The Female Lead Keeps Forcing Me to Take My Meds [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Corruption Value +1 

The rain finally stopped after two days, and the sun came out just before the weekend.

All water marks outside were dry. Except for the lusher green leaves, the rain seemed to have come and gone without a trace.

Xi Congshuang was pushed out by Zheng Momo for a walk. She had just finished her upper-limb training, and the physical exertion was quite high, adding a touch of color to her perpetually pale face.

It was as if the beautiful painting hanging on the wall had come to life.

“Miss Xi just finished exercising, so you must be careful not to catch a cold. You can relax here,” Zheng Momo said.

Xi Congshuang rubbed her sore wrist and nodded in acknowledgment.

“Miss Xi, your arm muscles might feel a bit sore for the next few days. This is completely normal,” Zheng Momo said. She had a gentle demeanor and a pair of round eyes, looking like a recent college graduate.

In reality, her professional ability was very strong. She was a well-known rehabilitation therapist in the industry at a young age and worked very seriously; it was difficult for Xi Congshuang to even sneak a moment of laziness.

“Okay, I know,” Xi Congshuang said.

Being treated as a simple caregiver for herself in the past few days was a pure waste of talent.

“I’d like to be alone for a while. Call me if you need anything.”

“Understood.”

After Zheng Momo left, Xi Congshuang started fiddling with her phone, trying to find anything that could help her complete the mission.

However, Xi Congshuang’s previous phone was destroyed in the car accident. Worried that looking at the stored content would upset Xi Congshuang, Mr. Xi (the family head) had not transferred any old data to the new phone. Even the wallpaper was the factory default, a deep blue background.

Consequently, there wasn’t much about her past on her new phone. After searching for a long time, the contact list was blank except for a few frequently used contacts: Grandma, the Butler, and the rehabilitation therapist Zheng Momo.

It was much like Xi Congshuang’s current situation: a blank slate.

Her fingertips hovered over the names—Grandma, the Butler, the therapist Zheng Momo—and Xi Congshuang knew clearly that she had no one on hand who could help her with her task.

According to the character setting, the Xi family’s daughter shouldn’t be so empty-handed. Such a family would have had her working in the company early on, her experiences far beyond what ordinary people knew.

But now, disabled and confined to the house, she could only stay put and had to be careful not to be discovered by anyone familiar with the old Xi Congshuang, lest they notice she was an impostor.

Since things had come to this, she might as well catch up on her dramas.

Xi Congshuang took out her tablet, opened the video app, and continued watching from where she left off.

She used to sleep twenty hours a day when she was critically ill; she didn’t have the luxury of binge-watching dramas for long periods back then.

…

Tomorrow was the weekend, and Cheng Zhishu finished class earlier than usual. She returned to the Xi mansion while it was still rare to have broad daylight.

Her umbrella was already tucked into her school bag. Carrying her bag, she walked inside. Facing the intricate, crisscrossing paths of the Xi family estate, Cheng Zhishu held a determined resolve, only to, as expected, take the wrong path.

Cheng Zhishu, who had wandered off to who knows where, took a turn at the end of a road. Before she could clearly discern her location, a distant sound stopped her in her tracks.

Her heart fluttered slightly, and Cheng Zhishu walked toward the direction of the sound.

A woman’s voice was sobbing bitterly: “So my Fei is not the Fei of excellence; it’s the Fei of nothing…”

Before she finished speaking, the sound stopped. Cheng Zhishu thought the person was leaving and hurried to catch up.

Just then, Xi Congshuang lifted her head from the video and asked: “It seems the house really is huge, since you’ve gotten lost again.”

Her quickened heart rate slowly subsided, an unwarranted sense of nervousness creeping in.

Cheng Zhishu quietly lowered her head and apologized: “I’m sorry…”

Xi Congshuang had an excellent memory. This was the first time she had seen someone get lost inside their own house. She asked: “Do you need me to draw you a map? You can just follow the map home from now on.”

There’s such a good thing?

Cheng Zhishu thought that would be wonderful. She said happily: “Can you?”

Xi Congshuang: “…”

The other person didn’t respond for a moment. Cheng Zhishu felt a little regretful: “I’m sorry, I asked for too much.”

Xi Congshuang looked at her for a while and then suddenly said: “I dropped something on the ground. Can you pick it up for me?”

“Where?” Cheng Zhishu didn’t hesitate for a moment and stepped closer.

Xi Congshuang pointed a finger. A faint stylus pen was on the ground, wedged in the brickwork right beside the wheelchair.

For an ordinary person, it was just an arm’s reach away. Only the person confined to the wheelchair couldn’t reach it.

If she strained herself, she would only lose control of her body and center of gravity and fall to the ground.

The girl, wearing a deep blue school uniform and a black backpack, squatted in front of her. The evening breeze lifted and dropped her fringe. A faint scent of soap mingled with the fragrance of flowers.

Xi Congshuang looked down, her profile tranquil.

The girl below only showed a fuzzy crown of her head. Squatting down made her look particularly small, her slightly lowered eyes appearing youthful.

Noticing Xi Congshuang’s gaze, she looked up and smiled faintly, her eyes bright.

“…”

Watching her, Xi Congshuang couldn’t help but recall the words she’d heard—”How is turning into a ruthless female lead not a collapse?”

It does seem quite the collapse.

The fact that she was currently the culprit felt truly novel.

Correspondingly, this person would end up killing her in the future.

Cheng Zhishu bent over, picked up the pen, casually wiped off the dust, and handed it to Xi Congshuang: “Here you go.”

Xi Congshuang opened her pale hand. The stylus, carrying a faint residual warmth, was placed in her palm. She squeezed it and then casually put it on the table.

“Thank you. I thought it would be lying there for a long time before someone could pick it up.”

Cheng Zhishu’s hands, hanging down, subconsciously gripped her backpack straps: “You helped me last time. I helped you this time.”

Xi Congshuang: “Are you trying to say we’re even now?”

Cheng Zhishu instantly panicked, waving her hands: “No, no.”

Xi Congshuang accepted her denial smoothly: “Then I still owe you?”

Cheng Zhishu’s ears flushed, and she continued waving her hands: “No, no, not at all…”

Xi Congshuang tried to suppress a laugh: “It’s neither this nor that. Then what is it supposed to be?”

“It is, it should be…”

Cheng Zhishu was not normally an irrational person, but she always felt at a loss in front of the other girl. Under the gaze of her dark eyes, she was even more unsure how to answer.

To avoid prematurely triggering the female lead’s ruthless trait, Xi Congshuang’s gaze fell on her school uniform badge and changed the subject: “So you attend An City High School. I used to go there too.”

She wondered which school the real Miss, who was mistaken and adopted by a couple, attended.

The data only said that both girls were the same age and in the same city, which was how Xi Wenyong, relying on the Xi family’s resources, easily found the person.

As for how she was found or what the other girl was like, the data didn’t say.

“Yes, I just transferred there a week ago.” Cheng Zhishu suddenly felt a little sad. It’s often easier to tell a stranger what’s on your mind. “Do you think I’m annoying and want me to stay away from you?”

“How could I? I haven’t thought that at all.”

Xi Congshuang leaned her elbow on the armrest, resting her chin in her hand, and gave a faint, shallow smile: “The people around me are all overly cautious with me because of my legs. I feel a bit suffocated and wanted to find someone to talk to. Did I offend you?”

The fleeting moment of bitterness in Cheng Zhishu’s heart instantly dissipated. She slowly shook her head: “Not at all…”

To be honest, Cheng Zhishu’s mindset was somewhat similar to hers.

After moving to the Xi mansion, the house got bigger, and her parents had more free time but were harder to see.

The Xi family members treated her like she was invisible, or looked at her with strange gazes. The servants all had their own duties, and as for the aunt she had only met twice, her attitude was even more obvious.

Xi Hanran disdained to speak more than a few words to them. From the first meeting, she looked at everyone, including the Sixth Mister, with eyes that saw trash.

At school, she transferred halfway through the semester. Her classmates had already bonded and made their own friends. Cheng Zhishu, who arrived mid-term and was generally quiet, stood out as an anomaly.

Today, she even overheard her classmates discussing her family’s situation. The gossip of the wealthy was like an effervescent tablet dropped into soda—intense and rapidly spreading. The gossiping tone made Cheng Zhishu stand outside the door with her homework for a long time before entering. Only when a classmate by the window noticed her did they stop talking.

In this vast Xi mansion, only the Miss in the wheelchair didn’t look at her with an unusual gaze.

The Miss didn’t know who Xi Wenyong was, nor what was happening in the distant building. She was like an innocent princess in a fairy tale, curiously observing every unfamiliar visitor.

Now that she thought about it, she felt like she had bothered the other girl, but the other girl wasn’t related to her, and shouldn’t have to receive her bad mood.

Cheng Zhishu adjusted her expression: “It’s getting late. I need to go back and study. Bye.”

Having made her decision, Cheng Zhishu prepared to turn and leave. Xi Congshuang’s soft voice came from behind: “Alright, goodbye.”

Not daring to ponder how much expectation was in the other person’s voice, and not daring to feel any expectation herself, Cheng Zhishu hurried away. The figure in the deep blue school uniform quickly disappeared from Xi Congshuang’s sight.

Whoosh. The System, which had been missing for several days, suddenly reappeared, stopping at Xi Congshuang’s left side.

Red Apple: “What did you do? The Female Lead’s corruption value quietly increased by one point?”

The glaring corruption value on the panel: 37.

It was steadily at 36 before. When did it become 37?

Xi Congshuang: “?”

Wait, the female lead was just smiling at her. How did the corruption value increase the moment she turned around? Is that even reasonable?

Xi Congshuang felt extremely wronged: “I didn’t do anything, okay? Is talking to the female lead my fault too?”

The Red Apple’s tone was slow and deliberate: “That, I wouldn’t know.”

In both meetings, neither party exchanged names, unconsciously maintaining the description in the data.

Only when her true identity was exposed and she was publicly rejected did Cheng Zhishu realize who the young woman in the wheelchair truly was.

However, Cheng Zhishu had now decided not to wander around anymore and to save money to rent a room near the school, which would be more convenient for her.

If they parted ways now and never contacted each other again, what would happen to Cheng Zhishu after leaving the Xi family’s shelter?

When the bright red apple posed this question, Xi Congshuang seriously pondered: “She’ll realize that it wasn’t raining outside the Xi family’s umbrella?”

The Red Apple, about to lecture her on the pros and cons: “?”

The day had not yet arrived. On Saturday morning, Cheng Zhishu was studying vocabulary at her desk when a knock sounded on her door.

She put down her pen and turned to open the door.

Standing outside was Xi Wenyong, holding an open document bag. His first words upon seeing Cheng Zhishu were: “You’re not my biological child after all. I’ve found my own daughter. You go back to your home.”

Like a bolt from the blue, the news struck Cheng Zhishu. She felt her five senses grow numb. The brain, which was full of vocabulary, slowly went blank. She struggled to comprehend the sentence.

After a long while, she opened her mouth in confusion: “Huh?”