Chapter 30. His aura...
Under the cold lights of the police station, Xie Tang endured the stinging pain in her ankle and walked to Yin Xi's side.
Yin Xi stared blankly at the ground, tears streaming silently down her face, without uttering a word.
On the other side, Zhao Ya was still crying and cursing at the police, relentlessly demanding that Yin Xi be held criminally responsible.
Xie Tang looked at Yao Xinyu, who was pretending to comfort Zhao Ya but whose eyes were actually wandering, and felt a tightness in her chest.
She took a deep breath, suppressed her anger, and said to Yao Xinyu, "Let's settle this privately. Yin Xi hit Zhao Ya first; those words were utterly offensive. As a woman myself, I'm ashamed for her! Let's leave it at that and not pursue the matter further."
“Talking to me won’t work,” Yao Xinyu raised an eyebrow, revealing a playful smirk, and gestured with his chin toward Zhao Ya, “You have to convince her.”
"Don't even think about it! I will never settle this privately!" Zhao Ya shouted in protest.
Xie Tang ignored her and fixed her sharp gaze on Yao Xinyu's face: "You've been with Yin Xi for seven years. If you have even a shred of guilt, you should have your girlfriend apologize to her! Let's just move on from this."
She quietly tightened her grip on her phone in her pocket.
"Make me apologize to her? Dream on!" Zhao Ya immediately glared at Yao Xinyu, waiting for his stance.
Yao Xinyu shrugged, looking smug, and said, "What if I say no?"
Xie Tang sneered, her voice low but clear: "You have no choice. This is what you owe her! Otherwise, tomorrow everyone in Huasong Group will have a copy of Young Master Yao's 'Chronicle of Romantic Affairs'! I mean what I say!"
She waved her phone meaningfully.
Yin Xi suddenly looked up, staring at Yao Xinyu in astonishment, her eyes filled with a mixture of pain and disbelief.
Yao Xinyu's nonchalant expression froze instantly. He narrowed his eyes, staring at Xie Tang, and after a moment, like a deflated balloon, he helplessly raised his hands: "Fine! Fine! Xie Tang, you win..."
Zhao Ya angrily punched Yao Xinyu, "You dare make me apologize? I'm not done with you!"
Yao Xinyu pulled her tightly into his arms, almost using his body to suppress her struggles, and then quickly and insincerely said to Yin Xi, "Yin Xi, no matter what Zhao Ya said, it was wrong of you to hit her. She is my person, and she made a mistake. I apologize to you on her behalf. I'm sorry."
That casual "I'm sorry" pierced Yin Xi's heart like a needle.
She looked at his eagerness to settle things, and at Zhao Ya, who was still struggling and resentful in his arms.
A question that had been lingering in her mind for so long finally burst out, her voice trembling with brokenness: "Yao Xinyu, did you ever... ever love me? Even a little bit?"
Yao Xinyu seemed surprised that she would ask this question at this time. He paused for a moment, then forced a perfunctory smile, his gaze wandering: "Maybe? It's been too long, I've forgotten."
"I forgot..." Yin Xi murmured repeatedly, her heart feeling as if it were being repeatedly cut by a dull knife, the pain numbing her.
The seven years she once cherished—her youth, her love, her body she gave herself to…
All he could say were vague statements like "maybe" and "forgot".
A surge of immense absurdity and disgust welled up inside me. "You don't love me, yet you kissed me and slept with me. Yao Xinyu, you disgust me!"
She almost vomited.
"Tch." Yao Xinyu seemed to shake off something dirty, quickly looked away, and half-dragged, half-carried Zhao Ya.
The latter was still shouting, "I'm going to sue her! Why should we let it go!"
He told the police, "It's alright, we won't pursue this."
After saying that, he quickly left the police station without looking back.
"Let's go." Xie Tang gently took Yin Xi's cold hand.
Yin Xi was like a puppet with its strings cut, her eyes vacant, letting Xie Tang lead her, numbly moving her feet.
Inside the car, the deathly silence was broken by Yin Xi's hoarse voice: "What are those photos you mentioned...?"
Xie Tang sighed, took out her phone, unblocked Yao Xinyu, opened the long-forgotten chat history and handed it to him: "Take a look for yourself."
On the screen were obscene and harassing messages sent by Yao Xinyu three years ago.
"Buzz—"
Yin Xi's mind went completely blank for a moment, and her long-standing, precarious self-deception collapsed completely.
She gripped her phone tightly, her knuckles turning white, and finally broke down in a heart-wrenching sob: "I should have known! I knew from the very beginning! The person he wanted to pursue back then was you! He only came to me because you rejected him!"
"I was so stupid. It was that little bit of kindness he put on, those sweet words, that made me fall for him like I was grasping at a straw. When he confessed to me, he even said he hadn't liked me for a long time..."
"Hahaha... So all these years, he's been relentlessly harassing you. I was just his second-best prey, a complete joke!"
She was nearly overwhelmed by immense shame and self-loathing.
Seeing her break down, Xie Tang felt a pang of sorrow in his heart.
She and Tang Zhi had advised him countless times that Yao Xinyu was not a good man, but at that time, Yin Xi was like a moth yearning for warmth, knowingly rushing towards fire.
She didn't blame Yin Xi for being "love-struck." She knew all too well the hardships Yin Xi had endured growing up—that insecure, love-starved, and yearning-for-approval little girl who had never truly escaped the shadow of needing others to provide warmth in order to confirm her own worth.
Even the smallest kindness is like sweet rain that she can hardly resist.
It wasn't her fault, but this devastating disillusionment was a painful part of growing up that she had to endure.
Xie Tang reached out to hold her hand again and whispered words of comfort.
Yin Xi suddenly pulled her hand back, shoved the phone back at her, and abruptly turned her head, her tear-streaked face pressed against the cold car window, her shoulders heaving silently.
Inside the carriage, only a suffocating sadness remained, along with the blurry cityscape rushing past the window.
Xie Tang dragged her exhausted body home.
Aunt Yu was knitting on the sofa when she saw her carrying high heels and limping in. She quickly put down her things and went to help her, asking, "What happened to you?"
"I sprained my ankle." Xie Tang put her high heels on the shoe rack.
Aunt Yu looked at her left ankle, which was red and swollen, and helped her to sit down on the sofa. "I have some medicinal wine in my room. I'll go find it for you."
After saying that, he walked towards the nanny's room.
Xie Tang looked at the textiles on the table; they were all children's toys, small and very cute.
Not long after, Aunt Yu came over with some medicinal wine and placed her feet on her lap, saying, "Let me rub it on for you."
"Okay." Xie Tang didn't stand on ceremony and asked, "Has there been a new baby in the family?"
"I'm not married, so how could I have children or grandchildren?" Aunt Yu replied with a slight smile, poured some medicinal wine onto her hands, rubbed it, and then pressed it into her ankle.
Her grip was very strong, causing Xie Tang to cry out and tears to well up in her eyes.
Aunt Yu laughed and said, "You're so afraid of pain? Then you'll have to bear with it. If the pressure is too light, it won't heal well."
"Ouch! Ouch! Auntie, be gentle..."
Chu Song returned and saw Xie Tang gripping the sofa, stretching her leg, and roared, "What happened to your leg?"
"She said she sprained her ankle, and I didn't even put much pressure on her, but she's in so much pain..."
"Aunt Yu, I can't stand the pain, please be gentle."
Seeing the tears in her eyes, Chu Song couldn't bear it any longer and rolled up his shirt sleeves. "Let me do it."
Aunt Yu smiled and stuffed the medicinal wine into his hand, then hugged the fabric and went back to her room.
Chu Song bent down, poured some medicinal wine into his palm, and placed his warm hand on her swollen ankle.
Xie Tang felt flattered and embarrassed at the same time, and wanted to pull her leg back. "Brother Song, let me do it myself."
Chu Song ignored her and pressed down on her ankle with moderate force. "Will this feel better?"
The pain lessened a bit, and Xie Tang nodded slightly.
Her gaze traced the handsome lines of his profile, finally settling on the striking little mole on his nose.
That was his unique mark, adding an unexpected touch of sexiness.
As if guided by some unseen force, Xie Tang's fingertips gently landed on his high, straight nose.
Chu Song abruptly stopped massaging and looked up at her.
Their eyes met suddenly, and Xie Tang's heart skipped a beat, as if she had been caught doing something wrong. She hastily forced a smile and said, "...It's a little dusty."
She quickly brushed her fingertips across the bridge of his nose, then swiftly withdrew them, as if the spot where she had touched was burning, making her fingertips numb.
Chu Song's gaze swept over her instantly flushed ears and cheeks, and his eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.
He lightly pinched her swollen ankle with his fingertips, his voice low and deep: "Grey? Then why are you blushing?"
He leaned forward slightly, his breath lightly brushing against her forehead. "...Feeling guilty?"
"It hurts!" Xie Tang felt uncomfortable under his gaze. The stinging pain in her ankle and his irritating breath made her instinctively want to pull her foot away.
Chu Song firmly held her ankle, his grip not strong, but not loose enough to allow her to break free.
He looked up, his deep eyes reflecting her panic, tinged with a helpless indulgence: "Don't move."
Xie Tang's heart pounded like a drum, but she gave in under his focused gaze, obediently lowered her head, and fell silent.
The air suddenly became thick, leaving only the sound of their intermittent breathing.
Chu Song lowered her head again, her cool fingertips dipping into the warm medicinal oil, rubbing it in circles on her sensitive ankle skin, the pressure varying from light to heavy.
The pungent smell of the medicinal oil mingled with the touch of his fingertips, strangely stimulating her senses.
The initial embarrassment and pain were gradually replaced by a strange tingling sensation, like a subtle electric current, shooting from my ankle all the way up my spine.
She could even feel the strength of his knuckles and the warmth of his palm, soothing her heart.
Just as the medicated oil was about to be evenly applied and Chu Song leaned slightly to reach for a tissue—
Xie Tang inexplicably looked up at him, and he happened to look up as well.
A warm, pungent kiss, carrying the spicy scent of medicinal oil, unexpectedly landed on the corner of her lips.
Both of them were stunned.
Chu Song's movements froze in mid-air, his eyes suddenly darkening like a deep pool with surging undercurrents.
Xie Tang froze completely, the sensation on her lips was exceptionally clear, and that warmth quickly spread to her entire cheek, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it was about to burst out of her chest.
She even forgot to breathe.
Chu Song's Adam's apple bobbed silently. He was the first to look away and casually placed her feet back on the sofa.
He took a tissue and slowly wiped the remaining medicated oil from his fingertips, his voice lower and hoarser than before: "Don't rush to take a shower after just applying the medicated wine."
“…Okay.” Xie Tang’s voice was barely audible, her eyes darting around, and she didn’t dare to look at him at all.
She subconsciously licked the corner of her lips, which still seemed to retain a strange sensation, her heart feeling as if it were filled with a warm tide, both soft and swollen.
The absurd thought of "not taking a bath" popped up uncontrollably—his scent, carrying the aroma of medicated oil.
Perhaps it's not that one can't bear to endure one night?
However, the next second, the alarm bells of her obsessive-compulsive disorder rang sharply in her mind.
For her, not showering or washing her hair for a day was torture, like having countless ants gnawing at her skin!
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