The Villain Has A Yuri Halo [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 25

“Li Ju, why are you just standing there like an idiot?”
Li Mingyu, who had also stayed behind in the old house, took her daily jab at Li Ju. Spotting that woman’s absence (Tang Qingqing)at Li Ju’s side, she smirked in mockery. “What, your little lapdog is not glued to you today? Honestly, Li Ju, the moment you lose a few memories you start pretending to be some innocent bunny? Calling her ‘sister’ every two words—you don’t find yourself disgusting?”

Li Ju had been bickering with A’Ci, who, in her opinion, was capable of doing absolutely anything just to fill its stomach. Love wasn’t some ready-made convenience meal you could just reheat and serve. It had to be cultivated with care. Besides, most of what A’Ci said was suspect—especially when it wore that drooling look of hunger. Who knew how much of last night’s “story” it had exaggerated?

Casting a sidelong glance at Li Mingyu’s nasal, mocking tone, Li Ju let a faint smile curl at her lips. Poised and elegant, she drawled, “Hmm, is that vinegar I smell? My, so sour.”

Li Mingyu stiffened, her face darkening. She gave a sharp little laugh. “Who’s jealous? It’s just a silly ‘sister.’ What’s there to care about?”

“Come on, Mingyu. Jealous is jealous—what’s so hard about admitting it? I mean, with someone as perfect as me, it’d be stranger if you didn’t like me.” Li Ju lifted her chin with shameless pride, her expression practically saying ‘Your admiration honors me.’ The act had Mingyu turning red from anger.

“Utter nonsense!”

“Jealous~ so jealous~” Li Ju sang, all smiles, teasing until Mingyu nearly exploded.

“Don’t think you can charm me like Tang Qingqing,” Mingyu snapped. “I’m not so easily swayed. She might be content being your lackey, but I’m not. I’m your rival, Li Ju. And the company? Who it belongs to isn’t set in stone.”

Li Ju chuckled, amused at Mingyu’s bravado. “Funny you should say that. Because, unlike you, I actually spent those two weeks in the hospital cramming. Every major project, every key development, I have it all fresh in my head. Turns out my memory’s just that good. My father even said I was overcautious, but looks like caution pays off. After all, it helps guard against… certain people. Wouldn’t you agree, Mingyu?”

Her smile was calm, her eyes slyly triumphant. The expression alone had Mingyu grinding her teeth in frustration.

“You’re insane! Even in the hospital you’re competing?”

“Of course,” Li Ju replied lightly, spreading her hands. “I’ve got a whole family to support. You think I’d let the company slide downhill under your care? No, thank you. Better to work harder for my own happiness.”

“Don’t look down on me!”

But Li Ju had already caught the scent of soup dumplings drifting from the kitchen. She had no patience left for this child’s quarrel. As she walked past Mingyu, she threw back with a dazzling smile, “Face it, Mingyu. You’ll always be my defeated opponent. Looking down on you? That’s just routine. If I ever praised you, that would be a sign I’d lost my mind.”

Not only had Mingyu failed to win, she’d been thoroughly roasted. Fuming, she stood rooted to the spot, punching the air in frustration.

Just then, a middle-aged man shuffled past, shoulders hunched and hands stuffed into his sleeves. He paused, glanced back, and frowned. “Mingyu, exercising out here? Next time pick a warmer spot, this corridor’s drafty.”

And with that, her father strolled away.

“Pfft—” Li Ju let out a laugh. “Sorry, couldn’t hold it in.”

Mingyu nearly lost it. “You’re still here?!” Had Li Ju seen her whole embarrassing display?

Li Ju pointed ahead at Tang Qingqing, who had just arrived. “I was about to leave, but then I saw my sister. Naturally, I had to wait. Mingyu, honestly—my uncle’s far more entertaining than you.”

Grinding her teeth, Mingyu swore inwardly that nothing good ever came of running into Li Ju.

Then she sneered, as if remembering something. “Did you hear? Tang Ruru’s in trouble. Not that surprising, really—rotten roots, rotten branches. But compared to the rest of the Tang family’s mess, her scandal’s nothing. Your uncle’s company is being torn apart in the media for food safety issues. Reporters are all over it.”

“I know,” Li Ju answered smoothly.

“You care that much about your cheap uncle’s affairs?”

Her eyes glinted with amusement. “Of course I care. If I didn’t, how would the news have come out at all?”

Mingyu blinked. “You… did this?”

“Mhm.”

“No more indulging them, then?”

“You’ve got it wrong,” Li Ju corrected her. “It wasn’t indulgence. Exposing those problems took real work. I just finished what was already started.”

She hadn’t remembered her past, but when her assistant handed her the Tang Corporation’s safety investigation, she realized she—or rather, her old self—had already set the trap. And now, she was simply pulling the string.

“What about your mother’s side of the family—”

Li Ju’s tone cooled. “Other things I might overlook. But food safety? Never.”

She had no sentimental ties to the Tangs. Forgetting them entirely only made them strangers to her now. If she disliked what she saw, she’d deal with it without hesitation.

Her words carried pointed weight as she smiled faintly at Mingyu. Then she stepped past her, moving toward Tang Qingqing. The casual smirk faded, softening into something real.

Tang Qingqing arrived breathless, as though she’d run all the way there. Li Ju clasped her hand, her voice gentle. “Slow down. No one’s chasing you. Why rush?”

“I didn’t want Little Ju to wait.”

Without missing a beat, Li Ju tucked their joined hands into the pocket of Qingqing’s coat, pouting in mock defense. “I wasn’t impatient at all. Admit it—you just couldn’t wait to see me.”

Qingqing’s brows smoothed, a smile blooming like warmth against the cold. “Yes, yes. You’re always right.”

*******

Together they stepped out into the snow. Their boots crunched over the fresh white drifts, leaving two lines of prints. Li Ju’s eyes lit with excitement. “Let’s go skiing!”

Her gaze sparkled, impossible to refuse.

But Qingqing teased back, “It’s Friday. I have to head to campus.”

“Nice try,” Li Ju shot back, instantly seeing through it. “Don’t think I’m easy to fool just because I lost some memories. You don’t have class Friday afternoons.”

That familiar certainty—so confident, so sure of her—melted something deep inside Tang Qingqing. She smiled softly. “And how does Little Ju know that?”

“I’ve taken an interest in everything about you, of course. So I dug into your past.” Li Ju’s tone was half-tease, half-proud.

“My past?”

“Mm.” She nodded. “I asked Dad, asked Grandma, even the housekeepers. If only I’d met your friends, I’d have an even clearer picture.”

Qingqing’s eyes shone, a mist gathering there. She… was worth this much effort? Worth Li Ju combing through her life just to know her better?

“I don’t have friends,” she whispered.

“Really?” Li Ju tilted her head.

Qingqing pressed a hand to her cold cheek as snow swirled down around them. Her voice lowered. “My life’s transparent—work, home, work, home. Over and over. You’ve asked everyone close to me. So… what conclusion did you come to?”

Li Ju couldn’t help comparing their worlds. When she had been hospitalized, crowds had poured in to visit her, socialites, business partners, friends. The room had been a constant bustle.

But outside all that noise sat Tang Qingqing. Quiet, withdrawn, gently tending to her. She hadn’t joined the chatter, hadn’t tried to fit in. She had simply… stayed.

That was when Li Ju realized how much her family owed her. Because those beautiful desserts that had stunned the socialites? They were Qingqing’s handiwork. Something no one had ever noticed or praised before.

And Li Ju had been the worst of all—forgetting everything.

Emotion welled up. She cupped Qingqing’s face with both hands, mirroring her earlier gesture. In her gaze, something steady and tender burned, enough to make Qingqing’s heart ache with déjà vu.

“My conclusion,” Li Ju whispered, “is that your world is full of me.”

Qingqing’s eyes shimmered with joy, though her voice trembled with caution. “You don’t think I’m… boring?”

“No. I’m grateful,” Li Ju said firmly. “I didn’t see it before. But this time, I won’t miss it.”

Joy spilled across Qingqing’s face. She pinched Li Ju’s cheeks playfully, her tone brimming with delight. “Then I can say with certainty—your memory loss was the best thing to happen to me.”

“A good thing?”

Li Ju smiled. “Yes. Exactly that. A very good thing.”

Forget the past. Start again.
And this time—she would love Tang Qingqing twice as much.

She couldn’t help but believe that her past self must have loved Tang Qingqing too. That car accident was proof enough.

“Ah! My soup dumplings!”

“We’ve got to hurry. I just had a spat with Mingyu, and I swear that girl might actually try to snatch them from me! You know Aunt Lan’s soup dumplings are her signature dish!”

“Then… this afternoon, shall we go to the ski resort?” Tang Qingqing asked.

Clinging to her arm, Li Ju beamed. “Then I’ll be counting on you to teach me, dear sister.”

Memory loss was wonderful. It let her play the role of a baby who “knew nothing.”

And how could Tang Qing ever refuse her? She agreed with a soft smile, her hand brushing Li Ju’s as though she couldn’t help but indulge her.

A beauty as serene as a painting, as gentle as flowing water.

Li Ju’s thoughts flickered back to the night before. Her gaze lingered on Tang Qing’s lips—soft, pink, the kind that tempted a kiss.

She forced herself to breathe, to steady her racing thoughts. She couldn’t let A’ci’s nonsense shake her like this.

Could someone as clear and untainted as Tang Qing really do such things?

Kisses trailing along the wrist… fingertips captured between lips… her hand guided so boldly…

Li Ju dared not follow the memory too far. Her heart was already a mess, her composure nowhere to be found.

【Huh? Am I imagining this, or is that scent even stronger now? I swear, it’s intoxicating. I feel dizzy just breathing it in.】

【So this is the fragrance a host gives off… sharp, overwhelming, yet utterly irresistible.】

【Please, I’m begging you—have mercy on me, do something adult with Tang Qingqing already! And if you can’t, just lie there and let her take the lead! My future depends on this—your one choice decides everything!】

Li Ju’s cheeks flamed crimson. “What scent? What nonsense? I don’t want to hear a word of it!”

“If you don’t shut up, I’ll go on a business trip tomorrow and make sure you can’t smell anything at all.”

【What a cruel, vicious woman!】

“Right back at you.”

It was only a bluff, of course. She had no intention of leaving.

********

Snow drifted down like feathers, blanketing the world in white, a wonderland of silence and silver.

The snow had been falling on and off for days, until the year’s final month arrived.

December, the last stretch before a new year. Everyone was busy preparing, fighting for a chance to welcome it with a smile.

But in the middle of the crowded, noisy street, no one spared a glance at the young man hunched on a bench.

Gao Sheng gnawed on stale bread, his handsome face lined with weariness, eyes dimmed of all ambition, clouded with nothing but regret.

He ate bread and swallowed the winter wind, waiting. Until finally, the car he had been hoping for appeared.

He rushed forward, reckless. What was there left to fear? His company was already in ruins.

“Miss Li! Please—please, see me! It’s me, Gao Sheng! I’ve been waiting here for days!” His voice was hoarse, lips cracked and bleeding in the cold.

The car slowed. Gao Sheng’s eyes lit up with desperate hope.

When it finally stopped under the streetlamp, he thought salvation had come. He hadn’t waited in vain. He knew Li Ju’s heart would never truly change.

He hurried to fix his clothes, force a smile, and knocked on the window—only for his grin to freeze.

Li Zhen lit a cigarette inside, his tone like ice. “I know who you are. Gao Sheng. A fresh graduate who built a company from scratch. Ambitious. Promising. I admired that once. But you made a foolish choice. Now your company will be its own coffin. Go home. As long as the Li family stands in this city, you’ll never rise again.”

The middle-aged man’s elegance had only ripened with time, like wine grown sharper with age. His presence alone crushed Gao Sheng’s fragile pride into dust.

He sneered at Gao Sheng’s trembling silence. “A word of advice: women aren’t toys you can juggle at will. When you enjoyed the benefits my daughter gave you while chasing after another, did you ever stop to think that you’re not the main character in this story? You never were. Which is why you’ll always end as the loser.”

He stepped out, crushed his cigarette into Gao Sheng’s shoulder, and hissed: “Get lost. If I see you pestering Xiao Ju or Tang Qingqing again, I’ll break your legs myself.”

Gao Sheng quaked, pale and humiliated, yet he spat out, “Mr. Li, what you’re doing is disgraceful!”

Li Zhen laughed like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “And you’re what? A kept man? A leech? A fake prince? A scumbag?”

He flicked the smoldering cigarette straight into Gao Sheng’s gasping mouth, then leaned close with a voice like steel: “One week. If you’re not gone from this city, my people will find you. And you won’t like what happens next.”

The car pulled away, leaving Gao Sheng coughing in the snow, tears streaming down his face.

So he wasn’t the main character after all.

Once, he had soared right out of graduation, admired, envied, the darling of fate, with even a wealthy heiress at his side.

But that had been a mirage. When the smoke cleared, the truth remained:

He was nothing but a fraud. A scumbag.

*******

“Old Li, tell me—how could Xiao Ju’s taste be this poor? Was it because she hasn’t met real men worth her time? Or was it my mess of a marriage with Tang Ping that dragged her down?”

Li Zhen’s chest ached with guilt. Old memories weighed heavy. He rubbed his temples, brows knotting tighter.

“Send me Gao Sheng’s file again,” he instructed his assistant.

Old Li, the driver, tried to comfort him. “Sir, that’s all in the past. Miss will have happiness in her future, don’t worry.”

But as Li Zhen scanned the file, his casual look hardened. His gaze froze on one name—Gao Sheng’s father.

A cold smile curved his lips. “So. It’s his son. No wonder the brat turned out like this. Makes perfect sense now.”

That name dredged up an old ghost, Tang Ping’s former lover.

“Persistent bastard,” Li Zhen spat. “The sins of the father return.”

He changed his mind. Not a week. Three days. Gao Sheng would vanish, just like his father had. Banished forever.

For the first time, he lit another cigarette in the car, eyes stormy. “Not back to the estate today. Take me home. I need to speak with Xiao Ju.”

********

Meanwhile, in the villa, Xiao Ju was sprawled on a massage bed, sighing in pleasure as Tang Qingqing’s skilled hands kneaded every tension from her body.

She didn’t notice Tang Qingqing’s gaze that was dark, heated, a covetous glimmer that wanted to keep her hidden away from the world, a treasure too precious to share.

The ringing of the landline snapped the spell, breaking the haze in their eyes.

Tang Qingqing reluctantly pulled away, hair swept up, her silhouette all grace and quiet allure in her loose sleepwear.

Li Ju, cheek pillowed on her arm, stared unabashedly at the beauty in front of her, eyes tracing every curve with languid appreciation.

【You really have a knack for trouble, don’t you? Skipping a bath just to coax Tang Qingqing into giving you a full-body massage.】

【The host’s scent is practically overwhelming now. Stronger than hers. I’m about to faint from sheer bliss!】

“I was just tired,” Li Ju muttered lazily. “It’s not what you think.”

【As if I believe that.】

She pouted innocently, shifting so the towel over her body nearly slipped away.

“Xiao Ju, your father’s on the line.”

Li Ju’s brows arched, irritation breaking through. She hopped off the bed, clutching the towel to her chest. “This had better be important!”

“Dad, really? It’s late. Can’t you let me sleep?”

“Sleep? At eight? Who are you fooling? Get to my study, now.”

The line clicked dead.

Li Ju huffed, glaring at the receiver, then turned back with a pout. “Our dad is such a tyrant. He actually yelled at me just now.”

Tang Qing’s reluctance was plain, but Li Zhen came first. She smoothed Li Ju’s flushed cheek, tender as a petal.

“Don’t be upset. I’ll dry your hair. We can’t keep your father waiting.”

Li Ju grumbled. “Who knows how long he’ll nag? Will you wait for me?”

Tang Qingqing twined her fingers with hers, untangling the blow-dryer cord. “If I don’t wait for you, who else would I wait for?”

“You’re the best!” Li Ju declared, only half-teasing.

But before the dryer hummed to life, she leaned in, gaze heavy. Tang Qingqing’s skin glowed pale, her face flushed like ripened fruit—sweet and dangerously tempting.

Heat pressed between them.

Step by step, Li Ju cornered her until Tang Qingqing’s back hit the sink.

Li Ju braced her hands against the counter, caging her in. The chill of marble couldn’t cool the fire in her veins.

A bead of water slid down Tang Qingqing’s temple. Li Ju leaned close, exhaled gently, and watched with satisfaction as the droplet traced down into her collar, leaving a damp mark.

Her voice dropped, husky. “Suddenly, I feel a little thirsty. Funny, but whenever I see you, I just want a drink.”

Her lips curved, wicked.

“What about you, sister? Are you thirsty?”

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