CH 23

“Jin-Jin, you’re here!” 

“Jin-Jin, how’s your body? Are you feeling better?” 

“I was so worried when you passed out…”

“….” 

After returning everyone’s greetings, Yao Jin finally escaped the crowd and made it to her seat. She tidied up her desk and placed the three bottles of milk in her arms neatly in the right corner of the desk. 

Hé Màn-màn who was sitting next to her opened her mouth in surprise when she saw how much milk she bought, “Jin-Jin, I remember that you don’t like milk very much, right? Why did you bring so much with you today?” 

Yao Jin picked up one of the bottles and opened it. Her cherry red lips lightly bit on the translucent straw and sucked, “I’ve suddenly started liking it recently.”

The sweet milky fragrance filled her mouth, but Yao Jin frowned. A voice in her subconscious told her that this flavor wasn’t close enough, the taste not pure nor strong enough, as it was very different from the flavor in her memory.

It was as if a hole had opened up in her heart and that empty space could not be filled no matter what she did. 

The glimmer of satisfaction slowly disappeared in Yao Jin’s eyes as her lips released the straw. She frowned and stared thoughtfully at the milk carton in her hand. 

In hindsight, it is not difficult to pinpoint that her cravings for this taste started after she fainted during gym class and left the infirmary. The school’s doctor had injected her with a special type of suppressant at the time so that leaves only two suspects. One, Jin Siming. Two, the special suppressant. However, the doctor would have informed her if there were any adverse side effects after using the substance and since the doctor hasn’t said anything, the present can be ruled out. That left the biggest suspicious variable: Jin Siming. 

Additionally, she has smelled Jin Siming’s scent before although she didn’t get a clear sniff. Yet….

She lowered her head, her beautiful eyes half-closed and an unreadable expression flashed across her eyes. 

The phone in her pocket virated a few times. She took it out and clicked on the screen with her delicate fingers, opening a message from Qin Ziqing that had popped up. 

【Qin Ziqing: The training and interviews have basically finished. Do you have anything you want? I can bring some back to you.】

Yao Jin pursed her lips. Her half-closed eyes were now covered in a dark gloom. 

With an uneasy heart and a frown on her face, she tapped out her response. 

【Yao Jin: No thank you.】

【Qin Ziqing: Ok~ You always say that every time I ask you. Don’t worry, I’ll pick a good gift for you. Wait for me to return~】

Yao Jin threw her phone down in annoyance at these words, and the hard tempered glass of her phone collided with her desk to make a loud PA! sound. 

“What’s wrong?” 

Hé Màn-màn was memorizing a list of words when the noise startled her. When she raised her eyes, she saw Yao Jin’s delicate brows furrowed together and a layer of ice across her eyes as her chest heaved up and down. Those ice-cold eyes were also staring at the phone that was tossed aside with an annoyed expression. 

Hé Màn-màn unconsciously rubbed her eyes. She thought she was seeing things. She’s been Yao Jin’s deskmate for so long but she has never seen Yao Jin’s temper go out of control before. 

When she looked closely again, she found Yao Jin had already calmed down and smiled faintly at her as if nothing had happened. 

The school life for most high school students is relatively monotonous most of the time. During the day, other than sitting in class, it was going to the cafeteria. After the morning classes were over, it was already time for lunch. 

Jin Siming had no appetite so she didn’t go to the cafeteria and had asked Su Xiaohang to buy only two riceballs. 

After padding their stomachs with some food, the two played games quietly in the corner of the last row of their classroom. 

“Ahhhhhh! They’re here, they’re here! Ming-zai, hurry up and help me!” 

“Ahhhhh! There’s two of them! I’m being attacked from the front and back!” 

“I’m down! Hurry up and save me!” 

Su Xiaohang was like a small trumpet, noisy blasting notes every second so much that Jin Siming was starting to grow dizzy. When she tried to help Su Xiaoahng, she was hit by someone from behind and ended up on the ground with her character’s buttocks facing the sky like Su Xiaohang. 

“Player 1 is close to us, we can ask him to come and revive us!” 

Su Xiaohang glanced at the mini map and hurriedly turned on her mic to call Player 1 over but before she could speak, the two of them were hit twice with a frying pan. 

Game Over. 

“…..” 

Jin Siming raised her head with a dark expression on her face. She threw her phone to the side and shouted in disgust, “How many times has this happened? Stop making so much noise! You talk so much that I can’t hear their footsteps!” 

Su Xiaohang, who was being scolded, pouted unhappily, “Hey~ How could you not see such a big person standing in front of you? You don’t need to listen to their footsteps okay? You’re just trash at the gain.” 

Jin Siming straightened up, her neck cracking from bending over for so long and argued back, “Even if I’m trash I’m not as garbage as you. I’m not going to play with you anymore. I’m–” 

Halfway through her sentence she saw Yao Jin walking towards them and her words immediately stopped when she saw the other party staring straight at her. 

Today Yao Jin is dressed up fashionably as usual. Her long and slender legs looked well-proportioned in the black short skirt, and her smooth skin was so clear and fair that it could reflect light if it wanted to. 

Jin Siming took a double look at the short black skirt. She sighed quietly in her heart: This skirt is really good for showing off the legs, I want one too. Unfortunately it’s being worn by Yao Jin….

Then that little black skirt stopped in front of her table and a cup of peach milk tea was placed on her desk. 

She raised her head and met Yao Jin’s gaze.

Those upturned eyes are seductive as usual, yet the faint smile at the corner of her mouth shows a rare sincerity compared to her usual fake smile that never reached the eyes. 

Jin Siming was blinded by the smile and blinked her eyes fiercely a few times. 

“Thanks for carrying me to the infirmary yesterday. Take this milk tea as a thank you~” 

Yao Jin smiled softly but didn’t say anything more as she placed the cup down and left. 

Jin Siming stared at her elegant back with widened eyes. 

She can’t believe it. Yao Jin actually thanked her? And so sincerely too? 

There isn’t anything suspicious in this milk tea, is there? 

Jin Siming stared at the decent looking milk tea with raised eyebrows. 

“Tsk, tsk. I never thought I’d see the day when Yao Jin brings you milk tea.” Su Xiaohang watched as her friend just simply continued to stare at the milk tea and rolled her eyes before reaching for it, “Since you don’t like it, then let me drink it!” 

Jin Siming slapped her greedy paws away and grabbed the milk tea towards her. She peeled the wrapper from the straw and inserted it from the top. 

“Since she has taken the initiative to make nice, then I must accept it with a smile~” 

She raised her eyebrows proudly, bit the straw and took a sip. Suddenly, a familiar taste swept over her taste buds. She almost forgot to take a breath and almost spit out the milk tea in her mouth.

“Pffffff–! Cough, cough….” 

Seeing her friend suddenly choke, Su Xiaohang hurriedly handed over a few tissues, “Why are you suddenly coughing? Don’t tell me that Yao Jin actually did something to this milk tea?” 

Jin Siming coughed several times before slowly regaining her breath. 

There really is nothing wrong with the milk tea, but this taste is really similar to a certain scent….

She picked up the milk tea and turned it around to see the words “Extra peach milk tea” on the label pasted on the back. 

Peach…..the peaches on the bottom of the cup couldn’t be white peaches, right? 

One couldn’t blame her for being sensitive as this taste was really similar to the sweet stench of white peach she smelled in the infirmary that day. It was a scent that made her legs go soft like jelly and so drinking this felt a lot like she was drinking Yao Jin’s pheromones into her stomach. That kind of feeling….

Her face began to heat up and she hurriedly pushed the drink out of her hands. 

“What are you doing now? You’re acting weird.” 

Su Xiaohang piped up after witnessing her series of weird movements. 

“T-This, do you still want this cup of milk tea?” 

“Uh….you’ve already drank from it and you coughed on it so much just now. I bet it’s all covered in your saliva now. I don’t want it anymore.” 

Jin Siming glared at Su Xiaohang’s blunt rejection with a sullen face and then looked at the milk tea she pushed to her side. After a bit of thinking, she pushed it into the corner of her desk. 

At the same time, Su Xiaohang poked her arm again, and whispered, “Hey, hey, take a look at Li Yong and the others. They’re so jealous that you can squeeze lemonade out of those sour gazes of theirs.” 

Jin Siming looked in the direction she was pointing at and found quite a few boys staring at her with “Envy, Hatred, and Jealousy” written plainly across their faces. 

“Say, what if you’ll be hated by the boys in our class because of Yao Jin’s cup of milk tea? Ai….you’re so unfortunate. First you were hated by the girls, and only after much difficulty were you able to change your standing but now you’re about to be hated by all the boys. Tsk, tsk.”