Xie Shimian heard a noise behind her and immediately turned around.
“Who’s there?”
Hua Zhi, startled by the sharp reprimand, trembled like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring.
In an instant, overwhelming panic drowned her rationality, and tears as large as beans streamed uncontrollably down her face.
She had never experienced such terror before.
Under Xie Shimian’s piercing gaze, all the shadows in Hua Zhi’s heart were laid bare.
She felt like a twisted monster lurking in the darkness, suddenly exposed to the harsh light of day.
Xie Shimian lifted her high-heeled shoe from the Alpha’s waist. “Hua Zhi?”
She softened her previously fierce expression, replacing it with a gentle smile. “School’s over? How did your exam go today?”
She took two steps forward, raising her hand to stroke Hua Zhi’s soft, fluffy hair.
But Hua Zhi retreated two steps, leaving Xie Shimian’s hand awkwardly suspended in midair.
“Zhizhi?”
Xie Shimian: ?
The kitten won’t let me pet her now?
Her old Ragdoll cat used to suddenly refuse touch too forcing it would earn her a scratch.
Hua Zhi, who had stepped back, watched as that hand reluctantly withdrew. Her heart wrenched with pain, and like a little cannonball, she suddenly threw herself into Xie Shimian’s arms.
“Sister, don’t listen to his nonsense! I can explain, I can explain everything…”
The man on the floor stared as if he’d seen a ghost, watching Hua Zhi bury herself in Xie Shimian’s embrace, soft and coquettish. Was this really the same cold-hearted girl who had callously blown up her own brother?
The young girl’s shoulders shook as she suppressed an indescribable sense of grievance.
The man on the floor, suffocated by the steel fork, glared viciously at Xie Shimian.
Xie Shimian snapped, “Get him out of here! Lying sprawled on the ground like this, what kind of disgraceful sight is this?”
He was scaring her kitten.
Security personnel quickly dragged the Alpha out by his arms, swiftly cleaning up the scene.
The Universal AI Group wouldn’t collapse just because its chairman was replaced. As long as the backing forces remained, they could simply install a new leader to keep operations running, though whether it would continue thriving was another question.
Ke Rong, lips dry, asked hesitantly, “General Manager, should we reinvestigate Hua Zhi’s background?”
Hua Zhi was clearly problematic.
Xie Shimian pressed her throbbing temples. “My head’s starting to hurt again.”
Ke Rong: “I’ll call the private doctor right away!”
Xie Shimian stared blankly at the blinding white light, murmuring, “My head hurts so much… I think my love-struck brain is growing back.”
Ke Rong: “…”
Are you ever going to stop?!
Xie Shimian stroked the sobbing kitten in her arms. “Don’t cry, or you’ll get ugly.”
Hua Zhi burst into loud wails.
She hadn’t seen disgust in Xie Shimian’s eyes, nor had she been pushed away in disdain. There was no trace of wariness or revulsion.
Her benefactor, as always, had opened her arms to her, offering an embrace that demanded nothing in return.
Once a person brushes against the edges of happiness, they become like a moth to flamem surrendering body and soul, greedily craving endless forgiveness and affection.
Inside the aircraft.
Xie Shimian asked, “Zhizhi, have you thought about how to explain?”
The girl in her arms trembled uncontrollably, her eyes red and swollen from crying, her face buried against Xie Shimian’s collarbone.
From a young age, she had lived with her mother, a mistress. After being brought into the family, her legitimate siblings had always looked down on her. They had presented early, Alphas gaining strength and the patriarch’s favor, Omegas groomed for arranged marriages and pampered in luxury. Hua Zhi, already overlooked, became even more of an afterthought when she failed to present. She became someone everyone could trample on at will.
“Little bastard, whore, selling yourself on the streets, born with the same lowly look as her mother.”
She grew up amidst curses, and as her features blossomed, her beauty stood out among the crowd.
When beauty cannot be bound to the world, beauty itself is the original sin.
She was pushed into the frozen lake, her clothes soaked and clinging to her body, revealing her beautiful curves.
An Alpha brother passed by, his eyes dark and unreadable, filled with filthy desire.
What did it matter if they were half-siblings?
An undifferentiated girl wouldn’t get pregnant no matter how she was marked. Even if the family head found out, he could claim Hua Zhi had seduced him for money.
She was dragged into a room. Faced with an overwhelming disparity in strength, Hua Zhi had no choice but to grab the longsword hanging above the fireplace and pierce his pancreas.
He didn’t die, and his harassment grew worse than before. He convinced the family head to make Hua Zhi drop out of school, threatening to force her into becoming the mistress of a potbellied merchant.
In Xie Shimian’s arms, Hua Zhi’s heart pounded violently.
She had lured him into the mine and killed him. Looking back now, she felt no regret, only that blowing him up had been too easy.
A flash of ruthlessness passed through Hua Zhi’s starry, cat-like eyes.
Hua Zhi concealed most of the truth, only saying she had been harassed by a drunken vagrant when the mine happened to explode, accidentally killing him.
Hua Zhi pleaded urgently, “Miss, believe me!”
She didn’t want Xie Shimian to think she was a villain who had killed her own brother.
Xie Shimian nodded, neither confirming nor denying her belief. “Hmm, the hard days of the past will never return.”
Her kitten was fierce outside but coquettish in front of her.
Tsk, her damn kink was stirring.
Xie Shimian despised herself: I really am a terrible woman.
The girl lay atop her, kissing Xie Shimian’s cheeks.
Each kiss was as devout as worshiping a deity.
I’m sorry, she had deceived her savior.
She was a bad child.
Bad children shouldn’t be rewarded, but Hua Zhi wanted all of Xie Shimian’s attention.
Xie Shimian ran her fingers through Hua Zhi’s long hair, gently scratching her scalp.
The kitten in her arms purred coquettishly.
Xie Shimian hesitated. “Zhizhi.”
Hua Zhi’s alarm bells rang was her savior doubting her? She glanced up fearfully, weakly calling out, “Miss.”Ke Rong perked up her ears, eager to hear the secrets of the wealthy family.”
She thought the young miss had finally realized Hua Zhi was trouble, keeping someone like her around was dangerous.
Even if Hua Zhi could treat Xie Shimian’s hormonal imbalances, keeping a person of unknown origins was no different from raising a tiger that would one day turn on her.
Xie Shimian tilted her chin. “Fasten your seatbelt. There’s a checkpoint ahead 50 yuan fine for the passenger seat.”
She pressed the overly clingy kitten back into her seat. “Don’t move. Don’t lean over and cover my face in drool.”
Hua Zhi: “…Mmm.” She’s disgusted with me.
Xie Shimian: “Ke Rong, buckle up too. The driver’s seat is a 2-point deduction and 200 yuan fine.”
“What happened today must not spread. Silence everyone at the company. If I hear even a single rumor about Hua Zhi.”
If she protected Hua Zhi’s fragile heart now, maybe she wouldn’t become as paranoid and hateful as in the original story.
If she took better care of her now, maybe Hua Zhi wouldn’t want to kill her.
Ke Rong, driving: “Understood, Miss.”So you really are a love-struck fool, huh!”
Hua Zhi nuzzled against Xie Shimian, her benefactor was so good to her.
She wished her benefactor would always favor her alone, only stroke her hair, and never look at anyone else.