After Transmigrating As The Mother Of The Pitiful Female Supporting Character in a Campus Novel - Chapter 29

Before any criticism could be voiced, the two children lowered their heads with aggrieved expressions.

Seeing them like this, Xia Shibai broke down the reasoning for them in an earnest tone. “It’s not that I’m forbidding you from making money, but you’re just two small children. Doing it this flashily makes it easy for others to find trouble with you.”

With this method of amassing wealth, she really wasn’t afraid of them getting beaten up outside; it was also thanks to the high base consumption of this place, which had already filtered out a portion of people.

Xia Shibai didn’t make them hand over the money; looking at Xia Yaozhou’s resemblance to a pitiful street puppy, she rubbed the girl’s soft hair. “The money you earn yourself is your own. Keep it well and buy whatever you want.”

“Next time you do something like this, you must think it through carefully.” Xia Shibai reached out and lightly tapped Xia Yaozhou’s head twice. “Using this [your brain] and not leaving any leverage for others is the thing we should think about most before making money.”

“Only merchants with a conscience and morality can go far.”

Hearing that Xia Shibai wouldn’t take her money, Xia Yaozhou couldn’t help but grin, revealing her little milk teeth. She reached out to push the money sticking out of her pocket back in, the small pocket stuffed full.

“…” Xia Shibai was amused to the point of exasperation.

Was she really that fond of it?

Xia Shibai handled the aftermath for the two children, discussing compensation matters with the manager standing nearby.

The other party, however, smiled and said, “There’s no need for compensation; our boss knows about this matter as well.”

Xia Shibai was slightly stunned and instinctively turned her head to look at Dr. Qin, who had caught up, her elegant brows furrowing slightly. “I shouldn’t know your boss, right?”

“This matter is a win-win for us, and our boss has nodded in agreement; there’s no talk of compensation.” The manager comforted her, “If you’re worried about the challenge stages, our question bank is randomly replaced every week, so there’s no need to worry.”

“As for whether our boss knows you or not, that is the boss’s private matter, which is not for me to ask.”

Xia Shibai thought for a moment but couldn’t find any particularly good friends in the original owner’s memory. Although it was just children’s mischief, it had brought trouble to the park, and mentioning compensation was also to prevent parents from coming to cause a scene later.

With the manager’s attitude, the boss behind the scenes might not be someone Xia Shibai knew, but they likely knew her.

“Help me thank your boss for their kindness. If there are any problems with this matter later, or if you want to change the way it’s handled, you can contact me.” Xia Shibai gave her contact information to the manager, gave a slight nod, and left with Qin Zhijin.

There was a doctor not far from the park area to prevent tourists from being injured upon exiting.

The doctor, wearing a mask, helped Xia Shibai check her back, waist, and ankles. “The back doesn’t look like a big problem. There are superficial skin abrasions and swelling; applying some medicine should be enough.”

“And you? Do you want a checkup?” The doctor turned to look at Qin Zhijin, who was standing nearby.

“No need, just give me some povidone-iodine. If there are gauze and medical tape, that would be even better.”

The injuries Qin Zhijin could see on the surface were just abrasions on her palms, but having slid down a distance from the tree, the abrasions were not limited to her palms—there were also her legs covered by fabric.

The inside of her thighs was numb at first, but later she was busy running and couldn’t care about the injuries on her legs.

After escaping and being able to walk slowly, she realized her legs also hurt terribly; with even a slightly larger stride, the pain made her want to stop and rest.

If she hadn’t been unsure whether there were cameras pointed at her, Qin Zhijin would have liked to show her emotions on her face.

“Alright.”

The injuries both had sustained were not major problems; a brief look was sufficient.

When Xia Shibai and Qin Zhijin came out of the infirmary, the program crew had not yet left.

After inquiring, they learned the crew still had to stay here for a day.

“If President Xia minds, we can stop filming.”

“It’s not that.” Xia Shibai thought for a moment and said, “It’s just that when you film, try not to affect others too much. We aren’t professionals in this field after all, and having cameras pointed at us is somewhat uncomfortable.”

Since Xia Shibai had a request, the program crew naturally couldn’t refuse. Thus, after the director’s group discussed it, they reduced the filming staff by half, leaving only a few photographers at fixed positions and accompanying personnel.

The staff was lightened instantly, but the equipment was still prominent, drawing many people’s gazes along the way.

They didn’t care about such small matters.

The tents at the camp were large, costing over four hundred for a night, and inside there was everything. Xia Shibai and the others’ luggage had been sent to the room early on, arranged neatly together.

As soon as Xia Shibai and Qin Zhijin saw the bed, they were so exhausted they wished they could lie down and rest the next second.

Both were covered in mud and dust. They glanced at each other, said nothing, and caught the children who wanted to jump onto the sofa bed with their shoes off, took spare clothes, and took them to bathe.

After wiping the two children clean, changing them into pajamas, and tossing them into the tent, Xia Shibai took off her dirty sports jacket and curled her finger at the fragrant and soft Xia Yaozhou, who had just finished her bath. “Mommy will play a little game with you. If you win, Mommy will add extra funds to your piggy bank later, how about that?”

Xia Yaozhou, with a towel wrapped around her head, immediately propped herself up on the bed and crawled to the edge. “Really?”

“Yes, and for both of you. If Xiao Yi joins and you win, you can get double the money.”

Xia Yaozhou nodded hurriedly. “Okay, Mommy, what game are we playing?”

Gu Mingyi, who was on the side, also looked up at Xia Shibai curiously.

“123 Wooden Man. From the moment I leave the room, both of you must stay within your designated areas on the bed. If you go out of bounds even a bit, you lose. How about it?”

“Then how large is the range?”

Xia Shibai didn’t make it hard for the children; the original intent of this little game was to make the children stay quietly in the tent. Therefore, four pillows were divided into two sets, restricting the two children respectively on the bed.

“Just this wide; you two cannot exceed the width and length of the pillows.” Xia Shibai gestured for Xia Yaozhou. “Do you understand?”

Xia Yaozhou rolled twice on the bed, needing to roll twice left and right to touch the pillows, and nodded hurriedly. “Okay, okay, I can do it.”

After seeing Xia Yaozhou agree, Xia Shibai looked toward Gu Mingyi.

The latter naturally had no problem either.

Seeing this, Xia Shibai finally felt at ease taking her clothes to go outside. There were still photography personnel inside the tent, so there was no need to worry about anything happening. When she shouted “321 Wooden Man” upon leaving the door, the two little girls on the bed tilted their heads and stared at Xia Shibai’s disappearing back.

Exceedingly well-behaved.

Only this good behavior didn’t last long before Xia Yaozhou wanted to jump off the bed to play elsewhere.

But at the thought of the “money” she was about to earn, she couldn’t help but purse her lips slightly, seemingly stumped by this game.

Soon, Xia Yaozhou had other small movements. As for the photographer standing in the tent, he was completely ignored by her; the constantly running camera recorded her little cleverness in full.

Xia Yaozhou first used her hand to slightly push the soft pillow to the side, making the restricted range a tiny bit wider, and moved her body slightly toward the direction she pushed the pillow. Then she cautiously looked around, finding no movement at all.

Only then did she begin her slow “Yugong moving mountains” action, insistently pushing the pillow almost off the bed before she comfortably buried her face into the soft, fluffy pillow.

After resting for a moment, the person planted in the pillow moved again, jumping off the bed with both hands holding the pillow that was slightly shorter than her. She began her small movements of wandering around, her ears sharp for sounds outside the tent. Once there were dense footsteps or talking voices, she would bristle like a startled cat holding her pillow, ready to run back to lie on the bed at any time.

Gu Mingyi sat on the bed, occasionally glancing at the increasingly bold Xia Yaozhou, pursing her lips without speaking. She only sat more upright, staring at the pillow’s boundary like someone with OCD, not wanting any part of herself to cross the line, not even a single strand of hair!

On the other side, Qin Zhijin came out after her bath, gathered her clothes into a trash bag, threw them in the bin, and walked to the hair dryer stand to start drying her hair, staring blankly at a point in the distance, thinking of nothing.

Xia Shibai was a bit later than her; when she came out, she still carried a faint mist of hot water on her body. It had to be said that a pure wilderness camp was sheer torture for people like them who were used to living under modern technology.

Light camping integrated with modern technology was what made people comfortable.

It would have been even better if they hadn’t performed a life-and-death chase battle today.

Xia Shibai threw away her dirty clothes and prepared to walk toward where Qin Zhijin was, when she sharply spotted a man in a tracksuit walking toward Qin Zhijin.

She originally thought it was some stranger coming up to flirt, but before he even got very close, the man called out Qin Zhijin’s name.

It was someone she knew.

Xia Shibai didn’t say “familiar” because seeing Qin Zhijin’s indifferent expression and the hand drying her hair never stopping, if she had to say it, she even felt she saw disgust on Qin Zhijin’s face.

The man walking from afar hooked the corner of his mouth slightly, looking like an old acquaintance, reaching out wanting to put an arm around Qin Zhijin’s shoulder, but she dodged it.

“We’ve been classmates for many years, how can you not even let me put an arm around your shoulder?” The man jokingly teased Qin Zhijin with feigned familiarity, but the narrowness in his gaze did not escape others’ eyes.

“Stupid things used to be contagious through contact.” Qin Zhijin’s words paused slightly. “But looking at it now, everything in the world evolves; stupidity is now also contagious through the medium of air.”

“You! Qin Zhijin, don’t be ungrateful. You don’t really think you’re some good person, do you? Everyone in class knows now that your medical ethics are unsound, and you won’t be able to stay in the hospital much longer.”

“When the time comes, don’t go jumping off a high building in shame and anger. After all, for a woman as ungrateful as you, whoever marries you has truly had their ancestral grave suffer bad luck for eight lifetimes.”

Looking at the man in front of her who had suddenly broken down, flown into a rage, and was eager to belittle her, Qin Zhijin asked in confusion, “I can’t get married, nor would I consider you, so what on earth are you blathering about here?”

“If the person who marries me has ancestral graves suffer bad luck for eight lifetimes, then for me, who was once pursued by you, it’s practically having my ancestral grave dug up. Fortunately, my eyes are bright and I can see through the moisture that’s about to evaporate in your rotten body, and I brought a shovel overnight to fill my family’s ancestral grave back in.”

Qin Zhijin put the hair dryer back in its place. “Otherwise, the person who is an idiot now would be me.”

The man was furious, and his words became increasingly unpleasant.

Qin Zhijin was not in a hurry; after all, the person breaking down wasn’t her.

“If you ask me, losing your spot for postgraduate recommendation back then was also what you deserved; who told you to harass someone.” Chen Cun, seeing his current words didn’t provoke Qin Zhijin’s anger, began to bring up old grudges again.

“If you hadn’t done those things, perhaps the person at the People’s General Hospital now would be you. Don’t you think it’s hateful? A rotten reputation coupled with unsound medical ethics—you’re just lucky your family background is wealthy enough to support you, otherwise, who knows what assembly line you’d be working on now.”

It wasn’t the first time Qin Zhijin had seen Chen Cun’s ugly face.

Rather than anger, it was more speechlessness.

Speechless at her bad luck today for attracting such a psychopath, not having checked the almanac before going out.

Qin Zhijin wanted to go around Chen Cun but found he was blocking her, with no intention of making way.

Xia Shibai didn’t step forward at first; after all, with her shallow understanding of Dr. Qin, she would definitely not be at a disadvantage in a verbal altercation.

So Xia Shibai watched from the side, but when Chen Cun began to move and his voice grew louder, with every sentence revealing a desire to expose Qin Zhijin’s secrets in public, Xia Shibai lost her patience.

Chen Cun was reveling in his knowledge of so many of Qin Zhijin’s indecencies, thinking he could strike back and belittle this ungrateful woman who had once rejected him into the mud.

The next second, he felt a pain in his wrist. He looked over angrily and found Xia Shibai had stood beside him at some point.

“Who are you? Do you have any manners? Starting a fight the moment you come up—did no one in your family teach you how to be polite before they died?”

Xia Shibai’s mouth quirked slightly; not only did she not release her hand twisting his wrist, she even delivered a knee strike to Chen Cun’s abdomen. The pain made Chen Cun clutch his lower belly and retreat, his finger pointing at Xia Shibai tremblingly.

“Point that again, and I’ll post the video I just recorded online so everyone can see what a man with strong jealousy looks like, and so they can stay far away from a person like you in life.”

Chen Cun clutched his aching stomach. “You think the person beside you is some good thing? If you dare post the video online, she might be the first one cyberbullied by netizens!”

“Is that so?” Xia Shibai looked toward Qin Zhijin and asked, “The things he said—have you done them?”

“No.” Qin Zhijin answered certainly.

She couldn’t even be bothered to pay attention to Chen Cun’s misunderstandings and slanders.

But Xia Shibai was different; even if Qin Zhijin didn’t want to recall the events of back then, as long as it was Xia Shibai asking, she would speak.

“She said she hasn’t done them. For things that haven’t been done, you say them so righteously—what evidence do you have?”

Xia Shibai separated Chen Cun and Qin Zhijin. “Words are not proof. If you have the ability, bring your evidence and prove the logical chain to me. Otherwise, we’ll call the police right now and see how a doctor slandering someone in public is punished.”

“You…!” Chen Cun couldn’t out-argue the two of them. He pointed his finger at Xia Shibai and Qin Zhijin, gritting his teeth. “Fine, you don’t believe it, but she’d be a ghost if she had no impression of what she did herself.”

“I just came over to bring a word to Dr. Qin, who is on unpaid leave. Our class is having a reunion in a few days; if you’re afraid of losing face, then don’t go.”

Hearing this, Xia Shibai laughed.

“What does she have to lose face about? Even without working, she lives chicly and freely, and hasn’t done anything wicked; who knows how many people want to be reincarnated like this.”

Xia Shibai put her hand on Qin Zhijin’s shoulder, tilting her head slightly. “It’s actually you all who are quite shameful, only daring to speak ill of someone behind their back, belittling and slandering others. Even my three-year-old daughter knows not to gossip about others behind their backs or speak ill of them.”

“A person nearly thirty is not as good as a three-year-old child; I feel ashamed for you.”

Chen Cun originally wanted to come over and embarrass Qin Zhijin; after all, back in university, Qin Zhijin’s rejection of his request to date was enough to make him lose face for four years.

Every time people in the class mentioned it, there was a round of laughter.

Yet Qin Zhijin remained forever unaffected, as if she didn’t know these people were stepping on her and mocking him.

Chen Cun couldn’t stand Qin Zhijin’s indifferent attitude, so he secretly stepped on her in various ways, yet this person didn’t seem to understand anger, nor did she understand where their point of excluding her lay.

If it hadn’t been for the incident that happened to Qin Zhijin before the postgraduate recommendation…

Chen Cun would likely have been fuming to death.

Looking at how rich Chen Cun’s expression changes were, Xia Shibai wanted to have the Sichuan opera face-changing performers yield a spot to him; after all, Sichuan opera face-changing needs small techniques, but Chen Cun didn’t.

The same face could produce so many different expressions that Xia Shibai worried he would get himself so angry he’d faint.

Seeing things were not going his way, Chen Cun simply ran away, without leaving even a single harsh word.

He didn’t even tell Qin Zhijin the time of the class reunion.

“Leaving just like that? Didn’t you say you came to bring a message? How come you only said half of it?” Xia Shibai retracted her hand from Qin Zhijin’s shoulder and picked up the hair dryer to start drying her hair. “Find a time to ask him for the invitation.”

Qin Zhijin said hurriedly, “I’m not very familiar with them either; there’s no need to go just to stand out.”

“No, you must go.” Xia Shibai pursed her lips slightly, looking in the direction Chen Cun fled, feeling inexplicably disgruntled. “If nothing else, if we don’t go that day, with that mouth of his, he’ll likely paint himself as the victim and say how we bullied him.”

“Men are just asking for it.”

Seeing Chen Cun’s triumphant look reminded Xia Shibai of the male colleagues in the same group when she first started working; their words were full of belittling her and looking down on women in every way, but once the proposal came out, they still needed the boss to help clean up their mess.

Zero work ability, but full marks in the ability to turn black into white.

Qin Zhijin could not care because she felt it was no matter, or she used to feel it mattered, but after struggling without effect, she stopped caring.

But Xia Shibai couldn’t; she liked to protect people and didn’t like to suffer losses.

She was someone who liked to protect her own people.

If someone else did three-tenths of a job, she might still pick out flaws; but if it was one of her own doing three-tenths, she would probably praise them a bit and then personally help them raise it to the passing line.

“You’re right, Chen Cun is just asking for it.” Qin Zhijin nodded with deep experience.

This man Chen Cun’s thoughts were extremely easy to guess; his bad intentions were written all over his face. He was clearly an idiot being used as a pawn, yet he still felt he was great.

Qin Zhijin’s rejection of his dating request was not a big deal; after the first-year military training, those rejected by Qin Zhijin numbered at least eight or ten, and there were those even more embarrassed than Chen Cun, yet only he cared so much.

“There’s no way to communicate with idiots; even if they fall into a ditch, they don’t think it’s their own problem.”

Instead, they blame everything on others, saying it’s all someone else’s fault.

“When your class reunion comes, I’ll go and back you up.” Xia Shibai dried her hair until it was half-dry and hung the hair dryer back casually.

Qin Zhijin nodded, followed her back two steps, but still caught up to ask somewhat uncertainly, “Do you really think I didn’t do it?”

“Didn’t you say you didn’t do it?”

“You believe it just because I say it?”

Xia Shibai stood still and nodded as if it were a matter of course. “Otherwise? If I don’t believe you, should I believe him instead? You were the person involved, he wasn’t. If you say no, then it’s no.”

“Between us, we shouldn’t be lacking this bit of trust.”

“After all, we’re comrades who just escaped together.”

Qin Zhijin liked to hear the earlier words, as for the latter…

Qin Zhijin told herself secretly that it was okay, she would omit them.

As a person, one should just pick the things one likes to hear.

Xia Shibai’s attitude was no different from stuffing a candy into Qin Zhijin’s mouth.

Quite sweet.

On the way back to the tent, Qin Zhijin felt the surrounding scenery was quite good, even though it was late and she could only barely see the road by the streetlights that had already been lit.

She still felt the scenery was very beautiful.

Returning to the tent, Xia Shibai had not forgotten the game she had played with the two children before she left.

Her intention was to restrict Xia Yaozhou, so she wouldn’t wander around or cause damage in the tent.

Upon returning, the two children were both sitting obediently on the bed, but strange traces remained in the tent.

Xia Shibai spotted the banana peel disguised as a banana on the fruit plate on the table at a glance. Sweeping her gaze over the tent as a whole, she discovered the evidence left by Xia Yaozhou.

A mineral water bottle with its cap opened and a small half drunk; towels that had been unfolded and folded back; even the toys the camp area specially prepared for children showed signs of having been twisted.

Most importantly, the distance between Xia Yaozhou’s two pillows was twice as long as Gu Mingyi’s—did she really think her mother was blind?

Yet Xia Yaozhou felt she had done it seamlessly, sitting cross-legged upright on the bed, opening one eye and closing the other while pressing her hand on the bed, using her finger to poke the gap between them.

Hearing the sound, Xia Yaozhou hurriedly raised her head and sweetly called Mommy and Auntie Qin.

“Mommy, money-money!”

“There is none.” Xia Shibai reached out and flicked Xia Yaozhou’s forehead. “Liar, be careful your nose might grow long. You said it yourself, during the time I was away, did you really not leave the bed?”

Xia Yaozhou gestured with the gap between her fingers, “…a little-little bit.”

“Eating bananas, drinking water, bouncing on the sofa, even bouncing the pillowcases out of place, and then going to play with toys.”

Xia Shibai held Xia Yaozhou to identify the evidence one by one. “How is your ‘little-little bit’ different from others?”

Watching the things she had done being pointed out, Xia Yaozhou couldn’t help but reach out and cup Xia Shibai’s face, moving closer to look.

Except for the pleasant smell of shower gel, there was nothing.

“Does Mommy have clairvoyance? I clearly restored everything!”

“Heh, using a banana peel to fake a banana—the whole world couldn’t find a few geniuses like you.” Xia Shibai patted Xia Yaozhou’s little waist, tossing her onto the bed like putting a fish back into water, and that was that.

Then Xia Shibai really found a few hundred in cash from her wallet and gave it to Gu Mingyi.

It made Xia Yaozhou’s eyes green with envy.

The little girl pursed her lips and sidled up to Gu Mingyi, poking her head over to look. “How much is there? How much did Mommy give you?”

Gu Mingyi looked at the less than four banknotes, knowing it was impossible for Xia Yaozhou not to know how to count, and that she was simply greedy for the money in her hand. She quickly folded them up, turned around, and put the money in her own pocket, not letting Xia Yaozhou see.

Xia Yaozhou: “?”

“Your intention is so obvious.” Qin Zhijin looked at the bewildered Xia Yaozhou and rubbed her soft cheeks. “One should be subtle.”

“Hmm?” Xia Yaozhou looked at Qin Zhijin curiously, waiting for her to give a tip.

Qin Zhijin was also serious, directly holding out her hand to Xia Shibai for money. “Give money.”

Xia Shibai cooperated and handed over the last banknote in her hand.

Qin Zhijin waved the banknote and smiled, “Impressive, right?”

Xia Yaozhou clapped her hands, indicating she had learned, and hurriedly stood up from the bed, jumping toward Xia Shibai. “Mommy, give money.”

“Here.” Xia Shibai slapped it into Xia Yaozhou’s palm. “This money can only be seen by smart children.”

“I can’t see it!”

“That’s because you aren’t smart.”

Xia Yaozhou: “?”

Gu Mingyi, who had already put the money away, rarely cooperated with Xia Shibai. “I can see it.”

Qin Zhijin hurriedly said, “I can see it too.”

Xia Shibai held her daughter and said seriously, “Look, everyone can see it, which means it’s still Zhouzhou who isn’t smart enough.”

Xia Yaozhou looked at her hand in confusion, her big eyes sweeping over the people around her questioningly, and then said huffily, “You all are just lying, I won’t play with you anymore!”

Xia Yaozhou jumped back onto the bed herself, pulling the quilt to wrap herself into a caterpillar devoid of desire for life.

A caterpillar without money lost the desire for life.