Chapter 37
After all, emotional relationships couldn’t be maintained by just one person.
Xie Shiqing was someone who couldn’t tolerate the slightest blemish. If the omega detected someone else’s scent on her, she would get angry over it—let alone a child!
She would definitely break up. She absolutely would.
Zhong Ning lay down in the bathtub, letting the water rise over her mouth and nose. It was so quiet in the water, but the noise in her heart was relentless.
She couldn’t avoid the truth.
She rose from the bathtub, slowly wiped the water droplets from her body, and dried her wet hair. When she touched the strand that had been deliberately dyed black, the corners of her mouth twitched.
It really had been dyed for nothing.
In her heart, Zhong Ning had already believed it—more precisely, she was eighty percent convinced.
What kind of role had she transmigrated into? A cannon fodder! Cannon fodder was destined to do bad things and then get eliminated by the protagonist.
The remaining twenty percent was a purely instinctive struggle. She really didn’t want to be separated from Xie Shiqing.
She silently put on some clothes and took a wistful glance at the bedroom. She might never get the chance to stay here again.
Just yesterday, she had bought two pots of succulents and placed them on the windowsill.
If she wanted to investigate the original body's past, she had to return home to do so. After all, her bedroom was in the Zhong family manor. What if there were secret compartments hiding diaries or something? These things couldn’t be ruled out.
Last time, she had only skimmed through the place and hadn’t searched thoroughly. It was quite possible she had missed something.
Maybe there was nothing, but she needed a bit of hope to keep herself from breaking down.
Zhong Ning steadied herself, patted her cheeks with both hands, and muttered softly, “Calm down, calm down.”
From childhood to now, she had never encountered anything that could be considered a “problem,” “trouble,” or “crisis.” And now, faced with something this serious, Zhong Ning was truly at a loss.
She had absolutely no experience dealing with malignant emergencies.
However, if Miaomiao was indeed biologically related to her, she would take responsibility for the treatment and would also confess everything to Xie Shiqing, striving to find a proper solution.
Since she had taken on the identity of “Zhong Ning,” she had to bear all the good and bad that came with it. This was something Zhong Ning had already mentally prepared for.
Panic and fear in the moment were normal, but she was not a coward who would run from reality.
Having made up her mind, she knocked on the study door. Xie Shiqing was wearing one side of a headset. Hearing her enter, she tapped the keyboard twice, and the computer screen switched to the desktop.
“What is it? Ning Ning, do you need something?”
Her pale face looked pure as snow under the light. Zhong Ning stared at her intently for a while, her heart immersed in the sorrow that she might not get to see this sight again.
She just wanted this to linger a little longer.
“I... I need to go home for a bit. There’s something I need to get.”
Xie Shiqing's red lips curved slightly as she chuckled softly, “Will you be back tonight?”
Zhong Ning hesitated for a moment. Enduring the searing pain in her heart, she tried to keep her tone as normal as possible and said cheerfully, “Probably not. It’ll be too late. I’ll just sleep over there.”
Xie Shiqing frowned slightly. Those delicate, willow-like brows subtly knitted together, perfectly conveying her thoughts—she looked displeased. “Alright.”
Her soft red lips pouted slightly. “A goodbye kiss?”
Zhong Ning couldn’t refuse.
She couldn’t refuse any request from Xie Shiqing, especially if it had to do with kissing.
Zhong Ning walked over, lifted the smaller girl's face, and pressed a kiss onto her lips.
She liked kissing Xie Shiqing—not the kind driven by lust, but the simple touch of lips, breath intermingling. They looked so close, and when their tongues entwined, there was a lingering intimacy.
When kissing Xie Shiqing, Zhong Ning often thought of cherries.
The cut on her tongue had taken three days to heal. That sting had become a conditioned reflex—every time they kissed, she thought of cherries. The more she thought about it, the more stubborn the reflex became.
Xie Shiqing’s lips were like cherry flesh—soft, crimson. Her damp tongue was soaked in sweetness, and when she bit down or sucked lightly, the one beneath her would let out muffled laughter and indistinct murmurs.
They sounded like complaints, but more like invitations to continue.
So Zhong Ning kissed even deeper.
She didn’t call this kind of compliance obedience or docility. Only someone in a lower position would use those words to describe themselves. The two of them were equals.
Xie Shiqing made a request; she fulfilled it—because they both enjoyed it.
So the correct word should be—love.
But kissing for too long always risked going too far.
There was a strong physical attraction between them, compounded by pheromones. The scent of grapefruit blossoms filled the room so thickly; like a foggy mist surrounded the horizon.
Zhong Ning’s palm moved obsessively, stroking the other’s waist for a long while before she finally registered what was happening.
She leaned her head back, licked the moisture from her lips, her gaze still dazed, breathing unevenly. “I... I have to go.”
Xie Shiqing made no move to stop her.
“Be careful on the road,” she said, her tone calm, as usual.
Zhong Ning couldn’t help it—she pecked her lips again before reluctantly leaving, glancing back three times with every step.
The moment the study door closed, Xie Shiqing stretched lazily, tapped the keyboard twice more, and a dialog box popped up on the desktop. The video call resumed.
“Go on. Zhong Ning was taken to the hotel, and then?”
————————
Zhong Ning drove herself home. By the time she arrived, it was almost ten o’clock.
It wasn’t too late, but the villa was still brightly lit. As she stepped inside, she happened to meet the butler’s slightly surprised expression. He quickly composed himself and said without giving anything away, “Miss, the Head of the Zhong family has asked you to go to the study.”