Gloves - Chapter 19

“Zhuoxi, I visited Uncle Shang and bought two collections of his favorite writings to bring over. He asked me to tell you not to only focus on work and experiments. It’s too exhausting and you won’t be able to handle it. He also said I should take care of you more,” Xu Yuer said cheerfully. She liked Shang Zhuoxi and naturally liked Shang Zhuoxi’s father as well.

“Is that so?” Shang Zhuoxi, wearing a mask, focused on adjusting the chemicals, speaking in a muffled voice as she conversed with Xu Yuer. “I take care of you, too, don’t I?” Shang Zhuoxi turned her face towards Xu Yuer and raised an eyebrow teasingly.

It is precisely because Shang Zhuoxi witnessed how good Xu Yuer was to her own father that Xu Yuer could be so “bold” with Shang Zhuoxi.

“I know you’re the best to me,” Xu Yuer blinked her eyes and looked at the bottle of medicine in Shang Zhuoxi’s hand, feeling increasingly uneasy about the colorful powders. It seemed familiar to her, like something she had seen before.

“Hey? Zhuoxi, that powdered mixture of yours…” Suddenly, Xu Yuer seemed to have realized something. She covered her mouth with both hands. She remembered that her father had confiscated something like this before. It was a banned substance!

Shang Zhuoxi noticed the unusual reaction from the person beside her. She immediately stopped what she was doing, took off her mask, and held Xu Yuer’s chin, speaking in a low voice.

“Yu’er, what you saw today, don’t mention it to anyone. Also, these are not actual banned drugs, just unfinished prototypes that haven’t been confirmed yet, understand?” Shang Zhuoxi’s eyes were icy blue, shining with a chilling and cautious aura in the dark laboratory. Her pupils contracted, as if she wanted to gather all of Xu Yuer’s attention into one focal point. Xu Yuer nodded quickly.

“Don’t worry, I won’t say anything!” After all, her dad was in charge of these things. Xu Yuer still felt a bit uncomfortable deep down.

“You don’t have a shift today, right? Go rest.”

Shang Zhuoxi trusted her, which was why she allowed Xu Yuer to get close to this secretive laboratory and be her assistant. Xu Yuer was a rather innocent girl and never asked too many questions about these matters. Whenever she was asked to help with something, she cooperated diligently.

—————————————————————————————————————————

“I’m telling you guys, I saw Director Shang and Miss Xu together again.”

“So what? If you’re in our building, you can basically see them together almost every day.”

“Are they really together?”

“Queen and Lolita, huh?”

…

At this moment, only He Li and Tu Yi stood together on the other side to express their own stance.

“A bunch of flat-chested, blind, and brainless rejects,” Tu Yi really despised those who couldn’t see beyond appearances, “and ‘beauty’? Those in the building across from us don’t even have the qualifications to speak, right? They only have big boobs. If we compare looks and body proportions, hmph, I can easily surpass her by several degrees! Right, Lily?” “…Right, right! But I only have 180 degrees of ‘compassion’,” He Li’s mind had been brainwashed by Tu Yi’s teasing over the past few days. She also believed that Tu Yi was her true love.

“Are you referring to the girl with a slight limp in her leg? I saw her once, and she’s actually quite pretty and polite.”

“Tsk! How could you betray us?!”

—————————————————————————————————————————

Shang Zhuoxi leaned back comfortably on the sofa, holding her tablet as she browsed through forums. The soft, fluffy blanket draped over her body felt as comforting as being in a warm bath. She loved An Chujie’s home, or more accurately, she loved being wherever An Chujie was.

Suddenly, the abrupt ringtone of her phone shattered the rare tranquility in Shang Zhuoxi’s heart.

“Yi Heng,” those two words seemed to represent all the illusions and served as a reminder for Shang Zhuoxi not to forget her “principles.”

An Chujie finished blow-drying her hair and sat down next to Shang Zhuoxi. The fragrance of her hair wafted into Shang Zhuoxi’s nose as the soft pads of her fingers gently touched Shang Zhuoxi’s temples. But the more An Chujie did this, the more Shang Zhuoxi disliked it. She feared that she would succumb to An Chujie’s unintentional tenderness.

Setting down her tablet, Shang Zhuoxi forcefully grabbed An Chujie’s wrist, obstructing the blood flow and causing her entire palm to quickly turn red.

“Ouch…” An Chujie’s immediate reaction slipped out with a soft whimper. She didn’t understand why Shang Zhuoxi suddenly acted this way.

“I have a headache. Go outside and buy a box of aspirin for me,” Shang Zhuoxi said, releasing the delicate wrist. “Hurry up.”

An Chujie’s right wrist felt as if it was about to snap, and tears of pain welled up in her eyes.

“Okay,” she returned to the room to change her clothes. Her other hand could barely be lifted, so she grabbed a random cardigan hoodie and hastily left, forgetting to take the keys.

An Chujie knocked on the door, but there was no response. She felt her pockets and realized she had also forgotten her phone. Panic set in as she feared that something might have happened to Shang Zhuoxi. An Chujie rushed to the window and saw Shang Zhuoxi sitting expressionlessly on the sofa, playing on her computer.

The knocking on the door stopped for a moment, then resumed. Just as Shang Zhuoxi couldn’t resist going to open the door, the person’s phone rang again. This time, it was a text message. Shang Zhuoxi picked up the phone, opened the message, and coldly chuckled before putting on her earphones and returning to the sofa to continue browsing the internet.

Sending An Chujie out to buy medicine was just an excuse, a simple way to make her exert some effort. Now, it seemed more fitting to let her cool off outside. Opening the door so quickly would be a bit unfair to herself.

The strong wind blew An Chujie’s hat off, and her right wrist still throbbed with pain. She could now understand that Shang Zhuoxi didn’t actually want to open the door. An Chujie leaned against the door, hugging herself, believing that Shang Zhuoxi was just throwing a small tantrum and would come to open the door soon, even though she didn’t know why things had suddenly turned out this way.

With just a slight gust of wind, An Chujie’s throat began to ache. Calculating the dates, she realized that tomorrow should be her period. No wonder her resistance was so weak.

The earphones played recommended hot songs, but the stuff sung by those mediocre singers became more and more grating to Shang Zhuoxi’s ears. Annoyed, she took off the earphones, and the noise abruptly ceased, leaving the entire room in silence. There was no sound outside the door either. She wanted to see if An Chujie was still there, so she finally stood up and went to open the door.

She had expected to see either empty air or an angry face, but instead, she heard a voice say, “Is your headache still bothering you?” An Chujie asked with concern, holding out the box of aspirin in her hand.

In that moment, Shang Zhuoxi’s inner turmoil was almost unbearable. A surge of unexplained anger erupted from within her. She grabbed An Chujie’s neck as if she were snatching a small animal, pulling her closer and slamming her against the door with a loud thud.

“After all that I’ve done to you, you still care about my headache? Are you really that brainless or just a fantastic actress, pretending so convincingly?!” Shang Zhuoxi’s eyes revealed a hellish abyss, staring at An Chujie’s flushed face, as if she were a wounded demon. The box of aspirin fell from her hand and landed on the ground. Shang Zhuoxi exerted more force, throwing her to the floor.

“Cough… cough… gasp…” An Chujie feared that if she held on for another second, she would die. She had no strength left in her limbs. She sat on the ground, tears welling up in her trembling eyes. What did acting mean? What did pretending mean? It turns out that this is what she had always believed. Every inch of her body screamed in pain—physical pain, emotional pain. She couldn’t find the words to express anything other than her uncontrollable coughs and her sense of injustice.

“So, that man is taking you out tomorrow, right? Well, then. I won’t let you get out of bed tomorrow.” Shang Zhuoxi forcefully grabbed An Chujie’s weak left ankle and with her other hand, she pulled at the clothes around her waist, throwing her onto the bed. The intense pain shooting from her left foot caused An Chujie to break out in a cold sweat. Her pupils contracted, and she stared in horror at the person who had completely lost control of their senses.

Removing any remaining barriers swiftly, Shang Zhuoxi forcefully separated them and entered her with a merciless thrust.

………….

An Chujie couldn’t bear the intense and frequent waves of pleasure. Her legs hung weakly on Shang Zhuoxi’s shoulders, and her hands frantically rubbed against the smooth sofa, unable to find any distraction. In the end, she could only cling onto Shang Zhuoxi’s clothes, in agonizing pain.

An Chujie passed out repeatedly, only to wake up again when she was being sent to the clouds of ecstasy.

“Zhuoxi… gentle… be gentle,” she pleaded, as the sensations from below gradually turned painful.

“Enough, Zhuoxi. I… I’m afraid… I might… uh… break,” An Chujie felt like Shang Zhuoxi was going to shatter her into pieces. Her soul was on the verge of being crushed. An Chujie cried, pushing the person on top of her, but her strength was as feeble as a feather falling to the ground, unable to stir even the slightest breeze. And then, she lost consciousness once again…

The next day, when Shang Zhuoxi woke up, she realized her fingers were still inside the person, who was still unconscious with a furrowed brow. Shang Zhuoxi slowly withdrew her fingers, but as soon as she moved, the person in her hand trembled as if electrified. Shang Zhuoxi panicked and quickly checked An Chujie’s face. Thankfully, she had her eyes closed. However, the crimson stains on Shang Zhuoxi’s gloves finally made her feel fear.

She didn’t want to linger in this room any longer. She disposed of the evidence, freshened up, and applied exquisite makeup. Shang Zhuoxi once again became the queen that everyone admired, a pristine and noble figure. Except for An Chujie, no one knew the rotten state of Shang Zhuoxi’s heart.

The perpetrator successfully escaped the crime scene, not because of her cunning tactics, but because the victim had grown too tired to pursue justice.

As soon as the door closed, An Chujie opened her dazed eyes. Her long black hair cascaded messily behind her head, her clothes in disarray, loosely hanging from her waist. Her legs were in a strange position, unable to move. She resembled a flower ravaged by storms and lightning, its stem twisted and deformed. She couldn’t wait for someone who understood to show compassion, but instead, she was met with disdain. Yet, she never realized that she had bloomed solely for that one person.