“Are you serious?”
“…Miss Jiang?”
“A kiss… here, just you and me?”
Li Xingya looked at Jiang Chiyue. She didn’t need an answer; just seeing the other’s serious expression told her Jiang Chiyue was serious.
A kiss. Li Xingya had never done that before.
She had thought she’d never have this chance in her lifetime—so, should she try it?
Of course not!
What Li Xingya needed to do was sever the ties between this body and Jiang Chiyue. A kiss? That would only make things more tangled and chaotic.
Jiang Chiyue, Jiang Chiyue. Such a troublesome person. She had already told her she wasn’t the original Li Xingya. Unnecessary feelings would only slow down Li Xingya’s typing speed at her work desk.
“Li Xingya.”
“Yes.”
Li Xingya snapped back to reality.
Jiang Chiyue clenched her fist and asked in a feigned casual tone, “You will keep our agreement, right?”
There had to be a limit to pretending to have amnesia. If she overdid it, Jiang Chiyue would really get angry.
“Miss Jiang, if I could recover my memories, I think I would be very willing to keep the agreement with you.”
Li Xingya spread her hands, looking innocent.
“But for now, I hope you can see me as… a person with the same name and appearance as Li Xingya, but not Li Xingya at all. I know this is difficult for you, but it is equally difficult for me to play along with your agreement.”
Li Xingya’s tone was confident. As if she was telling Jiang Chiyue to wait for a notice.
That was Li Xingya’s world. To her, things were only divided into what she could do and what she couldn’t. If she couldn’t do something, no amount of forcing would change that.
Besides—
“And I’m still a minor.”
Li Xingya pointed at herself.
“I’m only sixteen. You’re twenty this year, hmm… You seem quite high-status. Kissing a sixteen-year-old girl—wouldn’t that be bad for your reputation if it got out?”
“Are you threatening me?”
“It’s not a threat. It’s sincere advice.”
Sincerity shone in Li Xingya’s eyes:
“I have no reason to threaten you… Even though you broke into my home, kidnapped me, and might even restrict my freedom next, I truly have no reason to threaten you. That would only make my situation more dangerous, wouldn’t it?”
Jiang Chiyue: “…”
During the conversation with Jiang Chiyue, Li Xingya gradually regained the feeling she had at her work desk in her previous life. That feeling… of facing a tough job. Her speech habits, tone, and intonation were becoming more and more like her former self.
Hmph—after all, even though her body had changed, even though she was only sixteen, Li Xingya could still handle emergencies gracefully like a proper adult.
“Miss Jiang…”
“I told you not to call me that!”
“Eep…!”
Jiang Chiyue’s sudden outburst caught Li Xingya off guard. And it shattered the masculine spirit Li Xingya had barely built up. She even let out an embarrassing sound.
‘Ah… so she can make that kind of noise.’
Jiang Chiyue thought.
‘So if I act like this, Li Xingya will put herself in the right place?’
‘So cute.’
Jiang Chiyue slowly leaned forward and said word by word, “Li! Xing! Ya!”
“Yes!”
Li Xingya instantly tensed up.
This wasn’t a joke. Li Xingya was genuinely scared.
As a wage earner, aside from work mistakes, Li Xingya rarely panicked. Except for one situation—when facing a superior at work, i.e., the boss. Right now, Jiang Chiyue’s dominant aura really gave Li Xingya the same pressure as facing her boss.
“Um… Please, please listen to me. I am, I am Li Xingya. Yes! I am Li Xingya, no question!”
Her masculine spirit was completely gone. Not like an adult at all. She was nothing but a scared sixteen-year-old girl.
Jiang Chiyue snorted coldly, sizing up Li Xingya who had her back pressed tightly against the seat.
“And our agreement?”
“…Two million. I’ll find a way to pay you back… for sure.”
Li Xingya promised. Of course, she no longer dared to say “Miss Jiang.”
“Huh?”
Jiang Chiyue was stunned. When had she ever mentioned the debt?
“I’ll find a job, and I’ll cut back on eating and sleeping as much as I can… I’ll work hard to pay back all the money I owe you.”
Li Xingya kept talking to herself, as if some self-protection mechanism had kicked in.
‘Come to think of it… why do I like working?’
‘What was the reason I kept staying at my desk?’
“Just give me some time… I can definitely pay it back.”
‘Ah, I remember.’
‘It was my biological father with the huge gambling debt.’
‘It was the dire life after being abandoned by my mother.’
‘I’m not good at communicating with others, so I had to keep working to survive.’
‘After all, the thing I had most of when I was young was time.’
‘Trading time for money—that’s what I’m best at.’
Facing Jiang Chiyue, Li Xingya’s first thought was that the reason the other was angry must be the unpaid two million debt. In her previous life, the debt collectors who came knocking were always angry too. But if they could get the money, they’d put on a grinning face. As long as she guaranteed she could pay Jiang Chiyue back, Jiang Chiyue would be happy too, right?
However…
“How do you plan to find a job?”
“Huh?”
Li Xingya was taken aback.
“Find a suitable job ad online, go to the interview, and pass it… That’s how you find a job, isn’t it?”
Jiang Chiyue’s look at Li Xingya grew strange.
“A girl who’s only sixteen and should be a high school freshman—you don’t really think any company would want you, do you?”
Jiang Chiyue’s words reminded Li Xingya. She had been thinking that as long as she found a job and saved enough to pay off the debt, she could sort out her relationship with Jiang Chiyue. But only now did she remember that this body was only sixteen.
“It’s fine… I, I can work illegally.”
Li Xingya’s tone turned bitter.
That was how she had gotten by in her previous life. She had experience with illegal work. But that was many years ago. Could she still find it smoothly now? What if she couldn’t?
What to do.
What to do.
What to do.
What to do…?
“Li Xingya.”
Probably realizing Li Xingya’s thoughts were spiraling, Jiang Chiyue simply gave her a hard reset.
All words stuck in her throat. Li Xingya opened her mouth but only managed to say one word:
“Yes.”
“Forget it. Come home with me first.”
Jiang Chiyue calmed down and turned to look out the window.
“Since you’re only thinking about work, I’ll help you figure out the work situation.”
“For now, I only need you to do one thing—properly play the role of ‘Li Xingya.’”
Jiang Chiyue paused.
“You can keep pretending we don’t know each other, pretend to have amnesia, pretend to be a reincarnator. That’s fine. I’ll teach you properly… what Sister Li Xingya was like before.”
Li Xingya: “…”
‘Is she trying to force me to be a substitute?’