Qin Qing turned around and happened to catch Fu Shuheng retracting his impossibly long legs.
Her long lashes trembled, and her gaze darkened.
Fu Shuheng’s vitality was weakening—he was being afflicted by the male lead’s karmic backlash.
Without a second thought, Qin Qing grasped the man’s warm hand and channeled all the Karmic Merit she had gained from killing Yin Niang back into him for Life-extension.
Taken aback by the sudden intimate gesture, Fu Shuheng mistakenly assumed Qin Qing was showing weakness and seeking help.
He wrapped his arm around the young woman’s shoulders and soothed her in a gentle voice.
“Don’t be afraid.”
Qin Qing’s expression was complicated. “It’s you who shouldn’t be afraid.”
At the rate the villain’s vitality was draining, he might very well be written off as cannon fodder ahead of schedule.
The villain was her ticket to a natural death—her lifeline. He absolutely could not be allowed to die!
“What are you doing?”
Fu Shuheng stared at their clasped hands, feeling a warm current surge into his body.
“Saving your life!” Qin Qing said without looking up.
The karmic backlash was interrupted by the Karmic Merit, and the vitality that had been dissipating from Fu Shuheng’s body began to coalesce once more.
Qin Qing let out a sigh of relief, then cast a sidelong glance at Fu Shuheng with a grave warning.
“Don’t lay a hand on Fu Yuanchen from now on.”
If the villain got himself killed, her losses would be enormous!
Fu Shuheng’s lips curved into a smile, but the amusement didn’t reach his eyes.
“Still have feelings for him?”
Qin Qing curled her lips. “No.”
What was there to like about a man who only thought with his lower half?
Whether Fu Shuheng believed her or not, he let out a light chuckle.
“Cough—cough—!”
Fu Yuanchen clutched his kicked abdomen, enduring the pain with a few low coughs, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Fu Shuheng.
“Cousin! You’d raise a hand against me for the sake of some woman who can’t even show her face in public?”
Before Fu Shuheng could respond, Tang Qinian jumped out and started laying into Fu Yuanchen with a flurry of punches and kicks.
“Good one, you brat! Dare to say A-Qing can’t show her face in public? Looks like you need a good beating!”
“I’ve had it with you for a long time—today you’ve finally landed in my hands!”
Fu Yuanchen wasn’t about to let himself be beaten without fighting back. He got up and started grappling and brawling with Tang Qinian.
“Stop it!” Liu Qingyan tugged at Tang Qinian’s arm, crying out, “Stop fighting! Please stop!”
Oddly enough, the moment Liu Qingyan pleaded, Tang Qinian actually stopped.
However, his expression was one of pure frustration.
Fu Yuanchen wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, craned his neck stubbornly, and fixed his gaze on Fu Shuheng.
“You haven’t answered my question!”
Fu Shuheng let out a soft sigh. “She’s your little cousin-in-law.”
He sounded as if he were tired of repeating himself.
Fu Yuanchen’s chest heaved violently as he roared, “Qin Qing is my fiancée! Are you going to steal your brother’s wife? This defies all morality and human decency!”
His voice was loud and grating, as if whoever shouted the loudest had the most right on their side.
“Yuanchen, who are you speaking to?”
Fu Shuheng’s jaw tightened with a murderous edge, and a single soft-spoken sentence sent a chill down Fu Yuanchen’s spine.
He nervously swallowed, enduring the suffocating pressure, and struggled to cling to his last thread of defiance. “You can’t do this. The Fu family can’t afford the disgrace.”
“I’m not dead yet,” Fu Shuheng said, looking down at him with an inscrutable smile. “Are you so eager to start meddling in the Fu family’s affairs?”
“I’m not!”
Cold sweat broke out on Fu Yuanchen’s forehead, and he raised his voice in denial out of guilt.
He felt that Fu Shuheng’s calm gaze was like a knife stabbing into him, having already seen through the desires buried deep in his heart.
In the midst of the tense standoff, Liu Qingyan decided to make her presence known again.
“Qin Qing, why must you be so cruel to hurt Brother Chen? Is your affection for him really so cheap? He’s coughing up blood! Don’t you feel any pain for him?”
Qin Qing was at a loss for words at such an absurd statement.
She pressed a hand to her chest and said, “No pain, just a little disappointed he didn’t die outright.”
Then, Qin Qing pointed at the tall, long-legged Fu Shuheng.
“Also, you’ve got it wrong—he’s the one who did it.”
Fu Shuheng looked down at Qin Qing, his gaze seeming to say—You ungrateful little thing.
Qin Qing shrugged with a perfectly composed expression, showing not a trace of guilt for deflecting the blame.
Liu Qingyan, utterly incapable of understanding plain speech, snapped angrily, “That’s because of you too! Why can’t you be like before and put Brother Chen first in everything? He’s your fiancé!
Is your love just hurting Brother Chen again and again? Love is about sacrifice, about making him happy—all you do is cause him trouble and pain. You don’t deserve to love Brother Chen at all!”
Qin Qing looked at the female lead, who was wailing as if her heart were being torn apart, and thought she must have some serious screws loose.
Her gaze casually drifted to where Liu Qingyan was standing, and a glint of mischief surfaced in her eyes.
“Liu Qingyan, you’re standing on the ashes of a dead person.”
Liu Qingyan stumbled back several steps in fright, looking at the spot where she’d been standing—the ground still held the remnants of Yin Niang’s ashes.
An inexplicable pang of heartache struck her, a hollow emptiness settling in her chest, as if something had been stripped away from her.
No one saw it except Qin Qing—the Fortune Luck on Liu Qingyan’s body had dissipated, just a little.
Only a tiny fraction.
But this discovery made Qin Qing’s eyes light up—the male and female leads had weaknesses.
“Sir, the old master is asking for you.”
A bodyguard, phone in hand, walked up to Fu Shuheng’s side.
Fu Shuheng nodded, then took Qin Qing’s hand. “It’s getting late. Shall we go home?”
Whose home?
Qin Qing blinked in confusion, then slowly nodded.
As long as she stayed by the villain’s side, her life would be safe—who cared where he was going!
“Ah Qing, are you sure you want to go with him?”
As the two were leaving, Tang Qinian’s weak voice came from behind.
Qin Qing turned to look at Tang Qinian, paused for a moment, and kindly reminded him: “Being a lapdog never ends well. You’d better watch out or you might lose your life.”
Both the original body and Tang Qinian were lapdogs, and both had lost their lives.
Though Tang Qinian’s death was more… spectacular. He handed over his family’s business to the female lead, died saving her, and earned two worthless tears from her in return.
Tang Qinian’s lips twitched, and he gritted his teeth: “That’s something I should be saying to you!”
When it came to the status and pedigree of being a lapdog, who dared to compete with her, Qin Qing!
Qin Qing didn’t argue with him. The fingers hanging at her side curled slightly.
The yin energy on Tang Qinian vanished in an instant.
As if remembering something, she asked, “Why were you trying to catch me earlier?”
Tang Qinian gave a smile that didn’t reach his eyes: “You have the nerve to ask? How many days have you not been home?”
Qin Qing flipped through the original body’s memories—they were all about the male and female leads, with very vague recollections of family.
She shook her head. “I forgot.”
Tang Qinian laughed in exasperation: “You haven’t been home for three months! Your brother is going out of his mind with worry. He told me to grab you and bring you back if I saw you!”
His gaze probed Qin Qing intently. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but tonight Qin Qing’s words and mannerisms were exactly like his good friend Qin Zhiyan’s.
Tang Qinian suppressed his suspicion and sighed: “If Zhiyan knew you had skills like this, he wouldn’t always worry about you getting bullied.”
Qin Zhiyan, the original body’s older brother, was a gentle and powerful person.
Qin Qing’s heart softened almost imperceptibly, and the aloofness in her expression faded slightly.
Seeing her demeanor relax, Tang Qinian felt a surge of hope and continued to persuade:
“Ah Qing, Zhiyan misses you. Come home.”
Qin Qing’s red lips parted slightly, but suddenly her wrist was brushed by warm fingertips.
Fu Shuheng’s breath swept past her earlobe, his voice low and magnetic, almost seductive.
“On our wedding night, are you trying to avoid fulfilling your marital duties?”