Transmigrated as a White Lotus Heroine, but I’m Pursuing the Cold Villain - Chapter 30

Rao Jinqing curled her fingers around Lin Qinglian’s, leaned closer, and paused just an inch away. “Well, who’s fault is it that you’re so irresistible?”

Lin Qinglian’s blinking eyes froze mid-blink, her gaze locking onto Rao Jinqing with a sudden rigidity. Her unfocused gaze sharpened instantly.

She stared at Rao Jinqing, her dark eyes trembling almost imperceptibly.

Lin Qinglian stared at her, her mind racing involuntarily.

She’s so close… and she smells so good.

Thankfully, the moment passed quickly. Rao Jinqing straightened up and leaned back against the chair, watching Lin Qinglian with leisurely amusement.

Noticing Lin Qinglian staring at her, Rao Jinqing raised a dark eyebrow.

Lin Qinglian, her face flushed crimson, blinked at her twice, her lips slightly parted.

Her mind was still reeling from Rao Jinqing’s brief closeness. A faint, lingering scent clung to her nose—a deep, earthy fragrance like pine needles under fresh snow.

The scent had intensified the moment Rao Jinqing leaned in, wafting from the collar of her robe until Lin Qinglian’s nostrils were filled with it.

Rao Jinqing found Lin Qinglian’s reaction amusing.

“What? Are you embarrassed?” she teased.

Lin Qinglian, stubborn as a mule, raised her hand to shield her face, then widened her wet eyes, gazing at Rao Jinqing with feigned innocence. “No, I’m not.”

Rao Jinqing tapped the table lightly. “Oh~ you’re not?”

Lin Qinglian nodded frantically, trying to reinforce the plausibility of her denial.

But her gaze involuntarily drifted to Rao Jinqing’s slender fingers, then quickly retreated.

She probably didn’t notice, right?

Rao Jinqing stood up, turning her head as she moved toward the door. The movement tightened her jawline into a sharp, elegant curve, her pale face expressionless. “If I’m not welcome, I’ll just leave.”

Lin Qinglian looked up in confusion. “Aren’t you going to eat?”

Why isn’t she following the script? Shouldn’t we be teasing each other like this?

Rao Jinqing’s pale hand, with its crimson-tipped nails, rested casually on the back of the chair, accentuating the slender elegance of her fingers.

She tapped lightly. “Since someone doesn’t want me here, I’ll just go.”

Lin Qinglian vehemently shook her head, gesturing left and right. “Who doesn’t welcome you? I’ll scold them!”

After glancing around, Lin Qinglian subtly peeked at Rao Jinqing out of the corner of her eye. She found Rao Jinqing standing still, watching her with an ambiguous smile.

Just as Lin Qinglian braced herself for another round of teasing, Rao Jinqing sighed softly. “Oh, it’s a certain little Miss Lin. She doesn’t seem very welcoming. I don’t know what to do… I guess I should leave. I wouldn’t want to be a nuisance.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Rao Jinqing retracted her fingers, which had been lightly tapping the chair back, and began to turn.

She was wearing a red fishtail dress that cinched at the waist, emphasizing her slender figure. As she turned, the fishtail hem swayed gently, like a small fish about to slip out of a lake.

Rao Jinqing pretended to walk away, silently counting down.

One.

Two.

Three.

Before she reached three, a soft hand grasped her wrist.

“Grasp” wasn’t quite the right word. The fingertips had merely brushed against her skin for a moment, then, as if embarrassed, loosely closed around her wrist.

Tsk, so pathetic. Even when given a chance, she can’t seize it. Still, she’s kind of cute this way.

But Rao Jinqing decided to give her another chance. After all, she was magnanimous.

Lin Qinglian: “I…”

She looked up and met Rao Jinqing’s smiling eyes. Those narrow, slightly upturned eyes gazed at her with leisurely amusement.

Lin Qinglian froze.

Those eyes were fixed on her with intense focus, their long, delicate lashes drooping as they scrutinized her from close range, patiently listening to her words.

Suddenly, she couldn’t speak.

Her heart was pounding—a relentless, thunderous rhythm that threatened to burst from her chest with earth-shattering force.

She even feared her frantic heartbeat would transmit through her fingertips to Rao Jinqing’s wrist, betraying her turmoil.

Fortunately, Rao Jinqing continued to smile at her, seemingly oblivious to her inner chaos.

Lin Qinglian blurted out, “Why did you kiss me at the amusement park that day?”

The words Rao Jinqing had been about to say caught in her throat. After waiting so long, this was the question she got?

“If you want a kiss, then kiss me,” Rao Jinqing said.

Lin Qinglian nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Rao Jinqing with a serious expression. “Come closer. I have something to tell you.”

Finally, she’s going to talk about the money, Rao Jinqing thought, leaning forward eagerly.

Lin Qinglian, who had been loosely holding Rao Jinqing’s wrist, suddenly tightened her grip. In that instant, she pressed Rao Jinqing’s neck and kissed her deeply.

Unlike their previous gentle, cloud-like kiss, Lin Qinglian pulled Rao Jinqing close, her breathing ragged. Her tongue instantly pried open Rao Jinqing’s teeth.

Rao Jinqing, caught completely off guard, had leaned in, only to find herself like a lamb led to slaughter, trapped in a full-fledged kiss.

She raised her hand to push Lin Qinglian away, but the usually delicate and easily tearful woman gripped her wrist with surprising strength, making it impossible to break free.

Just then, Rao Jinqing froze, every muscle tensing, afraid to move.

Lin Qinglian’s teeth clattered against Rao Jinqing’s lips. The soft, tingling sensation, the taste of bl00d—it all sent her mind blank.

Lost and overwhelmed, she devoured the kiss, her tongue instinctively licking against the other woman’s mouth. Waves of pleasure exploded in her mind like fireworks.

As they parted, Rao Jinqing murmured breathlessly, “Just one kiss, my dear. Just one.”

Perfect.

Rao Jinqing’s fingertips trembled as she leaned back against the chair, her entire body limp. She had transitioned from standing to sitting, Lin Qinglian having gently pressed her down into the seat during their kiss.

Rao Jinqing couldn’t help but smile.

After just a few days apart, she’s already learned so much.

As Lin Qinglian lowered her head, her gaze involuntarily drifted to Rao Jinqing’s lips.

The lips she had just kissed were now a ravaged crimson, glistening with a thin layer of moisture.

Rao Jinqing’s dress, crumpled from their embrace, had its neckline unconsciously tugged askew, revealing a sliver of snow-white skin.

The moment Lin Qinglian’s eyes fell on that glimpse of exposed flesh, her ears flushed crimson. She cleared her throat and quickly turned away, looking elsewhere.

Rao Jinqing, initially puzzled, followed Lin Qinglian’s gaze downward. Oh, now I understand.

What a little pervert.

Ignoring the slightly open neckline, Rao Jinqing let it remain as it was. “You’ve certainly made progress,” she teased. “Just a few days apart, and you’ve already learned so much.”

The blush that had been creeping up Lin Qinglian’s cheeks froze abruptly at her words.

Lin Qinglian’s eyes instantly turned red-rimmed, a misty haze welling up within them. “I’m sorry, Sister, I didn’t mean to. I…”

Rao Jinqing gazed at Lin Qinglian’s teary eyes and anxious expression, finding her strangely pitiful yet undeniably endearing.

“Are you mad at me?” Rao Jinqing asked.

Lin Qinglian pressed her advantage, lowering her snow-white face to Rao Jinqing’s. “Can I kiss you again?”

Rao Jinqing’s heart skipped a beat.

So, this is what she was waiting for.

Her gaze drifted to Lin Qinglian’s lightly bitten lip. The bitten area was flushed crimson, while the untouched sides glowed with a tender, rosy pink.

When her lips press against mine, my mind goes blank, a tingling numbness like an electric shock.

Rao Jinqing admitted to herself that she did have a slight fondness for Lin Qinglian. Her appearance and personality were exactly the type Rao Jinqing found appealing.

If not for certain external factors, she would undoubtedly have fallen for Lin Qinglian.

But there were no “ifs.” And for now, it was only a slight fondness.

She told herself it was just a little, but she was utterly bewildered by her true feelings, instinctively wanting to run away.

She subconsciously told herself it was just a little bit.

She forced herself to forget the moment they leaped from a thousand meters in the air, when he had held her tightly, his eyes sparkling and her heart pounding wildly.

She forced herself to forget the way his focused, attentive gaze made her heart flutter with a tingling numbness every time he looked at her.

But what else could she do?

We never had a good start. We were wrong from the beginning.

She sighed.

Rao Jinqing calmly rejected Lin Qinglian, stopping her in her tracks as Lin Qinglian pouted and leaned in close.

With a single finger pressed between Lin Qinglian’s lips, she held her at arm’s length, their faces only inches apart.

Lin Qinglian: “?”

She blinked frantically, one hand already reaching for Rao Jinqing’s dangling arm, gently wrapping around it and swaying back and forth, trying to act cute and endearing.

Rao Jinqing ignored Lin Qinglian’s wandering hand. “Have you forgotten? I haven’t forgiven you yet.”

At those words, Lin Qinglian’s face lit up with joy as she looked up, eager to tell Rao Jinqing that she had already resigned from Xunjun.

She’ll be happy in a moment and forgive me!

But at that very moment, Rao Jinqing’s phone rang.

Rao Jinqing, still holding Lin Qinglian’s hand, used her other hand to pick up the phone and answer the call.

Lin Qinglian’s hand, still swaying, grasped at empty air.

Her fingers instinctively curled inward, but found nothing. The hand that had just been in hers was now holding the phone.

A sudden emptiness filled her heart.

I’m doomed. I’m in love.

Is this what the System meant by “love”?

She began to recall all the couples she had seen over the years, trying to find an answer. But the System was just a pile of metal; it couldn’t possibly know or answer her question.

Those couples always wore smiles and clung to each other, moving from place to place as if nothing could ever separate them.

Are Rao Jinqing and I like that?

Lin Qinglian asked herself. The thought of being constantly attached to someone felt a little daunting. After all, she didn’t know how to behave if she were with someone every moment of every day.

She couldn’t help but smile. This was perfect. They could meet simply because they wanted to, without needing to be constantly together or watching each other.

Lin Qinglian, whose mind had completely wandered off, had forgotten one crucial fact: whether Rao Jinqing even wanted to be with her.

Subconsciously, she believed that since Rao Jinqing loved her so much, how could she possibly refuse to be with her?

Rao Jinqing spoke calmly into the phone, her other hand still holding Lin Qinglian’s. She hadn’t even checked the caller ID. “Hello, this is Rao Jinqing.”

The secretary’s voice came through the receiver: “President Rao, Robert’s team is arriving soon. They’re here to discuss the final bid…”

Rao Jinqing gripped the receiver with one hand and bluntly asked Lin Qinglian, “What do you think the bid should be?”

After all this preparation, even if Lin Qinglian were a fool, she should understand what Rao Jinqing wanted. And Lin Qinglian loved her so much.

Rao Jinqing, for her part, felt a flicker of affection for Lin Qinglian. If Lin Qinglian could help her get what she wanted, she could help Lin Qinglian get what she wanted in return.

Being with Lin Qinglian?

The idea didn’t sound bad at all.

In fact, she wasn’t opposed to it.