Sweetheart, It's Time To Pay Your Debt - Chapter 8

Bo Liye wore a look of satiated satisfaction, leaning forward with a beaming smile as she picked up the drink Qin Mingyan had mixed for her, enjoying the curious gazes of her friends.

The sight of Qin Mingyan’s usually cold, indifferent face looking “ravaged” was truly a rare spectacle. Crystalline remnants of moisture still lingered on her lips, and the corners of her eyes were a vivid red. Yet, her gaze remained stubbornly cold like a red plum blossom covered in winter snow, possessing a pride that refused to be humiliated.

Bo Liye’s hand tightened around her glass. Just as a girl looking to join the excitement sat down on the other side of Qin Mingyan, the glass suddenly slipped from her hand.

Crash!

The glass shattered into a million pieces. Tiny shards flew up along with the splashing liquor, causing the girls crowding around to instinctively jump back.

Bo Liye looked at her splashed calves as if nothing had happened and said flatly, “My hand slipped.”

The girl on Qin Mingyan’s other side pretended to pick out a bottle of wine and immediately retreated to her original sofa.

As Bo Liye reached for a tissue, another hand beat her to it.

It was Qin Mingyan. “Let me.”

The blue striped cuff moved past her to grab the tissue box. Qin Mingyan knelt down, using the tissue to wipe Bo Liye’s fair calves.

The texture of the tissue, carrying a hint of body heat, rubbed lightly against her skin. The subsequent itching sensation made Bo Liye bite her lower lip.

“Let go, I’ll do it myself.” Qin Mingyan’s sudden attentiveness made Bo Liye feel a bit uncomfortable, even though she had demanded this herself.

However, Qin Mingyan used her other hand to grip the calf Bo Liye was trying to pull away. “There are glass shards. Don’t move.”

The feeling of a palm pressed directly against her skin was far more intense than the sensation through a tissue. No one had ever touched her like this before. Bo Liye secretly curled her toes.

She took a deep breath. “Hurry up.”

Qin Mingyan gave a soft hum of affirmation and sped up her movements, though the grip on her leg didn’t loosen in the slightest.

Gu Baifan, standing nearby, shot Bo Liye a secret look and gave her a thumbs up. Bo Liye could only endure it, sitting cross-legged on the sofa and watching Qin Mingyan finish cleaning the wine stains, pull a new blanket from the cabinet, and drape it over her legs.

It wasn’t until Qin Mingyan left to put away the cleaning supplies that the lingering sensation on Bo Liye’s leg finally seemed to dissipate. She finally relaxed and looked at her friends. “Ask whatever you want to ask.”

Seeing this, her friends couldn’t help but swarm around her, clamoring for an explanation.

“What’s the situation? I wasn’t dreaming just now, was I? If Old Zhang found out her prize pupil was snatched away by you, she’d probably die of anger.”

“You never said you liked girls before. Why the sudden change?”

Bo Liye’s fingertips brushed the soft blanket as she asked lazily, “Isn’t she good-looking?”

“How could she not be? She’s a total knock-out. If I could give it a try, even I, a straight girl, would want to taste.”

“Taste what she’s like?” Bo Liye turned her head, looking at Shan Sisi with a faint smile. “Shall I call her over and let you try?”

Bo Liye had kissed Qin Mingyan in front of everyone, it was obvious she placed a lot of importance on her. Shan Sisi didn’t dare. She waved her hands frantically in refusal. “No, no, no, I’m just joking.”

Gu Baifan draped an arm over Shan Sisi’s shoulder and patted her. “Tsk, Shan Sisi, what are you so nervous about? If it were me, I’d take the offer. We’ll see who backs out first when she actually gets here!”

Bo Liye narrowed her eyes slightly. “Fine. Whoever calls it off is a dog.”

Gu Baifan saw right through the young miss’s stubborn front. If she truly didn’t care, why would she take the girl home under the guise of “poverty alleviation”? If she didn’t care, why would she kiss her in public? The Bo family’s discipline was incredibly strict, forget being gay, just a rumor of “puppy love” getting out would be the end of Bo Liye.

“I’m a dog, I’m a dog, alright? Woof, woof! Enough? If not, I can bark a few more times for Miss Bo?”

Bo Liye couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re so annoying.”

“If we’re so annoying, then hurry up and explain. What is the relationship exactly? We see each other at school all the time, we need to be mentally prepared.”

Bo Liye leaned back against the sofa. The colorful lights from the projector fell across her face, veiling her beautiful features in a thin mist. “Didn’t I just perform for all of you?”

So, it wasn’t a formal relationship then.

Gu Baifan playfully fed Bo Liye a piece of cantaloupe. “But don’t play too hard. A year from now, she still has to be the face of Haichuan High. Don’t let our top student’s grades drop.”

Bo Liye took a small bite of the fruit and said airily, “That depends on her performance.”

Gu Baifan couldn’t help but mutter “Enchantress” under her breath as she stuffed the rest of the cantaloupe into Bo Liye’s mouth.

After a few more words about Qin Mingyan, the topic quickly shifted elsewhere.

Qin Mingyan had been gone for ten minutes. Bo Liye waited and waited, then sent a WeChat message: [Where are you? Does it take that long to put away a mop?]

Qin Mingyan replied quickly: [There’s a birthday party in another booth. The whole room got covered in cake and needs cleaning.]

Bo Liye typed with an expressionless face: [Didn’t I tell you to behave tonight? What, if the people in the next booth start throwing cake, are you going to bring them blankets too?]

Qin Mingyan: [If they need them.]

Bo Liye’s good mood vanished instantly.

She had thought Qin Mingyan had finally bowed to her, but it turned out everything she did was just part of her duties as a waitress?

Was this what Qin Mingyan meant by promising not to let her lose face tonight?

Technically, she hadn’t done anything wrong.

But it was completely different from what Bo Liye had imagined.

If someone else had wine splashed on their legs, would Qin Mingyan help them wipe it clean too?

At that thought, Bo Liye typed again: [Don’t bother coming back here.]

Qin Mingyan didn’t reply. Bo Liye deliberately called back the dancers who had left earlier, and the booth became lively again as they ordered several more rounds of drinks.

Most of it was consumed by the others. Bo Liye only took a few sips. Her alcohol tolerance wasn’t high. When she left Feishi, she glanced at the message Qin Mingyan had sent half an hour ago saying she was going home, and took a taxi to Huashui Alley.

Unlike the high-end villa district where Bo Liye lived, Huashui Alley was outside the Third Ring Road. The densely packed houses were home to migrant workers and the local poor.

The government had been talking about developing this area for years. Real estate speculators had even visited, hoping for a relocation payout. But as the years passed, areas planned much later than Huashui Alley had been rebuilt, while this area was always skipped over.

Clearly, there was no hope left.

This was Bo Liye’s second time here. The first time, she had come looking for the address her homeroom teacher gave her. Qin Mingyan’s mother had been home then, a frantic, crazed woman being loaded into an ambulance. Bo Liye hadn’t even seen her face clearly.

At that time, Qin Mingyan was being lectured by a doctor. Medical insurance coverage was limited, and he told her to raise the money. Qin Mingyan simply nodded. She didn’t get in the ambulance, nor did she look at her mother once, remaining as cold and indifferent as a total stranger.

In a fit of impulsiveness, Bo Liye had approached her and asked if she was willing to tutor her, offering the same high rate she paid her previous tutor, an amount that would completely cover the medical expenses.

On this second visit, Bo Liye still couldn’t get used to the place. The filthy ground and the stench of trash in the air made her want to turn back with every step.

Fortunately, once she rounded the trash heap at the alley entrance, the smell faded. The dim streetlights weren’t enough to see by. Bo Liye turned on her phone’s flashlight and tried to find Qin Mingyan’s house from memory.

But there were no signs in the alley, and the houses were clustered together without any pattern. After wandering for ten minutes, Bo Liye spotted an old woman picking up plastic bottles and stepped forward politely to ask for directions. “Grandma, I wanted to ask how to get to No. 109 Huashui Alley?”

The old woman was hard of hearing. Bo Liye had to ask twice before she understood. “No. 109? Is that the house with the crazy widow?”

“I’m a student from Haichuan High looking for a classmate. Her mother is indeed in poor mental health because of an illness.”

“Ah, that’s the one. Her daughter is a very good student. Go straight ahead until you see that osmanthus tree, then turn left and go to the very end. That’s No. 109.”

Bo Liye thanked her and was about to leave when the old woman stopped her again. “Little girl, why is everyone looking for those two tonight? They’re usually very quiet and law-abiding. There isn’t some misunderstanding, is there?”

Bo Liye paused. “Someone else came looking for them tonight besides me?”

The old woman didn’t even care about the bottle she had just flattened. She said urgently, “Yes, a few men. Very big and tall, didn’t look friendly at all. I didn’t tell them where No. 109 was. You smell like alcohol, are you really a student? You’re not with them, are you?”

Bo Liye didn’t expect the old woman’s nose to be so sharp. She said guiltily, “I’m not. I really am her classmate.”

The old woman was still suspicious until Bo Liye showed her a photo of herself in her school uniform. Only then did she let her go.

Bo Liye quickly sent a WeChat message to Qin Mingyan: [Where are you?]

[I’m in Huashui Alley. An old woman said a group of men is looking for you. Are you okay?]

[Go lock your door. Do you want me to call the police for you?]

Qin Mingyan’s reply came half a minute later: [Where are you?]

Bo Liye looked at the large osmanthus tree in the distance and replied: [By a big osmanthus tree. Are you really okay?]

Qin Mingyan: [Stay where you are. I’ll find you.]

While waiting for Qin Mingyan, Bo Liye stood by the tree, having completely forgotten her original intention of coming here to settle the score.

She listened to the cold wind whistling through the different alleyways, her heart pounding. She imagined every dangerous scenario she had ever seen in movies.

Until a very soft voice came from behind her: “Bo Liye?”

Bo Liye turned around and saw Qin Mingyan wearing a black baseball cap. She instinctively looked behind her. “Did you… mmm!”

Qin Mingyan covered Bo Liye’s mouth. “Don’t speak.”

Bo Liye was so startled by the gravity in her eyes that she froze. Soon, the sound of footsteps and hushed voices came from a distance. Qin Mingyan glanced in the direction of the noise, grabbed Bo Liye by the wrist, and started running in the opposite direction.

“Don’t talk. Follow me.”

Bo Liye had never experienced anything like this. Combining the rough male voices with the image of the “big and tall” men the old woman described, she had no choice but to follow Qin Mingyan as they fled through the alleys.

“There’s a sound over there! Look there!”

“Don’t let them get away!”

After running through a maze of paths for an unknown amount of time, Qin Mingyan suddenly pulled her behind a wall with peeling paint.

Bo Liye was gasping for breath and hurriedly pulled out her phone. “Who did you offend? I’m calling the police right now.”

Qin Mingyan stopped her. “It’s no use. The police won’t care.”

Bo Liye blurted out, “How could the police not care?”

Qin Mingyan just looked at her quietly. Bo Liye was suddenly speechless.

Even in school, students who made the same mistake weren’t always treated the same. Let alone out here. A simple delay in traffic could be enough to stall a police response.

“So you know who they are?”

Qin Mingyan pursed her lips and said nothing.

Bo Liye grew anxious and gave her a shove. “Tell me! I can have my mother step in to help you.”

Qin Mingyan said, “No need for all that trouble. Just a small friction with a colleague from my part time job.”

Bo Liye knew immediately she was making it up. “If they’re fighting over a job with a high schooler, how powerful can they be? How could the police not care?”

At this, Qin Mingyan stopped talking altogether.

The men who had circled away earlier seemed to be returning after failing to find them.

“Hurry up and look again. If we don’t find her tonight, no one gets paid.”

“She’s just a high school girl; how far could she have run? Did you check over there?”

The beam of a flashlight was pointed directly at the entrance of their alley.

Bo Liye watched the light hitting the ground just a few meters away. She tried to pull Qin Mingyan further into the alley, only to realize it was a dead end.

“What do we do?”

Qin Mingyan glanced in the direction Bo Liye was pointing, whispered “excuse me,” and suddenly pinned Bo Liye against the wall. She slid a leg between Bo Liye’s thighs, pressing her body tightly against hers without a single gap.

The sudden rush of hot breath made Bo Liye freeze. The light from the alley entrance flashed more and more frequently until someone shouted: “It looks like someone’s here!”

“Qin Mingyan, they’re coming.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Bo Liye’s slender legs were suddenly hoisted up by Qin Mingyan. In that moment of being lifted, Bo Liye’s back hit the rough wall, and she instinctively wrapped her arms around Qin Mingyan’s waist.

Deep creases immediately formed in Bo Liye’s skirt.

The men were getting closer. Bo Liye was panicking. “Let…”

The word “go” was swallowed into their mouths. Before the sensation of weightlessness had passed, Qin Mingyan’s kiss fell, bringing a faint, pleasant scent.

Under the cover of darkness, the eyes beneath Qin Mingyan’s cap were too dark to read, but the heat radiating between them made it clear they were kissing.

The flashlight beam came closer and closer.

Suddenly, Qin Mingyan deepened the kiss. Even the kiss back at Feishi was not even a tenth of this.

This uncontrollable, frantic feeling made Bo Liye almost stop breathing.

In those few seconds, the lingering taste of sweet wine overflowed from the corner of her mouth, only to be swallowed by Qin Mingyan.

“There! Right there!”

“Go look!”

They were about to be caught!

Qin Mingyan’s grip on Bo Liye tightened suddenly.

Bo Liye was pressed so hard against the wall that a soft sob escaped her: “Mmm…!”

The man who stepped into the alley stopped in his tracks and let out a harsh curse. “Can’t afford a hotel?”

“What are you all staring at? Haven’t you seen a woman before? Hurry up and take another path to find her!”

“We haven’t seen a soul yet. If we don’t find her, none of us are getting any sleep tonight!”

Bo Liye’s terror had nearly reached its peak. After that sob escaped her, Qin Mingyan’s kiss became fierce, her face pressing in as if trying to hide.

Bo Liye could only turn her head to help cover for Qin Mingyan.

The heat of Qin Mingyan’s breath was almost enough to melt her. Bo Liye could only part her lips helplessly, her vision blurring. All the arrogance and pride she had when ordering Qin Mingyan around was gone, fear and dread reached their zenith in this moment.

She felt like she had never truly known Qin Mingyan. Her attempts to push her away were futile under Qin Mingyan’s strength. Having never suffered such a grievance, Bo Liye bit down on Qin Mingyan.

The metallic taste of blood spread across her tongue. Qin Mingyan’s movements paused for a split second, and then the taste of blood seemed to flood every inch of her mouth.

It wasn’t until the footsteps of the group had completely vanished that the intense sucking stopped abruptly. Qin Mingyan let go of her.

Bo Liye slid down, only remaining upright when Qin Mingyan caught her by the waist.

In contrast, the heat in Qin Mingyan’s eyes had cooled completely. Aside from her reddened lips, there was no sign of anything unusual.

Her expression had returned to its usual calm and cold state, the image of a perfect model student. She lowered her head and apologized: “Those people came so suddenly. I couldn’t think of a better way. I’ll make it up to you however you want.”