Li Tangli set down her book and turned to the side, one hand gently patting her back. “Yuqin-jie, are you okay? Do you feel any trouble breathing?”
Gu Yuqin waved her hand. “It’s fine, it’s not asthma, don’t worry.”
Li Tangli observed her breathing was steady, her expression normal, indeed no asthma symptoms had appeared.
But the cat still couldn’t play anymore.
Gu Zhi decisively called the auntie in, telling his sister to go back upstairs to change clothes and clean the cat hair off herself. This was her fixed routine every time after playing with the cat.
Before being moved into the wheelchair, Gu Yuqin grabbed Ball Ball, who was curled up in her lap, and stuffed it straight into Li Tangli’s arms as she sat there. “You watch Ball Ball for me for now, I’ll come down later and watch a movie with you.”
As she spoke, she gave her a sly wink, her expression lively, not at all like someone who’d just been unwell.
The thought flashed through her mind too fast, and before the caught-off-guard Li Tangli could really think it through, the cat had already gone soft as liquid against her stomach.
Ball Ball, not the least bit shy, nestled onto the girl’s thighs and stretched lazily, its throat rumbling, meowing several times, working hard to lure the girl into petting it.
Unfortunately, the affectionate cat had run into a human as dense as a block of wood, utterly clueless about such overtures.
Li Tangli froze completely in place, both arms braced on the armrests, not daring to move an inch.
Only she and Gu Zhi were left in the study now. She had no time to dwell on the earlier awkwardness, her voice trembling as she asked for help: “Mr. Gu, help me.”
Gu Zhi, who had been glancing at her out of the corner of his eye the whole time, had already noticed something was off.
When they’d first come into the study, Yuqin had told her to pet Ball Ball, and she really had just “touched” it once — from reaching out to pulling back, the whole process probably hadn’t taken more than three seconds.
“You’re afraid of cats?”
“A little…”
Not exactly afraid. Her mother thought cleaning up after pets was too much trouble, so they’d never kept cats or dogs at home.
On top of that, Li Tangli had been clawed by a stray cat as a child, cried a mess getting her shots at the hospital afterward, and had been sternly told ever since to steer clear of cats and dogs whenever she saw them. Over time, she’d had little contact with them at all.
To suddenly have a cat sprawled all over her like this was genuinely hard to adjust to.
Gu Zhi studied her for a long moment. How was she this easy to push around?
Even a cat could bully her like this. The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. “Move a little, it’ll jump off on its own.”
Li Tangli tried shifting her legs. King Ball Ball remained magnificently, solemnly unmoved.
It lay steady across her legs, and the soft, warm, faintly disconcerting sensation made Li Tangli’s scalp prickle. “It won’t leave.”
Gu Zhi finally rose unhurriedly to his feet. “Ball Ball likes you a lot.”
She started babbling nonsense: “Ah, well, tell it thanks for me… but, could it get off me first…”
Meeting Li Tangli’s helpless, pleading gaze, he walked over, rolled his sleeves up to his forearms, bent down, and went to pick up the shameless Ball Ball directly.
The reason Ball Ball was named Ball Ball had everything to do with its round, plump shape.
Perhaps still holding a grudge from Gu Zhi pinching it too hard earlier, the cat flew into a rage and, with the masterful agility of a martial arts grandmaster, twisted its tail free from his encircling grip.
It dealt both of them an equal-opportunity flying kick, then launched itself through the air like an Indian roti flipping through the sky, landing steadily on the ground.
Ball Ball swaggered off, tail held high in triumph, leaving the two of them in disarray on the sofa.
The girl found herself pressed into the corner of the sofa, her head pillowed awkwardly against the angle, straining her neck upward, both hands pushing hard against the chest of Gu Zhi, who was nearly collapsing on top of her. BlackLotus Novel Translations | black lotus novel
The man had one hand braced on the armrest, his upper body nearly toppling onto the girl, his left knee bent and kneeling on the sofa.
Seen from behind, Gu Zhi completely blocked Li Tangli from view. Only between his crisply pressed trousers did a pair of trembling, slender legs show through.
At the time, Li Tangli only remembered Gu Zhi leaning down in front of her, his thick black hair swaying before her eyes, when suddenly the cat launched itself off, planting a hard kick against her collarbone, sending her body tilting sideways.
Gu Zhi let out a muffled grunt too, and in the chaos, something hard knocked against her left cheek.
She shut her eyes against the pain, tears welling up reflexively from the sting, and when she opened them again, she found herself abruptly staring into a pair of deep gray eyes.
Gu Zhi’s face was inches away. His pupils had contracted, his eyes fixed unblinkingly on her.
Breath mingled with breath, slowly merging together, so close that it seemed if either of them so much as tilted their head, their lips would meet with nothing standing between them.
Maybe it was a second, maybe a minute — in that silent, locked gaze, Li Tangli half-dazedly heard a heartbeat growing louder and louder.
…Whose heartbeat was that?
She snapped back to herself as if jolted by electricity, jerking her gaze away, and mustering a bit of courage, pushed at the broad shoulders that blocked almost her entire view, letting out a small, pleading murmur: “Get up, quick.”
Gu Zhi lowered his eyes, seeing her black hair fanned out behind her, her cheeks flushed pink, the black and white of her features stark against each other, a tear still welling at the corner of her eye, threatening to fall. She looked utterly pitiful.
She wanted to push the man pinning her away, but didn’t dare touch him — pushing and then pulling back immediately, too faint to matter, wasn’t that no different from touching him on purpose?
His face cold, he thought to himself: no self-respect at all, no wonder she got pushed around.
Li Tangli had no idea she was being mentally slandered at length, or she’d have been furious enough to cry.
Gu Zhi finally moved, but cut off what she was about to say: “Does your face hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt, don’t—”
He reached out a hand and touched Li Tangli’s reddened right cheek.
This was where his watch face had accidentally knocked against her.
The instant he touched her, Li Tangli trembled involuntarily, a tear sliding down from the corner of her eye.
His hand was large; the moment it touched her cheek, it swallowed up nearly half her face. His rough fingertips grazed against her pale, smooth skin, sparking little flickers of heat, while his pinky ring pressed icy-cold against her jaw.
Li Tangli instinctively raised one arm, not to stop him, but to sweep it across and shield her own misted eyes first.
Her other hand only belatedly came up, wrapping around his wrist, like a slender vine climbing and clinging, making her seem even more delicate, even frailer.
Gu Zhi wondered — was she resisting, or was she yielding?
Her head rested against the armrest, tilted slightly, revealing the small mole on her neck, and it drew him in like some kind of riddle.
She was, plainly, an ordinary, unremarkable person, and yet—
It was as if he’d regressed straight back to the oral stage, an urgent need to sink his teeth into something. Gu Zhi clenched his back molars, finally managing to grind down that restless itch.
He stood up, looking down at her from above, and said, “Sorry, that was my mistake — I failed to catch Ball Ball, it got away from me. Are you all right?”
Li Tangli let out a faint voice: “…It’s fine, I just need a moment.”
Taken advantage of by a bad man, and still expected to say thank you.
Her body lay limply tilted on the sofa, her chest rising and falling rapidly, like a crumpled piece of paper.
Her skirt had ridden up again, her legs pressed tightly together.
A chill against her legs — she propped herself up on her elbows and, to her shock, discovered that Gu Zhi had actually reached out and tugged her skirt back down for her.
“You…”
She stared at him in disbelief, unable to even speak, as though meeting him for the first time. BLACK LOTUS Translation · Black Lotus
Gu Zhi straightened up and said to her, as if nothing had happened at all: “Short skirts aren’t very practical. Don’t you think?”
Not a single crack showed in his words or expression; he met her gaze with open composure, those deep gray eyes both calm and indifferent.
Li Tangli hesitated. Maybe he really had just meant well, helping tug her skirt down — after all, he could hardly just watch her flash someone, could he?
Just as her thoughts spun in confusion, the door suddenly rang with knocking.
Li Tangli glanced at him reflexively. Meeting her flustered gaze, Gu Zhi took a deep breath and reminded her: “Your hair.”
She snapped to it, hurriedly straightening up, quickly smoothing down her messy hair and clothes from top to bottom.
Watching her scramble to erase the traces, a wave of deep self-disgust suddenly rose in Gu Zhi’s chest.
Expressionless, he thought: this was just like they’d finished having an affair.
What was he, some lover reminding Li Tangli not to let anything slip in front of her husband?
Out of habit he reached to straighten his cufflinks, grasping at nothing, only then remembering he wasn’t wearing a dress shirt today.
Outside, the waiting Gu Yuqin knocked on the door again, calling out in confusion: “Ge? Tangli? Anyone in there?”
Seeing that Li Tangli had mostly composed herself, Gu Zhi returned to his seat behind the desk. “Come in.”
Gu Yuqin, now in a fresh set of clothes, floated lightly in like a butterfly.
Seeing Li Tangli sitting stiffly on the sofa, she looked the two of them over, unconcerned, and asked, “Tangli, are you feeling unwell? Your face is so red.”
“No, uh,” Li Tangli stammered, “just a bit warm.”
Her excuse was clumsy, her tone unnatural — anyone with half a wit could have seen through it.
Fortunately, Gu Zhi spoke up at the right moment: “It’s about to rain. It’s too stuffy in here.”
He glanced down at his watch and arranged things methodically: “It’s getting late. If you two want to watch a movie, go ahead now — pick something short. It’ll be dark soon and someone still needs to take Miss Li home.”
Gu Yuqin didn’t press further.
Facing her brother’s instructions, in one ear and out the other, she gave a couple of “mm-hm”s, and pulled the clearly still-dazed Li Tangli off toward the home theater on the basement level.
Now, only he remained in the study.
Gu Zhi leaned against the desk, legs crossed, gazing silently at the now-empty sofa.
Lately he’d been craving cigarettes more often, and especially right now, he wanted one again.
Not a good habit, Gu Zhi thought.
At seven that evening, Li Tangli was driven home by the chauffeur.
The movie hadn’t ended until past six. Gu Yuqin had wanted to keep her for dinner, but Li Tangli declined, citing the late hour.
Although what happened in the study that afternoon had been a pure accident, just thinking about Gu Zhi’s hand on her face, and the strange gesture of him tugging down her skirt, still left Li Tangli feeling thoroughly unsettled.
The moment she opened the door, though, she found the house empty.
Where was her mother?
She glanced around — it was a small unit to begin with, crammed full of furniture, the whole place visible at a glance. There was nowhere to hide.
Her mother wasn’t home.
At this hour, every household should be home eating dinner. Where could Zhang Meiting have run off to?
Worried, she made a call, biting her thumbnail lightly.
Fortunately, the phone hadn’t rung long before it connected, and Zhang Meiting’s voice came simultaneously from the stairwell.
“Eh, Tangtang! What’s wrong?”
She relaxed at once and hung up directly. Pushing the door open, she found Zhang Meiting outside just about to dig out her keys, when she spotted her daughter’s face poking out from the doorway.
Slinging her bag, Li Tangli complained softly: “Ma, where’d you go? I saw no one home and it scared me.”
Zhang Meiting laughed as she took off her coat: “Well I didn’t expect you’d be home so early today, did I? They said there’s a supermarket nearby about to close down, having a clearance sale these past few days, so I wanted to go check it out too, but there were too many people, couldn’t even squeeze in, so I came back.”
“Don’t go to that kind of thing next time, your health isn’t great, I’m scared you’ll get hurt in the crowd.”
Li Tangli had believed the explanation, at first.
Until she set dinner on the table, sat down under the light, and saw that Zhang Meiting’s face was pale, her hand holding the chopsticks trembling faintly.
“Your color looks really bad.”
Li Tangli went straight over, setting her face sternly. “Ma, tell me the truth, what’s really going on?”
Zhang Meiting laughed it off: “What’s wrong with my color? Don’t go overthinking things!” · Black Lotus novel Reading | black lotus novel
When Li Tangli tried to press again, she deflected, talking around it. When pressed too much, she simply clutched at her own chest, groaning “ow, ow” in complaint.
Acting just like a mischievous child, she left Li Tangli at a loss, and she had no choice but to let the matter drop for the night.
But in her heart, something still felt uneasy.
In the middle of the night, she sat up, and while Zhang Meiting slept soundly, she opened the bag her mother had carried home and dug out an apron from inside.
Shining her phone screen on it, she saw the words “Chunxia Domestic Services” printed on the chest of the apron, with a blue logo at the bottom.
She checked online first but found nothing useful. After a moment’s thought, she typed it straight into a navigation app.
The navigation showed the company was only 2 kilometers from her home.
Li Tangli’s heart sank.
Sure enough — Zhang Meiting had been working behind her back.
