C16 I Kissed You

Changshun couldn't help but feel that the woman before him was starkly different from the one who had been drunkenly reveling at the late-night food stall just two nights prior. Had they not shared the same face, he would have doubted his own recognition.

Exiting the elevator, the woman led Changshun into an expansive room that clearly served as a grand office.

"Don't move," she commanded, sensing his close presence behind her. With a cold tone, she glanced back at him.

Changshun froze in place.

The woman strode to her desk and, turning around, leaned back against it with her arms folded and scrutinized Changshun.

"How did you manage to find this place? Are you here to use the other night's incident to threaten me?" she accused.

"Miss, you've got it all wrong. I'm here to apply for a job," Changshun clarified, eager to dispel her assumption that he was there for extortion.

The woman gave him another appraising look. "Our company isn't hiring. What skills do you even have?"

Changshun, who had felt wrongfully pegged as a liar from the start, disliked the misunderstanding. He produced the business card Du Yuewei had given him.

"I'm looking for the person on this card. Du Yuewei sent me," he explained.

Upon hearing Du Yuewei's name, the woman's eyes widened with astonishment. "Weiwei? Are you the guy who's sharing an apartment with Weiwei and your sister?"

Changshun, quick on the uptake, caught the implication. "So, you're the owner of this company? Ling Kemiao?" He glanced at the name on the card.

Ling Kemiao's face betrayed a mix of emotions, not expecting the situation to unfold as it had. "Yes, that's me! Now, tell me, what's your real agenda in getting close to me and the people I know?"

Changshun was taken aback. "What agenda?"

All he had done was respond to Du Yuewei's request to seek employment, and his previous encounter with Ling Kemiao had been purely coincidental.

The situation was straightforward, yet Ling Kemiao seemed to view him with suspicion. "Am I not the right fit for the job? If that's the case, I'll leave right now."

Changshun never imagined he'd work in such a luxurious place; it seemed far beyond his station.

"Stop right there!"

Ling Kemiao's voice cut through the air, halting him in his tracks. She quickly closed the distance between them.

"Do you think you can just run after being exposed? Not so fast. Who sent you to get close to me on purpose? Speak up, or I'm calling the police this instant."

"Miss, I haven't done anything atrocious, have I? What right do you have to detain me? Besides, from start to finish, I've only..."

Changshun's protest was cut short as Ling Kemiao began to sway and collapsed to the ground.

Without hesitation, Changshun caught her in his arms. She was unconscious, her face ashen and lips tinged with blue, looking gravely ill.

"What are you waiting for? Give her CPR, she's dying!"

The urgent voice in Changshun's head jolted him into action.

"Die?"

"She's not breathing. Are you going to just stand there and watch her die?"

Driven by the voice and his own panic, Changshun laid Ling Kemiao down and instinctively pressed his lips to hers. His knowledge of CPR was limited to what he'd seen on TV.

He breathed into her mouth and prepared to perform chest compressions. But as his hands hovered over her chest, he hesitated. It felt wrong to touch her so intimately without consent, yet if he didn't act, she might die.

"Stop daydreaming! You're not taking advantage; you're trying to save her life. Don't miss this chance to do the right thing!"

The compelling voice spurred him on, and with a decisive motion, Changshun pressed down. Through her clothing, he could feel the softness and resilience of her chest. He focused on the task, compressing her chest a few times before leaning down to deliver another breath.

After several cycles, Ling Kemiao coughed back to life, slowly regaining consciousness.

Changshun hadn't realized his hands were still pressing on her chest.

Ling Kemiao was frozen in shock for a moment before she abruptly sat up and toppled Changshun to the ground.

"Pervert!"

She clutched her chest and, as Changshun sat up, she slapped him across the face.

Changshun was completely bewildered. Why was he being hit for saving someone?

"What did you do to me?"

Ling Kemiao was visibly upset.

"What did I do? You just fainted, and I was trying to save you."

Changshun protested his innocence.

"You..."

Ling Kemiao's face turned beet red. She stood up, went to her desk, grabbed a medicine bottle, and hastily swallowed two pills.

"Water!"

She reached for a cup only to find it empty.

Changshun remembered the bottle of mineral water he had bought on his way in, which he had placed in his crossbody bag. He quickly handed it to Ling Kemiao.

With the pills stuck in her throat, Ling Kemiao couldn't swallow them. Desperate for water, she didn't hesitate to drink when it was offered.

After she finished, she noticed that the bottle was already half empty. She had only taken a small sip, which meant someone had drunk from it before her.

"You..."

"No need to thank me. If there's nothing else, I should be going."

Changshun, adhering to his principle of not wasting, took the mineral water bottle back from Ling Kemiao, capped it, and returned it to his bag.

Convinced that he had no chance of landing the job, Changshun left without another word.

Meanwhile, Ling Kemiao was still reeling from the realization that she had indirectly kissed a stranger. Her concern was misplaced, fixated on the shared water bottle rather than the fact that Changshun had not only kissed her but also performed CPR, which was far more intimate than sharing a drink.

Back at home, Changshun found Xiuxiu preparing lunch and Du Yuewei engrossed in a TV show.

"Brother Changshun, did work go well?"

"It's a no-go."

Changshun was distracted.

What should have been a straightforward situation had somehow spiraled out of control.

Lately, Changshun had been down on his luck, not running into a single stroke of good fortune.

"Don't worry about it, Brother Changshun. If it's lost, we can search for it together tomorrow," Xiuxiu reassured him after hearing the noise outside and promptly leaving the kitchen to check on Changshun.

Changshun extended his hand and affectionately ruffled her hair. "You don't need to fret over this; I'll handle it," he assured her.

Despite his reassuring words, Changshun felt lost about what the future held for him. Once he was back in his room, he began reaching out to his former colleagues via his smartphone.

Regrettably, some were unreachable, and those he did manage to contact had no suitable job opportunities available.