Too Much To Handle! The Canary Forced Love on The Grim/Vicious Villain - Chapter 23

“Jiang Xu is really handsome! Honestly, I kind of want to get to know him. I heard he was an orphan—he must have suffered a lot growing up.”

That “orphan” label had practically become Jiang Xu’s magic trick for milking sympathy and winning over girls’ goodwill. He really didn’t understand how those bleeding-heart girls could actually fall for it!

Jiang Xu’s arm was shoved aside hard, and he stumbled a step backward.

Lin Zixin ground his teeth. “Jiang Xu, what’s so glorious about being an orphan? You’ve been kept by a cripple, and you’re acting like it gives you status? You really are sick in the head, aren’t you?”

Jiang Xu frowned at that.

Cripple?

Who was he talking about—Si Yuhuai?

Mental illness counted as a disability?

The words were harsh, distasteful, and made Jiang Xu want to throw a punch.

“I’ve never thought being an orphan was my fault.

And whether I’m sick or not is none of your business. On the contrary, I’m afraid your condition is a medical mystery—there are plenty of causes for brain damage. And just look at your physical state…”

Jiang Xu’s gaze drifted meaningfully to the trash bin stuffed with used tissues, clicking his tongue twice in mock pity.

“Look at those dark circles. Aren’t you afraid you’ll wreck your health? With your looks and stamina, even a blind sugar daddy wouldn’t want you. Instead of wasting time on ‘hand exercises,’ why not spend more on face masks? At least then the girls wouldn’t run the other way when they see you.”

“Jiang Xu!” Lin Zixin was about to snap. He grabbed Jiang Xu’s collar and hissed, “Believe it or not, I can make sure you can’t stay here! Do you think you’re some rich kid with doting parents? What happens if everyone finds out you’re being kept, that you’ve even caught a disease? Who would dare go near you then?”

Jiang Xu’s foxlike beauty was notorious on campus. In the two years since he enrolled, both men and women had confessed to him.

He had never dated anyone, but fabricating a scandal about him was all too easy.

Thinking this, Lin Zixin’s face twisted with a vile grin, his eyes leering in a way that made Jiang Xu’s stomach turn.

He never expected such malice in what should have been a simple environment.

Jiang Xu had no interest in exchanging words with him. He simply pulled out his phone.

“Instructor, you heard that, right? I swear I wasn’t trying to make trouble. I’m just a lonely little boy with no parents to rely on, and I really can’t live with a roommate who targets me like this!”

Lin Zixin: “!!!”

He stared at Jiang Xu in disbelief. He never thought Jiang Xu would pull a move like that on him.

Si Yuhuai: “…”

So his little wife was a black-hearted baby after all!

Si Yuhuai felt a strange itch rise in his chest, an inexplicable sense of delight. His thin lips even curved up without him realizing.

The system could sense that its host was completely over the moon from watching Jiang Xu handle the situation.

Jiang Xu arched a brow triumphantly at Lin Zixin, shrugged, and spread his hands in an innocent gesture.

What could he do? Wandering the jianghu, there was no shortage of villains.

He could pretend to be a fragile cabbage in the wind, but he wasn’t actually going to let people trample him like one.

He had fought hard for this second life—of course he had to treasure it!

To spread filthy rumors about him in a group chat full of people was to treat him as less than human. How could he expect Lin Zixin to have even a shred of decency?

In the end, Lin Zixin was summoned away by the instructor.

Jiang Xu said firmly, “I’m not letting this get brushed aside. I demand that he apologize publicly in the group chat.”

He immediately shared screenshots of Lin Zixin’s slanderous remarks from the group.

Jiang Xu’s stance was so unyielding that Lin Zixin’s expression turned stiff and ugly.

Originally, Jiang Xu had only planned to grab what he needed and head to the library to review with Zhou Xuning. But by noon, the issue still hadn’t been resolved.

Impatient, Zhou Xuning came looking for him. After learning what happened, he nearly rolled up his sleeves to start a fight.

“Damn it! Do they really think my Huai-ge is some pushover?!” Zhou Xuning was fuming, his brows knitted tight. “I’ll tell the parents! I’ll report it to the authorities! I’ll—”

“Calm down!” Jiang Xu grabbed his arm. “Handle your own problems yourself. You can’t rely on your parents for everything.”

Zhou Xuning bristled. “Why not? If I can’t tell Huai-ge, then I’ll tell Chu-ge!”

Jiang Xu: “…Bro, your connections are something else.”

Zhou Xuning lifted his pale face proudly.

Since Jiang Xu wouldn’t budge on the matter, all that was left was for the instructor and Lin Zixin to hash it out.

When they went downstairs, Jiang Xu thought of the fruit and lunch Uncle Sheng had packed for him and immediately shared them with Zhou Xuning.

He washed half a box of plump, juicy blueberries and popped them into his mouth one by one.

The sweet-tart burst spread through his mouth.

Zhou Xuning might have been slow at reviewing, but he could definitely eat—he devoured Jiang Xu’s whole lunch.

They sat in the sun for a while, until thick clouds blocked it out and the air grew heavy.

Zhou Xuning sighed. “Looks like it’s going to rain again.”

Jiang Xu squinted at the sun hiding behind the clouds. “What, you can read the skies now?”

“I can’t, but Huai-ge can. He’s more accurate than the weather forecast,” Zhou Xuning said as he packed away the lunchboxes.

“What, does he have a built-in radar?”

Zhou Xuning shook his head. “Huai-ge… got injured once. After recovering, he can sense the weather changes pretty well.”

Jiang Xu suddenly recalled Lin Zixin’s earlier words.

“Injured?”

Zhou Xuning rubbed his nose, his mood visibly dampened. He muttered, “He hurt his fingers saving my sister. When the weather turns bad, they ache, sometimes even phantom pain.”

Jiang Xu’s gaze deepened.

After knowing Zhou Xuning this long, he felt Zhou was someone whose pure heart had been carefully sheltered, yet who stubbornly pushed himself to grow up—like a child cosplaying as a brooding adult every day.

He carried his burdens heavily, always weighing him down.

Jiang Xu leaned closer. “I didn’t mean to reopen old wounds. But if you ever want to talk, you can tell me.”

Hearing that, Zhou Xuning relaxed.

Maybe it was because Jiang Xu was an orphan too. Both of them came from incomplete families, so there was a deeper understanding between them.

“My sister isn’t my bl00d sister—just like Huai-ge isn’t my bl00d brother. Later, when Huai-ge went back to the Si family, my sister was already sixteen. She didn’t come back to the orphanage with me; instead, she went out to work. Later… she was bullied.”

At that, Zhou Xuning’s eyes clouded with rare darkness, like he was trapped in a net he couldn’t break free from.

“It was… Si Yuming. He thought my sister was Huai-ge’s girlfriend. Later Huai-ge fought him—his fingers were nearly cut off.”

Jiang Xu’s hair stood on end. In his mind, he couldn’t help but picture a teenage Si Yuhuai, isolated and furious, throwing himself into a desperate brawl with the Si family’s legitimate young master.