Chapter 8: Jiang Qing

“Alright, time to get to work!”

Liu Yun raised both hands in an exaggerated stretch, her impressive curves on full display in the sunlight without the slightest hint of self-consciousness.

Mo Liang’s gaze was involuntarily drawn over, then she looked down at her own chest, feeling like she’d been struck by lightning, her face written with shock.

“Today’s my boyfriend’s birthday, Shen Zhiyi, make sure to come by tonight, don’t forget now.”

“Okay.”

Shen Zhiyi answered crisply.

Liu Yun waved her hand, humming a little tune as she walked back into the restaurant.

“I need to get to work too.”

Shen Zhiyi withdrew her gaze, looked down at Mo Liang, and softened her tone a bit, “Are you still staying at my place?”

“Yes!”

“Then can I come with you tonight?”

Mo Liang tilted her face up, her eyes brimming with cautious hope, sparkling bright enough that it was hard to refuse.

“Okay.”

Shen Zhiyi hesitated for a moment, met those eyes, and finally nodded.

With that, she turned and walked toward the restaurant, the white ends of her hair swaying gently against her shoulders.

Mo Liang stood there and suddenly realized a problem.

It was still ages until nine o’clock at night, so what was she supposed to do?

Anyway, she was a free spirit with nothing but time.

Mo Liang strolled a couple steps down the street, found a bubble tea shop, and pushed the door open, planning to order a drink and sit around playing games to kill time. But when she reached the counter and looked up, she froze completely.

The server was actually Jiang Qing!

But she quickly recovered her composure. No worries, no worries—she was a girl now, there was no way Jiang Qing could recognize her.

With that thought, she let out a relieved breath, steeled herself, and walked up to the counter, doing her best to sound natural.

“One pearl milk tea, please.”

“Sure.”

Jiang Qing responded, her voice fairly clear and crisp.

While the other girl was making the tea, she stole a few glances at Jiang Qing.

Her eyes were hollow, and she’d lost a visible amount of weight, her once round cheeks now slightly sunken.

Mo Liang looked away, feeling a twinge of discomfort in her chest.

The Jiang Qing in her memory was a girl bursting with youthful energy, but the person standing in front of her now was more like a walking corpse.

Still, that unpleasant feeling only lasted a moment before Mo Liang habitually shoved it down.

She’d never been one to waste energy on self-flagellation. If she were the type to feel guilt, she never would have done that kind of thing in the first place.

Anyway, since she had nothing but free time right now, she might as well help the girl out.

Getting Jiang Qing back on her feet would count as doing a good deed, right?

Besides, there was zero risk since the other girl had no idea who she was.

Just then, Jiang Qing finished the milk tea and handed it over.

“Hi, could we talk for a bit?”

Mo Liang took the milk tea and tested the waters with Jiang Qing.

She had a pretty good understanding of Jiang Qing’s family situation.

Her father had lost the use of his legs early on, her mother had run off with someone else, her older brother had gone out and disappeared without a trace, and she’d been raised by her grandmother—though by now, her grandmother had probably been dead for a few years too.

Back then, she’d deliberately targeted that angle and easily snatched Jiang Qing away from Xu Lingxue.

Since it worked last time, it should work this time too, right?

Jiang Qing didn’t respond, didn’t even move, as if she hadn’t heard anyone speaking to her at all.

Mo Liang wasn’t in a hurry either. She had plenty of time. She took a sip of her milk tea and stood lazily at the counter, waiting for a reply.

What she didn’t know, though, was that Jiang Qing’s gaze had swept back and forth between her phone screen and Mo Liang, a faint, unreadable curve forming at the corner of her mouth.

As if confirming something, she took off her work uniform and walked over to Mo Liang on her own.

“Hi there, what did you want to talk about?”

Mo Liang was a little taken aback.

She’d been completely ignored just moments ago, and now the girl had suddenly come over on her own?

But with her current brain, she couldn’t figure out why, so she simply decided not to think about it.

“I think you’re really pretty, but you seem like you’re not doing so well, so I wanted to come over and cheer you up a bit.”

Mo Liang did her best to make her voice sound gentle and harmless, her eyes filled with sincere concern.

“Oh? Is that so? I have run into some trouble. Would you like to hear me out?”

“Of course, no problem!”

Mo Liang nodded, inwardly thrilled.

Jiang Qing grabbed her hand and pulled her straight out of the shop, while the other employees behind them muttered in stunned disbelief.

“Why is she gripping my hand so tightly…”

Mo Liang was a bit puzzled, her wrist aching from the squeeze, but after thinking about it, she kept her mouth shut.

The two of them turned into a narrow alley beside the bubble tea shop, where no one else was around.

Jiang Qing spoke up, her voice calm in a way that wasn’t quite normal.

“You know what?”

“I met a girl at first. She was different from me—she was rich, and every time I was in trouble, she’d help me. Slowly, she seemed to fall for me, and I think I fell for her too.”

Mo Liang listened and thought, isn’t that Xu Lingxue?

Jiang Qing’s gaze drifted over slowly, landing on Mo Liang’s face, carrying something that looked almost like a desire to destroy.

“But then, some scumbag came along and shattered all that peace.

“He wasn’t like that girl, who’d help me in hard times, but that scumbag cared about my life, cared about my family. Slowly, I think I fell in love with him.”

Mo Liang felt like something was slightly off.

“He brought me in front of that girl to flaunt himself, and when I looked at her face, I kept wondering if I’d made a mistake.”

“Later, that guy ran off with my money, and that girl still seemed to like me, but I felt like I didn’t deserve her affection anymore, so I didn’t reply to her messages and didn’t take her money either.”

She paused, her gaze locking dead onto Mo Liang’s face, and asked word by word, “I originally didn’t want to contact that guy again.

But tell me, if that person insisted on showing up in front of me, how should I deal with him?”

Mo Liang felt about ten out of ten that something was very, very wrong.

The air itself seemed heavier, pressing down on her until she could barely breathe.

If she still couldn’t tell who the other girl was talking about, then she’d be an idiot.

Dead end, dead end, she should’ve never tried to play the good Samaritan. Jiang Qing had definitely recognized her! Otherwise, why would she spill all this to a complete stranger she’d just met?

How on earth did she figure it out!

Forget it, she just needed to run.

“Haha… th-this… I see!”

Mo Liang let out a dry laugh, her feet already quietly inching backward.

“I just realized I think I left the gas on at home, l-let’s pick this up later—!”

Before the words even hit the ground, her wrist was yanked in an iron grip, and she couldn’t break free no matter how she struggled.

“Why are you running, Sister Mo Liang?”

Jiang Qing leaned down, bringing her lips close to Mo Liang’s ear, her warm breath brushing against her earlobe, her voice as soft as if she were coaxing a child.

But two patches of sickly flush bloomed on her cheeks, and the madness in her eyes was practically spilling over.

“Gulp—”

Mo Liang swallowed hard.

At this point, even if she was going to die, she’d die as a clever ghost.

“Did Xu Lingxue tell you about me?!”

“That’s right, that’s right, so smart, my Sister Mo Liang.”

Jiang Qing’s laughter was thin and drawn out.

She reached out, her ice-cold fingertips gently tracing Mo Liang’s cheek, her nails slowly dragging down along her jaw. The pressure wasn’t hard, but it made Mo Liang tremble all over.

“What’s going on here?”

All I did was block her, delete her, and run off with a few tens of thousands of her money, right?

Is this really necessary? Did it have to come to this?

But before she could figure it out, Jiang Qing had already yanked her into an embrace, holding her tight and fast.