Chapter 78: Is It Really That Comfortable?

Yao Jia gazed at the bed full of candies. Their colorful wrappers reflected a dazzling array of lights under the fluorescent lamp, making even the air seem sweet.

It turns out that the sweetness in one’s consciousness can also release dopamine, lifting one’s spirits.

Yao Jia had been under immense pressure and feeling stifled for the past few days. Now, with the candies as her relief, she no longer felt like a tightly drawn bow, ready to hurt herself or others at any moment.

She picked up her phone and called the family chauffeur, asking him to pick her up and bring along two large bags.

The chauffeur arrived quickly.

Yao Jia packed all the candies from the bed into the bags and handed them to the chauffeur to take to the car. She then went to the living room to say goodbye to Tian Huasheng, who was practicing yoga.

Tian Huasheng watched the chauffeur carry the two bags of candy out, then turned to Yao Jia and asked, “Third Sister, are you really not leaving any candy for Second Brother? Not even one piece?!”

His voice, tinged with a childish tone, sounded almost heartbroken. “You’re just as heartless as Big Brother! Oh, my heart aches!”

Yao Jia couldn’t help but laugh at his dramatic performance.

“Xiao Tiantian, listen to me. Those candies have shared the same bed, so they’re like a family. A family should stay together, not missing a single piece,” she said with a serious expression, leaving Tian Huasheng speechless.

“Come on, Tian Tian, Second Brother,” Tian Huasheng’s phone chimed as Yao Jia sent him a generous red packet. “Use this to buy some candy. Once I’ve sorted everything out, I’ll treat you to something delicious!”

Tian Huasheng found her words familiar. Another member of their sworn brotherhood had said something similar to him before.

“Did you and Big Brother plan this together? You both promised to treat me to a meal. I don’t care; you each owe me one. If you combine it into one meal, I’ll consider it as excluding me!”

His burly face paired with a childish voice left Yao Jia with no temper. “Don’t worry, if there’s any exclusion, it’ll be you and me excluding him!”

Yao Jia took the candies home. As she entered, she sneakily asked the housekeeper for help, avoiding the attention of Yao Bingkun and Gan Yu, and moved the two bags of candy into her room.

She hid the candy in a shaded storage area, then sat on the floor hugging her knees, staring at them in a daze.

Even though they were like a 520 candy bouquet, filled with dopamine that healed emotions, she still felt very angry with Meng Xingzhe.

Angry that he couldn’t control himself and kissed her, yet pretended to be drunk and forgetful, then said a bunch of hurtful things to provoke her.

He was such a hypocrite!

She decided she wouldn’t forgive him so easily! His hurtful words came so easily, making her so sad. Did her tears mean nothing?

While she was fuming, her phone rang.

It was a message from Tian Huasheng.

Tian Huasheng: [Third Sister, Big Brother said he needs to talk to you, but he can’t reach you. He said you blocked him. What’s going on between you two?]

Yao Jia looked at the message and sneered.

If she ignored him, he’d try to manipulate her father first.

Failing that, now he’s using Xiao Tiantian as a mediator?

Yao Jia: [Ask him to tell you why I blocked him.]

She put her phone aside and got up to change clothes.

After changing into her loungewear, she picked up her phone again. Tian Huasheng had sent a voice message after learning the whole story.

She opened the voice message, and it was Tian Huasheng’s shocked, high-pitched voice: “Oh my god! Did I hit the jackpot with my sworn brothers?! Jia, the fact that you’re the Chairman’s daughter was enough to excite me for half a year, and now Big Brother is the boss of Xingbei Technology??! Wow, I really know how to pick people, don’t I? Why am I still doing customer service? I should apply to the Human Resources Department as an HR! Oh my, oh my, I’ve really sworn brotherhood with two big bosses!!”

Yao Jia regretted not switching to speaker before listening. The sound almost shattered her eardrums.

She quickly moved the phone away from her ear. After the voice message, she saw another text from Tian Huasheng: [Well… how should I put it, Big Brother was wrong for deceiving us with a disguise, but you also wore a disguise, which means you deceived us too, so you’re also at fault. So, on this point, you two can call it even.]

Yao Jia thought, why is Second Brother being so biased?

Yao Jia: [No, I wore a disguise in my own company, while he infiltrated someone else’s company. How can that be the same? I was experiencing life, while he was essentially a corporate spy!]

After a while, Tian Huasheng agreed and compromised: [Alright, then in terms of disguises, he’s more at fault.]

Yao Jia thought, that’s more like it.

Tian Huasheng quickly added: [Aside from the disguise issue, Big Brother told me he said some harsh things to upset you. Jia, let me tell you, he even had the nerve to repeat a couple of them to me. Isn’t he brave?]

Yao Jia felt that Tian Huasheng was on her side. But somehow, she felt his tone was a bit off.

Tian Huasheng: [Jia, listen to Second Brother. Since he said harsh things to hurt you, you should say harsh things back to him. Do we just take this loss? We must hit him back hard! So, here’s the plan: unblock him from your blacklist and give him a piece of your mind!]

Yao Jia thought, yes!

Just as she was about to reply, she reconsidered the message.

…Wait, this doesn’t sound like Tian Huasheng.

…Something’s very wrong. This is a ploy to get her to unblock Meng Xingzhe!

She almost fell for it!

She typed furiously: [Xiao Tiantian, tell me the truth. Did Meng Xingzhe send you that message, and you just copied it? Are you playing along with Meng Xingzhe?]

A “hehehe” emoji popped up in the chat.

Then a text message followed: [You figured it out! Jia, you know Big Brother too well!]

“…” Yao Jia thought, just look at how many ‘ba’s you use in a sentence.

She angrily pinched her phone as if it were Meng Xingzhe’s neck.

—You think you’re so clever? I won’t respond to you, let’s see how long you can hold out!

As Yao Jia was imagining herself strangling Meng Xingzhe, her phone suddenly lit up and vibrated in her hand.

It was a call from Ling Xiaoxin.

She quickly answered.

Ling Xiaoxin spoke softly, “Jia Jia, I just got off work and found Bei Luonan waiting downstairs at my place. I don’t want to see him today. Can I come over to your place?”

Yao Jia quickly agreed and told her, “I’m not at the dorm, I’m at home. Just take a cab to my house.”

Ling Xiaoxin arrived soon after, greeted Yao Bingkun and Gan Yu, and was led upstairs by Yao Jia.

Back in the room, Yao Jia carefully observed Ling Xiaoxin’s face.

There didn’t seem to be any obvious signs of… heartbreak from being deceived?

She hesitantly asked, “Actually, you and Bei Luonan are in that kind of relationship, right? He’s the ambiguous guy you mentioned before, the one you’d tell me about once things became clearer?”

Ling Xiaoxin looked surprised, then gently said, “Jia Jia, you’re so slow. I thought you already figured out that I was involved with him!”

It was the first time Yao Jia heard someone so gently admit to being involved with a man. She was always impressed by Ling Xiaoxin.

Ling Xiaoxin looked at her, then suddenly had a mischievous glint in her eyes. “And I also know that you and Meng Xingzhe are involved. You like him!”

Yao Jia reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, jolting upright. “You’re just guessing, right?”

Ling Xiaoxin: “With my keen eyes, no romance can escape me! Every time we had hot pot together, his eyes were glued to your face, and yours were glued to him.”

“…” Yao Jia thought, why can’t Ling Xiaoxin learn idioms properly?

She calmed down and asked Ling Xiaoxin, “Then why don’t you want to see Bei Luonan?”

“Same as you,” Ling Xiaoxin said softly, “because men can be deceitful.”

As she spoke, she suddenly started laughing. “That rascal! He turned out to be a Domineering CEO, and he kept lying to me, saying he was just a small-time technician. Isn’t that infuriating?”

“…?” Yao Jia was a bit perplexed. Can something so infuriating make someone laugh so sweetly and happily?

Ever since she had some inkling about the relationship between Ling Xiaoxin and Bei Luonan, she had been careful not to reveal Bei Luonan’s true identity, fearing it might upset or hurt Ling Xiaoxin. She had been cautiously keeping this secret, not daring to provoke Ling Xiaoxin until she figured out how to tell her.

She never expected that after being provoked, Ling Xiaoxin would be… so happy?

But if Ling Xiaoxin hadn’t mentioned Bei Luonan’s true identity, then—

“How did you find out about this?” Yao Jia asked.

Ling Xiaoxin lounged lazily on the beanbag chair and said, “That fool must have heard from Meng Xingzhe that you already knew Meng Xingzhe’s identity. In a panic, he came to test me, to see if you had told me that he had also been exposed.” Ling Xiaoxin gestured gracefully with her hand like a Peking Opera performer and continued, “And with a bit of sweet talk, I got everything out of him.”

“…” Yao Jia thought, impressed, that the person in front of her, who seemed timid, was actually far more adept than she was.

“You know he lied to you. Shouldn’t you be angry?” Yao Jia couldn’t help but ask.

Ling Xiaoxin nodded. “I made him think I was very angry.”

“But why do I feel like you’re quite happy now?”

“I’m actually very happy. Look at how flustered he gets. It’s so amusing.” After a pause, Ling Xiaoxin added with an innocent expression, “He lied to me first, so of course he should be a little anxious now.”

Yao Jia thought, that’s quite a logical way to look at it!

She pulled over a cushion and sat cross-legged next to Ling Xiaoxin. Using the remote, she turned off the main lights and switched on two warm yellow light strips. The room instantly became dim and cozy, stirring a desire for conversation and a hint of hormones.

Yao Jia and Ling Xiaoxin began chatting about their private girl talk, becoming more open as they went on.

Ling Xiaoxin’s face remained flushed with shyness, but her questions grew bolder with each sentence: “So, how far have you and Meng Xingzhe gone?”

Yao Jia’s ears turned hot, and she stammered, admitting they had kissed.

Ling Xiaoxin’s eyes widened. “How many times?”

Yao Jia: “How many times for you?”

Ling Xiaoxin blushed, looking both shy and proud. “Countless times!” After a pause, she asked, “And you?”

Yao Jia felt a bit embarrassed. “…Once.”

Ling Xiaoxin immediately lamented, “What? Just once? How can you stand it! Kissing is the closest thing to intimacy, and once you get a taste, you crave more. How can you resist kissing just once!”

Yao Jia stared blankly at her “bashful” friend, feeling as if she could almost hear Ling Xiaoxin’s silent reproach for not kissing more.

“And you and Bei Luonan, do you… kiss often?” She asked with a shameless expression, nearly biting her tongue in the process.

She thought she and Ling Xiaoxin were quite the contrast. Ling Xiaoxin looked like she might faint from shyness, yet her words were bold and unrestrained.

“Of course! We can’t help but kiss whenever we meet! We kiss and kiss, sometimes for a whole hour! It’s so wonderful!” Ling Xiaoxin said with clear eyes, sharing her own cheeky anecdotes.

“…………” Yao Jia thought, an hour? Are you two like suckerfish?

“Is it really that wonderful?!” She found herself stammering.

“It is!” Ling Xiaoxin’s face was flushed to the point of dripping blood, yet her mouth didn’t stop. “You once asked if kissing was like eating jelly. At the time, you hadn’t kissed anyone yet, so I was too embarrassed to tell you outright. Now that you’ve experienced it, there’s nothing to hide. Kissing is truly wonderful, a thousand times more enchanting than eating jelly! That feeling of tongues entwined is so blissful!”

Yao Jia couldn’t take it anymore and admitted defeat.

She went to the bathroom to wash up and take a hot shower.

Standing under the showerhead, she closed her eyes and, without realizing it, bit her own lip.

Just like that night when he had bitten her.

She then ran her tongue over her teeth, the roof of her mouth, and her lips…

Just like he had done to her.

The sensation was soft yet firm, passionate yet cool and sweet. It was truly a thousand times more intoxicating than eating jelly.

She suddenly opened her eyes, realizing her breathing had become more rapid than usual. She touched her pounding heart, blushing as she thought, what was she doing just now? She had been using her tongue to mimic the way he had meticulously traced over her…

She quickly lowered the water temperature and slapped her face, telling herself:

Get a grip! Don’t forgive him so easily!

After Ling Xiaoxin finished her shower, the two of them lay down on the big bed, ready to sleep.

Yao Jia was envious of Ling Xiaoxin, who seemed carefree, without a single worry, falling asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Before sleeping, she even claimed that missing sleep would make her skin less supple, and Bei Luonan wouldn’t be able to call her his “soft egg baby.”

Yao Jia almost gagged.

She tossed and turned on the pillow for a long time, unable to fall asleep.

She wasn’t sure if it was because her mind was too restless or because she was used to the uncomfortable dorm bed and couldn’t adjust to the soft, fragrant bed at home.

Since she couldn’t sleep, she decided not to force it and sat up to play some racing games instead.

She quietly got up, slipped out of bed, and tiptoed to the next room with the beanbag chair.

Once inside, she turned on the lights and sank into the beanbag chair, logging into the game.

As soon as she logged in, she found that her cheap master was also online.

He had left her a message an hour ago, asking: [Are you there?]

She thought her master wasn’t the brightest. An hour ago, her avatar was clearly offline, visibly not there, so what was there to ask?

She shook her head and sighed, replying to her cheap master: [I’m here now. Do you need something?]

The guy named Xinghen replied instantly: [dakdjdkfkdfj]

???

What the heck?!