Love Rival Turned Lover - Chapter 14

“Ling Qiao’er, looks like you’ve grown bold.”

If Ling Qiao’er hadn’t had her hand pressed firmly against Qian Xun’s delicate neck, Gongliang Bingyi would have acted long ago.

As the heir to the Gongliang family, his skills were forged through countless trials of blood and tears.

Yet Ling Qiao’er—once just a flirtatious, sharp-tongued young lady—had in such a short time grown to this degree of audacity. It both surprised and caught Gongliang Bingyi off guard.

Fixing his deep gaze on her wrist, he spoke in a low, serious tone, “Let Qian Xun go. Whatever you want, we can talk.”

“Talk? And if I want Ye Qian Xun, would you give her to me, Brother Bingyi?” Ling Qiao’er’s eyes flickered, a teasing, almost genuine laugh escaping her lips. “You don’t know, but I like Qian Xun now.”

“Ling Qiao’er, don’t joke about this!”

Lowering his voice, Gongliang Bingyi said coldly, “As long as you don’t harm her, whatever you want—except for me—I’ll try my best to give it to you.”

Tsk, tsk, looks like Gongliang Bingyi really is completely smitten with Qian Xun.

Ling Qiao’erglared at the still-slumbering, oblivious Qian Xun. The intensity of her rival’s affection left her unable to continue the pretense.

“Who’s joking?” Her once-soft smile and feigned delight had transformed into a pointed mockery. She rolled her eyes at Gongliang Bingyi, her attitude boldly insolent.

“Do I look like I’m joking?”

“What? ‘Except for you’—I never said I wanted you. I’ll tell you clearly: I only want Qian Xun. The one lying in bed right now.”

Her hand, resting on Qian Xun’s neck, began to slowly trail down along her delicate curves. Ling Qiao’er looked provocatively at the stunned Gongliang Bingyi. She snorted coldly, “You think you’re the only one to have her? I was the one who first touched her body.”

She had Qian Xun?

Gongliang Bingyi froze, shocked by her words. He studied Ling Qiao’er’s face, searching for the slightest hint of deception. There was none. Blankly, he shifted his gaze to the peacefully sleeping Qian Xun, then back to Ling Qiao’er, his eyes darkening. Coldly, he asked, “Is everything you said true?”

Ling Qiao’er huffed proudly, “Of course it’s true.”

“G-good, good, very good.”

Hearing her reply, Gongliang Bingyi repeated the word “good” three times with a stiff, unusual expression, leaving Ling Qiao’er utterly taken aback.

“You, you’re not angry? Not furious?” she asked, blinking in confusion.

Why did he seem so calm? She had endured the torment of jealous craving for days. She had only wanted him to taste this same feeling.

“Not angry? Not furious?” His disheveled hair partially shadowed the icy gleam in his eyes, yet the corners of his mouth curved into a cold, dangerous smile. “No, right now, I want to kill you.”

Ling Qiao’er shivered inexplicably.

“Ha, Ling Qiao’er, you really think I wouldn’t hit a woman, so you dared to provoke me so openly?”

To fall for Qian Xun, to possess Qian Xun, and to have been the first to touch her—each of these alone could have destroyed Ling Qiao’er utterly. How dare she say it all so brazenly? Did she think he would hold back because of her status?

For a moment, Gongliang Bingyi had doubted her. After all, the young lady of the Ling family, who always professed to like him and secretly taught a lesson to every girl who admired him, shouldn’t have shifted her affections so quickly—and to a girl, no less.

Yet Ling Qiao’er’s actions and demeanor clearly proved that her feelings had shifted, and she now coveted his Qian Xun.

“Of all the people you could like, you had to pick my Qian Xun. Ling Qiao’er, you’ve successfully angered me.”

He gently placed the breakfast and cold medicine on the floor and stepped closer, his voice deliberately low, filled with lethal tension.

“She’s not yours!”

Ling Qiao’er, initially intimidated, bristled at his declaration: “She is mine!”

“Yours?”

Gongliang Bingyi paused, looking at her strangely. ” Ling Qiao’er, I refrained from saying some things so as not to crush you too hard. But how dare you claim Qian Xun as yours?”

“Even if you’ve had her, what of it? I am Qian Xun’s rightful lover. In the future, I will marry her, have our own children, and accept everyone’s blessings together. Can you do that? Can you make Qian Xun happy?”

“Have you thought about Qian Xun growing old with no one to care for her? Or being mistreated while you can only stand by helplessly?”

Seeing Ling Qiao’er’s pale face, Gongliang Bingyi’s mouth curved slightly, his eyes dark as ink.

Being gentle in front of Qian Xun didn’t mean he was soft to everyone else. With his lifelong special training, his cunning and eloquence far surpassed Ling Qiao’er’s. To spar in words? He would not hesitate.

“Honestly, I pity you,” he said, his tone softened, hiding the malice behind the messy fringe over his forehead.

“Falling for Qian Xun, loving a girl before having the power to protect her, Ling Qiao’er, I ask you: hide your feelings until you have enough strength to protect her. You wouldn’t want Qian Xun harmed because of you, would you?”

“I.”

Ling Qiao’er was stunned, unable to speak.

“Shh, Qian Xun’s about to wake. You have time to think.” Noticing Qian Xun’s fingers twitch, Gongliang Bingyi suppressed his satisfaction and kindly added, “Just don’t cause her any unnecessary trouble.”

“Besides, the Ling family has two brothers. They wouldn’t tolerate their sister falling for another girl. If they find out, Qian Xun would be in danger, wouldn’t she?”

Would Ling Qiao’er actually listen to this?

He didn’t expect it. Just as she wanted to provoke him, he merely aimed to provoke her in return.

Anyone who dared to touch Qian Xun would pay the price.

If he was correct, Ling Qiao’er had been spying on him and Qian Xun yesterday. Hah. She really was an interesting woman. He had always assumed her a spoiled, flirtatious girl who relied on her family status. Now, they were genuine rivals.

And to find that his rival was a woman, Gongliang Bingyi decided it was time to properly “teach” Qian Xun as well.

Thus, when Qian Xun awoke, she found a strange scene: the supporting girl Ling Qiao’er sitting at the bedside, head lowered, lost in thought and looking dejected; and her supposed boyfriend, Gongliang Bingyi, standing at the foot of the bed, expressionless.

Qian Xun thought: I must still be half-asleep. Why are both of them here?

“Pft, now that you’re awake, stop pretending to sleep, okay? Weren’t you sick? Get up and take your medicine.” Gongliang Bingyi couldn’t help but laugh at Qian Xun’s adorably silly act of playing dead, and he reluctantly suppressed the urge to scold her.

There was no helping it—around this person, his usual boundaries just kept lowering: he couldn’t bear to make things difficult for her, couldn’t bear to manipulate her, and most of all, couldn’t bear to hurt her.

“I-I wasn’t.” Qian Xun stammered, cheeks flushing, and Gongliang Bingyi let out a soft sigh. Leaning forward, he reached out to the confused, dazed girl. “Here, give me your hand.”

Qian Xun hesitated for only a moment before obediently holding out her hand.

“Ah!” Her startled exclamation finally caught Ling Qiao’er’s attention. She looked up and saw Gongliang Bingyi effortlessly scoop Qian Xun into his arms, his smile warm, radiant, and utterly gentle.

Ling Qiao’er’s eyes flickered as she lowered her gaze to her own long, fair hands and delicate, clean wrists. Tentatively, she clenched them into fists. Could these hands possibly have the strength to lift Qian Xun so effortlessly? Could they give Qian Xun an unshakable sense of safety? Could they truly guarantee Qian Xun a worry-free life?

At that moment, Ling Qiao’er felt a deep surge of fear and insecurity.

What Gongliang Bingyi had said struck her more than anything: when Qian Xun faced danger, Ling Qiao’er could never protect her the way he did—holding her firmly behind him, creating a safe haven, and driving all threats away.

Powerless. Completely powerless.

The natural disparity in strength between men and women meant she could never be as capable as Gongliang Bingyi—or even her two brothers. She remembered the childhood training sessions: she had barely lasted half a day before crying and giving up.

Now, Ling Qiao’er deeply regretted that decision.

If only she had held on a little longer back then.

“Geez! How can you be like this?” Qian Xun suddenly found herself airborne, giving her quite a fright. She glared at Gongliang Bingyi, who had a mischievous smirk on his face, and without a second thought, jabbed him with her tiny fist.

“You scared me!”

Gongliang Bingyi, holding her securely, took the punch squarely to the face. He twitched the corner of his mouth and said helplessly, “Sweetheart, next time, could you avoid hitting my face? I’d hate to ruin my looks and not be worthy of you. Besides, you wouldn’t want an ugly husband, right?”

“Ridiculous! Put me down right now!”

Rolling her eyes upward, Qian Xun’s inner turmoil made tears prick at the corners of her eyes. Seriously, this protagonist didn’t even need her to ‘win him over.’ Every day felt like he was the one slowly conquering her heart instead.

“Alright, alright. Down you go. But no more faking being sick, understand?” Gongliang Bingyi gently set her on the edge of the bed and handed her shoes, his gaze tender. “Do you know how worried I was? I barely slept a wink last night.”

“S-sorry.” Qian Xun scratched her head, stealing a glance at Ling Qiao’er, who kept her head bowed and silent. Pressing her lips together, she turned back to Gongliang Bingyi. “I won’t do it again, I promise.”

Noticing Qian Xun’s little gesture, Gongliang Bingyi raised an eyebrow and asked slyly, “So, how do you know Ling Qiao’er?”

“Huh?”

Qian Xun choked on the question, hesitated for a while, and finally stammered, “You know her name? You two know each other? How did you meet?”

Tsk. Qian Xun was as adorably clueless as ever. A fleeting smile crossed Gongliang Bingyi’s face as he answered truthfully, “Ling Qiao’er is the eldest daughter of the Ling family in Haicheng. We’ve known each other since childhood. And, well, she’s been chasing me for a while, claiming she’d marry into the Gongliang family.”

Upon hearing this, Ling Qiao’er instinctively lifted her head to argue but then, as if giving up on something, she lowered it again.

Qian Xun was completely dumbfounded.

If she was the original Ye Qian Xun, she’d have a thousand questions right now: which Ling family? Which Gongliang family? If they’ve known each other so long, why are they so distant? And clearly, his status seemed far more prestigious than ‘she’ could have imagined.

But she wasn’t the original Ye Qian Xun—she was Qian Xun, the mission-aware one who knew most of the plot.

She parted her lips a few times, unsure how to respond, and stubbornly refused to speak. Gongliang Bingyi, feeling awkward, scratched his nose. His original intent had been to let Qian Xun know he was in demand—and that Ling Qiao’er liked him. Unexpectedly, Qian Xun got upset instead.

He suddenly felt like he’d dug a hole only to fall into it himself.

“Alright, Qian Xun, stop sulking. Nothing’s going on between me and Ling Qiao’er.” Leaning down, he planted a quick, teasing kiss on her lips, narrowing his eyes at her shocked expression. “I only like you. Ling Qiao’er, she’s already fallen for someone else.”

Qian Xun covered her mouth in shock.

Fuming, she glared at the ever-opportunistic young male lead.

“Gong. liang. Bing. yi! You can’t keep—”

Realizing Ling Qiao’er was in the room, her face flushed and paled repeatedly before she finally glared at him and stormed off to wash up. Around him, Qian Xun felt completely ‘owned.’ No matter what she did, she felt like a child, endlessly coddled and spoiled by him.

It was frustrating, yet strangely comforting.

“Cute, isn’t she?” After Qian Xun went into the bathroom, Gongliang Bingyi tilted his head slightly, glancing at the dazed Ling Qiao’er with a playful smile.

Both of them knew exactly who he meant by ‘cute.’

Ling Qiao’er met his gaze for a long moment before a wickedly teasing smile appeared. “Yes. Qian Xun isn’t just cute, she’s delicious too. Don’t you agree?” Seeing Gongliang Bingyi’s expression stiffen, Ling Qiao’er’s smile became even more seductive and mischievous.

“Tsk, pity you haven’t tasted Qian Xun yet.”

Pity my foot! Even Gongliang Bingyi couldn’t resist muttering a curse under his breath.