Transmigrated as a White Lotus Heroine, but I’m Pursuing the Cold Villain - Chapter 24

Lin Qinglian sighed inwardly, feeling deeply unlucky.

Two sets of footsteps grew louder, quickly approaching her.

Clutching the flowers, she swiftly pulled out her phone and scanned a hundred-yuan bill.

The vendor raised a hand and called out, “Hey!”

The footsteps were now right beside her, clearly heading her way.

“Keep the change,” Lin Qinglian said.

The vendor watched her retreating figure, hesitating to speak.

Then, seizing the moment as the two figures rounded the corner, she lowered her head and darted out.

Chi Jiheng’s brow twitched as a swift gust of wind rushed past him. He instinctively turned his head to look, but the wind had already vanished from sight.

He stared after it, the figure strangely familiar.

But how could it be?

She was delicate and charming—how could she possibly be running like that, her skirt hiked up?

A saccharine voice dripped with coquettishness from beside him: “Brother Chi, what are you looking at? What’s more interesting than me? Look at these flowers—which one do you like better?”

The speaker was a media studies student, pretty and cute, but her constant attention-seeking had worn thin.

He offered a perfunctory, cold response.

Oblivious to his disinterest, she continued to probe him in a cloying, affected tone.

He finally turned to look at the person clinging to his left side.

Oblivious to his thoughts, the student mistook his lowered gaze as a sign of finally wearing him down. She flashed what she thought was a charming smile.

Lin Qinglian sprinted back quickly, returning in no time to find Rao Jinqing still standing in the same spot.

She unconsciously slowed her pace.

Following her return route, Rao Jinqing was now facing away from her.

The evening breeze gently lifted the edges of her dress and the tips of her hair.

The setting sun cast a warm glow upon her, illuminating her fair face and revealing everything—even the aloof aura that usually kept people at bay seemed to melt away in the golden light.

Lin Qinglian snapped back to reality with a jolt.

Wait!

She raised her left hand to check.

The two adorable yellow-and-white cat-shaped ice creams were now missing half their heads. In her haste to run, she hadn’t noticed the ice cream splattering everywhere.

Now, melted ice cream dripped down her face, transforming the once-cute treats into something grotesque.

She gazed at the half-eaten ice creams with a pang of regret, torn between finishing them in one bite and tossing them away.

It felt wasteful not to eat them, but eating them alone felt selfish.

Oh well, I’ll just throw them away, she thought with a sigh.

I’ll buy more next time.

Just as she turned to leave, a faint voice called out.

Rao Jinqing: “You’re back?”

It was as if she had been waiting for a long time under the dim, yellow lamplight…

Waiting for what?

Lin Qinglian stopped in her tracks, instinctively tucking her hands behind her back. In her memory, someone of Rao Jinqing’s status would never eat a melted ice cream.

It was like someone with a hundred million candies wouldn’t bother with a spoiled one.

Rao Jinqing had countless candies; this melted one, compared to the rest, was more like something that would tarnish her eyes.

Rao Jinqing stood motionless, her expression serene, yet her lips were a vivid crimson. Bathed in the slanting sunlight, she seemed to radiate a soft glow.

Rao Jinqing was the kind of person who would never embarrass anyone. She had likely sensed Lin Qinglian’s momentary hesitation.

But Lin Qinglian hadn’t anticipated what came next. Rao Jinqing parted her lips slightly and said, “Come here.”

Well, she’s embarrassing me after all.

Lin Qinglian glanced up at her, a flicker of unspoken pleading in her eyes.

Rao Jinqing stood calmly, watching her without budging.

Forced to comply, Lin Qinglian shuffled forward, her hands still behind her back, awkwardly kicking at loose pebbles on the ground.

She desperately wished the distance would stretch out, giving her more time to prepare. Looking at Rao Jinqing, she felt that none of this was worthy of her.

The vibrant, dripping-wet blue demon roses had seemed unworthy of her indifferent expression under the setting sun. Now, the monstrously ugly cat-shaped ice cream felt even more mismatched against her slightly parted red lips.

For some reason, Lin Qinglian couldn’t quite believe Rao Jinqing’s reaction to receiving these things that didn’t suit her.

Would she maintain that same detached composure? Or would she glance at them coldly before politely declining?

Even Lin Qinglian herself couldn’t bear to see these items associated with Rao Jinqing.

The road didn’t stretch out as she had hoped.

She quickly found herself standing before Rao Jinqing.

Rao Jinqing raised an eyebrow slightly, a gesture that was both icy and provocative.

Her expression remained cold as she stared at Lin Qinglian, then arched her eyebrow.

“What are you hiding?” Rao Jinqing asked.

Lin Qinglian looked up, her eyebrows lifting involuntarily. Her eyes still shimmered with tears, making her appear pitiful.

Like a cat caught doing something wrong, she bared her belly to her owner, begging for forgiveness.

Lin Qinglian swallowed hard and buried her face in her collar. “I’m not hiding anything.”

Rao Jinqing smiled. “Then what’s that behind your back?”

Seeing that Lin Qinglian was about to get to the bottom of things, Rao Jinqing gritted her teeth and extended her right hand, which had been hidden behind her back.

Rao Jinqing, who had been teasing her, froze.

A palm-sized bouquet of flowers was offered to her.

A blue-and-white flower, the centerpiece, bloomed serenely, while orange blossoms arched around it, accentuating its azure hue.

Rao Jinqing’s voice softened. “Why are you giving me flowers?”

Lin Qinglian’s foot traced circles on the ground. “I wanted to give you something, so I bought them. But when I looked closer, they didn’t seem right. Because you’re prettier than these flowers.”

She couldn’t quite articulate her feelings. Of course, she had received flowers before.

But those occasions were always ostentatious, as if the givers wanted to announce their intentions to the world. They would deliberately elevate her in front of hundreds of people, forcing her to endure the scrutinizing gazes of the crowd.

And those givers usually had ulterior motives. Rarely did anyone look her straight in the eye and say, “I bought these because they reminded me of you.”

Not for any other reason.

Just because it was her.

Rao Jinqing felt the flowers burning in her hand, too afraid to accept them. “What’s in your other hand?”

Lin Qinglian slowly moved her left hand, even more slowly and with greater difficulty than before, as if it weighed a thousand pounds.

After a moment, she finally managed to bring her hand directly in front of her and slowly opened her clenched fist.

In her palm lay a paper box.

Rao Jinqing stared at the box.

Perhaps from being held in her warm hand for so long, a yellowish-white liquid had seeped onto the plastic lid, but it was still easy to see a small kitten inside.

A kitten with wide, bright eyes looking up at her.

Lin Qinglian awkwardly changed the subject, stammering, “I… I wanted to buy it for you. It doesn’t look very good anymore, so maybe we should just throw it away.”

Rao Jinqing was even more hesitant to take it now, feeling like this box was even hotter to hold.

Choosing the lesser of two evils, she was about to accept the flower when she saw Lin Qinglian looking at her with such hopeful eyes, and realizing she didn’t want the ice cream to be thrown away.

As if guided by some unseen force, her outstretched hand veered toward the box.

She quickly rationalized her decision: she couldn’t bear to see such a cute kitten tossed into the trash.

She gently took the kitten, handling it as carefully as if it were made of delicate glass, afraid to apply even a fraction too much pressure.

Lin Qinglian’s lips curved into a faint smile. “I really like it. Thank you.”

Rao Jinqing withdrew her now-empty hand, unconsciously clenching it. The lingering warmth of her fingers against Lin Qinglian’s icy hand still lingered.

Lin Qinglian interpreted this as a sign of affection, though she knew her imperfect little cat was unworthy of Rao Jinqing.

Yet the gift she had longed to give was now held in the hands of the person she had always cherished.

Her gaze drifted to Rao Jinqing’s slender, well-defined fingers. Those pale, strong hands were clutching the small box tightly.

Her heart felt lifted, buoyant, as if it might take flight.

The object she deemed unworthy of this person was being held like a precious treasure.

This realization made her heart soar even higher.

She boldly moved the item in her right hand closer to Rao Jinqing.

After a moment of silence, Rao Jinqing reached out and took it.

When she looked up, she was teasingly eyeing Lin Qinglian. “So eager? Could this be your way of apologizing?”

Lin Qinglian’s head swam from Rao Jinqing’s teasing smile. She instinctively wanted to nod, but suddenly realized her mistake and shook her head violently.

Rao Jinqing pressed, “Yes or no? Hmm? Even you’re not sure?”

Lin Qinglian was puzzled. She had always been straightforward, unable to grasp such convoluted schemes. “What difference does it make?”

Rao Jinqing smiled cruelly. “If your motives are impure, I’ll refuse it. If they’re genuine, I’ll reluctantly accept it out of consideration for your sincerity.”

Lin Qinglian was straightforward but not foolish, though she couldn’t quite articulate her true reasons. “Then it seems you’ll have to reluctantly accept it.”

Rao Jinqing gripped the bouquet at its tied center, crushing the flowers in her palm.

The spot where her hand had touched still held a lingering warmth.

The fleeting heat, normally destined to dissipate instantly, was preserved beneath her palm, slowly spreading outward from that single point, that lingering warmth now preserved.

Lin Qinglian watched her with a goofy smile, convinced she had chosen the right answer. But Rao Jinqing had already discerned the truth from her silence.

She lowered her head until it was perpendicular to Lin Qinglian’s. Fortunately, Lin Qinglian wasn’t much shorter than her, and the low heels she was wearing made the movement effortless.

At least, far easier than she had imagined.

She gazed into Lin Qinglian’s clear, black-and-white eyes. Lin Qinglian instinctively recoiled, but her waist was held firmly in place.

Warm breath brushed against her face.

Her eyes darted around in panic, but she didn’t dare look up.

Rao Jinqing’s voice was icy, carrying a cold, inorganic magnetism that Lin Qinglian found strangely alluring.

Rao Jinqing: “Look up.”

Lin Qinglian: “I am.”

“Your eyes. Look at me.”

Lin Qinglian obeyed, dutifully raising her gaze to meet those upturned eyes. She instinctively held her breath.

She thought it was because Rao Jinqing’s eyes were so cold, as if devoid of emotion.

But as Rao Jinqing’s warm breath drew closer, she realized that wasn’t it at all.

Her mind went blank. The moment the woman tilted her head, she instinctively closed her eyes.