Chapter 72: Pei Shijin’s Conscience Hurt a Little

This time, Guan Yueying didn’t give Pei Shijin a chance to hang up on her. She yelled and then hung up first.

Pei Shijin looked at the screen where the call interface had already disappeared. She felt both helpless and amused. She wondered how Guan Yueying had gotten through these years—still as childish and nosy as she had been in high school.

After returning home, Pei Shijin boiled a pot of water and stared blankly at the temperature display as it fluctuated.

When the kettle beeped, Pei Shijin made up her mind and contacted Lu Lingjiang.

Her interactions with Lu Lingjiang weren’t too many, but not too few either.

If Gao Ye’an treated her entirely like a tool, then Lu Lingjiang added a bit of kindness and guidance toward a junior—though it might also be about grooming a helpful right-hand woman for Lu Yixue.

Pei Shijin had always respected her greatly.

She made the call, but it showed that the line was busy. Pei Shijin stared at the unconnected screen, her fingers going numb from tension.

She couldn’t explain why she was so nervous. The last time they met, she had gone to ask Lu Lingjiang how to handle Bai Mingsong.

Lu Lingjiang’s response back then had saddened Pei Shijin deeply. Now the situation had changed dramatically, but the “courage” that had sustained her had vanished.

Pei Shijin poured half a cup of hot water from the kettle and used the still-warm handle to add room-temperature water.

She gulped down one cup, then refilled it.

Suddenly, her phone rang, startling Pei Shijin so much that she jolted and dropped the cup on the floor.

With no mood to deal with the spilled water and shattered ceramic, Pei Shijin rushed back to the kettle and picked up the phone. It was Lu Lingjiang calling back.

Pei Shijin’s fingers trembled as she pressed accept.

Immediately, Lu Lingjiang’s voice came through. “You two are quite amusing, coming to me one after another.”

“Was that Lu Yixue just now? What did she want?” Pei Shijin gripped the phone tightly while her other hand clutched the hem of her clothes, unconsciously picking at the stitching.

“You can ask her yourself.” Lu Lingjiang teased. “What do you want?”

“Uh… well…” The words she had rehearsed in her mind countless times were still hard to say aloud. Pei Shijin stammered a bit; her current behavior felt a lot like tattling to a parent, which embarrassed her.

Lu Lingjiang seemed to be in a good mood. “No rush. I’m listening. Take your time.”

“There are two things. First, Lu Yixue found a psychologist on her own, but that psychologist is unreliable and has failed cases.”

“Second, Lu Yixue wants to investigate the organization that kidnapped her all those years ago.”

“Both are very dangerous.”

Pei Shijin took a deep breath and waited for Lu Lingjiang’s reaction.

Silence stretched on from the phone, with no sound at all, making Pei Shijin think the call had dropped.

She pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the screen. “In Call” stood out clearly.

“That’s it?” Lu Lingjiang seemed to chuckle lightly. “The second matter is indeed dangerous. Back then, I was forced to let them go. It’s hard for ordinary people living normal lives to fight a group of desperados for so many years. By now, they’ve probably grown even stronger. Do you want me to stop her?”

“Yes.” Pei Shijin’s nails had picked apart the stitching on her hem.

“If you’d come a bit earlier, I might have agreed with you,” Lu Lingjiang said. “But you’re too late. A’Xue has already convinced me.”

“What?” Pei Shijin couldn’t believe it, and her voice rose unconsciously. After all that talk of danger, such a huge reversal.

“Don’t get worked up. I’ll arrange protection for her.” Lu Lingjiang’s voice sounded a bit distant. “You have to understand—everyone has their own fate.”

“You can try convincing her yourself. If you can’t, then that’s her path. Whether she lives or dies, finds joy or sorrow—it’s all her choice.”

Pei Shijin picked at the fabric until it frayed, but she forced her voice to stay steady. “Okay.”

She forgot to say goodbye to Lu Lingjiang and hung up. Leaning against the kitchen cabinet, she gazed out the narrow window.

Through a gap in the pipes, she spotted an abandoned bird’s nest, which somehow looked desolate.

If she could convince Lu Yixue, she wouldn’t have gone to Lu Lingjiang in the first place.

She figured Lu Lingjiang probably couldn’t sway her either, but she could use some force to drive away the psychologist and restrict Lu Yixue’s movements.

Given enough time, Lu Yixue might lose interest in pursuing those matters.

But she couldn’t just do nothing. She had worked so hard to keep Lu Yixue alive—Lu Yixue’s life belonged to her. Why risk it?

Dark emotions churned in her heart. After a long while, Pei Shijin rubbed her temples and sighed.

She pocketed her phone and went to clean up the mess on the floor.

The ceramic cup had been bought by Song Zonghui; she’d need to replace it, though she didn’t know where it came from.

She could message her to ask. Pei Shijin pulled out her phone, unlocked it one-handed to type, while her other hand kept picking up shards.

“Hiss—” Just as she sent the message, her finger got cut. Pei Shijin looked down at the pad; beads of blood welled up and streamed into a line.

An idea formed in her mind—play sick, to test her weight in Lu Yixue’s heart.

Could it replace everything else, making Lu Yixue focus only on her?

That would upend her previous plans. For the foreseeable future, she’d need to stick close to Lu Yixue.

What about her Susceptible Period? Was she really going to wear restraints meant for criminals? Pei Shijin had no inclination toward self-harm or self-destruction. She wanted to live well, watch Little Mingzhu grow up, see Lu Yixue grow old.

She reconsidered. If she stayed hospitalized the whole time, with enough people arranged, there shouldn’t be any accidents.

Pei Shijin rinsed the blood from her finger, applied some medicine, cleaned the floor, and then contacted Dr. Feng.

Dr. Feng would definitely side with her. Faking an illness would need her help, and they’d have to discuss how severe to make it to keep Lu Yixue tied down.

There was an even more direct method—a thought flashed through Pei Shijin’s mind. She could pretend to date someone else, and Lu Yixue would lose interest in all that.

Both options might make Lu Yixue sad or heartbroken, but the scale in Pei Shijin’s heart tipped endlessly toward the first. She wanted Lu Yixue to keep liking her.

The latter carried risks…

She wanted to be good to others but was selfish. Pei Shijin judged herself. Selfish it was—who asked Lu Yixue to fall for her?

Little Mingzhu woke from her nap, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she looked for Mommy. She saw her sitting at the dining table, typing away at the computer.

“Mommy, what are you doing?” Little Mingzhu pattered over.

The sudden voice startled the guilty Pei Shijin. She took a deep breath to calm herself and closed the laptop lid. “Mommy’s doing homework.”

“Ah?” Little Mingzhu’s eyes widened, then she realized. “Mingzhu remembers! Mommy’s a student too!”

“Yes.” Pei Shijin nodded.

Little Mingzhu clapped excitedly, finding another thing in common with Mommy. “Is Mommy’s homework hard?”

“It’s a ten-thousand-word report.” Pei Shijin picked her up and carried her to the bathroom.

“Wow, what’s ten thousand?” The little one hadn’t learned that yet.

“A hundred hundreds?” Pei Shijin didn’t know how to explain the number to her and somewhat regretted making it up. “Ten thousand big cotton candies could fill Grandma’s house.”

Little Mingzhu kept wowing.

“Enough wowing. Wash your face—your eyes are a bit red. Mommy will put some eye drops in later. Don’t rub them when you wake up.” Pei Shijin set Little Mingzhu on the sink counter.

Little Mingzhu nodded obediently. “Okay.”

Pei Shijin watched from the side as the little one followed every step to wash her hands thoroughly, feeling gratified. The kid was so well-behaved.

Her mood brightened considerably. Since she had a plan, she’d go for it.

What if she got found out? She’d deal with that later. Unlike Lu Yixue, Pei Shijin was the type to take it one step at a time and not prepare multiple contingencies.

Little Mingzhu was tricky, though. She had to hide the fake illness from her—not let her know about any illness at all.

It was a bit convoluted. In short, keep her in the dark about everything.

It would be great if Little Mingzhu started school.

An idea struck Pei Shijin. “Little Mingzhu, how about in-person chess classes? You could go with your little friends.”

“Ah?” Little Mingzhu paused, face full of foam. “But they’re not here.”

“Mommy has a new job and needs to go back to Yancheng to work. Your Mommie has to work too, so Mommy wants you to take in-person classes after we go back.”

“Yay, yay! Wonder if anyone wants chess classes. Chen Jiayao doesn’t like it—she only likes Go-Moku!” Little Mingzhu grumbled. Chess was clearly better.

“There should be.” Pei Shijin thought some parents would sign their kids up.

Once they settled it, Little Mingzhu finished scrubbing. “Mommy, turn on the water~”

“Done.”

Little Mingzhu rinsed off all the foam from her face and hands. Pei Shijin wiped the remnants around her ears and neck, and they were done.

Little Mingzhu looked in the mirror and smeared on some scented lotion, then suddenly shrieked. “Ah!”

“What?” Pei Shijin caught Little Mingzhu, who nearly fell off the stool.

“Mingzhu’s eyes turned red! Am I mutating? Will Mingzhu have superpowers? Whoosh ha-hey, beat the monster!” Little Mingzhu went from shock to fantasy; she’d been watching too many cartoons lately.

Pei Shijin rubbed her forehead. “No mutation. Mommy’s eye drops will fix it.”

“Okay.” Little Mingzhu was a bit disappointed.

The eye drops at home had expired, so Pei Shijin planned to take Little Mingzhu to the clinic and get some cooling herbal tea for her while she was at it.

Gao Ye’an wasn’t entirely wrong—kids who ate too much junk food got sick easily.

Little Mingzhu didn’t know her diet was about to be restricted. As soon as Pei Shijin opened the security door, she spotted Lu Yixue waiting by the elevator and pattered over to show off her red eyes. “Mommie, Mommie, look at Mingzhu’s eyes—they’re red!”

“Raaar, are you scared, Mommie?”

“Red eyes and still Mommie’s little sweetheart. Of course not scared. Got overheated?” Lu Yixue squatted down to examine Little Mingzhu’s eyes closely.

“Yeah, try not to let her eat too much heating food.” Pei Shijin wasn’t surprised by Lu Yixue’s appearance here.

She might have just arrived, or perhaps she’d been hovering at the door.

“Could be acclimation issues too,” Lu Yixue tried to salvage Little Mingzhu’s dietary freedom. “Haicheng and Yancheng are close, but the environment and weather differ.”

“Sure, then back in Yancheng, light diet.” Pei Shijin shut that down.

Lu Yixue blinked, not reacting at first. Moments later, she felt a mix of anticipation and nervousness. “Are you saying just us two go back to Yancheng, or all three?”

Looking at the expectant Lu Yixue, Pei Shijin paused, her conscience aching a little.

“Together.”