After Cat A Saved the Wrong Female Lead - Chapter 31
Chapter 31: A Deal Between Lovers
At 7:30 AM, the school bell rang as usual.
Tang Li was still lying in bed when Qin Shiyang pushed open the bedroom door and stepped inside.
“You’re not up yet?” she asked.
Tang Li groaned under the covers. “My legs are sore.”
Qin Shiyang walked over and pulled back the blanket. “You’re skipping school just because of that?”
“I’m not skipping,” Tang Li muttered. “I’m protesting.”
“Oh?” Qin Shiyang crossed her arms. “And what exactly are you protesting?”
Tang Li propped herself up on one elbow, her hair tousled and her voice raspy. “You seduced a minor.”
Qin Shiyang: “…You’re nineteen.”
Tang Li: “A minor in spirit.”
Qin Shiyang chuckled. “Don’t be dramatic. You weren’t exactly resisting.”
Tang Li: “I was forced.”
Qin Shiyang leaned down and whispered into her ear, “Do you want me to force you again?”
Tang Li flushed instantly, yanking the blanket back over her head.
Qin Shiyang laughed softly and sat beside her. “Come on, if you don’t get up now, I’ll have to call your homeroom teacher.”
“You wouldn’t,” Tang Li growled.
“I would,” Qin Shiyang said, already pulling out her phone.
“You devil!” Tang Li lunged forward, snatching the phone away. “Alright, alright, I’ll get up!”
Qin Shiyang smiled in victory and stood up to leave. “Breakfast is ready. I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
As she walked out, Tang Li flopped back onto the bed with a groan. Her whole body still ached from last night. Qin Shiyang may look cold on the outside, but once she let her walls down, she became shockingly intense.
Tang Li pulled on her school uniform, dragged herself into the bathroom, and stared at her reflection. There were faint marks on her collarbone. She dabbed on some concealer, adjusted her tie to cover the rest, and then finally trudged downstairs to eat.
At breakfast, Qin Shiyang was reading the financial news on her tablet while sipping coffee.
Tang Li stared at the vegetables on her plate with a look of despair. “Can I skip the greens today?”
“No,” Qin Shiyang said without looking up.
“I’m too tired to chew.”
“They’re good for your complexion.”
Tang Li pouted. “You didn’t care about my complexion last night.”
Qin Shiyang paused, then raised an eyebrow. “Do you want to go another round right now?”
Tang Li instantly picked up her fork. “…I love vegetables.”
….
After breakfast, they rode together to school in Qin Shiyang’s car.
Tang Li leaned against the window, half-asleep. Qin Shiyang kept one hand on the wheel and the other on Tang Li’s thigh, gently stroking it.
Tang Li cracked one eye open. “Drive properly.”
“I am,” Qin Shiyang said, her tone lazy.
Tang Li covered her thigh with her blazer. “Hands to yourself.”
Qin Shiyang smirked but didn’t push it.
When they arrived at the school gate, Tang Li grabbed her bag and was about to get out when she hesitated.
“…Shiyang.”
“Hmm?”
Tang Li turned to her, eyes serious. “Why me?”
Qin Shiyang blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I mean… Why did you choose me?” Tang Li looked down. “You’re so accomplished. So self-controlled. You could’ve picked anyone. Why me?”
Qin Shiyang reached out and took her hand. “Because you’re the only one who never asked me to be someone else.”
Tang Li froze.
“I’ve been ‘the good Omega,’ ‘the business heir,’ ‘the respectable daughter’… But with you, I can just be myself.”
“You’re not afraid of me. You don’t need anything from me. You just… see me.”
Tang Li’s heart skipped a beat.
She opened her mouth, but the bell rang again, cutting her off.
“I have to go,” she mumbled.
“Text me later,” Qin Shiyang said, letting go of her hand.
Tang Li nodded and ran off, heart pounding.
….
The day passed slowly.
Tang Li couldn’t focus in class. Her mind kept replaying that moment in the car, those words: You’re the only one who never asked me to be someone else.
At lunch, she stared at her food, barely eating.
Her classmate nudged her. “Hey, you good?”
Tang Li blinked. “Yeah. Just thinking.”
Later that night, after dinner, she sat at her desk trying to finish a physics assignment but gave up halfway through and pulled out her phone.
She stared at Qin Shiyang’s name in her contacts for a long time.
Then finally typed:
Tang Li: When’s your next business trip?
The reply came almost immediately.
Qin Shiyang: Next week. Shanghai. Why?
Tang Li hesitated, then sent:
Tang Li: I want to come with you.
Tang Li: No reason. Just… want to spend more time with you.
There was a pause.
Then:
Qin Shiyang: I’ll book your ticket.
Tang Li smiled, her cheeks warming.
She didn’t know where all of this was going.
But she knew one thing:
She wasn’t running anymore.