That woman was indeed Mei Xuying, the female lead’s official pairing, and also the woman who broke the rule of this world, where all the top attackers were scum.
Mei Xuying and the original host had an ordinary relationship. In Mei Xuying’s eyes, she was just a lunatic, and in the original host’s eyes, Mei Xuying was hypocritical. Because they did not get along, Mei Xuying later spent years abroad, and they did not have much contact. According to the timeline, she was just preparing to return to the country and settle down now.
Her gaze slowly moved upward. In the original text, Mei Xuying was described as an extremely gentle, warm woman, like a warm sun. The woman before her wore a long lake-blue dress. The blood from just now, when she had gone to comfort Yin Youxia, had stained the hem of her skirt red. The blood on their bodies all belonged to Liu Siyin, and that bright red stabbed at her eyes. She leaned against the wheelchair and closed her eyes.
Mei Xuying held Yin Youxia’s hand and comforted her in a gentle voice, “You do not need to worry too much.”
Just like the book described, she was like a ray of warm sun, illuminating Yin Youxia.
Yin Youxia was after all still a nineteen-year-old girl. Even if Yin Man had tormented her, she had never seen so much blood before, and was still somewhat in shock. She clutched Mei Xuying’s hand like she was holding onto a lifesaving straw. “Thank you, Sister Ying.”
Mei Xuying gave her a gentle smile. “We are all relatives, what is there to thank?”
This made Yin Youxia, who had never received Mei residence’s recognition, feel some strange emotion rise within her.
Yin Man clearly knew this was how the plot developed, this was the story as it should be, but she still felt uncomfortable. Even though she had read it in the book, when it actually happened right before her eyes, it still did not sit well.
Their affection, the budding of their feelings, was stained with Liu Siyin’s blood.
If the contents of the book were followed, the thing that pushed Yin Youxia and Mei Xuying to deepen their feelings was Liu Siyin’s death. Yin Youxia certainly had no feelings for Liu Siyin, and Liu Siyin had also gone blind because she saved her, and had also killed herself because of her broken engagement. She blamed herself for having killed Liu Siyin, and only after Mei Xuying treated her gently did she come out of it.
Everything set off Mei Xuying’s goodness.
Yin Man did not know whether it was the original host’s emotions influencing her, or something else. A role she had originally rather liked had now also lost her liking. There was even the smell of blood from Liu Siyin in the air. That smell seemed to be soaked into her throat, and Yin Man gradually could not suppress the irritation in her chest.
“Huff.” Yin Man let out a long breath. “Mei Xuying, be quiet.”
Mei Xuying’s gentle smile almost stiffened. “It has been a long time since we last saw each other, and cousin has become more and more rude.”
Yin Man was originally a person with a very good temper, but she did not know if she was being influenced by the original host, as her patience was almost gone. With a cold face, she said, “A human life is being saved inside. Don’t be lecturing me about manners here!”
Mei Xuying seemed to have heard some joke. “Are you still Yin Man?”
“When did Eldest Miss Yin start caring about the lives of ants?”
Ants. Mei Xuying called Liu Siyin an ant. She simply did not resemble the way the book described her at all, with a bodhisattva heart.
No, perhaps she was a bodhisattva, just one who only crossed Yin Youxia.
A cannon-fodder like Liu Siyin simply was not worth her crossing.
For them, Liu Siyin’s life was nothing worth mentioning. If she had not transmigrated over, then for the original Yin Man, Liu Siyin was nothing. She had no family she cared about, no very close friends. Even her death was silent. Her exit was only there to serve as wedding clothes for someone else’s feelings, and she would be forgotten very quickly.
Just like she had been before, having nothing at all.
She had entered the book. Had the original body died? Would anyone shed a tear for her, help collect her corpse?
The suppressed thoughts almost made Yin Man unable to breathe. She pressed a hand to her chest and glared at Mei Xuying. “And you? Are you still Mei Xuying? My cousin, Mei Xuying, was a bodhisattva, someone who would feel sad even if she stepped on an ant to death.”
Mei Xuying was choked speechless. Yin Man pressed the advantage. “Cousin, there is a human life being saved inside.”
Although she kept calling her cousin all the time, Yin Man could feel that Mei Xuying did not treat her as a younger sister, and she also did not show respect out of regard for an older sister. There should have been some hatred between them.
The memories Yin Man inherited were incomplete. She pieced together the rough time and identity from the plot she remembered from the book. She could not remember the conflict between Yin Man and Mei Xuying. She only knew that she and Mei Xuying seemed to have had a very bad relationship since childhood, so this was also part of the reason Mei Xuying later helped Yin Youxia so thoroughly, leaving no room for mercy, toward Yin Man.
What warm sun, what bodhisattva heart, it was all nonsense to fool ghosts!
Mei Xuying had not yet managed to answer when Yin Zhe came over. Facing Yin Zhe, she changed her expression again, obedient and well-behaved. “Big cousin brother.”
“Big cousin sister.” Yin Zhe answered casually, then his attention fell on Yin Man. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
Hearing about the car accident, Yin Zhe had hurried over.
Their mother had died in a car accident. If Yin Man died in a car accident too, Yin Zhe’s world would collapse.
Yin Man shook her head. Her gaze stayed on the emergency room light. “I’m fine, Liu Siyin saved us.”
She deliberately said us. Yin Youxia’s eyes flickered, and her hands clenched tightly as if making some decision. Yin Man guessed she was probably already thinking about the broken engagement. According to the timeline, she had long since developed the thought of breaking the engagement. The car accident and blindness were all excuses. According to the plot, she and Mei Xuying were about to develop feelings by stepping on Liu Siyin’s blood. When she discovered that Mei Xuying was good, kind, and capable of going up against Yin Man, she uncontrollably began to have crooked thoughts, and began to desire Mei Xuying.
For the later plot, Yin Man had already watched it all from a god’s-eye view, and that made Liu Siyin seem even more pitiful. In the faint brushstrokes of the book, she was the foundation of other people’s feelings.
She was only twenty-one years old. What a beautiful age.
The time spent in rescue was too long, so long that Yin Man repeatedly wondered whether her arrival had changed the course of the story, whether Liu Siyin’s death had been brought forward.
She prayed for Liu Siyin’s life to continue.
Yin Zhe looked at the operating room and said, “I’ll take you to rest first. When the results come out, I’ll tell you.”
No. She was not going anywhere.
She did not want to just arrive in a world, then because of the butterfly effect kill someone. Liu Siyin could die, but absolutely not now.
Her hands gripping the wheelchair armrests tightly showed her resistance. She raised her eyes to look at Yin Zhe. “Brother, I want her to live!”
Yin Zhe froze. “Manman, do you think she is pretty, then—”
His gaze subconsciously went toward Yin Youxia, but before he even finished speaking, Yin Man understood what Yin Zhe was thinking.
Yin Zhe probably thought Yin Man had taken a liking to Liu Siyin. His meaning was already very clear. As long as she said she liked her, Yin Zhe would make Yin Youxia hand her over without a second thought. In this world full of scum top men, Yin Zhe was not some good person either. He was into both men and women, and the fresh meat and beauties around him were countless. For him, Liu Siyin was not some important existence. As long as Yin Man liked her, then Liu Siyin could become a submissive plaything.
Very obvious implication. Everyone was smart, and no one did not understand.
Yin Man had not yet had much contact with Liu Siyin. She had only just arrived not long ago, and should not remember much about Liu Siyin. But when Yin Zhe threw out the hint, Liu Siyin’s overly delicate and beautiful face could not help but float up in her mind, along with the faint fragrance and smooth skin. Yin Man could feel that pulse of stirring.
Beast!
Yin Man knew she was frequently being influenced by the original host’s will and by this world, but she simply could not understand the original host’s will. Because in her few memories, the original host had possessiveness toward beautiful women, but not that kind of possessiveness. Because her legs were disabled, her heart was somewhat dark.
Her extreme method was to bind up girl after girl, take a needle and prick their legs, and then bind them up and whip them with a leather lash, satisfying her mental desires with their pain and twisted expressions.
As for the rumors outside that she spent every night in revelry, that was completely unrealistic. From beginning to end, she had never slept with anyone.
So when Yin Man chose women, the first thing she looked at was their legs.
Only by tormenting a pair of good legs until they could no longer move could Yin Man be satisfied. Yin Man had never liked beauty. She simply wanted to make others crippled too. Yin Zhe also knew this, but he still wanted to give Liu Siyin to her.
For him, what Liu Siyin thought was not important, and what Yin Youxia thought was not important either. What mattered was how Yin Man thought.
As long as Yin Man liked it, let alone Liu Siyin’s pair of legs, let alone a sister-in-law, even a stepmother would not matter. Yin Zhe only cared about Yin Man. The Yin Man of the past had only cared about Yin Zhe too.
But she was not the original host anymore. She could not control the original host’s will, and she also could not persuade herself to compromise with the original host. In the end, Yin Man was still a kind person. She would think about Liu Siyin’s wishes, would care about Liu Siyin’s life and death, even if she was only a cannon-fodder.
Liu Siyin was still being rescued.
Whether she could survive was still another matter. It was really not appropriate to discuss these things, but Yin Zhe’s attitude had already gradually become clear. Seeing that Yin Man did not answer, he had already taken it as her default agreement, and said, “Then Yin Youxia you—”
“Brother, I’m not interested in an illegitimate daughter.” These words came out almost without thinking. Yin Man froze. This was not her own thought.
Just after arriving, Yin Man already felt somewhat annoyed. Although there was everything here, family and money were things she could not fight her way to, yet this place seemed to lack respect for life. She even could not control her own thoughts, could not help but follow this world’s law of conservation and the original host’s way of thinking.
In the original host’s eyes, no matter how beautiful Liu Siyin was, she was still only an illegitimate daughter.
If she was merely for amusement, that was one thing. But if she was going to cling to her, she absolutely would not consider it.
As soon as she said this, the expression on Yin Youxia’s face became wonderful. Mei Xuying held her hand. “Yin Youxia, what’s wrong? Your hand is ice-cold.”
Yin Youxia silently shook her head. “What could be wrong with me? I’m not an illegitimate daughter.”
When she said this, her gaze was fixed tightly on Yin Man. She seemed to be warning or reminding Yin Man of something. Yin Man’s drifting gaze unconsciously carried a trace of contempt. “Illegitimate daughter, dirty.”
Yin Man successfully made Yin Youxia break down. She stood up and shouted at Yin Man, “Yin Man, I am not an illegitimate daughter!”
How should she explain to the female lead that her contempt just now was not her real thought, that she simply could not control the body’s instinct of the original host.
Yin Youxia of course was not an illegitimate daughter. Yin Man’s mother had died in a car accident when she was three and a half years old. Two years later, Wen Si only then entered the family. It was probably because she got pregnant too quickly that the gossipy old women said they must have hooked up long ago. Yin Man heard it. She disliked Wen Si, who was as easy to bully as a soft persimmon, disliked the child she gave birth to, and even more disliked Yin Youxia’s health and wholeness.
They had the same father, different mothers, and were both girls, but Yin Man had been weak in the legs since childhood and could not stand, while Yin Youxia was healthy and happy. This drove Yin Man crazy with jealousy, so she did everything she could to torment Yin Youxia, and even used the label of illegitimate daughter to humiliate Yin Youxia, including giving the puppy the same name as the female lead.
It was not strange that the female lead hated the original host. If it were her, she would hate her too.
Of course, even though she faced Yin Man and was bullied at every turn, that was not fair either.
But how had she been fair to Liu Siyin? Because of the tiny bit of longing she had for Mei Xuying, because she thought that the blind Liu Siyin was the best excuse to return her to the Liu family, she had brutally forced a girl who went blind for her to death. She was not some good thing either.
She could sympathize with the female lead for having her as this older sister, and she could also sympathize with Liu Siyin’s having nothing at all.
At the very least, Yin Youxia still had parents who loved her, and a younger brother, and in the future she would also have a Mei Xuying, while Liu Siyin had nothing, only an ending at the age of twenty-one.
At the countdown of life, who knew whether she would think of some beautiful things, or whether she would be pitiful enough to not even have any beautiful memories left.
Author’s note:
[Extra little skit]
Yin Youxia: I’ll say this only once, Yin Man is a pervert!
Liu Siyin: But she feels sorry for me. She must love me very much.
Yin Youxia: She even called you an illegitimate daughter! And she locked me in the little black room!
Liu Siyin: I think I’ve fallen in love.
Yin Youxia: I’ll say it again, Yin Man is really a dead pervert!
Liu Siyin: Then I’ll just be even more twisted than her.
Yin Youxia: Wife, run, those two are both lunatics!