Chapter 76

The vase from Qiang Wei hit Fu Sang square in the head, leaving her seeing stars and everyone else stunned. Qiang Wei let out a soft breath. Fu Sang didn't pass out, but she collapsed to her knees.

The others snapped back to reality but made no move to stop her.

Yan Qingqiu was quick to speak. "Don't kill her. From now on, hit her every time you see her. Damn it."

Hearing that, Qiang Wei gained confidence and nodded firmly. "Okay." It felt too good.

Yan Qingqiu had been itching to hit Fu Sang for a long time but had held back due to her status. She cracked her knuckles and muttered, "Serves you right! If there's a next time, don't blame me for not holding back."

Several people surrounded Fu Sang, leaving her unable to defend herself. She could only look at Su Xingjie, signaling with her eyes.

But Su Xingjie ignored her, keeping her distance, crossing her long legs with an indifferent expression, her right hand pinching her little finger.

"Do you know what I want to say?" Fu Sang asked her.

Yan Qingqiu cut in, cursing, "Who cares what you have to say? You're just despicable. Do you think I don't know about your little schemes? You need to learn when to stop, or one day you won't even know how you died."

"I second that," Song Qingre chimed in.

The moment she spoke, the others felt reassured, knowing Song Qingre wasn't someone to be trifled with. Qiang Wei also sat down.

Just as Fu Sang was about to speak, Su Xingjie stood up, not giving her a chance to explain. "Qiang Wei did the right thing." This time, she couldn't even be bothered to scold her.

Yan Qingqiu gestured for everyone to leave. Song Qingre went to settle the bill, while Yan Qingqiu walked over to comfort Qiang Wei. "Don't take it to heart. People like her deserve a beating. Don't have any psychological burden. If she threatens you again, hit her every time you see her. After a few beatings, see if she dares to do it again, see if she dares to make an example of you. Besides, given her current situation, she wouldn't dare call the police."

Indeed, Fu Sang was in a dire predicament, drowning in debt. If this got to the police, they'd probably think she was just making a fuss. She couldn't handle anything on her own and relied entirely on the authorities. Anyone would find her tiresome, and the police weren't there to referee petty squabbles and slap fights.

As she spoke, Yan Qingqiu shot Fu Sang a glare, then turned to take Su Xingjie's hand and lead her away. Song Qingre and Qiang Wei followed behind.

"Xingjie!"

"Su Xingjie!"

Su Xingjie pretended not to hear.

They slipped out of the café. Fu Sang propped herself up on the table and stood, her head still spinning, her neck damp from the cold water, her clothes soaking. She needed to sort herself out, but she couldn't help glaring at Su Xingjie outside.

Su Xingjie got into the car, then got out again a few seconds later. She opened the door, and Qiang Wei was still sitting in the back seat. Fu Sang felt a fire ignite inside her, blazing.

Yan Qingqiu, who was still there, stood by the roadside, bending down to talk to them. "I'll send you the schedule from the police station later. As long as she doesn't pay back the money, we'll know where she is every day. We'll just avoid her then. We don't need to cross paths with that ill-fated thing."

Qiang Wei nodded and smiled, but her fingers were trembling. She clasped one hand with the other to steady them.

Su Xingjie drove off, but not far. She looked at Qiang Wei in the rearview mirror and said, "Thank you for what you did earlier."

"Huh?" Qiang Wei looked up to see only Su Xingjie's hair. Su Xingjie rarely fussed over her hair, simply tying it in a ponytail. Her hair was of good quality, hanging straight down her back. When light hit it, it occasionally shimmered with a faint golden hue.

She radiated her own light.

"It's nothing."

Su Xingjie genuinely meant her thanks. That moment had felt so helpless, as if every time she closed her eyes, it was her death knell.

The reason she'd told Qiang Wei she could pretend nothing happened was because she understood all too well—what it was like to hold a secret you couldn't tell, to have it dragged out again and again, to face doomsday every day, living in constant fear.

The fact that Fu Sang threatened her with this only proved one thing: she wasn't the real Yan Qingqiu. That's why she treated a memory Su Xingjie had locked away forever as a secret, and even now, she'd pull it out and flaunt it.

Su Xingjie almost laughed. Fu Sang thought she could use this to threaten her into obedience. Fu Sang was overthinking it. Even if the secret leaked, even if their relationship fell apart, she would never stoop to Fu Sang's level or do anything against her own feelings. She was truly grateful to Qiang Wei for today, and glad she'd made the right choice by not letting a small matter drive Qiang Wei away from the company.

Qiang Wei looked down at her fingers, which had been trembling just moments ago but were now steady.

"I'm glad I could help you." She traced the patterns on the seat, the leather cool to the touch in the weather.

Outside the window, cold light fell upon the towering buildings of the city, their blue glass gleaming. The window was rolled down a crack, letting in a cold breeze that dissipated much of the tension inside the car.

"Thank you, too," Qiang Wei added.

When she'd left the company earlier, Su Xingjie had said that crawling out of one's shell would be painful, but after the pain, things would gradually get better—eventually.

Qiang Wei had once thought resigning was the only way out. That statement had moved her then, soothing her heart.

So, she'd thought, she'd try not to crawl out of her shell.

But when the city was buried in heavy snow and there was nowhere to hide, that umbrella had been held over her head, and she admired the world beneath it.

She found it heartwarming. Su Xingjie had held that umbrella for her, and now she wanted to hold it up for Su Xingjie in return.

·

Three minutes after the car drove off, Yan Qingqiu watched from a distance, still lingering. She turned to look back into the café. Song Qingre asked softly, "What's wrong?"

Yan Qingqiu said, "Nothing. You go on ahead."

Song Qingre could tell what she was up to. "I'll stay with you," she said.

Their eyes met, and Yan Qingqiu felt her little secret exposed. Song Qingre silently offered her support.

Yan Qingqiu cracked her knuckles and strode back inside, determined to have a proper talk with Fu Sang, to teach her the meaning of a secret.

Fu Sang was in the restroom, dabbing at the water on her clothes with paper towels. When Yan Qingqiu pushed the door open, Fu Sang caught her reflection in the mirror and frowned deeply, guessing Yan Qingqiu was there to cause trouble.

She subtly released her pheromones.

But Yan Qingqiu, being an SSS-rank omega, sensed it even though Fu Sang's pheromones were odorless. "You'd better save that pheromone of yours. Otherwise, I'll contact the police and say you're threatening me with pheromones. Then we'll see who ends up locked up and who walks free."

Yan Qingqiu stood at the door, threatening her, utterly unreasonable.

Even more unreasonable was the law of this world.

Fu Sang was an SSS-rank alpha, extremely rare, but because of their powerful mental strength, they had many restrictions—unlike omegas, who were protected by numerous laws.

The stark difference existed because in this world, high-mental-strength alphas were automatically sent to military school by the state, regardless of their background.

And omega protection laws were so strict because, for omegas, no matter who they mated with, their children would be top-tier—a single child was equivalent to a weapons arsenal.

Rumor had it that if an SSS-rank omega mated with a high-rank alpha and gave birth to an alpha, that alpha's mental strength would be measured in nuclear units.

But that was just hearsay; the specifics were unclear, as an SSS-rank omega appeared only once in centuries.

Fu Sang was intimidated by her words and retracted her pheromones.

"You sure knew how to pick your moment, choosing to be an omega from the start," Fu Sang said through gritted teeth, clearly envious.

"No, I was already an omega when I came in."

"Did Song Qingre help you?"

Fu Sang clearly didn't know, but Yan Qingqiu seized the chance to sow discord. "The System recommended it to me. It said being an alpha had no future—someone else had already tried and achieved nothing. So it had me choose omega and rewarded me with the highest rank."

Fu Sang's expression shifted immediately. She was an intensely jealous person, and hearing this, she knew the System was playing favorites.

"The only downside is I didn't recognize at first that you're the useless alpha the System was talking about."

Fu Sang was provoked, and Yan Qingqiu decided to be utterly shameless. She tilted her head and grinned at her. "Come on, come on, hit me! Don't think there are no cameras here. If you hit me, I'd have no proof, but I've been recording the entire way here—just turned off in this private area. I came in just fine, and if I leave with injuries, you can't blame that on me, can you?"

Yan Qingqiu relentlessly provoked her. "Just a few words and you're already upset? Why didn't you think about how Xing Xing felt earlier? Don't think I don't know why you were threatening her."

All that taunting was just a lead-up to that last line.

Fu Sang didn't want to engage, but Yan Qingqiu wasn't about to let her off. She locked the bathroom door. She'd thought about leaning against it but found it dirty, so she braced herself with her right hand instead, her expression arrogant.

Fu Sang had reached her limit, but she couldn't do anything to Yan Qingqiu. "Yan Qingqiu, don't push your luck."

"If you've got the guts, hit me. Hit me!" Yan Qingqiu deliberately provoked her. "If you hit me, I'll have you locked up right now. Hee-hee, we'll see if Dad still claims you as his daughter. Come on, hit me. Try it."

Fu Sang's fingers clenched.

"Doesn't feel good being threatened, does it?" Yan Qingqiu was intentionally fighting fire with fire. "Isn't threatening your specialty? Go ahead, try threatening me."

Just as Fu Sang opened her mouth, Yan Qingqiu cut her off. "If you dare do anything to me, I'll have Song Qingre beat you to death. And I'll stand right in front of her, so you won't dare touch her or do anything to her."

Yan Qingqiu glimpsed her own reflection in the mirror and thought she was being utterly despicable. If she were in Fu Sang's shoes, she'd slap herself twice.

Fu Sang clearly couldn't take it anymore. Her knuckles cracked as she clenched her fist, then she threw a punch at the mirror, shattering it into pieces.

"Don't get too cocky. Even walking at night, you'll slip. If you keep provoking me, I might just..."

"I'm the female lead. You think you can kill me?" Yan Qingqiu said coldly. "Do you think the System would let you get away with that? And you're not the female lead yet, are you?"

She tapped her head, fishing for information. "The System told me only it decides who to bind as the female lead. It's still in my head right now."

If the System were willing to kill her, it would have done so long ago.

Yan Qingqiu had every one of Fu Sang's vulnerabilities pinned down. Fu Sang truly couldn't harm her; the best she could do was steal the female lead title away. But she didn't want to do the female lead's tasks. She wanted Yan Qingqiu to have it.

Yan Qingqiu had her own selfish motive too: if only the System in her head could leave. She wanted Fu Sang to find a way to make the System abandon her.

Having riled Fu Sang to the breaking point, Yan Qingqiu got down to business.

But Fu Sang didn't intend to continue the conversation. She walked toward Yan Qingqiu, hand raised to push her aside and get out of the restroom.

Yan Qingqiu refused to let her pass, holding the door firmly. "Don't go yet. Let's talk about Xing Xing."

Fu Sang's hand paused.

"Don't think I don't know what you wanted to say at the restaurant earlier. You were going to say Xing Xing likes me, weren't you?" Yan Qingqiu said. "Well, you misjudged that. Xing Xing told me long ago that when she was young and innocent, she had feelings for me. But after you disgusted her, she cut off all romantic ties. Compared to love, she prefers us being good friends."

Fu Sang was stunned, but quickly recovered. "You know? She couldn't have told you that."

Fu Sang considered herself quite familiar with Su Xingjie. If Su Xingjie had told Yan Qingqiu, she wouldn't have panicked so much every time Fu Sang threatened her.

Yan Qingqiu's heart was racing too; she'd been speculating before she spoke. But now she was certain—so that was the secret.

Yan Qingqiu hadn't known what Fu Sang was using to threaten Xing Xing, but she'd been worried, thinking hard until she figured it out.

"Having feelings for someone isn't a big deal. Who hasn't liked someone kind and gentle when they were young? It's just hormones—you can't control that." The more Yan Qingqiu thought about it, the more her heart ached. She imagined her best friend had been tormented by this secret, losing sleep.

"She said it was a childhood crush, born from the admiration she had for a friend she knew as a kid. That's why she liked me. As she grew up, that feeling turned into family love. She's lost contact with her parents, so now I'm her only family. She's afraid of losing me, and she's always been scared you'd blow things out of proportion and ruin our bond."

As Fu Sang listened, she realized clearly that her hold over Su Xingjie was gone. She tried to shove Yan Qingqiu aside, but as soon as her hand touched her, everything went soft.

Song Qingre's mental space?

She frowned deeply, tried to push again, and a headache began to bloom.

But Yan Qingqiu felt nothing. She was a gifted talker, endlessly prattling on, each word piercing Fu Sang's ears.

She made Fu Sang miserable, vowing to keep Su Xingjie's secret buried, to let it rot in Fu Sang's stomach forever.

"Don't deny it. You know she doesn't like you. She likes the original Miss Yan—the one who was so kind to her, who pulled her out of the darkness, who saved her from all those unhappy memories." Yan Qingqiu didn't shy away from praising that Miss Yan.

Then she added, "Oh, and the moment you threatened her, she must have figured it out. You never deserved to be the Miss Yan in her heart."

Fu Sang snapped back to reality. Right—by threatening her, she'd basically exposed herself.

Her hand brushed against Yan Qingqiu, but it burned like an electric shock, and her fingers ached as old memories surged back.

Was Song Qingre going to flay her alive again?

But this time, the pain struck her heart.

"Get out of my way," Fu Sang snarled, starting to scream. "Did you hear me? Move! Move, move!"

"I won't. I'm not done talking." Yan Qingqiu stood her ground, speaking slowly and deliberately. She had to make this crystal clear. She lifted her chin with an air of superiority, making Fu Sang feel nothing but utter contempt from her.

This wife-and-wife duo was terrifying. Song Qingre suppressed her mental strength while Yan Qingqiu jabbed her with words. "It's because when you were Miss Yan, you kept threatening her, kept subtly manipulating her, that she never dared to say this out loud, never let herself come to terms with it. You left her with severe psychological scars. You made her feel that admitting her feelings was shameful. That's why she's never liked anyone since. She's always been afraid to love. Even now, even though she only sees me as family, she still treads carefully to maintain this friendship. You failed as a friend. You never deserved to be her friend!"

"You're unworthy!"

Fu Sang couldn't hold back and threw a punch. Yan Qingqiu dodged, and Fu Sang hit the door instead. Yan Qingqiu swung back, delivering a blow of her own, avenging Su Xingjie's years of suffering. "You'll always owe Xing Xing."

Fu Sang's eyes were red. She wanted to grab Yan Qingqiu by the throat, just like Song Qingre had done to her. She gritted her teeth. "You don't know anything. If it weren't for me, Song Qingre would have killed her long ago."

Yan Qingqiu pulled out her phone, threatening to call the police, defending Song Qingre. "That's impossible. Don't pin that on her."

"Do you know what happens to her in the original plot?" Fu Sang said. "Because her mother remarried and didn't care for her, she had no home. Then Song Qingre, the big villain, targeted her, and she died miserably—bankrupt, on her own birthday, leaping from a high-rise."

Yan Qingqiu was shocked, pained. She was furious at the System for assigning Su Xingjie such a fate. Why?

Yan Qingqiu refused to believe it. Still blocking the door, staring at Fu Sang who was pounding on it, she said, "I think without you, she'd be even better. She's the darling of heaven. Every time she talks about the past, she smiles. I think the old me, Song Qingre, my dad—we all treated Xing Xing well. She would never end up on that desolate path. It's the System and people like you who are pushing her toward it. Because of you, her relationship with Song Qingre deteriorated."

Yan Qingqiu emphasized, "Because of you."

The words rang in her ears like demonic whispers, and Fu Sang's emotions shattered. Her hand couldn't hold the door anymore, and her eyes were red enough to bleed.

Yan Qingqiu truly believed the System was pushing everyone to the brink. If Song Qingre hadn't intervened last time, wouldn't that wretch have gutted Xing Xing's company? Wasn't it Fu Sang's arrival that ruined Su Xingjie's relationship with Song Qingre? Didn't they cause all this?

"Don't think I don't know—you've already fallen for her. But as long as I'm here, don't even dream of it," Yan Qingqiu stabbed at her weak point. "Too bad Xing Xing will never like you. As long as she doesn't help you, as long as she doesn't love you, she'll definitely escape the fate you've planned for her. Song Qingre and I will protect her."

Fu Sang said nothing, as if choked. Yan Qingqiu understood all too well. "Your silence says it. You can't deny you like her. I know that feeling so well."

She'd felt the same way about Song Qingre at first—too shy to say it, afraid to admit it, and equally afraid to deny it.

Yan Qingqiu spoke seriously, then gave Fu Sang a hard shove, pushing her away. "A toad lusting after swan meat."

"Pfft, pathetic!"

Fu Sang bit her lip hard, her breath coming in ragged puffs from her nose. She staggered back a few steps, steadying herself against the door of a nearby stall.

To her surprise, someone was inside—a woman utterly confused, having heard everything and wondering if she'd somehow transmigrated while using the restroom.

Yan Qingqiu pushed open the door and stepped out. She felt like she reeked; she lifted her hand to sniff it. Hmph, this must be Fu Sang's stench.

Fu Sang chased after her, shouting from behind, her voice frantic, "Miss Yan is dead. She'll never come back."

Yan Qingqiu paused, turned to look at Fu Sang, but said nothing. In the long corridor, her shadow stretched long. She looked ahead at Song Qingre, who was waiting for her.

Song Qingre had heard, but she didn't move. She stood quietly in the depths of the corridor, darkness shrouding her.

Yan Qingqiu walked over slowly, step by step.

Impossible. Everyone was waiting for her to come home.

Yan Qingqiu took Song Qingre's hand and squeezed it tightly. "Come on, let's go home."

Song Qingre gave a soft hum. Their footsteps fell together as they walked away. Behind them, a scream rang out, a desperate, unwilling release of pain. Yan Qingqiu linked her arm through Song Qingre's.

Exiting the café, Song Qingre opened the car door, and Yan Qingqiu bent to sit in the back. She found a small blanket and draped it over her legs.

Song Qingre got in the driver's seat and asked, "What did she say to you?"

"She said Xing Xing's luck is bad, that she'll go bankrupt and jump off a building on her birthday. So disgusting." Yan Qingqiu felt uneasy, worried. And Su Xingjie's birthday was coming up soon.

The original plot was truly vile. Good thing she'd never followed the System's script from the start.

If the System were there, it would surely try to sow discord between her and Song Qingre, whispering that Song Qingre would cause Su Xingjie's death.

"That won't happen." Song Qingre's slender fingers gripped the steering wheel. Her tone wasn't overly firm, but it snapped Yan Qingqiu back to reality. Song Qingre's gentleness carried strength. "How could it?" she said.

Yan Qingqiu nodded. "I know."

She glanced at the navigation. "Are we going to the hospital?"

Song Qingre said, "No, just passing by. We'll go tomorrow. Let's head home first. If we go back this late, Su Xingjie might be worried, thinking Fu Sang told you something."

Yan Qingqiu thought the same. She'd already figured out how to tell Su Xingjie.

They hit rush hour traffic, crawling along. By the time they got back, they were forty minutes later than Su Xingjie.

Su Xingjie was waiting for their return, her eyes fixed on the road. When she saw their car, she stood up. But by the time Yan Qingqiu reached the living room, she'd sat back in her original spot.

Song Qingre came in behind her, checking a few text messages on her phone before sitting on the sofa. Yan Qingqiu went to the table to talk to Su Xingjie.

The tea on the table had gone cold. As Yan Qingqiu reached for it, Su Xingjie pressed her hand over the cup. "I just had some."

Yan Qingqiu draped her arm across Su Xingjie's shoulder, producing two candied hawthorn skewers—one for Su Xingjie, one for herself.

Su Xingjie looked at the skewer and asked, almost echoing Song Qingre, "Did Fu Sang say something?"

But her voice was much softer.

"I didn't care what she said. I just punched her in the face and said, 'Don't think you can ruin my relationship with Xing Xing. We're not just friends anymore—we're family. We're so close, and unless the universe ends, our bond will never break.'"

Su Xingjie studied Yan Qingqiu's face, as if assessing the truth behind her words.

"That sounds so exaggerated."

"It's what I truly feel." Yan Qingqiu sat across from her and earnestly extended her pinky. "Come on, pinky promise. I mean what I say. As long as I'm here, Xing Xing will always have a home."

Yan Qingqiu had known what it was like to be alone, and she didn't want Su Xingjie to feel lonely or to be tormented by threats, unable to sleep at night.

Su Xingjie looked at her outstretched pinky. The secrets she'd harbored, afraid of being exposed, were now sealed with a golden lock, and the key had been handed to her personally.

Yan Qingqiu's hair was shiny, her fingers warm. She wiggled her pinky playfully. "Xing Xing, I'll protect you too. Don't worry, I always will."

"Mm. Pinky promise." Su Xingjie linked her pinky with hers.