“What is it?”
Noticing the fleeting flash of shame and annoyance that Kexin Lin couldn’t catch in time on her face, Jiang Qing subconsciously leaned a bit closer toward her side, only to watch as Kexin Lin panicked and dodged toward the window side.
Jiang Qing’s body stiffened, not daring to lean in any closer.
“No…”
The sudden closeness made Kexin Lin’s movements in swiping the tablet flustered, her eyes dodging and refusing to make eye contact with Jiang Qing: “…How about we pick what movie to watch after eating? I can’t make up my mind for a moment.”
Jiang Qing narrowed her eyes, sensing her tension. After sitting back properly, she looked out the side window: “Okay.”
Kexin Lin let out a secret sigh of relief.
But she didn’t immediately hand the tablet back to Jiang Qing, continuing to casually flip through the recommended movie pages on the tablet while her heart was in total chaos.
Ahhhhhhhh!!!
She had a feeling she had accidentally discovered someone else’s extraordinary adult fetish secret!!
There was no one to share it with!
The powerlessness and craziness of not daring to leak it easily…
Especially when she thought of Jiang Qing—cold, bright, and stunning on the outside, and the Jiang family’s proud next successor—who unexpectedly also looked at lesbian adult colored learning materials in private.
It totally subverted some of Kexin Lin’s impressions of Jiang Qing.
Why would Jiang Qing search for these?
Weren’t they supposed to just be putting on a show for a marriage alliance, with both sides keeping out of each other’s hair in private and not forcibly fulfilling wifely obligations?
Could it be that Jiang Qing wanted to… with her?
The atmosphere in the car quickly returned to the dullness it had at the beginning.
After a long while, Kexin Lin cleared the wild thoughts from her mind, composed her emotions, handed the tablet into Jiang Qing’s hands, and consulted with a sweet, obedient smile on her face: “Let’s just watch this art house film. What do you think?”
Jiang Qing turned her head to look and nodded: “Sure. I’ll have someone arrange it.”
The Jiang family had their own private home theater, and if you wanted to watch a movie, you just needed to say so in advance.
Kexin Lin had no objections. For now, she couldn’t imagine what kind of experience it would be to watch a movie alone with Jiang Qing in a private space for a long time.
The awkward thing was that those browser search histories she saw just now naturally popped up first in Kexin Lin’s mind, starting naturally with #108 positions for lesbian lovemaking#.
Kexin Lin: “…”
Not to mention, it made her strangely nervous yet expectant.
It was still early for lunch.
Kexin Lin simply suggested to Jiang Qing that they stroll around the nearby shopping mall and head to the movie theater when the time was right.
Jiang Qing smiled at the corners of her mouth: “That’s fine too, let’s see if there is anything you want to pick up.”
Kexin Lin gave a very soft “Mhm.”
Emerging from the parking garage, they directly took the elevator upstairs.
As soon as they stepped out of the elevator, they found it packed to the brim. The atmosphere of the National Day holiday was everywhere, with various shops offering discounts and promotions, people coming and going, bustling with extraordinary liveliness.
There are so many people.
Kexin Lin hadn’t shopped at this mall for a long time, but she did notice quite a few newly added shops.
Kexin Lin didn’t have any particular items she wanted to buy, planning to step into a store to take a look if she happened to find something she liked.
Seeing a few cold drink shops not far away, Jiang Qing felt her mind become active, and turning her head to look at Kexin Lin, she asked, “Thirsty? Should I go buy some bubble tea to drink?”
Kexin Lin blinked; she really was a little thirsty: “Let’s go together.”
Kexin Lin took two steps forward when she suddenly heard a “crack” sound coming from beneath her feet, as if something had snapped. Before she could look down to check, her body lost its footing and began to tumble toward the side.
“You okay?”
With quick eyes and fast hands, Jiang Qing steadied her.
Immediately, Jiang Qing felt that her wrist was boneless, the contacting skin somewhat cold, smooth, and soft. However, Jiang Qing’s mind wasn’t on that; she quickly lowered her head to check.
Only then did she discover that the heel of Kexin Lin’s high heels had broken.
Kexin Lin steadied herself by holding onto Jiang Qing’s arm, then tried moving her foot, her voice sounding relieved: “…I’m fine, I just wasn’t careful walking earlier, thank you.”
Jiang Qing immediately squatted down in front of her, extending her hands to carefully examine her foot.
To the naked eye, there were no signs of redness or swelling on the ankle.
Startled by her action, Kexin Lin reflexively pulled back her foot, feeling deeply astonished inside: “I… I’m fine.”
“Don’t move yet. If your foot is sprained and left untreated, it’ll get worse.”
Jiang Qing’s eyebrows wrinkled imperceptibly, and she once again grabbed her right foot, gently caressing her ankle with her palm, trying to massage it for her as she raised her head to ask, “Does it hurt?”
Having her right foot held by her, the tactile sensation made Kexin Lin feel an internal awkwardness, especially now meeting Jiang Qing’s seemingly eager concern. She shook her head with a somewhat awkward expression.
“My foot doesn’t hurt, my foot is fine.”
Saying that, Kexin Lin wanted to put some distance between them, habitually pulling a small pack of wet wipes out of her bag to hand to her: “You should wipe your hands first.”
Jiang Qing stared fixedly at her for a full several seconds before accepting the wet wipe: “Don’t walk barefoot, I’ll have someone bring shoes over right now.”
Kexin Lin froze, and then watched in surprise as Jiang Qing pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
The call was answered in a second.
Jiang Qing spoke to the person on the other end of the line unhurriedly: “Send me a pair of size 37 women’s shoes that are white, easy to match with clothes, and comfortable to wear. The address is the cold drink selling area on the third floor, make it quick.”
Hearing this, Kexin Lin was very surprised, looking down.
How did she know what shoe size she wore?
Could her eyes be that accurate?
After the call was hung up, Jiang Qing’s gaze fell back onto her bare feet, her expression giving away nothing: “Let me help you go sit and rest nearby first.”
There were many chairs placed for people waiting in line at the doorways of shops on this floor. The one closest to the two of them was a cold drink shop, with several empty chairs right at the entrance.
Kexin Lin softly agreed, carrying her broken high heels and walking while supported by her.
To be honest, Kexin Lin hadn’t expected Jiang Qing to be so warm-hearted toward her at all, and deep down she just found it incredible.
Although she and Jiang Qing had only met a few times briefly, they were in the same circle after all, so she naturally had some understanding of who Jiang Qing was.
Jiang Qing had been recognized as the successor of the Jiang family since childhood, boasting superior academic performance from a young age, winning awards every time she participated in Olympiad math competitions, and entering the company with her mother to participate in projects in her teens. She was praised by everyone.
However, many people also said that Jiang Qing was a bonafide workaholic in her career, just way too self-willed and the hardest person to mess with in the Jiang family.
During a family dinner once, Kexin Lin even heard her aunt complaining that a project on hand happened to have dealings with the Jiang family, and she wanted to privately ask the Jiang family if they could pull some strings to make things easier.
To her surprise, Jiang Qing flatly rejected it, stating that everything had to be done according to the rules.
That caused her aunt to be full of grievances during that period, feeling quite dissatisfied with Jiang Qing.
In Kexin Lin’s friend circle, there were also quite a few people who wanted to get to know Jiang Qing by adding her as a friend, but even after adding her, they didn’t expect Jiang Qing to show zero mercy, even publicizing what the other party had said.
It was as if Jiang Qing was deathly afraid of being pestered by people.
When the Lin family originally planned to enter into a marriage alliance with the Jiang family, her aunt had also been full of emotion, wishing the people agreeing to the marriage alliance were Jiang Qing and her cousin—the two of them would match better than anyone else.
Thinking of something, Kexin Lin lowered her head to look at her right foot, as if she could still feel the lingering warmth Jiang Qing left when holding her foot just now…
Before the shoes were delivered, Jiang Qing went to a bubble tea shop.
After Jiang Qing came back with two cups of bubble tea, she saw Kexin Lin sitting obediently on the chair, lowering her brows and eyes while wondering what she was thinking about.
“I bought you peach oolong tea, want to try it?”
Saying that, Jiang Qing handed the bubble tea to her, thoughtfully inserting the straw for her.
Kexin Lin accepted the bubble tea, only to discover that there was a layer of tissue paper wrapped around the outside of the tea cup. It wasn’t hard to guess that Jiang Qing had done it to prevent the water droplets on the cup from becoming wet and sticky on her hands.
Kexin Lin’s mood turned subtle, and she thanked her with a smile at the corners of her mouth: “Sorry to trouble you.”
“Why be so polite?”
Jiang Qing’s gaze lingered on her face for a moment before she let out a soft laugh, and then sat next to her to drink her own cup of bubble tea.
Before long, Jiang Qing’s assistant found them.
The shoes delivered were a pair of white sneakers, simple yet grand in style, looking very versatile at first glance.
Kexin Lin wanted to take the shoes, but Jiang Qing snatched them first, handing them over to her: “Try them on first, if they don’t fit, try the other pair.”
Kexin Lin only then noticed that there was another shoe box in the assistant’s hand.
“Okay.”
Kexin Lin didn’t dawdle, quickly trying them on.
This pair of white sneakers had a slight height-increasing effect when put on. Kexin Lin took two steps in place, and the fabric felt quite comfortable.
Kexin Lin hooked her lips in a smile: “Pretty comfortable to wear.”
Jiang Qing smiled with satisfaction, handing the broken high heels to the assistant: “Take this pair down first.”
“Alright, Boss.”
Knowing that they were going to continue shopping, the assistant very tactfully packed up the broken high heels and left.
The two of them continued strolling for a little longer, simply buying some items.
Jiang Qing glanced at the watch on her wrist, seeing that it was almost time for lunch. She looked at Kexin Lin, who seemed to have lost interest: “Didn’t you like spicy food? There’s a private restaurant nearby, and the chef makes it quite authentic.”
Right as her voice fell, Jiang Qing’s phone rang.
Sensible enough not to speak, Kexin Lin continued looking at the items in the shop as if nothing was the matter.
In less than a few seconds, Kexin Lin heard Jiang Qing asking her.
“Mom is calling us home for lunch, do you want to go?”
Without hanging up the phone, Jiang Qing looked at Kexin Lin with serious eyes, asking for her opinion.
Kexin Lin raised her eyes, met her gaze, and obediently nodded: “Okay.”
Kexin Lin wasn’t panicked.
When she found out about the marriage alliance, she had already had people investigate the background information of everyone in the Jiang family.
Stepping out of the elevator, the two walked toward the parking area, laughing and chatting. When they were almost next to the vehicle, Kexin Lin inadvertently caught sight of a familiar figure and involuntarily stopped in her tracks.
Kexin Lin froze, her heart pounding heavily.
Keenly sensing Kexin Lin’s emotional shift, Jiang Qing slowed her pace alongside her and followed her line of sight, only to discover that Kexin Lin was staring in a daze at a young woman not far away.
The Gandou circle was only so big, and peers of the same age group more or less played together.
Jiang Qing naturally recognized who that woman was.
Mu Ci, the eldest miss of the Mu family.
A close friend of Kexin Lin’s cousin. Before going abroad, Mu Ci frequently visited the Lin family as a guest, and it was said that Kexin Lin’s relationship with Mu Ci was quite extraordinary…
A trace of obscure and hard-to-decipher emotion flashed across Jiang Qing’s eyes, her voice very low: “Is it someone you know? Should we go over and hand out wedding candies?”
There was not much expression on Kexin Lin’s face as she shook her head lightly: “No need, let’s go.”
Jiang Qing nodded indifferently.
The rest of the car ride was exceptionally quiet; no one spoke.
Kexin Lin closed her eyes in a very comfortable posture.
Jiang Qing, sitting beside Kexin Lin, looked very composed on the surface, revealing no displeasure whatsoever, but her tightly gripped phone and continuously editing messages betrayed her anxiety.
Jiang Qing cared very much.
A moment later, Jiang Qing sent two more messages to her assistant on her phone:
[Didn’t you say Mu Ci was coming back to the country next week? Check on that immediately.]