Transmigrated As The Villainous Scumbag Wife Of A Disabled Tycoon - Chapter 76

76

Cheng Xing wasn’t one to provoke others without reason, but the arrival of these people turned the originally peaceful atmosphere of Fusheng Bookstore into something oppressive.

Especially today, after her conversation with the system, she was already in a foul mood.

With a pile of unfinished tasks weighing on her mind, she had hoped the book club would offer a brief moment of tranquility.

But she hadn’t expected it to be disrupted by these unexpected intruders.

Before meeting Lu Qi, Cheng Xing had no real impression of her—perhaps just as Cheng Zijing’s blind date candidate?

But Cheng Xing felt that, given Cheng Zijing’s deep devotion to Wang Tingwan, he wouldn’t accept such an arrangement.

It was likely just wishful thinking on the part of the Cheng family.

The Cheng family didn’t need Cheng Zijing to save their business empire through a marriage alliance. The current turmoil was merely internal strife, sparked by the death of the matriarch, with their ambitious uncle trying to seize control of the Cheng Corporation.

To Cheng Zimo, this didn’t seem like a big deal.

Cheng Zimo always handled things with ease, as if he could anticipate every possible outcome.

So everyone trusted him.

There was no need for Cheng Zijing to sacrifice his marriage for this, so he lived freely, choosing to spend his life mourning whoever he wished.

Bystanders often found it more painful to watch, but those caught in the situation didn’t seem to feel the same.

Perhaps this was the most fitting way for him.

But before anything was finalized, Lu Qi had already come to provoke Cheng Xing.

Cheng Xing wasn’t going to let that slide.

So after she spoke, all eyes in the room turned to her.

In a corner where no one noticed, Zheng Shuqing instinctively leaned closer to Jiang Ciyi, though her gaze toward Lu Qi still carried a trace of fear.

“Do we know each other?” Lu Qi looked at her, speaking calmly but deliberately. “Miss Cheng, you seem quite hostile toward me.”

“I have no issue with you.” Cheng Xing said. “As long as you don’t show up here.”

Lu Qi gave a subtle signal to someone beside her, and immediately, a book was handed to her. “I just returned to the country not long ago and heard about the book club event here, so I signed up to join. Is there some restriction on who can participate?”

She held a copy of Confessions in English, its high-quality cover catching the light, making her smile seem falsely sincere.

Cheng Xing didn’t like her.

It wasn’t just because of Jiang Ciyi’s expression.

At that moment, she simply disliked the aura Lu Qi exuded.

Her lofty gaze and mocking tone made it seem like she was here just for amusement, treating everyone present as her playthings.

To lighten the tense atmosphere, the bookstore owner stepped in to take charge. “Our book club doesn’t restrict participants. Since everyone’s here, let’s get started.”

Lu Qi and her group entered with an air of arrogance, a party of five. Besides Liu Ning and Lu Qi, the other three had hair dyed in vibrant colors—pink, green, and yellow. These were bold, eye-catching shades, but on them, they didn’t seem lively at all. Instead, they looked like malnourished delinquents.

Cheng Xing thought the original host would have fit right in with this crowd.

They could probably form a “Shamatte Alliance.”

The thought made Cheng Xing chuckle softly. Jiang Ciyi, standing closest to her, asked coldly, “What’s so funny?”

Her sudden question startled Cheng Xing, who quickly suppressed her smile.

When Cheng Xing looked up, Jiang Ciyi’s hand was still icy cold, despite the bookstore’s air conditioning being set to a comfortable 25 degrees Celsius—warm enough that short sleeves wouldn’t feel chilly.

But Jiang Ciyi wasn’t just cold-handed; her face was pale, devoid of much color.

This was a stark contrast to the faint joy she’d shown before coming to Fusheng Bookstore.

Jiang Ciyi had mentioned that she hadn’t attended a book club since her university days, when a club she joined held one. It hadn’t been perfectly organized, but the atmosphere was pleasant.

A group of people with different styles sat together, discussing various books and exploring different perspectives.

Reading alone might limit you to topics you’re interested in, but hearing others share about books could open the door to new worlds.

So Jiang Ciyi had been in a good mood before coming.

She wasn’t great at expressing herself—her jokes were so dry they could freeze the air—but when she was happy, her body language was different from usual.

If you paid attention, you could tell.

Cheng Xing had come along with high expectations, accompanying her.

But now, Jiang Ciyi’s gaze hadn’t left Lu Qi since she arrived. Her usually indifferent eyes held complex emotions that Cheng Xing couldn’t decipher.

Cheng Xing didn’t ask any inappropriate questions in the moment. Instead, she gently answered Jiang Ciyi’s question, leaning close to whisper her earlier thought.

But she left out the part about the original host fitting in seamlessly with that group.

She didn’t want Jiang Ciyi to think poorly of her too.

Jiang Ciyi considered it for a moment and nodded. “Indeed.”

Some people might age or change in appearance, but the distasteful aura they carried never changed.

Jiang Ciyi found these people familiar, especially Lu Qi.

Back in the day, after school, she’d been cornered in an alley. They rarely physically bullied her—no hitting or pinching, none of the classic school bullying tropes.

Most of the time, she just stood there, treated like a toy, with everyone mockingly staring at her while pretending to ignore her.

A group of people, dressed out of place for students, stood in front of her, chatting and laughing about things unrelated to her. But they wouldn’t let her take a single step away. If she so much as shifted to the side, someone would immediately pull her back.

Lu Qi would tug at her hair.

Not yanking it out aggressively, but gently, as if joking. Yet you knew that if you resisted even slightly, that patch of hair wouldn’t stay on your head.

Lu Qi would say, “Trying to leave already? We’re not done playing.”

Then they’d keep her there, treating her like an object on display.

That kind of gaze carried an oppressive mental weight, instilling deep fear.

It was like a form of pollution, seeping into every corner of your being.

In the end, it turned you into someone wooden, self-conscious, afraid to meet others’ eyes, afraid to resist, afraid to refuse.

And they succeeded spectacularly.

For three years in high school, that was how Jiang Ciyi lived.

Of course, there were moments of classic violence too. When she couldn’t bear the psychological torment and fought back, she’d be met with a group beating—countless hands and feet striking her, so chaotic she couldn’t tell who was who.

If she was lucky and someone saw it and reported it to a teacher, a strict dean would intervene to stop the chaos.

Then Lu Qi would, in a secluded corner, slap herself a few times, mess up her hair, and turn the multi-person bullying into a staged “mutual fight.” When teachers called parents, it created situations even more painful for Jiang Ciyi than the bullying itself.

She couldn’t bear to tell her parents and make her elderly grandmother come to the school to plead on her behalf.

So she stayed silent in the principal’s office, eventually forced to “reconcile” with Lu Qi under the teacher’s half-hearted mediation.

Lu Qi wasn’t even in her class.

From start to finish, Jiang Ciyi could never figure out why Lu Qi targeted her.

Even now, she still didn’t understand.

…

The book club proceeded as planned. The bookstore owner announced the rules and mentioned the day’s book giveaway.

The giveaway was meant to attract more participants to the book club, as it was still a new event at Fusheng Bookstore with little recognition.

The owner’s gentle voice eased the atmosphere somewhat.

No one else spoke, but Lu Qi’s gaze kept drifting toward Jiang Ciyi, subtly but persistently.

To Jiang Ciyi, her stare was like gum stuck to the sole of her shoe—disgusting and impossible to scrape off.

How could a mere glance be considered bullying?

But Lu Qi had genuinely tormented her for a long time.

The sharing order was decided by a draw, and Cheng Xing, with her usual bad luck, drew the first slot.

Still reeling from the earlier tension, she said, “Let me catch my breath first.”

Jiang Ciyi glanced at her, her tone flat. “I’ll go first.”

She appeared strong, unshaken by Lu Qi’s presence, giving only a calm glance as they entered and took their seats.

If Cheng Xing hadn’t been holding her hand and felt it trembling uncontrollably, she might have thought Jiang Ciyi was unaffected.

But no matter what, Jiang Ciyi would never show her vulnerability to an adversary.

Cheng Xing looked at her with concern, but Jiang Ciyi withdrew her hand, flipping open her book as if nothing was wrong. Her clear, cold voice rang out in the quiet space, like the opening notes of a symphony.

It drew everyone in effortlessly.

Jiang Ciyi discussed the book’s content, summarizing it perfectly while preserving the main storyline. She made the somewhat complex, nonlinear narrative come alive, and afterward, she shared why she chose the book.

Her first reason was that she saw it at Fusheng Bookstore.

She had spent a long time in a nearby hospital but had never entered this bookstore before.

The first time she did, the book’s striking cover caught her eye, especially the words “Worry-Free.”

After much hesitation, she bought it at checkout, specifically mentioning that it was her wife, Miss Cheng, who paid for it.

One of the bookstore staff present that day chimed in. It was rare to see such big-spending customers, and the staff couldn’t help but share their story.

The day before, Cheng Xing had come to the store alone late at night, looking somewhat dejected. She wandered around the shelves for several laps before sitting down.

This city was never short of weary travelers.

The staff had noticed her because of her striking appearance and the unique air of brokenness she carried. But they felt disappointed when she only bought one book before closing time.

When the staff mentioned “brokenness,” Jiang Ciyi interjected, “That’s an unusual description.”

“Her hair was messy, like dry grass, and her eyes were dazed, yet her steps were firm,” the staff said. “I rarely see someone like that. Lost and dejected, but not hopeless, with a faint spark of life—like…”

The staff paused to think. “Like a flower blooming at the edge of a cliff.”

“But the next day, you came together. I saw a sense of fragility in you, like a piece of glass that’s been shattered but hasn’t collapsed into pieces, still holding its shape despite the cracks. You two left such a unique impression that I couldn’t forget. Especially when you picked up The Worry-Free Grocery Store, I thought it suited you perfectly.”

Jiang Ciyi then learned the other side of the story.

While she lay in her hospital bed, staring at the lone moon outside and wondering why Cheng Xing had changed so drastically, Cheng Xing had gone to meet Xu Jingcheng at Wangqingshan, raced cars, and then returned to the hospital area. For some reason, she wandered into this bookstore and, among countless shelves, picked out a book she thought Jiang Ciyi might like.

Cheng Xing’s pacing around the shelves was to measure whether a wheelchair could fit between them and to find the best spot for reading.

When she returned to the hospital with the book, she rushed to the bathroom to vomit violently. Jiang Ciyi, touched by the book, poured her a cup of hot water.

That moment became the turning point for Jiang Ciyi to soften and reconsider their marriage.

It was just a book, seemingly light.

But only the one who chose it knew how much thought went into it.

The staff’s words pieced together Jiang Ciyi’s memories, but she didn’t dwell on their story. She just smiled. “Maybe because I was feeling lost during that time.”

The staff stopped there, and the discussion shifted to the book’s themes, moving from shallow to deep, always tactfully.

The book club attendees were generally considerate—at least in this session, except for some people.

Lu Qi suddenly spoke up. “So, what did you gain from this book? Or does reading let you temporarily forget your pain—like your poverty or your disability?”

Her words were pointed, seemingly harmless but cutting. After seeing Jiang Ciyi in a wheelchair, everyone else had avoided mentioning her legs.

Mocking someone’s disability was in poor taste.

Most people had boundaries.

But Lu Qi seemed to zero in on Jiang Ciyi’s pain, stomping on it relentlessly.

Jiang Ciyi looked at her. “Reading broadens your perspective and teaches you to think. For example, it shows you not to be someone without boundaries—that’s quite distasteful.”

A soft jab, but sharp.

As Lu Qi opened her mouth to retort, the bookstore owner stepped in, prompting the next person to share.

Since Jiang Ciyi had taken Cheng Xing’s slot, Cheng Xing took Jiang Ciyi’s, going fifth.

Cheng Xing shared that some people close to her had recently passed away, and as people grow, they inevitably part ways with others—family, strangers, or even pets.

So she sought comfort in books and chose this one.

After Cheng Xing, it was Lu Qi’s turn.

Lu Qi began by reciting a passage from Confessions in a flawless London accent.

Her pronunciation was impeccable, almost professionally trained, fit for the BBC.

That was probably the most infuriating part.

Someone who had bullied others could, with the backing of wealth, easily move to new places, study abroad, and access better resources.

If Jiang Ciyi hadn’t married Cheng Xing, she likely wouldn’t even be deemed worthy of sharing the same space as Lu Qi.

She wouldn’t even get a ticket to the banquets Lu Qi attended.

They were from entirely different worlds.

Your own failures are disheartening, but your enemy’s success stings even more.

Jiang Ciyi’s spoken English paled in comparison to Lu Qi’s. Without private tutors or a strong language environment, speaking with foreigners already took immense courage.

It was ironic, yet painfully real.

A kind of dark humor, perhaps.

After Lu Qi finished, Cheng Xing immediately asked in English, “What did you gain from this book? Did it cure your disability?”

Lu Qi smiled and replied in Chinese, “Miss Cheng, where do I seem disabled?”

Cheng Xing smirked. “Brain-dead.”

Lu Qi: “…”

The insult came out of nowhere, and someone let out a sudden laugh.

Lu Qi’s face darkened. She turned to the pink, green, and yellow trio, who immediately glared at Cheng Xing, bristling. “What did you say?”

“What’s that?” Cheng Xing said. “Are you three planning to represent the moon and eliminate me?”

The trio: “?”

Cheng Xing pointed casually. “You, pink wand. You, grass on the wand. And you, magic broom. What’s this? A cosplay of a magic book at the book club? Are we part of your little game?”

Everyone: “…”

A few seconds later, someone couldn’t hold back a chuckle, followed by stifled laughter from others.

The trio’s faces flushed red and pale in turns. “You… don’t go too far!”

They knew they couldn’t push Cheng Xing too hard, but having always followed Lu Qi’s lead, they’d never faced such humiliation.

Lu Qi didn’t step in to help, so they could only throw out weak threats.

“Too far?” Cheng Xing said. “You provoke me, and I’m supposed to just take it? Liu Ning, do I look like that kind of person?”

Cheng Xing turned to Liu Ning with a chilling smile.

Liu Ning immediately tugged at Lu Qi’s sleeve, not responding to Cheng Xing, but her actions betrayed her nervousness.

Cheng Xing knew Liu Ning was actually afraid of her—or rather, afraid of the original host and the Cheng family.

Otherwise, she wouldn’t have stayed silent at the banquet before.

After the banquet, Liu Ning had even messaged Cheng Xing, but Cheng Xing blocked her.

Though the original host was jokingly called Jianggang’s top heiress, she had a decent temper and was loyal to those around her, trailing after Su Manchun like a devoted follower.

As long as the original host didn’t lose it.

When she did, no one could handle her.

The original host had gone off a few times, especially over Su Manchun, and it was terrifying.

Liu Ning had seen it and was now worried that Cheng Xing had shifted her devotion to Jiang Ciyi.

The Lu family held some sway in Jianggang, and there were rumors of ties to a mysterious family, but Liu Ning wasn’t sure her new ally would protect her if push came to shove.

So she didn’t dare provoke Cheng Xing too far.

But Lu Qi showed no signs of backing down. “Miss Cheng, you seem quite upset with me. Is it because of my supposed engagement to your second brother?”

“What?” Cheng Xing rubbed her ears. “Are you serious?”

Lu Qi said, “It’s the elders’ decision. I can’t exactly defy them.”

If Cheng Xing hadn’t just overheard Cheng Zimo and Cheng Zijing’s conversation, she might have been fooled by Lu Qi’s confident act.

“Let me check,” Cheng Xing said.

She pulled out her phone and called Cheng Zimo.

Cheng Zimo answered, his background noisy. “What’s up?”

“Big brother, I heard second brother’s getting engaged. True or not?” Cheng Xing played dumb, putting the call on speaker.

“No such thing,” Cheng Zimo said. “Mom likes her, though.”

“Oh,” Cheng Xing said. “I might’ve had a little conflict with her.”

“What do you mean?” Cheng Zimo asked.

“She insulted me, and I insulted her back.”

“…”

After a brief silence, Cheng Zimo asked, “What did she say? And what did you say?”

Cheng Xing remembered him as reserved and impatient, especially with her.

But now, he was surprisingly patient.

Cheng Xing felt no shame in airing family drama on speakerphone in public. Calmly, she said, “She said I have bad taste. I said her brain’s not working. That’s it.”

“She’s there with you?” Cheng Zimo asked warily.

“Yep, you’re so smart.”

“Miss Lu,” Cheng Zimo paused. “I don’t know what issue you have with Xiao Xing, but don’t spread baseless rumors before things are settled.”

Cheng Xing hung up, and Lu Qi’s face looked grim.

Just when everyone thought the drama was over, Cheng Xing dialed Cheng Zijing, the man himself.

Cheng Zijing was far more entertaining than Cheng Zimo, immediately telling Cheng Xing to put him on speaker.

Cheng Xing said, “It’s on.”

The next second, Cheng Zijing dropped his carefree tone and said seriously, “Friend, we’ve never even met, and you’re pulling this? Stop messing around.”

“It’s my parents’ orders. What can I do?” Lu Qi’s face flushed with anger, but she maintained her composure. “Please clarify things with your mother, Mr. Cheng.”

Cheng Zijing paused. “You don’t have a mouth? Or no mom? Just say no, and it’s done.”

…

Cheng Xing then called Guan Linmin.

This time, she got straight to the point. “Mommy, A’Ci and I are being bullied.”

Guan Linmin, still in the hospital, nearly yanked out her IV in a panic, demanding to know who it was.

“She says she’s my future second sister-in-law, Lu Qi,” Cheng Xing said. “She mocked A’Ci for being disabled. I called her brain-dead, and she said I’m targeting her. Judge for yourself.”

Guan Linmin: “…”

“You’re right to call her that,” Guan Linmin said. “Is she still there?”

Cheng Xing said, “I’ve got her on speaker.”

Guan Linmin snapped, “Lu Qi, is it?”

Lu Qi, suppressing her anger, responded, “Auntie, it’s—”

Before she could finish, Guan Linmin cut in, “If Lu Yuan didn’t teach you how to speak or act like a decent person, I can do it for her. Don’t go causing trouble in front of my daughter.”

Cheng Xing hung up before Guan Linmin could escalate further.

She knew Guan Linmin wouldn’t say anything too harsh, even when angry.

The atmosphere had reached the desired effect.

Cheng Xing looked at Lu Qi. “Future second sister-in-law?”

“Parents’ orders?”

“Miss Lu?”

Her three consecutive jabs sent Lu Qi over the edge. She stood up. “Cheng Xing, are you trying to be a shield for this cripple?”

“Things have changed, huh? The once-timid Jiang Ciyi found a protector like you. What about Su Manchun? Have you forgotten her?”

Cheng Xing stood too, stepping in front of Jiang Ciyi. “Have you never liked anyone? Do I have to mourn a failed romance forever?”

She looked at them, baffled. “Are you all sick? Who fed you some love potion? Can’t I be head over heels for my wife?”

“I love my wife.” Cheng Xing pointed at Jiang Ciyi. “Is that so hard to understand?”

She couldn’t fathom why they kept bringing up Su Manchun.

Utterly ridiculous.

And…

“A’Ci can’t stand right now, but how is she timid? She’s better than your arrogant nonsense,” Cheng Xing fumed. “Good thing A’Ci can’t stand today, or she’d slap you twice.”

Lu Qi instinctively raised her hand to strike, but Cheng Xing swiftly blocked it.

Lu Qi hesitated, a flicker of fear in her eyes.

Cheng Xing wasn’t like Jiang Ciyi—someone she could hit without consequences.

Then Jiang Ciyi’s calm voice came from behind. “Slap her.”

The next second, Cheng Xing landed a resounding slap on Lu Qi’s face.