Chapter 19: Misplaced trust, regret lasts a lifetime.

"I'm going to sleep," Chu Qingqing said, demonstratively wrapping her arms around him from behind.

"Mm-hmm," Wang Wanrou responded absentmindedly, pulling his arm over and placing it under her neck.

From the bed across, there came the clattering sound of keys being pressed, but Cheng Jinyang was no longer interested in what Xiao Wangshu was up to.

Right now, all he wanted was for Ah Zhi to hurry over and rescue him from being sandwiched in the middle.

Gradually, his thoughts sank into sleep, hovering between semi-consciousness and slumber, where he seemed to once again see that flickering fire.

A dancing flame, expanding and contracting like a heartbeat, with flickering halos of light around it.

........

"Jinqi."

"Jinqi!"

Cheng Jinyang blinked in confusion as he opened his eyes.

Jinqi.

Oh, another dream.

This time the target seems to be Cui Jinqi.

Normally, if it were Cui Xiaoniang's dream, he'd probably watch with interest, then tease her over the phone as soon as he woke up... But tomorrow he has to clean up things, so tonight Cheng Jinyang just wants to kill some monsters or sleep in the safe house.

He really doesn't care to figure out why Cui Xiaoniang loves lying so much; it's definitely one of those deep-seated revenge plot lines.

This time, he's seeing things from his own perspective, just like with Miss Wang before. It seems like he's possessed Cui Jinqi's body. Right now, she's about twelve years old, a few years younger than Yang Wangshu, looking like a pure middle school student.

She's standing in a pet shop, twirling her finger in the glass container where a large rabbit is housed.

"Sister Heng, is this rabbit sick? Why does it always look so weak?" She gently brushes the rabbit's long ears, curious.

"No, it's just sleeping."

The shop owner, a gentle woman in her twenties, with a simple side ponytail starting from the back of her neck and curving down to her chest.

It's the same hairstyle as Miss Wang.

She holds the end of the ponytail to keep it from touching the sawdust used for the rabbit's bedding, then bends down to massage the rabbit's back. Probably sensing its owner's presence, the rabbit lifts its head and nuzzles against Sister Heng's hand with its soft chin.

"Hehe, Sister Heng, look, it seems to like you too." Cui Jinqi smiled mischievously.

What do you mean it seems to like you too... Cheng Jinyang was slightly startled.

Oh.

At this moment, he was possessing Cui Jinqi's body, so he could sense the beautiful thoughts floating in her little head.

Cui Xiaoniang really liked this gentle shop owner sister. It was a kind of liking mixed with admiration and intimacy. Cheng Jinyang wasn't sure if it could be called love—perhaps it was just the blossoming of affection.

Hmm, so this girl likes women, huh?

Cheng Jinyang subconsciously thought about scratching his head, then realized: he was currently in a state of possession and didn't have a physical form to act upon.

What a pity.

Sima Yi, a predecessor who lived hundreds of years ago, was very opposed to certain Westernized concepts: for example, the West advocated cultural diversity, so after he transmigrated, he promoted the standardization of wheel gauges and writing systems; the West called for democracy and equal rights (at least verbally), so after his transmigration, he promoted highly centralized power and the monopoly of imperial merchants.

The West advocates equal rights for homosexuals, but after transmigrating, he even strictly prohibited same-sex people from holding hands, "violators will be punished with ten strokes of the cane and seven days in prison." As a result, behaviors that existed during the Three Kingdoms period, such as "sleeping on the same bed" and "holding hands to greet each other", have basically disappeared in society today.

If the same-sex love in an aristocratic family is between low- class young lads who are ignored by everyone, the family may pretend not to see it (of course, it will never be allowed to be made public); but if Cui Jinqi really likes this Sister Heng, another more serious problem will arise.

This Sister Heng was not from the Cui family, not even from an aristocratic family.

Therefore, Cui Xiaoniang's love affair was doomed to fail to blossom, and she could only sneak out during her spare time from the clan school every day and stay in this pet shop near the clan for a while.

What is even more sad is that although Sister Heng noticed her admiration, from Cheng Jinyang's point of view, she only regarded her as an ignorant little sister.

So this Cui Xiaoniang, actually started to be a licking dog at such a young age... I won't say more, when will this dream end? Quickly fast forward to her blackening!

The scene changed in a flash, and came to the classroom of the clan school, where several students were quarreling around Cui Jinqi.

"You all, stop arguing!" Cui Jinqi snapped impatiently. "I'm not going to let you copy my homework!"

"If you don't help me, I will tell everyone that you are in love with that shop owner!" the classmates shouted.

Cui Jinqi was shocked at first, but soon calmed down and sneered:

"What the hell are you talking about! How can two women fall in love? If you want to make up a reason to threaten me, at least make it logical! Who would believe this nonsense?"

The classmates looked at each other in bewilderment, and were deceived by her lies for a moment. However, children are fearless after all, and they threatened her immediately:

"Then let's tell the teacher about this!"

Cui Jinqi: !!!

It was the familiar situation of being in a dilemma, and at this time, Cui Xiaoniang, as always, chose to be stubborn:

"Okay! You guys go ahead, I'll wait here!"

Cheng Jinyang, who was possessing her, sighed and had already foreseen the consequences:

In Da Jin Kingdom, informing on others carried no risk, only a matter of time. Yet children were the least hesitant to spend time. Since she had taken such a reckless stance, the other side would surely go ahead with their threats.

As expected, the shocked teacher quickly informed the parents and summoned Cui Jinqi's father, Cui Taichong.

Though the name sounded somewhat like pickled vegetables, he was actually the Second Elder of the Qinghe Cui Clan, responsible for upholding clan rules and discipline, with a notably conservative mindset.

Cui Jinqi knew that her father would never be able to accept it, so when facing her father's questioning in the teacher's office, she made all kinds of excuses and refused to admit it.

Cheng Jinyang was puzzled: Isn't thisCui Xiaoniang very skilled in deceiving people? Could it be that she doesn't have any mental illness caused by dark transformation, but is just born with a bad nature?

After returning home, her father Cui Taichong went back to the study to work, and her mother called Cui Xiaoniang into the room and asked her what happened in the clan school today and why the teacher asked her father to come over?

Cui Jinqi then described in vivid detail that some classmates wanted to copy her homework and spread rumors about her relationship with the pet shop owner sister, attempting to fabricate rumors to slander and threaten her.

Her mother patted her head gently and smiled, "The pet shop owner sister? Why haven't you ever mentioned her to me before?"

"It's a store that raises rabbits." Cui Jinqi saw her mother was interested and said quickly, "The rabbits are so cute! They are so furry and big that you can hold them in your arms. They are so soft that they look like they have no bones!"

"Raising rabbits is very troublesome." Her mother said kindly, "Rabbits sleep most of the day and only wake up to eat at night. It must be very tiring for the store owner to take care of them alone."

"I think it's okay," Cui Jinqi enthusiastically introduced the store to her mother, saying how clever the store owner's sister was. She had trained the rabbits to be very smart, able to get water from the pet water dispenser by themselves, and could also make them line up and spin around and twist their butts.

She suddenly talked more, and her mother noticed the emotion in her tone and asked seriously:

"Jinqi, tell Mom, do you have a fondness for this shop owner sister?"

The question was cleverly phrased, Cheng Jinyang thought. Fondness could be between friends or in terms of romantic feelings. Using this ambiguous term might lower Cui Jinqi's guard given her age and intelligence; she might just fall for it.

Sure enough, perhaps due to a deep trust in her mother or the relaxation from their earlier chat, Cui Jinqi hesitated briefly but ultimately decided to tell the truth, "Um, I think she's really nice, and I enjoy being around her."

"I see," her mother said, helping her comb her hair. "That's how Mom feels. After all, you're still young and don't really understand what true love is. You might think the shop owner sister is beautiful, speaks nicely, and can handle so many rabbits alone, so you think she's amazing and want to get close to her. Mom understands all of that."

"But when you grow up, your interests will naturally shift to younger, more handsome, and more outstanding young gentlemen from respected families. Mom isn't criticizing you for making mistakes; after all, feelings like these are natural. But Mom hopes you can leave the choice to your future self, not make impulsive decisions in the heat of the moment, okay?"

At this moment, Cui Jinqi began to feel something was amiss, because her mother's attitude seemed completely different from what she had expected. However, since everything had been confessed truthfully, she could only timidly nod and dared not say more.

Fast forward to the next afternoon.

After the family studies class ended, Cui Jinqi as usual arrived at the entrance of the pet shop.

There, she saw that the shop door was already locked with a U-shaped lock.

Peering through the glass door, she was shocked to see the inside in complete disarray—tables and chairs strewn about, the transparent containers that originally held rabbits now empty, with wood shavings and small items scattered all over the floor.

And, there was no sign of Sister Heng.

Finally realizing that something bad had happened, Cui Xiaoniang hastily took out her phone from her clothes, fumblingly retrieved the number, and tremblingly dialed it.

After a few seconds of dialing, a system prompt tone sounded from the other end:

"The number you have dialed is out of service."

Cui Xiaoniang slumped down on the steps outside the pet shop. After a moment, tears started flowing down her cheeks.

In just one night, Sister Heng's original phone number had been completely disconnected.