After Redeeming the Cold, Aloof Heroine, I Ran Away - Chapter 9

Xu Wan’s heart felt as if it had been twisted by a knife. The numbness in her chest spread toward her limbs, leaving only an icy chill behind. For one instant, she felt the people around her blur, and one thought echoed through her mind.

Jiang Xian really did not want her anymore. She had found a new girlfriend. Then what was Xu Wan supposed to do from now on? Was she supposed to return to the past, wearing sexy clothes that showed her legs and half her butt as she livestreamed in front of the camera, putting on an extremely flirtatious show and smiling sweetly at men and women whose faces she did not even know, no matter how sleazy they might be, flattering them with her words? After working hard for a whole month, she would only earn a pitiful amount of money barely enough to get by.

Was her biggest sugar mommy about to leave her?

No!

After coming back to her senses, she fixed her sharp gaze on the little girl in front of her, sweeping her up and down like a machine gun, not letting off even a strand of hair or a toe.

She did not look that impressive either. Dry, yellowish hair, a flat chest, and she was not even 165 centimeters tall, right? Unlike Xu Wan, who had breasts, a butt, and a face. Although this little girl’s looks could also fight her to a draw, her figure was not much.

Also, since she was Ninth Miss, why was she still doing a gardener’s work? Judging from her frail appearance, as though one gust of wind could knock her over, she must have suffered quite a bit under Sister Jiangjiang.

Xu Wan’s mind immediately cleared. A smile piled onto her face as she stepped forward, wanting to take Jing Lian’s hand. Facing Xiao Ya and Auntie Wang, she said, “How could I be bullying her? I only accidentally bumped into her. Ninth Sister, are you all right?”

The other woman’s hand slipped away like smooth silk. Her expression remained cold as she turned her face elsewhere. She said nothing, simply shook off all three of them and left.

Seeing her warm face pressed against a cold backside, Xu Wan was so angry that her chest and stomach rose and fell unevenly. After Jing Lian walked far away, she snorted.

“What is she pretending for?”

Immediately after, she began smiling and currying favor with Xiao Ya and Auntie Wang.

After chatting for only half an hour, she gained a further understanding of the relationship between Jiang Xian and Jing Lian.

She leaned crookedly against the corner of a wall, watching Jing Lian in the distance pick up trash by the seaside. Her mouth twisted and her eyes slanted as she felt smugly pleased, secretly delighted in her heart.

“A person like that refuses a toast only to drink a punishment. Sister Jiangjiang has such good character. It’s already a bargain for her to have been given to her. Who does she think she is, daring to defy Sister Jiangjiang? She deserves to be beaten. Her bitter days are still ahead.”

As Xu Wan thought this, she carried a bag of sugar mandarins and swayed her hips, moving gracefully toward the beach.

The sun was scorching. She walked over to a beach chair and easily took a seat. Then she took out a mandarin from the bag, slowly peeled it, stripped away the white pith from each segment, and began eating one bite at a time. Along the way, she dropped mandarin peels all over the ground.

The orange peels were especially bright and eye-catching against the white sand, impossible to ignore.

Jing Lian bent over and moved forward, holding tweezers in one hand and a trash basket in the other. Limping, she happened to arrive in front of Xu Wan’s beach chair. Seeing the peels scattered all over the ground, she casually picked them up with the tweezers and carefully placed them into the trash basket.

Just as she finished cleaning and was about to turn around, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of another bright orange peel falling to the ground with a soft smack, as though it had been done deliberately to crush someone’s dignity.

Jing Lian pressed her lips flat. She lightly lifted her eyes and glanced at the person on the beach chair. Xu Wan was lying on her back, one leg propped up, her bare foot swinging back and forth. She shook the mandarin in her hand and smiled slightly at Jing Lian in a show of power.

“Sorry. It accidentally fell. Pick it up.”

She put a mandarin segment into her mouth and let out a muffled hum, making a sound as if it tasted delicious.

Jing Lian was silent for a moment. She did not argue with her. She bent down, picked up the peel, and left while swallowing her anger.

Xu Wan snorted. “And here I thought she had some great ability. Turns out she’s just a punching bag.”

During afternoon tea, sunlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling glass and onto the gilded chair covered in splendid brocade. Xu Wan sat properly, raising her pinky and ring finger as she elegantly enjoyed a cup of rose latte by herself.

The rich fragrance of roses drifted with the steam. Through the faint mist, she saw Jing Lian half-squatting in front of the coffee table, her pale little hands folding a blue towel as she wiped the wooden table before her.

Even though the table was already spotless, it still had to be wiped until it reflected like a mirror.

Jing Lian had just finished wiping the corner near the window, making it extremely clean. Sunlight fell on the tabletop, reflecting a person’s shadow. She looked at it and was about to stand up, planning to move to the other side and wipe there.

In truth, her body had not recovered much. Her fever had only just gone down, and her wounds had not healed. She still had not rested enough. Even so, she did not dare stop. If she could repay Jiang Xian with labor, she absolutely would not use her body.

She stood up and was just walking toward the other side when the sound of liquid suddenly trickled beside her ear. Jing Lian instinctively lowered her eyes and saw a string of coffee-colored liquid flowing across the wooden table she had just wiped until it shone. The culprit was tilting the coffee cup between her fingers and looking at Jing Lian with a bright smile.

Their eyes met. Xu Wan saw a pair of stubborn eyes filled with killing intent. She instinctively shifted her gaze away and gave an “aiyo.”

“Sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose. What happened?”

She lightly set the coffee cup on the table, moved her jade-like hips, and turned sideways toward Jing Lian.

“Sorry to trouble you, but clean that up.”

She had done it on purpose. Jing Lian knew. There were no more than two reasons why this person was repeatedly picking fights with her. First, Jing Lian looked easy to bully. Her personality seemed weak, the type that would not make a sound even if a needle pierced her skin. Second, she had no backing in this villa. Even Jiang Xian bullied her, so naturally Jiang Xian’s ex looked down on her as well.

Aside from herself, she had no one to rely on.

Jing Lian quickly lowered her eyes. Her lashes were like rain butterflies with soaked wings, trembling lightly. She crouched down, wrung out the towel again, and wiped away the line of liquid on the table. Her gaze subconsciously moved toward Xu Wan, and she saw the woman sitting with her legs crossed, the brocade qipao embroidered with large red peonies falling down, lush and swaying.

Jing Lian stood up again and lightly loosened the towel in her hand. Silently, she draped one corner over the handle of the coffee cup. As she got up and walked away, she gave it a gentle tug.

With her back facing Xu Wan, she had barely taken two steps when the towel dragged the coffee cup down. Then she heard a sharp scream.

“Hot, hot, hot! Are you trying to burn me to death?”

At that moment, Auntie Wang and Xiao Ya rushed over after hearing the noise. Seeing that Xu Wan’s legs and qipao were wet, her calves covered in coffee stains, and that a red mark had been left on her fair skin after the hot liquid splashed over it, they immediately stepped forward and surrounded her protectively.

At the same time, they told Jing Lian that they would handle things here and used that excuse to send her away, avoiding further conflict between the two.

That suited Jing Lian perfectly. She did not even look at Xu Wan before turning around and leaving.

Thinking that there were still Jiang Xian’s silk scarves to wash, she picked up a basin, took the silk scarves, and headed to the washing sink beside the swimming pool.

The washing sink here was specifically used for handwashing clothes. The more expensive the fabric, the less it could be put into a machine. Jing Lian had been born into a wealthy family and had absorbed such things from childhood. She had seen the aunties at home wash silk scarves before. She first prepared warm water, squeezed in laundry detergent beads, and gently soaked the silk in the water.

Halfway through washing, Xu Wan had already changed into a blue qipao embroidered with butterflies. Holding her dirty clothes, she walked gracefully toward Jing Lian.

She was not polite either. She directly tossed the qipao over. The black satin covered Jing Lian’s eyes like a giant curtain. The fragrance was so strong that it nearly made Jing Lian faint.

She hurriedly pulled the qipao off her head and stared fixedly at Xu Wan.

Xu Wan crossed her arms. Her high heels stepped on the wooden plank stretched across the pool, and she raised her chin arrogantly.

“What are you glaring at me for? That’s a Shu embroidery qipao. You dirtied it, so you should wash it.”

The wooden plank swayed. The swimming pool reflected her long jade-like legs. Jing Lian took a deep breath and thought to herself that she and Jiang Xian really were lovers. Two different people could not sleep under the same quilt.

She said nothing. She simply soaked Xu Wan’s brocade qipao in water, added laundry detergent beads, and began rubbing it clean.

Xu Wan’s chest and abdomen sank slightly, and she slowly breathed out. “That’s more like it. Hurry up and wash it, then dry it. I still need to wear it back later.”

After Xu Wan walked away, Jing Lian pulled her hands out of the water, rinsed the foam clean under the faucet, and wiped each finger with a brocade handkerchief while walking toward the villa’s back kitchen.

Ten minutes later, she appeared near the pool again, still holding the brocade handkerchief. As she walked, the handkerchief fluttered. Hidden beneath it was a twenty-centimeter iron saw. The saw teeth glinted under the sunlight like a row of sharp teeth, eagerly waiting to bite into something.

She stepped with her injured foot onto the thin wooden plank laid across the swimming pool and crouched down. Lowering her head, she glanced over and saw her face reflected in the pool. It had been too long since she had seen her own face. She had lost a lot of weight. Her originally cold brows and eyes now actually carried a hint of sharpness.

She gently raised the saw and aimed it at the wooden plank beneath her feet. Very soon, the sound of sawing wood rang out. A few ripples spread across the pool, blurring her reflection. The sparrows resting in the shrubs were startled into flight, scattering toward the white clouds like a swarm of flying ants.

Half an hour later, Jing Lian had washed the silk shawl and brocade qipao. She was rinsing them with clean water for the final time.

At this moment, the setting sun was about to fall, and the red clouds filling the sky dyed the entire pool.

Xu Wan had rested enough. She walked over to the pool, stretching and yawning. From time to time, she glanced toward Jing Lian. Seeing that Jing Lian still had not finished washing, her mouth twisted and her eyes slanted. She strutted toward the wooden plank over the swimming pool, her high heels clicking sharply.

“I say, why haven’t you finished washing yet? Are you secretly slacking off on purpose so I won’t have clothes to wear?”

Jing Lian’s hands were soaked in the water. Her skin had become swollen, and the pads of her fingers were covered in wrinkles. She did not move anymore. Instead, she looked at the lips reflected in the water and lightly parted her red lips.

“One, two…”

Xu Wan was aggressive, still spewing cruel and filthy words.

Jing Lian treated it all as wind passing by her ears. Her pearl-white teeth bit down lightly, and her long lashes lifted.

“Three.”

The wooden plank made a crisp creak. Then, with a rumble, along with Xu Wan’s caught-off-guard scream and those hateful curses, it all crashed into the water.

In an instant, water splashed everywhere. A fountain of spray gathered beneath the sunset, forming a small, narrow rainbow.

The corner of Jing Lian’s mouth curved slightly. She wrung out the brocade in the basin and turned to leave.

Behind her came the gurgling sound of water, along with Xu Wan’s shrill cry.

“Hey, stop right there!”

Jing Lian turned around and looked down at the person in the pool. At this moment, Xu Wan’s wet hair clung messily to her cheeks. She spat out two mouthfuls of pool water full of disinfectant, then screamed uncontrollably twice.

“It was you. You did it on purpose.”

She had seen the straight-cut mark on the wooden plank, and her tone was extremely certain.

Jing Lian gave a light snort and ignored her.

She braced the basin against the right side of her waist and walked gracefully toward the backyard.

How could Xu Wan swallow this anger? She propped both hands on the edge of the pool and used the buoyancy to stand up, then strode after Jing Lian.

Jing Lian had only just suffered whip wounds. Xu Wan was going to make her fall into the water too, make her wounds inflame, fester, and scar, make her body covered in injuries.

She walked forward, hooked one hand onto Jing Lian’s basin, and yanked her over. The two faced each other, their figures reflected in the swimming pool, tense as drawn swords.

“Little slut, don’t blame me for being rude. You brought all of this on yourself.”

After saying that, she pushed Jing Lian’s shoulders with both hands, trying to throw her into the pool.

Jing Lian reacted quickly. She reached out and grabbed Xu Wan’s collar. One of the qipao’s frog buttons twisted off, and with a ripping sound, a piece of fabric tore open. Jing Lian clung tightly to Xu Wan’s clothes, refusing to fall into the swimming pool.

“You think this will keep you from going down?”

Xu Wan’s eyes were ruthless. She raised her hand and tore open the section of fabric at her chest, releasing Jing Lian.

Jing Lian’s body went light. Her vision darkened, and her heart seemed to remain where it was. Just as she was about to crash into the water, a warm palm caught her waist and pulled her back to the shore.