After Redeeming the Cold, Aloof Heroine, I Ran Away - Chapter 7

Jiang Xian stepped over the door and walked in. Dust fell onto her hair like snowflakes drifting through her strands. All the bright lights in the room were off. The dim yellow light from the corridor poured in through the doorframe, spilling over Jiang Xian and casting half a shadow across the bed. The other half of the light fell on Jing Lian. With her back facing Jiang Xian, she lay on her side on the bed. Even after such a huge commotion, she still did not move. Only when she sensed body heat and a strong hormonal presence approaching did she feel the breath of danger. She merely turned her head and cast Jiang Xian a stubborn glance.

You can’t do anything to me.

That gaze seemed to say.

Jiang Xian also looked steadily at her without saying a word. The two remained deadlocked.

There was not even the sound of breathing in the air.

Seeing this situation, Xiao Ya and Auntie Wang were immediately so frightened that they put the meal on the dining table, bowed repeatedly, then picked up the dining cart and fled.

“Eat.”

After they left, Jiang Xian ordered in an icy tone, “Get up and eat. I’ll only say this once.”

It seemed she had already said it twice… Never mind. She could not lose in terms of momentum.

She took two steps forward. Her tall figure blocked Jing Lian’s petite body, and also blocked the stubborn light shining from Jing Lian’s eyes.

Jiang Xian braced both hands on the bed, just enough to part the velvet blanket and trap Jing Lian in her arms. She bent down, her slightly curled hair swaying in the air and gently brushing against the bedding with a rustling sound.

Their noses were close enough that they could hear each other’s breathing. Jing Lian’s gaze still did not change. She was no longer afraid, no longer hiding. It seemed she had already resigned herself to death.

Jiang Xian lowered her eyes, the corner of her mouth curving into a faint smile. “What, you already want to die?”

Her breath spilled across Jing Lian’s cheek. Jing Lian lifted her chin slightly, silently admitting it.

Jiang Xian let out a muffled laugh. Suddenly, she lowered her head, drawing even closer, the distance between them becoming more ambiguous. She could smell disinfectant on Jing Lian’s body, along with fragrant sweat.

“How pitiful. Truly pitiful. You’ve only experienced a little hardship, and you’re already crying about life and death. Since you don’t have the ability to solve the problem, you’re going to solve yourself instead? I thought you had a stubborn nature. I didn’t expect you to amount to only this.”

Perhaps provoked by her words, Jing Lian’s eyes shifted faintly and turned toward the area beneath Jiang Xian’s eyes. Her voice was weak, but her words were very sharp.

“If the knife isn’t stabbed into your chest, you won’t know how much it hurts.”

Jiang Xian nodded with great interest, her long hair trembling like waves. “You still have the strength to speak. That proves you don’t want to die.”

She straightened up and went to pull the dining cart over, dragging it to the bedside before saying again, “Eat.”

Jing Lian returned once more to that deathly state and still refused to eat.

Jiang Xian knew what she had experienced. At this moment, Jing Lian had jumped from one pit into another. There were people outside searching for her, while the person inside this pit was also unwilling to let her go. She had wolves before her and tigers behind her. Afraid of the wolves in front and the tigers behind, she was caught in a narrow crack, not knowing how to survive.

So she gave up on surviving.

She wanted to die?

Jiang Xian caught sight of her gradually dimming eyes and said in a low voice, “You want to die?”

Jing Lian stopped speaking. It seemed she no longer even had the strength to respond. The stubbornness in her eyes gradually faded as well. Her long, butterfly-like lashes drooped as if drenched by rain.

Like a life falling into a deathly silence full of darkness.

Seeing her willingly sink into ruin like this made Jiang Xian’s heart burn for a moment. It was not quite rage, but she immediately found the remote, turned on the television in front of the bed, and brought up the news broadcast from earlier. She turned the volume to the maximum, then threw the remote away, sat on the bed, and pulled Jing Lian up into her arms. Holding both sides of Jing Lian’s ears, she forced her to look at the television in front of them.

“Look carefully. Is the person on there you or not? Do you know how many people are looking for you? Are you just going to admit defeat like this and let someone else feel proud? Ask your own conscience. Are you willing?”

Jing Lian did not struggle. She did not move. She simply stared straight at the television screen before her. The screen was broadcasting the news of her mother’s death, along with her stepfather’s hypocritical crying.

A flash of light finally appeared in her eyes. It carried hatred, unwillingness, and pain.

Very quickly, a pool of tears gathered in her eyes. They poured down like a stream, dripping onto Jiang Xian’s fingertips, carrying a little warmth as they trembled there.

Sooner or later, she had to know.

Did it hurt? Once it hurt now, it would not hurt in the future.

Jiang Xian held her breath and gently loosened her fingers, continuing with her words and actions. She leaned close to Jing Lian’s ear and whispered, “I already sent people to investigate your background clearly. You have nowhere to hide in front of me. You had so many chances to escape this villa, but unfortunately, you didn’t. That means that once you leave me, you have nowhere else to go.”

She was right. For Jing Lian, Jiang Xian’s villa was a rotten protective umbrella. Even though she suffered through storms here, she could also gain a brief moment of breathing space.

Jiang Xian felt the person in her palms trembling slightly. The hatred bursting from Jing Lian’s eyes grew richer and thicker, as though it was about to rush out.

Jiang Xian knew when to stop. She slowly let go of her.

“All right. Life and death are both up to you. If you insist on dying, I won’t stop you. But if you want to die, don’t die in my villa. If I get dragged into a murder lawsuit because of you, it will damage my reputation.”

She stood up and straightened her little shirt and hair, glancing sideways at Jing Lian.

“I’m going to enjoy my candlelit dinner. Do as you please.”

After saying that, she strode out of the room.

Although she said she was going to eat a candlelit dinner, Jiang Xian actually had no appetite. She was worried about the heroine, so she circled back to her own room and watched the surveillance from the corner.

She was like a peeping tom, constantly leering at her through the screen.

Although this was not good behavior and was very perverted, she had no other way.

After she left, Jing Lian sat on the bed and stared fixedly at the television screen. Again and again, she pressed the remote and replayed the news broadcast.

Every replay was like a thorn stabbing into her heart. Again and again, she tortured herself, tormenting herself. Jiang Xian could not see her face. She could only see a thin, small back. Jing Lian sat on the bed hugging her knees, occasionally burying her head against them. She stayed there so quietly, so quietly, and from beginning to end, she did not let out a single sob.

After who knew how long, Jing Lian got off the bed and moved to the dining table. Her slender white hand lifted the food cover. Holding a bowl of millet porridge with sea cucumber in both hands, she began to eat one bowl of porridge and one dish.

Jiang Xian could just see her side profile. She watched Jing Lian’s cheeks puff out again and again, watched little pearls fall in strings into the bowl, only to be eaten into Jing Lian’s stomach along with the food.

This scene was clearly so heartbreaking and painful to watch. Yet somehow, the gloomy breath lingering in Jiang Xian’s chest slowly lightened, thinned, and faded with it. Jing Lian had finally eaten. Jiang Xian could not help smiling.

Perhaps because she was lightheaded from the fumes, or perhaps because night had fallen and it was time to rest.

After eating, Jing Lian struggled to get up, washed up, and went to bed. The food that entered her stomach gradually turned into warmth, into flesh and blood, nourishing her thin and sickly body. This sleep was dreamless. The next day, she woke in the faint light of dawn, her whole body sunk into the warm quilt.

Suddenly, the air was filled with the smell of mint medicine. A cool breeze slipped over the backs of her feet. A warm touch landed on her ankle, like a hand circling toward her, tightening more and more.

Her eyes flew open. She focused her gaze and saw that there was indeed someone sitting at the foot of the bed. The person had her head lowered, long hair and side-parted bangs covering most of her face, leaving only a clearly defined chin. Her wheat-colored skin carried a certain wildness. Her eyes were lowered, as if she were admiring Jing Lian’s toes.

A nauseating electric current surged from the soles of Jing Lian’s feet, sweeping through her entire body with a rush, and her heart tightened.

Jing Lian hurriedly sat up and tried to pull her foot away.

“Don’t move.”

Her foot, like a snow-white tender bamboo shoot, slid across Jiang Xian’s palm, brushing against the rough calluses there and causing a faint itch. Then it was caught firmly.

Jiang Xian lifted her head. Some of the arrogance in her eyes had been restrained, making her look as if she truly cared about Jing Lian.

“It’s time to change the dressing. Otherwise, it will scar.”

Without waiting for Jing Lian’s answer, Jiang Xian directly reached out and loosened the gauze on the sole of her foot, piling it ring by ring at the edge of the bed. She gently held Jing Lian’s foot and placed it on her bent knee. With one hand, she took the ointment, then peeled open the bandage, revealing the mottled wound beneath.

She leaned closer and, seeing that the wound was not too deep, slowly breathed out.

Jing Lian felt a faint itch at her toes and could not help curling them slightly.

The cool ointment was applied, both painful and itchy. She curled her toes even harder.

Seeing this, Jiang Xian could not help pausing. She lifted her head and glanced at Jing Lian without saying anything, then lowered her head and continued applying the medicine. Her movements were gentler than before.

Jing Lian saw all of this. For a single instant, she vaguely felt that Jiang Xian seemed somewhat gentle.

But it was only an instant. She quickly came back to her senses. People who abused others were like this. One second, they beat someone half to death; the next second, they hugged the other person while kneeling on the ground, crying and begging for forgiveness.

Such moodiness could not be trusted.

“Why bother pretending?”

Her words were cold, and she did not change her opinion of Jiang Xian in the slightest because of her kindness or gentleness.

Jiang Xian finished applying the ointment, pulled out a new large bandage, and peeled it open halfway. Hearing Jing Lian say this, she paused slightly.

“I’m not pretending. I have a foot fetish. I can’t stand even the slightest scar on skin.”

While Jing Lian was not paying attention, Jiang Xian smoothly stuck the bandage on. This time, there was no need to wrap it in gauze. Her fingertips landed on Jing Lian’s five pink toes, stroking them one by one, the corner of her mouth carrying an unreadable smile.

Seeing this, Jing Lian immediately withdrew her foot and quickly covered it with the blanket. Her chest rose and fell as she glared fiercely at Jiang Xian.

How fun.

Jiang Xian put away the medicine box and leaned lazily against the white lacquered chair carved with orchids, looking at Jing Lian with a trace of amusement.

“You can’t eat and live in my villa for free. Since you won’t contribute your body, you at least have to contribute some labor, right?”

If Jing Lian stayed bedridden like this every day, she would grow sick from idleness. Jiang Xian had to find something for her to do, even if it was only going out to bask in the sun.

Jing Lian remained silent, lowering her head without answering, as if thinking about something.

Jiang Xian continued, “You can’t leave me for now. Are you unwilling to do even this little bit?”

Hearing her say this, Jing Lian’s eyes shifted lightly. “Do what?”

“There are many things to do around the villa.” Jiang Xian folded her hands together in a thoughtful pose. “The flowers in the garden need their stray branches trimmed. Shells and trash drift in from the sea from time to time and need to be picked up. Also, my silk clothes can’t be machine washed and can only be washed by hand. In short, there are many things that need doing.”

Jing Lian remained quiet and soundless. Jiang Xian knew that even if Jing Lian agreed in her heart, she would not say it aloud.

Not in a hurry to wait for her answer, Jiang Xian stood up, lightly lifted her wrist, and folded her arms before her chest.

“I won’t talk to you anymore. Today, I’m going to sign with a new variety show. I won’t be back until tonight. Rest well.”

She turned around. Her high heels stepped toward the doorway, and just as she was about to leave, she heard a cold sentence from behind her.

“Who asked you?”

Jiang Xian smiled helplessly and strode out.