Seduced Me into a Deep Fall - Chapter 35.1

“You’re here.” Tan Nijun spoke first, her tone laced with obvious hostility.

She sized up Song Yi with a sweeping glance, pausing briefly at the Buddhist prayer beads around Song Yi’s neck.

Still pretending to be devout. What a hypocrite.

“You’re… Tan Nijun?” Song Yi didn’t bother hiding her displeasure either.

After all, she was the one dating Ling Xi. This Tan Nijun was just a friend—it wasn’t like she could run off with Ling Xi.

“Yes. I think we need to have a proper talk.” Tan Nijun hadn’t expected Song Yi to show up unannounced to snatch Ling Xi away.

They hadn’t even kept Ling Xi for long. It was only seven in the morning, and Song Yi was already impatient, rushing over to pick her up.

Jiang Yuyang had insisted Song Yi meant no harm, that she was just in love.

But Tan Nijun believed Song Yi was controlling to the extreme, with a hint of something twisted beneath the surface.

“I don’t think we have anything to discuss. I don’t even know you.”

Song Yi checked her watch. “Where is she?”

“Xiao Xi isn’t up yet. I’m her friend. And I was entrusted by her mother. Are you sure you don’t want to talk to me?” Tan Nijun played her trump card.

Song Yi narrowed her eyes. “Find a place, then.”

She was somewhat interested in Ling Xi’s family situation—if only out of love for the person connected to them.

Ling Xi’s massage technique was surprisingly professional.

“I used to do this for my mom and mama often. They worked late, so I learned to cook from my sister when I was little too,” Ling Xi explained willingly.

Song Yi pictured the scene, unconsciously imagining the child as hers and Ling Xi’s.

The smile in her eyes was impossible to suppress.

“So sweet,” she murmured, stretching her shoulders. “Alright, let’s go to bed.”

Lying under the same blanket with someone she loved made Ling Xi’s heart race. She clutched the sheets, nervous in a way she hadn’t expected.

Strangely, sharing a bed with Song Yi felt more nerve-wracking than being intimate with her.

“Aren’t you going to say goodnight?” Song Yi was practically glued to Ling Xi’s side, their arms pressed together, warmth flowing between them.

“Goodnight, Sister Song.” Ling Xi turned her head slightly, offering a sweet smile.

Song Yi closed her eyes, savoring the night that almost felt like they were truly married.

…

Ling Xi didn’t have any strange dreams this time.

“Let’s talk here. That way, you won’t have to come back when she wakes up.”

Song Yi lowered her gaze, thinking for a moment before closing her eyes. “Fine. Ask away.”

“Me? Don’t you have anything to explain? Like why you approached her, why you’re suddenly so nice to her?”

Song Yi lifted an eyelid, as if the question bored her.

“You’re the one who stopped me. You’re the one interrogating me. I’ve been taking care of her without issue, and now you’re accusing me of ulterior motives. What more do you want me to say?”

Tan Nijun faltered before retorting, “You know exactly what I’m asking. Why make me spell it out? Isn’t that a waste of time?”

“Knowing doesn’t mean I want to answer.” Song Yi removed her glasses, her gaze sharpening without the barrier of the lenses, piercing enough to momentarily stun Tan Nijun.

“Ling Xi has never doubted me. As long as I’m responsible to her, that’s enough. Who are you to question me?”

Tan Nijun frowned, hesitating before testing, “One leaf reveals autumn?”

“What nonsense is that?” Now it was Song Yi’s turn to question Tan Nijun’s motives.

Ling Xi’s other two friends seemed perfectly normal. Song Yi occasionally heard Ling Xi chatting with them on the phone, their conversations ranging far and wide with endless topics.

Only Tan Nijun appeared exceptionally busy, never joining their lengthy phone calls.

“It’s nothing.” Tan Nijun almost mistook Song Yi for a colleague.

“Tan Nijun. If you weren’t her friend, I wouldn’t have stopped to waste words with you.”

Song Yi was burning with impatience, eager only to see Ling Xi, with no intention of dragging things out with Tan Nijun.

Tan Nijun shook her head. “You’re not the only one I suspect. Last night, she told us how the two of you met. Even Xiao Xi herself admitted it felt fishy.”

Jiang Yuyang wanted to say more, but seeing Ling Xi’s expression, she held back.

She just wanted Ling Xi to feel at ease.

If Ling Xi believed Song Yi was good, then she’d say Song Yi liked her.

If Ling Xi changed her mind, she could just as easily claim Song Yi was bad.

Tan Nijun shook her head. “Xiao Xi, you have a job now, and the Mu Xie case has been handed over to our team. There’s no need for you to stay with Song Yi. I have an extra apartment—government-issued, with top-tier security. If you’re scared, you can stay with me.”

Ling Xi shook her head. “But… I like her…”

That affection, mixed with alcohol, left her utterly disoriented.

“Let’s take a break. No more heavy talk—let’s play something else.”

Jiang Yuyang patted Ling Xi’s shoulder, shooting Tan Nijun a silencing look.

Ling Xi nodded absentmindedly and continued playing the board game with them.

By nightfall, she had even forgotten to say goodnight to Song Yi.

“I just want to know—what exactly are you after with her? Do you mean her harm?” Tan Nijun softened her tone slightly, injecting some sincerity.

“I’m her friend, and I was entrusted by her mother. You know she was harassed by that Mu Xie for a long time. Like him, you’re from a wealthy family, far above her station. I don’t want her to meet another Mu Xie.”

Hearing such genuine concern for Ling Xi, Song Yi’s attitude softened as well.

Ling Yue replied: 【Thank goodness, finally have signal. Jiejie is fine, should be back in Yanjing in a few days.】

“She said she’ll be back in a few days. Wuwu…”

Song Yi gave up trying to wipe Ling Xi’s tears.

Cupping Ling Xi’s tear-streaked face, gazing at her bitten lips, she simply kissed her.

Ling Xi gasped, only to be firmly held in place by Song Yi.

This was perhaps the first time Song Yi had fully revealed her dominance, leaving Ling Xi no room to counter.

Completely pinned, unable to reverse the momentum.

Later, she stepped out, lingering at Song Yi’s door for a long time.

Finally, Ling Xi decided to follow instinct—raising her hand, about to knock.

The door opened.

After deliberately letting her livestream audience know Ling Xi was taken, Song Yi returned to her room.

She only had time to glance at the reactions in the chat.

Most were shipping them hard, some comments so bold they made Song Yi’s ears burn.

No surprise Ling Xi had ended the stream immediately.

A shame she couldn’t see Ling Xi’s flustered expression.

Work still needed handling.

The deeper Song Yi dug, the stranger things seemed.

The land she intended to bid on might truly be suspicious.

Could Song Dongming have been right? Was that site some kind of cultural heritage?

“I’m different from Mu Xie. I have upbringing, morals, and would never hurt her under the guise of liking her. As for our so-called meeting… just know that I’ve known her far longer than she remembers. I do like her, but it wasn’t love at first sight when she saved me that day.”

After speaking, Song Yi pressed a finger to her lips.

“What I’ve told you, I hope you’ll keep it secret for me. I don’t want to scare her.”

Tan Nijing studied Song Yi’s face.

It was a face of lethal charm.

Not just because of features that could render ordinary beauty insignificant as dust. But more because of Song Yi’s eyes that seemed to contain fire.

With just a glance, she could make one feel either murderous intent or sincere devotion.

Whether good or evil, joyful or sorrowful—all depended on her whim.

This was a natural-born ruler, one whose backbone could never be broken. She was born to look down upon the masses.

Even with Buddhist prayer beads around her wrist, even appearing aloof and restrained on the surface—utterly proper with no hint of impropriety.

Yet this propriety carried a subtle allure, something unearthly that made others yearn to taint it.

If such a person truly wished to bewitch someone…

Who could possibly escape?

Far from dispelling Tan Nijing’s suspicions, Song Yi’s words only deepened her wariness.

“What secret?” Unfortunately, Ling Xi had woken up.

She peeked her kitten-like head from the hallway, sneaking glances toward the doorway.

When she finally settled down and stopped looking at Song Yi, the corner of Song Yi’s mouth unconsciously curved upward.

……

In the past, she had been destitute and powerless, unable even to protect herself, needing a young girl to spend money feeding her.

Now that she had the means, repaying a hundredfold was only natural.

At noon, Ling Xi waited for Song Yi at the company entrance.

Playing with her phone, she scrolled through yesterday’s livestream comments.

Gazing at that hand, as if bewitched, Ling Xi reached out.

Only when Song Yi was already leading her away did Ling Xi realize. “Sister Song, I should probably go to work.”

“Perfect timing—I brought breakfast. We can eat on the way.”

Passing by Tan Nijing, Song Yi shifted from holding Ling Xi’s hand to wrapping an arm around her waist.

Intimate as newlyweds.

The sight made Tan Nijing’s eyelid twitch.

As Song Yi endured that pain, she silently recounted their past—her five years of self-deluded affection.

Finally bearing fruit.

“Aren’t you going to work?” Ling Xi asked while drying Song Yi’s hair.

Song Yi scrolled through her tablet. “Nothing urgent requiring my presence. Planning to stay home today.”

Ling Xi’s fingers trailed down through the strands.

“Is it because you want to stay with me?”

Song Yi reached up to catch Ling Xi’s fingers. “Is there anything wrong with wanting to spend time with my wife?”

She pulled Ling Xi closer.

“I like you.” Words failed her; this was all she could say.

Song Yi smiled. “Isn’t that enough?”

“What about you? Plans for later? Coming to my office or returning to work?”

“I think I’ll go back to work. Mu Xie hasn’t shown up for days either, right? If I keep hiding, wouldn’t I be playing into her hands? Besides…” Ling Xi hesitated no longer. “You’ll protect me, won’t you?”

“Your decision. Just tell me if anything happens.”

Suddenly remembering something, Song Yi added: “Speaking of which, when are you going to livestream again?”

“What for?”

“Tan Jie, could you let them know I’m heading out first? See you next time! Hope work goes smoothly for you too!” Lingxi turned back to say goodbye to Tan Nijun.

“Alright, you too. Be careful on your way,” Tan Nijun forced a smile.

Only after the door closed did Jiang Yuyang dare to emerge from the kitchen.

Tan Nijun glanced at her with a complicated expression.

“What, still not happy? I think Song Yi is quite good. She has the looks Lingxi likes, and aside from personality, her character seems trustworthy. She even admitted she approached Lingxi deliberately because she liked her. What more do you want?”

After saying this, Jiang Yuyang added to herself,

“How can liking someone be called ‘deliberate approaching’? It’s just skillful pursuit.” She wanted to learn a thing or two.

But she had met Lingxi first before falling for Lingyue. She wasn’t the type to play mind games.

The only people Song Yi and Tan Nijun could talk about, aside from herself, was Yun Fengzhi.

Given Tan Nijun’s attitude toward Song Yi, it probably wasn’t about Yun Fengzhi.

That meant Song Yi and Tan Nijun now shared a secret.

One they couldn’t tell her.

Lingxi felt more than just a little disappointed.

Last night, she had been too exhausted to overthink and fell asleep immediately.

But even in her dreams, her mind kept racing.

She dreamed that Song Yi had been deceiving her all along.

That Song Yi didn’t actually like her. Taking her in had indeed been premeditated.

What she wanted was Lingxi’s bizarrely mutated gland, the pheromones that dragged down her family’s average.

By the end of the dream, Song Yi’s face twisted into Mu Jie’s, gripping her arm to drag her onto a dissection table for experiments.

Lingxi woke up in terror.

She lay there crying dazedly for a while before faintly hearing voices at the door, which finally made her get up.

Her emotions were a tangled mess.

That’s why she pretended indifference on the surface, her movements and expressions exaggeratedly theatrical.

Song Yi noticed. But she didn’t dare dwell on it.

She could only tell herself over and over—Lingxi definitely hadn’t heard.

If she had, why wouldn’t she ask?

The two of them ate breakfast in silence.

Lingxi sighed.

Song Yi’s ears twitched. That was a signal.

“Song-jie. I have a question.”

Song Yi tensed up, cold sweat breaking out on her back.

What if Lingxi didn’t actually like her?

What if she rejected her? What then?

Could they still maintain this delicate balance, this ambiguous tension?

“You dodged the question yesterday. What did you mean by ‘let one get away’? Weren’t you drunk at the time?” Lingxi only brought up what she had asked before.

As for the deception, Lingxi figured she had already confronted Song Yi once—she shouldn’t doubt her again. So she didn’t ask.

Song Yi, on the other hand, relaxed.

A whole night had given her enough time to come up with a plausible excuse.

“Yun Fengzhi told me. She said I was spouting nonsense while drunk that night. Out of thoroughness, she looked into it and found there were originally six thugs surrounding me.”

Song Yi didn’t even blink, holding Lingxi sincerely.

“We caught five, right? They never caught the last one. So I said she let one get away, tipped them off. It’s not that simple.”

Lingxi understood. “You really do speak the truth when drunk.”

She wanted to use this to test Song Yi.

“Of course. But I don’t remember the details.” Having resolved one crisis, Song Yi relaxed a little.

She leaned against Lingxi’s shoulder, letting Lingxi wrap an arm around her. “Sweetie, did you miss me last night?”

The spot where their bodies touched burned with an involuntary warmth.

“I did.” So much that she’d dreamed of her.

“What about you? Did you miss me?” Remembering she should take initiative too, Lingxi asked in return.

“Of course. Nights get so boring without you.” Song Yi tilted her head slightly, catching Lingxi’s earlobe between her lips. “Will you stay with me tonight?”

“Definitely…” Lingxi lifted her chin, only making the nibbled spot more sensitive.

She wanted so badly…

Even though they’d just dealt with her sudden rut cycle yesterday.

Lingxi could tell her glands were acting up again.

There was no way she’d react to mint pheromones—the same scent as Mu Xie’s.

That smell alone nearly made her gag.

Come to think of it, she hadn’t caught much mint scent yesterday afternoon either.

It seemed overpowered by another fragrance.

Eliminating other possibilities, Song Yi must have released trace pheromones to mask the mint.

Such a faint concentration—Lingxi hadn’t even consciously noticed it.

Yet her glands had responded instantly, triggering her rut.

Why was she growing increasingly sensitive to Song Yi?

Did she just love Song Yi’s pheromones that much… or was it Song Yi herself?

Lingxi’s skin prickled remembering Jiang Yuyang’s words.

Lost in thought, she barely noticed when the car arrived at her office building.

“Go on, do your best at work.” Song Yi handed over Lingxi’s briefcase.

Only then did Lingxi realize she’d forgotten it. “Thank you, Song-jie! I completely blanked.”

Song Yi answered with a smile.

That expression inexplicably reminded Lingxi of yesterday’s words:

—Gratitude should be shown through actions.

Misinterpreting the cue, Lingxi thought Song Yi was hinting at something.

So she leaned down and pressed a kiss to Song Yi’s cheek.

Then she fled into the office building, face burning, without looking back.

Song Yi sat frozen long after Lingxi disappeared. When she finally came to, her fingers brushed the kissed spot.

It felt slightly damp.

Like her own sticky, tangled heart.

Song Yi sighed.

If Lingxi kept this up, she wouldn’t be able to hold back her confession much longer.

Lingxi arrived unusually early—7:45, fifteen minutes before work started.

After organizing her desk and greeting early-bird coworkers, she went to refill her water bottle.

That’s when she spotted a suspicious figure slinking away from the reception desk toward the exit.

Lingxi checked the time, frowning at the familiar silhouette in a trench coat and hat.

The receptionist noticed her. “You’re Lingxi, right? Someone left a package for you.”

Hearing this, the retreating figure paused and glanced back.

Lingxi’s instincts screamed danger. She wanted to deny her identity, to escape that gaze.

Rooted in place, she watched in relief as the stranger didn’t reenter.

Reluctantly, Lingxi accepted the gift.

One look at the glass tumbler inside made her drop it in horror.

The shattering pieces scattered across the floor.

Lingxi nearly collapsed.

It was the exact same design she’d used daily during those trapped years in Mu Xie’s home.

“An admirer sending gifts to your workplace?” Shi Xinyu—who’d coincidentally arrived—helped clean up the mess.

Ling Xi was taken to her office.

She just sat curled up on the sofa, trembling uncontrollably, hugging herself tightly.

It was as if there were invisible barriers surrounding her, trapping her completely.

Her eyes were vacant, muttering words too faint to make out.

Seeing her like this, Shi Xinyu decided it was best to send Song Yi a message.

Fifteen minutes later, Ling Xi had somewhat recovered, sipping small mouthfuls of hot tea when Song Yi arrived.