Chapter 19

Chapter 19

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Seeing the dried blood on the gauze in Li Jia's palm, Ye Chengxing became even more confused.

The medicine was indeed changed yesterday, but why wasn't the wound getting better? Instead, it seemed to be worsening?

Her gaze shifted from the wound in Li Jia's palm to her face.

The Omega kept her eyes lowered quietly, only lifting them when she sensed Chengxing looking at her.

Those amber eyes were still like water, clear and transparent.

So Ye Chengxing tried to suppress the thought that the worsening of the wound was intentional on Li Jia's part.

She thought to herself that although the person before her would become the major antagonist later in the story, they were still in the early stages of the plot. Li Jia shouldn't be that deranged yet. Even if it was late-stage Li Jia, she wouldn't deliberately make her wounds worse for no reason, right? After all, doing so would only cause pain without any benefits.

Most importantly... The look in the Omega's eyes was too obedient and harmless. Chengxing couldn't help but defend Li Jia in her heart. How could Li Jia do this on purpose?

But no matter how much she tried to convince herself, the severity of the wound clearly indicated otherwise.

If the worsening was unintentional, Li Jia should have stopped moving as soon as she felt pain. But the current state suggested that despite feeling the pain, she continued, as if tearing the wound open even further.

Holding Li Jia's wrist, Chengxing turned over various thoughts in her mind. She had already vaguely concluded that Li Jia did this intentionally, yet she couldn't bring herself to ask or say anything. Layer upon layer of words piled up on her tongue, filtered through, until only one sentence remained: "Does it hurt, Li Jia?"

After saying this, Chengxing felt she had asked a silly question and sighed softly. "It must hurt a lot."

She didn't know why Li Jia did this, but she knew that Li Jia was a person who felt pain and discomfort, someone with flesh and blood.

The question about the pain was less of an inquiry and more of a tender concern—both in the emotions conveyed by her words and in the touch of her fingers on the Omega's pale wrist.

When Li Jia heard Chengxing say this, her gaze paused.

She blinked slowly.

This seemed to be the second time Chengxing asked if she was in pain.

Li Jia didn't think Chengxing couldn't see that she had intentionally worsened the wound. She had even prepared lies and excuses, ready to explain if Chengxing asked. She had also imagined scenarios where Chengxing might scold or even hit her after realizing what she did. After all, Chengxing genuinely wanted her to get better quickly, so her actions were hard to understand. But whether scolded or hit, Li Jia wanted it.

It was like being disciplined by a close person for being mischievous—a feeling she had never experienced.

But she never expected Chengxing's reaction to be like this, something she found difficult to handle.

Li Jia pursed her lips. All the lies she had prepared earlier now seemed useless and hard to utter, especially after seeing the evident concern and self-blame in Chengxing's expression.

So after briefly lifting her eyes, Li Jia looked down again and said, "I did it myself, but it doesn't hurt."

"It doesn't hurt?" Chengxing's emotions, which she had calmed down, surged again upon hearing Li Jia's response.

She asked Xiao Bai to bring the first aid kit without saying anything else. While disinfecting and changing the dressing on Li Jia's wound, she deliberately applied a bit more pressure with the cotton swab.

Although she didn't apply too much force, given the severity of Li Jia's wound, even a slight increase was noticeable.

The Omega let out a low, muffled sound.

"Is this not hurting?" Chengxing spoke again, applying a bit more pressure with her hand.

Perhaps because of the frustration building inside her, Chengxing wasn't as gentle as usual while applying the medicine. She pressed harder, causing Li Jia's wrist, held tightly in her grasp, to tremble slightly.

Chengxing noticed this and looked at Li Jia, who was biting her lip without making a sound. Most of her frustration dissipated, leaving behind mostly concern. But such self-harm was unacceptable, and she hoped Li Jia would understand.

Chengxing's expression was deliberately made to appear indifferent, somewhat cold, but the force of her hand applying the medicine had lightened significantly. After pausing for a moment, she said, "Li Jia, I don't want to see this happen again. If you need to feel pain, come to me, and I'll personally teach you a lesson."

To give her words some weight, Chengxing's tone was stern. She thought that saying something harsh would make Li Jia learn from this experience. However, she didn't expect Li Jia to lift her eyes again. The pain must have been intense just now, as the Omega's voice trembled slightly. Unfortunately, the words she spoke were contrary to what Chengxing had imagined: "Then, Sister, hit me now."

Chengxing's initial reaction was that she had misheard, but meeting Li Jia's gaze, she realized she was serious.

Serious about wanting her to hit her.

Chengxing felt a mix of anger and concern, unable to resist responding to Li Jia's request. Her snow-like face hardened slightly. "Fine, I'll do as you wish."

However, after agreeing in a deliberately cold voice, Chengxing couldn't bring herself to actually hit Li Jia. She feared she would regret it deeply if she really struck her.

But since she had said it, Chengxing reluctantly spoke, "Then lie down."

Upon hearing her words, Li Jia leaned forward and lay down.

A not-too-light nor too-heavy slap landed on the Omega's buttocks, producing a faint, crisp sound.

Perhaps she hit a bit too hard, as she heard Li Jia make a sound, though softer than before, with a hint of urgency and a slight elongation in tone.

After the slap, Chengxing's face felt warm. After all, Li Jia wasn't a child anymore, and hitting her bottom seemed inappropriate. Despite these thoughts, she maintained a cool demeanor and asked, "Do you remember?"

Li Jia was still lying across Chengxing's lap, so Chengxing couldn't see her expression. She only heard her soft breathing. "I remember... Thank you for the punishment, Sister."

Why was she breathing like that? Was it very painful?

Noticing Li Jia's reaction, Chengxing hesitated for a moment before stopping her actions. She gently placed her hand on the spot and rubbed it a few times, trying to alleviate the pain.

As she carefully massaged the area, Chengxing said, "Li Jia, please don't harm yourself anymore, okay?"

She couldn't quite pinpoint her feelings when she learned that Li Jia had intentionally worsened her wound. Was it concern, frustration, guilt, or a combination of all these?

This realization made her aware that her previous joy wasn't complete. In reality, there hadn't been much progress.

Her voice was low.

Nevertheless, being comforted so gently by Ye Chengxing only made Li Jia tremble even more violently.

Before Ye Chengxing could react, she saw Li Jia rise abruptly, as if unable to bear it any longer.

The sudden emptiness in her arms left her somewhat stunned as she looked at Li Jia's back, belatedly realizing that there was a small damp patch on her clothes.

Indeed, she had used too much force just now and had made the other cry.

Li Jia must also feel quite embarrassed, after all, she wasn't a child anymore, yet she had been scolded like this.

When she looked up again, the Omega was already gone, having clearly gone upstairs.

Ye Chengxing couldn't help but feel even more self-reproachful.

She checked the time and found it was still early, so she decided to go upstairs and apologize to Li Jia. She had been too hasty just now and hadn't considered Li Jia's feelings carefully enough.

Ye Chengxing wasn't one to drag things out, plus she still had to go out later to try selling the food, so with this clear plan in mind, she went upstairs.

She walked to Li Jia's door and lightly knocked twice, her tone apologetic.

But once she finished speaking, there was no sound from within the room.

Just as she was thinking about what else to say, the door opened slightly, and Li Jia's voice came from inside: "I'm fine, Sister, you don't need to apologize to me. Instead, I'm the one who dirtied your clothes..."

Hearing Li Jia say this, Ye Chengxing quickly shook her head, but remembering that Li Jia couldn't see her through the door, she said, "It's nothing; when I touched it just now, it was almost dry."

For some reason, Li Jia let out a sobbing breath at a certain word in Ye Chengxing's sentence: "Don't touch, I'm really sorry, but please don't touch, it's so dirty..."

Ye Chengxing thought it was just tears on her clothes, really nothing to worry about, and her comforting tone became even gentler.

Li Jia didn't fully open the door, and Ye Chengxing didn't insist on entering. She stood outside the door, calling Li Jia's name through the door panel and using words to comfort her and express her apology.

"This time, it was also my fault, but I still hope that if there's anything, you can tell me directly. We can find solutions together, rather than harming your own body..."

She stood outside the door, her expression gentle and earnest as she spoke.

Inside the room, Li Jia leaned against the door, listening to Ye Chengxing's voice, her gaze somewhat unfocused.

Tell her everything?

Right now, she wanted to open the door and let her in, let her see her current appearance, her reddened eyes.

She forgot that this wasn't her past life, not the body that had its glands removed, but the one that had been sensitized by drugs.

That's why it was even harder to accept the reactions that occurred under Ye Chengxing's touch.

What was hardest for her to accept was that she had wet Ye Chengxing's clothes.

This life's Ye Chengxing was different from those people in the past. Desire felt like a defilement to this person, especially after her actions just now.

But when she thought of Ye Chengxing touching her, she couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement, the most direct response coming from her body.

Leaning against the door, Li Jia wondered if Ye Chengxing knew what she looked like in the room. If she saw her, would she be shocked and sternly tell her how she could think about such things at a time like this, then raise her hand to teach her a lesson like she did downstairs?

If she were taught a lesson, she would discover that every slap landed not in pain but in an uncontrollable reaction, and then she would surely scold her.

Li Jia pressed her hand against the door and covered her lips with the other, her eyelashes trembling minutely.

The reason she forcibly removed her glands in her past life was because the feeling of the aphrodisiacs was unbearable, but she never expected that facing Ye Chengxing would double the intensity of that unbearable sensation.

As Ye Chengxing called out "Li Jia" gently from outside the door, the Omega inside raised her neck in pain and pleasure, tears falling like beads at the peak of her sensations.

A strong sense of self-loathing filled her heart. The tips of Li Jia's fingers pressing against the door turned white as she thought that she mustn't let Ye Chengxing discover her like this.

******

Having communicated with Li Jia through the door, the Omega's voice sounded calm again, and she apologized for crying so embarrassingly, saying she wouldn't let her in.

Hearing Li Jia say this, Ye Chengxing kindly said she was going out soon, so she wouldn't come in.

"Remember to have breakfast later. The tutor will be here soon. Send me a message if you need anything."

After bidding farewell to Li Jia, Ye Chengxing went downstairs, a faint smile in her eyes.

Indeed, there was no problem communication couldn't solve.

This time, she had learned a lesson. Next time, she needed to communicate more.

With this in mind, Ye Chengxing went to the kitchen. She transferred the food stored in the kitchen's smart storage unit into a portable storage unit and asked Xiaobai to contact the driver.

The extra food Ye Chengxing made that morning mainly consisted of tea eggs and yellow-braised chicken rice. There were many tea eggs, and they were relatively easy to make compared to other foods. With the accelerated design of the cooking tools, she could easily make many delicious tea eggs. The yellow-braised chicken rice, which included both vegetables and rice, could be sold as a complete meal. Ye Chengxing decided to test the waters, observe the general process and environment, and then make some other dishes.

With Xiaobai's help, the prepared meals were quickly organized and placed in the portable storage unit.

The original owner actually had management rights over several empty shops, but these rights didn't include ultimate ownership or decision-making power, which belonged to the Ye family.

Although she hadn't met her family yet, Ye Chengxing had a gut feeling that the Ye family wasn't trustworthy. So, she used her money to purchase another shop, making sure to transfer the funds through someone else when buying the shop.

Perhaps she was being overly suspicious, but regardless, she needed to be cautious. If the Ye family posed no problems, that would be great. But if they did, she would have taken precautions in advance.

Before purchasing the shop, Ye Chengxing specifically observed the location and the surrounding area.

The location was excellent, and the shops mainly sold nutrient fluids, clothing, and other items, with high sales volumes online.

The artificial intelligence had already renovated and decorated the shop. Ye Chengxing bought a facial concealer to disguise herself as an ordinary Beta, the type that blended into a crowd without standing out.

The original owner was, in a sense, a "celebrity" – albeit infamous. Selling food in the shop, she might be recognized.

In this world, the culinary industry was impoverished, and the original owner truly couldn't cook before. A sudden change would not only lead to recognition but also raise suspicions, especially among those who were familiar with the original owner. In front of Li Jia, she was freer since the other party had never seen the original owner. Even if Li Jia sensed something different, Ye Chengxing could always find ways to explain it. However, it was different with those other people.

Ye Chengxing used the camouflage ointment and took photos of those tea eggs and combo meals, uploading them to StarNet with a newly registered shop account. At the same time, she had the AI adjust Gourmet Shop's status to open for business.

She didn't set the prices too high, only adding some fees on top of the cost of ingredients and seasonings. But even so, Ye Chengxing still found the prices quite steep. Before coming into this book's world, she never imagined that a tea egg or a serving of braised chicken rice could be sold for such a price.

I wonder if anyone will buy them.

People were very active on StarNet. As soon as Ye Chengxing uploaded the photos and videos, many noticed them.

"Huh, a new Gourmet Shop?"

"It's not affiliated with any renowned culinary artist. Is this...reliable?"

"Speaking of which, what are these dishes? I've never seen them before. That rice looks delicious."

"The difference is too stark if they're made by the same person. The tea eggs don't look very appetizing, and the broth color is too dark and intense. And the other picture, it can't be stolen, can it... Can just about anyone call themselves a culinary artist now? This is laughable; let's disperse."

"But the prices are cheap. I'm a bit tempted to try, since they're not expensive anyway."

"Then go ahead and try. We won't take responsibility if you get poisoned."

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Author's note:

Thank you to the following angels for your support, hugs~

Thanks to the angels who dropped bombs: Wang Jiaran, my fated wife, 3; Shiomitori, Nianban, 1 each;

Thank you all so much for your support! I'll keep working hard!