After a Contractual Romance with the Scumbag Movie Queen - Chapter 44

Since the day Ye Su pierced through that thin veil between them, the two had entered a rather delicate period.

Pei Ying hadn’t been able to bring herself to refuse, yet emotionally, she couldn’t immediately accept it either.

After fleeing her family, she had struggled alone for years, fighting her way through life step by arduous step, her heart perpetually tense.

This tension made it difficult for her to find peace, to calmly enjoy anything.

She was naturally inclined to harbor an ominous premonition toward any form of happiness.

Let alone opening her heart to love someone and engaging in a forbidden romance with an uncertain future.

Ye Su seemed to understand her. Thus, she didn’t press further or make any more boundary-crossing moves, pretending as if nothing had happened.

Their interactions became even more restrained than before.

If it weren’t for that night when Ye Su gazed at her tenderly and whispered, “I’ll wait for you,” Pei Ying would have thought she had given up.

But Pei Ying wasn’t good at making people wait. So, even though Ye Su always appeared carefree and unhurried, Pei Ying’s anxiety grew with each passing day.

She didn’t know whether she was worried that Ye Su would always wait or that she would stop waiting.

The door to the dressing room was knocked, and Pei Ying could already tell who it was from the strength and rhythm of the knock.

She opened the door.

“Ah Ying.” Ye Su called her with a smile, her cool, jade-like face softening slightly whenever she looked at her.

Pei Ying’s lips trembled slightly, thinking she had come to take her home.

“I’m not going home tonight.”

After half a month, the Li family had summoned her to stay overnight again.

In the past, she could say such words to Ye Su with ease, but now it felt strained.

Should she tell her that secret? She pondered, but noticed the young woman’s smile remained unchanged, as if she didn’t care at all.

Ye Su said, “I came to tell you that I’m not going home tonight either.”

Pei Ying knew that Ye Su had been getting closer to a guqin player in the orchestra lately.

Now, hearing that Ye Su was going to stay at the guqin player’s place for the night, her breath hitched almost imperceptibly.

Her fingers, resting on the door, tightened slightly around the edge.

“Mm.” She didn’t ask further and calmly agreed.

“Then take care, Ah Ying.” After saying this, Ye Su didn’t linger, turning and leaving without another glance.

For some reason, Pei Ying sensed a hint of excitement in her expression before she left, as if she couldn’t wait.

She watched Ye Su’s retreating figure, standing frozen in place for a long time.

That night, Pei Ying couldn’t sleep.

She turned over gently, opening her tired eyes to stare at the white wall in front of her.

The “young master” Li in the other bed wasn’t asleep either. Hearing her toss and turn several times, he couldn’t help but ask, “Is something troubling you, Miss Pei?”

Before Pei Ying could answer, she heard Young Master Li murmur to himself, “Life’s troubles boil down to love and money. To lie awake all night, such deep attachment.”

Pei Ying closed her eyes, her breathing slightly heavy. In this sleepless state, she seemed to understand how Ye Su must have felt every time she stayed out overnight.

Probably tossing and turning in that large bed at home, torn and lost in melancholy.

Recalling every morning she returned home, Ye Su’s reluctant, strained gaze avoiding hers, her heart ached even more.

But tonight, Ye Su had seemed completely indifferent. Perhaps she had already moved on.

Maybe she should be happy for Ye Su. Pei Ying bit her lower lip, forcing herself not to imagine Ye Su and the guqin player sharing a room.

Early the next morning, not long after Pei Ying returned home, Ye Su opened the door.

Pei Ying turned to look and met Ye Su’s slightly weary gaze.

Ye Su also appeared as though she hadn’t slept all night.

Before Pei Ying could ponder why she hadn’t slept, she noticed Ye Su’s slender, usually steady fingers trembling faintly as she took off her shoes, as if overtaxed from some exertion.

After reading that storybook, Pei Ying understood how affairs between women were conducted.

Coincidentally, the book had also described a maid whose fingers trembled after multiple rounds of intense activity.

Her heart skipped a beat, a surge of emotion rushing through her entire body.

It was almost too much to bear.

Her eyes involuntarily stung. She turned away, her gaze wandering aimlessly as she searched for something to pretend to be busy with, hoping to ride out this inexplicable wave of feeling.

Before she could find anything, her vision had already blurred into a hazy mist.

A moment later, footsteps approached from behind. A gentle force lifted her chin.

The familiar, delicate fragrance of the young woman wafted over, and something warm and soft brushed against the corner of her eye.

“Why is A-Ying crying?”

Pei Ying felt only panic and was about to step back when an arm wrapped around her waist.

Remembering that this person had just returned from an intimate encounter with another woman, Pei Ying couldn’t suppress the revulsion in her heart and reached out to push her away.

But she was held even tighter, unable to break free no matter how she struggled.

Frustrated and angry, she snapped, “You come back and immediately cling to me, how can you face her with a clear conscience?”

Ye Su paused, then leaned down to kiss the tear tracks on the woman’s cheek. “What are you talking about, A-Ying? If I didn’t cling to you, I’d be the one failing her.”

Pei Ying was startled, never expecting her to say something so shameless, and for a moment, she felt a sense of strangeness.

But before disappointment could fully rise in her heart, the young woman continued, “After all, I spent last night preparing your birthday gift, and I owe her thanks for that.”

Ye Su gazed at the woman’s slightly dazed expression. A glistening teardrop trembled on her long, thick lashes, her beautiful face flushed from crying like a flower soaked in a gentle spring rain.

A pitiful yet enticing sight.

Ye Su sighed softly in her throat, unable to resist leaning in to kiss the corner of her lips.

Then, she held up her fingers for Pei Ying to see, explaining with a hint of grievance, “Look, I knitted a scarf all night and pricked myself several times.”

Indeed, the soft pads of her fingers bore several needle marks, some even bleeding.

The trembling in her fingertips earlier had been from unavoidably pressing on the wounds while removing her shoes.

Pei Ying stared at them, her lips slightly parted, unsure what to say.

A wave of heat spread from her neck to her cheeks, intense enough to feel melting, yet it seemed to freeze her in place like a statue.

Only when Ye Su wrapped the scarf around her neck and wished her a happy birthday did the statue stir slightly, returning to life.

A living person utterly embarrassed by her earlier assumptions and tears, desperate to find a place to hide.

But under the young woman’s unwavering gaze, there was truly nowhere to escape.

Feeling utterly humiliated, Pei Ying buried her face deeper into the soft scarf, lowered her eyes, and murmured a quiet “thank you.”

Yet Ye Su, who always valued her feelings and yielded unconditionally, didn’t let her off this time. She gently pulled down the scarf that served as a shield, forcing Pei Ying to confront her earlier actions.

Leaning in slightly, her nose brushed against Pei Ying’s. “Can I take it to mean that A-Ying cried just now because she likes me?”

Pei Ying pressed her lips together and remained silent.

“It must be.” Ye Su’s clear voice carried a hint of laughter as she continued on her own, “Otherwise, why would you be crying like a wronged little kitten when I came back after being out all night?”

Pei Ying felt her ears grow even hotter at the remark. Clutching the fabric at Ye Su’s waist, she didn’t respond directly.

Instead, she earnestly explained the situation with the Li family.

After finishing, she said, “I’m sorry. It was only last night that I truly understood the pain of your misunderstanding.”

Before, unaware of Ye Su’s feelings, she had allowed the misunderstanding to persist without a second thought.

“Understood what pain?” Ye Su didn’t seem surprised by her confession and even seized the crucial detail in her words, pressing on relentlessly, “Last night, when you thought I’d spent the night with someone else, did your heart ache?”

Pei Ying remained silent.

Ye Su chuckled softly, her eyes shimmering with profound tenderness as she nuzzled Pei Ying’s nose. “Do you like me that much?”

Pei Ying’s breath hitched abruptly. Perhaps it had been unsteady for a long time, she couldn’t tell whether it was the day she read that romantic novel, the day Ye Su, homeless, sought refuge with her, or the day she had just fled home, adrift and helpless, when Ye Su took her in, hungry and disheveled.

She was like a young deer fleeing through the forest, chased to the edge of a cliff with nowhere left to run.

So she decided to be bold.

The forest was, after all, the sanctuary she had longed for. Why keep running?

Tilting her head, she cupped Ye Su’s nape and kissed her, silencing the younger woman’s teasing words.

But it was Ye Su’s turn to be stunned.

Pei Ying’s initiative stripped away all her composure. Feeling Pei Ying’s clumsy yet tender kiss, Ye Su’s heart raced wildly in her chest, as if running amok.

When the softness on her lips withdrew, she saw the sincerity in Pei Ying’s eyes, her flushed, moist lips slightly parted. In a soft, bashful voice, Pei Ying answered the earlier question:

“Yes, I like you that much.”