Chapter Seventy: The Midnight Song of the Little Witch

“Hey, Ye Qian, Miss Ye, you don’t need to put on an act for me, haha.” Long Fei, a bit wary, shrank his body back, leaving only his head peeking around the doorframe, ready to push back any intruder that might try to come in.

Ye Qian ignored Long Fei and continued to sob, her weeping even more intense than before.

A chill crept over Long Fei’s heart. In the dead of night, hearing the plaintive wails of a woman—no matter how he tried to picture it, the sound sent shivers up his spine.

“Hey, are you alright?” Long Fei edged his body out a bit, resigning himself to the possibility of taking a beating. If she was so willing to shed tears, he wasn’t afraid of getting roughed up. Besides, given her slight build and strength, what could she possibly do to him? That was simply out of the question!

Ye Qian still gave no response, her sobbing growing even more intense.

Long Fei was growing anxious and quickly crouched in front of Ye Qian to see what was really going on.

Heavens—she really was crying, and her eyes were red and puffy from the tears.

“Say something, what’s wrong? You’re not really going to get worked up over this, are you? You’re the leader of the Pink Regiment! If your sisters saw you like this, wouldn’t they laugh themselves silly?” Long Fei tried to comfort her.

Ye Qian choked out between sobs, “You… you’re still making fun of me… I’ve already… for your sake… I’ve disbanded the Pink Regiment. What more do you want from me?!”

Wait a second—she disbanded the Pink Regiment for me? That can’t be right. If that’s true, then her feelings for me aren’t just a fleeting impulse. But if she liked me so long ago, why did she always go out of her way to give me a hard time?

Long Fei couldn’t make sense of it, so he could only curse inwardly—this woman must not be right in the head. Maybe all women are a bit unbalanced.

“We can talk about this another time, alright? Please stop crying. Look, even your sister Dannie is asleep already, and if you wake her up, wouldn’t that be bad?” Long Fei said, trying again.

To tell the truth, Ye Qian’s heartbroken sobbing wasn’t entirely unrelated to Yang Dannie. When Long Fei had shut his door on her earlier, she suddenly felt utterly alone—the only two people in this house both ignoring her. She thought of how Long Fei had already seen her naked, yet refused to take responsibility, even flirting with Yang Dannie before her very eyes. The more she thought about it, the more wronged and unfair it seemed, and so she wept. The more she cried, the more aggrieved she felt, making her tears impossible to stop.

“You… you talk about her—how can you treat her one way and treat me another?” Ye Qian shot Long Fei a look filled with deep resentment, her pitiful expression making Long Fei soften a little.

How did I treat her, and how did I treat you? What does that even mean? What nonsense.

Long Fei was baffled.

“Ye Qian, could you make yourself clear? The more you say, the more confused I get. I never meant to bully you. Think about it—you’re my employer. I rely on you for my salary, don’t I? Why would I dare offend you?” Long Fei began to reason with her.

Ye Qian, though pitiful as she wept, didn’t lose any of her intelligence and immediately retorted, “You’re lying! You’ve never treated me like your employer. I know, in your heart, I’m just some unruly delinquent. I didn’t want to be like this, and I’m not as bad as you think. You… you just look down on me!”

Long Fei was sweating, swallowing hard, and said with some difficulty, “Ye Qian, that’s not true. How could I possibly look down on you? You’re so beautiful, with such a great figure—even you must know that’s not true, right?”

Ye Qian sniffled a few times and said, “Hmph, I believe it—I do! I know you look down on me because mine are smaller. You just like Dannie’s being bigger than mine. Otherwise, why, after seeing me first and even helping me detox, do you still refuse to take responsibility?”

Long Fei found the whole situation unbelievable. A few days ago, she was bent on making his life a living hell, and now it seemed she wanted nothing more than to throw herself at him. Ye Qian’s behavior gave him a new perspective on human nature, leaving him troubled. He could only stammer, “Ye Qian, you’re not serious, are you? You really want me to take responsibility? But I’ve told you, I’m a real scoundrel—I can’t take on that kind of responsibility. Think about it—would Dannie let you be with me? And what about Dannie herself? Honestly, I have other women outside too—I’m not a good man, and I won’t give up on them. So if you’re with me, it won’t end well. Be sensible, don’t be so stubborn, alright?”

Ye Qian’s tears streamed down even harder, and Long Fei suddenly understood the saying, “Women are made of water.”

“I don’t care! I don’t care! You care about them, so why not me? Anyway, I want you to take responsibility, to be my boyfriend, and you can never abandon me—otherwise, it means you look down on me, that I’m smaller than them!”

Good grief, Ye Qian’s temper was flaring again, with a hint of coquettishness this time.

Long Fei almost wanted to just grit his teeth and agree. If this had happened to another man, it would have been a godsend, but here he was, still trying to wriggle out of it. Did he really dislike her? Was it really because she was smaller? Or was he simply not a normal man?

But Long Fei didn’t think that was it.

Taking a deep breath, Long Fei decided—one more attempt. If she insisted, he wouldn’t be blamed for what happened next. He’d given her a way out, and if she chose to chase after a rascal like him, she could only blame herself.

“Ye Qian, listen—about last time, I’ve already explained it was an accident, I was trying to save your life. There’s no need for you to take it so seriously—”

“No need? I’m still a virgin, you’ve seen everything, and I’m supposed to just ignore it, pretend nothing happened?” Ye Qian quickly cut him off, her voice urgent.

To Long Fei’s ears, her words sent a chill through him. The way she put it sounded so old-fashioned. Still a virgin? She might as well just say “chaste maiden.” In this day and age, who cares about that? If that’s her attitude, does that mean Ye Qian is actually very traditional? But her clothes were always fiery and provocative—how could that be explained? They say the more innocent a woman appears, the more wild she is inside. But could it be the opposite, too? That the more forward and daring a woman seems on the outside, the more pure and conservative she is at heart?

If so, Ye Qian was truly a rare specimen. Could she really be such a unique woman?

Long Fei gave Ye Qian a strange look. “Alright, even if that’s true, feelings take time to develop. We should let things happen naturally. And as for your, ah, concerns, it’s not as serious as you think. They just developed a little late, that’s all. I’ll prescribe you some traditional medicine, and soon you’ll be just like anyone else, understand? So there’s no way I’d look down on you for that!”

“Then you’re agreeing?” Ye Qian exclaimed with delight.

Long Fei was stunned. “Agreeing to what?”

Ye Qian pressed urgently, “Agreeing to be my boyfriend!”

Oh, God, what am I supposed to do?

Long Fei frowned, “When did I say—”

Seeing Ye Qian about to burst into tears again, Long Fei quickly added, “Alright, even if I agreed, we should still let things happen naturally and develop our feelings over time. By the way, have you ever been in a relationship before?”