Evil People Have Their Own Evil Mothers [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 19: Xu Jiu's Floral Message Is First Come, First Served

Chapter 19: Xu Jiu’s Floral Message Is First Come, First Served

Cao Weidong returned to the garage, only to find the landlord had thrown all his belongings outside.

There was a bag of specimen fragments Cao Weidong had packed long ago, along with a plastic bag containing toiletries and several changes of clothes.

The toiletries were all brand new, originally intended for Xu Jiu, but now they conveniently served him instead.

These two bags represented everything Cao Weidong owned—his entire world.

The landlord stood by the door with a rag in hand, pointing at two blood-red characters on the door and glaring at Cao Weidong with disgust. Look! Look what you’ve done to my place!

Cao Weidong took a hundred-yuan bill from his wallet and handed it over. I’m sorry.

The landlord’s voice attracted nearby uncles and aunts, who crowded shoulder-to-shoulder, their faces showing a mix of shame and annoyance while their curious eyes eagerly absorbed every detail of the scene inside the house.

【Pervert】

No further explanation was needed—the two blood-red characters alone were enough to spark wild imaginations.

The landlord snorted contemptuously through his nose, snatching the money from Cao Weidong’s hand with force.

He didn’t press Cao Weidong further, knowing that extracting a hundred yuan from that thin wallet was already the limit—there was no more to be had.

Unwilling to become a spectacle, the landlord waved impatiently. Go on, get out of here!

Thank you.

Cao Weidong glanced at the door, where the red paint was almost wiped clean, the bloody lacquer dripping down in sheets.

【^-^】

The smile was forcibly distorted, a drop of blood tears smeared and falling like rain.

The landlord pressed a wet rag against the weeping smiling face and scrubbed hard, completely erasing the traces.

Only then did Cao Weidong turn away, carrying the plastic bag and a worn, yellowed black backpack, taking all he owned with him.

Cao Weidong paused at the school gate, then suddenly turned toward the back door of the bar.

His dog lay unharmed beside the dumpster. Overnight, some kind soul had left dog food and water for it.

The dog barked at him, still in good spirits, its tail wagging desperately as it rubbed against Cao Weidong’s leg, as if trying to transfer all the dust from its body onto him.

Cao Weidong smiled.

Don’t you hate me? he asked the dog.

The dog didn’t understand, and couldn’t hate. Its wide-open mouth seemed to smile back at Cao Weidong.

It should hate me, Cao Weidong thought to himself.

He hadn’t taken in this dog out of kindness or loneliness.

He simply felt that living required a reason—as long as the dog he’d raised for over a decade was alive, he would keep living too.

This dog had suffered repeated surgeries, medications, even blood transfusions for his selfishness—all to prolong its life.

Because Cao Weidong wanted to live.

That was the entirety of his selfishness.

Cao Weidong bid farewell to the dog and returned to his school dormitory. A bed had always been reserved for him there, though he’d never used it—this was the first time.

Fortunately, his roommates had already finished their exams and gone home, leaving the empty room to Cao Weidong alone.

He tidied his bed and desk, then rolled up his sleeves and cleaned the entire dorm from top to bottom, filling a bag with trash that he left by the door.

Cao Weidong looked down at his right hand—the bandage was stained with dust, already turning black.

He sat down, applied medicine himself, and replaced it with a fresh bandage.

Not having to pay for rent, and with his parents’ ashes likely already dug out, the scholarship money could all be spent on the dog.

Thinking this, Cao Weidong noticed it was still early, so he went to find his advisor to inquire about the scholarship.

The scholarship? It’s already been distributed. Was your name not on the list? Let me check for you.

The advisor muttered to himself, pulling out the scholarship roster and flipping through it twice before saying:

Your name really isn’t here. The selection was decided by the school’s higher-ups. It might be because of the incident you caused on the forum before—the school probably deliberated and decided to revoke it.

The advisor directly placed the roster in front of Cao Weidong, letting him search for himself.

Cao Weidong stood to the side, his gaze sweeping across the desk. He didn’t find his own name but instead saw Xu Jiu’s name.

It was obvious—how could Xu Jiu not meddle in this?

Cao Weidong was unusually calm. He had actually anticipated this outcome, but he had desperately wanted that 6,000-yuan scholarship to save himself, so he had gambled on the impossible.

If he lost the bet, so be it.

Cao Weidong’s phone buzzed with a text message.

【Where are you?】

Cao Weidong glanced at it and ignored it. Soon, a second message arrived.

【Come back to the dorm. I have a surprise for you.】

Cao Weidong, who had been walking toward the dorm, abruptly stopped, found a sheltered spot, and simply sat down, listening to his phone buzzing incessantly in his pocket.

Cao Weidong didn’t reply to the texts or answer the calls, so the commotion from Xu Jiu’s end never ceased.

【What’s this? Avoiding me?】

【Coward.】

【It’s useless. I’ll wait for you. You have nowhere to hide from me.】

After sending the last message, Xu Jiu fell silent, but the noise on Cao Weidong’s end didn’t stop.

Xu Jiu was unhappy, so naturally, he subjected Cao Weidong’s number to SMS bombing. Verification codes from various apps flooded Cao Weidong’s phone in rapid succession.

Cao Weidong calculated the time—he had already made Xu Jiu wait in the dorm for fifty minutes.

He spent another ten minutes walking to the dorm, so in total, Xu Jiu had waited a full hour for him.

Cao Weidong opened the door.

It wasn’t what he had expected.

No slap or punch greeted him as soon as he entered.

Xu Jiu was sitting on the desk, one foot propped on a chair, the other dangling loosely by the edge of the table. He held a nearly finished cigarette between his fingers, and the floor was littered with cigarette butts.

The room was thick with the pungent, acrid smell of nicotine, so strong that even Xu Jiu’s nose was red from the fumes.

Cao Weidong closed the door behind him and went to push open the window.

Xu Jiu, aware of the stifling smoke, didn’t stop Cao Weidong from opening the window. He tilted his head back, maintaining his careless demeanor as he kissed the cigarette filter. Wisps of white smoke curled upward from the corner of his mouth like a noose coiling around his face.

Tch.

Xu Jiu pressed the nearly burnt-out cigarette against the desk to extinguish it, then shook the cigarette box, tapping out the last cigarette and clamping it between his lips. He glanced at Cao Weidong and mumbled, Come light this for me.

Xu Jiu’s lighter was on the edge of the desk. Cao Weidong stepped forward and lit it, the tip of the cigarette glowing with white smoke.

It was dusk, and the setting sun cast an orange-red glow. The flame burned brightly, tinting their locked gazes with a fiery hue. Their sharp stares were softened by the hazy smoke, making them seem less confrontational.

Xu Jiu was the first to look away. He was always the one to break eye contact first—he refused to be the one under surveillance, like a security camera.

I’m not hitting you today.

Xu Jiu held a cigarette between his fingers, his thumb pressed against his lips. With each drag, he would kiss his thumb.

Ash had accumulated on the cigarette tip, but Xu Jiu was in no hurry to discard it. Instead, he commanded Cao Weidong, Hold out your hand.

Cao Weidong extended his hand.

Xu Jiu tapped the space in front of himself.

Cao Weidong stepped forward.

As Cao Weidong drew near, Xu Jiu’s body stiffened abruptly, belatedly realizing the spot he had pointed to was far too close.

Xu Jiu had one foot propped on a chair, and the other now found a new companion—trapped between Cao Weidong’s legs.

To retreat would be to show cowardice; to stay put felt awkward. A dilemma.

Cao Weidong looked down at him, his dark pupils devoid of emotion, like a bottomless, stagnant pool—pitch-black and unfathomable.

The ash on Xu Jiu’s cigarette grew thicker. He raised his hand, hovering it over Cao Weidong’s outstretched palm.

With a slight tremble of his fingers, a layer of ash crumbled and drifted lightly into Cao Weidong’s palm.

It was somewhat hot, but bearable. The novelty of the sensation outweighed the pain as it settled in his palm.

Xu Jiu took two drags of his cigarette and blew the smoke into Cao Weidong’s face. The smoke tasted the same as always, yet now carried Xu Jiu’s scent—a fragrant note mingling with the tobacco.

It felt like flirting.

Xu Jiu became aware of it and withdrew his foot from the chair, planting it on Cao Weidong’s leg instead, then pushing back with a light kick.

He couldn’t budge Cao Weidong, so he resorted to venting his frustration by tapping the sole of his shoe against Cao Weidong’s leg, leaving a print on his trousers.

Today, Xu Jiu had deliberately worn casual leather shoes to match his fluid, satin wide-leg pants.

Cao Weidong was clad in a faded, yellowish high school uniform, blue and white. The shoe print stood out starkly on the white sections of the trousers, and the black leather shoe pressed against his thigh was glaringly impossible to ignore.

It was like finding an exquisite luxury package oddly and abruptly placed in a dumpster in the slums—something that should never have come into contact.

Xu Jiu exhaled another agitated ring of smoke, but before it could cloud Cao Weidong’s face, he waved it away himself.

Cao Weidong thought Xu Jiu’s actions—rubbing against his leg, acting coquettish—were quite similar to his dog.

He wanted to keep him.

But his dog lived by the dumpsters, and Xu Jiu couldn’t stay there. Someone so beautiful left by the trash would be snatched up in an instant by those who noticed.

Cao Weidong seriously pondered the matter. The small glass vial of hazardous substance in his pocket seemed to come alive, jumping and tugging at his thin clothes.

Hiss— The cigarette butt was extinguished in Cao Weidong’s palm.

That hurt, and the pain came without warning.

Cao Weidong’s brow twitched, but he quickly regained his composure.

Get away.

Xu Jiu tossed the cigarette aside and swung his hand, landing a slap across Cao Weidong’s face.

Cao Weidong’s head turned to the side.

Compared to the beating he’d taken the night before, this slap was neither painful nor irritating.

It was fragrant.

The slap carried Xu Jiu’s scent—the familiar acrid smell of his usual tobacco from between his fingers, mixed with the perfume he often wore, carried on the air.

Paired with the furious, embarrassed expression on Xu Jiu’s face, the slap held a uniquely pleasing flavor.

Xu Jiu was an adult; he knew well that if this slap held no power to intimidate, it would be nothing but pure flirtation.

Do you know what this is?

Xu Jiu remained still at first, drawing Cao Weidong’s gaze before pulling a stack of money from his waist pouch.

In front of Cao Weidong, he quickly counted the bills one by one—six thousand yuan in total.

Your scholarship. Xu Jiu smiled, the sharp tips of his canines showing.

Cao Weidong stared expressionlessly at Xu Jiu, the warmth of the cigarette ash in his palm rapidly fading until it became a handful of black sludge, turning cold in his grasp.

He didn’t want to dwell on this matter with Xu Jiu any longer – this money should have been his all along.

Hahaha—

Seeing his evasion, Xu Jiu immediately erupted with satisfied laughter from deep within his chest.

Angry? Getting angry with me over these six thousand yuan?

Xu Jiu pressed on maliciously. In Cao Weidong’s pitch-black eyes, all he could see was Xu Jiu’s vibrant pink hair bouncing around, like popping candy exploding in his mouth after biting into a packet.

Xu Jiu unfolded the six thousand yuan, fanning it out in his hand before deliberately presenting it to Cao Weidong. He waved it before his face, the money-scented breeze lifting the untidy strands of hair on Cao Weidong’s forehead.

Want it?

Xu Jiu blew a puff of air, sending it straight into Cao Weidong’s eyes.

Get on your knees and beg me. Beg for my pity.