Chapter 37
Those six short words, as if slowed down, pierced Jiang Lai's ears like an electric current, causing both pain and surprise.
Impossible. They are good friends. In Jiang Lai's heart, You Yi is her only friend, and a friend she cannot lose.
After a few seconds of stunned silence, Jiang Lai chuckled dryly, "You've gone too far with this joke." With that, she lowered her head and forked a piece of steak.
"I'm not joking." You Yi was determined to get an answer today: "I'm serious. I like you, from college until now. Before, when you and Lin Xi were together, I didn't want to be a third party and I knew I couldn't. But now that you've broken up, it's still not my turn. You can move on so quickly, why can't you allow me into your heart?"
"You Yi".
Jiang Lai put down her fork, took a deep breath, looked up, and said solemnly, "You will always be my friend, an irreplaceable friend."
Hearing her voice, You Yi's eyes reddened. Jiang Lai was about to say something to comfort her when she saw You Yi raise her hand, and the words she wanted to say were swallowed back down by Jiang Lai.
You Yi lowered her head, her shoulders trembling slightly; she was crying, and Jiang Lai felt terrible.
"I'm sorry," was all Jiang Lai could say.
You Yi turned her head away, wiped her tears with a tissue, then tilted her head back and waved her hands in front of her eyes: "Damn it, my makeup is all ruined."
"I'm sorry," Jiang Lai said again.
"Is all you can say is 'I'm sorry'?"
Jiang Lai lowered her eyes, digging her nails tightly: "You are very important to me, I really can't lose you, but... it's just friendship."
You Yi gave a wry smile: "More than friends, but not quite lovers, huh?"
Jiang Lai didn't speak, but nodded with her lips pursed.
You Yi wiped away her tears and said generously, "Alright, why are you being so serious? I do like you, but I like a lot of other people too, so I won't miss you."
When You Yi saw Jiang Lai breathe a sigh of relief, her heart suddenly ached. Where did all these people come from? She had only been attracted to Jiang Lai from beginning to end. But Jiang Lai was right, they couldn't be lovers anymore.
"Give me a hug," You Yi said.
Jiang Lai paused for a moment, then stood up, walked over, and opened her arms: "Give me a hug."
Why does he look like he's about to die?
Where?
You Yi stood up, wrapped his arms around her waist, and hugged her so tightly that Jiang Lai almost couldn't breathe.
"I said...you're choking me to death."
"I'll strangle you! I'm beautiful and rich, and you still look down on me? I'll strangle you, you blind fool!"
Jiang Lai chuckled twice, letting her hug her tightly without resisting: "You're really good."
"Don't give me the 'friend zone' card, I don't need it."
"Then what should we do?"
"Give me a kiss."
"What?"
"Pfft." You Yi chuckled and released her: "Just kidding, look how scared you are."
Jiang Lai's ramrod-straight body relaxed: "It's not funny at all."
Jiang Lai sat back down, but lost her appetite and picked up her fork to eat the salad in front of her.
Seeing that she seemed a little uncomfortable, You Yi said, "I don't think we're a good match. How can two tops be together? We're more comfortable being friends. If you were really with me, I wouldn't feel comfortable either, right?"
Jiang Lai was about to say that she wasn't the top, but then she remembered that Lin Zhi was always the top when they were in bed together, and she was speechless. She also wanted to be the pillow princess, it was all Lin Zhi's fault!
Why am I thinking about Lin Zhi again? She said such hurtful things. I don't want to think about her anymore.
“You’re right,” Jiang Lai said.
If it's going to be an attack, then it's an attack.
Suddenly remembering something, You Yi tapped his finger on the table and asked, "I've already told you my secret, what about yours?"
Jiang Lai paused, "Huh? Do I really have to say it?"
"Please! Aren't you kidding me?"
Jiang Lai thought for a moment, then hesitantly began, "It's that person I told you about last time. She later said she wanted to be my sugar daddy..."
"Holy crap? Are you crazy?"
Jiang Lai put down her fork and clasped her hands together: "No, it's not what you think. It's just nominally a sugar daddy arrangement. I didn't take her money or resources. She used to be straight, and I thought it was fine this way, so... I'll slowly turn her gay."
"So you two had a fight?"
"It wasn't exactly an argument. She said she wanted to keep her distance from me and that she was getting married in the future. I should just smile and wish her well."
"Damn it!" A fire ignited in You Yi's heart. Was the girl she let go of so cheap in other people's eyes? She originally wanted to step aside and let them be together, but this woman sounded like a scumbag. She wouldn't allow it. Even if she and Jiang Lai couldn't be together, Jiang Lai's other half had to pass her test.
"This woman sounds like a scumbag! Stay away from her."
Jiang Lai didn't say anything, just looked at her pitifully.
You Yi gasped, frowning as he asked, "You've fallen in love with her?"
Jiang Lai nodded, her voice very soft: "You don't understand, we have some history."
You Yi was furious. If she wasn't worried about being filmed and posted online, she would have overturned the table and slapped Jiang Lai twice to bring her to her senses.
You Yi took several deep breaths to calm down: "Tell me." If you can't answer, I'll twist your head off.
Do you remember the dolphin sister I told you about before?
"I remember. But wasn't that a wet dream you had?"
"What wet dream! It was real, but I was too young at the time and forgot her face."
You Yi thought for a moment and asked, "So your dream girl... oh no, Dolphin Sister is that woman?"
Jiang Lai nodded: "I've always wanted to make something of myself and then find her, but I found out she's right here beside me. Originally, I just wanted to get to know her again, but now... things have changed."
"I know that most people in the lesbian community have a thing for older women. They're all adults, so sleeping with them a few times isn't a big deal. Next time, I'll drag her out and see if she's a real scumbag or just pretending."
In a corner not far away, a sofa chair taller than half a person blocked the view of the person sitting there.
"That old bastard is taking advantage of his resources to sleep with Jia Shihhan. Damn it, he's even eyeing my people? What kind of crappy resources is that? She's just a female lead. It's a terrible movie, we don't even want her!" Zhang Zhen took a sip of soda and cursed.
Kevin, standing nearby, fanned the flames to calm her down: "Hey, keep your voice down. We're outside. All those rich people are like this, relying on their money to sleep with this one and that one. It's disgusting, isn't it, Lin Zhi?"
The air fell silent. Kevin looked at Lin Zhi, who was chewing on a straw, lost in thought, seemingly pondering something.
"Lin Zhi!"
"Huh?" Lin Zhi came to her senses: "Yes, you're right."
Zhang Zhen calmed down a bit: "Lin Zhi, why are you so absent-minded? Look at those dark circles under your eyes. You need to take care of yourself and not age prematurely."
Lin Zhi held the cup in both hands, unable to resist looking up. She had arrived before Jiang Lai, and for some reason, she instinctively shrank back, wanting to hide but also wanting to look. When she finally looked up, she saw the two of them hugging and whispering to each other.
Lin Zhi had bitten the plastic straw so badly that she couldn't hear anything Zhang Zhen and the others said afterward.
Is he an idiot? Hugging so tightly in public, he's really taking advantage of his lack of popularity since he's just debuted.
Because Lin Zhi knew that Jiang Lai liked women, she assumed that everyone knew that Jiang Lai liked women. In fact, she was worrying a bit too much. Rather than worrying about paparazzi or passersby taking pictures, she was more jealous of Jiang Lai, but she just didn't want to admit it.
After a satisfying meal, it was almost time for lunch break. Zhang Zhen had a meeting in the afternoon, so she was thinking of settling the bill and heading home. She had just raised her hand to call the waiter when Lin Zhi stopped her.
"I'll pay the bill later, I haven't finished eating."
Zhang Zhen was slightly taken aback and looked at the empty plate in front of Lin Zhi: "You're eating the plate?"
"Tsk, you talk too much. If you say wait a minute, then wait a minute."
"Okay, okay."
After another ten minutes, Lin Zhi kept looking up at the diagonal front. Kevin noticed something was wrong and turned around to look as well, just in time to see Jiang Lai raise her hand to call the waiter.
The sofa was very high, and Jiang Lai could only see half of her head when she was sitting normally. But when she called for a waiter, she turned her face and leaned out. Kevin, who had 5.0 vision, was about to call for someone when Lin Zhi covered his mouth.
Zhang Zhen was startled; this person had leaned over the entire dining table and pinned Kevin against the wall!
Zhang Zhen: This scene is disgusting, it's blinding my 24k pure titanium alloy eyes.
Kevin was also startled, blinking his big eyes and looking at Lin Zhi in confusion. The latter realized she had lost her composure, withdrew her hand, and sat back down.
"Don't make a sound."
Kevin frowned and remained silent until Jiang Lai paid the bill and You Yi left, at which point she allowed Kevin to speak.
"That's not Jiang..."
Lin Zhi glared at him: "I don't know, I don't recognize you, don't talk nonsense."
Zhang Zhen looked at Kevin with a questioning gaze, but the latter just shrugged. Lin Zhi was too terrifying for him to say anything more; if he were to say anything, he would do so privately with Zhang Zhen.
Lin Zhi was really unlucky. City A was so big, and she just randomly chose a restaurant for lunch and ran into Jiang Lai, and it was so awkward. Lin Zhi thought she had spoken too harshly that morning, and would apologize to Jiang Lai after she calmed down. For now, she'd better avoid her. Saying hello was awkward, especially seeing her hugging a beautiful woman...
You Yi had been drinking, so Jiang Lai had to drive. She started the engine and was warming up the car when she looked up and saw Lin Zhi coming out of the restaurant with two other people beside her. One was Kevin, and the other was someone she didn't recognize, but he was probably another founder. What was his name again... Sadako?
Zhang Zhen: Achoo!
You Yi also saw Lin Zhi and thought about rolling down the car window to say hello. After all, they had a business relationship, and he wanted to maintain appearances, especially since she was Jiang Lai's boss.
The car window, which had been lowered by a third, suddenly rolled back up. You Yi almost stuck her head out. She turned to look at Jiang Lai and yelled, "What are you doing? Murder?"
Jiang Lai touched the tip of her nose uncomfortably and said, "I'm cold."
You Yi took it seriously, thinking she hadn't seen Lin Zhi, and didn't say anything: "What month is it? You're still wearing short sleeves inside. You deserve to be cold. Put all your short sleeves away when you get home."
"Okay, sure."
The relationship between the two did not become awkward because of You Yi's confession. You Yi felt much more at ease after revealing the secret he had kept in his heart for many years. Although the result was not the best, it was not the worst either.
Just as Jiang Lai's dolphin sister said, she is now smiling and offering blessings.
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Author's Note:
Lin Zhi: The Cold War, huh?
Jiang Lai: Hmph, never mind! Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 2022-04-07 22:30:37 and 2022-04-08 20:29:35!
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Zishu Qianke (10 bottles); Yu (3 bottles);