After hanging up the phone, Chi Xi felt a bit downcast, staring blankly at the colorful drink in front of her, too dispirited to even take a sip.
“What’s wrong? You look like you’ve lost your soul,” said the man lying beside her, yawning. He couldn’t stand seeing her so wilted, like a frostbitten eggplant. Wasn’t she supposed to be a little troublemaker? When had she ever been this low?
“Jiang Yuan, if someone really likes another person, but that person has already had someone they loved deeply someone who treated them exceptionally well and then that loved one died, and it’s been five years and they still haven’t moved on, do you think there’s any chance for the other person?” Chi Xi suddenly asked.
“Who’s ‘that person’? Who’s ‘this person’?” Jiang Yuan rolled his eyes dramatically, exasperated. “You said it yourself, the person they loved treated them incredibly well, and they loved them back. If you want to get involved, do you think you could do better than that person? Besides, the living can never compete with the dead. In her situation, if you’re really set on her, you have to be prepared for the fact that there will always be a corner of her heart that belongs to that person.”
“W-what do you mean, ‘get involved’? I was just asking casually!” Chi Xi stammered, suddenly flustered.
“Fine, fine, just casually asking.” His tone was dismissive, clearly not buying it.
Chi Xi didn’t insist on arguing further. Instead, she lowered her head and carefully considered his words. Forget about doing better than that person could she even measure up to them? As for the idea of a part of her heart always belonging to someone else, Chi Xi didn’t mind that. As long as it didn’t affect their present life, it was fine for her to keep a corner of her heart reserved for past feelings. In fact, it might even show that she was a person who valued deep connections.
Chi Xi had loved Jiang Muyu ever since she first laid eyes on her as a teenager at the Chi family home. But back then, Jiang Muyu already had a deeply beloved partner, so Chi Xi could only bury her feelings silently. Later, she went abroad and, unable to let go, stayed away for many years without returning.
Now that she was back, she found that everything had changed. The person by Jiang Muyu’s side was gone. After asking around, she learned that the person had died on their way to celebrate Jiang Muyu’s birthday, caught in a multi-car pileup and bleeding to death.
Since then, Jiang Muyu had never celebrated another birthday.
For the past two years, Chi Xi had stayed by her side like a little sister, watching as Jiang Muyu’s emotions gradually stabilized. Yet, she still didn’t dare confess her feelings.
She knew all too well that Jiang Muyu only saw her as a younger sister. And now, she wasn’t even sure she could live up to the standard set by that person.
But she believed her love was no less than theirs.
A teenage crush, unforgettable over seven years, only growing deeper with time.
Blinking her eyes open groggily, Shen Zuofeng stared blankly at the dimly lit room. With the curtains drawn tightly shut, she had no idea how long she had been sleeping.
Her body felt lazy and content from the full rest, and though she wasn’t particularly sleepy anymore, she had no desire to get up.
Her stomach growled loudly. Shen Zuofeng wished she could ignore it, but while her body felt sluggish, hunger was anything but lazy, insistently reminding her of its presence.
Resigned, she crawled out of bed and went to the window, lifting the curtain to look outside. It was pitch black had she slept straight through until late at night?
Shen Zuofeng stretched lazily. She had thought she’d slept for a long time, but from around four in the afternoon until now wasn’t too unusual.
She opened the door and stepped out. Chi Qingwei was probably already resting, as the entire villa was quiet and still. Not wanting to disturb her, Shen Zuofeng headed to the kitchen, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and then sat on the sofa, spacing out.
After sitting for a while, Shen Zuofeng suddenly sniffed lightly, stood up with a puzzled expression, and noticed a refreshing minty scent gradually spreading, growing stronger and more intense.
Shen Zuofeng was startled. This scent, it smelled like Chi Qingwei’s pheromones?
As she inhaled the cool mint fragrance, her head began to feel dizzy. What was going on? Why was there such a strong scent of pheromones, and why had it spread from upstairs to the living room?
Suddenly, Shen Zuofeng remembered something.
Could it be that Chi Qingwei’s heat had arrived?!
Panic set in. Shen Zuofeng hurried upstairs, following the source of the minty scent, and stopped in front of a door that was slightly ajar. The smell was coming from inside.
Her throat tightened slightly as she hesitantly pushed the door open. In an instant, the cool mint scent overwhelmed her, wrapping tightly around her.
Shen Zuofeng’s mind went blank for a moment, overwhelmed by the intense pheromones. Amid the refreshing scent, she felt her body gradually heating up. A lemony aroma, mixed with the scent of alcohol, began to drift out, mingling with the mint and transforming into a new fragrance like a mojito.
“Tch.” Shen Zuofeng pinched herself hard and rushed into the room. There, she saw Chi Qingwei curled up by the bed, seemingly in agony. Her slender, pale hands clawed at the carpet as if trying to tear holes in it.
“Miss Chi, where are your suppressants?” Shen Zuofeng hurried over. Because she had just been released from detention, she hadn’t brought any suppressants with her!
Chi Qingwei, lost in the overwhelming heat, faintly caught a pleasant scent, and that scent was quickly approaching her.
She wanted no, she needed that scent to envelop her tightly.
To soothe the wildfire raging within her.
“Don’t go.” Chi Qingwei opened her eyes, but everything was hazy and indistinct. She could only vaguely make out a figure swaying in front of her.
“I’m not leaving, I’m not leaving.” Shen Zuofeng grew more anxious. She had already spotted the empty suppressant packaging beside Chi Qingwei. It looked like she had already taken one so why wasn’t it working?
“Chi Qingwei! Let me take you to the hospital, okay?” Shen Zuofeng gripped her shoulders, trying desperately to bring her back to her senses.
Shaken, Chi Qingwei regained a bit of clarity. Seeing Shen Zuofeng’s anxious face before her, her eyes widened in shock, and she shoved her away forcefully.
Thud.
Shen Zuofeng was pushed backward, crashing heavily into a nearby shelf. The pain was so sharp it nearly brought tears to her eyes.
“Chi Qingwei, it’s me.” Shen Zuofeng gritted her teeth against the pain. She felt unbearably hot. The cool pheromones were like a deadly poison, yet she was willing to be poisoned by them.
Chi Qingwei stepped back, but she forgot that the bed was right behind her. Her legs hit the edge of the bed, causing her to tilt and fall backward, sinking into the mattress.
“You get out!” Chi Qingwei growled through gritted teeth, struggling against the rising heat.
“What’s wrong with you? Why isn’t the suppressant working?” Shen Zuofeng’s words trailed off as a chilling realization dawned on her, sending a cold shiver down her spine.
She had forgotten about the possibility of pheromone dysregulation!
“I’m taking you to the hospital. Please, stay lucid, okay?” Ignoring the burning pain in her back, Shen Zuofeng grabbed Chi Qingwei’s coat and tried to help her into it. Chi Qingwei was only wearing a thin set of pajamas, and due to her earlier movements, large patches of her fair, delicate skin were exposed. There was no way she could go to the hospital like this.
“No! Stay away from me!” The crisp scent of pheromones filled the air. In her heat, Chi Qingwei’s senses were unusually sharp she knew this was Shen Zuofeng’s scent. Yet, instead of clearing her mind, the refreshing aroma only made her want to surrender even more deeply to the abyss of desire.
Shen Zuofeng felt her entire body trembling. No, she had to leave this place!
“But what are you going to do? If this continues, you’ll go mad!” Shen Zuofeng clenched her teeth, fine beads of sweat forming on her forehead and slowly tracing the lines of her face.
Chi Qingwei turned her head to the side with difficulty. The scent at the tip of her nose seemed to be fading, yet it made her want to follow it, to seek it out.
“No… no hospital.” Chi Qingwei’s consciousness was blurring again, but the idea of going to the hospital filled her with intense aversion. In her current state, the hospital would either pair her with an alpha to regulate her pheromones or administer artificial pheromones. The memory of that damp, earthy scent of artificial pheromones still made her nauseous.
In a dark, cramped room, the pungent smell of blood mixed with the earthy odor of artificial pheromones had invaded her nostrils. Desperate screams echoed in her ears, a moment of utter despair that haunted her to this day.
“Chi Qingwei! Snap out of it!” Shen Zuofeng tried to push her away, but the woman moved like a sleek serpent, deftly slipping into her embrace and clinging tightly to her. Chi Qingwei’s scorching breath brushed against Shen Zuofeng’s sensitive neck, making her glands burn even hotter.
“Don’t go, take me, please.” Chi Qingwei writhed restlessly in Shen Zuofeng’s arms, her voice tinged with a sob, making her appear even more fragile and pitiable.
Shen Zuofeng panted heavily, her arms unconsciously tightening around the woman in her embrace. The last shreds of her clear rationality reminded her not to harm Chi Qingwei.
“Qingwei, be good for a while, okay? Just be good. I won’t do anything to you. Trust me, just be good.” Shen Zuofeng held her close, burying her face in Chi Qingwei’s neck where the pheromones were strongest. Her eyes reddened as she murmured, “Qingwei, be good.”
At this gesture, Chi Qingwei seemed to sense danger on a subconscious level. She began to pull back, struggling violently, her expression one of shattered panic that was heartbreaking to behold.
However, the struggle did not last long. As the increasingly intense scent of lime mixed with alcohol grew stronger in the air, her resistance weakened until she lay softly in Shen Zuofeng’s arms, no longer struggling but emitting faint, fragmented moans.
Shen Zuofeng felt as if her entire being had been thrown into a sea of fire, scorching heat radiating through her skin and transferring to Chi Qingwei. Her mind was intensely focused, every nerve on edge.
She feared that if she allowed herself to relax even slightly, she might mark Chi Qingwei, who at this moment seemed as vulnerable as a little white rabbit.
This was something she absolutely could not allow. She would not permit herself to forcibly mark Chi Qingwei before confirming their relationship.
She doubted Chi Qingwei would want that either.