Saving the Pitiful Villain (GL) - Chapter 23

It was half a month’s vacation at East Villa High School, lasting two days.

Ye Mei had arranged to meet Yun Wu at the book bar to drill practice questions during these two days. After breakfast, Yun Wu informed Jiang Shangxue, changed her clothes, and headed out.

A bright yellow light jacket was loosely draped over Yun Wu, lending her a vibrant energy, like a wind chime hanging on a tree branch—reserved but lively.

Jiang Shangxue subtly lifted her chin, her gaze resting on the clothes she had personally picked out for Yun Wu. A faint warmth spread through her eyes, and she nodded.

Meng Meng, who had been sitting next to them watching the entire interaction, silently finished the last spoonful of porridge. The scene of motherly kindness and filial piety is truly so loving. It warmed her heart.

However, Meng Meng still didn’t understand why CEO Jiang had such a grown daughter.

To prevent herself from blurting out something inappropriate again, Meng Meng quickly suppressed the messy thoughts in her head and shifted the conversation to the news just sent over by the information department.

“CEO, the information department’s investigation was fruitless. It’s a CSD-level encrypted account. There’s no way to trace the sender.”

Her eyes deepened. Jiang Shangxue walked unhurriedly to the sofa and picked up the printed email.

She had read this email numerous times. It contained precisely the critical technical information and analysis of the blood test for cancer project that she lacked.

The book hadn’t detailed this section, and the collaboration information the Yun Group had received was also heavily sanitized by the US partner. Hence, Jiang Shangxue had been agonizing over what reason to use to halt the project, which was just one step away from fruition.

Last night, several project members received the email. The information disclosed in the email felt like a bucket of cold water poured over the project team members.

While they couldn’t verify the authenticity of some of the data yet, the rigorous logic and foresight in the writing, along with the highlighted risks they had been deliberately overlooking, naturally inclined people to believe it.

However, some people believed, and others didn’t want to.

The Yun Group’s pharmaceutical division had been losing money for years, and the pharmaceutical subsidiary was relying on this continually advancing project to turn the tide.

They were unwilling to give up.

Jiang Shangxue remained silent for a moment, then turned to look at the gloomy sky outside. She walked to the balcony, her gaze dropping to the floor below.

The sky looked like it was going to rain. She hadn’t noticed if Yun Wu took an umbrella.

Jiang Shangxue’s eyebrows slowly furrowed, her expression looking displeased.

Meng Meng, who had been constantly on edge and trying to minimize her presence, spoke quietly after realizing Jiang Shangxue wasn’t going to speak. “CEO.”

“Mhm,” Jiang Shangxue suddenly snapped back, only then speaking flatly.

“No need to investigate. The more mysterious, the better. Share this information with the other project members.”

The more mysterious, the greater the sense of awe would be. Regardless of who sent the email, it increased her scope for manipulation, which was a good thing for her.

Meng Meng nodded in agreement. “If there’s nothing else, CEO, I’ll head back to the company.”

“Wait a moment,” walking back into the living room, Jiang Shangxue pulled out the paper hidden at the very bottom of the table and handed it to Meng Meng.

After reading it carefully, Meng Meng spoke hesitantly.

“CEO, it will be very difficult to gather evidence for a criminal filing for defamation in this situation, and it doesn’t align with the company’s established procedures.”

Jiang Shangxue picked up the teacup and took a shallow sip, still speaking flatly. “I know. All expenses will be handled through my personal account.”

The insistence in her voice was strong.

Jiang Shangxue’s voice was gentle, but Meng Meng still shivered and said nothing further.

“Understood, CEO. I’ll head back to the company then.”

“Mhm.”

Meng Meng left, and Auntie Chen was also gone. The large apartment immediately fell silent.

Jiang Shangxue leaned sideways on the sofa, her knees together and curved to one side. She was still composed, but the faint look of weariness on her face was impossible to hide.

A day later, her stomach was still subtly aching and very uncomfortable. Her head felt swollen and sore, making her drowsy.

Jiang Shangxue pinched her temples with two fingers. After barely two minutes of rest, she stood up again.

Huamei Pharmaceuticals was relentlessly clinging to the Yun Group. She needed to quickly consult with Qi Ping to handle this.

Walking onto the balcony, the cool breeze flowed down her throat and into her lungs, briefly dissipating the sickness around her body and clearing her head considerably.

Looking out, the teaching building of East Villa High School, clustered by lush camphor trees, came into view. Her gaze shifted left, toward the street where Mu Ye Book Bar was located.

However, the view was obscured by trees and other buildings, making it unclear.

Thinking of Yun Wu, a genuine smile touched Jiang Shangxue’s lips.

Feeling somewhat better, Jiang Shangxue turned and closed the glass door. She walked to the table, where her day was once again about to be occupied by long online meetings.

Mu Ye Book Bar.

When Yun Wu arrived, Ye Mei and her followers were already present, all sitting upright and proper, clutching the test papers and scratching their heads in deep thought.

The lecturer walked among them, explaining problems to one person then the next, clearly overwhelmed.

Their level of earnestness surprised Yun Wu somewhat.

This group of people skipping school but privately hiring a teacher and studying so intensely and diligently was truly a strange spectacle.

Yun Wu walked to her seat, took out her test paper from her bag, and joined the army of students practicing questions.

High school mathematics was simple for Yun Wu. It was mostly about sequences, functions, probability, geometry, and calculus—the key concepts. As long as she mastered the basic derivation formulas, no matter how they changed, the problems wouldn’t be challenging.

She wrote at lightning speed again, finishing a math test paper set by Old Man Ge in half an hour.

Ye Mei watched the whole process from the side, her eyebrows so tightly furrowed they could crush several mosquitos.

Skeptical, she grabbed Yun Wu’s paper to check the answers. The more Ye Mei checked, the more she felt humiliated.

Shame! Is this the gap between different worlds? We all have human brains.

Ye Mei had been relentlessly working on math for two months, practically kneeling before the test papers, yet math problems still remained foreign to her.

She and the math papers stared at each other, never quite meeting eye-to-eye.

She still failed.

But Yun Wu’s accuracy rate was soaring like a rocket.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! It shot straight up to the sky.

Ye Mei endured it, her face flushed red, but she didn’t say a word. She refused to believe that Yun Wu’s Liberal Arts comprehensive paper would be so accurate.

Yun Wu worked more slowly on the Liberal Arts paper. Ye Mei waited impatiently for her to finish. When Yun Wu finished, Ye Mei pursed her lips, a look of “I knew it” on her face, and pulled the Liberal Arts paper to check the answers one by one.

But the more she checked, the more Ye Mei’s composure broke down.

Aahhh!

What kind of monster is this? Why did she get all one hundred multiple-choice questions right on the Liberal Arts paper, too? She only got 26 right last time!

Having deeply recognized the gap, Ye Mei felt like spitting blood. Just then, it was break time. Ye Mei lunged forward, pressing Yun Wu firmly against the back of her chair.

“Tell me, did you deliberately fail the last test? Just so you could save the reveal for the Gaokao to shock everyone?!”

The green-haired minion next to them couldn’t stand it. “Boss, it doesn’t matter what score you get on the Gaokao, right? Uncle Ye will arrange a school for you anyway. Stop bothering Sister Yun.”

Yes, after eating the fruit given by Jiang Shangxue, Yun Wu’s status had been elevated to “Sister.”

Yun Wu found it amusing. The corners of her lips curled into a faint arc. “Just practice more questions.”

Ye Mei: “…”

Why do I feel like Yun Wu’s nonchalant expression is mocking me?

Ye Mei slackened one hand and turned to look at the red-haired buzz-cut, who was furious. “Don’t talk to me about the old man. Just hearing about him makes me angry! He arranged a university in London for me! If I don’t get into Nanzhou University, I’ll be shipped off there! Then I’ll have no one to drink with, no one to chat with, and no one to play League with. I can’t stand that loneliness and isolation.”

Everyone: Is this the epitome of humble-bragging?

But Ye Mei looked sincere, her words full of genuine, tragic anguish.

Yun Wu glanced at her math paper and estimated her accuracy. She guessed that throwing the paper on the floor and stepping on it would result in a higher correct score.

After a moment of hesitation, Yun Wu said seriously, “If there are three long options and one short option, choose the shortest. If there are three short and one long, choose the longest. If there are two long and two short, choose B. If they are uneven, C is unbeatable. For everything else, the jie (solve) character rules the world.”

Ye Mei: “Are you mocking me?”

Yun Wu: “No. I’m telling you seriously. As for other, more scientific solution tricks, I’ll organize them and tell you in a couple of days.”

Ye Mei was defeated.

Yun Wu’s expression was earnest, and her tone was flat. Ye Mei felt the humiliation even more intensely. She released Yun Wu angrily and walked back to her seat, swiftly stuffing the math test paper into her desk.

I’m not doing it! Out of sight, out of mind! The Liberal Arts paper is much cuter.

The minions next to her couldn’t stop laughing and fanned the flames.

“Boss, I know the next line of the trick: mainly guess, supplemented by cheating. The combination of guessing and cheating guarantees a passing grade.”

“Pfft! Hahaha!”

Ye Mei: “…”

Ye Mei: “I think you all need a good spanking.”

The atmosphere during this short break was lively. Yun Wu sat in the middle of them, expressionless, yet she didn’t feel out of place.

This sense of human connection, which she had never experienced before, reminded Yun Wu of the cotton candy Jiang Shangxue had given her last night. She was briefly lost in thought, and the coldness usually etched on her face slightly eased.

While too many connections could become troublesome, this feeling of connection made Yun Wu feel comfortable—at least, not resistant.

After the commotion settled down, everyone returned to their studies.

Ye Mei remained sullen until the others also started wailing.

“Is there any logic in this? Is there any logic in this? What normal person wouldn’t choose C?!”

“And this one! Even the King of Heaven would choose A!”

“…”

They were struggling with Geography questions, a subject often called the “Science of Liberal Arts.”

Question: Why are crops like red dates and wolfberries grown on the high mountains of the Northern Peaks region?

Normal Answer: Altitude difference improves quality. Correct Answer: The color red is auspicious.

Question: Why are there ski resorts in the South?

Normal Answer: To boost economic development, blah, blah. Correct Answer: To satisfy Southerners’ yearning for snow.

Question: Why are most longevity villages located halfway up the mountain?

Normal Answer: The air is cleaner, and the food is natural. Correct Answer: Because they walk the mountain roads every day, which is good exercise.

Ye Mei leaned in and checked several times. She sneered, “Hmph! Now you know my pain! It’s called Geography because there is no logic!” (In Chinese, the character for logic, li, is the same as the character in Geography, Di-Li).

Ye Mei’s sarcastic demeanor was asking for a beating, but everyone was angry and speechless.

She’s the boss we acknowledged. We have to endure it, even if it kills us.

Ye Mei’s mood visibly improved. She started deliberately leaning toward Yun Wu with questions.

In truth, those questions could be marginally understood if one adopted the mind of the question designer, and Yun Wu still had some memory of these questions from her previous life, so she rarely made mistakes now.

Yun Wu stared intently at Ye Mei for a while. Seeing that the lecturer nearby was busy explaining to someone else, Yun Wu began explaining the problems to her.

She selectively chose a few incorrect questions and explained them to Ye Mei in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.

Ye Mei understood easily and looked very happy. However, after glancing at the paper, she complained, “Why aren’t you explaining the other few questions?”

Yun Wu turned her head to look at her, expressionlessly. “Because you wouldn’t understand even if I explained them.”

Ye Mei: ??? So I’m just here to humiliate myself?

Yun Wu ignored her and continued practicing questions in an orderly fashion. Time was running out for her. The independent admissions exam was starting at the end of next month. The Liberal Arts concepts were too broad, and Yun Wu had to increase her practice volume.

In her previous life, Yun Wu missed the final Liberal Arts exam due to Zhao Changming’s scheme, so she didn’t remember the Liberal Arts questions from that Gaokao.

Even her memory of the other three subjects was hazy.

But she had to get into Nanda. She had to enter the National Research Institute of New Economics before Zhao Changming and Xu Chacha.

She had to make all possible preparations to the extreme.

Time spent immersed in study flew by quickly. The sky had darkened unnoticed and began to drizzle. The sound of the rain was sparse, and it looked like it would get heavier.

Yun Wu’s grip on her pen hadn’t changed. The wound on her middle finger had burst open at some point, oozing bright red blood.

Only when she saw the blood did Yun Wu feel the pain.

She glanced at the time. It was almost ten o’clock. The lecturer had long gone.

Yun Wu packed her things, ready to leave, but she hadn’t brought an umbrella, and the wound on her hand was troublesome; it couldn’t get wet.

She walked to the door and looked at the dense raindrops, then turned back to ask Ye Mei.

“Do you have a waterproof medical finger cot?”

“What?”

Ye Mei, who was drinking water, suddenly choked and then coughed violently.

Seeing Yun Wu’s injured finger, she calmed down slightly and nodded hastily. “Yes, yes, yes. Wait here.”

Driven by some psychology, Ye Mei grabbed two boxes of finger cots: one medical, and the other… Ye Mei grinned mischievously. Must not say, must not say…

Ye Mei deliberately took out a medical one first, then put both boxes of cots into an opaque bag. Without giving Yun Wu a chance to refuse, she shoved the plastic bag into her jacket pocket in one breath.

After putting on the medical finger cot, Yun Wu gave Ye Mei a few extra glances.

Why does she look so ill-intentioned?

But before she could think further, the book bar door was pushed open.

Usually, there was no business at this time. Yun Wu turned at the sound of the door opening.

It was Jiang Shangxue.

She wore a light beige striped suit—loose, with excellent drape. The soft, slippery fabric was pressed tightly against the curve of her body by the wind. Her long hair fell over her shoulders, exuding a gentle, tender femininity.

The rain instantly intensified, becoming a downpour.

The streetlights outside were blurry in the heavy rain. Yun Wu walked to the door, took the umbrella Jiang Shangxue handed her, and murmured, “Thank you, Auntie Jiang.”

A faint, fragmented light settled in her eyes. Yun Wu gripped the umbrella handle tightly. It seems I am always thanking Jiang Shangxue in this life.

Smiling slightly, Jiang Shangxue bid farewell to Ye Mei and her group. She walked to the car, opened the door while holding the umbrella, and looked at Yun Wu. “Get in first.”

The rain was heavy, the wind was strong, and the city lights flickered dimly in the storm. The car door closed, and the world suddenly became quiet.

The car lights came on. Yun Wu saw many water droplets clinging to Jiang Shangxue’s hair and shoulders, glistening brightly. It made her think of thin snow precariously clinging to dead branches in the cold wind.

She didn’t know if it was the lighting, but Jiang Shangxue’s face looked exceptionally pale tonight.

So pale that Yun Wu felt she looked terribly fragile in the heavy rain.

Yun Wu was utterly unaware that the gaze she fixed on Jiang Shangxue was becoming increasingly direct and explicit.

Jiang Shangxue didn’t speak the entire way. After smoothly parking the car, she finally turned her head.

“Why are you staring at me all the way?”

Her hand rested on the steering wheel, rubbing it gently. The slight curve of her lips suggested both curiosity and amusement.

Yun Wu froze for a moment. She instinctively pursed her lips and looked down, masking the embarrassment of being caught staring blankly at Jiang Shangxue.

Leaning close to the car door, her voice was faint and weak. “I will remember to bring an umbrella next time.”

A slight blush bloomed on the tips of the girl’s ears.

Jiang Shangxue smiled, pursing her lips. She didn’t tease her anymore. She took the car keys and didn’t forget to instruct Yun Wu, “Don’t forget your backpack.”

The two entered the elevator one after the other.

The elevator wasn’t crowded at this time. After the eighth floor, only the two of them remained.

Yun Wu stood stiffly beside Jiang Shangxue, motionless, her lowered eyes complex and dark.

Without cause, she genuinely felt a sense of pressure emanating from Jiang Shangxue, like an elder’s authority, which slowed even her breathing.

She didn’t like this feeling.

Her mind wandered uncontrollably. Suddenly, a warm touch landed on Yun Wu’s wrist.

Jiang Shangxue had grasped her wrist, clearly displeased. “You’re too thin. Eat more meat.”

Her gaze lingered on the girl’s slender, fair wrist. Jiang Shangxue thought, I’ve been looking after her for many days, but she hasn’t gained any weight. Should I ask Auntie Chen to cook more hearty meals to nourish her?

Yun Wu had a small frame and a lean build, but she was underweight, making her look even thinner visually.

Children need to gain more weight to be healthy and to feel softer to the touch.

Thinking this, Jiang Shangxue gently stroked Yun Wu’s wrist twice with her fingers.

The unexpected action almost made Yun Wu cry out. She suppressed it, managing not to pull her hand away. She quickly glanced at Jiang Shangxue and then looked away.

Yun Wu didn’t know why she felt so guilty. Her heart was beating faster and faster.

Fortunately, the elevator doors opened just in time. Yun Wu let out a long breath, followed behind Jiang Shangxue, and rubbed the spot where she had been touched repeatedly.

Only then did she feel marginally comfortable.

The weather was cool today. Yun Wu felt clean and decided not to take a shower.

She told Jiang Shangxue that she planned to return to her room to practice more questions.

Pausing her hand as she organized her materials, Jiang Shangxue’s gaze softened. She turned to look at Yun Wu, who was visibly reserved standing in the entryway, and nodded.

“Alright. But the temperature will drop even further tomorrow. If you go to the book bar again, change into that blue jacket.”

The blue jacket was slightly thicker, made of light, breathable fabric, suitable for rainy weather.

The hand resting on the doorknob suddenly froze. Yun Wu looked up, meeting Jiang Shangxue’s eyes.

It was the familiar, inclusive stance. Although they weren’t standing close, Yun Wu felt as if she could smell that faint, gentle fragrance.

After a moment, Yun Wu lowered her head again, her lips moving. “Okay.”

She walked into the bedroom and closed the door.

Yun Wu walked to the wardrobe and found the only blue jacket still in its bag. The style was simple; the only complex design was the petal-shaped collar.

The clothes were sent over already dry-cleaned in bags. They didn’t need to be washed again to be worn.

But Yun Wu habitually washed clothes one extra time before wearing them.

This jacket hadn’t been washed yet. Logically, Jiang Shangxue shouldn’t have known she even had a blue jacket.

Unless Jiang Shangxue bought the clothes for her personally?

Was that possible?

The thought was absurd, yet it was the only reasonable explanation.

If this were before, Yun Wu would never have believed it. But now, Yun Wu was shaken.

Jiang Shangxue had changed. Whether she genuinely pitied her or was just teasing her on a whim, she was truly different toward her than in the previous life.

Yun Wu’s gaze lingered on the clothes for a long time. A subtle emotion swelled in her heart.

Her mind was a bit messy. Yun Wu hung the jacket on the wooden rack, walked to the desk, and turned on the lamp.

The warm yellow light spread out, soft and scattered. The matching curtains next to it fluttered in the wind. The scene looked very cozy.

It felt a little like home.

“Home,” Yun Wu murmured, repeatedly mouthing the word on her tongue. Her breaths, slow and deep, were incredibly clear in the quiet environment.

Only when the boiling emotion in her heart completely subsided did Yun Wu stop.

She sat down at the desk, opened her computer, and traced the metal edge of the laptop repeatedly with her fingers.

Would someone like her truly ever have a home?