Then, in a clumsy motion, he grabbed Lin Qingya’s shoulder, seized her left arm, and pulled her along as they walked.
Lin Qingya glanced at the man on her left, then silently lowered her head and shuffled forward.
But after a dozen seconds, the big boy on the left suddenly spoke.
“I’ll carry you!”
“Eh! Ah!”
Lin Qingya exclaimed, and before she knew it, she was scooped up into Cheng Minghao’s arms.
“You~ you put me down!”
Lin Qingya shouted angrily, her slender willow brows shooting straight up.
“Then should I piggyback you?”
Cheng Minghao asked, understandingly, looking directly at Lin Qingya.
“I… you… piggyback me then!”
Lin Qingya’s cheeks flushed.
Thinking she really couldn’t walk, she could only reluctantly compromise.
“Alright!”
Cheng Minghao agreed immediately, then quickly set Lin Qingya down.
The young and reckless boy, not knowing how to cherish a woman, let her down too quickly, making Lin Qingya’s legs go weak and cry out in pain.
“Ah!”
Lin Qingya whimpered, clutching the sore spot.
“Sorry… sorry!”
As he apologized, Cheng Minghao turned around, grabbed Lin Qingya’s right arm, and pulled her onto his back.
“Ah!”
Because of the close contact between their bodies, Lin Qingya’s legs instinctively wrapped around Cheng Minghao’s waist, but the movement bumped her injured spot again, making her too afraid to move.
“Let’s go!”
Cheng Minghao said, carrying Lin Qingya downstairs, then went to find the Auntie to check out of the inn.
“Take care, young couple. Come again next time. Auntie still has something to spice things up—I’ll give you a discount next time.”
The Auntie sent them off warmly, making the young couple’s faces turn red.
“No… no need!”
Lin Qingya blushed, embarrassed and awkward, and hurriedly urged Cheng Minghao beneath her.
“Let’s go, quickly!”
“Oh, oh, alright, let’s run!”
Cheng Minghao replied, and carried Lin Qingya out at a run.
“Ah! Slow down!”
Lin Qingya’s face was full of grievance, her brows tightly knit.
The man’s jostling made her ache even more.
“…Mm.”
Cheng Minghao was silent for a while, then let out a quiet sound as he ran down the street.
—
After some running and walking, Cheng Minghao gradually got used to the stares of passersby who thought they were a couple as he carried Lin Qingya.
Lin Qingya, unable to move easily, buried her face in Cheng Minghao’s shoulder, too shy to speak, pretending to be dead—or asleep.
After carrying her for so long, the soft touch and the warmth pressed against his back made Cheng Minghao’s mind start to wander again.
They walked on in silence, neither knowing where their destination was or where they wanted to go.
Suddenly.
Cheng Minghao spoke.
“Let’s go to the Police Station.”
“Police Station?”
Lin Qingya was stunned, then asked.
“Are you going to turn yourself in?”
“Turn myself in?”
Cheng Minghao echoed, puzzled.
“Why would I turn myself in?”
“Because…”
Lin Qingya’s face turned red, burying her face in Cheng Minghao’s shoulder, muttering in her heart.
“Of course because… I wasn’t willing~ At least now, afterwards, I wasn’t willing.”
Wait!
How did I end up substituting myself for Lin Qingya?!
‘Lin Qingya’ snapped back to reality, suddenly realizing her own mistake in thinking.
She also thought of another problem.
Since she had become Lin Qingya, then where was the real Lin Qingya?
Thinking this, Lin Qingya couldn’t help but ask.
“Yesterday… what happened? I forgot everything. Tell me. Hurry.”
Cheng Minghao was stunned by Lin Qingya’s question, then his face turned red and he explained awkwardly.
“I… I don’t know exactly what happened either. I only know…”
Cheng Minghao paused, then continued.
“We just drank, then… then woke up like this. Sorry~”
Cheng Minghao felt tense inside, not knowing how Lin Qingya would react to him.
“I…”
Lin Qingya blushed and hurriedly explained.
“I’m not asking about that—well, I do want to know, but—what I mean is…”
Lin Qingya blushed even more.
“I’m asking, since I’m…”
Lin Qingya? Then…
She changed her question.
“Tell me exactly what happened yesterday after school.”
“Mm, alright.”
Cheng Minghao nodded as he carried Lin Qingya, then instinctively moved toward the side of the road.
He still wanted to go to the Police Station, so he waited.
Standing beside the crosswalk, Cheng Minghao explained.
“Yesterday after school…”
Cheng Minghao began to recall, his expression turning gloomy.
“Yesterday, I fought with Chen Qing. A truck suddenly lost control and came at us.
We were both about to die, but I saw Chen Qing push me away, then he tried to escape but didn’t… make it. So…”
“I think I pushed him away?”
Lin Qingya wondered, puzzled as to why she would save Cheng Minghao.
Though the two of them were ‘close,’ being classmates in elementary, middle, and high school, they were only rivals in love.
Because Lin Qingya was also in their class from elementary through high school, it was a strange twist of fate.
But because Chen Qing noticed Lin Qingya liked Cheng Minghao, and Cheng Minghao wasn’t interested in Lin Qingya, treating her as just a friend?
That made Chen Qing very jealous.
Also, because all three were Orphans, they were considered a weak group at school and stuck together.
So they were close.
But because of the ‘love triangle,’ that closeness didn’t become regular friendship, but instead was full of arguments.
Chen Qing and Cheng Minghao always quarreled and even fought.
So, like yesterday, Chen Qing vaguely remembered Lin Qingya shouting, then running off to report to a teacher.
So she was safe—at least, she should have been.
But now…
‘He’ had become ‘her,’ becoming Lin Qingya, while the real Lin Qingya seemed to have vanished without a trace.
And didn’t seem to be in a good situation.
Lin Qingya hadn’t figured everything out yet, but knew that what Cheng Minghao said, and what she understood, matched up.
After that, things got confusing, and somehow they ended up in bed together, and then…
“Could it be that Lin Qingya was ‘killed’ by Cheng Minghao…? And then I took over her body? Wanting revenge?”
Lin Qingya thought secretly, a shiver running through her.
If his vengeful spirit had followed Cheng Minghao, watching them together, and saw Lin Qingya get ‘killed’ from overexertion…
Then he…
Might have wanted to come back to life and take revenge—maybe even choke Cheng Minghao to death!
Lin Qingya was still thinking when Cheng Minghao suddenly spoke.
“I’ll take you home. Then… I want to go to the Police Station.”
“Police Station?”
Lin Qingya asked, looking confused.
“Yeah,”
Cheng Minghao nodded, then continued.
“I want to ask where Chen Qing’s Corpse is. I want to see him.”
“…I want to go too.”
Lin Qingya said softly.
Cheng Minghao was silent, then asked.
“Your leg… cough! Is your body feeling better?”
Cheng Minghao continued.
“He was an Orphan. After he died… the Government probably cremated him right away. So…”
“It might take a long time and a lot of running around to find the Cemetery. Can you… handle it?”
Cheng Minghao asked again.
Lin Qingya was embarrassed, her face flushed as she tightened her legs, making her brows knit—but she spoke seriously.
“I have to go!”
“……”
Cheng Minghao was silent.
Lin Qingya didn’t say she could handle it, just that she had to go.
Cheng Minghao thought for a moment, then nodded.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
He didn’t say anything more.
His eyes caught sight of a taxi, and he raised his hand.
“The nearest Police Station.”
Cheng Minghao said.
The driver glanced at the young man and woman, nodded silently, and drove off.