Chapter 23
Xu Wan’s entire body jolted. It felt as if an iron bar had been laid across her heart, blocking a breath there so that it could neither rise nor fall. It was unbearably uncomfortable.
So while she had tossed and turned sleeplessly at home, her heart full of revenge, the woman she hated to the bone had already silently forgotten her.
This was even more painful than being cursed at by her!
Being ignored was the highest form of contempt. Now, she finally understood the meaning of that sentence.
She was already embarrassed enough, and now Sixth Sister and Seventh Sister were looking at her with mocking expressions. It instantly made her feel even worse. Refusing to give in, she straightened her chest. “Me. You forgot me? My name is Xu Wan. I’m Sister Jiangjiang’s ex-girlfriend. We even met at the villa last time.”
Jing Lian remained as cold as ever. “I don’t remember.”
After saying that, she slid down from the tall stool, intending to retreat to a place with fewer people.
How could Xu Wan let her go? She crossed her arms, gathered the shawl draped behind her, and followed closely behind Jing Lian with Sixth Sister and Seventh Sister, unwilling to fall even one step behind.
She chatted with Jing Lian in a loose, intermittent way, trying to talk to her and draw closer.
After all, the last time they parted, things between them had ended rather ugly.
As the saying went, one did not slap a smiling face. Although Jing Lian’s reactions did not meet Xu Wan’s expectations, she still reluctantly responded to her, as if she had long since let go of the little friction between them.
So she was this easy to fool. Xu Wan laughed inwardly and thought, Just wait and see how I deal with her later.
Jing Lian rarely stayed in crowded places. Now, she moved through the venue only to find somewhere cool and quiet. Seeing that the musical fountain in the distance had not yet been turned on and was very spacious, she walked gracefully in that direction.
Xu Wan’s front foot nearly stepped on Jing Lian’s back foot as she followed her tightly, refusing to lag even a step.
The speakers were playing blues music, elegant and calm. The background music did not disturb people’s conversations and also added a bit of mood to the otherwise dry social interactions.
When they reached the musical fountain, there was a three-meter-tall Statue of Liberty sculpture before them. Evenly distributed small openings were left around the concrete ground. The colored lights on the ground were dim. If one did not look carefully, it looked like a flat, smooth surface.
Xu Wan came up with a plan. She turned to Jing Lian and said, “Your outfit is really pretty today. Let me take a picture for you.”
After saying that, she took out her phone and aimed it at Jing Lian.
Naturally, Jing Lian did not need anyone to take pictures of her. She turned her head, still cold. “No need.”
Xu Wan, Sixth Sister, and Seventh Sister surrounded her, persuading her with all kinds of words.
“We’re all friends. What’s wrong with taking a picture?”
“If you don’t want to be in the photo, then help us take one.”
After saying that, they forced the phone into Jing Lian’s hand.
Although Jing Lian was cold, she had always been someone who granted requests when asked.
She nodded. “Fine. How should I take it?”
“I’ll teach you.” Xu Wan stepped forward, held Jing Lian with both hands, and guided her to the fountain outlet. “Yes, just stand here and take it.”
Jing Lian opened the phone camera and framed the three of them in the screen.
Xu Wan walked back and stood in the middle. The three began posing.
At this moment, the blues music changed, suddenly becoming urgent and restless. Jing Lian was focused on taking photos for the three of them and was not affected by the abrupt change in music.
“Come on, three, two, one!”
“Click.”
The moment Jing Lian pressed the shutter, there was a rushing sound behind her. The dark surroundings instantly lit up, and the light stabbed into her eyes, burning so brightly that she hurriedly closed them. At the same time, the fountain beneath her feet surged upward with lightning speed.
Columns of water rushed toward her from all directions, stream after stream striking her body, cheeks, and hair.
In a stress response, Jing Lian crossed her arms to shield herself, her body shrinking tight. The phone slipped from her hand as well. With a smack, it fell. She was just about to bend down to pick it up when her foot slipped. Her head tilted back, and she fell backward. Countless droplets soaked her cheeks. The sound of water rang clearly beside her ears, accompanied by several laughs.
If she fell like this, the back of her head would hit the concrete ground. Even if she did not die, she would be injured. In her line of sight, the white Statue of Liberty looked down at her, like someone struggling on the edge of death in the underworld, fantasizing that a goddess would descend and redeem her.
However, she knew all of this was only her fantasy.
She half-closed her eyes and let her body fall freely. Yet before her eyes could close completely, she suddenly sensed something tighten behind her waist. Her eyes flew open. In a world where dense rain fell like needles, she did not see an angel. She saw a demon dressed in a black evening gown.
So it was a demon who saved her.
Jiang Xian’s tall figure covered her from the front, blocking the spray of the musical fountain from falling onto her body. Water droplets spread over Jiang Xian like mist, soaking her hair and moistening her cheeks. Drops condensed into beads on the bridge of her nose, falling one by one onto Jing Lian’s brows and lashes with a gentle fragrance.
Immediately after, Jiang Xian held her and helped her stand straight. After a stumble, Jing Lian fell back into Jiang Xian’s arms. Rain fell between the two of them. Jing Lian looked at her, momentarily dazed.
“Are you okay?”
She did not hear Jiang Xian’s voice. She only saw her lips move.
After a long while, she shook her head. “I’m fine.”
Jiang Xian was holding a remote control. She pressed it lightly, and the musical fountains around them stopped.
After confirming that Jing Lian was all right, she glared furiously at the three people not far away.
The three of them had originally been watching the show with smiles. Now, after being fixed by her gaze, they were instantly so frightened that they did not dare breathe. They shrank back, not daring to come forward and speak, only wanting to flee in panic.
“Stop.”
Jiang Xian pinched the remote control and turned around. She lightly raised the remote and pressed it with a snap. A rushing sound of water rang out, and water sprayed straight down from the Statue of Liberty’s hand, pouring toward the three of them like a flood.
The three young women instantly became drenched chickens.
After doing all this, Jiang Xian reached over, held Jing Lian’s small hand, and turned to leave the musical fountain area.
The feeling of her hand came first. Jing Lian could not help trembling. She lowered her eyes and saw that her hand was being held tightly by the other woman, Jiang Xian’s large hand fitting seamlessly around hers. It was clearly wet, yet warm.
A question flashed through her mind. When had Jiang Xian come over? And when had she approached her side and saved her?
Thinking this, she followed Jiang Xian in a daze all the way to the villa entrance.
Jiang Xian turned around and said to her, “Go change your clothes first.”
Jing Lian lowered her head, her eyes lightly glancing upward, her lips pressed tight.
After her gaze collided with Jiang Xian’s, she led Jiang Xian’s eyes downward until they landed on their tightly clasped hands.
The atmosphere carried ambiguity and awkwardness.
Jiang Xian quickly let go and coughed. “If you really don’t want to go back to the venue later, then don’t.”
That way, she would not have to suffer any more grievances.
Jing Lian clenched her left hand around her right hand. Jiang Xian’s warmth still remained there. She nodded. Without saying anything, she entered the house.
Jiang Xian returned to her room, dried her hair with a towel, and changed into a convenient T-shirt and jeans. She loosely tied up her hair, slipped into a pair of slippers, and walked out toward the back garden of the villa.
She did not plan to return to the birthday banquet. Xie Yu was there to manage interpersonal relations for her, and Jiang Xian had no desire to deal with those complicated relationships. So she sent Xie Yu a voice message and went alone to the cliffside.
The sea breeze blew gently along the cliff. Waves softly struck the reefs. A blue-and-white striped hammock was suspended between two coconut trees.
Jiang Xian slowly walked forward, braced both hands on the hammock, and lay down comfortably. She placed both legs on the hammock and rocked back and forth lazily.
So comfortable.
The sea breeze brushed through her hair, and her mood flowed as freely as the strands. She casually pulled up a foxtail grass, held it in her mouth, swayed gently, and hummed a little tune.
Sunlight fell through the gaps between the coconut leaves and landed on her cheeks, dividing her face into light and shadow. The sun was leisurely, and Jiang Xian grew sleepier and sleepier. Her eyes half-closed, and she was nearly asleep.
Suddenly, the sound of grass rustling came from the distance. There were many snakes along the seaside cliff, so Jiang Xian instinctively thought it was a snake. But she was not afraid. She only slowly opened her eyes and saw a slender figure enter her sight.
Jing Lian had changed into a small blue dress. Her hair was half dry as she walked across the grass on the cliff. She had originally been moving forward, but when she suddenly saw Jiang Xian, she stopped.
The movement of Jiang Xian biting the foxtail grass paused, and her body stopped rocking. In the air between them, only the hammock tugging at the coconut trees made a creaking sound. That sound grew fainter and softer until it finally disappeared.
She looked steadily at Jing Lian, feeling especially puzzled inside. In the past, if Jing Lian saw her, she would definitely turn around and leave.
But what was going on today?
Jing Lian stood quietly in place. The wind lifted her long hair and blew the grass slanting across the ground. Stepping across the green expanse, she took two steps forward. “Do you like quiet too?”
This was the first time Jing Lian had taken the initiative to speak to her.
Jiang Xian’s entire body felt itchy and tingling. She thought that after raising a cat, even it had learned to meow twice. It seemed her little cat now knew how to respond to people.
Of course, this did not rule out the possibility that Jing Lian was deliberately approaching her. That was extremely possible.
No matter what, Jiang Xian sat up and met her gaze. “Mm. Do you want to sit here?”
She lifted her hips, intending to give the hammock to her.
Jing Lian shook her head. With both hands behind her back, she leaned against a coconut tree. Her side faced Jiang Xian, while her front faced the sea. Her lips moved. “Thank you for earlier.”
“You’re welcome.” Jiang Xian appeared calm on the surface, but inside, she was incredibly excited. Jing Lian had actually thanked her on her own initiative.
Jing Lian opened the conversation and continued, “You reminded me of someone. When I was little, I was playing beside the flower bed at the manor. While picking roses, I accidentally fell from the flower bed. I originally thought I would take a terrible tumble, but unexpectedly, that person caught me.”
Jiang Xian pressed her lips together. “Who was that person?”
Jing Lian lowered her long lashes. “My mother.”
Her mother. Hearing this, Jiang Xian began to sympathize with her. She wanted to speak but stopped, then stopped but wanted to speak again, not knowing what to say.
After all, Jing Lian’s mother had just passed away, and such a major change had happened in her family.
Jiang Xian coughed. “Sorry.”
Jing Lian smiled. “No need to apologize. So, I wanted to ask you, when did you see me just now?”
Her face was calm, as if she was not blaming Jiang Xian for whether she had been leering at her or anything like that.
It was merely out of curiosity.
Before Jiang Xian could answer, Jing Lian added, “Have you been paying attention to me the whole time?”
Yes. She had been paying attention the whole time. Even while chatting with Xie Yu, her gaze had always remained on Jing Lian. The moment Jing Lian left her field of vision, she would go look for her, afraid that something might happen to her.
The sixth sense was often that real. Sure enough, something had happened to her.
Jiang Xian nodded and did not deny it.
Jing Lian said nothing for a long time. Only those eyes stared at Jiang Xian’s side profile.
Jiang Xian knew Jing Lian was looking at her, so she did not turn back to look at her.
After a while, Jing Lian suddenly walked forward and stood behind her to the right. Carrying the fragrance of shower gel, she bent down and leaned toward Jiang Xian.
Could she be about to give her a kiss of gratitude?
Jiang Xian felt shy inside. How embarrassing.
That breath drew closer and closer. Jiang Xian closed her eyes. Her ears buzzed as she heard Jing Lian’s breathing draw nearer, her breath brushing against the side of her ear. Her entire nervous system was tense.
Suddenly, a clear, cold voice sounded. “What is tattooed behind your ear?”
Jiang Xian abruptly opened her eyes. “Huh?”
Jing Lian reached behind her ear and lightly poked it with her fingertip. “This.”
Jiang Xian reached back to touch behind her ear and felt a raised area. The system suddenly lit up. “It’s a tattooed number. Number 19. It was tattooed there when you were born.”
She immediately repeated the system’s words to Jing Lian.
Jing Lian’s brows rippled faintly. “This number, in this position… How strange.”
“What’s strange about it?” Jiang Xian desperately searched the system for information, but what she obtained was only a small amount.
This tattoo was related to her background.
The original owner had grown up with Xie Yu since childhood, so she definitely had biological parents. However, she had never had any news of them. So was it possible that her biological parents had tattooed it on her and then abandoned her?
It was not impossible.
“I feel like I’ve heard of it somewhere, but I can’t remember.” Jing Lian vaguely remembered that her younger sister had once mentioned numbered tattoos, but she was not too clear on the specifics.
Jiang Xian touched behind her ear and thought that this numbered tattoo had not been mentioned in the original book. Perhaps it was not important, or perhaps it was some hidden plot. She fell into deep thought.
“Weiwei, do you know about numbered tattoos?”
After returning to her room, Jing Lian turned on her phone and immediately contacted her younger sister.
Weiwei always replied in time. “I know a little. What’s wrong, Sister?”
“Can you tell me about the tattoos?”
Weiwei: “I’m not clear on the details either, but I heard that those with numbered tattoos behind their ears usually have rather tragic origins. From the moment they’re born, they’re destined to be someone else’s experimental subject, destined to be a substitute. Their limbs, facial features, organs, and everything inside them all belong to someone else, never to themselves. So when they live in this world, they have no parents, no friends, no family, and no lover. They’re destined to be a replacement for another body.”
After sending this paragraph, Weiwei sent a snickering emoji.
Jing Lian sent a helpless emoji. “You’re teasing me.”
“No, I’m not. I heard all of this from the brothers and sisters in the laboratory. These things are half true and half false. What’s wrong, Sister? Did you meet someone with a numbered tattoo?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Sister, don’t overthink it. Maybe she tattooed it for fun.” Weiwei typed quickly and changed the subject. “Right, Sister, when are you coming back? There are only two months left. Are you really going to let Father inherit your shares?”
“I have my own arrangements. Also, don’t tell Uncle about me.”
After saying that, she quickly turned off the phone and let out a deep breath.
If she wanted to return to the manor and take back everything that belonged to her, she absolutely could not appear under her stepfather’s nose so easily. Since he had already developed the intention to kill her, he would not let her go no matter what.
Besides, she also knew such a huge secret of his.
Her pink nails tapped against the phone screen with a crisp clicking sound. Her dim eyes suddenly brightened as an idea flashed through her mind.
She just did not know whether Jiang Xian would be willing.
The sun set in the west, and the afterglow of dusk shone across the sea. The waves reflected a sailboat, its banner faintly fluttering. Several seagulls circled the sailboat with low cries, occasionally swooping down to peck at the bread in the hand of the woman on board.
Jiang Xian stood at the bow, holding the bread high. Her body stretched naturally, making her tall figure appear even more striking.
The wind curled up her hair, lifting her three-seven side-parted bangs. From time to time, the bangs tapped against her forehead with a soft rustling sound.
Jing Lian looked at her from far away and saw the remnants of sunset dividing Jiang Xian’s cheeks into light and shadow, making her side profile look three-dimensional.
She sighed inwardly. Jiang Xian was actually quite good-looking.
Perhaps sensing someone approaching, Jiang Xian turned her head. Her deep eyes caught Jing Lian directly.
Jing Lian quickly lowered her eyes, pretending she had not been looking. She simply moved forward on her two feet. When she reached the side of the boat, she lightly lifted her blue French-style dress, stretched out a slender snow-white leg, and stepped onto the boat.
The boat rocked. The moment one of her feet had just stepped firmly onto it, the boat quickly moved toward the shore, pulling away from her.
She stumbled and hurriedly stepped over with her back leg as well. But unable to resist the inertia of her body, she suddenly pitched forward.
Jiang Xian threw down the bread and hurried forward, bending down to support her.
She had originally only wanted to hold Jing Lian’s arm, but the boat was swaying too much. Jing Lian’s whole body fell into her arms, soft and fragrant, pressing fully against her. When she landed on Jiang Xian, she even let out an “mm-hm,” making Jiang Xian’s ears feel as if they had gotten pregnant, buzzing nonstop.
Jiang Xian considered herself a straight woman, but at this moment, her heart was like cotton, and she developed a protective desire toward Jing Lian. She wanted to guard her.
But very quickly, Jing Lian steadied herself, reached out to support herself on Jiang Xian, and stood up, tearing herself away from her arms.
Jiang Xian also took a step back, curled her hand into a fist, and covered her mouth with a light cough. “The wind is strong outside. Why did you come out?”
As time passed, Jiang Xian gradually revealed her own personality: gentle and calm.
Jing Lian clenched both hands tightly, her eyes filled with rippling water. “I wanted to come talk to you.”
Jiang Xian’s back straightened. Inwardly, she thought, Had she already influenced the female lead this quickly? Ever since the birthday banquet last time, the female lead had seemed a little different from before. Jiang Xian had thought it was an illusion, but unexpectedly, it was real!
Jiang Xian smiled so widely the corners of her mouth almost split open, but she held it back and pretended to be very busy. “Go ahead. But I need to fix the boat.”
She took tweezers, a screwdriver, and other tools out of the toolbox, held a small hammer, and tapped here and there, tightening screws and the like.
Seeing her crouched on the deck working hard, Jing Lian noticed how the lines of her arms naturally appeared streamlined because of the force in her grip. They were very beautiful.
She moved closer, crouched down, and faced Jiang Xian. “Jiang Xian, where are your parents?”
Jing Lian, who never knew how to speak in circles, did not know that this sentence would severely wound Jiang Xian.
Naturally, Jiang Xian would not actually be wounded. She was not the original owner, after all. But she had to pretend to be deep. “I’m an orphan.”
In the few conversations they had ever had, they had suddenly talked about their original families.
What did this mean? What did this mean?
It meant her relationship with the female lead had taken another step forward!
After saying that, she looked at the deck with dim eyes, and the movements of her hands also stopped.
Jing Lian took a deep breath and thought inwardly, Pitiful people must have hateful parts. The reason Jiang Xian had grown into this kind of personality was probably because she had suffered too many unfair things in childhood. So she had grown thorns all over her body and refused to let people get close. Or those who did get close would be hurt by her. A person’s behavioral logic always received the behavior of others, then formed its own imitation from it.
She was silent for a while. “Sorry. I brought up something painful for you. Did your parents pass away?”
Jiang Xian lifted her eyes, confusion flickering in them. “I don’t know. Probably not. I’ve never heard the system… Xie Yu mention it.”
“System?” Jing Lian raised a brow.
“No, my manager. Why are you asking about this?”
Jing Lian fell into thought. Could Jiang Xian really be an experimental subject, as Weiwei said?
Abandoned by her parents. An orphan. A numbered tattoo behind her ear. All of this was far too coincidental.
She blinked. “Nothing. I was just curious. Speaking of which, you and I can be considered fellow sufferers.”
Jing Lian lowered her eyes. From the bottom of her heart, she felt that she and Jiang Xian were people of the same path.
Jiang Xian, however, heard what she meant. Why was Jing Lian so strange today? She was deliberately trying to get close to her.
She coughed. “But that’s all from childhood. I’ve long forgotten.”
Jing Lian lifted her eyes. “Do you want to find them?”
Jiang Xian did not want to, but according to the original owner’s feelings, she could not say that. So she deliberately gnashed her teeth and said fiercely, “I do. I think about it day and night. I want to see what kind of people are so unworthy of being parents that they abandoned me when I was young. Once I find them, I absolutely won’t let them live well!”
She was so angry that she twisted a screw out of the deck.
Jing Lian looked at that screw and said quietly, “Perhaps I can help you.”
No way, big sister. She was only saying that casually.
Jiang Xian laughed it off. “Really? How can you help me?”
Jing Lian lowered her eyes and looked at the sea. After a moment, she lifted her gaze toward Jiang Xian. “As long as you send me home, I can help you find your biological parents.”
A rare smile appeared on her face, unclear in meaning and hiding killing intent.
Jiang Xian’s back suddenly went cold. So after all this time, she had come over to show goodwill with a purpose.
Sure enough, she was the kind of person who never visited the temple without a reason.
Jiang Xian spread both hands and stood up from the ground, leaning her back lightly against the sailboat railing. “You just want me to help you, don’t you?”
She took cigarettes and a lighter from her pocket, lowered her head to shield the flame from the sea breeze, and with a click, lit the cigarette.
Smoke curled before her eyes, blurring Jing Lian’s face.
Jing Lian also stood up and tilted her head back. “What, you won’t agree?”
She did not avoid it at all.
Jiang Xian raised a brow. “Sure. Then tell me how you want me to help.”
Jing Lian’s face was serious as she analyzed her current situation. She said that her stepfather was determined to put her to death, and that she could not continue being a turtle hiding in its shell. She had to go back. She absolutely had to go back, alive, to take back the manor and take back everything that belonged to her.
“And that killer has seen you too. You can’t escape either.”
After all that, the two of them were already people on the same boat. Jiang Xian could not run away now.
She smiled helplessly. “Fine. You’ve already calculated me into this. Come on, let’s talk about how exactly we’ll do it.”
Jing Lian raised her hand and crooked a finger at her. Jiang Xian understood very well and lowered her head, bringing her ear close.
A thread of warm breath brushed past her ear, itchy and light. Jing Lian’s voice was soft and clear.
Jiang Xian’s head buzzed, and for a long while, she did not hear what Jing Lian said.
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