Chapter 35: Collateral Damage
The phone screen reflected the girl’s reddened eye rims. Her fingertips hovered over the keyboard, hesitating to press down.
The cursor in the chat box blinked incessantly. Ruan Yi typed “You are not allowed to die,” deleted it, changed it to “You better come alive for me!”, but cleared it all again before sending.
After repeating this three times, she bit her lower lip and finally, tremblingly, typed out: “You idiot, don’t you like me?”
Pausing for a moment, just as she wanted to retract it, she stopped her movement and added another sentence.
“As long as you can get better, I will be your real girlfriend, okay?”
Ruan Yi slammed the phone face down onto her knees, her whole body going limp as if her strength had been drained away.
Doing all this was just self-comfort. She knew perfectly well he couldn’t see it.
How could there be a vicious supporting villainess in this world who couldn’t bear harming people?
In her eyes, Fu Wang wasn’t just a paper page lightly turned over in a novel, nor was he cannon fodder that could be deleted or altered at will.
That was a human life, a living, breathing human life.
Ruan Yi leaned back against the chair wearily, intending to close her eyes and rest.
Suddenly, a patch of scarlet appeared before her eyes, and a piercing ringing sounded in her brain.
Bullet comments like lines of blood poured out from the void.
[As expected, the vicious supporting villainess is harming people again.]
[Who is she going to kill next time after killing Fu Wang this time?]
[Her mom is probably next too, hahaha.]
[Give up. Who can an idiot like you save?]
[So what if you’re reborn? Do you know who killed you?]
[You can’t escape. You can’t escape. YOU CAN’T ESCAPE!!!]
Memories on the operating table hit like a tidal wave.
She couldn’t be influenced by these disgusting bullet comments. Absolutely not.
Ruan Yi gasped for air and closed her eyes. Cold air poured into her lungs, the sound of her heartbeat shaking her eardrums painfully.
Mustering her courage to open her eyes again, the sunlight in her field of vision was a bit blinding. Those terrifying words just now seemed to have never existed.
She tried to turn fate around, but such alterations seemed to require paying a price.
Ruan Yi’s throat felt tight. clearly, it was broad daylight, yet she felt countless eyes peeping at her from the dark.
But this clearly wasn’t the first change. In this life, her attitude toward the protagonist was completely different from the previous life, and she repeatedly made her mother get checkups to avoid the plot.
Why could these changes slide through the timeline safe and sound?
Her pupils trembled in her chaotic thoughts. Could it be that she is destined not to dissolve the engagement with Shen Xun?
When she tried to violate the absolute framework of the story setting, she welcomed sanctions.
Could this be the legendary… system punishment!
But why punish Fu Wang? This goddamned world, come at me if you have the guts.
Ruan Yi mocked herself in her heart. Probably because the vicious supporting villainess had more scenes and couldn’t die too easily.
Whenever she recalled the scarlet text, she felt a chill down her spine, but she had to steady her emotions and absolutely could not be affected.
Those plotlines that would cause harm to her familyāno matter what, she had to stop them, even if… she had to die again.
It was just that… she couldn’t let the innocent be implicated anymore.
A warm sensation suddenly pressed against Ruan Yi’s cheek. It was a cup of warm milk tea.
“Little Yi, your complexion is very bad.”
Lin Han’s tone was full of worry. She placed the milk tea steadily into Ruan Yi’s palm.
“Five-points sugar taro pureĆ© milk. It won’t taste good if it gets cold.”
“I’m fine. Wow, taro pureĆ© milk. Han-han understands me best.” Ruan Yi curved her lips. She didn’t want Lin Han to worry, but the smile on her face was so sweet it was somewhat bitter.
Lin Han looked at Ruan Yi, who bowed her head to drink the milk tea. Her small face glowed with a porcelain-like pale luster, yet she was forcing a smile to pretend she was happy. This appearance of ‘pity me’ would make anyone’s heart ache.
“Ruan Yi, I want to ask you something.”
The unusual tone made Ruan Yi stiffen. She forced herself to look straight into Lin Han’s eyes.
“Those weird metaphors you made before, about how people who get close to your brother will turn gay.”
Lin Han’s tone carried a probing question.
“Your suspect wouldn’t happen to be Fu Jingchen, right?”
Her eyes suddenly widened into circles, choking on the milk tea and coughing twice in succession.
Lin Han actually guessed it. Was Fu Jingchen too obviously gay, or was her reaction too obvious?
How Ruan Yi wished she could just dump the truth of the novel world onto Lin Han in one go.
But she couldn’t. Leaving aside whether she would be struck dead by lightning directly, if it implicated her best friend just like it implicated Fu Wang, Ruan Yi would really have to pay with her life to atone.
“H-how is that possible! I was talking nonsense, haha. You really know how to joke.”
Ruan person was just short of writing the five big words “How did you know” on her face.
“Is something wrong with you! Which part of Fu Jingchen looks like a homosexual?” Lin Han’s voice was so shocked it almost cracked.
“Aiya, just kidding.”
Ruan Yi was really breaking down. Of course, she could understand Lin Han’s thoughts. Not one of these guys looked like a gay man.
If every one of them had a full beard, a round body, and charming expressions…
Then in her past life, would she have followed behind Professor Fu drooling like a waterfall?
Ruan Yi didn’t want to believe it either. Time and time again of self-doubt, yet time and time again forced to be firm in her thoughts.
“This kind of joke? Little Yi, do you really not need to see a doctor?” Lin Han’s tone was very sincere, almost a heartfelt suggestion.
Because she knew her too well, she thought Ruan Yi’s state wasn’t quite right.
“Really fine.”
Just as I thought, absolutely cannot say it out loud. I’ll be sent to a mental hospital.
After returning home, just as she got out of the car, she heard footsteps behind her.
What a coincidence. Fu Jingchen and she arrived home at the same time.
Ruan Yi remembered what she promised Ah Zhi earlier. She planned to terminate her internship at NovaVoy.
“Fu Jingchen, let’s talk.”
“What is it, Little Yi?” The man turned to respond, his tone carrying an imperceptible softness when calling her.
“I won’t continue the internship,” Ruan Yi said decisively, thinking that even if he used reverse psychology this time, it would be useless.
“I respect all of Little Yi’s choices.”
A reply completely different from what she anticipated. The man’s expression was gentle, and he unexpectedly didn’t use the agreement to scare her.
He reached his fingers into his suit’s inner pocket, his movements gentle, as if taking out something precious.
With the rustling of paper, a small notebook was taken out. After she saw it clearly, she was a bit stunned.
It was actually her “Secret Learning Notebook.” Why did Fu Jingchen keep it on him? Did he open it to mock her when bored at work, using it to amuse himself?
It couldn’t possibly be that he really helped her perfect the content.
He handed the notebook to Ruan Yi, the arc of his mouth raised in a modest and natural way.
“Open it and take a look. I also made notes on the errors and loopholes in your previous notes for you.”
Ruan Yi took the little notebook somewhat sluggishly. She hesitated for a few seconds before opening it. Looking at the neat handwriting on the paper, she was so shocked that her previously pursed pink lips opened unconsciously.
Is this called notes? This could already be called an answer key. Every sentence was a concise key point, held back by nothing.
Her long-winded essays weren’t as good as a casual sentence written by Fu Jingchen.
This man, whom she always labeled as a “hypocritical old pervert” in her heart, really helped her a lot.
“Th… thank you.” It was gratitude from the heart. Ruan Yi even felt a bit apologetic inside.
“Although this is only a small part of the content, I believe this can already allow Little Yi to take over the inheritance management more smoothly.” The steady tone revealed an unquestionable confidence.
Actually just a part of the content… Then if she continued to stay at NovaVoy, wouldn’t she be able to learn more useful things?
Why was he so kind and good-hearted? Was this still the Fu Jingchen she knew? Could it be that the bad guy who drugged Ah Zhi in the past life really wasn’t him?
But whether it was the memories in her mind or the bullet comments emphasizing his identity, he was undoubtedly one of the protagonist gongs of the forced love literature.
How could he exhibit such disjointed behavior?
Ruan Yi’s heart was in chaos, but the fact that Fu Jingchen was a protagonist couldn’t be denied, and she wouldn’t waver.
“That… can I go back on my word? Retract what I said earlier.” She swallowed, her voice getting smaller and smaller.
The girl quietly looked up, meeting those deep eyes hiding a sharp edge. At this moment, they were filled with smiling intent, making her so ashamed she hurriedly looked away.
“Assistant Ruan performed very well. If you are willing to stay, of course āā “
He swallowed the phrase “I couldn’t ask for more” back into his throat.
She wanted to cherish the opportunity to learn skills, urgently wanting to improve herself until she could shoulder more.
As for her brother, she would just coax him properly. Ah Zhi wouldn’t bear to be angry with her.
The corners of Ruan Yi’s mouth curved upward uncontrollably. “Then it’s a deal. I will continue to be a good little assistant.”
After speaking, she strode away, flipping through the little notebook as she walked. Her brisk steps betrayed the girl’s current little jubilation.
Watching the girl’s retreating figure, the man’s Adam’s apple rolled up and down a few times, swallowing all the surging emotions back into his chest.
His knuckles-defined fingers reached into his trouser pocket, fingertips stroking the soft silk handkerchief. Uncontrollable emotion finally spilled from the corners of his mouth, a smile seeping from the corners of his eyes.
Like the dark tide surging under a deep pool, clearly turbulent enough to drown a person, yet pretending to be incredibly gentle.
The frightened lovely bird would eventually fly back into the carefully woven golden cage of its own accord.
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