bestfiction Chapter 163 Taking and Asking
Chapter 163 Taking and Asking
At this moment, the lights outside the banquet hall were dim and yellowish.
Bai Li sighed softly, a complex expression in her eyes.
You'd say this family is clever, wouldn't you say? They really are clever.
Being ruthlessly asked to leave the venue by Jiang Yanglin was such an embarrassing situation that anyone else might have lost their composure long ago.
But they quickly found the real problem, realizing that they had offended no ordinary person, and that Bai Li was the key to solving the problem.
Immediately afterwards, they took action and rushed over to apologize to Bai Li. Their judgment of the situation and their ability to act were truly admirable.
No wonder he was able to accumulate such a large fortune.
However, it's not entirely accurate to say they are intelligent.
Or perhaps they're so used to talking to themselves that they've developed a self-centered mindset and are completely unaware that the person they should apologize to most in this whole affair isn't themselves, but Guan Cha.
They used Guan Cha as a tool for cheating on exams. How can all those past harms be erased so easily?
Now, they keep apologizing to me, bowing and scraping as if they are sincere, but in reality, they just want to downplay the matter and get away with it.
This family seems shrewd, but they are actually quite muddle-headed.
They still haven't truly realized their mistakes; all they've done is calculate their own interests.
In their eyes, perhaps only their own gains and losses are the most important, while the harm suffered by others is simply not worth mentioning.
Bai Li looked at the scene before her without feeling any pity.
In her view, Zhou Jingtian's apology today was merely a forced act under pressure from his father, and lacked any sincerity whatsoever.
If it were just a normal conflict, Bai Li wouldn't be the type to hold grudges, and she probably would have just turned a blind eye to it.
But interspersed within this incident are Guan Cha's unbearable past experiences.
However, Bai Li also knew that she shouldn't take action herself, as this was a feud between other people and had nothing to do with her.
Whoever sows the seeds of evil shall bear the consequences.
Since she learned the truth about the cheating exam from Guan Cha's fragmented memories, which Guan Cha had never told her, Bai Li didn't want to be blunt. She simply replied coldly, "Talk to Guan Cha. Instead of begging for my forgiveness, you should ask him." Then she turned to look at Guan Cha.
Guan Cha stood beside Bai Li, looking at the Zhou family who were once high and mighty, now as pathetic as stray dogs. All the resentment and unwillingness he had felt in the past turned into a sense of relief.
Guan Cha's lips curled up slightly, revealing a mocking smile, but there was also a hint of bitterness hidden in that smile.
I've waited far too long for this day.
Bai Li patted him on the shoulder and said a few words of advice: "Take care of it yourself. I'll wait for you by the car." Then she turned and left.
She believed that Guan Cha could handle it, and she didn't need to get involved.
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Guan Cha didn't keep Bai Li waiting too long.
Outside the Jiangyang Lin Family Manor, luxury cars lined the parking lot, each one gleaming with a cold, hard luster, as if silently proclaiming the status and position of its owners.
Bai Li leaned lazily against the car, holding her phone in her hand. The dim light from the screen illuminated her delicate face, outlining her slightly tired yet still charming features in the gloom.
The champagne-colored skirt swayed gently in the night breeze, creating a soft arc.
Sensing footsteps, she looked up and saw Guan Cha walking towards her through a jungle of luxury cars.
The young man's well-tailored suit jacket was loosely draped over his arm, and the collar of his white shirt was slightly open. The dim streetlights cast a long shadow of him.
Bai Li squinted slightly, carefully examining Guan Cha, the streetlight casting swaying shadows under his eyelashes.
I felt that Guan Cha's eyes held a sense of relief at this moment. The gloom that had lingered for many years seemed to have dissipated like morning mist meeting the rising sun, leaving only a faint redness at the corners of her eyes. Her former resentment was gradually replaced by a sense of peace.
He stopped half a step away, lowered his head slightly, looked at her, and unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth. His Adam's apple bobbed, causing the veins in his neck to tremble: "Lili, it's all taken care of."
Bai Li thought that Guan Cha would be more emotional after dealing with the Zhou father and son, but she couldn't hear much emotional fluctuation in his words.
But Bai Li still keenly caught a subtle, almost imperceptible, change: a sense of relief mixed with a complex mix of emotions that were hard to describe.
Guan Cha subconsciously curled his fingers. He originally thought that when he faced the Zhou father and son bowing their heads to admit their mistakes, he would lose control of his emotions, angrily accuse them, and release all the resentment that had been building up in his heart.
But when that moment finally arrived, he suddenly realized that the hatred he had harbored for years had already turned into fine sand when Bai Li had created a clear sky for him.
Bai Li looked at Guan Cha quietly, as if she could see through his thoughts. Suddenly, she reached out and gently tucked the wind-blown hair from Guan Cha's forehead behind his ear.
When the warm fingertips brushed against his earlobe, an electric-like sensation spread throughout his body, causing Guan Cha to tremble slightly uncontrollably.
He found it difficult to accurately describe how he felt at that moment.
He thought that after experiencing so much, he had long since calmed his emotions, and that the past pain seemed to have become insignificant. He believed that he was strong enough to face everything with equanimity.
But Bai Li's unintentional tenderness, merely the gentle touch of her warm fingertips, easily broke down the psychological defenses he had painstakingly built.
Standing before Bai Li, an overwhelming warmth welled up from the bottom of his heart and quickly spread throughout his body. He seemed to transform back into that naive and bewildered young man, all his pretense and strength crumbling into nothingness.
Guan Cha suddenly grabbed her wrist and pressed it against his chest. The sound of his heart pounding under his suit vest made her palm go numb.
Bai Li's voice was gentle: "What happened? Tell me, if you'd like."
Although she already knew about Guan Cha's past from fragments of his memories, she was still willing to listen to him talk about it and let him reveal the secrets deep in his heart.
Guan Cha's voice was very soft, and the secret that had been suppressed for many years finally burst forth, but he spoke as if he were telling someone else's story, so calm that it was somewhat heartbreaking.
The parking lot overhead lights cast swaying spots of light on his face, which danced with his words, cutting his fragmented sentences into drifting snowflakes that scattered in the silent night.
Bai Li listened quietly, a wave of bittersweetness rising in her heart.
All these years have been so stressful and suffocating.
She opened her arms and embraced him.
The gentle scent of violets and cedar enveloped her trembling body, and she felt the young man's stiff back gradually relax, finally resting his forehead against her shoulder.
The young man's trembling breath burned the skin behind her ears, and his scalding tears silently soaked through the silk fabric, spreading out in dark patterns under the moonlight.
“It’s all in the past.” She gently stroked the slightly curled ends of Guan Cha’s hair at the back of her neck. “You are Guan Cha standing in the spotlight now.”
My fingertips slid slowly down my spine, stopping at a trembling point.
Guan Cha buried his face in the crook of her neck like a drowning person clinging to a piece of driftwood, which made her say a few words of comfort: "Now that this matter is resolved, don't think about it anymore, look forward."
Chopin's Nocturne drifted from the banquet hall in the distance. The shadows of wisteria blossoms swayed on the silhouettes of the two embracing. The nocturne floated down on the wisteria petals. The chiffon gauze around her waist was lifted by the wind, revealing the rose gold waist chain that Guan Cha had tied herself yesterday. Now, it shimmered with tiny lights as she sobbed.
Guan Cha finally showed her first genuine smile of the night. Her festering wounds were scabbing over in the moonlight, and the warmth of her fingertips was more comforting than any painkiller.
Guan Cha's voice trembled slightly, with a hint of sob: "Thank...thank you, I really don't know what I would have done otherwise, thanks to you today."
Bai Li gently patted Guan Cha's back, leaned back slightly, and gently cupped Guan Cha's face in her hands. She gently wiped away the tear stains left at the corners of his eyes with her thumbs, looking at him with tenderness and firmness: "Don't say that. You deserve all of this. It's all the result of your own hard work."
Guan Cha didn't intend to cry, but he couldn't suppress the emotions surging within him.
All the grievances and gratitude that had been suppressed for so many years poured out like a flood breaking through a dam at this moment.
Guan Cha had always hoped to show Bai Li a mature and reliable side, but now, seeing her lose control and cry made him feel that he looked very immature, like a child who hadn't grown up.
This thought immediately brought a blush to his face, which spread from his cheeks to his ears, and his eyes were filled with shyness as he looked at Bai Li.
"Don't look at me..." he choked out, "It's too embarrassing..."
Gratitude and dependence, shyness and sadness—in every moment spent with Bai Li, complex emotions fermented, swelled, and changed in her heart, gradually transforming into a deeper and more indescribable feeling.
He knew perfectly well that his feelings for Bai Li had long surpassed ordinary gratitude; it was a deep-seated longing and love that grew wildly in his heart like vines.
He gazed quietly at Bai Li. In this tranquil night, everything around him seemed to have been muted, quietly still.
The noise of luxury cars and the faint music coming from the banquet hall in the distance gradually disappeared from his perception, and it seemed that the whole world really only consisted of him and Bai Li.
Guan Cha's eyes remained fixed on Bai Li, filled with deep affection and longing. His gaze slowly moved down to Bai Li's slightly reddened lips, and his heart began to beat faster involuntarily, as if it were about to jump out of his throat. The sound of his heartbeat was particularly clear in the quiet night.
He could feel Bai Li's breath getting closer and closer, her warm breath gently brushing against his face, making his heart beat faster and faster.
Bai Li seemed to sense Guan Cha's feelings as well. She didn't shy away, but just looked at Guan Cha quietly, her eyes sparkling with a soft light, as if she was silently responding to Guan Cha's emotions, as if she was tacitly agreeing with his actions.
In that instant, there seemed to be an unspoken understanding between them, a communication that needed no words.
Suddenly, Guan Cha's silk tie was gently hooked by Bai Li's slender white fingers, and he staggered unprepared.
The moment their lips touched, Guan Cha felt herself melt, like white chocolate placed on a warm stove, every inch of her skin, from her taut shoulders to her burning ear tips, was soaked in a sweet longing.
His fingertips sank into the folds of her silk skirt.
The kiss, tinged with the saltiness of tears and a desperate, reckless devotion, was like a dying person touching the glimmer of salvation.
Bai Li tasted the lingering sweetness of the mint candy on his lips, and heard the suppressed whimper in his throat turn into a trembling sigh: "Li Li..."
At that moment, time seemed to freeze, and the whole world consisted only of their heartbeats and soft breathing, as if they were floating on clouds, and nothing else mattered.
As her Adam's apple bobbed and she tasted the salty bitterness of tears, Guan Cha realized that even in the face of extreme happiness, people can shed tears.
[Guan Cha's favorability +11]
Guan Cha's favorability rating: 90
……
After a long while, Guan Cha slowly withdrew, her eyes still filled with lingering affection and intoxication.
Bai Li's gaze inadvertently fell on Guan Cha's collar, which she had ripped open. She noticed a rose tattoo on his collarbone, the petals of which were delicate and vibrant. Upon closer inspection, the shape turned out to be a thorn vine wrapped with the initials of her name.
The red tattoo on her snow-white neck created a striking contrast that gave it a unique beauty, both mysterious and captivating.
Bai Li's hand involuntarily pressed gently against the scalding hot tattoo, stroking it lightly.
Guan Cha felt a jolt of electricity run through her skin and spread throughout her body. Realizing that she had shamefully let out a trembling sigh, Guan Cha pursed her lips tightly.
Bai Li tilted her head slightly and asked curiously, "When did you get this tattoo?"
Her gaze was fixed on the rose tattoo on Guan Cha's collarbone, which featured thorns wrapped around his initials. Her fingers gently rested near Guan Cha's collarbone, and she could even feel the pulse of his carotid artery as it throbbed with tension and excitement.
Guan Cha's face was still flushed at this moment. Under the dim light, the blush was particularly noticeable, revealing a youthful naiveté and impulsiveness.
Guan Cha trembled slightly as he gently grasped Bai Li's fingers, which were fidgeting with curiosity, and held them tightly in his palm. He took a deep breath and tried to make his voice sound steady as he replied, "Not long ago."
This doesn't seem to be a lie, because the edges of the tattoo are indeed still a bit red, like a newborn bud, slightly raised on the skin, and it doesn't look like it has fully healed yet.
Bai Li found it somewhat novel; after all, in all her years of life, this was the first time someone had tattooed their name on their body.
She looked up at Guan Cha and asked again, "What if you regret it later?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Guan Cha looked intently at Bai Li and answered with absolute certainty, "No, I am yours, forever."
Then he gently brought Bai Li's fingers to his lips and lightly placed a kiss full of affection, as soft as a feather, yet carrying a weight of love.
After the kiss, he narrowed his eyes slightly, smiled slyly, and said in a veiled way, "Use me as you please, anything is fine with me."
He would lay his whole self bare before Bai Li, letting her take whatever she wanted, just to win her favor and become an indispensable part of her life.
The little man who once cowered in the shadows licking his wounds has now finally climbed onto the olive branch bestowed by the gods.