The Female Lead Keeps Forcing Me to Take My Meds [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 11

Chapter 11: What’s Wrong with You Two? 

The voice, feigning composure, caught the attention of the two people in the dining room, who both turned to look.

Cheng Zhishu was half-hidden behind the doorway, peeking in with a small portion of her face visible. She was frightened yet resolute: “Miss Xi, if you want to scold someone, scold me. Don’t scold Sister Shuang.”

Xi Hanran: “…”

What’s wrong with you now?

Xi Congshuang had thought the girl had already left. She smiled when she saw her come back. To be this scared yet still show gratitude.

Who says this female lead is no good? She’s great. It was worth keeping her.

Xi Congshuang reassured her: “It’s nothing. She’s been under too much pressure from overtime lately and gets a little erratic. Go on back.”

To Cheng Zhishu, these words sounded like: Hurry and leave, let me face this storm alone!

Moreover, Xi Hanran was looking at everyone with an expression that suggested she was about to devour them, making Cheng Zhishu’s scalp tingle.

There was no way Cheng Zhishu could leave now. She summoned her courage and walked into the dining room, forcing a smile: “Th-The weather is quite nice today. I’ll push Sister Shuang out for a walk, ha-ha-ha.”

Her reasoning was simple: whenever she was scolded before, she either pretended not to hear or found an urgent excuse to go outside and escape.

Cheng Zhishu moved cautiously, almost looking back after every step, terrified that the black-aura-shrouded Xi Hanran would suddenly lash out and attack.

She was practically trembling as she approached Xi Congshuang, then proceeded to push her away from Xi Hanran.

Xi Hanran finally couldn’t take it anymore: “Are you two sick?!”

Xi Congshuang looked back, feigning surprise, and patted the armrest of the wheelchair: “Isn’t that obvious?”

Xi Hanran: “…”

She shouldn’t have come back today. With so many things she could do on the weekend, why did she come to Xi Congshuang’s place just to get annoyed? Was she crazy?

Suddenly enlightened, Xi Hanran grabbed her bag from the living room and left. She no longer cared what Xi Congshuang’s purpose was.

Anything was fine, even if the whole place exploded.

The woman carrying the scent of wood brushed past the two and vanished from the entrance of Wenhua Building in an instant. Cheng Zhishu was dumbfounded.

A cool hand patted Cheng Zhishu’s on the back. Xi Congshuang asked: “Didn’t you want to push me out for a walk? Why aren’t you moving?”

“Oh, right!” Cheng Zhishu finally came back to herself and started pushing the wheelchair.

Xi Congshuang smoothed the blanket on her knees. She asked: “Is it heavy? Should I do it myself?”

Cheng Zhishu didn’t feel it was heavy at all. The veins on the back of her hands slightly bulged as she exerted force, and she spoke in a relaxed tone: “It’s not heavy. I’m used to fetching water for my grandma in the countryside. The well was very deep, and I had to carry the buckets back to fill the water vat. This is much easier.”

Realizing belatedly that her words were inappropriate—comparing a precious young lady to a water bucket—Cheng Zhishu racked her brain for a correction.

Xi Congshuang’s attention wasn’t on that: “Grandma in the countryside? Weren’t you raised in Ping’an City?”

There wasn’t much written about the female lead’s background, only a rough record of her ending. It was unclear what transpired between her innocent childhood and her bloodstained future.

Xi Congshuang had long known that the protagonist’s life story was always full of twists and turns, rarely smooth sailing. Everything served as her stepping stone. The former Xi Congshuang would never have been in the mood to listen to the confession of a wrongdoer.

In her view, right was right, and wrong was wrong. No amount of profound hardship could change the fact.

But hearing the story directly from the person’s mouth moved Xi Congshuang’s emotions.

Her deeply buried curiosity, confined by her sickly body, was sparked. She asked about the other girl’s past with interest.

“I grew up in the countryside before middle school,” Cheng Zhishu walked slowly, thinking as she went. “I lived with my grandma then. She was very kind to me. I miss her very much.”

“That time I fetched water was because Grandma was sick. I wanted to cook noodles for her, but I found the water vat was empty. So I carried the bucket to fetch water.”

“…”

Little by little, an invisible pen sketched a complete figure in Xi Congshuang’s mind.

It must have been a small girl, who then gradually grew into the shape of a teenager. As Cheng Zhishu spoke, the figure was given facial features, no longer a blank slate.

Cheng Zhishu, completely unaware of all this, suddenly stopped talking, feeling a little too embarrassed to continue.

She felt no one would really be interested in hearing about such small matters.

Xi Congshuang, who was just about to color in the eyes of the figure in her mind, urged: “And then?”

Cheng Zhishu scratched her face with one finger, her ears slightly flushed: “Then Grandma found out I went to the well. I fetched the water, and Grandma spanked me.”

Back in the day, the wells in the countryside didn’t have very strict protective measures for ease of use. Even after running water became available, people habitually used well water for cooking and drinking.

First, they thought it was cleaner than tap water, and second, well water was free.

Almost every child in the village had been warned by their family not to go near the well, as children had drowned in them before.

The moment Grandma discovered the half-full water vat, her first reaction wasn’t relief but sheer terror. She gave Cheng Zhishu a thorough spanking.

Finally, while buying a popsicle for the teary, sniffling Cheng Zhishu, she explained how dangerous the well was and told her never to go near it again.

Tears welled up in the small figure’s eyes. Xi Congshuang covered her mouth and let out a soft laugh.

Cheng Zhishu also smiled, not finishing the rest of the story: “Later, Grandma got sicker and sicker. She didn’t have the strength to get out of bed to manage the house, and she didn’t have the strength to spank me for always filling the water vat.”

…

Moving away from the Wencan Building seemed to be gradually improving Cheng Zhishu’s state. She spent every day studying, giving the impression of being oblivious to the world outside her window.

Her focused demeanor made Xi Congshuang sigh once more: As expected of the female lead. She learns where she falls, preparing for the future.

Rumor had it that there had been several arguments in the Wencan Building. The servants were all spreading gossip that Xi Hanran was deliberately stirring up trouble and making things difficult for her brother.

As for how she was causing trouble, the Sixth Master didn’t say, only focusing on complaining to his older siblings. Director Xi hadn’t had time to return to the Xi mansion, fortunately avoiding the chaos for the time being.

Xi Hanran herself replied: “I don’t have a brother. My mother didn’t give birth to one. I don’t know that parasite.”

She said this just as Cheng Zhishu was coming home from school, passing by with her backpack.

Xi Hanran suddenly stopped talking, staring intently at Cheng Zhishu.

She realized Cheng Zhishu wasn’t reacting at all. The girl nodded to the two people at the table and was about to go upstairs.

Xi Hanran suffered from an ailment that made her uncomfortable if she couldn’t cause trouble. She called out: “Hey, Cheng Zhishu.”

Cheng Zhishu finally stopped, removed the earbud from her ear, and looked confused: “What is it? I was listening to an English comprehension exercise.”

She had her hair down today, which perfectly concealed the earbuds.

“…” Xi Hanran clicked her tongue, inexplicably annoyed. “Never mind. Go, go.”

Cheng Zhishu: “?” She put her backpack back on and went upstairs.

Xi Congshuang sipped her tea and said lightly: “Why are you provoking her?”

Even if the female lead breaks down later, she is still the protagonist. People like them, jumping around, are just minor cannon fodder in her life, destined for a bad ending.

As things stood, Xi Hanran seemed to be the most actively troublesome villain besides Xi Congshuang. She wasn’t causing physical harm, but the mental damage was maximal.

No one would be in a good mood after being targeted, only to run into their sharp-tongued, harsh ex-aunt. In the original ending, Xi Hanran was likely destined to perish sooner or later as well.

Xi Hanran: “You’re taking this quite well. Why haven’t you told me why you’re keeping her around?”

“To use her against you,” Xi Congshuang replied lazily.

Three thousand conspiracies, three thousand tricks, and three thousand countermeasures flashed through Xi Hanran’s mind, determined to counter Xi Congshuang’s ‘thousand-cut plan.’

She sneered: “I knew it, but I’m telling you it’s useless. She’s just…”

Xi Congshuang slowly finished the unspoken sentence: “Every time you two meet, either Xiao Shu runs away as if she’s being chased by something, or you look like you’ve eaten something foul. What a perfect psychological weapon.”

Her slow, overworked brain took three seconds to process the implication. Xi Hanran slammed her hand on the table again: “Xi Congshuang, are you calling me a dog again!”

Xi Congshuang raised her cup: “You misunderstand. I am not.”

Upstairs, in the soundproof room, Cheng Zhishu felt like she had heard something.

She took off her earbuds, which were playing the comprehension exercise, listened carefully, and then shook her head.

“Must be my imagination. Nothing is barking.”