Saving the Obsessive Villain Boss [Quick Transmigration] (GL) - Chapter 25
It is the human heart that is guilty, not the object.
The young monarch was silent for a long time. The candlelight flickered in the wind, casting large shadows on the vast white marble floor tiles, a seemingly endless expanse. After a long while, the physician from Miaojiang heard a cool, decisive statement from above.
“Take it out—”
She was indeed plagued by worry, suspicion, and insecurity, but leaving the mother gu was always a hidden danger. If the mother gu were to fall into someone else’s hands one day, it would be equivalent to controlling Shi Qingyi’s lifeblood.
What’s more—
She looked at the girl behind the gauze curtain. Her first half of life had already been so difficult. She should be free, unburdened and uncontrolled by anyone or anything, even by herself.
She had missed too much in the first half of her life, and she should not continue to make mistakes.
The Miao doctor raised his head in astonishment. The wind blew through the hall, and the female monarch’s voice was like a sigh.
“The one who is meant to leave cannot be held back, and the one who is meant to stay will not leave.”
After a long pause, a hand quietly reached out from behind the gauze curtain and hooked her palm.
The person had awakened quietly from her deep sleep at some unknown time, or perhaps had not slept at all. Lying amidst the layers of fine brocade, she slowly opened her eyes and reached out a hand to rub the sore small of the female monarch’s back.
The female monarch’s eyes dimmed slightly. Unwilling to let the person, who was now dishevelled and looked lazy, be seen by others, she leaned down to kiss her and pulled over the gauze curtain. The Miao doctor’s face blushed slightly, and he tactfully and quietly retreated.
In the heat of passion, Shi Qingyi kissed the wound on her heart where an arrow had pierced her lung, and softly said: “If Your Majesty is willing to let me go, it is not impossible for me to stay…”
Xu Zhaosu closed her eyes and held her tightly: “But I am unwilling.”
I don’t want to see you held hostage again, unable to live as you please.
She could not tolerate anyone harming her in the slightest, even herself.
Various Little Extras
- Writing
After Shi Qingyi recovered, Xu Zhaosu still did not dare to let her go out, insisting on taking meticulous care of her. When bored, Shi Qingyi would practice calligraphy and read. Xu Zhaosu had virtually moved all the rare books from the national treasury to Mingze Palace overnight, so she would not be bored.
One day, as Shi Qingyi was practicing calligraphy, Xu Zhaosu hugged her waist from behind and whispered in her ear.
She asked her what she had intended to write on her palm in the final stages of her illness. She had written the character for “never” (cóng wèi), but when she tried to write the rest, Xu Zhaosu wouldn’t let her, insisting she wait until she was better, afraid that once she said all she wanted to say, she would lose the one breath that was sustaining her.
So Shi Qingyi picked up the brush, but before it could touch the paper, the female monarch snatched the Xuan paper away, and stood alone by her desk, her eyes bright and smiling.
Shi Qingyi: “…”
Later, Shi Qingyi finally relented only after writing the remaining characters, stroke by stroke, on her heart.
It was nothing much, just eight characters.
—Meeting Your Majesty, this life has been fortunate.
- Hiding a Beauty in a Golden House
Xu Zhaosu had a very strong obsession with the Yumíng Palace, and was determined to fully realize the concept of “hiding a beauty in a golden house.” She hired the best craftsmen from Líyuè to design the blueprints. When the blueprints came out, she was not satisfied and looked over them with Shi Qingyi to see what needed to be added.
It was indeed worthy of the phrase “magnificent and breathtakingly beautiful.”
However, for some unknown reason, the blueprints were leaked. The court officials cried and howled, saying that Shi Qingyi was a succubus who brought disaster to the nation and should be executed by slow slicing, causing a huge fuss. Two elderly court veterans threatened to smash their heads against a pillar to prove their integrity.
Calling her a succubus was bad enough, but they also implicitly called her ugly, saying she was without beauty. The female emperor’s face instantly darkened when the words came out. A group of ignorant people went to pull the Eldest Princess to their side to jointly advise His Majesty.
The Eldest Princess’s mouth twitched. That very night, she requested leave, citing poor health, and did not attend court.
The female sovereign was no longer the ruler who once treated scholars with courtesy. She couldn’t be bothered with their formalities and old rules. No matter how much they protested, she showed no fear or compromise, and instead earned a reputation for being self-willed and stubborn.
When the matter became unmanageable, the Eldest Princess had to intervene, but instead of advising His Majesty, she entered the palace to see Shi Qingyi, who was now the apple of the Emperor’s eye.
Xu Zhaosu had been terrified ever since the time the Eldest Princess forced Shi Qingyi to kneel in the heavy snow for three hours. Hearing that the Eldest Princess had entered the palace, she abandoned everyone and rushed back, only to find the usually stern Eldest Princess sitting across from Shi Qingyi, drinking tea, and not saying much.
Xu Zhaosu, filled with lingering fear, hugged Shi Qingyi. Shi Qingyi merely patted her hand, immediately calming her down.
No one’s persuasion worked on Xu Zhaosu. She was determined to follow her own wishes. Then, one day, it rained. Shi Qingyi held an umbrella and went to meet her. The two nestled under the same umbrella. The rain pattered outside the umbrella. When they returned from the Xuandé Hall, where she handled political affairs, their clothes were already soaked.
After washing, Xu Zhaosu personally combed the wet long hair, refusing to let anyone else help. Shi Qingyi hugged her waist and softly said: “Your Majesty, it’s so far…”
The Xuandé Hall and the Mingze Palace were far apart. Even the Yùmíng Palace, which was only separated from the Mingze Palace by a wall, felt far. In short, any place not beside you was “so far.”
Xu Zhaosu’s heart instantly melted into a puddle, her mind almost filled to bursting with saturated sweetness. Unable to vent it, she could only frantically kiss her. Shi Qingyi hugged her, raised her neck, and allowed her to bite her haphazardly.
The matter concluded there, the only reason being Shi Qingyi’s single sentence. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The golden house was not built, and what was hidden was not a beautiful concubine, but the person she loved.
Only the System was slightly hesitant: “Host, are you going soft?”
Shi Qingyi was drinking tea. Hearing this, she said “Oh” without changing her expression: “Why do you say that?”
The System started counting on its fingers: “Xu Zhaosu’s character setting is a paranoid villain, tyrannical and arbitrary, destined to be replaced by the male and female leads. If you protect her like this, how will she lose public support and be attacked by the masses?”
“Do you think the male and female leads can beat her?” Shi Qingyi lifted her eyes and blew on her tea.
The System choked, remembering the male and female leads who had barely escaped not long ago, now barely surviving somewhere in the world.
Although it was reluctant to admit it, it was unlikely.
“If the male and female leads could beat her, the Main God wouldn’t have thrown me back. Since the male and female leads can’t beat her, for the sake of the people in this world, shouldn’t I advise her to be benevolent?” Shi Qingyi guided it patiently.
System: “…The logic seems sound?”
But why did it feel like something wasn’t quite right?
- I Am Jealous of Myself
Shi Qingyi still habitually wore a mask. Xu Zhaosu, not wanting to upset her, never asked her about it. It was a long time later that she finally dared to ask why she wore a mask and why she didn’t take it off even during intimate moments.
Shi Qingyi turned her face away and said she was afraid of scaring her if she woke up in the middle of the night. Xu Zhaosu immediately straightened up and said, “I’m not afraid,” then cautiously lifted the mask and delicately kissed the scars on her face.
“Appearance is secondary, it’s not important. I only want you,” the female monarch said affectionately, holding her face, earning a cool glare from the National Preceptor.
“Oh? Then when I wasn’t around, why did Your Majesty keep so many beauties in the imperial harem?”
Xu Zhaosu: “…”
She felt heart-stuck, she remained silent.
Only after being teased did she gently lean in: “I missed you too much back then…”
She missed her so much that she was going crazy, but you never came to see me. I thought you would never appear in this world again, so I collected everyone who looked like you. I never touched them, just looked from afar.
—The heart’s craving is hard to quell.
Shi Qingyi sighed quietly: “I know.”
That’s why it hurt even more.
During the period when Shi Qingyi first returned to the imperial palace as a medical woman, she once took Xu Zhaosu’s pulse. The girl, who was ill, gloomy, and frail, said she felt terrible. She couldn’t diagnose it and anxiously asked where His Majesty was feeling unwell.
The female monarch on the couch held her hand and placed it on her heart, closed her eyes, and said hoarsely that it hurt here.
Although she knew it might be true heart pain—she had an emotional knot and old injuries—placing it there still inevitably made one think otherwise!
Shi Qingyi’s face was burning like fire, and she quickly tried to pull her hand back.
The person seemed about to cry, the corners of her eyes were red, but she wouldn’t let go. Her eyes, however, held a layer of cold light: “It hurts…”
The easily embarrassed person finally couldn’t bear it anymore: “How can Your Majesty be like this? Didn’t you say, didn’t you say there was… the National Preceptor? She died, and you were heartbroken, yet you move on so quickly?”
She seemed angry, her tone was slightly indignant, and her face was flushed. She clearly intended to mock her, but ultimately failed.
The female monarch looked at her with deep affection: “She would hope that I live happily.”
What kind of bereaved spouse literature is this…
Is it really okay for me to be jealous of myself? Why am I suddenly a little angry? Why am I suddenly so angry?!
The System quietly typed: “Host, we’re detecting a relatively large emotional fluctuation. Do you want to take a temporary break?”
Shi Qingyi: “…”
—Garbage system, always interrupting when you shouldn’t.
Shi Qingyi had always been very curious why Xu Zhaosu could always recognize her accurately, even when she couldn’t see and even with a change of name.
Xu Zhaosu leaned her head on her shoulder. The character Yi (in A’Yī) sounded like the character Yì (in Qīngyì), and the common name for the job’s tears plant (cǎo zhū) was a common name for yì mǐ (Job’s tears). This was not difficult.
“But I didn’t recognize you from your name. I knew it was you from the very first moment you appeared.”
Without any reason, absolutely impossible to mistake. That was you, the person she had remembered her whole life and carved into her heart. How could she possibly be wrong?
- Imperial Heirs
Xu Zhaosu only had Shi Qingyi in her harem. It was well-known throughout the world that she was the only one favored and doted upon, and she never took another person. Seeing that they couldn’t rely on others to overthrow the female monarch’s tyranny, the court officials became extremely concerned about the issue of succession.
They thought that after the female monarch passed away, they needed to properly cultivate the next monarch, but His Majesty simply would not take an imperial husband or have children. This greatly worried the court officials.
Every now and then, they would make a scene, begging His Majesty to open up the harem, making it a bigger commotion than promoting freedom of speech, though the female monarch completely ignored them.
Even so, they did not stop their mischief, sending handsome men to the palace every so often. This led to Xu Zhaosu returning one afternoon after court to find Shi Qingyi admiring the group of handsome men in the imperial garden with great interest.
Shi Qingyi just smiled, saying nothing. Xu Zhaosu’s face instantly darkened, and she immediately had murderous intent. She was afraid that Shi Qingyi was unhappy, and even more afraid that she was genuinely interested in one of the men.
They were jealous of each other.
The next day, Xu Zhaosu punished all the court officials who had advised her to take an imperial husband. After scolding them, the group of officials saw that force wouldn’t work, so they tried a gentler approach, weeping and pleading with His Majesty to have a child and leave a bloodline.
The curtain was suddenly lifted. A coldly detached woman ignored everyone’s astonishment and said indifferently: “Your Majesty’s health is poor, and she is not suitable for bearing children.”
The officials were dumbfounded. How dare a favored consort come to the court and participate in political discussions? They immediately pointed their fingers at her, calling her a witch who spread rumors and bewitched the monarch.
Shi Qingyi merely glanced at them coldly. Her voice was pure and noble, like the pristine white snow on a mountain: “Since I am a healer and also His Majesty’s intimate companion, I naturally know more than you.”
The phrase “intimate companion” made Xu Zhaosu’s heart suddenly stir, and she unconsciously pursed her lips.
There was no more room for discussion on this matter. After this incident, the female monarch favored that person even more, almost to the point of being completely deaf to advice.
Xu Zhaosu suddenly told Shi Qingyi one afternoon that she felt nauseous and wanted to vomit, wondering if she was pregnant with her imperial child. She secretly observed her expression, testing Shi Qingyi’s desire for a child.
Accompanying her in the loneliness of the deep palace, she naturally wouldn’t have any desire for an heir.
Shi Qingyi, being a doctor herself, knew her body well, but she played along without changing her expression. She touched her stomach and said, “Eat more. My imperial child is hungry,” and then fed a cloud-flake cake into her mouth.
Xu Zhaosu knew that she didn’t care about this. Later, she adopted a little girl from the imperial clan, cultivating her as the heir apparent, but only entrusted her to the Eldest Princess. Neither Xu Zhaosu nor Shi Qingyi were in particularly good health. They wouldn’t live for too long. A long life was impossible, and she didn’t expect to live for a very long time, only hoping that they could spend more time together while they were alive.
Xu Zhaosu was occasionally still consumed by worry, often suffering from insomnia at night. When she woke up, she would check if Shi Qingyi was by her side.
Even though Shi Qingyi slept with her every night, this habit was not cured. Xu Zhaosu was very afraid that everything was just a dream.
Shi Qingyi often kissed her eyebrows and eyes when she woke up in fright: “Even the longest dream will come to an end. Your Majesty, look to the future.”
Time always proves many things.
Shi Qingyi had an inexplicable filter for Xu Zhaosu. The filter was: she is clearly very easy to talk to, so why do you all say her temperament is violent?
Everyone: Because she is only easy to talk to for you.
After going back and forth between life and death, Xu Zhaosu’s hatred value had been mostly reduced. The System calculated that only five percent remained.
“The remaining amount shouldn’t be enough for her to destroy the world. The mission is complete. In fact, we can leave now.”
Shi Qingyi was about to agree to leave when Xu Zhaosu suddenly appeared from behind and said, “Where do you want to go?”
“You can’t go anywhere. I know I was wrong. Don’t leave. If you leave, I will kill everyone. You know I can do it!”
She could indeed do it; after all, that’s what she did last time.
That was the second year after the incident. Xu Zhaosu had been trying to pretend to be a normal person, but when she somehow sensed that Shi Qingyi was leaving, she completely collapsed, like a trapped beast at the end of its rope.
She then imprisoned Shi Qingyi in one small area, with iron chains binding her hands and feet, heavily guarded, not allowed to move even an inch.
She, herself, went to the mountain to perform three bows and nine prostrations, praying to the gods not to take her away.
She had always had a premonition that Shi Qingyi would leave. She might not belong to this world, but when the premonition actually came true, she realized that letting go was as difficult as reaching the heavens.
She climbed ninety-nine steps. Her knees were bloody and raw as she knelt before the divine statue. Just as she was about to collapse, Shi Qingyi appeared and took the stumbling person into her arms.
Her eyes were cold with anger, and her voice was chilly: “Instead of begging him, you should treat me better. At least don’t lock me up in the palace.”
Even with heavy guards and black iron chains, what could not be locked remained unlocked. Just like the human heart. It was only then that Xu Zhaosu understood that she hadn’t truly locked Shi Qingyi up; Shi Qingyi had only stayed by her side voluntarily.
Xu Zhaosu trembled and hugged her tightly, asking cautiously and incoherently: “If I treat you a little better, will you not leave?”
The one who is meant to leave cannot be held back. She finally understood this at that moment.
She couldn’t hold onto Shi Qingyi. No matter how ruthless, how hateful, how unwilling she was, if Shi Qingyi wanted to leave, she couldn’t keep her.
The benevolent yet indifferent statues of the Three Pure Ones watched the world, discerning the human heart.
Shi Qingyi’s hand trembled slightly as she held her in her arms. Xu Zhaosu’s knees were weak and covered in bl00d, unable to support her. There were tears in her eyes, and she looked up quietly, staring at her, almost masochistically, as if afraid that if she closed her eyes, she would never see her again.
The monarch who commanded the world was only this humble when she was around her.
Shi Qingyi remained silent for a long time. Her heart ached in her chest, a surge of emotion accompanied by an unspoken sourness. After a long while, she patted her slender back, and a kiss quietly landed on her temple, saying: “I will stay by your side.”
She made a vow to the gods and Buddhas across the sky.
Finally receiving the desired promise, Xu Zhaosu slumped into her arms as if exhausted. Her arms had been pinched with bright red marks. After a long time, warm tears soaked her collar. She slowly tightened her arms, hugging her waist tightly.
System: “Host, you seem a little off.”
“There is still five percent of the blackening value. I am merely pursuing perfection.”
The System wanted to say more, but Shi Qingyi had already answered: “I won’t be able to stay with her for too long.”
Her body was too frail. She didn’t have many years left to live. Staying with her was only a matter of a few years of lifespan. Her life was long, and these worlds were just places she had briefly visited. They would never be places for a long stay.
But the Xu Zhaosu in this world made her heart ache.
That was the reason she couldn’t let go.
That night, the moon was bright and the stars were sparse. She carried Xu Zhaosu down the mountain. The girl’s arms were tightly wrapped around her neck. And thus, her whole life seemed to reach its end. Xu Zhaosu, half-asleep and half-awake, was still murmuring her name: “A’Qing, don’t leave, don’t leave…”
“Don’t abandon me…”
That was the first time Shi Qingyi, having been a ruthless task tool for so long, felt a dull ache in her heart.
Later, Xu Zhaosu indeed did not live for too long. After three years of companionship, her health deteriorated further. Before she passed away, she still held Shi Qingyi’s hand and refused to let go. Shi Qingyi understood her meaning and willingly committed suicide by taking poison to be buried beside her.
The monarch finally agreed to close her eyes.
Living together in one quilt, dying together in one grave, as she wished.
The System chimed: “Blackening value cleared. Transferring to the next world.”It was a September morning. A heavy rain had fallen during the night, and a long breeze swept through the alleys, bringing a rare coolness.
Shi Qingyi braked her bicycle, placed one foot on the ground, and took a sip of soy milk from her backpack.
“This is Jiang Zhiyi’s home?” The girl’s slender brows slightly arched.
The alley was narrow, allowing only one person to pass. It was probably impossible to ride a bicycle through. The trash in the bin at the alley’s entrance had long overflowed. A few flies circled the edge, emitting a foul odor.
“It’s in the building farthest inside,” the System checked its data. “She’s lived here since she was a child. Without any mishap, she wouldn’t be able to leave until she was paralyzed and her maternal grandfather saw the newspaper report and took her back.”
That was the scenario without any mishap. But now, Shi Qingyi had stopped her from jumping off the rooftop, so the biggest mishap had occurred.
The dilapidated building farthest inside was actually just an illegally constructed shack. It looked shaky, and it was hard to tell if it could withstand the wind and rain.
Shi Qingyi’s brow furrowed even deeper: “Is she going to be stopped at the school gate and extorted again this morning?”
“Not ‘again,’ it’s a daily necessity,” the System corrected her, then added doubtfully, “Though I don’t understand either. She’s so poor she can’t even afford a box of cold medicine, so why is there a necessity to extort her?”
Shi Qingyi was about to say something, but as she lifted her eyes, she saw a slender figure slowly walking out of the alley.
The System immediately grew alert: “She’s out!”
“I’m not blind.” Shi Qingyi unhurriedly finished the last sip of soy milk, tossed the empty cup into the overflowing trash can nearby, pushed off with her foot on the bicycle, and quickly slipped into another alley beside it.
When Jiang Zhiyi woke up that morning, her head was dizzy and heavy. She had to go out early to set up her stall. Her aunt rode her bike two kilometers before dawn to buy goods to sell vegetables at the wet market, and in the evening, she went out to sell boxed meals until late at night.
Jiang Zhiqíng was out walking Huānhuān, the dog she had found, which was supposedly a very expensive breed and had to be walked once in the morning and once in the evening.
In the cramped room, only the man’s thunderous snoring remained, deafeningly loud. Broken glass bottles still littered the floor, emitting a pungent smell in the steamer-like summer heat.
Her aunt was too busy to clean up the mess in the morning. Jiang Zhiqíng didn’t allow her precious dog to touch the floor and didn’t want to deal with the annoying chores, but since Jiang Zhiyi was dependent on them, she had to do what was necessary.
She tried to sweep very carefully, but still disturbed the man. The room was too small, the so-called rooms were just separated by wooden boards. The man had come home in the middle of the night, thrown a drunken tantrum, and fell asleep directly on the sofa. Woken up, he irritably grabbed a wine bottle from the table and smashed it out.
It happened to hit her on the forehead.
Her vision blurred. The girl bent down, supporting herself with her hands on her knees, taking a difficult, deep breath. She felt slightly out of breath. Usually, she could dodge, but today she felt too unwell, as if she had a fever…
“Get lost, you dead girl…”
The man mumbled in a tone of disgust, like he was delirious, still not very lucid.
That single word, “get lost,” seemed to trigger something. The previously blank-faced girl’s expression instantly turned gloomy, like a cloudy day about to pour rain. She fiercely bit the soft flesh of her cheek, and it took a long time to suppress the surge of pent-up emotion. She supported her knees and slowly stood up.
As she reached the door, she seemed to remember something, slowly walked back, and pushed the window open. Only then did she grab her school bag and stagger downstairs.
She walked very fast, almost running. She stumbled until she finally walked out of the narrow alley and leaned against the wall, laboriously gasping for breath.
Her head was dizzy and aching. In her haste, a dazzling color seemed to flash past.
Her eyes brightened unconsciously, then quickly dimmed.
Her forehead was covered in cold sweat. She shrank back against the corner of the wall, telling herself it must be a fever hallucination.
How could it be?
A privileged young lady like Shi Qingyi, who looked down on everyone, how could she come to this garbage dump? They truly belonged to two different worlds.
She lived side-by-side with ants, struggling in the dirtiest corner of this world, while Shi Qingyi enjoyed everything clean and tidy on the other side of the city.
She bit her lip, but still looked reluctantly in the direction where the flash of gold had disappeared. The wind blew, and a few drops of rain dripped from the camphor leaves into the trash can, startling a few flies. There was no one there.
It was indeed her mistake.
Thinking of this, an unspeakable sadness rose in her heart, dry and choking in her chest.
It took Jiang Zhiyi forty minutes to walk from home to school. The bus didn’t go to the urban village. Fortunately, there was a construction site nearby. If she carefully crossed the site, she could save half an hour and sleep a little longer.
After all, she was in the final year of high school, and sleep time was truly scarce.
As for why she didn’t board at school, it was, of course, because she couldn’t afford the one thousand yuan accommodation fee for half a year.
She walked towards the school blankly, feeling utterly overwhelmed by fatigue. Her steps were terrifyingly heavy, moving along with extreme difficulty, one step at a time.
She used to actually like going to school. Studying was a rare time of relaxation. Even the most difficult math formulas and endless memorization were better than facing a drunken man who might turn violent at any moment in that house.
But now…
The murderer’s daughter, a disgusting homosexual, how could there be such a repulsive person in the world…
The girl’s blank eyes finally showed a trace of shame and stinging pain. Before she had left the construction site, she was pushed against a camphor tree next to the school. Several hooligans gathered around and started touching her inappropriately, holding down her arms, and reaching into her pockets.
“You little bastard, where’s the meal money for today?” Finding nothing, the leader, a girl with red hair, frowned and patted her face.
It had started with just curiosity about what a murderer’s daughter looked like—whether she was fierce and intimidating. Later, they realized she was a soft target with no power to resist, so they gradually became more aggressive.
They knew she didn’t have much money, but they could still scrape a little bit from her every day. Even if there was no money, it was good to vent their frustration on her when they were in a bad mood.
Jiang Zhiyi was shoved, and the back of her head hit the tree trunk hard, making her dizzy. Her throat felt like it was holding a hot piece of charcoal. She couldn’t say anything, but she knew that if she didn’t speak, she would be bullied even more severely.
“I… don’t have money…”
She really didn’t. Her aunt had forgotten to leave her money for food when she left this morning, and she had a fever. Without the money, she might have to go hungry all day today.
In fact, even if she had the money, she would probably still go hungry, as these vampires were waiting for her. Her stomach started to ache faintly, and the pain made her face gradually turn pale.
“No money?” The red-haired girl with drawn-on eyebrows raised them, giving a cold laugh. “Do you think we won’t find it if you hide it?”
Hands started inappropriately pulling at her collar. Her school uniform had been worn for three full years. When the school replaced the uniforms in the second year of high school, only a few students hadn’t changed theirs, and she was one of them. The uniform was washed until it was white and starched. It was pulled, and a button suddenly popped off, revealing her surprisingly white collarbone underneath.
She instinctively raised her hand to cover herself, but it was easily slapped away.
She felt utterly devoid of strength…
The second button was undone. Someone reached for her waist, pulling at the hem of her school uniform. This was a relatively secluded side gate of the school. There were quite a few people around, but no one came over to help her.
Her hands were forcefully twisted and pinned against the camphor tree behind her. She couldn’t break free. There was no strength left in her body. She blinked her dry eyes. Not even tears could fall. Only cold sweat soaked her clothes.
She might as well have jumped off the rooftop last night. What was the meaning of living this life that was worse than death?
She really was better off dead yesterday, to end it all.
Just as she was about to despair, a bicycle bell suddenly rang from the street. A brightly colored bicycle stopped. A girl with long golden hair braked the bicycle. There was a silver stud in her fair earlobe.
Jiang Zhiyi’s eyes felt warm. She subconsciously wanted to open her mouth, almost on the verge of blurting out that name, but ultimately, not a single word escaped her lips.
She said she was disgusting, that she was just playing around, just…
It wasn’t the first or second time. She couldn’t possibly not know, could she? But not once, not once had she come to help her. Why should she humiliate herself again? Endure it, and it would pass…
But for some reason, even though it was the same as before, nothing different, just being cornered and searched by a group of people, just her passing by.
A sudden, uncontrollable sense of grievance rose up. The acidity welled up in her nasal cavity. Her dry eyes grew hotter and hotter…
If you hate me so much, if I disgust you so much, why did you save me last night?
She questioned silently, on the verge of despair.
Shi Qingyi carried her school bag and glanced at the girl surrounded by a group of people.
Probably due to malnutrition, the seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl was less than 1.6 meters tall, small and frail. Her light brown short hair clung to her pale cheeks. Her features were actually clean and delicate, but her timidity and shrinking posture made her appear particularly gloomy.
“Tell me, if those people knew how Jiang Zhiyi would retaliate later, would they still dare to be so arrogant?”
All those who had extorted her lived a life worse than death after she gained power. Their families were burdened with massive debts, chased by collectors with nowhere to run. Jiang Zhiyi’s methods were vicious, and her principle had always been hundredfold retribution.
“How would people know so much about the future? Do you think everyone is like you?” The System urged her frantically. “Other people don’t know their future. If you can’t protect Jiang Zhiyi and let her go crazy again, you’ll be waiting for a crash, death, and world destruction once she blackens.”
“…Shut your crow’s mouth.”
The school uniform had already been torn open, with only a thin short-sleeved shirt underneath. The girl was huddled up. Just as a hand reached to pull off her short sleeve, a faint voice sounded.
“That’s enough.”
The voice sounded a little lazy and tired, as if she hadn’t quite woken up, but that single sound made everyone stop their hands.
Shi Qingyi of No. 3 High School was an absolute sensation. Although she attended a decent high school, everyone knew how she got in. She wasn’t a good student, but she was great at fighting.
She became famous as soon as she transferred to No. 3 High School. With her lazy, swaggering look and a conspicuous head of yellow hair, she was often late, left early, and skipped class. One morning, feeling hungry, she climbed over the wall to find food. When the boss of the vocational school next door saw her climbing the wall, he was immediately captivated.
She had a beautiful and arrogant face. Her eyes were clear and bright, her delicate eyebrows were slightly upturned, and her skin was porcelain white, giving her an air of careless, breathtaking beauty that was mesmerizing at first sight, and was in no way inferior to the female lead, Jiang Zhiqíng.
The aftermath of that incident was that the school bully from the next school brought people to corner her by the wall, but she single-handedly swept a large area of them aside. In the end, she walked out of the corner alone, carrying her school bag and stepping on the school bully’s hand.
After that, when Shi Qingyi was mentioned, people from several surrounding schools all knew her—the one with money, who was incredibly fierce in a fight, and was the prettiest.
Now, this troublemaker frowned and leaned against the tree. Her long, straight legs effortlessly kicked away the two lowlifes on the outside. Her tone was cold and distant.
The surroundings immediately fell into a deathly silence.
No one knew what she was there for. Was she just passing by and felt they were blocking her way, or was she here to help this disgusting lesbian, the murderer’s daughter?
Jiang Zhiyi shakily pulled her clothes together, wishing she could shrink into the ground. Again, she was in front of her, always in such a sorry state, a state so pitiful it must be annoying—
The footsteps gradually moved away. Jiang Zhiyi’s heart chilled inch by inch. Sure enough, she wasn’t here to save her. She should have known that…
Shi Qingyi walked a couple of steps with her school bag, didn’t see anyone following, turned her head, frowned, and said in a slightly rough and fierce tone: “Are you coming or not?”
She had held back her tears until now, but with just that one sentence, she suddenly couldn’t stop. It seemed to have finally triggered her tear ducts, and tears streamed down rapidly.
She had come to rescue her.