Becoming a Scum A in an Old-School Melodramatic Novel - Chapter 33

“Qinghan, what do you mean ‘my Xiao Xi’? Don’t talk nonsense. I’m just here to help, that’s all. Xiao Xi still gets along best with her Sister Mu,” Shen Xian hurriedly followed beside Lin Qinghan, explaining anxiously.

The faster Lin Qinghan walked, the faster Shen Xian had to follow behind her, continuing to explain.

Suddenly, Lin Qinghan stopped in her tracks, causing Shen Xian to almost bump into her. Lin Qinghan turned around and fixed her gaze on Shen Xian, raising her eyes slightly as she said, “If you have nothing to hide, why didn’t you just tell me last night that you went out with Jiang Xi? At the end of the day, you just didn’t want me to know.”

Shen Xian was dumbfounded. She thought it wasn’t necessary to mention such a small matter last night. It was just attending a dinner party with a friend — wasn’t that completely normal? Besides, Lin Qinghan didn’t tell her she was going out with Lu Jianbai either.

“What could I possibly have to hide? I was just helping Xiao Xi, that’s all. Plus, last time when something happened, she even helped take care of Tian Tian. And didn’t you go out with Lu Jianbai without telling me?” The more Shen Xian spoke, the softer her voice became, because Lin Qinghan’s eyes were getting more and more dangerous.

Lin Qinghan didn’t expect Shen Xian to bring up old grudges. Although she hadn’t told Shen Xian she was with Lu Jianbai today, Shen Xian didn’t tell her either.

Lin Qinghan glanced at Shen Xian twice before explaining, “Lu Jianbai has helped me before, but now I know exactly what kind of person he is. I won’t have any more dealings with him from now on.”

Shen Xian nodded, “Mm-hmm. But judging by how he looked today, I’m afraid he’s not going to give up and might still cause you trouble.”

“Anyway, the hospital is full of people. It’s not like he can do anything to me. But you, Shen Xian, are you seriously bringing up old grudges with me now?” Lin Qinghan raised her eyebrow and looked at Shen Xian.

Shen Xian immediately shook her head, “No, no, no, it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have talked back.” Shen Xian had the feeling that if she didn’t admit fault now, the number floating above Lin Qinghan’s head would instantly drop to negative.

Only then did Lin Qinghan glance at her and nod in satisfaction, “Let’s go home. Be careful with your clothes, or you might not be able to afford to pay for them and end up paying with yourself.”

Shen Xian nodded, but couldn’t help thinking Lin Qinghan’s words sounded weird.

The two took a taxi back to their place. Shen Xian had enjoyed herself at the dinner party, snacking on plenty of food, but Lin Qinghan hadn’t eaten anything and came back full of anger. She took off her gown, hung it up carefully, and planned to return it to Lu Jianbai first thing in the morning. She didn’t want any more ties with him.

After changing into her nightdress, Shen Xian came out and saw Lin Qinghan sitting on the sofa. She asked, “Qinghan, are you hungry? Did you eat anything tonight?”

Leaning on the sofa, Lin Qinghan ran her fingers through her hair, “I didn’t eat, but I’m not really hungry. I’ll eat tomorrow morning.”

“Don’t say that. I’m hungry. I’m going to make some noodles, just keep me company and eat a little,” Shen Xian smiled and headed to the kitchen.

Lin Qinghan watched Shen Xian’s figure disappearing into the kitchen, the corners of her lips curling up unconsciously. Lately, she found Shen Xian more and more pleasing to the eye.

But at the dinner party today, Shen Xian’s imposing aura had been so strong that Lin Qinghan almost mistook her for the CEO of some corporation. Too many things had happened recently, and Lin Qinghan hadn’t had time to think through everything carefully. Could a person really change so much in just over a month? Especially in terms of temperament.

Shen Xian used to give off a slick, slippery feeling. She would avoid eye contact, and her presence was weak. But now, when she looked at people, her gaze was direct and sincere. Even her aura had improved significantly. Lin Qinghan rubbed her forehead, unwilling to think too much. Either way, becoming better was a lot better than the way she was before.

While Lin Qinghan was lost in thought, Shen Xian had already finished cooking two bowls of vegetable noodles and brought them over, placing a bowl in front of Lin Qinghan.

“Qinghan, eat something first. Today’s mess is all Lu Jianbai’s fault. Don’t blame yourself for everything. Don’t starve yourself over people who don’t matter. Come on, just humor me and eat a little,” Shen Xian said as she stuffed the chopsticks into Lin Qinghan’s hand.

Lin Qinghan sighed. Shen Xian made sense, and the noodles looked pretty good too. She glanced at Shen Xian, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating.

Shen Xian smiled, “That’s more like it. Why punish yourself for other people’s mistakes? Eat more. You’re too skinny.”

After a few bites of noodles, Lin Qinghan looked up and said, “Speaking of which, you didn’t look like it was your first time attending a banquet tonight.”

“Ah, I had to act like I belonged there. How else was I supposed to intimidate that shrew, Lu Jianbai’s mom?” Shen Xian casually brushed it off.

Lin Qinghan nodded, thinking Shen Xian made sense and didn’t press further. She glanced at Shen Xian’s nightdress and casually asked, “You didn’t used to like wearing dresses much.”

“Ah, I’ve only recently started liking them. I think they look pretty nice. Qinghan, how do I look now?” Shen Xian asked as she stood up.

She was wearing a simple black camisole nightdress, the hem stopping mid-thigh, her collarbones completely exposed. Lin Qinghan hadn’t thought much of it until Shen Xian mentioned it, but now she couldn’t help feeling a little awkward, especially since Tian Tian wasn’t home tonight.

Taking a few tactical bites of her noodles, Lin Qinghan finally said in an indifferent tone, “It’s alright, not too ugly.”

For some reason, Shen Xian couldn’t help but laugh at Lin Qinghan’s words. They were both women, what was wrong with saying she looked good? But her Qinghan was just so adorably awkward.

Lin Qinghan glared at Shen Xian, “What are you laughing at?”

“Nothing, nothing. You eat your noodles,” Shen Xian quickly suppressed her laughter, afraid of making Lin Qinghan mad.

On the other side, Jiang Xi had chased after Mu Siyu for quite a distance, but Mu Siyu’s pace didn’t slow down — in fact, she only walked faster and faster. Anxious, Jiang Xi shouted from behind, “Sister, what’s wrong? You’re walking so fast, I can’t catch up!”

Jiang Xi’s heels were over ten centimeters high, making it exhausting to chase after Mu Siyu. Even her voice trembled slightly as she spoke. She had no idea why Mu Siyu was angry with her. Could it really be because she asked Sister Shen to be her partner for tonight’s banquet?

Mu Siyu frowned deeply and finally stopped in her tracks, turning to look at Jiang Xi. Jiang Xi hurried over to Mu Siyu and stopped in front of her, panting heavily as she asked with a hint of grievance, “Sister, what’s really wrong? Are you mad at me just because I asked Sister Shen to come today? You’re ignoring me because of that?”

Mu Siyu had been attending meetings abroad that morning. But knowing Jiang Xi would be at tonight’s banquet, she rushed back on a private jet just to surprise her. She didn’t even rest — she changed into her evening gown on the plane and went straight to the banquet venue. But what she saw there was Jiang Xi standing together with Shen Xian, looking intimate.

Mu Siyu couldn’t help but feel that everything she did was probably just seen as a sister teasing her younger sister in Jiang Xi’s eyes. In the future, Jiang Xi would consider many people as potential alphas, but she probably wouldn’t even think of Mu Siyu as one of them. If things continued to stay lukewarm between them like this, then there would be no hope.

Mu Siyu let out a cold laugh — Jiang Xi didn’t even know why she was upset.

“Jiang Xi, I heard you were coming today, so I rushed back from abroad for you. I even changed into this dress on the plane. And what did I see? You being all lovey-dovey with another alpha? Think carefully — what exactly do you take me for? Just your so-called sister? If you can’t figure that out, then stop coming to mess with me.”

With that, Mu Siyu turned to leave.

Anxious, Jiang Xi grabbed her hand, trying to act cute like she always did. “Sister~ My driver already left… Can you take me home, please? Or I can stay over at your place, okay? Please?” Jiang Xi looked up at her with wide, sparkling eyes — the kind that Mu Siyu could never resist before. She had always been reluctant to reject Jiang Xi when she acted like this.

But the next second, Mu Siyu gently removed Jiang Xi’s hand from hers, staring directly at her and saying, “Jiang Xi, I’m not joking with you. Until you’ve figured things out, we shouldn’t see each other.”

Without another word, she turned and left.

It wasn’t until Mu Siyu had walked quite a distance that Jiang Xi finally snapped out of it. She… just got rejected by Sister Mu? Jiang Xi’s mind was in chaos, her eyes turning red with frustration. She had never heard Mu Siyu speak to her so sternly before. For a moment, she stood frozen, not knowing what to do.

From the time she left the banquet until she got home, Jiang Xi had already sent dozens of messages to Mu Siyu and called her six times. But no one answered. Her messages were like stones sinking into the ocean — no replies at all. This went on until the early hours of the morning.

Jiang Xi had lost count of how many texts she’d sent or how many calls she’d made, but Mu Siyu didn’t respond. This was the first time Jiang Xi had experienced something like this. No matter how busy Mu Siyu was in the past, she would never ignore her calls. But tonight, the line wouldn’t even connect. Jiang Xi buried herself under the covers, crying until her eyes were swollen.

She angrily tossed her phone aside, sniffling and mumbling, “If Sister Mu doesn’t want me anymore, then I don’t want Sister Mu either… I’ll never talk to Sister Mu again.”

She didn’t know how long she cried before finally falling asleep. The next morning, her eyes were completely swollen. Jiang Xi, afraid her parents would notice, stayed hidden in her room and refused to come out. She hesitantly looked at the phone she had thrown on the floor, thinking — what if? What if Sister Mu was just busy with work last night and didn’t see her messages?

Uneasy, Jiang Xi picked up the phone from the carpet, but when she unlocked it, there were no missed calls, no replies to any of her messages. Her eyes turned red again.

Meanwhile, Mu Siyu was handling work while scrolling through the hundreds of texts Jiang Xi had sent. But there wasn’t a single message that said what she truly wanted to hear. Jiang Xi had called over twenty times, but Mu Siyu hadn’t answered once.

Mu Siyu knew Jiang Xi was probably still crying right now. Her heart ached for her, but some things needed to be made clear sooner rather than later. Otherwise, what was she to Jiang Xi? Just a trusted older sister? Watching Jiang Xi eventually marry another alpha? The thought alone made Mu Siyu unable to accept it.

Maybe this was for the best. Let Jiang Xi seriously think about what Mu Siyu really meant to her.