Transmigrated into the Villainous Scummy Alpha in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 43

A sweet oral solution was passed into her mouth as Lin Qi mischievously brushed against Jiang Ming’s trembling tongue. Swallowing the fever-reducing medicine with a gulp, the corners of her lips curled up involuntarily into a smile.

Noticing Jiang Ming’s attempt to pull away, the one who always pushed her luck now mustered some strength. Raising a hand, she pressed down on the back of Jiang Ming’s head, the soft strands of hair yielding as the distance between them closed once more.

Without any prior experience, Lin Qi instinctively sucked lightly on Jiang Ming’s slightly flustered lips, even giving her retreating tongue a playful nip. Only then did she allow Jiang Ming to push her away in a panic, lowering her hand and feigning unconsciousness once more.

Finally breaking free from the restraint, Jiang Ming felt as if her entire body was engulfed by rising heat. Covering her lips with a hand, she cast a doubtful glance at the person lying peacefully on the bed.

Had she, really not woken up?

Turning up the lights a little, Jiang Ming turned back only to see Lin Qi frown slightly, likely an instinctive reaction to the sudden brightness. She quickly turned again, shielding Lin Qi’s eyes with her hand to block some of the light.

The furrowed brows gradually relaxed as Lin Qi opened her hand slightly, allowing a sliver of light to filter through. Slowly, she seemed to adjust, and only then did Jiang Ming withdraw her hand. Seeing Lin Qi’s pale cheeks, she sighed in relief, she must still be unconscious, or else why wouldn’t she be blushing?

After all, Jiang Ming’s own face was burning crimson. Pressing the back of her hand to her cheeks to cool them, her eyes shimmered with unshed tears, a mix of shyness and delight swirling within them.

Lin Qi’s lips were so soft…

The moment that thought surfaced, her barely cooled cheeks flushed red again. Frustrated, Jiang Ming rubbed her disobedient face, then suddenly remembered the IV bag hanging on the stand, the first bottle of glucose was almost empty.

She hurried to the bathroom first, splashing cold water on her face to calm down. Once she was presentable again, she pressed the call button by the bed.

“What’s the matter?”

The nurse arrived quickly. Jiang Ming pointed at the empty IV bag. “This one’s finished.”

“Got it, I’ll change it.”

With practiced ease, the nurse replaced the bag, taking a moment to glance at the patient resting with closed eyes. Her complexion had improved significantly. Reaching out, the nurse checked Lin Qi’s forehead the fever had subsided.

“She took the fever reducer, right?”

Jiang Ming wasn’t sure if it was her imagination, but the nurse’s gaze seemed oddly expectant, even teasing. Hesitating for a moment, she nodded. “Yes, she did. Has the fever gone down?”

“Mhm, it’s gone now.”

“That’s good.”

Even though the necessary conversation was over, the nurse lingered, making Jiang Ming increasingly restless. “Is there anything else?”

“Ahem, well, I’m actually a fan of you two as a couple. Can I ask what your relationship is?”

Biting her lower lip hard, Jiang Ming froze. The answer should have been simple “very good friends” but she wasn’t satisfied with that.

“Hard to say? Oh~ I get it! No need to explain, just keep taking care of Xiao Lin here!”

Watching helplessly as the nurse left the room with an excited expression, Jiang Ming opened her mouth but couldn’t bring herself to speak. The nurse had clearly misunderstood, but Jiang Ming had no intention of correcting her.

“Cough, cough…”

With a couple of weak coughs, Lin Qi “slowly woke up,” looking dazed. “Did you carry me to the hospital room?”

After filling a cup with hot water from the dispenser, Jiang Ming handed it to Lin Qi and nodded, “Mhm, are you feeling better now?”

Taking the cup and sipping the water, Lin Qi pursed her lips and asked at the right moment, “What did I drink? Why does my mouth taste sweet?”

The spacious VIP ward suddenly fell into a mutual silence. Jiang Ming met Lin Qi’s puzzled gaze, the sound of her heartbeat growing louder, as if reverberating from her chest all the way to her eardrums. Biting her lower lip, she averted her eyes and said, “I gave you some fever-reducing medicine.”

“Thank you.”

After expressing her gratitude, Lin Qi seemed to suddenly remember something and asked curiously, “But I was asleep. How did you manage to feed it to me?”

She then glanced down at her still pristine ivory-white pajamas and smiled. “My clothes aren’t stained at all. You’re amazing.”

Jiang Ming’s face was already flushed beyond belief. She clenched the hem of her pajamas tightly, trembling with nervousness. “Y-you were very cooperative. I just held the medicine bottle and helped you drink it.”

“Oh, I see.”

Disappointed, Lin Qi lowered her head and idly pinched the blanket wrapped around her waist. She couldn’t press further, doing so would reveal that she hadn’t actually been asleep.

“Do you want to sleep a little longer? Are you feeling unwell anywhere else? Should I call the doctor to check on you again?”

Lin Qi chuckled helplessly and motioned for the anxious Jiang Ming to sit down first. “I’m fine. I just accidentally swallowed some tap water while brushing my teeth. There must have been bacteria in it, so I got acute gastroenteritis. It’s nothing serious.”

“Tap water?”

“Yeah, water straight from the faucet.”

“Why would you drink tap water? That’s definitely not clean.”

“I ”

Now that the topic had come up, Lin Qi felt justified. She raised an eyebrow and said, “That’s because you suddenly brought up how you lied to me today! I had already forgotten about it, but you reminded me, and then I accidentally swallowed some tap water.”

“And that’s my fault?”

“Or should I blame my loose lips?”

“Couldn’t you be a little more forgiving?”

“No.”

Lin Qi decisively shook her head, rejecting Jiang Ming’s attempt at acting cute. She glanced around the ward, it was quite large, equipped with a sofa, TV, and bathroom, but there was no second bed.

“I’m going to punish you”

Meeting Jiang Ming’s pitiful gaze, Lin Qi smiled. “I’m punishing you by making you sleep with me tonight. Unless you’d rather sleep on the sofa?”

What did she just say?

They were going to sleep together tonight!

Jiang Ming pursed her lips, instinctively feeling shy. “I-I could just go back to the dorm to sleep.”

“It’s too late.”

“I could, um, sleep in the next ward.”

“That’s too far. What if I suddenly feel unwell in the middle of the night?”

“I can sleep on the sofa!”

“That sofa is too small. I’d feel bad making you sleep there.”

“I”

“Enough with the ‘I-I-I.’ Can’t you just sleep with me? The bed is big enough, and I won’t kick you off.”

With all her excuses dismantled one by one, Jiang Ming’s pretty face turned completely red with frustration. Her fox-like eyes betrayed an uncharacteristic innocence as she stammered, “I’ve never slept with anyone else before.”

That wasn’t the real reason, of course. With others, she simply had no desire to, but with Lin Qi, she was too flustered to know what to do. What if she unconsciously hugged Lin Qi in her sleep? How would she explain it when she woke up?

“Then just give it a try. Aren’t we good friends?”

Hesitantly glancing at Lin Qi’s harmless gaze, which seemed entirely free of ulterior motives, Jiang Ming realized she was the only one caught in a whirlwind of emotions.

After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Ming finally nodded with resignation, “O-okay, let’s do that.”

Lin Qi smirked triumphantly, originally planning to tease the shy and sensitive kitten a bit more, but the hospital room door suddenly knocked. It turned out to be the program crew’s accompanying doctor, who walked in carrying a bowl of plain noodle soup. “I found a noodle shop and watched the chef make it. Only salt was added.”

Feeling somewhat hungry, Lin Qi took the noodles and tasted them. As expected, they were bland almost flavorless, with only the starchy taste of the noodles.

“Jiang Ming, are you heading back to the dorm today?”

Seeing her hesitate, the doctor quickly advised, “I don’t know how the news got out, but there’s already a crowd of fans and media downstairs. I suggest you stay with Lin Qi in the hospital tonight and go back tomorrow.”

This was exactly what Lin Qi wanted. She grinned brightly and shrugged at Jiang Ming, who still seemed uneasy, feigning helplessness. “No choice, you’ll have to stay here tonight.”

“I’ll head out then. Take care of yourselves.”

“Alright, take care. See you later.”

Pleased to see the doctor off, Lin Qi picked up the noodles and started eating. After finishing, she dragged her IV stand over to the floor-to-ceiling window and looked down at the brightly lit scene below. Sure enough, a crowd of reporters with cameras were lying in wait.

“No way out for you now.”

“You seem pretty pleased with yourself, huh?”

“Just a little. By the way, why are you so against sleeping next to me? Neither of us has presented yet, it’s not like there’s any risk.”

“I ”

Before Jiang Ming could finish, Lin Qi pretended to be coy. “Could it be… you have improper thoughts about me?”

“I don’t!”

Her denial came out shaky, even stuttered, and she couldn’t bring herself to meet Lin Qi’s amused gaze.

Finding the remote, Lin Qi turned on the TV and pulled up their audition show, which had already reached the song selection segment for the first performance. She scrolled back to the initial stage performances apparently, Jiang Ming’s debut had been stunning, but Lin Qi hadn’t seen it.

The two of them quickly forgot about the awkwardness of sharing a bed later, engrossed in the show. They laughed at the over-edited vocals and mocked some contestants’ exaggerated expressions until night fell and the doctor came in to remove Lin Qi’s IV, urging her to rest.

Having drunk too much water, Lin Qi went to the bathroom before washing her hands and returning to bed. “Turn off the lights and come up.”

The inevitable moment had arrived.

Moving at a snail’s pace, Jiang Ming finally reached the door, locked it, and turned off the lights. The room plunged into darkness, the curtains drawn, with only the faint glow from the TV illuminating the space.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, she took forever to remove her shoes before finally climbing in, her heart pounding wildly. The moment her arm brushed against Lin Qi’s, the noise in her chest grew even louder.

Finding her movements unbearably slow, Lin Qi simply reached out and wrapped an arm around Jiang Ming’s waist, pulling them both against the headboard’s pillows close, intimate, like long-time partners.

Picking up the remote to continue playing, it happened to be Jiang Ming’s performance. Lin Qi felt a bit excited and tightened her grip slightly. “I haven’t seen your debut stage yet. By the time I arrived, it was already the theme song mission.”

“Let’s… let’s finish watching this and then go to sleep, okay?”

“Are you sleepy?”

“Mhm.”

Her eyes fixed on her own image on the TV, Jiang Ming completely lost the ability to think. The hand around her waist seemed to burn with a scorching heat, making the small of her back tingle slightly. The flustered little kitten could only pray for her debut stage to end quickly.

And this was just sitting close together, what if Lin Qi wanted to hold her when they went to bed later?

Her thoughts grew increasingly scattered. Jiang Ming’s entire body tensed up, her throat bobbing repeatedly as she swallowed the excess saliva caused by nervousness. Hidden under the blanket, her hands clenched the sheets tightly, not daring to touch Lin Qi beside her.