Chapter 11

Zhong Ning said, “Mm, I understand.”

As she spoke, she stood up. Her shoulder-length hair swept through the air in a graceful arc, and the streaks of blue and purple behind her ears resembled a shooting star flickering in the night.

It should have been a rebellious, unrestrained look, but now it only appeared innocently docile.

With barely any medical history, Zhong Ning had always treated doctors’ words as sacred decrees. The most serious illness she had ever had was a cold, so naturally, whatever the doctor said—how to take medicine, how to get injections—she followed it all.

She had no habit of questioning.

Once the door was closed, the conversation inside the room was sealed off.

Qi Wan adjusted her glasses and asked in a complicated tone, “How did you do it?”

Xie Shiqing chuckled softly. Twirling a strand of hair with her slender white fingers, her red lips moved, “Maybe it’s because I’m just that charming.”

Qi Wan took a deep breath, unwilling to respond to that.

She sat back behind the desk, connected to the equipment in the back room, and after a moment said blandly, “The pheromone concentration is too low. At this rate, it’ll take a full day.”

Xie Shiqing replied, “Got it, I’ll go help.”

Qi Wan said, “Three steps to the left of the water dispenser.”

The omega blinked her unfocused eyes. Her steps were slow but precise as she reached the door. Raising her hand, she brushed her fingers along the door panel, found the handle, and pushed the door open.

This room barely qualified as a break room. There was a bed inside, and some extremely provocative posters and paintings on the wall—two out of three points exposed.

Zhong Ning, who stole a glance or two at them, was embarrassingly lowering her head.

This wasn’t a ride to elementary school.

She sat at the edge of the bed, gland opened, working hard to release her pheromones.

A faint scent of grapefruit blossoms drifted through the air, fresh and calming.

Xie Shiqing inhaled the aroma and felt as if she were floating in a sea of spring blossoms—layered clouds and forest wind caressed her skin, herself resting in a green embrace.

But it wasn’t strong enough.

Zhong Ning looked at her in surprise. “Why did you come in too?”

There were no bodyguards to lead her this time. Worried that Xie Shiqing might bump into something, Zhong Ning quickly stepped forward, hesitated a moment, then took her hand.

Slender and slightly cool, like jade and creamy fat.

Holding her hand, she led her to the bed and coughed lightly. “There’s only the bed to sit on here.”

Just as she was about to let go, the back of her hand was pressed down. A palm slid up along her arm, settled on her shoulder, and touched the side of her face.

Xie Shiqing stood in front of her and took a step closer.

Zhong Ning backed up until she bumped into the edge of the bed, stumbling over her words. “W-what’s wrong?”

Xie Shiqing was undoubtedly blind. Her pitch-black eyes were devoid of any luster, like glass beads embedded in their sockets, incapable of showing any emotion. Yet Zhong Ning still felt as though someone was staring at her intently. She nervously averted her gaze, not daring to meet those bottomless eyes.

The space between them was narrow, their breaths mingled. She didn’t dare to look at Xie Shiqing’s pale skin either, so she deliberately shifted her gaze, letting it fall on the light-blue cheongsam.

The cotton-linen fabric was soft to the touch and, with Xie Shiqing’s movement, floated gently over her skin..

Xie Shiqing cupped her face with both hands and slowly leaned in, pressing her lips onto hers. In the faint gap between their lips, murmured words spilled out. “I came to help.”

Half an hour later, the two of them exited the room one after the other.

They hadn’t done anything too inappropriate—just kissed. Lips and tongues brushing against each other, ambiguous and lingering—enough to leave Zhong Ning, a complete novice in romance, dizzy and disoriented. Her instincts took over as she continuously released her pheromones.

The scent also spilled out into the outer consultation room as the door opened.

The air purifier activated, its low humming sound filling the room as it diluted and filtered the fresh, delicate floral aroma, venting it outside and replacing it with clean, fresh air.

Qi Wan didn’t even lift her head as she said, “Come again next Wednesday.”

Zhong Ning’s face was completely flushed. Kissing someone so openly, separated by nothing more than a thin door panel. To her, it felt no different than doing it in public.

“Okay, okay,” she replied a little nervously. “Is there anything else?”

Qi Wan repeated the recent matter regarding the need for frequent marking, then said, “That’s it, you can go.”

Zhong Ning still held a sense of reverence toward hospitals. Leaving sooner was certainly preferable.

She habitually took a few steps forward, but then suddenly remembered that Xie Shiqing was with her. She stopped in her tracks and turned back, softly asking, “Should I hold your hand and walk you out?”

Xie Shiqing’s soft, curved red lips abruptly straightened into a line. “Hold my hand and walk me out?”

She tilted her head slightly and spoke in a gentle, delicate voice, “Do you think that just because I can’t see, I can’t walk on my own?”

Oh no!

Zhong Ning hurried to explain, “I didn’t mean it like that…”

“Then what did you mean?” Xie Shiqing’s voice turned icy, all the sweetness gone. “Aren’t you treating me like a blind person, a disabled person? You don’t trust that I can walk out on my own, is that it?”

With that, she strode out, bypassed the sofa and the stunned Zhong Ning, and made her way straight to the door without a hitch. She pulled the door open.

The door slammed shut with a bang.

Zhong Ning’s shoulders slumped, looking like a scolded house pet. Embarrassment, frustration, and guilt surged within her all at once.

She opened her mouth, dryly muttered an apology, and without checking the expression of the third person in the room, fled in a panic.

Xie Shiqing was already at the elevator.

Zhong Ning wanted to catch up and explain—she really hadn’t meant it like that. She was trying to form the words, but just as they reached her lips, they wouldn’t come out.

She watched helplessly as Xie Shiqing entered the elevator.

Had she really not meant it?

Not necessarily.

If Xie Shiqing’s eyesight had been fine, Zhong Ning absolutely wouldn’t have turned back and asked such a question.

Consciously, she hadn’t thought it through, but subconsciously, it was exactly what she had believed—that Xie Shiqing would struggle alone. Even in the small room earlier, she’d thought the same, which was why she had immediately stepped up to help.

But she truly hadn’t meant to discriminate.

It was like helping an elderly grandmother cross the street, lending a hand to someone who couldn’t lift their suitcase. For Zhong Ning, these small gestures of kindness were entirely instinctive actions.

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