Chapter 046 A Kiss

Jiang Yao called Cheng Yanchi to let him know that she had left early.

Things had turned out this way, and there was no way she could stay and keep pretending to smile at others with Cheng Yanchi any longer.

Walking alone toward the bus stop, Jiang Yao wobbled on her high heels, wiping the ink from her face with a wet tissue.

A few passersby dotted the road, all casting curious glances at her.

She didn’t know how long she had walked when, under the dim glow of a streetlamp ahead, she caught sight of a man standing in the shadows.

The light stretched his shadow long behind him, casting a faint melancholy across his brow.

Jiang Yao stopped in her tracks, meeting his eyes from a distance.

Seeing her hesitate, the man strode forward, his tall figure blocking her path, chest rising and falling, his gaze fixed intently on her smudged face.

Jiang Yao felt awkward under his stare and avoided his eyes. “You managed to shake those people off so quickly?”

A surge of inexplicable anger rose in He Yunqing’s chest, though he couldn’t say whether it was toward Jiang Yao or himself.

“Who told you to step in?” he asked, frowning.

Jiang Yao laughed it off as she wiped her face, “It was fate, just—”

“Enough!” He Yunqing cut her off without courtesy. “Do you realize how dangerous that was? What if she wasn’t holding ink? What if it was acid or something else? Have you no care for your face, or your life?”

“I’m fine, aren’t I?” Jiang Yao pursed her lips. “That bottle was pitch black inside, didn’t look like acid to me.”

The more she spoke, the more justified she felt, growing more earnest as she went. “Besides, if it really had been acid, then I’d be even less willing to let you get splashed. With a face like yours, think how many hearts would break if it were ruined. Not to mention Ye Yiyi—she’d cry herself to death...”

Glancing down by chance, she noticed a faint stain of ink on the hem of He Yunqing’s coat.

Jiang Yao always felt that someone as spotless and immaculate as him shouldn’t be touched by such filth.

She reached out with her tissue to wipe the ink from his coat, but before her hand could touch it, He Yunqing stopped her.

Jiang Yao frowned. “Hey, He Yunqing, what’s your problem? I took the ink for you, I’m the one who got splashed, so why are you the one upset?”

“I don’t want you taking risks for me!” He Yunqing’s eyes locked fiercely on her face.

That face, which just moments before had been as fresh as a lotus in clear water, was now smeared black, making her look like a little cat.

“I’ll blame myself—why wasn’t I the one to stand in front of you... why wasn’t I there just now, why not back then...”

Jiang Yao listened in a fog, bewildered as she looked at him. “Back then? What do you mean, back then? He Yunqing, are you so angry you’re not thinking straight?”

Out of her sight, He Yunqing’s large hand clenched tightly into a fist.

“Why do you always make me feel so guilty? Why do you always make me so...”

His voice was low, and in the depths of his dark eyes, a hint of red flickered. The last two words never left his lips.

Heartache... All he felt was a mysterious, aching pain in his heart...

“So what do I make you feel?” Jiang Yao craned her neck, studying his expression, then sighed softly. “Come on, there’s nothing to feel guilty about. I’m not hurt anyway. Besides, it’s not like I stepped in front of you for nothing.”

She tapped her heel against the curb. “You’ve helped me so many times before. I, Jiang Yao, am not someone who ignores favors. Just think of it as me repaying you.”

He Yunqing disliked her putting it that way. He said nothing, his face cold, but he seized her chin in his large hand and, pulling out a wet tissue, began carefully wiping the stains from her face.

Jiang Yao wasn’t about to sit still and let him do as he pleased. She tried to squirm away.

“Don’t move,” he said quietly, and only when her face was finally a bit cleaner did he speak softly, “Don’t ever do anything like that again.”

“We’ll talk about next time, next time,” Jiang Yao patted her face with her hand, acting unconcerned. “I just don’t like owing people, that’s all.”

In Jiang Yao’s philosophy, it was best for people to have no debts to each other.

“Jiang Yao, have you really made up your mind to draw this line so sharply between us?” He Yunqing’s brows knitted.

Jiang Yao pouted, unconcerned. “Isn’t that a good thing?”

He Yunqing turned his back to her, striding several meters away before suddenly turning around again.

His abrupt movement startled Jiang Yao.

She stared blankly as he came back toward her.

“You asked me what else you did the night you were poisoned by mushrooms,” He Yunqing said in a low voice.

“Yeah,” Jiang Yao was still lost, “So what did I do?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Of course.”

He Yunqing gazed steadily into her clear eyes, took a deep breath, and gently tilted up her chin with his cool fingers.

Jiang Yao sensed what was coming, but her body felt frozen as if under a spell; she couldn’t move.

She simply stood there, dazed, as the man slowly lowered his head, his handsome face drawing nearer, until his thin, sensual lips pressed softly against hers.

There was a domineering possessiveness in his kiss, but also a touch of tenderness, as he drank in her sweetness.

Jiang Yao’s mind went completely blank.

She had no idea how much time passed before she came to her senses, shoving He Yunqing away, looking at him with a mix of anger and embarrassment.

Then she scrubbed at her lips with her hand, twice, forcefully.

“I meant to repay you, but not like this. Please have some respect!”

He Yunqing looked at her angry expression. “That’s what you did that night. By your logic of keeping things even and drawing lines, I’m merely returning what you gave me.”

“You—” Jiang Yao stared at him, mouth agape, her face burning red. “Impossible! I would never do such a thing!”

He Yunqing smiled faintly. “Impossible? You just lacked a bit of skill, that’s all.”

With his words, Jiang Yao’s face turned even redder, burning so hot she felt feverish.

She gave He Yunqing a hard shove, covered her face, and ran off as if fleeing a disaster.

He Yunqing stood quietly where she had left him, gazing at her retreating figure, lips pressed together.

His lips still bore the lingering taste of her...

Not far away, from within a Lamborghini, Cheng Yanchi watched the entire scene impassively, his expression growing steadily darker.

Lighting a cigarette, he smoked in silence, as if all his unspoken thoughts drifted away with the curling smoke.

Only when the cigarette burned down did Cheng Yanchi stub it out, close the window again, and sit in contemplation for a long while before finally starting the car and driving away...