“Are you ready?”Lina"s tone was serious as she asked Sheng Jiaoyang.
Sheng Jiaoyang nodded. “Don"t worry, I"m not a child. I won"t lose control.”
Lina smiled and walked together with Sheng Jiaoyang into the banquet hall.
When the two entered, the engagement feast had already started and they were about to exchange rings.
The dazzlingly beautiful woman on the stage wore a big, happy smile as she looked at the young man with a face so beautiful it seemed to have been carved by the G.o.ds themselves. They looked perfectly suited for each other.
Sheng Jiaoyang pursed her lips as she watched the man she liked personally slip the ring on somebody else"s finger. She"d warned herself inside, now it was enough.
“Jiaojiao?” Lina"s worried voice sounded in her ear amongst the applause.
Sheng Jiaoyang turned to smile gently at Lina as she said, “Mei Niu, I"m hungry.”
“Come on, let"s go over to eat.”
The engagement feast had all sorts of western style refreshments. When Sheng Jiaoyang saw these, she felt her appet.i.te suddenly grow as she filled a plate with food.
“You didn"t eat on the plane?” Lina saw her att.i.tude and jumped in shock.
“My wound hadn"t yet scabbed over, so how could I dare to eat?”
Lina saw the wound on Sheng Jiaoyang"s lip and remembered that it was from Demon King Shen"s bite. She secretly smiled. You bite me, I bite you. How out of character it was for somebody like Demon King Shen to do that. She looked at Sheng Jiaoyang"s expression again. She was originally quite worried, but now it seemed like she could finally relax.
“Nana,” someone called.
An elegant, sweet looking woman in a green cheongsam with her hair in an updo walked towards them.
Sheng Jiaoyang was startled and tugged on Lina"s arm, sighing as she said, “Aunty Lin"s truly beautiful today.”
“Mum, did something happen?” Lina asked.
“Come with me, your father wants to introduce a few people to you.”
Lin Xuejun looked at Sheng Jiaoyang and smiled slightly, “I"ll be taking Lina for a bit, take your time eating.”
“Alright, don"t worry about me.” Sheng Jiaoyang waved her fork.
After watching Lina leave with Aunty Lin, Sheng Jiaoyang took her plate and found a seat next to one of the columns in the banquet hall. She slowly ate the snacks, hissing occasionally at the pain on her lip. She seemed rather inharmonious compared to the other grandly dressed and socialising guests as she just sat in the corner, eating.
“You"re also here!” a clear voice said, accompanied by light footsteps.
Sheng Jiaoyang c.o.c.ked her head and saw Lin Yu. She turned away and continued to eat.
“You don"t remember me?”
“My memory"s not that bad.”
Lin Yu smiled and sat beside her, watching as she devoured all the snacks on the plate, one by one.
After she"d finished, he asked, “Do you know Jiaoyang"s current situation?”
Sheng Jiaoyang set down her plate, her gaze wandering around for a while before she finally responded with, “You"re still waiting for her?”
“Mm!” Lin Yu"s reply was very firm.
Sheng Jiaoyang turned and looked at Lin Yu"s face which was so similar to Lin Yan"s before suddenly laughing. She couldn"t get what she wanted, but what she didn"t want wanted her.
“Why are you laughing?”
“She doesn"t like you,” Sheng Jiaoyang stopped laughing and said ruthlessly.
Lin Yu"s face turned dark, and he was silent for a moment before replying, “I know.”
Sheng Jiaoyang raised an eyebrow. “Then, why are you still waiting for her? Even if she does wake up, she won"t be with you.”
“Because I like her.”
“I heard that all your friends oppose you two being together as they think that Jiaoyang is a very malicious person. What do you like about her?” Sheng Jiaoyang finally asked the question she"d always wanted to ask.
“I don"t care what other people think, I believe my own intuition. She"s not what other people say she is. The Sheng Jiaoyang I know is somebody with a beautiful, generous, and open-minded heart. She has a n.o.ble spirit and would disdain doing anything malicious.”
n.o.ble? Sheng Jiaoyang sneered, “Your thoughts about m-Sheng Jiaoyang are too good.”
“This isn"t what I think, but rather, what I feel. You"re her good friend, so you shouldn"t be questioning her integrity like that.” Lin Yu frowned, his tone serious.
Sheng Jiaoyang found it rather novel as this was the first time that somebody had defended her right to her face. However, she also felt slightly apologetic and didn"t want Lin Yu to bitterly wait any longer. She coldly said, “She was with you purely because she wanted to use you. Sheng s.h.i.+yun liked you, and she hated Sheng s.h.i.+yun. Furthermore…you look very similar to Lin Yan.”
“I look similar to my cousin?” At first, Lin Yu didn"t understand what she"d meant. Suddenly, he realised and his eyes widened.
“Right, it"s just as you thought. Sheng Jiaoyang liked Lin Yan!”
Lin Yu received a huge blow. If Sheng Jiaoyang was together with him just to anger Sheng s.h.i.+yun, he wouldn"t have minded. However, it was hard to accept if she"d dated him to use as a replacement.
“Now, you also know the truth about what kind of person she was. I advise you to stop waiting, you"ll meet someone better.”
“No, I want to hear it from her own mouth.”
Sheng Jiaoyang was astonished. She"d already said it so bluntly, yet Lin Yu still wouldn"t give up?
“What if she never wakes up?”
Lin Yu pursed his lips and didn"t respond.
The music in the banquet hall changed as everyone moved to the sides, leaving the center of the floor empty.
Today"s leading roles, the engaged fiance and fiancee started their first dance.
Sheng Jiaoyang wanted alcohol and was just about to reach for another cup when she thought about how reckless she became when she was drunk. She was afraid that once she started drinking, she wouldn"t be able to stop. Once she was drunk, she didn"t know what she would do here.
Out of sight, out of mind. Sheng Jiaoyang got up to go to the bathroom.
She washed her face and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was already used to her current appearance and no longer felt that it was different from before. However, the wound on her lips was very conspicuous, causing her unhappy mood to s.h.i.+ft in another direction.
“Jiaojiao.”
Sheng Jiaoyang turned around and saw Lina standing by the bathroom"s entrance.
“You scared me to death, I thought you went back.” Lina released a sigh of relief.
“My luggage is still in your car, and everything is inside. Where did you think I"d go?” Sheng Jiaoyang didn"t know whether to laugh or cry as she replied.
Lina laughed as she walked closer. “If you"re still hungry, let"s go and eat a good meal.”
“Nah, I"m not in the mood to eat. Can you leave yet?”
“Of course, the lead role today isn"t mine.”
“Then, let"s go get some fresh air!”
“Sure,” Lina agreed.
Lina didn"t even tell her family before slipping away with Sheng Jiaoyang, driving the sports car she still hadn"t taken for maintenance yet. It was November, and the air had already begun to turn chilly, perfect for taking a spin.
Sheng Jiaoyang sat in the front pa.s.senger seat, enjoying the frigid air hitting her body as her cheeks turned red from the wind. She s.h.i.+vered from the cold, but a happy smile was on her face.
“Other people probably think that something"s wrong with us, enjoying the wind in such cold weather!” Sheng Jiaoyang shouted. Since it was so windy, Lina could only hear her if she shouted.
“As long as you"re happy!” Lina yelled back.
It was already cold enough to snow, so enjoying the wind in such weather really was crazy.
Sheng Jiaoyang tucked her head back in, again shouting, “Let"s go back and rest!”
The sky was completely dark and the breath they exhaled was visible as they returned to Lina"s house. They looked at each other"s frozen appearances and laughed.
“Mei Niu, thank you for accompanying me today.” Sheng Jiaoyang reached out to hug Lina.
“Alright, alright, hurry up and have a hot bath. Be careful to not catch a cold.” Lin Na patted Sheng Jiaoyang"s back.
“Let"s go together!”
Sheng Jiaoyang and Lina grinned at each other.
It was like they"d returned to the past. The times when they"d studied, played, cried, and laughed together. There were no secrets between them and it wasn"t their first time bathing together either. Well, in Sheng Jiaoyang"s old body anyway.
Since Sheng Jiaoyang"s short hair had dried very quickly under the hairdryer, she left the bathroom first. She gave Lina a shout and went down to prepare two cups of hot water.
Just as she was about to carry the cups upstairs, she heard a sound coming from the living room.
“Dear, you"re so pretty today!” It was the magnetic and mellow tone of a man, his voice filled with sincerity.
“Not…ahnn…not here…”
Sheng Jiaoyang stood by the kitchen door and stared stupidly at the romantic scene. Although she"d taken off her contact lenses for the bath and couldn"t see very clearly, she could still see the two going upstairs. The stairs weren"t far from the kitchen, only around two meters away.
The tall man was hugging a slender woman, one hand cupping the back of the woman"s head as he kissed her. His other hand was rubbing the woman"s arm, causing creases to form on the elegant green cheongsam dress. The woman half-heartedly resisted as she was driven wild by the kiss.
The two excitedly kissed as they made their way upstairs, soon disappearing from Sheng Jiaoyang"s sight.
Sheng Jiaoyang suddenly felt her throat turn dry as she downed a cup of warm water. She felt that it still wasn"t enough and drank another cup.
She really hadn"t thought that Lina"s parents were so intimate in private, even more pa.s.sionate than fresh lovers.
She filled the cups again and returned to their room.
Lina had just finished blow drying her hair and saw Sheng Jiaoyang"s red face. Finding it strange, she asked, “Are you hot?”
“Yeah, haha, I"ll go to the balcony to cool off for a bit.” Sheng Jiaoyang pa.s.sed Lina a cup before taking the other to the balcony.
After opening the balcony door, a cool wind caressed her face, causing Sheng Jiaoyang to s.h.i.+ver. However, she didn"t feel that it was too cold, probably because her heart was too hot.
In her head, she wasn"t thinking about the scene that she"d just witnessed, but rather, the dream she had yesterday night.
In the dream, she was being hugged by an unknown man, their noses pasted together as their lips intertwined…
When she"d woken up, she"d thought that it was just an embarra.s.sing dream and hadn"t paid any attention to it.
But, when she saw Lina"s parents" intimacy just now, a frightening idea emerged in Sheng Jiaoyang"s mind.Previous ChapterNext Chapter