Joining A Dating Show With Five Exes - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Don’t You Dare

Hearing Xie Zhiqing’s mockery, Chen Chuxing seemed to want to speak.

Although she didn’t have the strength to walk on her own and was being supported, she still strained her fingertips toward them, struggling vaguely, trying to confirm something.

“That’s enough.”

Xie Zhiqing looked at her outstretched hand. Seeing her persistent refusal to leave, she knew what she meant.

She couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of her nose, a mocking smile tugging at her lips.

She felt an inexplicable disgust that, at a time like this, she and her love rival were telepathic enough to understand each other.

Hearing the ambiguous phrase, Chen Chuxing, despite her face being ashen and sweat pouring down from the pain, relaxed and finally showed a relieved smile.

A quick recap was enough for her to know which part of the few messages Young Master Zhao had revealed was related to Cheng Shiyuan—

Small island. Pearls.

Chen Chuxing suddenly felt a sense of release and finally stopped struggling against the torment of the pain, choosing to pass out.

How wonderful.

She thought she had been favored by the Goddess of Luck again.

Shiyuan truly was her lucky star. Ever since she appeared in her life, she was always able to get what she wanted.

“Cheng Shiyuan…”

Just after the unconscious Chen Chuxing was sent into the ambulance outside, the sound of Xia Zhiran grinding her back teeth made Xie Zhiqing lift her eyelids.

Their eyes met.

It reminded Xie Zhiqing of the night of the Cheng family banquet.

They had been delighted, but almost simultaneously, the news of “Cheng Shiyuan is married” shocked them into losing all ability to react. They watched helplessly as Old Man Cheng blatantly allowed Shen Lingxi to take her away.

Xie Zhiqing sat in that banquet hall for several hours.

Given her relationship with the Cheng family, no one would dare chase her away. Even after the banquet ended, elders came to ask her if she wanted the guest room she used to frequent cleaned up.

They clearly saw Xie Zhiqing’s obvious disappointment and loneliness, yet their flattery before the banquet automatically shifted course in the face of an in-law like Shen Lingxi.

Not a single person asked if she was feeling unwell, nor did anyone advise her to be more open-minded.

They even wanted to leverage her unextinguished love for Cheng Shiyuan to secure more business cooperation, not giving up on a connection like Xie Zhiqing even after catching the otherworldly tree that was the Shen family.

Then, quite unexpectedly.

The room she usually stayed in also harbored a guest who refused to leave.

—It was Xia Zhiran.

The light in the room was dim. Xia Zhiran had a worn-out laptop on her lap, loudly exhaling heat from being overworked.

Xie Zhiqing remembered that this was an older laptop Cheng Shiyuan had taken abroad for her studies, and she had later discarded it. She had no idea who had put it in this guest room.

She calmly spoke up as a reminder: “The banquet is over. The guests should be leaving.”

Xia Zhiran ignored her, simply picking up her phone.

“You couldn’t find it? Was it not registered, or something else? Not in Hong Kong, then check the Mainland.” The person hidden in the darkness commanded the person on the other end of the phone in a demanding tone:

“There are over two hundred countries in the world. I need you to tell me, at the fastest possible speed, where these two people registered their marriage.”

Xie Zhiqing, who was ready to help the troubled servants see off the thick-skinned guest, suddenly changed her expression.

Driven by an inexplicable impulse.

She recalled Shen Lingxi’s forceful attitude, pressuring Cheng Shiyuan not to speak from the moment she appeared.

Could it be…

Was there a problem with their marriage?

Thinking this, Xie Zhiqing remembered the unique cover of the marriage certificate. Although from her perspective, she couldn’t see if the proof inside was written in another country’s language.

However.

If they were checking Cheng Shiyuan’s marital status, she did have a clue.

Especially—

She clearly remembered how sweetly Cheng Shiyuan had tempted her to imagine getting married not long ago.

Previously, she was only immersed in the bad mood of being played for a fool again, but now, she was suddenly enlightened.

Turning around, she instructed the servants nearby to ignore the situation here. Xie Zhiqing stood at the door of the guest room, took out her phone, and sent a few messages.

“Hello.”

Quite unexpectedly, the person who had ignored her moments ago, and had coincidentally chosen the room she frequented for her rest, now looked at her: “You should give up.”

There was blatant mockery in Xia Zhiran’s phoenix eyes: “A rule-bound person like you should have quit long ago. Tell me the truth, when you first found out she was married, were you already planning to respect, understand, and wish her well?”

“Xie Zhiqing, you can’t hold onto her because you’re always so weak.”

“No matter how many times, she will never stay by your side forever.”

Xie Zhiqing didn’t even lift her head, only replying:

“Is that so? But just a few hours ago, she was talking about marrying me, even discussing the location for the wedding.”

Xia Zhiran: “…”

She almost choked on a mouthful of blood.

She thought of Cheng Shiyuan, who had sworn in front of her that she would never marry any member of the Xia family in this life, yet presented a completely different face to Xie Zhiqing—

She felt she shouldn’t have been soft-hearted before.

She should have stuffed all the remaining pearls in her pocket into Cheng Shiyuan.

Even if Cheng Shiyuan cried and acted pitiful, she shouldn’t have let go of this woman who was always cold-blooded toward her.

Thinking further that Shen Lingxi was probably completely unaware of the endorsed product she had helped to ‘hide’ inside Cheng Shiyuan’s body, Xia Zhiran couldn’t help but show a meaningful smile.

She was already looking forward to it.

The expressions of those two women when she personally delivered the promised new pearl necklace.

So, Xia Zhiran replied maliciously: “Oh? Is it possible that she guessed that you’re the honest, incompetent type, knowing that if it were you, you would definitely tolerate her cheating?”

She seemed absolutely certain.

Cheng Shiyuan choosing Xie Zhiqing and saying those things was merely a desperate measure of convenience.

Xie Zhiqing’s face darkened, yet she still had the confidence of the person who knew her childhood friend best: “What sweet words did she tell you to make someone of Young CEO Xia’s status willing to be a ‘mistress’ for love?”

Hearing her directly label her a “mistress,” the smile in Xia Zhiran’s eyes gained a bloody edge.

Just as she was about to retort, she suddenly realized Xie Zhiqing was trying to trick her into talking and raised an eyebrow: “You want to know that badly?”

Seeing her attitude, Xie Zhiqing knew she wouldn’t get what she wanted.

She turned to leave when her phone vibrated.

She answered it casually, and the information on the other end suddenly shocked her: “What? Are you sure?”

She suddenly sped up, heading for the exit, but before she could hang up, the haunting voice of her love rival came from inside the room again.

“Xie. Zhi. Qing.”

Xia Zhiran was sure that this phone call had given her the information she wanted.

“How about I trade you an interesting observation for the information from that phone call just now?”

Compared to the influence of Hong Kong, which the Xia family couldn’t easily touch, and the abrupt, powerful Shen Lingxi, who had appeared fully prepared, Xia Zhiran calmly concluded:

Prying information from Xie Zhiqing was the strategy with the higher chance of success.

If so, why not cooperate first to disqualify the stronger enemy?

Xie Zhiqing stood still outside the door for a moment.

She turned to look at her: “I never negotiate with people who don’t deserve a seat at the table.”

Xia Zhiran chuckled softly: “Didn’t you already experience whether I deserve to negotiate with you eleven years ago?”

After reminding Xie Zhiqing once again of her successful memory of stealing love back then.

Unusually, Xia Zhiran didn’t press her advantage, only moving her thin lips to utter a name: “Chen Chuxing.”

She played with the phone beside her and said with certainty: “There’s something wrong with her and Shen Lingxi.”

Whether it was the artist’s sharp intuition for observing others or the conditioned reflex to collect information related to Cheng Shiyuan.

Xia Zhiran clearly remembered the odd scene in the hall where Shen Lingxi suddenly asked Chen Chuxing if she had ever seen her wife. The expressions on both their faces then were quite telling.

If she had to describe it, their relationship was even more rigidly hierarchical than a typical employer-employee relationship.

It almost made Xia Zhiran think of the ancient master-servant relationship only seen in film and television works.

—She was certain she hadn’t missed the fear in Chen Chuxing’s eyes at that time.

Xie Zhiqing was somewhat stunned by her words.

Although Chen Chuxing was the love rival she understood most deeply among all the current participants of the dating show.

Neither her past nor present investigations had ever mentioned a connection between this person and Shen Lingxi.

However, if she worked backward from the conclusion, Xie Zhiqing did have a way to verify the matter.

“It’s your turn.”

Xia Zhiran, having shown her sincerity in cooperation, fixed her phoenix eyes on her: “What did the phone call you just took reveal?”

Her tone held a hint of threat: “If you want to know what hints Cheng Shiyuan gave me, don’t drag your feet on things that waste both our time.”

Xie Zhiqing paused, then spoke: “The domestic marriage registration website shows that she and Shen Lingxi are already divorced.”

“Ha… divorced?”

Xia Zhiran’s tongue pressed against her palate, and an unknown anger flared up in her eyes again.

But this time it wasn’t directed at Cheng Shiyuan, but at the arrogant Shen Lingxi, who had produced a marriage certificate out of nowhere and dared to take a person away so openly.

Xie Zhiqing closed her eyes and, at this moment, realized very clearly:

“Shiyuan did not go with her voluntarily.”

But now that they realized this, it was already too late.

So, thinking back to the argument with Chen Chuxing in the hospital earlier, and combining it with Xia Zhiran’s firm suggestion just now, the two of them collectively decided to focus on Chen Chuxing.

It was baffling how such a disgusting coincidence of tacit understanding could exist between love rivals.

Xie Zhiqing received an invitation card the next day.

It was an anonymous invitation to the Zhao family banquet in Hong Kong. At the same time, she received news that Chen Chuxing would be making a high-profile appearance at the banquet.

This was the reason why she and Xia Zhiran were able to appear at the banquet at that very moment.

Immediately, they both turned their gazes away from each other.

Xie Zhiqing recalled Cheng Shiyuan saying she wanted to be in a place near the equator, warm all year round, with sunshine and waves.

And Xia Zhiran was preoccupied with Cheng Shiyuan’s insistence on having her find a handmade pearl necklace.

Suddenly, unexpectedly, they both uttered the location in unison:

“Pearl Islands.”

And then, simultaneously: “?”

In that instant.

They both knew where all of Cheng Shiyuan’s abnormalities at the banquet that day had originated.

However, despite their anger, the person they wanted to settle the score with wasn’t in front of them—

Moreover.

Thinking that Shen Lingxi was such a character that she hadn’t even appeared yet, but had already driven Cheng Shiyuan to rack her brains, planting seeds in advance, and going to great lengths to give them hints and encourage them to fight back.

They felt a strong sense of apprehension for Cheng Shiyuan at an inappropriate moment.

And this unease.

It peaked when they received a sudden notice from the production team about the temporary suspension of the show’s filming.

“There are too many scattered small islands around the archipelago, all bought by the world’s top wealthy for vacations. Knowing the Zhao family’s coordinates is useless. The person isn’t with the Zhaos, so there’s still no way to pinpoint Shen Lingxi’s island.”

That night.

After quickly resolving the flight route issues, Xia Zhiran’s voice reached Xie Zhiqing through the noise-canceling headphones amidst the noisy helicopter rotor blades.

Chen Chuxing had just woken up from the emergency room and had initially wanted to follow them immediately, but she was forcibly restrained by Xie Zhiqing’s bodyguards.

Knowing what she was worried about, Xie Zhiqing left her a communication channel so she could constantly hear the latest developments.

This was the only reason Chen Chuxing was reluctantly willing to stay in the hospital to recover.

“Once we arrive, I naturally have a way to pinpoint it.” Xie Zhiqing closed her eyes. Although the environment was noisy, her tone was unusually calm because she would soon be close to Cheng Shiyuan.

She even forced herself to sleep for the first time in the nearly 72 hours since they separated, to conserve her energy.

However, Xia Zhiran, sitting opposite her, felt that constant, bone-gnawing itch in her palms again.

“Clack, clack”

She slowly, one notch at a time, extended the utility knife blade.

Staring at the blood seeping from her palm, her phoenix eyes were almost cold-blooded, as if she were holding a scalpel, examining the muscle tissue and structure of someone else’s hand, contemplating how to make a cut.

“Don’t you dare mutilate yourself in front of me and dirty my space. Don’t blame me for kicking you out.”

Xie Zhiqing warned her without opening her eyes.

Xia Zhiran slowly unfolded an anatomical diagram of the hand nerves from her pocket. The utility knife, like drinking poison to quench thirst, slashed down the paper.

‘Shhh’

She was hypnotizing herself that what she was cutting was her own flesh and blood.

That she was slicing into her own palm.

Only this bloody pain could stop the itch that gnawed at her bones, the itch that wouldn’t stop even if she clawed her skin raw.

She laughed: “Don’t worry. I haven’t seen my enemy yet. How could I stop here?”

In the first hour that her palm started to itch intensely.

She thought of that bottle of medicine.

She even recalled how Cheng Shiyuan had uncharacteristically followed her into the room then. A person who was so afraid of pain, yet after seeing that medicine, she chose to cut the back of her own hand.

At the time, Xia Zhiran thought she would rather die than sleep with her, resorting to such a bloody act to make her lose interest.

And now, Xia Zhiran stared at her bandaged hand and thought.

She should have firmly held the knife and stopped Cheng Shiyuan then.

No matter what, she shouldn’t have let her get injured, or let her apply that medicine.

Xia Zhiran even quickly figured out the reason for this sudden retribution—the initiator who almost suffocated Cheng Shiyuan in the coffin during the escape room must have been Shen Lingxi, right?

Now.

Would Cheng Shiyuan be controlled by Shen Lingxi because she was implicated by her, due to that moment of impulse?

She clenched the utility knife, unaware that her concern and worry at this moment had already traveled all the way to that island.

Obtained Xia Zhiran’s affection: 4

“Dong.”

A sudden, jarring off-key note became the most discordant sound in the score.

Cheng Shiyuan stopped playing in the music room, her fingertips pausing.

She hadn’t played the piano in a long time. When she was a child, her family enrolled her in a bunch of classes to give her a hobby, and she, being lazy, just chose the piano.

Later, she barely passed her Grade 9 and 10 exams, but she almost never touched it unless it was to add highlights to a talent show.

Now, being confined to this island, she preferred to keep her head down with the sheet music rather than have her every move questioned by Shen Lingxi.

At the moment the system broadcast sounded, her expression was full of confusion.

Although she had somewhat guessed that Xie Zhiqing, Xia Zhiran, and Chen Chuxing had some plan due to the previous three continuous broadcasts, the extra affection she received from Xia Zhiran left her perplexed.

Why?

She was clearly implicated by her, retaliated against by Shen Lingxi, left with no peace day and night, and would even lose those hands because of it—

Why would she still love her?

Shouldn’t she be cursing her through gritted teeth, calling her a troublemaker, saying she would always bring disaster to the Xia family like a curse?

“Baby, if you don’t want to play, don’t. How about going outside for a walk?”

Shen Lingxi, who had been quietly working on official business nearby so as not to disturb her playing, offered the suggestion at the right time.

Although she could tell that Cheng Shiyuan’s playing lacked emotion and was all technique, and now she was so distracted that even her technique was sloppy, she had still been a dutiful audience for a long time.

“You can’t always stay indoors. You need to go out and get some sun. It’s good for your health.”

Shen Lingxi turned her head to her with a pleasant expression.

Cheng Shiyuan slowly played “Ningxia” with one finger, following the score: “Even if I’m physically healthy, my mental health won’t be good if I’m imprisoned.”

Shen Lingxi’s lips curved.

She found this lazy, protesting manner of hers—neither seeking death nor making a fuss—to be quite cute.

“That depends on when you plan to tell me your cure.” She propped her chin with one hand, put down the pen in her right hand, and coaxed:

“How about we cure your illness as soon as possible and leave here as soon as possible?”

She paused.

Then, she mentioned casually: “Perhaps the person you are thinking of in your music is already on their way here.”

Those terrifying eyes, devoid of any emotion yet able to see through all the world’s feelings, gazed at Cheng Shiyuan:

“Are you really not going out? If you’re lucky, you might even be able to say hello to them as they fly by.”

Cheng Shiyuan heavily pressed another discordant note.

She absolutely couldn’t let Shen Lingxi interact with the outside world again—

That way, no matter what plans others had, Shen Lingxi would be able to handle them calmly and effortlessly.

Cheng Shiyuan’s eyes flickered. Suddenly, she found the room in front of her pleasing again. Once her perspective shifted, the world suddenly seemed wide open.

For example.

Why should this room only be used to imprison herself?

It could also be Shen Lingxi’s self-funded cage, built with her own money and effort.

Thinking this, Cheng Shiyuan smiled and casually flipped the piano lid shut.

She slowly rose from the piano bench and sat on the piano lid, in the brightest spot in the room. Slowly, she hooked the slender strap of her dress off her shoulder.

Shen Lingxi liked to see her wear a white dress, pure and flawless, so she could constantly dye her with various colors.

And now.

The pure woman, like a white rose, was doing something remarkably seductive.

“Have I not played a song just for you yet?”

Cheng Shiyuan tilted her head. Her light-colored long hair fell, conveniently obscuring the most tempting hint of red as her dress half-slipped.

She pointed her toes, barely touching the floor, but it was enough for people to clearly see how the pure white, long lines swayed gently above the red carpet.

“Wife, do you want to hear me play the piano for you?”

Her fingertips slowly traced the enticing curves of her body.

As if displaying what the most beautiful ‘instrument’ looked like.

She even made sure to pause at the various key points that could adjust the sound, knowing well that her fingers would tremble from her body’s spasms, yet acting like the most professional performer, focused only on the performance effect, ignoring everything else.

From her lips came the most melodious sound, enough to make Shen Lingxi listen intently.

Even the dripping sound, which had inexplicably started flowing from the black piano lid onto the carpet, became a part of her beautiful performance.

Shen Lingxi’s eyes were fixed on her.

Like a beast watching prey already caught in its claws, the memory of the sweet, cool taste of the prey’s flesh already returning to its teeth.

Shen Lingxi had thought that Cheng Shiyuan’s order of abstinence could only punish herself.

But at this moment, she realized with perfect clarity that even without an outsider present, Cheng Shiyuan would never be “starved.”

A gulp.

The sound of her swallowing was so obvious.

Her gaze was explicit, fixed on Cheng Shiyuan’s actions of repeatedly adjusting the “strings,” plucking, constantly plucking, even making the already delicate, overly sensitive strings feel unbearably strained.

Watching Cheng Shiyuan brazenly attempt to reward herself right in front of her—

“Don’t you dare.”

Shen Lingxi finally issued the command.

“Don’t you dare go in.”

She knew very well what tactics this enchanting woman was using to distract her and cover for those utterly weak little friends outside.

But at this moment, Shen Lingxi was also acutely aware.

Why intelligent people constantly flocked to her, easily abandoning their reason and repeatedly falling for Cheng Shiyuan’s charm.

Because no one could resist the tempting sight of those eyes showing such intense love.

And no one could endure the ugly word “don’t love” spoken by those lips.

The person who received her command smiled at her playfully in provocation, but spread her beautiful legs even wider.

“But I can’t help it.”

“Wife, after listening to my song, shouldn’t there be a reward?”

Shen Lingxi didn’t want to fall for her trick.

But the moment her body uncontrollably stood up, she knew she, too, would be like those people, with nowhere left to run.

—She would be trapped in this house with Cheng Shiyuan.