Marrying the Short-Lived, Maniacal Eldest Miss for Good Fortune 3

Chapter 3

The corridor was quiet, permeated by a faint floral scent.

Fang Yi had smelled this fragrance on Lin Shuxing before. It was the scent of summer flowers blooming and decaying, so intense that getting too close could cause slight dizziness.

Fang Yi stood at Lin Shuxing’s door, her hand reaching out to knock, then retracting.

What should I say? Should I say “Hi” again?

Should I go take a shower and disinfect myself first?

But they had never had this issue in previous meetings.

Fang Yi stood quietly, vaguely hearing the sound of running water from the slightly ajar door.

【Host, I feel like some things are fate.】

The System blinked, suddenly turning into a philosopher: 【Look, fate brings people together. Your first meeting was purely accidental, and even if Little Star hadn’t made a wish, you would still be bound together.】

Little Star?

Fang Yi was inexplicably in a good mood. She had always guessed the girl would have a pleasant nickname. More elegant than Little Black, more passionate than Little White. Calling her Little Star was just perfect.

The System was too exhausted to complain, feeling that with Fang Yi’s aesthetic and benevolent heart, she would probably praise the girl as vibrant even if her name was Little Cow or Little Horse.

It muttered softly, deliberately teasing: 【Aren’t you afraid of getting caught up in the so-called plot and being pushed along now? Aren’t you afraid of the mission controlling your will anymore?】

“I am a variable, and so is she.”

Fang Yi put two fingers together, “Have you heard of the butterfly effect?”

“Since I have come to this world, I am here to change something, if I want to.”

“The butterfly effect means that I can easily change the whole world!”

Fang Yi spoke with conviction and soaring ambition. The System subconsciously nodded, yet couldn’t help but worry: 【But she never makes a wish, and you still have to grind for those slave points. It’s so hard.】

The initial creation of ‘life’ cost five hundred points. Unfortunately, Fang Yi ‘spawned’ three times before stubbornly remaining in this world, starting with a debt of fifteen hundred.

She speculated that the so-called Main God probably disliked free agents like them, preferring to stuff souls into existing characters and constrain them with rules to prevent them from getting out of control.

Lin Shuxing was her primary target, but for some reason, she rarely made a wish.

Perhaps she used to be able to express her pleas to the world normally, but that was likely many years ago.

Fang Yi had a high fever when she was little and forgot many things when she woke up. The System was also dazed and took a long time to reconcile the accounts. The debt of fifteen hundred had already been offset by over five hundred.

What kind of wishes did those points correspond to?

They didn’t know.

They had earned some scattered points over the years, and the current point balance was -803.

Since the main mission panel was empty, there was no fixed source of income. Occasionally, the System would refresh mandatory tasks with low rewards and high risks. Failure to complete them would result in annihilation.

“There is a win-win solution,” Fang Yi suddenly said after a moment of thought, “As long as Lin Shuxing wishes to live, as long as she makes that wish, I will definitely be able to achieve it for her.”

“That way, I can earn points and save her.”

There were four years left until the curse of twenty-two. Four years was enough time to change many things.

But Lin Shuxing did not pray for anything from this world.

Why was this?

Had her previous wishes not been granted?

Lin Lan’s face flashed before Fang Yi’s eyes. She genuinely felt that the atmosphere of the Lin family was very strange.

Just like this long corridor, everything was orderly—the symmetrical design of the doorways, the meticulous display of exhibits—as if wound up by a predetermined spring, everyone was ticking along.

Eerily quiet.

The sound of running water continued to rush inside. Fang Yi touched her nose, suddenly remembering that the little bear was still with Lin Qingwan.

It was given to her by Lin Shuxing. It was perfectly normal for her to be angry that it appeared in Lin Qingwan’s hands without warning.

Their birthdays were on the same day. Lin Qingwan’s identity was officially announced at her eighteenth birthday party not long ago.

Although Lin Qingwan was introduced as the “younger sister,” anyone with eyes could see that Lin Lan favored this newly announced daughter more.

It was said that Lin Qingwan strongly resembled Lin Lan’s deceased first love, Madam Wen Qianxue, which explained the favoritism, not to mention that this biological daughter had suffered greatly while lost for many years.

Fang Yi’s fingers unconsciously traced the zipper, belatedly focusing on a detail: Lin Shuxing’s birthday had already passed.

“I seem to be late. She gave me Lucky Star, but I haven’t given her a gift yet.”

She opened the System Mall – Birthday Gift panel. The System glanced at the price and frantically covered the panel: 【Beware of overspending! How precious are points! Let’s just use money. Order a delivery. What do you want to buy?】

It blinked, trying to offer some suggestions to its dense Host: 【A beautiful bouquet? A plush toy? A candlelit dinner~】

“No. She’s richer than me. What good things hasn’t she seen? Lucky Star is unique.”

Fang Yi turned around, smiling, “I know. How about a wishing bottle for her?”

Although it was a question, she had no intention of discussing it. While the System was jumping around, she decisively entered the mall and selected a glowing light-blue wishing bottle containing several stars.

Place order, confirm, pay. Done in one smooth motion.

This wishing bottle cost ten points. Writing a wish and putting it into the bottle would link it to the task panel.

In short, Fang Yi wanted to induce Lin Shuxing to make a wish and, in doing so, feed the Wish System.

Current point income was stable. Aside from the random appearance of love missions for the 【Love-Struck Stand-in Barrister】, as long as she acted as a fan leader for the 【Eighteenth-Tier Little Fox Who Wants to Be Liked】 and praised her daily, she could easily and happily earn one point.

Like a daily quest, a minimum activity reward.

The wishing bottle was beautiful, looking like it was made of blown glass. The bottle was translucent, faintly shimmering with starlight.

It was so beautiful it hardly looked like something that could be bought for ten points.

The System circled it again and again, unable to put it down. Enduring the heartache, it was generous for once, its eyes turning into star shapes: 【So romantic! Host, you are becoming more and more human!】

Fang Yi: “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

She held the wishing bottle, cleared her throat, and prepared to coax a child.

But time passed minute by minute, unable to catch up with the rushing water sound inside.

Does taking a shower take this long?

Fang Yi’s brow twitched. Hesitantly, she knocked on the door, “Hi?”

System: 【…】

System: 【I praised you too soon. You’re more like a System than I am.】

“Lin Shuxing, are you in there?”

“Can I come in?”

No response.

Water vapor seeped into her nostrils through the gap, diluting the fragrance that filled the room.

Fang Yi remembered Lin Shuxing’s pale face before she left. Her heart leaped suddenly. Ignoring everything else, she immediately pushed the door open and rushed in, following the sound of the water.

“Lin Shuxing!”

The room was dark. Deep blue curtains blocked the sunlight, casting ripples of light on the pure white walls.

Only the bathroom was lit. A warm yellow glow spread out, and a small, light white porcelain boat floated on the tiles.

Lin Shuxing’s bathroom was so large that Fang Yi didn’t see her at first, yet it seemed so small that she could only be huddled in a corner.

“Lin Shuxing—”

Finally catching sight of the small figure, Fang Yi softened her voice and slowly approached, her footsteps creating ripples in the water.

She saw the girl half-submerged in the bathtub, hugging herself. The showerhead continued to pour down, like a gathering dark cloud, with all the rain and wind directed at her.

Fang Yi called out again: “Lin Shuxing.”

Her senses seemed to be slowed by the water curtain. The soaking wet girl took a long time to look up, wet strands of hair clinging to her cheeks, making it impossible to tell if they were water droplets or tears.

The moment the girl looked up, a light surged in her eyes, revealing a hint of killing intent, which was then covered by the faint redness at the corners of her eyes. The tear mole at the outer corner of her eye trembled slightly.

“Get out! Who let you in!”

The girl’s voice was somewhat hoarse, but still overbearing.

“I’m sorry,” Fang Yi raised her hands, “I mean no harm. I just came to check on your safety.”

“I don’t need your fake concern. Go find Lin Qingwan. Everyone likes her anyway. You even gave my bear to her. I hate you!”

“Why are you still looking for me? Didn’t you break the engagement? Did Miss Lin offer you some benefits to make you go back on your word?”

“Tell me, how much money did she give you? I’ll give you double. Now disappear from here!”

Lin Shuxing had bitten her lip until it bled slightly, making her red lips look like blood, which was startlingly conspicuous on her fragile face.

Fang Yi casually hung her bag on the door, tied her hair up high, and then, braving the water Lin Shuxing splashed at her, slowly approached and clumsily embraced the girl.

Her action was like trying to contain a fire—rough and irresistible. But this fire was likely a cold flame, very cold. Pressed against her skin, it felt like holding a block of ice.

The only warm things on the girl were her tears, which struck Fang Yi’s shoulder, slid into her clothing, and burned that spot with a faint flame.

She struggled fiercely, leaping and burning brightly, unwilling to be extinguished. So she bared her teeth and viciously bit Fang Yi’s shoulder, attempting to use pain to subdue this unreasonable intruder.

Fine threads of blood spread across the white shirt. The side of Fang Yi’s body that was bitten involuntarily trembled due to the physiological pain.

But Fang Yi simply patted Lin Shuxing, whispering:

“You must have suffered a lot of grievances.”

Her not-so-delicate palm slowly patted Lin Shuxing’s trembling back. Her protruding shoulder blades struggled one last time before breaking the cocoon, full of indignation and unease.

The girl finally stopped, her gaze fixed on the bloodstain on Fang Yi’s white shoulder. She looked up, somewhat bewildered.

Fang Yi didn’t flinch, embracing her surging emotions with such calmness.

The shower drenched them both, melting them together, and then connecting them after the violent collision of their heartbeats.

Fang Yi slowly explained:

“I didn’t give the little bear to Lin Qingwan. I lent it to her to look at. I’ll go get it back right away.”

“I wanted to cancel the engagement because I didn’t know it was you. I don’t like being constrained, and I didn’t want to climb the social ladder.”

It was because I didn’t know it was you.

Confused breaths spilled onto her neck. Lin Shuxing’s quiet tears finally made some noise, turning into kitten-like whimpers.

Her tone was muffled, but could still be faintly discerned: “I hate you!”

Fang Yi said, “I know. I am truly hateful.”

Lin Shuxing choked up, looked up at her, a sliver of light breaking through her gloomy eyes. She asked viciously, “What do you hate about yourself?”

Making a self-criticism was not Fang Yi’s strong suit. She tried to look away and change the subject, but Lin Shuxing held her face, forcibly interrupting her, “Tell me!”

Fang Yi racked her brain, finally managing to squeeze out a reluctant sentence: “I hate being in the conference room.”

The conference room was hateful. There was always a lot of high-sounding nonsense to be said, wasting time, yet unavoidable.

“…”

Lin Shuxing blinked, her chin slightly raised, a blush rising on her face. She asked unnaturally, “Then do you hate being in the bathroom?”

“I don’t hate it, but staying too long will make you catch a cold.” Fang Yi stuffed the wishing bottle into Lin Shuxing’s hand, picked up the limp girl, and started walking out.

The System was astonished and dared not speak, feeling that the language modules of at least two of the three of them were malfunctioning. They were talking at cross purposes. Otherwise, why were they completely out of sync?

The wishing bottle, after being soaked in water, became translucent. The stars inside emitted a faint light, like fireflies on a summer night.

“What is this?”

“As you can see, it’s a wishing bottle. If you write your wish on a slip of paper, fold it into a star, and put it inside, it will come true.”

Fang Yi wrapped Lin Shuxing tightly in a thick bath towel, carefully and thoroughly drying her off.

Lin Shuxing silently held the bottle firmly in her arms, letting out a soft hum from her nose, “How childish. Only children believe in this.”

Fang Yi’s hand, wrapped around her waist, paused. She leaned in closer, and her serious eyes magnified infinitely before Lin Shuxing.

“It will come true. Have a little faith in the stars—”

She said it with extreme solemnity, a double entendre, like taking an oath.

Lin Shuxing’s ears suddenly turned red. She immediately pushed her away, forgetting that they had just come out of the bathroom and were both soaking wet.

She accidentally pushed a place she shouldn’t have touched. It was soft. Lin Shuxing’s entire face visibly flushed, “Why are you getting so close!”

Fang Yi’s body stiffened. She was unsure about the girl’s fluctuating emotions, but still had to ask:

“Then, can you let go?”