeing that Xie Shiqing had only taken a few bites before setting down her chopsticks, she couldn’t help but advise, "Eat a bit more."
Xie Shiqing’s hand paused as she wiped the corner of her mouth.
"You only ate a few bites, are you really full? Prolonged hunger will cause stomach problems, and then you’ll need lots of medicine," Zhong Ning nagged, sounding like an older cafeteria aunt who, upon seeing a skinny girl, couldn’t help but show some concern.
"You barely ate anything in the morning, and you skipped lunch. Eating just this little for dinner will ruin your health."
Xie Shiqing’s expression turned odd.
This person… could it be that she really had come just to deliver food at noon?
She had assumed Zhong Ning brought food as an excuse to apologize. After all, in order to secure her place as heir, Zhong Ning had to curry her favor. But now, hearing her speak, it seemed… it really seemed like she was genuinely concerned about how little she had eaten.
Xie Shiqing focused hard, trying to discern any hint of falsehood in her words, but just like before, she couldn’t detect a thing.
So natural it seemed sincere.
Could a person really change this much?
Even if someone truly regretted their past, human flaws couldn’t be erased so easily, and habits didn’t just change overnight.
Perhaps someone with great determination could do it, but she absolutely didn’t believe Zhong Ning was such a person.
That odd feeling she had suppressed surfaced again.
There were many unreasonable things about this person. Even explaining it away as an act felt somewhat far-fetched.
"Eating too much at night causes indigestion. This is enough," Xie Shiqing suddenly smiled, a blush still lingering on her face, her expression blooming like a spring flower. "Thank you for caring about me, Ning Ning."
"I-I should be." Zhong Ning was captivated by her beauty, almost drunk from it, and forgot to keep urging her, diligently carrying the tray away.
After just a few steps, she remembered something and turned back. "Oh right, I still need to go to the pet hospital tomorrow. I already made the appointment, so once I hand the cat over to the adopter, that’s it."
As if afraid Xie Shiqing might get upset, she quickly explained, "The adopter is really socially anxious. We barely said a few words today. Her name is Le Zhiyu, from the Le family. I’m not going to her house, just picking up the cat at the hospital."
"Le Zhiyu..." Xie Shiqing was momentarily stunned. "It’s her?"
Zhong Ning made a curious sound. "Shiqing, you know her?"
"Just met a few times, not close," Xie Shiqing said. "She’s an alpha."
"I see." Zhong Ning carefully watched her expression. "Then is it okay if I go to the hospital tomorrow? Will you be upset?"
"When have I ever been upset?" Xie Shiqing retorted. "Don’t just make things up on your own. And don’t tell anyone about our business."