After Flirting with the God-Tier Beautiful Tycoon - Chapter 36

Facing Lin Qianqian’s questioning, Shen Xiaojiang deliberately remained silent.

The other girl let out a “hmpf” and ran out of the dormitory wailing.

Shen Xiaojiang sighed and began organizing her things, washing her face, and brushing her teeth, completely unconcerned by Lin Qianqian’s dramatic exit.

However, even after she had finished all her chores, Lin Qianqian still hadn’t returned.

“Jiabao,” Shen Xiaojiang tapped a few times on Sun Jiabao’s desk with her finger. “Lin… isn’t back yet?”

“Let her be, she’s just being melodramatic,” Sun Jiabao muttered resentfully.

It wasn’t that Shen Xiaojiang cared deeply for Lin Qianqian, but they were classmates after all. If something actually happened, it wouldn’t be good.

Shen Xiaojiang continued tapping the desk: “Jiabao, go look for her.”

Sun Jiabao raised a middle finger: “If you want to find her, you go find her.”

This best friend must have been a free gift with a phone plan!

But on second thought, Lin Qianqian’s belongings were all still there; she couldn’t have gone far.

Sure enough, a moment later, Lin Qianqian returned.

The moment she stepped in, she glared at Shen Xiaojiang: “Ginger, come outside with me for a second.”

“No.”

“You have to.”

Shen Xiaojiang put on her headphones.

Lin Qianqian yanked the headphones off and mouthed the name: “Chen Yi.”

Now was not the time to let the secret about Chen Yi out.

Resigned, Shen Xiaojiang glanced at Sun Jiabao, who was engrossed in her game, and followed Lin Qianqian to the public laundry room.

As soon as they stood still, Lin Qianqian started crying.

Shen Xiaojiang wondered if the structure of the girl’s eyes was truly different from everyone else’s.

She had no intention of comforting her, she just felt tired and annoyed.

Seeing Shen Xiaojiang’s silence, Lin Qianqian grew anxious. “It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have come to Nancheng to find you. If I hadn’t come, my heart wouldn’t hurt this much.”

Hearing this, Shen Xiaojiang felt a headache coming on.

It turned out some people really could say such cringe worthy things without blushing.

Unable to endure the silence, Lin Qianqian suddenly grabbed Shen Xiaojiang’s hand.

“I like you,” she said.

Shen Xiaojiang knew it was a confession, but… she felt nothing in her heart.

The harder she tried to pry Lin Qianqian’s hand away, the tighter the other girl gripped.

“Lin Qianqian, I don’t like you,” Shen Xiaojiang’s voice was cold.

“Stop calling me by my full name! Do you call her by her full name too?” Though Lin Qianqian looked thin and small, her strength was surprisingly immense.

Shen Xiaojiang knew exactly who she was talking about.

“Let go!” Her voice was like ice from a freezer, carrying an unshakeable decisiveness.

Lin Qianqian was startled and momentarily lost her focus.

Shen Xiaojiang took the chance to break free.

“You like girls too,” Lin Qianqian said with a sob.

Shen Xiaojiang had never properly faced this question.

Did she like girls, or did she just like Chen Yi?

Does liking someone have to be tied to gender?

Who made that rule?

Yes, Chen Yi’s gender was indeed female, but Shen Xiaojiang felt that the only person she could be intimate with was her, no one else.

She interacted with many girls around her with a clear and open heart.

But only with Chen Yi did her heart ripple with waves and hidden desires.

“Who I like has nothing to do with you,” Shen Xiaojiang said, stepping back to avoid being touched again.

The moonlight spilled through the window, accompanied by the whirring sound of a washing machine spinning clothes dry.

“We’re both girls…” Lin Qianqian crouched down, hugging her knees and crying bitterly. “Why can’t it be me?”

Shen Xiaojiang didn’t want to explain.

Lin Qianqian continued: “We’ve known each other since the first year of high school. Is our bond not deeper than yours with her?”

Shen Xiaojiang’s tone was calm: “Liking someone has nothing to do with time.”

“But she is so much older than you!” Lin Qianqian punched the ground with one hand, a sound that seemed painful.

Shen Xiaojiang hadn’t expected this usually frail girl to have such a radical, frightening side.

“Liking someone has nothing to do with age either,” Shen Xiaojiang replied firmly.

“Nothing to do with it, nothing to do with anything!” Lin Qianqian roared like she was losing her mind. “Do you even know her? Do you know what she does? Is she even clean…?”

Before Lin Qianqian could finish, Shen Xiaojiang shoved her hard.

Lin Qianqian’s back hit the washing machine behind her with a dull thud.

“You pushed me?” Lin Qianqian clung to her last bit of stubbornness. “Do you think she likes you too? What if she just thinks you’re easy to fool and is just looking for a temporary thrill? She’s incredibly rich; she can have any girl she wants! Forget one, she could easily keep ten beauties! Shen Xiaojiang, look at her car, look at the brands she wears. You and she are simply not from the same world!”

Shen Xiaojiang marveled at how Lin Qianqian could say such things.

It was truly bizarre.

Lin Qianqian pounded her chest. “I’ve liked you for five whole years, from high school until now. I’ve always liked you. You clearly know everything, how long are you going to keep ignoring me?!”

Lin Qianqian had liked more people than she had fingers to count; if you truly liked someone, how could you go two years without contact?

Moreover, Lin Qianqian herself probably couldn’t tell if her feelings for Shen Xiaojiang were more about love or just habit.

Shen Xiaojiang had wavered for a split second, but after calming down, she faced her own heart.

So, she was with Chen Yi because of love.

She, a novice who had never been in a relationship, had fallen for someone who seemed to be surrounded by romantic debts.

“Unrequited love is like a tree without roots; only a mutual journey has meaning.” Shen Xiaojiang said this to Lin Qianqian, but also to herself.

“From now on, we are no longer friends. Stay or leave as you wish, I don’t want to see you again.”

With that, Shen Xiaojiang turned expressionlessly and walked out the door.

Leaving Lin Qianqian alone on the spot.

A few moths circled under the streetlights. The dim light stretched her shadow long.

Walking down the empty street, Shen Xiaojiang’s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts.

If they were standing on the same earth and breathing the same air, what was all this nonsense about “two different worlds”?

She refused to believe in that curse!

Shen Xiaojiang didn’t go back to the dorm. Sun Jiabao’s calls were blowing up her phone.

She simply replied with a brief: “I’ll be there before Professor Mao’s class starts.”

She had originally wanted to go to the shop, but she had left her keys in the dorm.

Fortunately, although Nancheng wasn’t her hometown, there were plenty of places to go.

At 10:30 PM, she arrived at Nancheng People’s Hospital again.

Sister Meng’s room was quite large and had a decent sized cot for companions. Shen Xiaojiang planned to crash there for the night.

As the elevator reached the VIP ward, Shen Xiaojiang spotted a middle-aged woman by the public terrace.

She was thin, her complexion was poor, and she looked somewhat malnourished.

Shen Xiaojiang wasn’t one to read people well, but her intuition told her the woman’s state of mind wasn’t right.

She wasn’t one to meddle, but she could never stand by and watch someone die.

“Auntie!” Shen Xiaojiang said, grabbing the woman’s arm.

The woman turned her head sharply, her face a mask of confusion.

“Child, what is it?” Her voice was deep and resonant, possessing the unique charm of a middle-aged woman.

“Uh…” Shen Xiaojiang wasn’t good at lying. “Life is very precious.”

The confusion on the woman’s face vanished, and she smiled. “What are you trying to say?”

“I… I thought you were going to jump,” Shen Xiaojiang told the truth.

Silence fell between them.

The atmosphere became incredibly awkward.

Shen Xiaojiang suddenly realized that sometimes, her actions were exactly what people meant by “meddling.”

Just as she was about to pull her hand back, the woman gripped it in return. “My children worked so hard to bring me back from death’s door; I won’t waste their efforts. So don’t worry, I won’t jump.”

Shen Xiaojiang nodded sheepishly.

“But thank you anyway,” the woman added. “I find you quite approachable. Have we met somewhere before?”

Shen Xiaojiang had no memory of this woman.

However, since the woman said so, she began to think about it seriously.

Suddenly, she felt the woman did look slightly familiar.

Especially those eyes they bore a striking resemblance to He Zhong, the man who stayed by Chen Yi’s side.

“Auntie, I also find you familiar. Do you have a son?” Shen Xiaojiang’s gaze was incredibly sincere.

The woman hesitated for a moment before answering, “Yes, I do.”

“Ah, maybe we really do know each other. Is your son named He Zhong?” Since Shen Xiaojiang was much younger than He Zhong, calling him by his full name felt a bit awkward.

A spark lit up in the woman’s eyes. “You know my son?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I know him well, we’ve met a few times. I know the person he’s with…”

Before Shen Xiaojiang could finish, the woman interrupted excitedly: “Xiao Qi?”

Xiao Qi?

Shen Xiaojiang blinked.

“Oh, her name is Chen Yi. I heard her say she is the seventh in her family, so they call her Xiao Qi at home.” It wasn’t just a feeling, the woman’s eyes softened significantly when she mentioned the name “Chen Yi.”

“Yes, it’s her,” Shen Xiaojiang admitted.

The woman smiled, the wrinkles on her face deepening.

“Mother He, it’s late. You should go rest now.” A nurse walked over, smiling with polite concern.

The middle-aged woman showed a look of regret. “Child, I’m going to rest. Perhaps we’ll meet again if fate allows.”

The nurse glanced at Shen Xiaojiang and said in surprise, “Mother He, you are indeed fated. This is the girl who gave you the blood transfusion.”

“Panda Blood?” The woman looked shocked, shifting her gaze between the nurse and Shen Xiaojiang.

The nurse smiled: “Yes, ‘Panda Blood’ (Rh-negative).”

Shen Xiaojiang didn’t understand their code and was completely bewildered.

“Child, I’m sorry, I’m a bit emotional. After all, Rh negative blood is very, very rare,” the woman returned to Shen Xiaojiang’s side, taking her hands, her eyes brimming with tears. “And to think you even know Xiao Qi… we truly are fated.”

The woman wiped her eyes and said deeply, “Thank you for saving me.”

“No, no, it was just a small thing,” Shen Xiaojiang laughed awkwardly.

As she said before, she wasn’t a meddler, but she couldn’t ignore someone in need.

“So, what brings you here?” the woman asked.

Shen Xiaojiang pointed toward Sister Meng’s room. “A friend of mine had a baby and hasn’t been discharged yet.”

The nurse added, “Mother He, you didn’t know? That baby and you had surgery on the same day.”

“Oh, truly fated then,” the woman said, touching the pigeon egg sized emerald ring on her finger. “I have some extra money. If you ever need help, just ask. I won’t refuse if it’s within my power.”

Shen Xiaojiang froze for a moment. She remembered Chen Yi saying that He Zhong’s mother treated her very well.

Those who can earn Chen Yi’s genuine gratitude and be treated with such courtesy must be very kind-hearted.

“Thank you, Auntie.” Shen Xiaojiang smiled from the bottom of her heart.

“Oh, by the way,” Mother He waved her hand at the nurse, appearing as though she didn’t intend to head back to rest just yet. “What is your relationship with Xiao Qi?”

“Huh?” Shen Xiaojiang swallowed hard, her toes curling tightly against her insoles.

“That child, Xiao Qi… although she isn’t my biological daughter, I watched her grow up,” Mother He’s eyes flickered with a faint trace of sadness. “Her life hasn’t been easy.”

Shen Xiaojiang relaxed her toes, her expression suddenly becoming serious.

“She is my best friend’s maternal aunt. By extension, she’s kind of my aunt too.”

Mother He narrowed her eyes. “Oh?”

“Well, we are also friends,” Shen Xiaojiang added.

Naturally, she wanted to say she liked Chen Yi. However, until their relationship was defined, the word “friend” was the most appropriate choice.

“Friends? What do you think of her?” Mother He asked.

The image of the dark green dress Chen Yi wore when they first met flashed through Shen Xiaojiang’s mind, followed by the iris tattoos covering her entire back.

“Her tattoos are beautiful,” she blurted out instinctively.

It seemed like an irrelevant remark, but Mother He didn’t disagree. Instead, she offered a smile that carried an ambiguous meaning. “I’m old. I don’t understand the world of you young people. I only know that I treat her like a daughter, and I hope that one day she can find her own happiness.”

Mother He had given birth to He Zhong when she was thirty-five, she was now nearly seventy. Her salt and pepper hair, combined with her poor complexion, made her look even more aged. She gazed into the distance while Shen Xiaojiang watched her, both had the same night sky reflected in their eyes.