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Chapter Twenty-Two [Two Combined]
Jiang Cuo's sudden words startled Su Qianqian.
What is worthy and what is not?
Su Qianqian did not see Jiang Cuo follow her downstairs, and she also heard her conversation with Su Lian.
So I never even considered that possibility.
In her mind, how could Jiang Cuo possibly do something like stalking a cannon fodder female supporting character like her and eavesdropping on her conversation?
Wouldn't that be beneath her dignity as a female villain?
Su Qianqian thought that she had put Jiang Cuo's textbook in the desk and hadn't paid much attention to it, so Jiang Cuo was subtly reminding her.
After all, this was Jiang Cuo taking the initiative to make amends, so she definitely had to give some kind of response, otherwise how could the female villain be satisfied?
So, Su Qianqian took the textbooks from her desk with both hands, as if they were imperial gifts bestowed by the emperor, and placed them on the desk with a slight bend in her waist. She looked at Jiang Cuo with a sincere expression, and then, as Jiang Cuo's expectant gaze turned into a questioning one, she took Jiang Cuo's hand and slowly placed her right hand on the back of Jiang Cuo's hand as well, as sincerely as a subordinate thanking a leader.
"Thank you for your concern, Jiang. I stayed by your bedside last night, but I didn't dare to sleep at all. I was just thinking about my shortcomings in my studies."
I guess it's because I sleep or daydream in class every day, so my foundation is too weak. Now I can't learn what the teacher is saying, and I've forgotten everything I learned before. The textbook that Jiang gave me is perfect for reviewing previous knowledge and understanding it better. What the teacher is saying now is really helpful for my learning. Jiang is so kind.
A crack appeared on Jiang Cuo's usually expressionless and indifferent face.
Is Su Qianqian truly stupid, or is she pretending?
She was a grown woman following him down there, didn't she even notice?
Jiang Cuo silently withdrew his hand from Su Qianqian's hands.
However, Su Qianqian used force as if she wouldn't let her go, as if she was subtly taking advantage of her.
Jiang Cuo sighed inwardly, not wanting to argue with her.
If Su Qianqian really didn't know what her words meant, she would know that mentioning textbooks would inevitably lead to the topic of tutoring.
But Su Qianqian's mind was completely focused on the fact that she had finally touched Jiang Cuo's hand, which would increase her integration with the system world. Holding hands for even a minute would increase it by 0.1%.
Yay!
So, even until class started, Jiang Cuo didn't hear what he wanted to hear, and Su Qianqian held Jiang Cuo's hand tightly without hearing the notification sound from the Waste System to increase the fusion level.
Su Qianqian could only regretfully and reluctantly let go of Jiang Cuo's long, slender hand, which held her hand with great comfort. Then she sensed that Jiang Cuo beside her seemed to be faintly rising with anger.
This left Su Qianqian completely bewildered. Had she done anything wrong? Jiang Cuo should be able to accept this kind of contact now, so why was he still angry?
What did she do to offend her this time? No wonder she's a female villain; her temper flares up so easily.
Su Qianqian naturally couldn't listen to what the teacher was saying on the podium, but she suddenly felt a little puzzled by Su Lian's provocation today. Logically speaking, based on Su Lian's reaction yesterday, Su Lian should have been scared by her. Why was she clearly putting on a brave face today, but still came up to her to provoke her?
There must be some reason.
...
From the first day Su Lian transferred to the school, she introduced herself as Su Qianqian's younger sister, the illegitimate daughter of a mistress who broke up someone else's family, and that's how the news spread.
However, Su Lian was used to being talked about since she was a child, so she didn't care about these things because she had long been brainwashed by Su Jianxiu and believed that she was the one in the right.
Moreover, when Su Lian was scorned and looked down upon since childhood, only Su Jianxiu stood behind her, encouraging her, supporting her, and treating her gently.
Su Lian didn't get any benefit from Su Qianqian today, and seeing Su Qianqian's current reaction even made her waver in her long-held beliefs.
She's not a child anymore. When she was little, she trusted Su Jianxiu's words without question, but now she's an adult.
She was already 18 years old, and she would still have doubts about the many flaws in Su Jianxiu's words.
It's just that she had to force herself to believe it.
When school was over, everyone happily packed their bags and went home, but Su Lian was the only one with a pale face, her thoughts wandering somewhere, and she swayed precariously as she got up from her seat like a ghost.
Su Qianqian really didn't want to pay attention to Su Lian, but Su Lian's appearance at the moment was just too eye-catching, making it hard for anyone not to notice her.
Jiang Cuo glanced at Su Qianqian out of the corner of her eye, rubbing her throbbing temples. She thought Su Qianqian would notice her actions, but found that Su Qianqian's gaze was entirely on Su Lian behind her. She felt a surge of resentment and irritation, packed her schoolbag, slung it over her shoulder, and walked away on her own.
Su Qianqian pretended to be nonchalant and slowly packed her things.
Seeing Su Lian walk out of the classroom in a daze, he followed behind her at a leisurely pace.
Although Su Qianqian didn't care about Su Lian and Su Jianxiu, who were just fictional characters, Su Jianxiu had always been eyeing her money. If she let it go unchecked, who knows what kind of trouble the damn system might cause her.
[Useless System: Host, please don't secretly curse me as a useless little thing in your heart. Although this world is a world created by the system from a book, some minor plot developments are determined by the personalities of the fictional characters in the book. Not everything is decided by the system, so host should also pay attention to the movements of those around you.]
Su Qianqian, with her schoolbag slung across her shoulder, rolled her eyes silently after hearing the notification from the Waste System.
If the world in the book has such a system, is it just padding the word count? The author is speaking so slowly and deliberately, just to get her to pay attention to Su Lian's movements.
Just as Su Qianqian reached the school gate, she saw Su Lian standing in front of her being suddenly driven away in a parked black van.
The speed was so fast that Su Qianqian didn't even have time to react.
Kidnapping?
Su Qianqian immediately perked up.
It shouldn't be that bad; Su Lian probably doesn't have that many scenes.
[Waste System: Warm reminder, host, congratulations on triggering an unexpected plot point. When you complete this unexpected plot point, you will receive a hidden plot setting as a system reward.]
Su Qianqian raised an eyebrow.
So that's where she was waiting.
She said that this damn system wanted to give her a reward, but it wasn't going to be that easy.
Su Lian never expected that the biggest blow to her during her day of confusion would not be Su Qianqian, but Su Jianxiu.
Su Jianxiu was her faith and the sun, whom she had regarded since childhood.
Su Lian was dragged into a van by strangers, who told her that her father, Su Jianxiu, had asked them to bring her there.
Su Lian never expected that what she saw when she got off the bus was a mental hospital.
Su Lian's eyes widened in shock, her nerves were on edge, her fists clenched involuntarily, and she opened her mouth as if to speak but couldn't utter a word.
Because she thought she was there to visit her mother, but when she saw her mother's body lying coldly on the table, her blood seemed to freeze.
Her mother's face was somewhat blurry, her complexion so pale, somewhat similar to her memory yet strange.
Su Lian stood there blankly, feeling a buzzing in her head, and couldn't even find a reason to cry.
She now seems like a numb puppet, not even knowing what she has been hoping for or longing for all these years.
At this moment, Su Jianxiu walked in, his face not showing much sadness, but rather helplessness and regret.
Su Jianxiu patted Su Lian on the shoulder. "Lian'er, don't be too sad. Your mother is mentally unwell, and the hospital has done its best to treat her. But she probably didn't want to be a burden to us, so she climbed onto the rooftop, but accidentally slipped and fell. It was an accident, and your father didn't want to see it either. But you are in your final year of high school now, so you should focus on your studies. Don't be too sad, otherwise your mother won't rest in peace."
Su Lian's face turned deathly pale. She glanced back at Su Jianxiu, but Su Jianxiu didn't spend much time comforting her. Instead, he turned to deal with other matters.
Just as Su Lian was about to convince herself to believe Su Jianxiu's words, a stranger in a uniform took out a thick notebook and handed it to Su Lian.
“Child, I just heard that man say your name is Su Lian, right? Remember, this is what your mother gave you. Never let that man see this, that is, your father. Your mother doesn’t have a mental illness. She’s been locked up here. This is the only thing she asked me to do, and I’ve done it for her.”
Su Lian's fingertips were completely bloodless. She pulled herself out of her reverie and, half-believing, half-doubting, took the notebook from the staff member in front of her.
She randomly flipped to a page, but the handwriting wasn't very familiar to her because her mother had left her when she was very young. She needed to go back and find something to compare it with.
Su Lian looked at the words on it; it was like a diary.
Su Lian's eyes widened when she opened the first page.
She is not Su Jianxiu's biological daughter, and her biological mother is not related to her by blood. She was adopted!
Her mother adopted her in order to get closer to Su Jianxiu.
Su Lian's mind was even more confused at this moment.
In an instant, everything she had experienced, all the values and beliefs she had established, collapsed.
It says above that Su Jianxiu is a complete hypocrite and a scumbag.
Su Qianqian's mother was named Xu Lian, and her adoptive mother was named Bai Qiu.
Back then, Xu Lian's parents couldn't accept that their daughter had fallen in love with another woman.
Su Jianxiu, a man from a poor background who rose to prominence, worked as a low-level employee in a company. Through his cunning, he constantly tried to impress the Xu family, leading the two elderly members of the Xu family to force their daughter, Xu Lian, to marry him.
Su Jianxiu's only goal was the Xu family's wealth, so she forced Xu Lian to become pregnant and give birth to Su Qianqian. As a result, Xu Lian suffered a mental breakdown and fell to her death.
But ever since Su Jianxiu appeared, Xu Lian has been protecting Bai Qiu very well.
Bai Qiuzhi was heartbroken after hearing the news of Xu Lian's death and decided to take revenge. So he adopted a girl and got close to Su Jianxiu.
Bai Qiu, with her gentle and charming appearance reminiscent of a woman from Jiangnan, gradually gained Su Jianxiu's trust. Unfortunately, the medicine Bai Qiu administered did not kill Su Jianxiu, but instead rendered her infertile, forcing Bai Qiu to adopt a child.
In the end, Su Jianxiu still found out about these things, so he forcibly imprisoned Bai Qiu in a mental hospital. After learning that Su Lian was not his biological daughter, he developed a perverted mindset, waiting for Su Lian to grow up so that he could satisfy himself.
Upon seeing this, Su Lian got goosebumps all over her body.
Bai Qiu endured humiliation and hardship, staying by Su Jianxiu's side. Her goal was to find evidence that Su Jianxiu had murdered Xu Lian, since the police had initially ruled Xu Lian's death an accidental fall.
Bai Qiu was unwilling to accept this; she hoped that Su Jianxiu, this villain, would be punished.
Su Lian's mind was exploding with too much information.
But now she can recall why her mother gently told her since she was little that she must get along well with Su Qianqian.
Gradually, the familiar sound of leather shoes came from behind again.
Su Lian's survival instincts, honed over many years, made her subconsciously suppress all her outward fear and shock.
Although she couldn't be sure if the diary was real, she couldn't completely disbelieve it either.
If Su Jianxiu is truly as described in her diary, she cannot currently express her grief over Bai Qiu's passing.
Once she becomes overly heartbroken, Su Jianxiu will reveal his ugly true colors.
As expected, Su Jianxiu returned again, and Su Lian immediately put the diary inside her clothes and hugged it tightly to her chest, not wanting Su Jianxiu to notice anything unusual.