Chapter 15
Lin Shuxing met Xue Lan’s slowly focusing eyes. Her panic and adoration were not fake, but at this moment, Lin Shuxing was in a very bad mood and couldn’t be bothered to think about what purpose had driven her to such madness.
“Xue Lan.” Lin Shuxing called her name again.
That resounding slap, besides stopping Xue Lan’s outrageous behavior, had clearly shattered something else.
The young lady, slumped on the bed, clutched her burning cheek. As if a ghost had left her body, she belatedly realized what she had done.
Her gaze darted around, not daring to meet Lin Shuxing’s. It finally settled on a brown bear, her panicked voice like a tornado passing through. “I, I… I’m sorry!”
“You knew I was sick, and you came back specifically to bully me?” Lin Shuxing asked.
“No, how could I bully you! I was just too impulsive. I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…”
The weak excuse sounded idiotic, not like something the daring and responsible little devil should say. Lin Shuxing studied her for a long moment, the disappointment in her heart growing heavier. She interrupted her, “But you did do it. You deserve to die.”
This verdict made the self-deceiving thoughts in Xue Lan’s heart crash to the ground, shattering into pieces. She lowered her head like a stray dog and dejectedly echoed, “I’m sorry, I was wrong.”
Lin Shuxing questioned her coldly, “Who told you to come back? What did that person say to you?”
“I, I heard you were sick. I was worried about you, so I flew back—”
Lin Shuxing didn’t want to hear this circular talk. She kicked Xue Lan. “Stop playing dumb. You know that’s not what I’m asking.”
She had developed a fever late last night. No one had had time to say anything. For Xue Lan to be able to rush back overnight, there was a big problem with this matter itself.
There was a traitor in the Lin family.
“Who told you that the Li family wants to change the marriage partner? And what does it have to do with Lin Qingwan?”
Xue Lan hesitated. “I just happened to hear…”
“Good, very good. You still dare to lie to me,” Lin Shuxing sneered. “Get out.”
“Don’t—” Xue Lan looked at Lin Shuxing’s disgusted expression and completely panicked. She knew that once she left, she would probably never be able to set foot in here again in this lifetime.
Over a decade of friendship, all ruined by her. What had she done?
Lin Shuxing frowned. “Do I need to ask you to leave? Or does Mrs. Xue need to come and pick you up?”
Xue Lan shuddered. “It was Lin Chong!”
Lin Chong was Lin Lan’s youngest brother, one of the few direct relatives who hadn’t been purged after Lin Lan took power.
Her self-righteous, idiotic uncle.
Lin Lan had mercifully spared him back then, not out of any sibling affection, but because he was stupid enough to pose no threat to the position of family head.
It seemed that even the most incompetent fool, if kept for too long, would develop some restless thoughts.
Lin Shuxing’s eyes darkened. She kicked Xue Lan again. “Get up.”
If the Li family really wanted to change the marriage partner, they would have proposed it when Lin Qingwan first came back, not dragged it out for so long.
Li Sinian was gradually undergoing a power transition. It was she who had insisted on breaking off the engagement, even having a big fight with Li Duqiu over it, and giving up a major project to the Lin family as an apology.
The Lin family had readily agreed, and she was also very happy.
It was just a marriage alliance. What feelings could there be?
The Li family needed the cooperation of the local power to gain a firm foothold, and the local prestigious families also needed to use the Li family to climb up to the power of Yanjing. It was a matter of mutual benefit.
Even if Li Sinian really did get engaged to Lin Qingwan instead, Lin Shuxing wouldn’t be surprised at all.
But Lin Chong’s involvement made it very suspicious.
What benefit did he want to gain from this?
Lin Shuxing had disliked this idiotic uncle since she was a child. He clearly lived off Lin Lan’s charity, yet after Wen Qianxue’s death, he had dared to try and introduce new people, under the guise of continuing the Lin family’s lineage.
A frail and sickly heir who looked like she wouldn’t live long was, of course, unqualified.
To support a large family, both physical strength and wisdom were indispensable.
Lin Shuxing also knew in her heart that the lively and healthy Lin Qingwan was a more suitable candidate than herself.
Most importantly, she was also easier to control.
Are some people already so eager to start taking sides?
Lin Lan is going to abandon you—
This idea was probably already the consensus of many people, right?
Xue Lan, who also came from a prestigious family, stood dumbly to the side like she was being punished. That slap seemed to have cleared her mind, and only now did she come to her senses.
“That’s not what I meant!” she explained palely. “It’s just, instead of fighting meaninglessly here, why don’t you leave with me?”
“Star, I really like you. I don’t want to see you waste away on these messy things…”
“Before, Ms. Lin wouldn’t let you study oil painting, saying it was a frivolous pursuit that would sap your will. But you clearly like painting, don’t you? You have a much better choice now!”
Xue Lan tried to paint a beautiful picture. “As long as you’re willing, I’ll take you away immediately. I’ll go with you to whichever art academy you want to apply to. You can do whatever you want. I swear, I will always be good to you!”
Lin Shuxing had lost her patience. She grabbed Xue Lan’s loose bow tie and pulled her closer.
Although Xue Lan was taller than her, Lin Shuxing’s aura firmly suppressed her, creating a feeling of being looked down upon.
Her beautiful amber eyes were filled with a condescending indifference, and a sarcastic smile played on her lips:
“You’ve always been running away, Xue Lan.”
Pretending not to care, running away from the Xue family to a foreign country, from power struggles to a life of debauchery.
“I’m not like you. I won’t leave.”
“You don’t even know what I want. What right do you have to say you like me? Am I some flower, a plaything? Your affection is too cheap!”
Her sharp words were like a curved blade in February, coldly cutting through Xue Lan’s weak vows.
Xue Lan: “I, I… What can I do for you?”
Lin Shuxing’s smile still carried a sickly pallor. She lifted Xue Lan’s chin and said softly, “I want Lin Chong dead.”
Xue Lan was stunned, her eyes widening in surprise. “But he’s your uncle, after all.”
Lin Shuxing shook her head in disappointment. Her fingertips slid over the red, swollen handprint on Xue Lan’s cheek, rubbing it maliciously with the pad of her finger, a half-smile on her face. “They want me dead, and I feel the same way.”
“Don’t say that! I’ll help you. If you want to take that position, I will definitely help you!” Xue Lan hurriedly grabbed Lin Shuxing’s hand, but she lightly dodged it.
Lin Shuxing pulled away, leaned against the bed, and pressed on her throbbing temples. “Get out,” she said coldly.
“Alright, I’ll go. Don’t be angry. I’m leaving now,” Xue Lan said, seeing the weariness in her eyes. She lowered her voice and slowly backed out, facing her.
The door slowly closed. The young lady leaning on the bed was as thin as a sliver of moonlight. In the final moment before the door closed, she looked up, a beam of light bursting from the darkness:
“Xue Lan, don’t disappoint me again.”
Xue Lan stood at the door, lost in thought, silent for a long, long time.
Finally, as if she had made some kind of decision, she started to walk again.
At the corner where she was about to leave, a smiling face suddenly appeared.
Lin Qingwan had waited for as long as Xue Lan had stood at Lin Shuxing’s door. She had watched with a smile as Xue Lan entered arrogantly and came out like a stray dog.
Lin Qingwan said nothing, just watched. But her frivolous gaze seemed to say everything.
The pain on her cheek, which had subsided, began to boil again, like lava burning under her skin.
Xue Lan gritted her teeth, the extinguished flames reigniting. She approached and cornered Lin Qingwan in a blind spot of the camera. “Star’s illness, I don’t care if it has anything to do with you or not. Stay away from her.”
They both harbored covetous intentions. This kind of radar for detecting their own kind was often very accurate. Thus, from the moment they met, an inexplicable hostility had arisen between them.
The hem of her pure white dress swayed. Lin Qingwan met Xue Lan’s gaze, the pretense at the corners of her lips shattering bit by bit. She smiled sweetly, revealing her intoxicating fangs.
She slowly approached and said in a voice only Xue Lan could hear, “Everything in the Lin family will be mine, including my sister—”
Sure enough, this woman is just pretending!
Xue Lan’s fists tightened bit by bit, her nails digging into her flesh.
“What, you want to hit me? Go ahead and try,” Lin Qingwan tilted her head, deliberately stepping on the tip of Xue Lan’s shoe. “Do you think my sister will believe me, or you, an outsider?”
“You!”
A fist slammed heavily against the wall with a dull thud, just an inch from Lin Qingwan’s smiling face.
Blood trickled down her knuckles. Xue Lan gritted her teeth. “I’m warning you, don’t touch her.”
Lin Qingwan smiled sweetly, resuming her innocent and harmless appearance, and looked up without any fear. “I don’t understand what you’re talking about.”
**
Fang Yi had just received a message from Lin Shuxing. It was just two simple words: Come over.
As she walked down the corridor, she happened to see Xue Lan and Lin Qingwan. The two were mysteriously hiding in a blind spot, talking about something.
Fang Yi’s steps were very light, a habit from her past life. She had no intention of prying into any prestigious family secrets, only secretly marking these two with question marks in her mind.
The Lin family was far from as simple as it appeared on the surface, but how murky the waters were, Fang Yi was not yet clear.
After the incident with Xue Lan, Lin Shuxing looked exhausted.
When Fang Yi pushed the door open and approached, she only lazily lifted her eyelids and held out her hand to Fang Yi. “Where did you go? What took you so long?”
“I went for a walk in the garden,” Fang Yi said, noticing that Lin Shuxing’s palm was very red. She frowned subconsciously. “What happened? Did that person bully you?”
Lin Shuxing didn’t answer, only lifting her palm a little. “It hurts.”
“Is it because of your illness? Do you need to take any medicine?”
Fang Yi sat down on the edge of the bed and carefully held her hand. The young lady’s skin was very white, as if carved from jade. The slightest bump or scrape was exceptionally obvious.
Lin Shuxing said, “I slapped her.”
I see. Fang Yi breathed a sigh of relief and blew very, very gently on her palm. “Let me blow on it for you, and it won’t hurt anymore.”
It was strange. Most of the time, Fang Yi was as hard as a rock, but when her gentle breath brushed against her palm, Lin Shuxing actually saw a gentle sea in her clear black-and-white eyes.
Ripples spread across her palm, and it really didn’t seem to hurt as much anymore.
Does she really know some kind of magic? Lin Shuxing blinked and smiled. “Aren’t you going to ask why?”
Fang Yi: “If you want to tell me.”
“She insulted you. I won’t accept anyone insulting you.” Lin Shuxing shook her head, revealing a bit of a young girl’s unique playfulness. It wasn’t a complete lie.
Fang Yi’s blowing paused. “Thank you. Next time, you can call me.”
“For what?” Lin Shuxing asked.
“To slap her,” Fang Yi replied simply.
Lin Shuxing was slightly stunned, then laughed from the bottom of her heart. All the summer flowers in the courtyard bloomed at this moment.
She pulled her hand back from Fang Yi’s and placed it on her expressionless face. “I like you so much. You’re so cute.”
The word “cute” seemed a bit distant from Fang Yi. She wasn’t fluffy at all, nor did she have any cute features, but—
Who could define that word?
Before Fang Yi could respond, Lin Shuxing asked again, “Fang Yi, if I wanted to kill someone, what would you do?”
“Killing is against the law,” Fang Yi replied.
The years of painstaking lectures from the System had finally had some effect. It couldn’t help but be moved to tears.
The System clutched its heart: [Oh! Host! My bad baby, you’ve grown up!]
Fang Yi thought for a moment and answered very seriously, “Death is the easiest way out. We can do it another way.”
“However, you said ‘want to kill,’ which is just an emotional vent. If you need to, you can talk to me. What happened? That would help me better judge what kind of death is more suitable for him.”
“…”
She said it so seriously, yet it was like little wildflowers sprouting from a stone, swaying in front of Lin Shuxing’s eyes.
A faint light flashed in Lin Shuxing’s eyes. Following the rhythm of the swaying wildflowers, she slowly, slowly sank into the quilt.
The topic had started suddenly and ended just as suddenly. Lin Shuxing looked at Fang Yi quietly, her dark eyes becoming moist. She said softly, “Fang Yi, I’m in pain.”
Revealing her vulnerability in front of an outsider was not in line with her usual pride, but the growing pains of a continuous rainy season had been spreading in her bone marrow for too long, and a beam of sunlight had suddenly appeared before her.
Her mother’s indifference, her relatives’ schemes, even the childhood friend she had grown up with would betray her…
She felt an urgent need to grasp onto something.
Those damp pains seemed to be evaporating, condensing into little water droplets on her eyelashes. Her whole body felt soft, and there was an uncontrollable itch stirring in her bone marrow.
“Let me blow on it.” Fang Yi took her hand.
“Not just here. My whole body hurts.” The young lady lifted her face slightly.
What would she say? Take medicine? Go call a doctor? Or, would she also use that gentle wind to slowly blow over her entire body?
“…”
Fang Yi was the worst at comforting people. She paused awkwardly, but seeing the young lady’s eyes dimming bit by bit was like witnessing a star being extinguished.
She leaned over and hugged her as non-stiffly as possible. Her warm palm patted her gently, her low voice brushing past the young lady’s ear, her breath hotter than before:
“Is this… any better?”
