CHAPTER 13

Li Jia's hand had long and exquisite nail art, a style that her manager had arranged for her previously. It made her already slender hands even more beautiful. However, it was precisely because of this that the scars left from her forceful grip on her palm were deeper.

Ye Chengxing looked at Li Jia's palm, which was dripping with fresh Omega blood. The glaring red color caused her to pause for a second or two.

She still held Li Jia's wrist, keenly sensing the stiffness and vigilance in her body.

And the subtlest of trembles.

Ye Chengxing didn't release Li Jia's wrist, but slightly turned her body to let Xiaobai bring the basic medical kit over.

The center of Omega's palm was forcibly pinched, leaving traces of blood that were still oozing out.

How much force must have been used to squeeze the palm like this?

As Ye Chengxing continued to gaze, she couldn't help but speak, "Li Jia, does it hurt?"

Most of the questions in this world that already have an answer are asked with an underlying meaning.

Just like now.

It didn't sound like a question, but rather overflowed with worry and compassion.

Upon hearing Ye Chengxing's words, Li Jia remained silent.

It seemed as if no one had ever asked her if she was in pain. They would only call her crazy and then retreat in fear.

...It truly felt unfamiliar.

She had already experienced this unprecedented feeling several times with this "Ye Chengxing."

Xiao Bai brought the medical kit over, as instructed by Ye Chengxing, and placed it within her reach.

Ye Chengxing took out a cotton swab and planned to first wipe away the blood droplets and then disinfect the wound.

As the blood droplets were wiped away and the cotton swab touched the wound with hydrogen peroxide, although Li Jia's expression didn't change much, Ye Chengxing could clearly feel her body tensing at that moment.

"It still hurts, doesn't it?" Without receiving any response from Li Jia, Ye Chengxing sighed and gentled her disinfecting actions.

Li Jia had squeezed too hard, and the scars were shockingly visible.

Since a while ago, Ye Chengxing had a feeling that Li Jia was experiencing traumatic stress. 

Although the plot description wasn't detailed enough, from this morning's visit to Lin Que, she could gather a rough understanding of the situation based on the fragments of words he had uttered.

To some extent, it was true that Lin Que, who hadn't taken off his mask, had indeed pulled Li Jia out of the mire back then. He had pretended to be the kind who didn't expect anything in return.

Not expecting anything in return...

Thinking of this, Ye Chengxing recalled that Li Jia had started to act strange after she spoke, before herself. She couldn't help but feel guilty.

She had been too careless and had oversimplified the whole situation.

Due to the sudden turn of events, the plan to discuss the lawsuit and contract termination after lunch was put on hold, swallowed back down.

If she couldn't guarantee that the final outcome would be good news, she would rather not speak about it for now and wait until it could be confirmed.

After all, the anticipation followed by disappointment is the most devastating.

And those photos...

They were clearly taken without Li Jia's knowledge. If she were to reveal them hastily, she feared it would cause even greater harm.

Ye Chengxing pursed her lips.

The wounds on the palms of Li Jia's hands were scattered and not small.

After disinfecting, Ye Chengxing applied medicine and carefully wrapped them with gauze.

The Omega stared at her palm, a bit dazed. The bloodstains were wiped away, the wounds were treated, and all that remained on the palm that was still bleeding moments ago was the pure white gauze.

Ye Chengxing neatly put the scattered medicine and gauze back into the medical kit and instructed, "Don't let them come into contact with water for the next couple of days, but don't worry, they'll heal quickly."

Both hands were wrapped in gauze.

Li Jia lifted the fingertip of one hand and touched the gauze wrapped around the other hand.

The texture of the gauze was not smooth.

She rarely bandaged her wounds before, often leaving them as they were unless she had to apply some medicine. The feeling of pain, once accustomed to, became bearable.

But at this moment, she realized that she might not have become as accustomed as she thought.

Compared to enduring pain, she preferred the feeling of being cared for and worried about... the latter.

With her fingertip paused on the gauze for a moment, Li Jia looked at Ye Chengxing and said, "Sister, thank you."

Her voice was somewhat low.

But compared to the forced intimacy of the past few days, it carried a rare trace of genuine emotion.

Ye Chengxing didn't sense the subtle difference in her words.

She responded with a gentle smile, her eyes curved beautifully.

She had grown accustomed to being called "sister" by Li Jia in the past few days. Not hearing it suddenly felt a bit unfamiliar, but now that she heard it again, it sounded pleasant.

After tidying up the medical kit, Ye Chengxing casually adjusted her clothes and stood up.

At that moment, her assistant sent her a message.

Ye Chengxing opened it and found that her assistant had already arranged a meeting with the lawyer for her. If she had time in the afternoon, they could discuss the matter.

After quickly reading the message, Ye Chengxing replied with a simple response. She thought to herself that her assistant was quite efficient. She closed her phone screen and pondered when she should talk to Li Jia about this.

Glancing at Li Jia, who still seemed a bit dazed, Ye Chengxing decided to wait until after the meeting with the lawyer in the afternoon to assess the situation.

The appointment was definitely going to be resolved, but thinking about Lin Que's face as he shamelessly threatened others with the photos made her feel disgusted.

What she wanted was for those people to pay the price for their misdeeds. She wanted Li Jia to stand in the spotlight, embraced by the warmth of flowers, rather than being dragged down by those people before they fell.

However, the specifics of how to proceed with the lawsuit and handle the situation needed to be discussed carefully.

But the message from her assistant reminded Ye Chengxing of some other matters.

"Li Jia." Ye Chengxing pressed the power button on her phone, lighting up the screen again.

The Omega, who was called by her name, lifted her eyelashes.

Ye Chengxing looked at her and turned the phone screen toward Li Jia, smiling softly with curved eyes. "I suddenly remembered, did we exchange contact information?"

Before Li Jia could respond, Ye Chengxing tapped on the screen again. Feeling that her current position was a bit inconvenient, she changed her position and sat next to Li Jia. "Have you used that phone? How does it feel?"

Li Jia lifted her eyes and met Ye Chengxing's bright and gentle smile.

They were a bit too close.

She seemed to catch a faint scent of oolong tea again.

After looking at each other for a couple of seconds, Li Jia lowered her eyelashes and raised her hand, pressing a series of numbers on the contact page that Ye Chengxing had opened for her. "The phone... is very good."

It wasn't an illusion.

The light and delicate scent of oolong tea seemed to envelop her.

It wasn't the first time she had smelled it, but unlike the previous disgust she had felt, at this moment, she inexplicably found this tea fragrance quite pleasant.

When Li Jia finished dialing the number, Ye Chengxing clicked on the "Notes" section.

Ye Chengxing sat next to Li Jia, and with a slight tilt of her gaze, Li Jia could see the contents on the screen.

"Why did you add an 'A'?" Li Jia looked at the letter 'A' written before her name, a little puzzled.

Wasn't it enough to just type the name in the notes?

As she finished speaking, Ye Chengxing typed the final character 'Jia'.

She lifted her head and met Li Jia's gaze, a smile still hanging on her lips. Naturally, she spoke, "Because adding an 'A' allows me to see your name first." 

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