Chapter 145: Coercion

“Then why not come with me? Speaking of which, why did you go home with Liu Yinuo today?”

The moment Lin Zi said that, Ye Xingmian froze. She looked down at Lin Zi, who was applying medicine to her.

She pursed her lips, silent, saying nothing.

“Not saying anything? Fine, it doesn’t matter. Sister must think I’m not as good as Liu Yinuo, that I’ve been awful to you, so you’d turn to her without hesitation, right?”

The motion of applying medicine stopped. Lin Zi’s voice sounded bitter, as if she were wronged. But all of this received no concern from Ye Xingmian.

“I can understand… but I still feel a bit hurt.”

Slowly putting down the cotton swab and packing away the medicine, Lin Zi stood up, looking down at Ye Xingmian.

“You can feel it, right? I’m changing for you. I’m really trying to make up for what I did to you. Can you give me some kind of response?”

This time, Ye Xingmian didn’t turn away to avoid her, but she still said nothing. Lin Ziyan knew she hadn’t taken in her words at all.

She wanted to get angry but didn’t dare. She feared that if she did, all her efforts over the past two days would be wasted.

Even if it didn’t show on the surface, after all she had done, Ye Xingmian must have felt something, right?

Unfortunately, it seemed she was wrong.

Ye Xingmian stood up silently.

“I should go. If I stay in your room too long, Uncle and Aunt will get suspicious. Besides… it’s getting late. Time to sleep.”

Lin Ziyan was stunned, but when she saw Ye Xingmian actually heading for the door, she panicked.

This was a blatant refusal.

“No, you can’t! You’re not allowed to leave!”

“Why?”

Ye Xingmian turned, her raised brows carrying impatience.

That impatience was seen by Lin Zi, deeply stinging her.

She was silent for a moment, thinking many things, but also seeming to think nothing at all.

She wanted to make amends; she knew she might have hurt her deeply, and now it would take a lot of effort.

It seemed she was already too late. But even so, she still couldn’t swallow her pride.

“Ugh, anyway, you’re not allowed to leave! You have to sleep with me tonight… okay?”

“Why?”

“If you don’t, I’ll tell Mom and Dad about your situation!”

She really shouldn’t have said that, shouldn’t have threatened her again.

But when things reached this point, Lin Ziyan seemed to have only that card left. She blurted it out without thinking.

“…Do whatever you want.”

Yet, even so, it didn’t work.

As Ye Xingmian tried to leave again, she quickly grabbed her hand.

“No… don’t go…!”

“What are you doing!”

This repeated behavior made Ye Xingmian irritated. For the first time, she glared at the girl before her, feeling that Lin Zi was being completely unreasonable.

‘Go ahead and tell. What’s the point of threatening me with that? I’m not scared anymore. Probably…’

Even though a part of her was uneasy, she was truly fed up with staying in this room, constantly facing Lin Ziyan.

Even though Lin Ziyan’s attitude had indeed improved a lot—bringing her cake, buying her medicine—when alone, she simply couldn’t put on a good face for Lin Ziyan.

‘Of course I know why. It’s because the impression Lin Ziyan left on me is too terrible. We grew up together for over a decade; I can’t believe that just a few days can make Lin Zi truly repent.’

‘In my eyes, Lin Ziyan must have some ulterior motive.’

‘And it really is true, but what exactly is Lin Ziyan after? Probably even she isn’t sure.’

“Anyway, you’re not allowed to leave!”

Lin Ziyan forcefully closed in, trying to hug her. She didn’t want that, so she started struggling.

She was naturally weaker than Lin Ziyan, but Lin Ziyan seemed afraid of hurting her injuries and was obviously holding back, which led to a temporary stalemate.

“Let go!”

Ye Xingmian gritted her teeth. She absolutely did not want to stay and sleep here another night. She hadn’t had any space of her own for a long time; she really needed to be alone.

Besides, seeing Lin Zi annoyed her.

“No!”

Lin Ziyan matched her stubbornly. After all, she was stronger; she wasn’t afraid of her breaking free, just had to be careful not to hurt her.

This feeling was really awkward; controlling her strength was difficult. She was gradually getting tired.

Just then, footsteps came from outside.

“Zi Yan, is Xingmian in your room?”

Ye Xingmian lowered her voice. Both of them were startled, but this could also be a turning point.

“Aunt is here. Let me go so I can leave, or we’ll be found out…”

Lin Ziyan suddenly widened her eyes. She thought of a brilliant idea.

She instantly increased her strength and pulled Ye Xingmian into her arms with one hand.

“Found out? What’s there to find? Wait…”

She forcefully covered Ye Xingmian’s mouth with her other hand, not letting her speak.

Ye Xingmian’s eyes went wide. She tried to struggle, but the hand covering her mouth was like an iron grip—no matter how hard she pushed, it wouldn’t budge.

Even if she wanted to call for help, she couldn’t.

But Lin Ziyan’s malicious actions didn’t stop there. The arm around her body roamed, fumbling for the zipper on her clothes, pulling it open, and even lifting up the sweatshirt underneath, exposing large patches of snow-white skin to the cold air.

The cold was secondary; the key was her current state.

Her clothes were lifted almost to the point of revealing the underside of her breasts, and with the position she was in with Lin Ziyan…

“Don’t move, don’t speak! You don’t want to call my mom in here and let her see us like this, do you? So behave, got it!”

Another threat, but this time Ye Xingmian didn’t dare disobey.

Just exposing her identity as a girl might not be the worst; at worst, she’d be treated as a freak and kicked out of the Lin family with Lin Zi stirring things up.

But what would happen if they were seen like this?

Not only would her gender be revealed, but she’d also be misunderstood about her relationship with Lin Ziyan, right?

Her foster parents loved Lin Zi so much. If they misunderstood that Lin Zi had feelings for her, even if she was the one being forced, they would probably kick out this “neither male nor female” thing they were taking care of.

She might even get beaten badly, maybe crippled.

She didn’t doubt that possibility at all.

Everything she had was temporary and unstable.

All the hypocritical tenderness from her foster parents was built on Lin Zi’s rebelliousness, on her potential to mend the relationship between her foster parents and Lin Ziyan.

But if this scene was seen, everything would collapse in the opposite direction.

Her eyes reddened, she nodded, not daring to speak.

So, once again, she was forced to submit.

Nothing had changed. Nothing at all.