Xiao Fan: “You violated the rules.”
“?”
Xie Ling and Ji Xue stepped out of the office one after the other, walking back the way they came. Hearing Xiao Fan’s electronic voice, Xie Ling froze in her tracks, lost in a momentary daze.
She had thought she got away with it just now; she never expected to be called out so quickly.
Had she known, she would have waited a moment longer in the hallway. Right now, standing on the stairs, whichever part of her got hit by the electric shock would likely be more than enough to handle.
Ji Xue was walking right in front of Xie Ling, her simply tied black hair swaying back and forth behind her as she descended the steps.
Xie Ling’s brow furrowed tightly. She took a deep breath and sidestepped as much as possible, trying her best not to drag Ji Xue down with her.
The punishment arrived a bit later than expected. Seeing that there were only four or five steps left to the bottom of the staircase, Xie Ling’s feet suddenly went numb.
Having prepared in advance, Xie Ling’s knees buckled under the tingling pain, but her arm resting on the handrail exerted force at the same time, forcibly stabilizing her posture to keep herself from pitching forward or tipping backward.
Falling on the stairs was extremely dangerous!
Yet despite all her preparations, Xie Ling still let out a groan of pain as her knee smashed against the sharp edge of the step.
Ji Xue had already reached the landing and turned around upon hearing the sound. Her expression turned to one of surprise when she discovered Xie Ling’s disheveled state.
Xie Ling ignored Ji Xue, resigning herself to her fate as she sat on the stairs, rubbing her knees and calves on her own.
Ji Xue hesitated and took two steps back, her mind replaying that muffled groan Xie Ling had just let out.
Looking at the shadow cast in front of her, Xie Ling could no longer pretend not to notice. She slowly raised her head, a fierce look on her face as she said in a fierce tone, “What are you looking at? Haven’t you ever slipped on your feet before?”
Ji Xue: “…”
Finishing her sentence, Xie Ling stopped what she was doing, lowered her head to take a deep breath, and reached for the handrail to see if she could stand up.
Ji Xue watched her in silence. Realizing what she wanted to do, she hurriedly lowered herself and reached out one hand, her face expressionless while her lips were pressed into a thin line.
Looking at the fair yet far from delicate hand that suddenly appeared before her, Xie Ling said coldly, “You want me to pity you?”
Ji Xue: “…”
Immediately giving up the struggle, Xie Ling let out a loud roar right where she was: “Xiao Mu!”
Ji Xue was stunned, completely unable to understand why Xie Ling’s attitude had flipped back and forth like that, leaving her no choice but to awkwardly retract her hand.
Hearing the summons, Xiao Mu rushed to the scene at lightning speed. He took one look at the young miss sitting motionless on the stairs and wore a look of confusion.
Xie Ling narrowed her eyes at the man who was much taller than Ji Xue, looking somewhat angry: “Why are you so lacking in situational awareness? Come over and help me up!”
Xiao Mu quickly stepped forward to support her. Seeing that the young miss couldn’t even stand steadily, he thought it would be better to just pick her up and carry her. To his surprise, the moment he extended his hands, they were ruthlessly swatted away by the young miss.
“If I tell you to support me, don’t go improvising extra scenes!”
Xiao Mu: “…”
Ji Xue: “…”
Xie Ling hadn’t fallen very badly; it was just that the compounding numbness and pain from the electric shock made her movements a bit uncoordinated, forcing her to limp her way toward the car with some assistance.
Xiao Fu was sharp-witted. Noticing that Xie Ling’s walking posture looked a bit off, he started the engine, made a U-turn, and parked the car right in front of the steps.
Under Ji Xue’s gaze, Xie Ling got into the car with stiff movements.
Still in shock and confusion, Ji Xue stood on the stairs and watched the car gradually drive away. She closed her eyes gently, her mood somewhat complicated.
She always felt that the muffled groan Xie Ling had made when she fell earlier felt like she had heard it somewhere before, but she couldn’t remember when or where she had heard it.
Clearly, her intersections with Xie Ling were few, and the number of times they met could be counted on one hand.
Moreover, her attitude toward her was utterly baffling, fluctuating between good and bad, leaving people completely unable to figure her out.
Yet she simply couldn’t control herself; she wanted to care about her every move.
A moment later, she stepped down the stairs, her sneakers firmly planting onto the cyan brick pavement. Just as she wanted to lift her foot, she suddenly froze, her heart tightening inwardly as an absurd thought flashed through her mind.
Could it be that time she was taken to the hospital?
Did Xie Ling fall when she was carrying her up the stairs, too?
But she clearly hadn’t felt anything at all. No, if she thought about it carefully, she did vaguely feel her body sway a bit at that time.
So it was…
“Xie Ling, what kind of person are you, really?”
Probably a total chump.
Xie Ling leaned against the back of her seat, staring at the car roof and falling into deep contemplation, her mood plummeting to the absolute bottom.
Wasn’t she just a complete chump?
There were thousands of novel writers in the world, and there were stories far more exaggerated than hers. Why on earth did she have to transmigrate into this ghost of a place, only to be bound to such an unreasonable system? It really pissed her off to no end.
Xiao Fan: “You don’t really need to have this much resentment. You need to understand and believe that you aren’t the only one, nor are you special; you are just one of many.”
Xie Ling: “…”
Xiao Fan: “No matter how you look at it, meeting me is your blessing. Without this system, you wouldn’t even have the chance to be reborn.”
“…”
Xiao Fan: “After all, judging by your original luck, you wouldn’t have been reincarnated as a rich socialite in eight lifetimes.”
Xie Ling refused to accept this: “Your great-grandpa!”
Xiao Fan: “Woman, don’t take advantage and still act aggrieved.”
Xie Ling’s mouth twitching as she thought to herself, “What kind of vocabulary are you using? Have you been possessed by some ancient domineering CEO?”
“…”
Coming out of the school, Xie Ling glanced at the black car parked by the school gate, wisely choosing to turn a blind eye, though she couldn’t help but marvel inwardly at Lin Man’s persistence and grit.
Clearly, just a short while ago, Lin Man had come aggressively to settle scores, claiming Xie Ling had lost her business partners. Yet now, Lin Man still managed to spare the energy to track down Ji Xue. Truly, love was greater than everything else, and the domineering CEO was the ultimate simp.
At this thought, Xie Ling’s face darkened.
Every time she marveled like this, it felt as though she were stabbing herself with a knife. Self-deprecating humor like this really tested her sense of shame.
Sigh.
To her surprise, however, the Maybach, whose rear end had been affectionately kissed by her little white car not long ago, was now boarding a girl dressed in black.
She had just met with Ji Xue, and no matter how tired her eyes were, she wouldn’t mistake the color or person. Besides, why did that figure look so much like the person who had just been hiding at the back door of the office eavesdropping?
What was going on?
Xie Ling couldn’t help looking back, only to see the car start up immediately and speed away from her side, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Did Lin Man change targets?
This quickly?
No way, right?
She remembered giving Lin Man a pretty long-lasting character setting!
Really, what the hell!
Because there was no fixed destination, the car drove rather slowly. The taciturn Xiao Fu glanced sideways and signaled to Xiao Mu, who proactively turned back and asked, “Are you heading home now, or…?”
Xie Ling was still turned sideways, looking out the window, and casually replied, “Let’s go home.”
Acting as a part-time driver, Xiao Fu immediately pressed down harder on the accelerator and sped up.
Xie Ling slowly withdrew her gaze.
It was already close to three in the afternoon when she arrived home. Xie Ling lay on the sofa, glancing at the pile of disinfected packages in the entryway, and lazily moved her fingers.
After becoming rich, Xie Ling discovered that unboxing packages every day could actually get boring; her current state was that the initial passion was long gone.
She bought too many things to remember what was inside all those cardboard boxes, and right now she didn’t want to move at all, wanting only to sprawl on the couch and play dead.
A moment later, the phone beside her buzzed twice. Xie Ling picked it up for a quick look, unlocked WeChat, and saw two inconsequential notification messages. She backed out, looked at her group list for a moment, and finally asked a question in the four-person group: What do you want to eat tonight? Order whatever you want.
“Drink more hot water” replied first: Steamed fish head with chopped chili peppers!
“Give you a punch” followed closely behind: Steamed oysters! And throw in some grilled lamb kidneys!
“Counter-punch”: Then let’s have pepper and sea snail slice soup.
Xie Ling laughed as she looked at the menu. At the same time, the door unlocked, and the auntie who had gone out grocery shopping returned.
Xie Ling turned her head to look at the auntie and asked, “Auntie, are there any fish heads, oysters, kidneys, or sea snail slices at home?”
The auntie paused, glanced at the bags in her hand, and hesitated: “There are no kidneys. Do we need them for tonight? I can go out and buy some right now.”
Xie Ling gave an affirmative nod: “Then I’m sorry to trouble you.”
The auntie hurriedly did some preliminary processing on the vegetables she had just brought back, grabbed her keys, opened the door, and headed out.
Xie Ling lowered her head to look at her phone again, thought about it for a moment, and edited a message: Shall we come over now to discuss the Lin family’s affairs?
Did she really want to drive the Lin family to bankruptcy? What if she didn’t?
Then the Xie family would go bankrupt.
The Xie and Lin families could not possibly coexist peacefully; it was a matter of destiny, and one of them had to fall.
Given this, Xie Ling had no choice but to choose to protect the Xie family.
Though she didn’t want to personally drag Lin Man down from the shining stage, she wanted to experience Xie Ling’s life firsthand even less. So she had no other choice.
Xiao Fan sneered: “That’s right. When you’re typing on your keyboard, you never hold back.”
“I disagree with that.” Xie Ling often held back when writing, alright? In her eight years of writing, though she hadn’t earned much in royalties, her tendonitis was quite severe.
Xiao Fan: “Shut up, you don’t need to answer.”
“…”
Xie Ling rolled her eyes and clicked send, but the chat group fell silent.
Xie Ling sighed, thinking that perhaps what she said last time had been a bit too harsh and they were still a bit upset. Deciding not to force it, she exited WeChat and opened a Penguin group she hadn’t checked in a long time.
Not looking at it was fine, but once she looked, she discovered that the matter of her and Ji Xue having the same paper had already spread throughout the school and grade group.
The speed at which the messages rolled by was staggering.
Xie Ling frowned as she watched, her fingers pressing gently against the screen as her brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
No way? How did the two of them get tangled up together?
Doesn’t that eldest miss of the Xie family rarely come to school? How could she possibly copy that white lotus! I don’t believe it!
What white lotus? She’s pretty and has great grades; you’re just jealous!
Exactly, exactly! With her scores, does she need to copy a mere paper?!
Then it must be that eldest miss who copied! She doesn’t show up once in a blue moon, what decent thing could she possibly turn in? She definitely used some shady methods!
I spit on you! Green-eyed monsters just love spouting garbage!
…
Xie Ling felt mentally exhausted reading it, but looking at it from another angle, the consequences of this incident didn’t even require her to do much manipulation; everything was developing according to the script.
However, just as she relaxed a little, Xie Ling noticed the public sentiment felt a bit off. The rapidly scrolling chat interface seemed to show a one-sided trend, with eighty percent of the remarks turning into attacks against her, ranging from her family background to her character, all being torn to shreds and leaving her with not a single redeeming quality.
“…”
Was someone manipulating the narrative here?
Xie Ling couldn’t help but recall the car and the girl in black she had seen at the school gate when she was leaving.
So, Lin Man, who didn’t have a script, had made a move ahead of time?
For Ji Xue’s sake, she had proactively snatched away the plotline that originally belonged to Xie Ling and started self-directing and acting?
Xie Ling couldn’t help tapping the system: “Lin Man stole Xie Ling’s plot. Is that okay?”
“What’s wrong with that? Aren’t you also preparing to drive the Lin family to bankruptcy?” Xiao Fan said nonchalantly.
Xie Ling: “…”
“Isn’t this violating the rules?”
Xiao Fan: “Haven’t you been electrocuted yet?”
“…”