She Adopted Me After My Biological Mother Passed Away - Chapter 33.1

“Of course, I want to be a big star so bad I’m going crazy.” After admitting it, Song Liulan asked back with a smile, “Don’t tell me you don’t want to be noticed? At the very least, I’m certain you really want Chi Yeyu to care about you.”

“Although I joined the band late, I’ve been following you guys for a long time. Chi Yeyu’s business, your business, and your mother’s past…”

She took a few steps forward. Shi Shuxue tried to distance herself and moved to the left. Beside her was a wardrobe, her hand caught the door, and it slid open with a rattling sound.

“I don’t want to talk about the past,” Shi Shuxue said. Her hand was still on the wardrobe door. Song Liulan didn’t push her back further but stood slightly sideways, effectively blocking Shi Shuxue’s path to any other direction.

Her expression held a smile that suggested she saw through everything but wouldn’t say it. Her eyes, always full of ambition, shone as they stared straight into Shi Shuxue’s evasive gaze.

“What exactly do you want?” Shi Shuxue’s voice was lower than usual, her tone even colder.

Song Liulan raised her hand as if to touch the back of Shi Shuxue’s hand, but the latter dropped her arm to avoid her. Song Liulan leaned against the wardrobe door, trapping the person in front of her in the narrow space between the wardrobe and herself, her posture radiating a casual pressure.

“Shi Shuxue, can I kiss you?”

The question was so abrupt it was almost absurd. Shi Shuxue’s breath hitched, and she instinctively backed up, falling into the empty wardrobe. Her back hit the cold inner wall.

For a moment, she couldn’t comprehend Song Liulan’s intention. She looked up at the face close at hand, her mind momentarily blank.

Was she hallucinating, or had Song Liulan lost her mind?

“You…” she barely managed to squeeze out a word, her voice tight.

Song Liulan didn’t move, maintaining this intensely close distance. Her gaze shamelessly slid from the rigid contours of Shi Shuxue’s face to her tightly pressed lips. Her voice was a mix of enchantment and testing:

“I know you have feelings for Chi Yeyu that you shouldn’t have. Whenever she looks at you, or when others talk about her, you in the footage become unusually sensitive, the trembling eyelashes, the deliberate avoidance of eye contact, the topics you won’t touch, the cold responses… An ordinary person might not see it and might even think you hate her. But Shi Shuxue, to me, that disguise is far too clumsy.”

Shi Shuxue kept her head down, silent. From a downward angle, she looked exceptionally cute.

Song Liulan chuckled: “It’s not that you don’t want to be noticed, you’re just afraid of being seen clearly, right? But Chi Yeyu will always treat you like a child. She will never give you the kind of affection you want. You can only search for love within the confines of ‘family.’ How pathetic, how agonizing. I’m the same kind of person as you; why don’t you try it with me?”

She leaned down, her knee resting between Shi Shuxue’s legs. Her breath brushed against Shi Shuxue’s skin. Her red lips moved as she spoke, exuding a sense of seduction.

Unable to take it any longer, Shi Shuxue raised her fist and punched her in the chin. Her knee came up, pressing against Song Liulan’s chest, pushing her back toward the edge of the bed.

At the same time, the phone lying quietly on the bed suddenly rang with the default WeChat voice call ringtone.

Song Liulan half-leaned, half-slumped against the side of the bed, her arm draped back over the mattress. The blow had been quite strong, her chin and head felt numb. She casually picked up Shi Shuxue’s phone. The moment she saw the nickname of the caller on the screen, she gave her a brilliant smile: “Guess who?”

Shi Shuxue walked over to her expressionlessly and snatched the phone away. A second before the phone was taken, Song Liulan answered the call. A clear, smiling voice rang out in the hotel room, breaking the frozen silence.

“Hello? Xiaoxue, what are you doing?”

Song Liulan looked at Shi Shuxue with a smile. Shi Shuxue shot her a threatening glare, warning her not to speak. She stood by the nightstand, connected the phone to the charger, and spoke in a calm voice, as if nothing had happened: “I’m sleeping.”

“Eh? Sleeping so early? It’s only nine o’clock over there, right? Are you secretly playing games?” Chi Yeyu asked. She had just arrived at her office, her black suit jacket draped casually over her shoulders, her tablet playing a replay of the band’s performance.

Her secretary knocked and came in to deliver coffee. She nodded slightly and continued into the phone: “Why aren’t you talking?”

“My phone was out of power. I just went to charge it,” Shi Shuxue said, then asked, “Why are you calling so late?”

“It’s been a while since we talked. I wanted to hear your voice,” Chi Yeyu said frankly.

Beside her, Song Liulan made a strange face as if she couldn’t help but cause some trouble. Shi Shuxue grabbed a pillow and threw it, hitting the face that was even more annoying than Chi Yeyu’s.

Song Liulan was caught off guard and let out a yelp. “Ouch!”

The sound was very soft through the microphone, almost unnoticeable. But Chi Yeyu slowly frowned, stopping the movement of her swivel chair. She keenly sensed something was wrong. “Who are you sleeping with?”

The way she phrased it was strange, as if she were certain someone else was there. Shi Shuxue replied calmly: “Just myself.”

“Where are Li Lingling and the others? You have a performance the day after tomorrow, you should all be in the hotel tonight, right? I thought I heard a noise just now. Turn on your camera. I want to see if a stalker got in,” Chi Yeyu said.

The smile faded from her voice, replaced by a sharp edge in her brow. At the same time, she sent a query message to Tiangua.

“…I’m going to sleep.” The resistance in Shi Shuxue’s tone was obvious.

Chi Yeyu said expressionlessly: “Turn it on and let me see.”

She rarely spoke to Shi Shuxue in a commanding tone. It was hard to tell if she was angry or just being cold. Shi Shuxue glanced at Song Liulan, wishing she could evict her from the room.

But Song Liulan insisted on staying, refusing to leave. She rubbed her bruised face and, taking liberties, climbed onto Shi Shuxue’s bed, her slender white legs swinging back and forth, amusing herself by teasing her.

Shi Shuxue was surrounded by an invisible chill. She looked around for something else to throw, but feared making a bigger noise. Clenching her fist tightly, she made up a lie to reply to Chi Yeyu: “I just showered and I’m not dressed. It’s not convenient to turn on the camera.”

Chi Yeyu’s patience was reaching its limit. She almost asked, What part of you haven’t I seen? Then she realized she actually hadn’t seen Shi Shuxue undressed.

But that wasn’t the point anymore. The point was that Shi Shuxue was refusing to turn on the camera, acting all secretive. She almost certainly had something to hide.

Fine, Shi Shuxue. You dare hide someone in your room.

Already stressed from overtime, Chi Yeyu’s brow furrowed, and a strange curve touched her lips. She asked: “Why are you being so modest with me? Shi Shuxue, who is the other person in your room?”

Shi Shuxue remained silent. On the other end of the line, only faint breathing and the rustle of fabric could be heard.

A moment later, Chi Yeyu finally heard the voice of another woman in the room, bright and cheerful:

“Want to know who I am? Why don’t you come back and see for yourself?”