The Cold Heroine Turned Into a Yandere After Being - Chapter 14

Flirting

Due to her illness, Mo Zhu stayed home all day instead of going out.

After dinner, she nestled comfortably into the living room sofa, watching people and simply idling the time away.

Ji Shubai didn’t go out either. She sat on the side sofa, clutching her tablet.

Initially, she wasn’t used to being stared at like this and wanted to retreat to her room, but Mo Zhu wouldn’t let her. Eventually, she learned to endure it.

Mo Zhu, for her part, loved watching this process of suppressed compromise. It was like playing with a proud, lonely flower an amusement she never tired of.

“Miss Ji, what are you drawing?” Mo Zhu asked, half-hugging a pillow.

“A necklace I promised to design for a client,” Ji Shubai replied without looking up, her voice cool. “Though they aren’t my client anymore.”

She had barely been able to spare any time lately, and the few clients she had were transferred to her partner at the studio. Still, she wanted to finish the initial draft in her heart.

Mo Zhu tossed aside her pillow and leaned over to take a look.

The draft paper was pale. In the center floated a cluster of deep blue jewels, wrapped and entwined by lead-gray lines from her pen.

It looked like an eye in the center of the ocean, where a storm had yet to congeal.

“When will Miss Ji design something for me?” Mo Zhu asked.

“You shouldn’t be lacking your own jewelry designers.” Ji Shubai gave her a faint glance.

There were class divisions even within this circle. Currently, she could only reach middle-class clients; the high-tier elite were beyond her touch.

Mo Zhu’s eyes curved slightly. “But the designer I want is Miss Ji.”

Ji Shubai was somewhat immune to such words by now. In moments like this, it was best to simply ignore her.

“However, if Miss Ji doesn’t want to take me on as a client, that’s fine. I have some other clients I can recommend to you,” Mo Zhu added.

Hearing this, the tip of Ji Shubai’s pen paused slightly, leaving a tiny gray dot on the canvas. She wasn’t a fool; she understood that the other woman was offering her resources and connections.

Big clients meant substantial design fees, which would alleviate the pressure on her current finances.

But.  why?

Mo Zhu saw the doubt in her eyes. “There is, of course, a small requirement.”

Ji Shubai felt a faint sense of relief, yet simultaneously felt a bit stifled.

“You can think of it as a form of payment,” Mo Zhu supplemented.

“So, what is the requirement?”

Mo Zhu was about to give her original explanation, but looking at those cold, elegant features, her mischievous nature flared up again.

She deliberately leaned closer, her smile turning somewhat ambiguous. “What do you think, Miss Ji?”

Ji Shubai looked at her. What could she think? What else could she think?

Her grip on the pen shifted to a tight clench. Ji Shubai took a soft breath and tilted her head up, intending to meet her.

But Mo Zhu, the culprit behind the misunderstanding, turned her face away, her shoulders shaking slightly.

The laughter rippled first from the corners of her narrowed eyes. What escaped her lips was a soft, airy sound—short and light, like ripples scattered by the wind.

“Miss Ji, why are you so proactive every time?”

Ji Shubai opened her eyes to see the other woman’s eyes curved with watery mirth.

She realized she had been toyed with again by this wicked-natured young miss. Silently, she sat up straight and resumed editing her draft.

“I’m not joking anymore,” Mo Zhu said, reining in her playfulness. “I actually want you to accompany me to my cousin’s wedding.”

Ji Shubai didn’t respond immediately. After a moment, she spoke. “Do you want to know why I’m so ‘proactive’?”

Her pen didn’t stop moving as she continued, “It’s because, to you, this is all I am.”

“Hmm?” Mo Zhu arched an eyebrow, her interest piqued.

“If you were the one asking for a favor, would you have signed that agreement of ours?”

Before Mo Zhu could answer, Ji Shubai answered for her. “You wouldn’t. Because you have too much to give. Matters that can be solved with money and power don’t require sacrificing yourself. The trope of ‘repaying a debt with one’s body’ doesn’t happen to people like you.”

“But I have nothing,” Ji Shubai finally put down her pen and looked at her. “My only value to you is this.”

The smile on Mo Zhu’s face gradually faded. Her thoughts seemed to be scattered by those words, only to begin rapidly reorganizing.

“Are you satisfied with that answer?” Ji Shubai asked.

The air fell silent once more.

“Sorry, I’ve said too much.” Ji Shubai was the first to apologize. She gathered her things and stood up to return to her room.

Mo Zhu didn’t stop her this time, watching her silhouette disappear behind the guest room door.

[Host, aren’t you worried the female lead hates you after that speech?]

Mo Zhu remained quiet for a while, closing her eyes and leaning against the sofa armrest, her fingertips unconsciously tracing the patterns on the fabric.

“This is a good thing. She’s starting to express her dissatisfaction, which means the defenses in her heart are crumbling.”

“Besides, there hasn’t been a negative score warning yet.”

She knew in her heart that Ji Shubai’s words were like a knife, but the blade was turned inward stabbing her own forced pride first.

While she loved teasing this flower that seemed ready to break, she knew it wasn’t the right time to push too hard.

She remembered the secret to raising this flower: a balance of the carrot and the stick.

Ten minutes later, Mo Zhu propped herself up and walked toward the guest bedroom.

她 tapped her knuckles against the door.

Inside the room, Ji Shubai was dazed. She had actually regretted those words the moment they left her mouth. They were the product of her recent resentment and shouldn’t have been vented at Mo Zhu.

After all, the transaction between them was based on her own consent. But she just couldn’t hold it back in that moment.

The knocking interrupted her thoughts.

The door was quickly opened.

“Is something wrong?” Ji Shubai stood in the doorway, showing no intention of letting her in.

Mo Zhu nodded. “I wanted to let you know the wedding is the day after tomorrow. It’s on a small overseas island. The trip is quite long, so we might be there for a few days.”

“Okay, I understand.” Seeing that the woman hadn’t left, Ji Shubai thought of something. “I still have a bit of this drawing to finish. I’ll go back to the bedroom when I’m done.”

But Mo Zhu replied, “I don’t know if my illness is contagious. You should sleep here for the next two days instead of with me.”

Ji Shubai’s gaze froze. A flicker of surprise sank into her eyes, quickly covered by her habitual calm. “Okay.”

Yet, Mo Zhu still lingered, her eyes half-cast down as if pondering something.

“Is there anything else?”

“I think Miss Ji has a misunderstanding about me,” Mo Zhu looked up, meeting her eyes. Her usual flippant attitude was replaced by a trace of solemnity. “What I said earlier didn’t have any ulterior meaning. People usually call that kind of situation.”

She searched for a word that could diplomatically convey the context. “Flirting.”

Ji Shubai’s expression suggested she didn’t agree. She moved to close the door.

“And also,” Mo Zhu blocked the closing door, “it’s not that I wouldn’t let you kiss me just now. It’s because I was afraid of infecting.”

Before the word “you” could come out, Mo Zhu was pushed out, and the door slammed shut in her face.

Mo Zhu estimated the expression on the other’s face before the door closed and figured the situation wasn’t too dire.

“Xiao Ta, check the favorability level.”

[The female lead’s favorability toward you is currently 35. You have one more query left today.]

Compared to the 26 she checked this morning, it had gone up by 9 points.

It seemed she still needed to work harder.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed with a message from Assistant Xiang.

[President Mo, what breed of cat would you like ‘Xiao Ta’ to be?]

Following the message were several pictures of cats from a cattery.

Looking at those fluffy creatures, Mo Zhu’s interest was instantly piqued. She headed back to her room to make a careful selection.

In the guest room, Ji Shubai had only the bedside lamp on.

She sat on the rug, leaning against the bed and staring at her tablet screen. On it was the unfinished, eye-of-the-storm jewelry design.

A moment later, she suddenly picked up her stylus. In the center of that deep blue cluster entwined by gray lines, she lightly tapped a tiny, minute spot of bright color.

It looked like a stray ray of heavenly light falling into the eye of a storm.

That light reflected in Ji Shubai’s downcast eyes, stirring a vanishingly small ripple.

Thanks to Mo Zhu’s usually strong constitution, she recovered from her illness by the day of departure.

After a flight of over ten hours, they finally reached their destination.

The wedding was being held on a private island where the climate was currently very pleasant.

They arrived on the island near dusk. On the way to their villa, they ran into an acquaintance, Xia Yitian.

Xia Yitian had been sent by her family to represent them at the wedding.

But Mo Zhu remembered that Xia Yitian wasn’t originally the one supposed to go.

Xia Yitian explained, “My parents said it was too far and their bodies couldn’t take it, even though they just spent a month traveling abroad last month. My sister said the company couldn’t spare her, so here I am.”

Mo Zhu just smiled. Ji Shubai noticed a hint of something else in that smile and turned to look at her.

So, Mo Zhu gave Ji Shubai a brief rundown of this cousin.

“This cousin of mine is quite the rebel in the family. She found a partner whose hometown requires a 30x zoom on a map to find. The family and outsiders alike look down on them, so naturally, they don’t take this wedding seriously.”

Xia Yitian quickly raised her hand. “Not me! I mean, who Sister Tang wants to be with is none of my business.”

Ji Shubai just listened quietly, not joining the conversation.

As they chatted, the car pulled up to the entrance of a blue-and-white building. Someone was standing by the door.

Seeing the car, the person waved it was Mo Zhu’s cousin, Mo Tang.

After a few pleasantries, Mo Tang turned her gaze toward Ji Shubai.

“And this is?”

“My new assistant.”

“Her new partner.”

The air went silent for a second.

Xia Yitian realized what she’d said and covered her mouth. She looked at Mo Zhu and whispered, “Ah, was that not supposed to be said?”

She hesitated for a moment and immediately corrected herself, “Right, she’s her new partner’s assistant.  oh wait, her new assistant’s partner.”

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