Seeing that Yu Mingjiao hadn’t come downstairs, Cen Lingqiu brought the food up to the second floor.
She opened the door. Yu Mingjiao was already off the bed and sitting in her wheelchair, her dark eyes staring woodenly at the rain outside.
“What are you looking at?” Considering Yu Mingjiao’s weak condition, she couldn’t eat anything too greasy, so Cen Lingqiu had cooked millet congee, made a few side dishes, some dumplings, and simmered a bowl of chicken soup.
Yu Mingjiao was silent, not even sparing her a glance.
Cen Lingqiu followed her gaze out the window.
Outside, the rain poured down. A massive plane tree was stained with a viscous green, and a small bird was perched where the crown was densest.
The little bird’s feathers were soaked through, clinging tightly to its skin. The tiny creature of flesh and bone was shivering.
Cen Lingqiu raised an eyebrow and asked in a teasing tone, as if coaxing a child, “Do you feel sorry for that little bird? Do you need me to catch it and bring it inside to shelter from the rain?”
Yu Mingjiao finally deigned to give her a reaction. She shot her a cold glance, as if sneering at her words.
Cen Lingqiu could naturally understand the look in her eyes, but she just smiled emotionlessly, not taking it to heart.
“Come and eat. You haven’t eaten in a long time.”
Yu Mingjiao glanced at the food on the table and coldly refused, “I’m not eating. Get out.”
Her mouth was stubborn, but her stomach, unfortunately, was weak. Just as the words left her lips, her stomach let out a soft growl.
“…”
Cen Lingqiu was considerate enough not to laugh. She simply pushed her wheelchair to the small table. “The congee is getting cold. Eat a little.”
Yu Mingjiao couldn’t even remember how long it had been since she’d last eaten. On one hand, the maid and Lin Qiu would sometimes deliberately not prepare food for her, and with her disabled legs, it was difficult for her to enter the kitchen. On the other hand, she herself had little desire to eat.
Humans eat for enjoyment and survival, but she needed neither, so eating had lost its meaning.
But in truth, her stomach was feeling a deep hunger, and her stomach ached, but she was used to ignoring it.
After all, the feeling of hunger had been a constant companion since she was a child.
She didn’t want to eat, and she especially didn’t want to eat Lin Qiu’s food.
Who knew what tricks she might have played with the meal.
Most importantly, Lin Qiu was sitting right across from her.
She detested eating with someone else.
Yu Mingjiao didn’t move a muscle. She sat in her wheelchair like a puppet, her gaze fixed coldly on the food on the table.
Cen Lingqiu sat opposite her. Seeing her remain motionless, she seemed to think of something and said in a light voice, “What’s wrong? Does seeing me sit here disgust you?”
Yu Mingjiao blinked slowly and let out a low “mm.”
Cen Lingqiu lowered her eyelids, her calm and placid face tinged with an inexplicable coldness.
She lightly pinched her fingers, her voice as cool as water. “Then take your time eating. I have something to talk to you about when you’re done.”
Without hesitation, she turned and left the room.
Cen Lingqiu went downstairs to tidy up the kitchen. When she felt enough time had passed, she went back upstairs. She knocked on Yu Mingjiao’s door, and when there was still no answer, she opened it and went in.
Yu Mingjiao was in the same position as before, her posture static, her wooden appearance like that of a lifeless, withered tree in winter.
Cen Lingqiu thought she hadn’t eaten, but when she walked to the table, she discovered that wasn’t the case. She had eaten, just not much.
She had only drunk half the congee and eaten a few dumplings. As for the rest, it was almost untouched.
“Was my cooking bad?” Cen Lingqiu wondered.
She was quite confident in her culinary skills. In her past life, cooking had been a daily routine, so she definitely had the ability.
Yu Mingjiao didn’t answer her question, instead asking impatiently, “What did you want to talk to me about?”
Forget it. At least she ate something, which was better than nothing. Cen Lingqiu didn’t press the issue. She leaned her back against the window, an angle that allowed her to face Yu Mingjiao directly.
“You should leave this place,” she said.
Yu Mingjiao’s dark, gloomy eyes shifted slightly, as if she thought she was hearing things.
What was this woman saying?
She would let her leave this place.
She’s insane.
Lin Qiu doted on her younger brother the most. She knew in her heart that her brother would never allow her to take a single step out of this manor, so while tormenting her, she was also monitoring her every move.
Yu Mingjiao had been locked in this manor for over a month, and she didn’t know how long she would have to stay. She had no one. Not a single person would notice or care that a disabled person had been missing for a month.
Friends, lovers, family.
She had none.
She had no communication devices, and the place was deserted. She had tried to escape.
But how far could a disabled person confined to a wheelchair get? She had barely made it out the door before Lin Qiu caught her, dragged her back, and told her brother.
What did that bastard do after that?
Ah, right. He took away her wheelchair and made her sit on a bench in the garden. There were so many bugs in the garden. She was afraid of bugs and wanted to run, but she couldn’t. Without her wheelchair, she couldn’t go anywhere.
And that man just stood on the second-floor balcony, quietly watching her miserable state, trying to make her realize her “mistake.”
She stayed in that garden for a whole night. The temperature difference between day and night on the mountainside was significant. That summer night, besides the disgusting insects and mosquitoes, there was the cold.
A cold that scraped to the bone.
After that day, she knew her freedom had been crushed into the cold garden mud by this pair of siblings.
And now, what was Lin Qiu saying?
That she would allow her to leave this place.
Yu Mingjiao didn’t believe it at all. She only thought this woman had probably come up with some new way to torment her.
“Is there any point?” She tilted her head slightly, her beautiful peach-blossom eyes tinged with a thick layer of icy cold. “Since when did you start spouting such useless nonsense? If you’ve thought of a new way to torture me, why don’t you just do it?”
She seemed genuinely perplexed, her eyes and brows holding a hint of innocent confusion. Set in her exquisitely beautiful face, she looked like a young girl baffled by a difficult problem.
“Or if you can’t stand the sight of me, just kill me.” A neurotic smile appeared on the young woman’s face. “It’s easy for your family to get rid of someone, isn’t it? How do you want me to die? I’m fine with anything. I can go die.”
Yu Mingjiao’s spirit was already stretched taut like a thread about to snap. Her sanity and will to live were half-submerged in the dark, damp sewer that was her life from childhood to adulthood, and Lin Qiu and her brother were pushing her deeper under the water.
And so, she could no longer breathe at all.
That was why she was self-loathing, self-deprecating, numb, and neurotic.
Living was the same as being dead. Anything was fine.
Outside, the rain pattered, drumming against the windowpane. The room was filled only with silence.
Cen Lingqiu could feel the frenzied self-abandonment and world-weariness emanating from Yu Mingjiao. What was this feeling like?
It was like being hit by an early winter rain in the middle of summer—an unnatural cold.
And Cen Lingqiu had experienced this kind of cold long ago.
She hated this kind of cold.
She couldn’t help but walk over and crouch in front of her, face to face, looking directly into her eyes.
“I’m not going to do anything to you,” she said slowly. “I just don’t want you to have any more contact with my brother.”
To make this reason more believable, she reined in her calm demeanor and adopted a bit of the original owner’s harsh tone. “You and my brother are not suitable for each other. The gap between you is too wide. Our family will never let you through our doors, so the sooner you leave my brother, the better.”
These words, at least, had a shred of credibility. Yu Mingjiao lifted her eyelids and looked at her quietly.
Cen Lingqiu saw the faint wavering in her eyes and knew she believed her a little. But she had been tormented for too long and was sensitive and suspicious; her eyes were still filled with deep doubt.
Of course, Cen Lingqiu had no intention of deceiving her.
After all, the female lead was her mission target, an important tool for her to acquire points.
As long as she completed this mission, she would receive a large sum of points.
Every employee of the Book Transmigration Bureau undertook missions to accumulate points. With enough points, they could be reborn in their original world.
Cen Lingqiu had a laid-back, “Buddha-like” personality. Although she also wanted to be reborn in the real world, she wasn’t as desperate or frantic as the others. She was easygoing and indifferent, taking a step and then resting for a long time. That was why she still hadn’t saved up enough points after so many years.
But as long as she completed the mission in this world, she would have enough points. Since Cen Lingqiu had already reached the final step, she naturally wouldn’t give up.
Therefore, she did care about this mission, and by extension, she cared about the female lead as her mission target.
And to reduce the female lead’s self-destructive tendencies, she had to start at the root.
There were many things that catalyzed the female lead’s self-destructive tendencies, and the first was her freedom.
She needed the female lead to first walk out of this oppressive manor.
“You’re still a student, right?” Cen Lingqiu noticed Yu Mingjiao’s bangs were a bit messy. With her slightly obsessive-compulsive nature, she wanted to fix them, but Yu Mingjiao turned her head, dodging her hand.
Cen Lingqiu ignored her petulance and quickly straightened them anyway. Before Yu Mingjiao could get angry, she spoke again, “A student should do what a student is supposed to do.”
She stood up. “Don’t keep wasting your time here.”
A student.
Ever since she had been inexplicably brought to this manor, every day had been a gray, colorless existence. What lay before her was like a giant, black canvas.
Yu Mingjiao had almost forgotten that she was a university student, a student majoring in fine arts.
She, too, used to go to class and paint, just like a normal person.
Why did that life feel so distant now?
But could she really leave this place?
What if it was another deception?
Yu Mingjiao gripped the wheels of her chair, her lips pressed into a tight line. She was still deeply suspicious, unable to believe Cen Lingqiu.
Ultimately, she didn’t believe this woman could have such a sudden change of heart.
Cen Lingqiu saw her suspicion and raised an eyebrow. “You think I would lie to you?”
Yu Mingjiao’s expression was grim and cold. She said nothing.
This kid is quite suspicious.
Cen Lingqiu looked at her as if she were looking at a very temperamental but beautiful younger sister.
“I won’t lie to you.” Cen Lingqiu bent down slightly to look at her. “If I’m lying to you—”
She thought for a moment, then said, “—then may I be hit by a car and die.”