Chapter 123

Xie Shiqing’s throat seemed to have grown a gate, blocking all the loud cries and wails behind it, sealed tightly, letting only faint sobs barely escape the barrier.

Because of this, her crying was intermittent, sometimes present, sometimes absent.

Most of the time, she merely opened her mouth in vain, forcing out a weak breath, as if she was about to lose consciousness.

Zhong Ning frantically pulled her into her arms, not caring about anything else, grabbing the corner of the blanket to wipe the tears from her face. “Shiqing, Shiqing? The tranquilizer will arrive soon, just hold on a little longer, okay?”

Xie Shiqing lay there like a puddle of mud, tears streaming endlessly from her eyes. She was lifeless, like a puppet, with two unnatural patches of flush on her cheeks, and her body temperature was frighteningly high.

“Shiqing… are you okay?”

Xie Shiqing blinked. Her dark pupils looked like inanimate glass beads, reflecting Zhong Ning’s image in an empty gaze.

Suddenly, she smiled. “Do you hate me that much?”

The rich scent of absinthe continued to pour from her body, but the deadly desire that came with the heat period seemed to have vanished.

Her body was still shedding moisture, but her spirit had detached from the constraints of flesh. She stared sharply at Zhong Ning and asked, “You threw me here like garbage, locked me in the room, and now you’re asking if I’m okay?”

“I…”

Zhong Ning had only uttered a syllable before being cut off. “You’re my alpha. I went into heat and wanted your mark—was that wrong?”

“It was just a mark, just a mark, and you wouldn’t even give me that…”

“Am I some kind of cheap woman, begging you like a whore?” She couldn’t stop laughing, her laughter sharp and broken. “I begged you like that, and you pushed me away. Ha, do I have no dignity?”

“That’s not it, I didn’t think of you like that…” Zhong Ning tried to explain.

“Then how do you expect me to feel!” Xie Shiqing suddenly screamed. “What else am I supposed to think!”

“I begged you like that, threw away my pride, begged like a dog…” She seemed unable to go on, a wailing sob burst from her throat, and she immediately clamped her hand tightly over her mouth, struggling to get out of Zhong Ning’s embrace.

“Let me go, let me leave…” Xie Shiqing’s face was covered in tears. Her body had no strength, yet she still tried to crawl out, twisting and turning. “Isn’t the tranquilizer almost here? I can go back and take it myself. Why should I stay here and humiliate myself…”

Her skin was burning as if she were nearly cooked, and she couldn’t even muster the strength to stand. After twisting for a long time, she still failed to pull herself away from Zhong Ning.

“I really didn’t mean that, I don’t despise you!”

At this moment, how could Zhong Ning possibly let her leave? Wouldn’t that only prove Xie Shiqing right, and further agitate her mentally?

Besides, she truly hadn’t thought that far.

“Shiqing, it’s not like what you think. I just didn’t want to complicate our relationship…” She held her tightly, wrapping her in the blanket like a silkworm cocoon. No matter how much Xie Shiqing squirmed inside, she couldn’t break free.

“I don’t want to hear you talk, I don’t want to stay here, let me go!” Xie Shiqing cried out, “Let me go! I’ll never cling to you again. Just let me go…”

She sobbed and sobbed until her whole body trembled, as if she was about to retch.

"I already understand, I get it now. You just want to be friends, right? There’s no possibility between us anymore..." She lay there dazed, wrapped into a bundle, no longer struggling, only shedding tears, as if determined to cry out every drop of water in her body.

"You won’t mark me, you despise me… I understand it all now, I really do..."

"What do you understand!" Zhong Ning was so anxious she became angry. The moment her voice rose slightly, she saw the miserable curve of the lips on the person in her arms, and hurriedly lowered her volume again. "That’s not what I meant at all. Don’t jump to conclusions—it’s not like that!"

"I just don’t want physical relations to override emotions, you..."

She did want to explain, but Xie Shiqing wasn’t listening at all, continuing to murmur things like "Let me go" and "I won’t cling to you anymore" over and over.

Zhong Ning repeated her explanation several times, but the other still didn’t hear, completely trapped in her own world.

A glance at the time showed the tranquilizer was still at least half an hour away.

She was like an ant on a hot pan, watching Xie Shiqing’s blank and stunned expression, terrified that her condition would relapse again.

With a firm resolve, Zhong Ning simply carried her onto the bed and reached out to turn her over.

Xie Shiqing’s hair was a tangled mess, wrapped in the blanket, curled up into a small ball, like a boneless, snow-white glutinous rice ball.

Her sobbing turned into a soft gasp in the next moment, then into a long moan.

Zhong Ning bit down on her gland and completed a mark.

There was no foreplay, no tenderness, no coaxing beforehand—but there was comfort afterward.

She shook the blanket open, and Xie Shiqing rolled out like a little gift, soaked in sweat and tears. Her nightgown was drenched, clinging to her legs.

Zhong Ning pulled up the nightgown and peeled it off her cleanly, wrapping her again in the blanket and holding her in her arms like a doll.

She patted her lightly and coaxed her gently.

The moment the mark was completed, Xie Shiqing quieted down. She stopped repeating those same few phrases, the tears ceased as well. Like a cat being held by the scruff of its neck, she lay there soft and compliant, not crying or making a fuss, unbelievably well-behaved.

Zhong Ning wiped the damp tears from her face and sighed. "It’s not that I despise you, and it’s not that I don’t want you… I just wanted to take things step by step. I hoped what happens between us would be natural, not driven by the heat period, not ruled by physical desire."

"That we’d do it out of true love."

She lowered her head and pressed her lips gently to Xie Shiqing’s sweat-drenched temple. "My thoughts are definitely not what you imagined, Shiqing. How could I possibly despise you?"

Every time she encountered Xie Shiqing, there was always so much helplessness.

Was it really just because of not marking her, that it had such a huge impact? Zhong Ning truly hadn’t expected that.

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