Pair A? No Thanks! [Transmigration] - Chapter 22
The room was frighteningly quiet. Shi Ning didn’t answer, but her usually nonchalant eyes were fixed on Su Wanxing, and in that moment, they were filled with a clarity that saw right through everything.
Su Wanxing’s breathing quickened. The hands holding her mug were almost white, and a few more beautiful tears fell from her eyes due to her intense emotions. “Sister Shi, are you saying… Jiang Ningran, she…”
Shi Ning said steadily, “It’s just a guess. After all, many things in this world have multiple possible outcomes. Don’t they?”
Su Wanxing bit her lower lip. She raised her mug and took a sip of milk, as if she wanted to use the warm, sweet taste to calm herself down and gather her courage.
She started thinking.
Recalling everything that happened that day.
She had been shocked when she saw Shi Ning at home. She pushed the door to leave and ran into Jiang Ningran at the entrance. Jiang Ningran was returning her textbooks and asked her to get coffee. Su Wanxing remembered that she wanted to get away from Shi Ning and also wanted to talk to Jiang Ningran about the temporary marking that happened during their camping trip.
At that time, even though she had seen the “future,” she still didn’t see Jiang Ningran as a bad person. After all, for so many years, since high school, Jiang Ningran had always been her junior. They had both gone to the same art university; she studied photography, and so did Jiang Ningran.
You could say that Jiang Ningran was a part of her youth, her best friend.
Su Wanxing had told Jiang Ningran about her crushes and shared her teenage heartache and life’s troubles with her.
She thought it was possible that Jiang Ningran wasn’t the way she was in the “future.”
But then, at the coffee shop…
She drank the coffee and then seemed to lose control again.
Her sudden estrus period almost caused a commotion, so she begged Jiang Ningran to take her to the hotel next door to get away.
And then?
And then… Jiang Ningran gave her a suppressor shot, and she passed out. When she woke up, she wasn’t wearing any clothes, and neither was Jiang Ningran. Her body’s reactions told her that something had happened between her and Jiang Ningran.
In that instant, seeing Jiang Ningran sitting calmly, casually looking at her phone, she realized that perhaps the Jiang Ningran right now was the same person from the “future.”
The lunatic who had imprisoned her, cut out her scent gland, and tormented her.
But the things in her head had appeared too suddenly, and they were too absurd. What was with the seven Alphas? Su Wanxing was going to go crazy. Her already small brain was about to be overloaded and fried by all this information. So even when Jiang Ningran told her that the suppressor had failed, and she had clung to Jiang Ningran again…
She couldn’t refute it.
After all, Su Wanxing had seen the pathetic, begging-for-affection look on her own face in the “future” when her estrus period went out of control.
She concluded, “Okay, maybe I’m like that now too.”
Su Wanxing asked to go home. Despite her instinctive fear of Jiang Ningran, she couldn’t bring herself to just flatly reject her.
And so, Jiang Ningran came to the Su family home.
Su Wanxing was so engrossed in her self-blame after seeing the “future” that she didn’t even consider how much of what Jiang Ningran said was true and how much was false.
Jiang Ningran said she was the one who initiated it, that she clung to her, that she pleaded with her.
But…
Shi Ning watched Su Wanxing’s expression become more and more serious. She knocked on the coffee table, making a crisp sound. “So, did you remember anything?”
Su Wanxing wanted to drink more milk, but when she raised the mug, it was empty. She put the mug down, covered her forehead with her hands, and said in a voice heavy with exhaustion and panic: “I don’t know.”
“I found out that I can’t remember anything.”
Because she had a premonition of the “future” and had seen that version of herself in her mind, she didn’t have the courage to make a deduction or to refute Jiang Ningran’s words.
She started crying again, little pearls of tears falling one by one.
Shi Ning sighed: “If you keep this up, when your sister comes back and sees your swollen eyes, she’ll probably curse me to death.”
Su Wanxing sniffled: “No, my sister doesn’t curse.”
Shi Ning, who had been cursed out by Su Tianxue countless times: …Really? So being cursed is a special privilege for me, is it?
Su Wanxing spoke timidly. Shi Ning could hear the tremble in her voice. When she looked at her, the young girl was full of fear. “Sister Shi, I mean, I mean what if.”
“What if Jiang Ningran really gave me something… can I make her face the consequences?”
“Of course,” Shi Ning said without hesitation. “You have me.”
Su Wanxing said softly: “I don’t mean for you to hit her. I mean… will she be punished by the law? Is what she did wrong, right?”
Shi Ning was about to answer “yes” immediately, but then she remembered that the legal clauses in the two worlds were different, so she quickly picked up her phone and searched for the relevant regulations. After quickly scanning them, Shi Ning had a clear idea.
“Yes. That’s a no-brainer.” Shi Ning looked at Su Wanxing, her eyes serious.
Su Wanxing felt like she was too dizzy or too broken down. Now, she felt like the most unreliable person, Shi Ning, seemed very dependable. It was as if Shi Ning’s eyes could give her strength.
Su Wanxing felt like she was being soothed.
“But Su Wanxing, I have to warn you,” Shi Ning said. “If you choose to use the legal system to solve this, everyone—and I mean everyone you know and everyone you don’t—will know about this and will judge you for every detail that comes out in the process.”
“Even so, are you willing to do it?”
Su Wanxing hesitated: “I don’t know.”
“I’m scared. Scared that things are really like what Jiang Ningran said.”
Shi Ning looked at her, knowing the torment that such a lawsuit would bring and the immense courage it would require.
She asked, “Do you really not remember anything? Where did you and Jiang Ningran drink coffee?”
Su Wanxing thought about it: “…That one in the south of the city, the one next to the hotel, what was it called, Yi, Yi…”
Shi Ning: “Yi Nian?”
Su Wanxing’s eyes widened: “Yes, that’s it. How did you know?”
Shi Ning genuinely smiled easily this time: “Of course I know.”
“That coffee shop is mine.” If Su Wanxing hadn’t reminded her, Shi Ning would have forgotten that her identity after transmigrating wasn’t a lawyer; it was a CEO who could rank among the top of the rich list. “Oh, and the hotel next door is also mine.”
As soon as she remembered this, Shi Ning felt that things were a lot easier to handle.
“Wait for me,” she said to Su Wanxing.
Su Wanxing nodded blankly, her eyes red from crying, as was her nose.
Shi Ning stood up, paced on the spot, and made a phone call. “Hello, help me check something else.”
The person on the other end replied: “Yes, Mr. Shi. Just say the word.”
“I’ll send you photos of two people. Find all the surveillance footage of them at the Yi Nian coffee shop in the south of the city and the hotel next door as soon as possible.”
Generally, ordinary people can’t just request surveillance footage from a business. But when those businesses belonged to Shi Ning, those rules didn’t apply.
The person replied respectfully: “Yes, Mr. Shi. What time period do you need?”
Shi Ning opened her phone’s calendar, checked the travel time from the Su family home to Yi Nian coffee shop, thought about the time Su Wanxing had suddenly returned home, and calmly estimated the timeline: “After 9:30 PM on the 7th. Can you find it in thirty minutes?”
The person thought for a moment: “Ten minutes, Mr. Shi. I’ll have everyone in my department look for it.”
“Good,” Shi Ning said. “Thank you.”
“You’re too kind, Mr. Shi. It’s our job.”
Shi Ning hung up and looked at Su Wanxing, who had been watching her call. “It’s handled. Just wait.”
“Okay,” Su Wanxing said with a sigh of relief.
Those ten minutes were probably the most difficult ten minutes in the world for Su Wanxing. She felt like there were a thousand needles under her butt, making it impossible to sit or stand. She was so anxious, she started gripping her hands and tearing at the dead skin around her index finger, pulling off a large piece without feeling any pain.
Ding-dong.
Shi Ning’s phone received a message. Su Wanxing looked at her and asked nervously, “Did you find it?”
Shi Ning nodded.
The truth was right in front of her, but Su Wanxing was scared.
She bit her lip until it bled: “Sister Shi, you look first.”
Shi Ning: “You don’t want to see?”
Su Wanxing gave a bitter smile: “I’m scared, scared to see that things are exactly as Jiang Ningran said.”
Shi Ning: “So what if they are?”
Su Wanxing didn’t expect that answer: “Huh?”
Shi Ning smiled and explained: “If things really are as Jiang Ningran said, then Su Wanxing, I’d be happy for you. Because that means you and Jiang Ningran’s relationship was truly consensual. It also means you didn’t experience an unknown nightmare. Even if it’s true, it doesn’t define you. Su Wanxing, this world already demands enough from you. Don’t put more shackles on yourself.”
“Alright, let’s watch the video.”
Su Wanxing summoned her courage: “Then, Sister Shi, can I watch with you?”
“Of course.” Shi Ning placed her phone flat on the coffee table and pushed it between them, turning the screen to face Su Wanxing. “This is your life; of course you can watch it.”
Su Wanxing nodded slightly. When she looked at the phone, she only saw Shi Ning’s chat history with the other person.
The other person: [Video]
Shi Ning: [Transfer 200,000]
Shi Ning: Good work. Take it and split it with your department. Also, your department will get an extra bonus this quarter. Thank you.
Seeing this, Su Wanxing thought that Shi Ning was probably the kindest boss to her employees in the world.
Seeing that Su Wanxing was still in a daze, Shi Ning asked: “Do you want to click on it yourself?”
Su Wanxing gritted her teeth, reached out, and gently tapped the video on the screen.
The video magnified, and then the picture began…
Author’s Note:
Mr. Shi: Crazily cleaning up messes behind my wife’s back.