Are You Allergic To Romance? - Chapter 6
Chapter 6: In the Darkness, They Draw Closer
The neon lights of the hotel illuminated the pale face of the dark-haired woman. For some reason, Xie Mianzhi felt a slight trance as she looked at her.
However, that beautiful, cold face was likely written with reluctance.
Even though she was still expressionless, Xie Mianzhi could tell.
It made sense; who would take in a complete stranger who inexplicably showed up on the road with a broken-down car?
The woman had already been very kind just by driving her here.
But Xie Mianzhi truly had no other option, especially since they had already spent an evening together.
Even if they hadn’t exchanged many words.
Jing Yuan looked at Miss Xie. Did the woman think she was too easygoing? To actually make the bizarre request to stay at her house.
“The ride doesn’t cost five hundred yuan,” Jing Yuan said, pointing to the money in Xie Mianzhi’s hand and motioning for her to open the wallet.
Xie Mianzhi had to extinguish her cigarette first and then comply.
Jing Yuan was seen pulling a single banknote from the wallet, indicating that it was sufficient for the fare.
“Goodbye.” Two cold, brief words signaling the end of their connection.
G-Goodbye!?
Xie Mianzhi watched Jing Yuan turn to leave. Her ankles were aching from the friction of her shoes, but she quickly hurried after her. “Hey, wait up, wait just a moment!”
Jing Yuan pushed the scooter onto its stand and opened the pet carrier. However, Little Yuanbao, who was waiting to hop in, was suddenly scooped up by the woman beside her. Yuanbao didn’t struggle; instead, it happily rubbed against Xie Mianzhi’s hand.
Jing Yuan frowned slightly, looking at Miss Xie, who insisted on following her, and her disappointing Little Yuanbao.
“Just for one night. Tomorrow, I’ll have someone fix my car, and that’ll be that. Didn’t you say you were going to sell the ducks to me?” Xie Mianzhi was getting anxious. She had never been to this place. She came to Mìsōng to relax, but now things were incredibly difficult, and her family was using underhanded tactics to force her return.
Although she could find other solutions, she didn’t want to. She just wanted to break away from her social circle and have some peace for a while.
Jing Yuan raised an eyebrow at Xie Mianzhi. She could understand the woman was in a predicament, but she had already fulfilled her duty by bringing her to the hotel.
How the woman solved her subsequent problems was her own business, not Jing Yuan’s. She didn’t like interfering.
“I don’t think you have the financial means to take care of them right now,” Jing Yuan stated clearly. She no longer planned to sell Jindou and Yuanbao to Miss Xie. Moreover, it was nearly 10 PM. At this hour, she should be recuperating in the deep Abyss Sea to suppress her predatory urges.
Xie Mianzhi’s appearance had completely ruined her nightly rest plan.
Don’t have the financial means??
This was the first time in her life she had been told this. The pampered young lady, who had grown up privileged, didn’t know whether to be angry or amused by this younger woman “humiliating” her like this.
The one thing Xie Mianzhi never lacked was money. She wished she could bury the woman in cash.
Xie Mianzhi took a deep breath, telling herself not to lose her temper, and to hold onto this slightly “snobbish” lifesaver. She forced a gentle, fake smile and said:
“Actually, I’m not short on money; I just ran into an unexpected situation. This is also my first time in Mìsōng. If even you leave now, I’ll probably really have to sleep on the street. Is the public safety good around here? If I stay the night, I don’t know if my car will even be there tomorrow.”
Xie Mianzhi’s voice grew softer and softer, and her eyes welled up with tears. She didn’t believe Jing Yuan, this young person, would be so heartless.
Of course, this was a gamble.
A fifty-fifty chance.
Jing Yuan listened, her keen hearing suggesting that the nearest cheap guesthouse was still a kilometer or two away. She wanted to offer sensible advice, but the woman was wearing high heels.
She lowered her gaze and noticed Xie Mianzhi’s reddened ankles.
She swallowed the words she was about to say.
“See, Little Yuanbao likes me too,” Xie Mianzhi added cautiously, seeing that Jing Yuan hadn’t immediately refused. She pursed her lips and lifted Yuanbao, deciding to use the pet as leverage.
Yuanbao genuinely liked Miss Xie and was perfectly docile in her arms.
“But—”
Grumble—
Just as Jing Yuan was about to refuse, a sad grumbling sound erupted from Xie Mianzhi’s stomach. Both women looked up at each other simultaneously.
Xie Mianzhi: “…”
She blinked, trying to use Yuanbao to hide her stomach.
She was hungry. Heaven knew she had driven here immediately after leaving headquarters tonight. She hadn’t even had dinner, let alone a sip of water until now.
“That’s a bit embarrassing. I haven’t eaten anything all day…” Xie Mianzhi managed a twitch of her mouth, wanting to crawl into a hole because her hungry stomach noises were so loud in the silent night.
She felt she had lost all her life’s dignity in front of this woman she’d only known for one night. Fortunately, the woman seemed honest and simple, not the type to spread gossip.
Xie Mianzhi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, staring at her “savior.” This young person absolutely must not refuse her. She must take her in for the night out of sheer pity!
The words of refusal were on the tip of Jing Yuan’s tongue, but her sensitive hearing picked up the sound of men whistling in the distance.
She coldly glanced at the small groups of young men peering in their direction. They seemed to be discussing a woman’s figure with vulgar language, and the subject, without a doubt, was Miss Xie.
‘Be quiet.’
Her pupils instantly constricted. She stared intensely at the men. The young men, idling by the hotel entrance, were forcefully met with Jing Yuan’s terrifying gaze, and the overwhelming pressure immediately struck fear into their hearts. They quickly scrambled onto their bikes and rode away.
“What are you looking at?” Xie Mianzhi was eagerly waiting for Jing Yuan’s reply. But when the other woman turned away, she walked over and waved her hand in front of Jing Yuan.
Jing Yuan immediately suppressed the murderous intent in her eyes, her expression returning to calm. She looked at Miss Xie.
It certainly wouldn’t be safe to leave the woman on the road.
“Then get on the scooter.”
After a pause, the dark-haired woman finally spoke, uttering words as kind as an angel’s.
Xie Mianzhi’s eyes widened in pleasant surprise. She immediately hugged Yuanbao tightly and mounted the scooter.
What was funny was that her stomach was still rumbling.
Jing Yuan got on the scooter, listening to the continuous hungry sounds emanating from the other woman’s stomach.
She felt her pocket and handed something to Xie Mianzhi. “Here, take this.”
“This is…?” Xie Mianzhi looked down at the lollipop in the woman’s hand, slightly surprised. Was this for her to stave off hunger?
“It’s a lollipop, lychee flavor,” Jing Yuan explained plainly. This was a new batch of fruit lollipops that had arrived at the store today. The staff all said they were delicious, and Sister Jin gave her one to try, but she didn’t like candy and forgot about it in her pocket.
Xie Mianzhi looked at it. Instinctually, she wouldn’t normally accept food from a stranger, but oddly, her first reaction to this woman wasn’t suspicion, but curiosity.
She didn’t hesitate, took the lollipop, and unwrapped the foil.
“I like lychee flavor. Thank you,” she said, putting the lollipop in her mouth.
Lime-lychee. It’s quite good.
Jing Yuan watched the woman accept the candy without hesitation. She simply pursed her lips and said nothing, but her mood was noticeably better than before.
A little unexpected,
A small happiness.
She had expected the woman to be cautious, question her repeatedly, or simply refuse.
So, this Miss Xie trusted her.
…
Jing Yuan then rode the scooter, taking her unexpected guest toward her seaside home.
It was a winding, confusing path. Xie Mianzhi had thought Jing Yuan’s house would be in the small town, but it was much farther than she expected.
During the ride, Xie Mianzhi could only rely on the moonlight to see the road. If Jing Yuan hadn’t been in front, she would have thought this was a road of no return.
In all her life, this was the first time she had ridden on a stranger’s small vehicle down such a desolate, dark road.
This truly counted as one of the few thrills in her comfortable life.
After nearly half an hour, Xie Mianzhi finally saw a house standing on the remote seaside road.
It was a lone, single-story house with a small courtyard, surrounded by no basic amenities.
“Is this… your house?” Xie Mianzhi saw Jing Yuan stop the scooter. She got off, testing the ground cautiously, afraid she might stumble; the road had been bumpy.
“Mhm,” Jing Yuan was about to offer a hand but withdrew it. “The ground here is level.”
She had deliberately found a good spot to stop.
“Ah, okay.” Xie Mianzhi got off the scooter and looked at Jing Yuan, who was leading the way. Did she choose this spot to park just for her?
To accommodate her ridiculously uncomfortable shoes.
Xie Mianzhi looked down at her limited-edition silver high heels. She had expected a relaxing beach vacation, not this much walking.
The tips of the shoes were soaked and dirty; they were ruined.
She felt a little regretful and quickly followed behind Jing Yuan, hugging Yuanbao, her natural down jacket. Fortunately, the path was fairly smooth all the way to the isolated house.
However, there were no lights along the way.
Not even at the house.
Xie Mianzhi looked at the pitch blackness that merged with the sea and the sky, feeling a chill of fear.
She followed Jing Yuan to the courtyard gate, where the woman unlocked the door.
“Creak—” The large iron gate of the courtyard was slowly pushed open, making a terrifying sound in the middle of the night.
Xie Mianzhi’s heart skipped a beat, and she swallowed hard.
The usually arrogant woman felt a little timid. She rubbed her arm, thinking of certain horror movies where creepy people living in the wilderness survived by eating humans, trapping lone tourists, and cruelly dissecting them…
Suddenly, something struck Xie Mianzhi’s foot. She didn’t have time to think and let out a startled cry!
Is it a trap?!
“How could you—” She fiercely grabbed Jing Yuan’s hand, her eyes wide with disbelief. She had trusted this person, and yet…
“Quack, quack… quack~”
At that moment, Little Jindou, the culprit, happily poked its head out from beside Xie Mianzhi’s foot and pecked at the diamond strap on her high heel.
Xie Mianzhi finally saw the source of the trouble. It was a Little Jindou trap! When did this little duck get so close to her feet? It had truly startled her.
“What about me?”
At that moment, in the darkness, those golden eyes were staring sharply at her.
Carrying a bone-chilling coldness.
Xie Mianzhi immediately felt the surrounding temperature drop several degrees. Realizing her own overly dramatic reaction, she instantly released the woman’s wrist. She felt she had used too much force and wondered if she had hurt or angered her…
Would the woman get angry and kick her out because of this?
At this moment, Jing Yuan was looking down at her, her golden eyes flickering, making them look even more eerily enchanting.
She saw Xie Mianzhi’s rapidly rising and falling chest. The woman’s breathing was ragged; she was nervous. Why was she nervous?
“No, I just thought you were… um… you were going to do something to me, Ah—”
Xie Mianzhi blinked nervously, trying to explain, but Jing Yuan’s sudden proximity caused her to stumble back two steps, already shaken in the darkness. Clearly, this path was not kind to her.
Just as she was about to fall, the person in front of her grabbed her just in time, pulling her forward.
In the darkness, they were pressed even closer together.