Gu Qingjiao’s location was at the very back of the South Garden.
There was a small lake there, but the location was too remote. Because it received no sunlight year-round, the environment was cold and humid. Moreover, people frequently made up stories about water ghosts haunting the place, so practically no one ever went there. The cleaning servants only swept through once or twice a month.
Gu Qingjiao happened to be right in the middle of the lake.
When Shi Lijin appeared, the only thing left for him was a patch of ripples.
He lifted his tablet and saw that Gu Qingjiao had already run into a nearby patch of woods.
This was clearly an attempt to hide from him.
Shi Lijin thought that today’s events must have truly broken her heart, which was why she ran out here in the middle of the night. On second thought, although Gu Qingjiao usually appeared carefree on the surface, she was actually delicate and sensitive inside. Perhaps the more someone was like that, the easier it was for them to get hurt. Otherwise, with the place being so chillingly cold, why would she choose to come over in the middle of the night?
When she complained that Nanzhuang was cold, she was actually saying her heart was cold, saying she wanted to go home, because she simply refused to suffer any more hurt.
Could it be that what she was doing in the lake just now, was she trying to do something foolish?
Shi Lijin stood there for who knows how long, the cold wind blowing through his short hair in wave after wave. There were no street lamps in this spot, making his complexion look even paler against the dark night, while the tip of his nose was already frozen red. The hand holding the tablet, from the knuckles down to the fingertips, had frozen like five icicles ready to shatter at the slightest touch.
The sound of dripping water echoed in his mind, blending vaguely with a sticky sensation. He could not tell whether it was ice and snow melting on the eaves or blood trickling from the depths of his heart.
When Jason found Shi Lijin, he saw him sitting quietly on a bench. As he walked closer and prepared to say something, he noticed Shi Lijin’s lips were frozen blue.
Bodyguards possessed a kind of innate, straightforward aura, and Jason never understood why Shi Lijin always loved being alone, nor did he know how to fit in. Usually, he would just call out loudly and bluntly, but this time, Shi Lijin made a shh gesture.
Jason immediately lowered his volume: “Er-shao, Shen Kewen has already been controlled by us. We are just waiting for your word to go in and tie her up. What are you doing here?”
Shi Lijin rubbed his eyes tiredly and pointed at Gu Qingjiao’s location on the mapping software.
Jason: “Did you rescue her?”
“She swam up by herself.”
“Miss Gu is truly amazing! Then isn’t she cold out here? Her clothes are probably soaked through. Shouldn’t you take her back to rest?”
Actually, Shi Lijin had thought of this long ago, but Gu Qingjiao was far too stubborn. Just like last time, the moment he got within a step of her, she would distance herself ten steps away, moving as fast as a frightened rabbit, making it impossible to catch up to her.
She probably did not want to see him anymore.
Shi Lijin: “No.”
“Then let us head back quickly, everyone is waiting.”
“You guys go rest.”
Jason looked slightly surprised: “We are not going to deal with Shen Kewen?”
“I will handle it myself.” Shi Lijin stood up, took off his coat, threw it onto the bench, and walked away.
He did not sleep the entire night.
Meanwhile, the real Gu Qingjiao slept straight until noon.
Had it not been for people talking outside, Gu Qingjiao would not have been woken up. With the weather freezing cold outside, curling up tight under the blanket allowed for another two hours of sleep.
She got out of bed, pulled back the curtains, and scanned left and right following the source of the voices, spotting Shi Lijin and Huacai talking outside the door.
“Is she awake yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Yesterday…”
“Yesterday Miss Gu must have frozen terribly, she will probably need a few days to recover.”
Gu Qingjiao felt somewhat guilty hearing this, so she simply stopped listening.
Huacai probably could not tell that she was wearing fake-translucent fleece tights yesterday, and since she went to sleep shortly after returning to her room with the air conditioning running all night, freezing was out of the question, but being half-asleep and dazed was definitely true.
She dressed and prepared to go outside just as Huacai walked in carrying a familiar gift box.
“Miss Gu, Er-shao was just here. He said if you return these clothes again, he will make me wear them, but how could I dare!”
Gu Qingjiao remembered. Shortly after she returned to her room yesterday, Shi Lijin had someone deliver a fluffy cape, which seemed to be his way of offering a piece of candy after giving a slap.
At the time, Gu Qingjiao still had lingering resentment in her heart, so she had also returned the pair of high heels he previously gifted. But now she felt okay about it; after a good night’s sleep, petty little annoyances could all be tossed out the back door.
Noticing the cape was of quite good quality, the snowy-white fur feeling exceptionally soft and smooth to the touch, she decided to accept it.
Huacai continued from the side: “Miss Gu, I think Er-shao cares about you a lot. He was just asking what you like.”
Gu Qingjiao sneered inwardly, thinking to herself that true to dogblood novels, whatever the boss said was always considered right.
Shi Lijin care about her? If he cared about her, he would not have demanded that she go sockless and coatless in the dead of winter.
Gu Qingjiao brewed a cup of black tea and asked casually, “Then what did you say?”
“I said Miss Gu likes to sleep!”
Gu Qingjiao froze abruptly.
It was seemingly correct.
She originally thought Shi Lijin was just asking casually, until a few days later, when Jason led her to another pool.
Nanzhuang had both indoor and outdoor pools. Usually, Gu Qingjiao loved going to the outdoor beach chairs to sleep because that expanse of blue was easy on the eyes and she could breathe fresh air. However, as the weather grew colder, she gradually shifted to the indoor pool, where she could take a light afternoon nap even in the dead of winter.
Perhaps noticing this habit, Shi Lijin assumed she liked the pool area, and because Huacai mentioned she liked sleeping, a giant apparatus dedicated specifically to sleeping had appeared right beside the pool.
Jason operated the machine while introducing it: “This is a smart sleep capsule specially bought by Er-shao for you to rest in. It is safe and warm.”
Jason did not know much about introducing products, but when Gu Qingjiao opened the door and went inside herself, she found the interior quite well-equipped. A large bed was placed right in the middle, a liquid crystal screen hung on the wall, three levels of lighting adjusted brightness automatically, and it was even equipped with a high-end smart sound system available on the market. It felt like a little world isolated all by itself.
The system, having felt crushed by high technology, suddenly popped up into Gu Qingjiao’s consciousness and remarked: [Just a trick used by men to fool women. Host, you must stay steady.]
Gu Qingjiao highly approved of the system, and her inner composure was quite solid.
“Thank you, but I do not like resting by the pool anymore,” she said politely.
Jason seemed to have anticipated her polite refusal, so he snapped his fingers with a relaxed expression: “No worries. Er-shao knows where you like to go, so he installed sleep capsules here, at the East Courtyard Farm, the Bamboo Hot Spring, and that broken place you went to last night. You can sleep wherever you want from now on.”
Gu Qingjiao: “…”
What kind of operation is this?
System: [Tactics! Definitely tactics! It turns out Shi Lijin not only wants to kill you, he also wants to woo you. After wooing you, he will still kill you, which completely fits the distorted psychology of this character. Host, just play along for fun, you must never take it seriously.]
Gu Qingjiao rubbed the corner of her eye helplessly, about to decline again when Jason bluntly chimed in with another message: “Tonight at nine, Er-shao has a date with you at the observatory. I am just a messenger, Sister Qingjiao, please do not make things hard for me.”
Gu Qingjiao: “…”
Gu Qingjiao’s inner thought: Not going.
The system’s thought: [Go!]
[The observatory is remote and high up, he definitely wants to push you off. Congratulations to the host on escaping a sea of suffering soon.]
[What did I say earlier? He deliberately gives gifts first just to coax you into a happy mood before making you fall from a high place. Standard villain behavior.]
[What are you waiting for? Go ahead, Host, this system will guarantee you a pain-free transmigration throughout.]
Clutching the mindset that she was destined to die tonight, Gu Qingjiao decided to meet with Shi Lijin.
The entire estate could be overlooked from the observatory, but whether it was an illusion or not, Gu Qingjiao always felt the servants in Nanzhuang were gradually decreasing in number lately.
Shi Lijin held a glass of red wine, leaning against the railing while maintaining a considerable distance from Gu Qingjiao.
“Happy New Year’s Eve,” he said with a single sentence.
Only then did Gu Qingjiao realize that today was New Year’s Eve.
In that case, before long, the life of the character Shi Lijin would draw to its final curtain.
If Gu Qingjiao died, she could still transmigrate into someone else and enjoy a brand-new life once more, whereas Shi Lijin, as the antagonist, had a character ending written simply as spending the remainder of his life in madness.
After a moment of emotional reflection, she picked up the red wine glass beside her, lifted it in front of her, and toasted him across a distance of nearly two meters.
“Happy New Year’s Eve.”
Following that, Gu Qingjiao fully played the role of a perfunctory robot, starting to repeat the prompts buzzing in her mind from the system.
Gu Qingjiao: “Where is Aunt Shen? I have not seen her for a long time.”
Shi Lijin poured himself another half glass of red wine, his demeanor slow and calm, as if organizing his words.
“Her health is not good, she has been resting for a few days.”
“But Aunt Shen was in fine shape the day she arrived. Did you say something to tick her off?”
“…”
Now, she had no idea if Shen Kewen was pissed off or not, but Shi Lijin was definitely burning with anger inside.
The system continued prompting her with the third line: [I heard Aunt Shen has always treated you poorly, but do not be angry either. That is just her personality, and as a family, we should love and care for one another.]
Gu Qingjiao furrowed her brows.
Words intended to deliberately reopen old wounds were something she simply could not bring herself to say.
The system waited for a long time without hearing the host speak, so it grew anxious, jumping up and down and throwing a tantrum inside her head.
Gu Qingjiao kept her lips tightly sealed, but she could not withstand the system driving her head into an aching, painful mess. Added to the little bit of wine she had consumed earlier, under the combined effect of various factors, her legs suddenly turned weak and she began to lose her footing.
Sensing something was wrong, Shi Lijin strode forward to grab her arm. Only through physical contact did he realize the girl’s body was burning as if she had a fever.
“Drunk?” A trace of unease flickered across the bottom of Shi Lijin’s eyes, and he asked sluggishly once more, “Or caught a chill?”
Could it be that day she really walked into the lake on purpose?
Was she actually trying to end her life because of him by jumping into the river?
Shi Lijin’s heart felt as though it was being ruthlessly torn apart, thick blood surging and churning through his thoughts drop by drop.
He had been reluctant to believe it before, but today, right at this moment, Shi Lijin was incomparably certain that he had failed a girl who loved him deeply.
From childhood to adulthood, he had never been loved by anyone at the cost of their life, nor had he ever loved anyone else. Yet at this very moment, seeing the rims of the woman’s eyes redden in his embrace, clearly physically frail yet forced to endure every cold night, obviously lonely inside yet putting up a stubborn front everywhere, Shi Lijin felt it all.
Shi Lijin held her tightly, pressing her delicate, flushed face close to his own chest, his thumb softly tracing the corner of her eye. “I never meant to hurt you.”
Gu Qingjiao raised one arm weakly and pointed toward the railing.
She wanted to die so badly!
The system completely cracked: [I have nothing to say. You managed to ruin things even like this, goodbye. [System has blocked you]]
Shi Lijin grabbed her raised hand and asked seriously, “What do you want?”
“I want to jump.”
“No,” Shi Lijin pulled her gently into his embrace. “Gu Qingjiao, live well.”
Gu Qingjiao: …
She was currently extremely shocked.
What is wrong with this villain? Why isn’t he playing according to the script?
Just as Gu Qingjiao was feeling depressed, she felt the ground beneath her feet suddenly go weightless, and her entire body had already been swept up horizontally into Shi Lijin’s arms.
Gu Qingjiao: ?
Inside the inner room of the observatory, there was a large bed capable of holding two adults. When Gu Qingjiao was carried and laid down onto this bed by him, her pupils involuntarily constricted.
The man then leaned forward to press down upon her, a predatory presence washing over her consciousness step by step. His arms were like a sturdy set of shackles, trapping Gu Qingjiao in the middle with nowhere to avoid his gaze, leaving her to stare blankly into the man’s pitch-black eyes.
“Shi Lijin, what are you doing?”