Damn It! I Fell for the Hated Villainess Again! - Chapter 19

The expected “I’m just teasing you” never came. Jiang Yao froze mid-air-chew, her breath catching in her throat.

She reminded Yu Tanning again, “I’m a lesbian.”

“I know,” Yu Tanning replied. “You told me lesbians kiss women and have sex with them.”

Her tone shifted abruptly. “But Boss, I just want to suck on your soft, squishy cheeks. You’re the one with the dirty mind.”

Jiang Yao’s face burned from her heart to the tips of her ears. “You! What are you saying?!”

Yu Tanning stared into Jiang Yao’s eyes. “I’m serious. When you came to cuddle with me this morning, I noticed how soft and fragrant your cheeks are, like ripe peaches. They must taste amazing.”

“As if I was the one who seduced you!” Jiang Yao retorted, abandoning all pretense of composure. “That was just polite behavior! This is just being a pervert!”

Yu Tanning sighed dramatically. “Boss, you’re accusing me of sexual harassment? I’m so hurt.”

“I never used that word! Stop playing games!” Jiang Yao gritted her teeth, shifting slightly away from Yu Tanning with a determined air.

But Yu Tanning’s downcast gaze and feigned hurt were like an invisible hook, preventing Jiang Yao’s heart from hardening. The more she thought about it, the more her compassion stirred.

A warm, cottony lump seemed to lodge in Jiang Yao’s throat. After a long silence, she finally spoke, her voice rough: “Yu Tanning, if I ever get a girlfriend, this kind of behavior will cause misunderstandings.”

She regretted the words the moment they left her lips.

She’d learned in elementary school: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. She didn’t want Yu Tanning to distance herself if she ever got a girlfriend, so why was she being so lenient now?

Compared to Yu Tanning, whose sexuality remained ambiguous, Jiang Yao was the one who had decided to pursue a girlfriend.

How selfish could she be? She was so focused on her own unfounded jealousy that she hadn’t considered Yu Tanning’s position under the same circumstances.

Jiang Yao suddenly felt like a terrible person.

The more Jiang Yao thought about it, the more guilty she felt. Her cheeks burned with shame, and she couldn’t bring herself to meet Yu Tanning’s eyes. Under the oppressive silence, she finally mustered her courage. “Or… we could…”

“We haven’t even talked about it yet,” Yu Tanning interrupted, swallowing Jiang Yao’s hesitant “try” before it could escape her lips. “There’s still time for me to be good later, after we’ve talked, right?”

Jiang Yao: …

What am I feeling guilty about?!

Not everyone cares about saving face like I do! Yu Tanning especially has no shame!

I was actually going to try to make up for it by suggesting we try being together?!

Aaaaaah! Thank goodness I didn’t say it! Otherwise, I’d never be able to hold my head up in the lesbian community again!

Amid this internal turmoil, Jiang Yao’s hair stood on end with fury. She shoved Yu Tanning back fiercely. “Be good now! If you dare mention anything about ‘sticking’ or ‘sucking’ with that mouth again, I’ll seal it shut with super glue!”

“So fierce, Boss! I never knew you were such a fair-weather friend.”

“Friend?! You’re nothing but a pervert!”

“Boss, birds of a feather flock together,” Yu Tanning chuckled. “When you went onstage to accept the award today, you held my hand the whole time. No wonder people were getting the wrong idea.”

While Jiang Yao was still gathering her strength for a retort, Yu Tanning reached out, her thumb gently brushing Jiang Yao’s feverish cheekbones. She sighed, “Neither of us needs to be honest. With so many people online shipping our CP, how could you ever find a girlfriend?”

Jiang Yao huddled under the covers, scrolling through videos. Her eyes held none of the joy of winning the gold medal, only the feverish obsession of stalking her CP fans’ comments.

What?!

We just held hands! How did this explicit fanfiction about me and Yu Tanning spread like wildfire?!

Eight out of ten videos she scrolled past were screenshots of explicit fanfiction!

Jiang Yao, her face burning crimson, refreshed the page several times before finally succumbing to curiosity. She searched for the most popular story: The Wicked Kitten Must Be Dominated by the Fox Fairy Sister.

The cold light of her phone screen illuminated the scorching content: Yu Tanning’s aggressive kisses, their entangled breaths, and those touches that pierced straight to the core. It was utterly absurd, yet it made Jiang Yao’s heart pound so hard she nearly screamed.

She bit down hard on her lower lip. Her cheeks burned so fiercely they threatened to melt through the blanket. The more frantically she swiped to exit, the more her fingers seemed to linger, as if possessed, on certain unspeakable details.

Finally, she steeled herself and switched off her phone. A white haze swam before her eyes. Her throat tightened, and even swallowing became difficult.

Lust is the root of all evil.

After a night ravaged by smutty novels, Jiang Yao predictably skipped her 8 AM class the next day.

Fortunately, her gold medal at the fashion design competition meant her professor didn’t dock her participation points. He simply instructed her to submit her assignments on time and catch up on the missed notes.

By 8:30 AM, Yu Tanning had already left for class, leaving Jiang Yao alone in the dorm. Feeling a bit out of sorts, she turned on the music.

After quickly cleaning up the traces of the previous night and ordering takeout, Jiang Yao finally shook off her lingering fatigue to the cheerful beat of the music. She happily began scrolling through her phone.

If only she hadn’t seen the red notification dots flooding her message list…

Li An’an: Teacher Jiang! Are you okay?!

Li An’an: I believe you! I know it must have been a slip of the finger!

Li An’an: I know some reliable PR people. Don’t hesitate to ask if you need help.

Jiang Yao: ?

Sensing her online haters were up to no good again, Jiang Yao instinctively opened Weibo. She choked on a mouthful of air at the trending topic: #JiangYaoInsatiablyHorny.

What the hell?!

What kind of outrageous rumor is this?!

Refusing to believe it, Jiang Yao clicked on the tag and was shocked to discover she had actually liked that pornographic novel yesterday.

Some fans were going wild, declaring they were “shipping” her with the character. Others were cursing her shamelessness for “eating anything.” Still others accused her of faking a lesbian persona to whitewash her image.

To hell with your dad’s like-based algorithm!

Li An’an replied immediately.

Li An’an: I thought you’d seen the trending topic by now.

Jiang Yao: I just saw it…

Li An’an: Teacher Jiang, please don’t get angry! There are all kinds of people online—they’re not worth your anger.

Yu Tanning leaned against the railing on the top-floor balcony of Beijing University’s School of Economics and Management. Her phone was pressed to her ear for what felt like an eternity.

Feng Lin’s voice betrayed no emotion. “The prize money for that design competition is eighty thousand yuan. I suppose that brat’s livestream account will be unbanned now.”

Yu Tanning hummed in agreement, exhaling deeply. “Chairman Feng, eighty thousand yuan is nothing in the world of design.”

“You’ve been helping her prepare for the competition, haven’t you?” Feng Lin picked up on the unspoken meaning in Yu Tanning’s words, her own tone equally pointed. “From what I saw during the livestream, you two seem to get along quite well.”

Before Yu Tanning could respond, Feng Lin sighed. “I’m free this Saturday. Come to my office. I think we need to revisit the matter of the medicinal cosmetics patent.”

Yu Tanning’s heart sank like a stone. She gripped her phone tightly, wanting to plead her case further, but Feng Lin hung up abruptly, leaving her with only the hollow dial tone.

Staring blankly at the black screen for a long moment, her phone buzzed with a lengthy message from Li An’an.

Yu Tanning silently read through every word, then burst into laughter for no apparent reason.

Perhaps it was a retaliatory surge of emotion after her earlier anxiety and disappointment, but Yu Tanning felt an overwhelming urge to tease Jiang Yao more than ever before.

Yu Tanning found a screenshot of the story Jiang Yao had accidentally liked and opened their chat.

Yu Tanning: Looks like you liked this story too. Want to chat about it?

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