After Transmigrating As The Mother Of The Pitiful Female Supporting Character in a Campus Novel - Chapter 37

Xia Shibai hadn’t been able to solve the lock screen issue yet when a new problem emerged—Xia Yaozhou couldn’t be woken up again.

The day after the activity ended, Xia Yaozhou fell into a deep sleep, just like last time.

This time Xia Shibai was wide awake; there was no fever and no discomfort, but even after repeated calls, Xia Yaozhou didn’t react. Xia Shibai speculated that Xia Yaozhou must have gone to the other world.

At the same time, Big Yaozhou was busy helping Qin Zhijin tend to the flowers in the garden. Watering them with bone broth could make the flowers bloom vigorously and brilliantly.

Qin Zhijin, wearing a qipao, was busy inside the house. The electronic calendar hanging in the living room had already flipped forward more than twenty days.

The time they were experiencing moved much faster than the time in the world where Xia Yaozhou resided.

When Xia Yaozhou woke up, she found a pair of adult slippers for herself, put them on, and went out of the room with a patter-patter sound. Just as she poked her head out to look around, she noticed a dark shadow flickering near her fence.

Xia Yaozhou had recently been receiving legal education and knew that people acting sneakily were those who couldn’t stand the light. Her delicate brows furrowed slightly; she tried her best to lighten her footsteps, tiptoeing around to the other side to peek at the situation.

The person was wearing a hat and a mask, standing in a dim spot. He didn’t seem to expect that there was a child in the house, let alone one who would suddenly appear before him.

After their eyes met for a moment, the tall, sturdy youth froze. Before Xia Yaozhou could open her mouth to shout for someone, he turned around and ran away.

Xia Yaozhou stood in place and watched for a moment. After confirming the person had disappeared, she reached out to close the open door, shuffled back in her slippers, and turned to walk toward where Big Yaozhou was.

“You…?” Big Yaozhou was watering the flowers when she suddenly saw a child appear in front of her. She was startled, but after looking closely to see who it was, she couldn’t stop the smile on her face. “Why are you here?”

“I don’t know. I was sleepy and went to bed, and when I woke up, I was here.” Xia Yaozhou squatted down to look at the cooled bone broth; after studying it and finding it boring, she looked up at Big Yaozhou. “Don’t you have school today?”

“Holiday.” Big Yaozhou reached out and scooped Xia Yaozhou up, moving her to the side to prevent the contents of the bucket from getting her dirty.

“I just saw someone loitering near the house, tall and strong!” Xia Yaozhou said solemnly, “Based on Cat Cop’s judgment, he is very likely a bad person. You have to be careful!”

Hearing this, Big Yaozhou narrowed her eyes and looked around vigilantly. While watering the flowers, she asked Xia Yaozhou what the person looked like, but the conclusion was that he was dressed entirely in black—there was almost no key information.

Big Yaozhou: “…Fine. Find a place to play on your own. I’ll take you home after I finish this.”

“Okay.” Xia Yaozhou nodded and obediently found a stool in the garden to sit on. She was familiar with the place, as her current home was right next door.

Qin Zhijin was working inside. Hearing voices outside while holding a tool for mixing batter, she saw Xia Yaozhou swinging her legs and let out a soft “Ah.” “Zhouzhou, is this your friend?”

“No!” Hearing the familiar voice, Xia Yaozhou subconsciously thought the Qin Zhijin of this world was calling her. Just as she was about to turn her head to answer, her mouth was covered by Big Yaozhou.

“Mmph, mmph—”

“No, she’s… the child of a relative.” Big Yaozhou gave an embarrassed smile.

Qin Zhijin didn’t press the matter and nodded with a smile, telling them to put down what they were doing. “I’ll water the flowers myself later. I made Portuguese tarts; come and try them together.”

After saying that, Qin Zhijin headed into the kitchen.

Xia Yaozhou blinked at the retreating Qin Zhijin and tapped Big Yaozhou’s arm. After being allowed to breathe freely, her little chest heaved up and down. “Auntie Qin is so pretty.”

“…Need you to tell me that?” Big Yaozhou carried Xia Yaozhou to the garden pond, and the two washed their hands. “Don’t talk nonsense when we go in later. Don’t tell Auntie Qin about your world, okay? Right now, your identity isn’t ‘me,’ but my younger sister.”

“Oh, but why can’t I say it?” Xia Yaozhou shook her wet hands. “I’ve told you, deceiving people is wrong. Especially since Auntie Qin is so good to me, we shouldn’t deceive her even more.”

“This isn’t deception.” Big Yaozhou tapped the little girl’s forehead. “We call this ‘withholding,’ not ‘deceiving’—unless you don’t want to eat sweet Portuguese tarts and want to be kicked out by Auntie Qin.”

“The things you talk about haven’t been scientifically proven in this world yet. If you say them, you’ll be dragged to a lab for research. If you want to never see Mom… Xia Shibai again, then go ahead and shout everywhere that you’re from another world.”

Big Yaozhou bit her lip slightly and placed Xia Yaozhou on the ground as if nothing had happened.

The word “Mom” was still hard for her to say. She habitually uttered Xia Shibai’s real name; after all, for them, it was essentially the same concept.

Xia Yaozhou was frightened by her words. She covered her mouth with her wet hands and stared wide-eyed at Big Yaozhou. After a long while, she leaned into Big Yaozhou’s ear and whispered, “I understand… we’ll talk very quietly and not let anyone know!”

“I still want to go back and find Mommy.”

Big Yaozhou satisfactorily led Xia Yaozhou by the wrist into the house, reaching out to touch a small hanging glass bottle. “Is Xia Shibai bankrupt? Can’t afford gold or silver? Making you wear this kind of junk?”

“Ah! Mommy said when I see you, I have to give this to you.” Xia Yaozhou had completely forgotten what Xia Shibai had instructed and cautioned. She grabbed her messy ponytail, took off the small glass bottle to hand it over to Big Yaozhou, and started charging inside on her short legs.

“Auntie Qin, Auntie Qin! Where are the Portuguese tarts?”

Big Yaozhou, holding the small glass bottle: “…”

Why do I feel like I’ve been tricked by a diversion?

What Xia Shibai said probably isn’t very important, right? Well…

Big Yaozhou felt conflicted in her heart. Then she thought about the anime and movies she had seen about time travel—most were meant to save the later timeline. There must be a reason for Xia Yaozhou coming to this timeline; maybe Xia Shibai really had something urgent to tell her?

Qin Zhijin called out to Big Yaozhou from inside. She gave a quick “Ah” and said she’d be in soon, then she took the small slip of paper out of the glass bottle.

After skimming it in a few seconds, Big Yaozhou gritted her teeth in anger.

“Psychopath…”

She knew it! What important matter could Xia Shibai possibly have? If she ever lets herself be moved by Xia Shibai again, she’s a pig!

Big Yaozhou stuffed the note into her pocket. The few lines revealed were all asking about Qin Zhijin; only the first line showed concern for Big Yaozhou: “How did you get rid of Auntie Lin? Study hard and focus your mind on your studies.”

The rest were all asking about Qin Zhijin’s situation.

Big Yaozhou: “…”

This concern was truly full of hypocrisy.

The more Big Yaozhou thought about it, the more speechless she felt. She rolled her eyes several times, feeling that Xia Yaozhou carrying this glass bottle was somewhat a waste of physical energy. This kind of note should have just rotted in the printer.

Unlucky.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Big Yaozhou led Xia Yaozhou toward home. Because of what Xia Yaozhou had said during the day, Big Yaozhou still vigilantly circled the perimeter of the house when entering, fearing strangers might be around. Finding nothing unusual, she went home and locked the door.

Xia Yaozhou took a plastic cup from under the water dispenser and poured herself some cold water. After gulping it down, she bit the rim of the plastic cup and, finding that Big Yaozhou hadn’t followed, ran barefoot toward the sofa. She discovered a large pile of colorful book covers there.

The “failing student” Xia Yaozhou silently paused her footsteps, consciously distancing herself from those books as if they were a virus—if she got a little closer, she’d be infected and feel unwell all over.

“What are you doing?” Xia Yaozhou asked curiously, watching Big Yaozhou writing furiously.

“Doing homework.” Big Yaozhou beckoned to her. “Does Xia Shibai want to know how I drove Auntie Lin away?”

“…” Xia Yaozhou tilted her head and thought for a while before saying, “Probably.”

“I’m only a three-year-old child!”

She wasn’t a computer or a memo pad; how could she know things from so long ago? If Big Yaozhou hadn’t found the small glass bottle herself and asked Xia Yaozhou what it was, Big Yaozhou likely wouldn’t have seen the note inside—which had almost nothing to do with her—until the moment Xia Yaozhou left.

“She fell from upstairs and became a vegetable.” Big Yaozhou said it casually as she took a lollipop she had bought days ago from the small cabinet of the coffee table, unwrapped it, fed it to Xia Yaozhou, and told her to eat it slowly.

“I was in the third grade then. She wanted to hit me, lost her footing on the stairs, and fell down.” Big Yaozhou pointed at the stairs and said calmly, “I called 120 at the time. The police contacted Xia Shibai, and she came over with Yao Yao.”

“You know who Yao Yao is, right?”

Xia Yaozhou nodded. “She’s Mommy’s assistant.”

“After Xia Shibai saw I was okay, she left to fly to France to talk about work. She didn’t stop for half a second in between and didn’t speak to me. The aftermath was all handled by Yao Yao. Later, Yao Yao wanted to find a suitable nanny for me, but I refused. Since then, it’s always been hourly workers coming to help clean, and the surveillance in the villa was renovated.”

“That’s how it was.” Big Yaozhou spoke in a muffled voice, staring down at the dense exercises in her textbook. “The story your mom wants to know is just like that. As for the other things she asked… tsk, I won’t…”

Before Big Yaozhou could finish her sentence, the outside door was struck with a loud bang bang bang.

The attention of both the big and small girls was drawn to the knocking.

“Is it Auntie Qin?” Xia Yaozhou looked at Big Yaozhou in confusion; in her memory, the only person who would knock on their door was Qin Zhijin.

Xiao Pang and Xiao Qiu were people who shouted her name at the top of their lungs; they didn’t have that much strength.

“No.” Big Yaozhou waved her hand, telling Xia Yaozhou to shut her little mouth and make no sound. She herself walked to the wall near the garden window to check the situation outside.

The only person in the entire neighborhood who could possibly knock on her door was Qin Zhijin.

But Qin Zhijin would never knock twice so violently. Especially since she and Qin Zhijin had become close recently, the gentle and intellectual Auntie Qin would more often ring the doorbell twice. If there was no sign of the door opening after a while, Qin Zhijin would turn and leave.

The person outside definitely couldn’t be Qin Zhijin.

Little Xia Yaozhou stood by the coffee table, covering her mouth tightly, fearing that the slightest sound she made would interfere with Big Yaozhou.

The garden window was a blind spot that happened to show the view of the entrance. When Big Yaozhou was little, she liked to squat here and look outside; she didn’t expect that one day this habit could be used like this.

Looking out from the blind spot, Big Yaozhou saw a youth wrapped entirely in black holding a knife against Qin Zhijin’s lower back. The tip of the knife was digging in, making her recoil two steps in fright.

The youth with the knife outside sensed something and looked up at the French window. The knife he held pushed a few inches deeper into Qin Zhijin’s lower back. “Call her. Call her out.”

Qin Zhijin didn’t feel terrified, but there was still a bit of fear as the knife pierced her skin and entered her body. her throat was so dry she almost couldn’t open her mouth. She slapped the door twice more and raised her voice to shout “Zhouzhou” a few times.

Big Yaozhou decisively picked Xia Yaozhou up, lowered her through the kitchen window, and told her to go find a security guard or another homeowner. She then grabbed a golf club that was placed in a vase as decoration, hid it behind her back, hurriedly calmed her breathing, and walked quickly to the door.

The knife-wielding youth stared intently at the closed door. Seeing the door slowly open a crack, his fingers gripping the knife turned white. Before the door was fully open, he threw Qin Zhijin aside and gripped the knife, wanting to charge inside. Unexpectedly, as he pushed the door open, he was struck hard on the head by the titanium alloy golf club.

Before he could reach out to touch his skull, which was ringing from the vibration, the golf club in Big Yaozhou’s hand struck the youth’s vulnerable spots one after another.

A direct hit to the lower body caused the youth to roll on the ground in pain, unable to protect both his head and tail. He didn’t let go of the knife but instead stabbed wildly in the air. Finally, he was given a thorough “education” from head to toe by Big Yaozhou with the golf club. If the security guard hadn’t rushed up later to stop Big Yaozhou, the youth lying on the ground would likely have been beaten to death on the spot.

The golf club was bent out of shape.

Qin Zhijin was carried into a vehicle by the paramedics who arrived later, along with the pale youth lying on the ground, his face covered in blood.

Xia Yaozhou, who was carried over by another security guard, was barefoot; her fair soles were covered in wounds.

The police were trying to find a way to soothe Big Yaozhou’s emotions, but it was useless. She still gripped the golf club tightly in a defensive posture. Finally, Xia Yaozhou struggled down from the security guard’s arms and rushed into her arms, hugging Big Yaozhou’s thigh.

Fourteen-year-old Big Yaozhou only felt a weight increase on her leg. It was warm; through her long pants, her face was smeared with Xia Yaozhou’s tears and sweat.

“I thought you were going to die.”

“…I won’t.” Big Yaozhou’s voice was hoarse. The bent golf club in her hand was snatched away by the responding officer. Her legs went weak, and she sat down on the ground, instinctively pulling Xia Yaozhou into her arms. The child carried the fresh scent of body wash, which swirled in her nostrils and finally allowed Big Yaozhou to wake up from her daze.

“How could I die? The person who can kill me hasn’t been born yet.” Big Yaozhou rubbed Xia Yaozhou’s soft hair and used her clothes to wipe away the tears and snot flowing across the girl’s face. “What are you crying for? I haven’t even seized the money and power from Xia Shibai’s hands and sent her to a nursing home yet. How could I die?”

“Don’t die!”

“Okay, okay, okay. I won’t die, won’t die, won’t die…”

Big Yaozhou let the little girl bury her head in her chest, wiping tears and snot all over her T-shirt, which cost several hundred yuan. Although she was disgusted, it was essentially herself.

Well, she was still very disgusted—even if it was herself, she was very disgusted.

Qin Zhijin was sent to the hospital for treatment. Big Yaozhou and Xia Yaozhou, accompanied by the police, took some clothes and went back with the property management to make a statement.

From beginning to end, Xia Yaozhou refused to have contact with strangers, wanting only to stick with Big Yaozhou. Even while sitting in the police station, surrounded by people in police uniforms, her sense of security was overflowing.

“Do you know the perpetrator? Can you remember having a grudge with anyone recently? We checked his recent records. The last time he was in our station was also a case reported by your neighborhood’s property management—it was trespassing and burglary. But later, due to insufficient evidence to prove he stole anything, it turned into fifteen days of detention.”

The officer flipped through the perpetrator’s electronic criminal record and handed a printed photo across the table to Big Yaozhou. “Do you recognize this face?”

“No, I don’t know him.” Big Yaozhou shook her head. “But I think he must know me. The last time we called the police and caught him, the way he looked at me was full of hatred, as if I had offended him before.”

“I haven’t had a grudge with anyone recently either.” Big Yaozhou told the police her recent schedule truthfully, including moving her study spot back from the internet cafe just to ensure she was home when Qin Zhijin knocked to find her.

“However, there should be a few people in this world who hate me quite a bit.”

The officer’s hand recording the notes paused slightly. “Who?”

“One is Xia Shibai, the other is Auntie Lin.”

“Who is Xia Shibai?” The officer looked at the character “Xia” on the record book, thought of the wealthy family gossip he saw on TV, and wondered if it could be a property dispute, murder for gain, or hiring a hitman.

Xia Yaozhou, who was being held on Big Yaozhou’s lap with her feet already treated and wrapped in gauze, snapped out of it. Hearing the familiar name, she said loudly: “Xia Shibai is Mommy!”

“…” The officer was speechless. “You mean your mom hired someone to kill you?”

Big Yaozhou nodded upon hearing this. “It’s not impossible. My relationship with her is very bad, super bad—the kind where only one of us can exist.”

“Fine… then who is Auntie Lin?”

The officer learned about Auntie Lin from Big Yaozhou and finally identified the perpetrator, who was being treated by doctors in the hospital, as Auntie Lin’s only surviving grandson. The age matched, there was a motive, and he even knew the address of the Xia residence.

As for why he went for Qin Zhijin, the police, following the last statement, categorized it as accidentally obtained information. Qin Zhijin’s house looked the same as the Xia residence from the outside, and the layout inside was the same—only the decoration was different.

Auntie Lin’s grandson had visited when he was very young. Finding the place based on memory, it was normal to find the wrong location the first time. Then, when he reached the correct Xia residence, he was likely triggered by the noise of Qin Zhijin returning. Realizing the occupant was wrong and he had found the wrong place.

If Big Yaozhou’s vigilance hadn’t been high last time, she might have already been killed.

Everything could only be called luck.

Fortunate to still be alive.

The two surveillance videos provided by property management plus Big Yaozhou’s statement were basically enough to convict the youth still in the hospital bed of premeditated kidnapping and murder with a clear motive: revenge.

Once the police confirmed this, they sent Big Yaozhou and Xia Yaozhou to the hospital.

Qin Zhijin’s injury was not serious; there was a somewhat deep gash on her lower back, but it wasn’t life-threatening. She couldn’t wake up because of excessive blood loss, which put her in a comatose state.

Xia Yaozhou was placed on the sofa next to the hospital bed. She didn’t dare move, her eyes staring intently at Qin Zhijin lying on the bed. The events she had experienced not long ago seemed to be right before her eyes. Her eyes were red, and tears couldn’t help but well up in them again.

“Auntie Qin will be okay, right?”

“She’s fine; she’s just asleep.” Big Yaozhou wiped away her tears with a rough hand. “She’ll wake up when she’s had enough sleep. If you’re worried, I’ll help move the sofa a bit closer so you can watch her properly.”

“Okay!”

Having something to do, Xia Yaozhou soon forgot her inner fear. At first, she sat cross-legged on the sofa, but later her little head started nodding like someone fishing. Then she slumped onto the sofa, snuggling against the rough surface of the fabric sofa and sleeping soundly.

Big Yaozhou: “…”

Truly practiced; she fell asleep faster than she does in geography class.

Big Yaozhou covered Xia Yaozhou with a small folded quilt from the sofa. Holding her phone, she pondered whether to contact her nominal mother. After thinking for a moment, she felt it was unnecessary.

She was fine, and whether anything happened to Qin Zhijin had nothing to do with Xia Shibai.

Xia Shibai never spent her thoughts on irrelevant people.

Even if something happened to her, Xia Shibai would only come for a shallow glance and then go back to whatever she was doing. If she called to tell Xia Shibai—“An aunt I know, called Qin Zhijin, she was injured because of me…”—before she could finish, the call would likely be hung up.

Tsk.

Instead of calling Xia Shibai, it would be better to call for takeout. At least the wolfberry leaf and pig liver porridge could have more ingredients and less rice.

On the other end of the same city was a prestigious temple. It was said that a sleeping hidden dragon was tucked away in the mountains; the dragon’s limbs stretched out to become four mountains, which happened to stand in two parallel rows. Further away from the four limb-mountains was one that was the dragon’s head, which was where the main hall of the temple was located.

At the end of the four limb-mountains was a non-stop, rushing cliff waterfall. Long ago, people called it the Dragon’s Tail Waterfall, also known as the Dragon Gate Waterfall.

“People have turned the dragon into their belief, believing that the hidden dragon in the mountains staying within the five mountains is to protect their land. The temple was built originally to worship the immortal spirit of the dragon.” The man wearing glasses walked at the very front, turning his head from time to time to look at the cold-faced President Xia following behind him. He couldn’t make up his mind, so he could only bite the bullet and explain the history of the Dragon King Temple.

The President Xia whom Big Yaozhou considered “cold-blooded and heartless” had been invited to climb a mountain by a business partner who was just one piece of paper away from signing a contract. It was an “immortal mountain” at that. Hearing talk about fortune, sudden wealth, and good marriage prospects, she didn’t even lift an eyelid.

“What does this have to do with our cooperation, President Chen?”

The man called President Chen trembled slightly, cautiously observing “Xia Shibai’s” expression, fearing this boss would be unhappy and the contract would be ruined—or that she would kick him off such a high mountain.

President Chen clearly underestimated “Xia Shibai’s” emotional control.

She was just cold, not a fool. If the cooperation failed, there was no need to take a life for a foolish partner.

“The master at the temple on the mountain is very accurate at interpreting lots. I heard President Xia’s sleep quality has always been poor, and seeking doctors both at home and abroad hasn’t solved it…” President Chen said with a forced laugh, “Why not try our local metaphysics? Maybe by drawing a lot, you can see where the source is.”

Yao Yao, who followed and climbed over a thousand steps: “…”

Fists are clenching, fists are clenching.

This idiot partner, aaaaaah! Doesn’t he know the temple has a sightseeing cable car? He just insisted on walking up?

Xia Shibai obviously shared the same wordless frustration as Yao Yao. She looked up at the ropeway cable cars reaching the top in waves. “If President Chen doesn’t have money to buy a ticket, you can tell me. I can still afford a forty-five yuan cable car ride for one person.”

President Chen, who was so nervous he forgot he could take the cable car and whose head was full of “sincerity leads to spiritual results”: “…”

“I heard you take your father’s surname?” Xia Shibai remembered the gossip in the circle; the President Chen before her was a bastard son, yet he openly took his father’s surname and was even brought back home.

“Yes.”

“After recognizing your ancestors and returning to the clan, have your brother change his surname. Having the same surname as you… it makes the brain look strange…” Xia Shibai pursed her thin lips, not uttering the word “stupid.” She stepped out to finish the last few steps and followed the flow of people to the main hall of the temple.

Author’s Note:

[Scene after President Chen returns to the clan]

President Chen: Brother, my boss told you not to have the same surname as me.

Chen Cun: ? You’re sick in the head. Who the hell took your surname? I took my dad’s surname! You returned to the clan and want to be my dad on the genealogy?

President Chen: My boss told you not to have the same surname as me, it makes the brain look strange…

Chen Cun: …Strange and stupid, right! With your IQ, I really… aaaaaah! How about I change my surname? I’m truly fed up with idiots!