After a Flash Marriage with a Professor - Chapter 68

Chapter 68: Vice.CP

“Lingyu, are you afraid of the dark?”

Lingyu didn’t answer. Yu Yue asked again, and she felt Lingyu’s grip on her arm tighten.

“Where’s your circuit breaker? Let’s go see if the power has tripped.”

“I don’t know.” Lingyu clung to Yu Yue’s arm like she was a lifeline. “I’ve lived here since I graduated. This is the first time the power has gone out.”

In the darkness, Yu Yue let out a small, soft laugh.

“What are you laughing at?” Lingyu asked suspiciously. She felt that Yu Yue wasn’t a good person. Her narrow eyes gave her a sense of insecurity and unease, and her voice carried a hint of rebelliousness and wildness.

The only thing that gave her peace of mind was that Yu Yue was Professor Shen’s friend. She trusted that Professor Shen was very careful about who she made friends with.

Sometimes she would use the phrase “you can’t judge a book by its cover” to combat this feeling of insecurity she had.

“Nothing.” Yu Yue stopped laughing and turned on her phone’s flashlight. Lingyu felt a sense of relief from the light and immediately let go of Yu Yue’s hand, her eyes darting around nervously.

“I’ll go look for your circuit breaker. Do you want to come with me or wait here?”

“I’ll go with you.”

Lingyu said without a second thought. She absolutely did not want to stay in such a dark place alone.

“Then follow me.” Yu Yue extended her hand to her. “Hold my hand if you’re scared.”

“No need. There’s light. I’m not that scared anymore.”

Yu Yue turned off the flashlight. The world plunged into darkness again. Lingyu jumped in fright and grabbed Yu Yue’s hand, asking, “Is your phone out of battery?”

Yu Yue didn’t answer. Lingyu grew more afraid. “Say something.”

“I was just scaring you. It still has battery,” Yu Yue turned the flashlight back on. Lingyu let go of her hand, balled her fist, and hit her arm.

“Ouch.” Yu Yue clutched her arm.

Lingyu ignored her and started searching for her own phone on her person. She couldn’t remember where she had put it.

“Lingyu, what are you looking for?”

“Your phone?”

Lingyu still didn’t respond to her. Her phone might be in the living room. Lingyu turned and walked out of the only lit guest room, enduring her fear to feel her way to find her phone.

“Lingyu?” Yu Yue followed behind her, lighting her way. “Are you mad?”

“No. Miss Yu, please go rest.”

“Lingyu, I’ll go with you.”

“No need. Don’t come over. You scare me more than the darkness.”

“Why?” Yu Yue stopped in shock.

Lingyu didn’t know how to explain. They stared at each other for a while across the flashlight beam.

Lingyu turned and walked away. Yu Yue was confused and stood in place, pointing the flashlight in Lingyu’s direction.

She couldn’t believe it. Was there really no chance for her?

A loud clang and a gasp came from the living room. Yu Yue quickly moved, rushing to the living room to see Lingyu squatting on the floor, holding her leg.

“Why did Miss Yu come here?” Lingyu pulled her skirt down to cover her bruised leg.

“I was worried about you. Don’t cover it. I saw it. Do you have a first aid kit?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

“Under the TV cabinet.”

Yu Yue placed her phone face down on the solid wood coffee table. The light shone on the ceiling, scattering in an interwoven pattern of light and shadow, like a huge flower.

The first aid kit was in an obvious spot. Yu Yue quickly retrieved it, picked it up, and hurried toward Lingyu.

“Watch out!” Lingyu warned Yu Yue. Yu Yue’s leg was about to hit the corner of the coffee table.

“I accidentally hit it there just now,” Lingyu said, a little embarrassed. She felt ashamed that she had hit it because she wasn’t very familiar with her own place.

“You didn’t hit it; you just brushed against it with your pants.” Yu Yue knelt down with the first aid kit. “Lingyu, sit on the sofa. I’ll put some medicine on it for you.”

Lingyu stood up, taking a sharp breath in pain. After sitting on the sofa, she said, “No need to trouble Miss Yu. I’ll do it myself.”

She didn’t want any extra physical contact with Yu Yue, afraid it would give Yu Yue the wrong signal.

Yu Yue didn’t insist. She helped her open the first aid kit and took out the Yunnan Baiyao spray and some cotton swabs.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. The power went out because I came to your place. I should take some responsibility.”

Lingyu was stunned. “This has nothing to do with Miss Yu.”

“I wish it did have something to do with me.”

Lingyu pretended not to understand, lowered her head, and started applying the medicine herself. Yu Yue walked toward the apartment door. “I’ll go see if the other apartments have a power outage.”

Yu Yue walked outside. Besides the solar-powered streetlights, there were no lights in the surrounding houses. It seemed like the power was out everywhere.

“The power’s out everywhere.” Yu Yue returned to the apartment and saw Lingyu applying the medicine to herself. The fine mist of the spray condensed on her fair leg and trickled down.

“Let me do it.” Yu Yue stepped forward without a word to help. It was easy to strain her back trying to reach that spot by herself.

Lingyu hadn’t agreed yet, but Yu Yue had already taken the cotton swabs and the spray from her hand. The whole process was as light and swift as a gust of wind. “Don’t worry, I promise not to touch you. Trust me.”

There wasn’t even time to decide whether to trust her, Lingyu thought.

Yu Yue quickly sprayed the medicine on the wound, spread it evenly with a cotton swab, and gently blew on it. Lingyu uncomfortably pulled her leg back. Yu Yue stood up and stepped back, smiling as she put the cap back on the spray.

In that moment, Lingyu suddenly felt that Yu Yue wasn’t as unreliable as she seemed on the outside. She seemed quite considerate.

“Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. I’ll take you back to your room to rest.”

Lingyu didn’t need her help to get around and hopped on one leg back to her room. Yu Yue lit the way for her. “I’ll take you to the hospital tomorrow to get it checked out. It seems pretty serious and affects your walking.”

“No need. I’ll just take two days off work to rest.”

“It takes a hundred days for a broken bone or strained muscle to heal. You should rest for a few more days.”

“I have to go to work. I have a lot of things to do.”

“Then let’s at least go to the hospital and see what the doctor says. You got hurt while I was here. If I don’t take full responsibility, I won’t have a good explanation for Ming Shu and Professor Shen.”

“You’re just a guest. What do you have to explain?”

“I have to explain my love.”

Lingyu: “…”

“Lingyu, I know you rejected me not long ago, but I feel like you have a misunderstanding about me. I hope you’ll give me another chance.”

The two of them were at a stalemate for a while. Yu Yue wouldn’t give up, and Lingyu wouldn’t agree, as if she was determined not to budge.

After a long time, Lingyu sighed heavily. “Miss Yu, I sincerely advise you not to like me. Don’t try to get close to me, or you’ll be disappointed very quickly.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I don’t like you.”

“Then do you have someone you like?”

Lingyu pursed her lips. Yu Yue said, “Silence means yes.”

“Let me guess. Is it Professor Shen or Ming Shu?”

“It’s not Professor Shen!”

“Then it’s Ming Shu.”

“It’s not her either,” Lingyu said evasively.

Yu Yue understood. “Then it’s someone with whom you have no possibility of being with.”

“You could say that.”

“Since there’s no possibility, then why can’t you try other possibilities?”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t try. I have a blind date next week.” After her parents’ unexpected death, she remembered her parents’ expectations for her. When they were alive, they often tried to arrange blind dates for her with people they had vetted and thought were good. But she didn’t understand her parents back then and thought they were using her to form marriage alliances with their business partners for their own gain. It was only in the past few days, when those uncles and aunts helped with the funeral arrangements and took care of her, that she finally understood her parents’ good intentions.

“Who are you going on a blind date with?” Yu Yue asked nervously.

“It has nothing to do with Miss Yu. Miss Yu, please go rest. I’ll drive you back tomorrow.”

“How can it have nothing to do with me? I like you. If you’re going on a blind date, please give me a chance.”

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