Seduced Me into a Deep Fall - Chapter 23.1

Ling Xi stood frozen for a full minute.

Her stunned expression secretly amused Song Yi.

“So, you were actually serious.” Ling Xi finally murmured as she regained her composure.

“What?”

“You asked me this once before, and I thought…” Now that she considered it, who would joke about something like this?

Ling Xi lowered her head. “But what benefit would marrying me bring you?”

“It’ll stop people from constantly nagging me about marriage.” Song Yi instinctively touched her wrist.

The prayer beads hadn’t been restrung yet the spot felt empty, much like her heart, now half-open to the only person who mattered.

“As the current head of the Song family, it’s not just my immediate relatives. The influential elders in the family, the company shareholders they all pressure me to marry and have children. They don’t actually care about me. They just want an heir, someone to ensure the Song legacy continues under their control.”

This was the longest speech Song Yi had made in Ling Xi’s presence recently.

Faced with someone as kind as Ling Xi, she couldn’t bring herself to do anything too reckless or unfair.

But she really didn’t want to miss this opportunity.

And Ling Xi seemed genuinely distressed.

If only she could help her.

With that thought, Song Yi reached out and cupped Ling Xi’s face.

“Don’t…” Ling Xi weakly protested.

Her gaze met the omega’s face, and the breathtaking beauty like a stroke of sunset left her speechless.

Instinct drew her closer to Song Yi, while the last shreds of reason warned her against it.

“Stop… I might hurt you. I can’t control myself right now.” Ling Xi turned away, avoiding Song Yi’s gaze.

“…You’re perfectly in control.”

If this was losing control, then what did that make her?

Song Yi lowered her lashes, blinking rapidly.

She removed the prayer beads she had carried for years and tossed them aside.

The wooden beads clattered against the floor.

The scent of bergamot sweetness filled the air.

Ling Xi listened and nodded thoughtfully.

“Marry me under a contract. Once I’ve secured my position and dealt with the dissenters, we can divorce. Until then, I can provide financial support.” And emotional support. Song Yi added silently.

“Your mother’s medical bills, a place to live, even a job if you need one. And like I said before the best way to break free from Mu Xie is to find a ‘new love,’ to crush any hope she has of rekindling things with you, legally and morally.”

“That’s not my concern. Besides, people change. You might not want love now, but what if you do later? If our contract gets in the way, no amount of compensation would make up for it.” Song Yi thought, if possible, she’d give herself to Ling Xi as compensation.

But she couldn’t say that not when it might scare her cautious, shy beloved.

“So, are you really that troubled by the marriage pressure?” Ling Xi was nearly convinced.

In both lifetimes, she had never loved anyone. Romance had never crossed her mind.

But now that her life was stable, what if she met someone? Being tied down by this contract with Song Yi would be complicated.

She tried framing it as a high-paying job.

A mocking smile curled at Song Yi’s lips.

“People say I wear Buddhist beads to sever all romantic ties… but they don’t know I’m just tired of being set up. Every New Year when I go home, my uncle sends some multi-talented socialite my way. The moment I escape one, my aunt drags over some young man around the corner saying she wants to introduce us.” Song Yi paused mid-explanation.

“If you’re curious about the rest, you can ask Aunt Zhao.”

Ling Xi shook her head. “I believe you. If this really bothers you, when I come of age, we can just go register our marriage.”

How ambiguous those words sounded.

Had they been spoken in a normal tone, it might have counted as a proposal.

Song Yi pressed against her wrist.

She could feel her quickening pulse, the temperature rising beneath her fingertips where she touched.

One day, she’d make Ling Xi willingly say those words again.

Or perhaps she would be the one to say them, with Ling Xi tearfully accepting.

“Do you need me to do anything? Meet the family?” Ling Xi hesitated slightly at the thought.

“Um, Song Yi, I’ve met Mu Xie’s grandmother with her, and they even held an engagement banquet. Is this really okay for us?”

A single glance from Song Yi made Ling Xi swallow the words “maybe you should find someone else.”

“That’s her great-grandmother, meaning my grandmother. She’s senile now, has no real say, she just really likes Mu Xie. If we’re meeting family, it wouldn’t be her.”

“As for the engagement banquet, it’s just an engagement. Why care about something you’re unwilling to do?”

There was a hint of arrogance in Song Yi’s eyes, the kind only those in power possess.

It made Ling Xi blush.

What an alluring aura.

Song Yi truly was both formidable and gentle.

Ling Xi had to secretly grip the hem of her clothes to suppress her racing heartbeat.

“Then… should we hold a, um, wedding?” Asking this made her somewhat bashful, visibly flustered.

“Yes, but there’s no rush.” Song Yi calculated the timing.

Even if they started preparations now, it would take at least half a year.

Perhaps by then, their marriage wouldn’t just be a matter of convenience anymore.

“Little one. Be honest with me, did you work yourself sick trying to earn your mother’s medical fees?” Song Yi reached out, tapping Ling Xi’s forehead with her fingertip.

Ling Xi’s neck instantly burned. “I… I was just busy for a while…”

She seemed frozen by Song Yi’s touch, unable to speak further or even move away.

Had Song Yi wanted to do anything to her then, Ling Xi wouldn’t have been able to escape, forced to stand there and endure.

Fortunately, Song Yi merely trailed her finger down Ling Xi’s forehead before flicking her nose.

“You should take better care of yourself.” With that, she withdrew her hand as if completely unaffected.

Only Song Yi knew how much restraint that took.

Ling Xi covered her nose, eyes slightly teary.

Yet it didn’t hurt at all.

Was it because Song Yi hadn’t used much force, or simply because it was Song Yi who did it?

Without the pressure of hospital fees, Ling Xi felt considerably lighter.

She still streamed her painting daily, but stopped taking commissions this month and would only accept five next month.

She needed to focus on job applications, preparing for written tests and interviews.

Painting was better kept as relaxation.

After the incident during her sensitive period, Ling Xi didn’t encounter a drunken Song Yi for several days.

She hid her loneliness well.

At night, she simply painted without dwelling on anything else.

After finishing tonight’s draft, Ling Xi didn’t even need to look closely to know her hand had unconsciously drawn Song Yi again.

Since the draft was already cleaned up, what harm was there in drawing Song Yi?

Ling Xi changed the style and color of the prayer beads, swapping wooden ones for pearls, and altered the texture of the glasses.

She drew leisurely, chatting with the live comments as she worked.

[“It’s that girl again! Moon (Ling Xi’s nickname) actually didn’t erase it this time 2333”]

Ling Xi wrote beside it: [“What girl?”]

[“Stop playing dumb, Moon! You draw this girl every day and erase her afterward. Finally giving us a complete version today?”]

[“Someone’s embarrassed, hehe. Is this your girlfriend? It has to be! Why else would you draw her daily but hide it?”]

Ling Xi dropped her pen in shock.

[“No way, same person?”] She swore every face she drew looked identical! How did these fans notice?

[“It’s the girl with glasses and bracelets! We have screenshots and recordings as proof!”]

[“Confess! Are you in love?”]

[“I’m just here to watch the drawing, but now I’m being force-fed dog food. I’m stuffed!”]

Now genuinely embarrassed, Ling Xi set her pen aside and urgently checked the screenshots fans had posted in her newly created group chat.

Honestly, she didn’t see anything special.

She recognized it was Song Yi purely because she’d been thinking about Song Yi’s model-perfect face while drawing.

But didn’t all her drawings look like this?

What kind of eagle-eyed fans were these?

Too embarrassed to endure more teasing, Ling Xi quickly replied: [“Couldn’t it just be me? I’m nearsighted and love wearing bracelets.”] She added three glaring exclamation marks for emphasis.

Even though she and Song Yi were about to enter a contractual marriage.

Soon, they’d be legally recognized as wives.

But they had no emotional foundation! Song Yi didn’t even like her, how could this count as a girlfriend?

Ling Xi didn’t notice her face had turned bright red.

[“Someone’s flustered~”]

[“We get it. If it were my girlfriend, I’d want to keep her hidden too.”]

[“The more you explain, the more obvious it becomes.”]

After reading these comments, Ling Xi was so flustered she ended the livestream abruptly.

She gulped down water, trying to calm her unsettled emotions.

Just then, a knock came at the door.

Ling Xi shut her computer and went to answer.

After returning home, Song Yi had dinner with Ling Xi before retreating to her room to handle documents.

Having finished some of tomorrow’s work in advance, Song Yi reviewed the situation regarding her moves against Mu Xie.

That tiny laboratory of his was surprisingly resilient.

After holding out for over a week, they were still trading blows with her people.

Time to initiate the next phase.

As Song Yi contemplated whether to use some cheesy drama trope tonight maybe play drunk to mess with Ling Xi her thoughts drifted to YIHE’s subsidiary’s latest hit web drama about a fox spirit transported to modern times. Perhaps she could roleplay as a fox spirit tonight.

Ling Xi desperately wanted to cover that mischievous mouth.

Yet Song Yi kept testing boundaries, angling for a kiss.

Ling Xi dodged with all her might, feeling more exhausted than after a workout after just minutes of this standoff.

A bead of sweat slid down, brushing against Song Yi’s nose.

Embarrassed, Ling Xi reached up to wipe it away.

Then her hand was caught by Song Yi. “Darling, your hands are so beautiful too.”

Looking at them made Song Yi recall their first time together.

It was these slender, powerful fingers that had gently caressed her body, bringing endless pleasure and love.

Of course, she couldn’t resist kissing Ling Xi’s fingertips either.

Like kissing flowers or snow. The touch as light as a cicada’s wing.

The next moment, Ling Xi could have crushed this kiss with those fingers.

But in the end, Ling Xi couldn’t bring herself to refuse, letting Song Yi kiss her for a long while.

A new message appeared on her phone.

Shi Xinyu: [Found a new artist with great potential. Want to sign her.]

Shi Xinyu’s family mainly dealt in clothing and design-related industries, covering both high and low-end markets.

Song Yi had met her in college, but they hadn’t talked in a long time.

These past few days, Song Yi had been planning to design an engagement ring and wedding dress for Ling Xi, which was why they’d reconnected.

[Go ahead and sign her.] Song Yi opened the screenshot.

She couldn’t see anything special, just that the artist’s work was quite good.

[…Don’t you think this person looks familiar?] Shi Xinyu had known Song Yi would miss the point.

[Not really.]

Shi Xinyu sent her a link to a livestream.

[Take another look. This person has been drawing “you” for over a week now. Not only do the eyes and aura resemble yours too closely, but they’re always wearing beaded bracelets and glasses.]

[I suspect she’s one of your admirers. Don’t you think it’s a bit creepy?]

[It’s just drawings.] Such trivial matters wouldn’t bother Song Yi.

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