After Transmigrating into a Book, I Was Bent by the Villainess (GL) - Chapter 15

More than a month later, Xia Chuci was discharged from the hospital.

She woke up from her coma three days after the incident.

Fortunately, although the injuries were serious, she received timely rescue and didn’t end up disabled.

Truly worthy of being the protagonist. She survived such a serious car accident completely unharmed.

However, it was also quite reasonable to think about it. The male and female leads hadn’t gotten together yet. If the female lead were to be disabled at this moment, the readers would probably be sending razor blades to the author.

During her hospitalization, Zhao Wenyang and Gu Miao often came to visit her. The school granted her a long medical leave, so the recovery period was quite comfortable, and everything was mostly the same as before.

The most surreal thing for her was that she was only unconscious for a few days, but when she woke up, Su Yiming seemed to have undergone a complete character change.

What happened to the cool goddess, vicious major villainess?

Heh, she was long gone!

I ask you, what kind of cool goddess would tend to her love rival’s every need—eating, drinking, and bathroom use? The kind that’s even more meticulous than a hired nurse.

If it were just to repay the life-saving kindness, being a little nice to her would be understandable. But what was with that look of affectionate tenderness mixed with pity in her eyes?

Xia Chuci even suspected that her head injury was too severe, causing her to hallucinate, leading to this unbelievable illusion.

Or, did the cool, vicious major villainess transform into a warm-hearted little golden retriever?

The feeling of being treasured in someone’s hands, afraid of dropping, and held in their mouth, afraid of melting, was certainly nice. Xia Chuci couldn’t help but inwardly cheer: Congratulations on acquiring a thoughtful, good bestie!

Ah~ A beautiful future was beckoning her; the road ahead was bright.

If there was anything else that was troubling, there was one thing—for example, right now, she realized she was absolutely penniless.

Although Su Yiming covered all her medical expenses during her hospitalization, for someone who relied on working part-time to pay her way, being out of work for more than a month meant zero income and relying on savings until they were gone.

Xia Chuci carefully tallied the balance in her bank account and the cash in her pocket. All combined, if she was extremely frugal, she could only last for half a month at most. If she didn’t want to starve, finding a job was urgent.

Actually, if she just asked, whether it was Zhao Wenyang, Su Yiming, or even Gu Miao or Liu Yi, they would all generously offer money.

However, as the female lead, though poor, she was not lacking in ambition. Before striving to regain her independence, how could she actively show weakness and borrow money!

To make matters worse, she also received a call from her adoptive mother demanding money.

Her adoptive mother didn’t even bother with a greeting, directly questioning: “Why didn’t you send money last month!”

Xia Chuci was just as direct: “I was sick in the hospital. I don’t have any money.”

Hearing that she had no money, her adoptive mother exploded, believing she was making an excuse not to pay, and said exasperatedly: “You good-for-nothing! Don’t try that on me. If you know what’s good for you, send the money back obediently, or you’ll regret it.”

Xia Chuci was speechless. She bit the bullet and said: “Believe it or not, I was hospitalized and didn’t have time to work and earn money.”

Her adoptive mother sneered: “No money? If you don’t have money, get your butt back here. Stop embarrassing yourself outside. Li the Lame from the next village asked the matchmaker to propose. He said he can give 20,000 yuan in bride price. If you can’t earn money outside, come back and get married…”

Xia Chuci impatiently hung up the phone and blocked the number. Out of sight, out of mind.

She knew who her adoptive mother’s “Li the Lame” was. His real name was Li Daniu, already over forty. He broke his right leg climbing a tree when he was a child. After it healed, he walked with a limp, so everyone called him Li the Lame.

In the original work, to be able to study properly, Xia Chuci sent money back every month until the male lead, Gu Xin, returned dominantly and sorted out her awful adoptive parents, ending her difficult history of being exploited.

Since transmigrating into this world, apart from clinging to Su Yiming’s leg, she hadn’t planned to wildly alter the original plot, so she had been sending money back. But this time, because of her injury and hospitalization, she hadn’t remitted money, which led to this demanding call.

Now, Xia Chuci didn’t plan to tolerate it anymore. She herself was living paycheck to paycheck. Why should she continue to be exploited by that awful family?

This would also save her a sum of money in the future. She didn’t believe they could do anything to her in broad daylight.

Xia Chuci asserted dominantly: I have no money, but I have a life to give!

Her stomach let out a very unromantic “gurgle~” sound. Well, filling my stomach is the top priority.

Previously, she had three regular part-time jobs. One was tutoring mathematics for a middle school student, but that family had emigrated a month ago.

Another was as a bartender apprentice at a small, quiet bar. Although the bar wasn’t high-end, business was still booming. Since there was only one full-time bartender, things sometimes got busy, so they hired Xia Chuci as a part-time apprentice to help out.

In the past, she would work there for about a week each month. But now that she was just discharged from the hospital, it was not advisable for her to drink alcohol. It would be difficult if a customer insisted on making her drink.

After much thought, the only viable job left was the coffee shop part-time work. It was a coffee shop named “Shuyuan” (Source of Books), which combined a bookstore and a café. Many college students and office workers liked to go there to read or work.

Since her freshman year, whenever she had free weekends, Xia Chuci would go there to work part-time. Although the pay wasn’t much, it was relaxing. When no customers were ordering, she could secretly read a book.

Although it had been a while since she was here, her latte art skills were still familiar.

On a lazy weekend afternoon, the coffee shop had only a few scattered customers. Xia Chuci was leaning against the counter, dozing.

Suddenly, a gentle voice sounded next to her ear: “Could I please have an Italian latte?”

Xia Chuci immediately banished the Duke of Zhou (the Chinese god of dreams) to the back of her mind, adopted a standard service posture, and smiled: “Of course. Please take a seat. It will be ready shortly.”

As she spoke, she looked up and saw Su Yiming smiling at her. She was surprised: “Eh, what are you doing here?”

“I was passing by and happened to see you dozing off, so I came in.”

Xia Chuci rubbed her nose awkwardly and laughed: “Although they say people are sleepy in spring and tired in autumn, I think the hottest days of summer are when it’s easiest to get drowsy in an air-conditioned room. Hehe, the boss isn’t around, so a little slack is fine.”

“That’s true.”

Su Yiming looked around. To the left of the entrance was the counter and workspace, about the size to accommodate three people. To the right was the staircase leading to the second floor, with exquisite landscape paintings hanging on the wall.

The first floor only had four bookshelves against the walls and a few tables placed in the center. There were only a few people present, either reading or tapping on laptops, making it very quiet and comfortable.

Xia Chuci quickly made the Italian latte. The latte art was a pig’s head with a bow. She said proudly: “Look, doesn’t it look alike? Isn’t it cute? It’s my original creation, one of a kind, no other branches.”

Su Yiming looked at the latte art, then at Xia Chuci’s face, and said seriously: “Mmm, it certainly looks alike, very cute.”

Xia Chuci put her hands on her hips, huffing: “Hey, hey, I have evidence to suspect you are being sarcastic about me.”

Su Yiming chuckled and changed the subject, asking: “When do you get off work? I’ll wait for you to go back to school together.”

Xia Chuci looked at the clock on the wall and said: “I finish at five, still two hours to go. Why don’t you go sit down and read a book?”

As they spoke, a few more students from the nearby university came in, and Xia Chuci suddenly became busy, unable to attend to Su Yiming.

Su Yiming took her coffee, picked up a book, found an empty table, sat down, and read while sipping her coffee. During this time, she didn’t forget to glance at Xia Chuci making coffee at the bar, looking very content.

An hour later, the tranquility of the coffee shop was broken by an uninvited guest.

A girl with multicolored hair and heavy makeup appeared aggressively at the counter. She asked contemptuously: “Are you Xia Chuci?”

Xia Chuci’s heart thumped. She wondered when she had offended such a delinquent girl. She searched her memory and was absolutely certain she didn’t know her.

“I am Xia Chuci. Who are you? Do we know each other?”

Unexpectedly, the girl disregarded all decency and reached out to grab her hair. Fortunately, Xia Chuci reacted quickly and swiftly dodged backward, preventing the girl from succeeding.

Xia Chuci was shaken and confused, asking: “What are you doing?”

The girl missed and cursed furiously: “Hmph, what am I doing? You have the nerve to ask me! You know what you did! Watch me tear you apart, you mistress!”

Wait, mistress?

Heaven knows, I swear, I’ve only flirted with the male lead, Gu Xin. I haven’t provoked any other man, okay!

Could this be Gu Xin’s little mistress? Tsk tsk, when did the male lead’s taste become so heavy?

Xia Chuci explained: “Little girl, don’t misunderstand…”

The girl didn’t listen to her explanation, instead crying and wailing: “It’s all because of you that Brother Lu Ren wants to break up with me! Boo hoo~ I’m telling you, give up! I’ll die before I break up! If I die, I’ll haunt you every day and make sure you have a miserable end…”

Xia Chuci was utterly confused: “Brother Lu Ren? Who is that?”

The girl shouted: “Brother Lu Ren is Brother Lu Ren! You fickle woman, you don’t even remember Brother Lu Ren!”

While shouting, she grabbed paper cups, tissue boxes, and anything else from the counter and threw them at Xia Chuci.

Xia Chuci dodged while shouting: “Stop throwing! Stop! Quickly stop!”

Just as she was about to be overwhelmed, she was suddenly embraced and pulled into a safe zone, narrowly avoiding the attack of the crazy girl.

The faint scent of orchids—it was Su Yiming’s scent. Cool and familiar. Xia Chuci looked up into her eyes, which were filled completely with her own reflection.

This surge of “boyfriend power”—no, girlfriend power—was overwhelming and provided such a sense of security. Xia Chuci was incredibly touched.

The girl didn’t continue her frantic throwing because “Brother Lu Ren” arrived.

Brother Lu Ren shouted at her: “Have you made enough of a scene!”

The girl cried hysterically: “What’s so good about this woman? She must be seducing many men at once! She doesn’t even remember you…”

Lu Ren said helplessly: “I told you, we are not suitable for each other. It’s not because of anyone else. How many times do I have to tell you to accept this fact!”

“You’re lying to me! You go to the bar every night to wait for this woman! I know everything! Don’t try to deceive me! You must have been seduced by her and that’s why you don’t want me! Boo hoo~”

Lu Ren stopped arguing with her. Instead, he turned to Xia Chuci and apologized sincerely: “I’m sorry for causing you trouble. I will compensate for the damages here.”

Xia Chuci found the man vaguely familiar. She suddenly recalled that she had indeed seen him many times when she worked part-time at the bar.

Every time he came, he only ordered one cocktail, drank it, and left. So, apart from taking his order, they never had any other interaction. She didn’t even know his name.

Lu Ren probably frequented that bar, and the girl mistakenly thought he had fallen for someone else, leading to their breakup. And the only woman who regularly worked at the bar seemed to be her. It was all a misunderstanding.

As an outsider, Xia Chuci had no intention of getting involved in the couple’s drama. These matters had to be handled by the people involved. She politely said: “It’s okay. It’s a misunderstanding. It’s fine once it’s explained clearly.”

Lu Ren nodded gratefully and said helplessly: “Please tally the damages. I’ll come back tomorrow to pay. It’s really not suitable for us to stay any longer today.”

Looking at the girl struggling in Lu Ren’s arms, it was indeed better for them to leave sooner. It was genuinely hard to imagine what kind of crazy thing this emotionally unstable girl might do next.

Xia Chuci expressed understanding and spoke reasonably: “No problem. Then please take her back first. It’s always better to clarify misunderstandings between couples early.”

Lu Ren nodded in thanks and pulled the girl away.

Unexpectedly, the girl pretended to be compliant. Taking advantage of everyone letting down their guard, she turned and grabbed a customer’s unfinished coffee from a table, threw it at Xia Chuci, and started screaming obscenities that were unbearable to hear.

Xia Chuci hadn’t gotten angry yet, but Su Yiming was furious first. If Xia Chuci hadn’t held her back tightly in time, the girl would probably have been disabled today.

Xia Chuci gestured for Lu Ren to quickly take the girl away and soothed the raging major villainess: “I’m fine. Don’t be angry. The coffee was cold, and it was a paper cup. No big deal.”

It’s just a shame about this white shirt. It was practically brand new, and now it was ruined. Thinking about the price, hiss—it hurt her wallet. Today’s work was all for nothing.