Just like the girl in front of her with her incongruous outfit, Zhang Mengxin knew at a glance that this girl must have a powerful background.
"Little sister, did your parents teach you to be polite? Rushing over like this without any warning and spouting nonsensical things is very impolite, you know?" Zhang Mengxin was flustered because she had guessed Li Jianmei's identity, which made Li Meng, who was next to her, speak up for her first.
"Who do you think you are? Whether my parents care about me or not is none of your business. Be careful, or I'll make you regret it!" Li Meng's words struck a nerve with Li Jianmei; she was indeed neglected. Li Jianmei's parents were busy with work and often away from home. With so many children in the Li family, several were raised by her grandparents. Li Jianmei wasn't a boy and wasn't particularly bright, so she wasn't valued much by her family. During her rebellious teenage years, she hoped to gain attention through unusual behavior, but instead, it backfired, leading to even more dissatisfaction and neglect from her family.
“Zhang Mengxin, I’m here today to remind you to think twice about your position. I know your adoptive parents and all those messy relatives are no longer in Beijing. I think it’s better for a girl like you to stay with your adoptive parents. Don’t be so frivolous at such a young age. If people find out that you’re being kept by Brother Qibin, how will you face them?”
A fifteen-year-old girl wouldn't actually do anything threatening. In fact, because this matter involves Shao Qibin, she wouldn't really do anything to damage his reputation. However, if someone around her gave her bad advice, things could get unpredictable.
Author's Note:
14PK Local Female Lead
Chapter Thirteen
Li Meng closed the chat window, went downstairs to sign for the package, took it back upstairs, and opened it. Sure enough, inside was a whole bunch of beautifully packaged campus romance novels, depicting nothing more than stories of handsome men and beautiful women, deeply in love, overcoming numerous obstacles, and finally winning everyone's blessings with their earth-shattering love. Especially noteworthy was that the male protagonists in these novels were always charming and exceptionally talented, while the female protagonists were always struggling in the lower strata of society yet resilient and self-reliant; their hardships mostly stemmed from their different social classes. As the saying goes, where there's a will, there's a way, or perhaps it's a case of "Heaven will entrust great responsibilities to those who are first tested with hardship and toil," before they can achieve great things.
Li Menghui's friendship with Zhang Mengxin, who lived next door, was not based on pure motives from the start. Zhang Mengxin was an art student, and her dream university was naturally the best art academy in Beijing. However, she wasn't entirely confident that she could get in on her own merit. Last year, a senior student who was even more talented than her had failed to get into the academy.
But painting was her dream, and entering the best art academy in the country was a dream she had cherished since childhood. At this time, someone contacted her through an online platform, suggesting she befriend Zhang Mengxin, the new neighbor, in exchange for opening the door to the art academy for her. At first, she naturally thought it was a dream, or perhaps a joke. But when the gold-embossed acceptance letter arrived at her doorstep, she went to the art academy with a skeptical attitude, and after confirming that the letter was indeed from the academy and that she could truly enroll directly in the second semester, she felt an overwhelming joy, as if she were bathed in paradise.
Naturally, this firm grasp on the beauty of her dreams, and the pain of struggling through the final year of high school, allowing her to directly access the privileged path to the art academy, wasn't something she could easily take. Li Meng knew very well that since the other party had the power to grant her direct admission to the art academy without examination, they also had ways to turn that admission letter into a worthless piece of paper at any time.
At first, when Li Meng became friends with Zhang Mengxin, she simply assumed that someone's child was out experiencing life, and their family was worried about leaving them alone, hence the roundabout way of asking Zhang Mengxin to take care of them. However, as time went on, after spending more time with Zhang Mengxin and noticing the thin calluses on her palms, her excellent cooking skills, and her impressive housework abilities, Li Meng began to doubt her initial assumption. Then, seeing Zhang Mengxin always making excuses to avoid her on Saturdays, and noticing a wealthy young man who looked like he stepped out of a comic book entering and leaving Zhang Mengxin's room, and a discreet Audi parked in the garage every Saturday, Li Meng started to have other thoughts.
These pointless speculations were somewhat confirmed when Li Jianmei arrogantly shouted like a delinquent that day, even calling people downstairs to tell Zhang Mengxin not to be a vixen.
Subsequently, the person who had given her the orders sent her these romantic novels, beautiful and romantic like mirages, yet somewhat unrealistic. Zhang Mengxin was miserable. She didn't want to bother Shao Qibin with trivial matters. Her feelings for Shao Qibin were quite complicated, but one thing was clear: she didn't want to constantly trouble him.
Just then, her friendly older neighbor recommended some books to her, saying they were quite interesting. The first novel she read was a campus romance. The situation of the male and female protagonists was very similar to her own. Watching the protagonists persevere for love and finally get together, Zhang Mengxin felt as if she saw her own future with Shao Qibin, and her bitterness lessened considerably. She read very quickly, often finishing four or five novels a day. As she read more, she sometimes searched for similar novels online, gradually becoming somewhat engrossed in them herself.
"Mengxin, I've got something good for you. I've recently become obsessed with these novels about unmarried mothers having children. You wouldn't believe how strong the mothers are, how cute the babies are, and how precocious they are! They even help the female lead bully the male lead. It's so satisfying to read!"
Zhang Mengxin had actually read similar novels before. Because she was an orphan, she possessed an extraordinary stubbornness towards family, children, and home. However, although she and Shao Qibin had crossed that final line, once it happened, it was inevitable that they would have sex again. But Shao Qibin was always rational. He always said that she was too young to have children so early, and they always used condoms during sex. Even when things got intense and they didn't have condoms, he would always remind her to take the pill afterward.
"How can this little brat be so cute! He even hid his dad's underwear so no one could find it. If I had such a cute child, I would give him whatever he wanted." Li Meng pointed to the article titled "Little Brat, Step Aside" on her hand, grinning from ear to ear, almost sinking into the sofa.
On one side, Li Meng subtly instilled some unorthodox ideas into Zhang Mengxin, who was feeling lonely and distressed and was also somewhat annoyed by Li Jianmei's occasional harassment, following the other party's instructions. On the other side, Shao Qile checked the time, calculated when Shao Qibin would return home, and had someone prepare mung bean soup, which Shao Qibin liked to drink.
During this period, the so-called brother-sister relationship, which should have plummeted to a freezing point, actually showed a trend of gradually warming up. After a series of events, regardless of the reasons, no matter how awkward, sad, or sensitive Shao Qibin felt, he simply couldn't resist the warming trend when faced with Shao Qile's ever-present radiant smile.
"Brother, you're back. I cooked mung bean soup myself today. Try it and see if it tastes good." Shao Qile's beautiful hair was tied up in a bun at the back of her head, with a green hair clip. Paired with her green polka dot waist-cinching dress, she was a sight to behold, like stepping into a pool of emerald green water.
"Lele made it very well." Shao Qibin obediently finished a bowl of mung bean soup, offering a seemingly sincere compliment. Looking at Shao Qile, who was beaming with joy at his words as if she had won a major award, a deep sense of guilt welled up within him, replaced by a palpable sense of apology. Every time he returned from Zhang Mengxin's place, he would think of Shao Qile's radiant smile masking her pale face, her physical condition signaling a countdown to death, and how Shao Qile's physical damage was a consequence of the Zhang Mengxin incident, as well as the lingering effects of his own foolishness. Sometimes, Shao Qibin would think that if Shao Qile were a little more sarcastic and critical, he might actually feel better.
Shao Qile was unaware of Shao Qibin's complex and conflicted feelings. She simply watched with amusement as the intimacy value (10/100) and trust value (8/100) fluctuated on the attribute panel. Although they were still pitifully low, at least there was progress. Naturally, these values couldn't be compared to others. After all, since entering PK mode with Zhang Mengxin, some of Zhang Mengxin's values had already appeared in the character battle section.
Name: Zhang Mengxin
Identity: Local female protagonist of the "Peach Blossoms in Full Bloom" dungeon world
Gender: Female
Personality: Cheerful and strong
Age: 16
Appearance: (80/100)
Health Points: (90/100)
Attack value: (20/100)
Defense value: (25/100)
Luck rating: (75/100)
Intimacy level: (70/100)
Trust score: (55/100)
The last two columns, intimacy and trust, are actually related to the male protagonist of this dungeon. Look at how low her intimacy and trust values are, even though she's Shao Qibin's half-sister; Zhang Mengxin's values are infuriating. However, occasionally seeing the difference in intimacy and trust values, Shao Qile couldn't help but think with a wicked sense of humor that perhaps the two had already shared a physical intimacy, but their feelings for each other hadn't reached that point yet, hence the difference in intimacy and trust values.
Author's Note: Hahaha, Lele's making her move!
15 pregnant
Chapter Fourteen: Pregnancy
Sometimes, when love blinds you, you really can't think of anything else. With the two-month summer vacation just around the corner, even though Shao Qibin only met Zhang Mengxin at her small apartment every few days, it was like dry wood meeting a raging fire. Their intimacy was, after all, quite ordinary. However, now Zhang Mengxin, whether truly captivated by those romance novels or unable to bear the loneliness, secretly switched her birth control pills for vitamins and secretly poked small holes in the condoms.
When Zhang Mengxin had just finished doing all this, she was still hesitant and wanted to start over several times. But Shao Qibin came to her door that very afternoon.
“Mengxin, I will be going to a town under Z province for training in the second half of the year, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to stay by your side. Focus on your studies, and I will try my best to come back to see you when I have time.” Shao Qibin’s words stirred up a storm in Zhang Mengxin’s heart, making her finally make up her mind after she had been hesitant.
At this moment, Zhang Mengxin didn't think at all about what she would do if she, a high school student, really got pregnant. Perhaps she simply equated the female protagonists in novels who got pregnant but still persisted in studying or studying at home, and finally achieved brilliant results in the college entrance examination.
Whether it was the protagonist's luck that truly came into play at this moment, or the Goddess of Mercy who grants children heard Zhang Mengxin's prayers, or perhaps her young body was more suited to conceiving a new life, just before school started on September 1st, Zhang Mengxin discovered that her period, which was always punctual, had not arrived as expected. With the help of her neighbor, older sister Li Meng, she secretly bought a pregnancy test and found that she was indeed pregnant with Shao Qibin's child. The bittersweet, anxious, and troubled feelings she experienced were like seasonings, displaying a spectrum of emotions.
"Mengxin, is it true? Are you really pregnant?" Li Meng looked at Zhang Mengxin in disbelief. Although she had read romance novels to communicate with Zhang Mengxin, she was clear about one thing: novels are novels, and fiction is fiction. But reality is reality. They lived in reality, and there was no need to fantasize excessively or connect novels with reality.
By this point, Li Meng had begun to understand the ulterior motives behind the person who had befriended Zhang Mengxin. While she felt a pang of sympathy for Zhang Mengxin, such a naive girl who had been so quietly manipulated, the balance was clear when compared to her own future. Ultimately, it was Zhang Mengxin's own dream of marrying into wealth that made her fall for the scheme. If she hadn't harbored that dream, she wouldn't have been so easily swayed by a few books and words.
When Shao Qile received the message, he took a sip of his chilled plum soup, then turned around and cleverly delivered the message to Li Jianmei.
That's all Shao Qile has done in this battle. As for the final outcome, it really depends on the game between Zhang Mengxin and Li Jianmei. Who will win or lose in the end depends on how they play their game.
She needed to speed up the mission as quickly as possible. Her health, which was already at a sliver, was showing signs of decreasing by one point every two months. If she didn't complete the mission quickly and use the reward points to increase her health, she feared she would die and meet her maker.