My Paranoid Girlfriend Asks Me to Be Her Kept Woman (Rebirth) - Chapter 4

By the time they came out of the station, the moon had already risen into the dusk sky. Lin Yi and Zhao Qi stood facing each other.

Zhao Qi’s voice was cool and clear. “Where are you going?”

Lin Yi unconsciously scuffed the ground beneath her feet. Right now, she could be considered completely abandoned by everyone.

The station was afraid that the person who had reported her might be connected to the interest group behind the entertainment industry, so they lied and said she had already been brought to the station and that they needed witnesses to provide testimony. The person hiding in the shadows could not wait and immediately jumped out.

It was Lin Xiaolu.

The person she had always cared for like a younger sister.

It had been the same in her previous life.

She had been persuaded by Lin Xiaolu and, step by step, walked into the hell prepared by her manager and Li Junhao. Under the trap they had set together, she had suffered under Li Junhao’s cruelty. Because her body could not endure the drug’s effects, she had been left with the root of an illness. From then on, she had lingered sick in bed, spent her whole life seeking treatment, and died one morning at the age of thirty.

As for Lin Xiaolu, because of Lin Yi’s sacrifice, she took the songs Lin Yi had created and walked a smooth road toward stardom.

While Lin Yi was still alive, she had once felt relieved that Lin Xiaolu had not been affected by her. Lin Xiaolu had carried Lin Yi’s unfinished dream and worked hard to move forward, while Lin Yi, this enormous burden, hid behind the scenes her entire life and devoted herself to her.

Until Lin Yi developed a terminal illness and was about to die.

—“Tell me, should I still save her?”

—“Of course not!”

—“Back then, I hated her to death!”

—“If she hadn’t still been useful, she should have died long ago!”

—“She should be grateful that she still had some talent and could pave the way for me!”

—“A fool I played around in circles. If it weren’t for me back then, Li Junhao probably wouldn’t even have noticed a nobody like her! So naive!”

Lin Yi’s voice choked unconsciously. “I’ll go to the place provided by the station.”

Right now, as a witness, the station would provide her with protection.

Zhao Qi’s mind buzzed. Looking at the reddened eyes of the person in front of her, her heart softened before she realized it. She clearly was not that kind of person.

With a sigh, her voice was indifferent as she said, “There are extra rooms at my place.”

“What?” Lin Yi was still trapped in her emotions and did not react.

“Stay at my place.”

As soon as Zhao Qi finished speaking, the last trace of the sunset vanished. Darkness descended, and the neon lights snapped on, their flowing colors scattering the night.

“Protected witnesses stay somewhere too, don’t they?”

“You’re not feeling good, are you?”

Lin Yi looked at the woman, her eyes bright and filled with surging emotions.

Zhao Qi did not look away.

“All right.” Lin Yi smiled strangely.

“I’ll go with you.” She reached out and took Zhao Qi’s hand, which was hanging at the side of her thigh.

Just like those painful days in her previous life, when this woman had only held her hand like this and silently stayed by her side.

After returning to the country, Zhao Qi did not live at home. Instead, she lived in the apartment her eldest brother had given her when she turned eighteen.

The apartment was located in an area of Huaicheng where every inch of land was worth gold. It was a large flat on the top floor of the apartment building and even had a private rooftop garden. At night, the view was excellent.

Lin Yi stood on the rooftop and looked down. All of Huaicheng lay before her eyes, an indescribably charming scene.

Zhao Qi came out from inside with a bottle of wine in her right hand and wine glasses in her left. “Want a drink?”

Lin Yi took the glass and nodded. “Okay.”

Her heart was indeed in chaos. Even the joy of seeing her lover again could not suppress the pain of being betrayed in her previous life.

No matter what, she could not understand how the younger sister she had treated like family had always hated her.

And all the pain she had suffered in her previous life had merely been a scheme that girl had painstakingly arranged!

Zhao Qi took a sip of wine. Seeing the dejection of the person beside her, her eyes darkened with emotion.

Sensing those unspoken feelings, she did not know why her own heart also began to ache.

Zhao Qi strangely pressed her hand against her heart and swallowed the wine in her mouth.

Lin Yi finished one glass and asked in surprise, “It’s sweet?”

There was a smile in Zhao Qi’s eyes. “Sparkling wine. Five percent alcohol. Lychee flavor.”

Lin Yi was dumbfounded. In her impression, this woman never drank fruit wine that seemed like a joke.

Either she drank red wine, or she drank very expensive liquor. Moreover, Zhao Qi had a very high alcohol tolerance. Even after drinking vodka, she seemed perfectly fine. But Lin Yi had also never seen her drunk. Perhaps she was just like her usual self—even when drunk, she would calmly fall asleep.

The two of them finished more than half the bottle of wine while enjoying the night view. Zhao Qi stretched lazily. “Sleep.”

Lin Yi replied, “Okay.”

After entering the apartment, Lin Yi was arranged to stay in the room next to Zhao Qi’s. After saying good night to Zhao Qi in the hallway, Lin Yi felt as if a lifetime had passed.

When she was sick in her previous life, she had stayed in this very room. At that time, the woman had felt that staying in the hospital would ruin her mood for recovery, so she moved her out of the hospital. She had even wanted Lin Yi to stay directly in the master bedroom, but after Lin Yi refused, she had no choice but to put her in the room next door. She had also knocked a hole through the wall between their rooms and installed a door, making it convenient for her to slip over at any time.

But back then, Lin Yi’s hair had fallen out, her teeth had loosened, and her skin had been wrinkled like an old person’s. How could she have wanted her lover to come see her?

…

Lin Yi pressed against the place where the door had once been, her cheek touching the wall.

Why let those vexing matters delay her days? As long as both of them were well, she would not waste this second chance at life.

Zhao Qi leaned against the wall. As if sensing something, she leaned against the exact same spot.

The screen of the phone in her hand lit up, and a message popped up.

“Why aren’t you coming home? Everyone misses you.”

She picked up the phone, opened the message, sighed softly, then replied, “I’ll go back tomorrow.”

**

That day, just after dawn, Lin Yi’s phone began ringing noisily. The person calling was aggressive, with the attitude that they would not stop until she picked up.

Lin Yi turned the phone over and saw that it was an unfamiliar number without a label. Uninterested, she hung up, preparing to talk to Zhao Qi.

As far as she knew from her previous life, Zhao Qi had only just returned to the country these few days, and something major was about to happen. Back then, Lin Yi had been tortured by illness and in great pain. In a daze, she had heard Zhao Qi use her own story to comfort her.

“Aren’t you very envious that I have two good older brothers?”

“Then do you know that I also have a third brother? Back then, he wished I would die.”

“At that time, I had just returned to the country. I knew his mental state was very unstable, so I never went home because I was afraid of stimulating him again.”

“But unexpectedly, someone still deliberately framed things and brought him in front of me. After he was stimulated, he took a knife and stabbed me without hesitation.”

“Look, the scar is still here. It still hurts when it’s windy or rainy, but in the end, it will pass.”

“As long as you can endure it.”

At that time, her headache had been so severe that she had wanted to smash her head against the wall. But her hand had been guided by the woman and touched the woman’s soft abdomen. There, a worm-like scar lay across her skin.

Her hands had been held tightly by the woman, and in the end, she could not help collapsing into her arms and crying bitterly.

Because it hurt too much. Being sick really hurt too much.

Those days when they relied on each other had given her a great deal of strength. Unfortunately, fate did not go as one wished. In the end, she still had not been able to survive…

Wiping her cheeks, she calmed down.

Thinking about it, Zhao Qi should have only returned to the country recently. Judging from how normal her body looked these past few days, that incident probably had not happened yet.

Lin Yi paced around the room several times.

What could she do to warn the woman and help her avoid this conflict?

The phone she had just hung up began vibrating again.

Lin Yi was already irritated from thinking, and the sound from the phone made her even more annoyed. She grabbed the phone on the table and saw that it was still that unfamiliar number. Without mercy, she swiped to decline the call, but her thumb accidentally touched the answer button.

“You’re Lin Yi, right?! My Xiaobao was taken away because of you! Come here and explain! Say our Xiaobao didn’t do those things!” A woman’s shrill voice came through, mixed with noisy background sounds.

“Ma’am! Ma’am! This is the police station! Please calm down!”

“You’re arresting people randomly! Am I not even allowed to say a few words?”

“My Xiaobao! My poor Xiaobao! It’s all those women’s fault! Why aren’t you arresting them?”

“My Xiaobao only spent money to have a little fun. How is that a crime? Why don’t you arrest the people who provided those things to our Xiaobao?”

The people at the police station were almost angered into laughter by the madwoman in front of them.

When she had gotten out of the car, she had still looked like a cultured wealthy madam. After all, Jianming Entertainment Media was still a large company with a market value of several billion. How could the matriarch of the family have such little quality?

“Lin Yi! Lin Yi! Can you hear what I’m saying?”

“As far as I know, your contract is still in our hands! If you still want to survive in this industry, then get Xiaobao released!”

“My Xiaobao, Mommy is here to save you.”

The people at the police station frowned as they listened. This person was telling a witness to change her statement right in front of them, and even threatening her so naturally. Did she think they were dead?

The young police officers beside them were all itching to act. This was their police station, after all. They were only waiting for their superior’s order. A charge of “obstructing official duties” would certainly not be lacking!

Lin Yi listened as the voice on the other end of the phone cried, “Ow! What are you doing? Is there no law anymore?!”

Then a young voice sounded. “This is Huaicheng Zhaixiang Police Station. Miss Lin, are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Lin Yi replied. Then she asked, “What happened over there?”

“We officially issued an arrest warrant for Li Junhao this morning. His mother heard the news from who knows where and came to the station to inquire.”

The voice Lin Yi had heard over the phone did not sound like “inquiring” at all, but she said nothing. She only smiled faintly.

“Sorry to trouble you, Officer.”

The young officer dutifully comforted their important witness. “Miss Lin, please don’t be afraid. We will protect your safety. Please make sure to appear in court on time.”

A cold smile curled at Lin Yi’s lips. Of course she would appear in court on time. During those days in her previous life when she had wished she were dead from the pain, she had already cut that damned man into a thousand pieces in her mind!!!

Her voice was cold, but her pleasant tone remained as gentle as always. “I will.”

Knock, knock—knock, knock—

Just after she hung up, someone knocked on the door.

Lin Yi immediately recognized the unhurried rhythm of the knocking.

It was Zhao Qi.

Only she knocked like that, with her index and middle fingers together, neither fast nor slow, two knocks followed by a pause.

She opened the door, and sure enough, Zhao Qi stood behind it.

Zhao Qi explained, “I’m going home for a while. This is the access card and key for you.”

Lin Yi could not help pressing her lips together. How could it be such a coincidence? Could the day the woman was injured be this time?

Her heart began pounding violently.

Could it be today?

Zhao Qi held up the key and saw that Lin Yi had not reacted for a long while.

Puzzled, she asked, “What’s wrong?”