Cross the Boundary GL - Chapter 42

Qin Song looked at the man in front of her with a dark expression. Just like that day at the amusement park, she twisted the ring on her right hand with her left. Her aura wasn’t loud, but it carried a chilling, tangible pressure.

The man was tall and fat, yet he was forced down by her presence.

“If you don’t want the tattoo, then get lost.” Qin Song set the food on the table, and said to Li Chu in an indifferent tone: “Eat first. Since he likes places that only cost two hundred, then that’s where he should go.”

The machine in Li Chu’s hand was still on, but Qin Song yanked out the wire and ordered, “Refund him.”

Li Chu didn’t know what to do. To show where she stood, she shuffled over in small steps to the food, sat down, and stared blankly.

It didn’t feel right to eat at a time like this.

The two remaining people locked eyes, and for some reason, the man lost the battle, cursing through clenched teeth. Before leaving, he even spat on the ground.

Qin Song calmly stepped to the right, her skirt swaying as she avoided the filth.

The man stormed off, the wind chime rattling violently. It only settled down when a pair of chopsticks was shoved into Li Chu’s hands.

“Is this really okay…” she asked worriedly, glancing at the door.

Qin Song opened the takeout box. “Looks like we still need to sign an agreement.”

“What?”

Resting her chin on her hand, Qin Song looked at Li Chu expressionlessly. “In an intimate relationship, one side should trust the other one hundred percent.”

Li Chu almost dropped her chopsticks. “What are you talking about?!”

Qin Song didn’t answer. She just lowered her head and started eating.

—

She thought that was the end of it, and at least for the next two weeks, things were fairly calm. On the third weekend, Qin Song’s vacation ended.

On her first day back at work, right in the middle of a meeting, Qin Song received a call from Li Chu. The other end was noisy: “He… someone’s here… smashing things…”

In the conference hall, hundreds of people watched as Qin Song’s indifferent gaze sharpened into something murderous.

When she rushed to the front of kiss.me, a group of men were smoking at the door. Seeing her step out of the car, they provocatively waved at her.

The shop’s sign had been smashed in half, both glass doors and the tall shelves inside were all shattered. Wooden debris lay scattered across the floor. In just one hour, the delicate little shop had been turned into ruins.

Li Chu was in Lin Zhiyan’s arms, a sudden helplessness rising inside her. All her effort had gone into this place— even Dean Hu’s heart had been poured into it.

When Qin Song approached, Lin Zhiyan clicked her tongue, her tone full of disapproval: “You’ve got way too much temper. Why provoke these people? Li Xiaochu put all her hard-earned money into this store, and now it’s ruined!”

At that, the men whistled, swaggered off, and left. Qin Song didn’t chase after them. She just stared silently at Lin Zhiyan.

“Can’t you rein it in a little?” Lin Zhiyan said. “You’re such a headache!”

Qin Song’s expression was flat. “And what right do you have to lecture me?”

Lin Zhiyan froze. “I’m her friend.”

“That relationship can cease to exist.” Qin Song turned her head slightly and said to Li Chu, “Come here.”

But when Li Chu was in a daze, she got stubborn. She sulked and refused to move.

Qin Song stepped forward, only to be blocked by Lin Zhiyan. “What are you trying to do? Things are already like this, and you still—”

“Come here,” Qin Song said again, ignoring Lin Zhiyan.

Li Chu slowly lifted her head, bloodshot eyes showing beneath her palm.

Lin Zhiyan, hot-tempered and outspoken, flared up. “And in what capacity are you ordering her around?”

Hearing that, Qin Song gave a cold laugh, one that never reached her eyes. The sight was terrifying. She pulled Li Chu out from Lin Zhiyan’s arms and held her fast.

Before Li Chu could react, her lips were captured. Heat and breath rushed against her face, a hot tongue slipping inside and stirring her into disarray.

Lin Zhiyan was stunned speechless. In just a few seconds, Qin Song released Li Chu, the corners of her lips glistening. “This capacity.”

The lantern above swung high, its tassels floating in the air. Lin Zhiyan felt frozen in place, pointing a trembling finger from Qin Song to Li Chu. From her throat squeezed out broken words: “You… you two…?”

She instantly felt like a stray dog sleeping on the roadside— not only kicked, but force-fed a mouthful of dog food.

On her way here, she had thought Li Chu’s unrequited crush was pitiful, already planning how to console her. But now?

Qin Song actually responded?! No— she even acted on it.

Lin Zhiyan suddenly felt like her precious cabbage had been snatched by a pig. Except, of course, Li Chu wasn’t really her cabbage, and Qin Song was nothing like a pig.

It was just… Li Chu was too beautiful. That soft, gentle beauty, with round yet exquisitely delicate features. From the day she met her, Lin Zhiyan always felt that no one was worthy of Li Chu.

But Qin Song… was also beautiful.

The two of them together were an absolute visual explosion. Lin Zhiyan’s feelings were complicated. “When did this happen! Why didn’t you tell me?”

Li Chu’s ears turned red, her head ducked low, unable to speak.

Qin Song wiped the moisture from her lips with her thumb, then lit a cigarette and pulled out her phone, seemingly urging someone to hurry over.

Li Chu finally spoke: “Don’t do this.”

After ending the call, Qin Song glanced at the ruins. “Not fixing it?”

Li Chu bit her lip. She thought Qin Song had called people to… fight.

Half an hour later, a group of men in Yangxin uniforms got out of a taxi. On seeing Qin Song, they bowed slightly. “Boss, what are your orders?”

“Take a look.” Qin Song pointed behind her with her phone.

The group entered the shop en masse, measuring and cleaning up. Li Chu was at a loss, looking anxiously at the smokers. “I can’t afford Yangxin’s fees…”

A company like Yangxin carried prestige to begin with. Not to mention, they dominated countless industries with a stellar reputation.

Qin Song signed a few strokes on a document, her handwriting elegant and bold. Handing the pen back to the assistant, she said calmly: “Put it on my account. You take a few days off.”

Li Chu still couldn’t get used to her change. The old Qin Song wouldn’t even care when Dean Hu was sick— only coldly saying things like, “What’s that got to do with me.” Yet now she was delivering breakfast and lunch, and even covering the shop’s renovations.

If she had to pick a phrase, Li Chu would call it “overwhelmingly spoiled.”

“I know what it is! Control issues!”

Adding cilantro to her noodles, Lin Zhiyan declared: “Someone like Qin Song would never allow herself to lose control.”

She hadn’t spent much time with Qin Song, but she prided herself on reading people well. “Don’t you see? She doesn’t even realize she’s fallen for you. Her changes are nothing more than the instinct of someone who’s always been high above, treating you as a possession she has to keep in her hand.”

“…Zhiyan-jie, what are you talking about?” Li Chu didn’t understand.

“You little fool!” Lin Zhiyan tapped her forehead. “Do you even know what she’s thinking? Love isn’t just eating and drinking. When passion fades, what’s left depends on mutual effort. Acting on impulse— that’s not love, that’s friends-with-benefits.”

“But you can’t deny she’s changed.” Li Chu muttered over her soup. “She used to be so cold…”

“Have you really become part of each other’s lives? Do you have any presence in hers? Has she ever shared her heart with you? To this day, you don’t even know where she lives, do you?”

Li Chu dared not argue, because every word hit home.

Lin Zhiyan wiped her mouth with a tissue and patiently persuaded: “So, is this really love? At best, it’s master and pet. The day she grows tired, she can replace you with someone else just as easily. And you? Same-sex love is already… well, you know. I don’t need to spell it out.”

“Qin Song doesn’t even know how to love someone. Like today— yes, she cleaned up the mess afterward, but if she hadn’t started the conflict, it wouldn’t have happened at all. Did she ever think about the actual harm you’d suffer? Li Xiaochu, how can someone who’s never felt love be unselfish? How can she love someone else? To love others, you must first love yourself. And she doesn’t even love herself— how can she love you?”

For all her usual sunshine and bluntness, Lin Zhiyan was clear-eyed when it mattered. After pouring out her reasoning, she patted Li Chu’s head. “I know you like Qin Song a lot. She has that air of mystery that makes you want to dig deeper— cold, proud, beautiful. It’s natural to feel drawn to her.”

Absentmindedly poking holes into a slice of watermelon, Li Chu betrayed her inner unease.

They hadn’t even exchanged a single formal confession. Everything between them circled around those four words: intimate relationship.

But there were many kinds of intimate relationships. One-night stands counted. Friends-with-benefits counted. Feelings born of desire weren’t the same as love. True love was ordinary, flowing gently through daily life.

After dinner, Lin Zhiyan left first. Before going, she ruffled Li Chu’s hair, smiling warmly. “Have a proper talk with her. She’s smart— she’ll understand.”

What she really wanted was to tell Li Chu to cut her losses while she still could. Qin Song was too dangerous, too unstable. But now… not even ten oxen could drag her away.

All Lin Zhiyan could do was sigh and wave as she got into a taxi.

—

Back in the apartment, Qin Song was handling both the kiss.me situation and her own work. Once separated from Li Chu, she rarely initiated chat. Their message history, scrolling from top to bottom, lasted less than five minutes.

It was the 24th. Qin Zhao had already boarded an international flight. Before taking off, he called, asking her to come to the Qin family estate tomorrow afternoon for a gathering.

The old family home…

Before Qin Zhen and Qian Fang divorced, the four of them had lived there. In her memories, the Qin estate was peaceful, full of camellias, with rock gardens and ponds.

Qin Song wasn’t born cold and detached. As a child, she had the pride and liveliness befitting the Qin family’s eldest daughter. But those happy days didn’t last. They were crushed after only a few years, leaving only endless darkness.

Unconsciously, she stroked the scars that crisscrossed her pulse. They had accompanied her countless nights, slicing away at what light remained in her life.

“World-weariness”— that was how Qin Song summed up her later years. She couldn’t move on, because she could never accept her family’s “betrayal.”

Qian Fang had an affair and went with Zheng Chengfeng. Qin Zhen remarried Ye Wanqing. Qin Zhao distanced himself and went abroad. For a long time, Qin Song felt like the world had abandoned her in some forgotten corner.

Her head began to ache faintly at the thought. In the mirror, her skin was pale, dark circles heavy under her eyes. She looked like a patient— a woman long tormented by insomnia, schizophrenia, and suffocating repression.

Many told her to let go of the past. But it had cut too deep. She couldn’t punish Zheng Chengfeng, so she punished herself.

When had she first begun to truly want to deal with Zheng Chengfeng? Qin Song closed her laptop and thought carefully.

Yes— it was the moment the critical documents landed in her hands. Li Chu had carefully handed them over from Dean Hu, doing so much along the way.

Because of that, she had hope. And from that moment, the wall she had sealed for twenty years was suddenly broken open.

A beam of light had pierced the void, filling the gaping hole in her heart. Qin Song didn’t believe in relationships, but Li Chu revolved around her without asking for anything back— like Pluto’s only moon, Charon.

She was lonely. So was Li Chu.

They had become interdependent. To forget each other now would be nearly impossible.

Touching her reflection in the mirror, Qin Song picked up her phone again and opened her chat with Li Chu.

“Wake up early tomorrow. I’ll take you somewhere.”

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