Chapter 28: Returned Without Success
The school was exceptionally noisy in the morning, with students’ incessant chatter echoing from classrooms into the corridor, causing annoyance.
Long Qinxin’s already uneasy heart felt like it was in her throat due to the commotion.
After arriving at the restroom together, the environment quieted down slightly. Long Qinxin looked up, gazing at the familiar back in front of her.
“Mmm… your name is Long Qinxin? That’s right, isn’t it. Lately, you’ve been following me, and I’ve been inquiring about your actions.”
Lu Zhiyin turned around, leaning against the clean white restroom door as she tidied the white hair at her forehead.
“In this school, there was once a girl who looked exactly like me. Is that the Lu Zhiyin you speak of? I’ve heard about your relationship with her. You are lovers, right?”
Long Qinxin had done many absurd things for Lu Zhiyin, so it wasn’t unusual for Lu Zhiyin to find out about Long Qinxin’s deeds from other students.
Long Qinxin didn’t find it strange either.
“Yes… that’s right. She later committed suicide due to some matters. I miss her very much, and you look so much like her… that’s why I’ve been following you. I apologize if I’ve caused you any trouble.”
Long Qinxin didn’t dare to meet the girl’s eyes, lowering her head to apologize.
In her perception, the light in Lu Shiyu’s eyes and Lu Zhiyin’s eyes were completely different. By just looking at their figures and faces, she could fool herself into believing her lover was still alive. But if she looked into those lively red eyes, all her lies would be shattered.
“…”
Lu Zhiyin fell silent. She looked at the girl in front of her, head bowed in a subservient manner, contemplating how to speak.
In her memory, Long Qinxin was either excessively subservient or excessively assertive, but even in her assertiveness, there was an ingrained pettiness. This was fundamentally different from Leng Qing Qiu.
In short, it was unsettling.
“You haven’t caused any trouble, but someone who likes Lu Zhiyin as much as you do has approached me.”
Lu Zhiyin closed her eyes.
She didn’t believe Long Qinxin would help her easily. After all, she was Lu Shiyu now, and as a new person, she wasn’t that close to Long Qinxin.
However, she could be sure that Long Qinxin still liked the Lu Zhiyin in her heart.
Lu Shiyu might not care, but she would care about Lu Zhiyin and wouldn’t allow inappropriate videos of Lu Zhiyin to circulate online.
“Is that so.”
Long Qinxin looked at her toes, trying to figure out why the girl in front of her had sought her out. Soon, she arrived at an answer.
She wanted to seek her help.
She could probably guess who had found the person in front of her; it was most likely that obsessed Leng Qing Qiu.
Long Qinxin didn’t intend to meddle. The person in front of her resembled her lover greatly, but was not her in the end.
Mmm… deep in her heart, there was a more malicious thought: she wanted to wait until the girl in front of her was pushed to desperation before acting to save her, thus enabling her to coerce the girl into becoming a substitute for her deceased lover, using the identity of a benefactor.
This was what she thought, and this was what she intended to do.
“…Mmm, that person showed me an inappropriate video of Lu Zhiyin. She threatened me, saying that if I didn’t agree to be kept by her, she would post the video online. You know, although I look very much like Lu Zhiyin, I am not her.”
Lu Zhiyin shook her head.
“Classmate Long Qinxin, you wouldn’t want your lover’s inappropriate videos to fall into the hands of others, would you?”
Smiling, Lu Zhiyin appeared confident, as if victory was in her grasp.
“…”
Just as she had predicted, upon learning that Leng Qing Qiu was using things to threaten her, Long Qinxin hesitated.
“Why are you looking for me? The video is in that person’s hands, and there’s not much I can do to her.”
Long Qinxin didn’t want to be used, but she couldn’t stand by and watch inappropriate videos of her beloved fall into the wrong hands.
Long Qinxin was somewhat swayed, but before agreeing to help the girl in front of her, she posed one final question.
“Mmm… I heard you had a conflict with Leng Qing Qiu. She went to prison once, it was you who did that, right? I don’t know why she managed to get out of prison, but you should still have evidence that could send her back. If you could just lend me a copy, I could… Uh?!”
Lu Zhiyin was speaking eloquently, not noticing Long Qinxin’s increasingly cold eyes until she was pushed by Long Qinxin, her back hitting the restroom stall door. Her shoulders were grabbed tightly, and Lu Zhiyin cried out in surprise.
She stared blankly at the unfamiliar girl in front of her, whose eyes were filled with ice.
“I never told anyone that I was the one who sent Leng Qing Qiu to prison. How do you know? Who exactly are you?”
Long Qinxin questioned Lu Zhiyin in a cold tone.
She was no longer the innocent, melancholic girl she once was.
The business world was like a battlefield. After experiencing a series of struggles in the business world, Long Qinxin’s sense of crisis had become exceptionally sharp.
The person in front of her knew a lot more than she should, especially the fact that Long Qinxin personally sent Leng Qing Qiu to prison. This was something that could never be explained away with a flimsy excuse like asking around.
“…Uh…”
Her body stiffened, and her words abruptly stopped.
Lu Zhiyin was stunned to realize that, in her current identity, she shouldn’t know so much.
All her words were stuck in her throat, and Lu Zhiyin didn’t know how to explain.
Without the pretense of her mask, she no longer considered all aspects of a matter.
“…Answer me.”
Long Qinxin clutched the girl’s neck with one hand. The face, identical to her deceased lover’s, contorted, her eyes narrowed, and a few tears of sorrow trickled down from the corners of her eyes.
“Ugh… Ugh…”
Her throat constricted, Lu Zhiyin couldn’t speak, only emitting vague grunts.
Seeing the face, identical to the one in her memory, Long Qinxin abruptly released her grip.
She remembered the day Lu Zhiyin committed suicide, a shadow that would never leave her.
The two faces slowly merged. Perhaps due to guilt, Long Qinxin released the girl in front of her.
“Never mind.”
She shook her head and turned away.
“I can help you, but you have to stay by my side… Hmm? Leng Qing Qiu isn’t the only one who wants to keep you as a replacement.”
With her back turned, Long Qinxin quietly looked at the ceiling.
She no longer concealed her intentions.
“…”
Lu Zhiyin remained silent, her body slowly sliding down, collapsing onto the ground.
Her mood plummeted to the abyss. Agreeing to Long Qinxin’s condition was merely falling from one abyss into another.
Lu Zhiyin remembered the scene when Long Qinxin imprisoned her. She had locked her in the basement, wanting her as a pet.
At that time, she had escaped by leveraging Long Qinxin’s affection. What about now?
Lu Zhiyin closed her eyes, realizing she seemed to be at a dead end.
She could not agree to Long Qinxin’s terms.
“You’re a lunatic, a pervert, just like her.”
Lu Zhiyin slowly stood up, rubbing her neck.
Long Qinxin had gripped her neck with considerable force; just touching it sent waves of pain.
“I’ll find a way myself.”
Lu Zhiyin left the restroom. As she walked past Long Qinxin, she gave the girl, who was significantly shorter than her, a cold glance.
The cold gaze did not sting Long Qinxin.
Long Qinxin knew what she was doing and knew how despicable her actions were.
“…Lu Shiyu, you can’t escape.”
Watching the girl’s retreating back, Long Qinxin spoke to herself.
Without anyone to help her, she couldn’t escape from the madwoman Leng Qing Qiu.
Even if she escaped from Leng Qing Qiu, Long Qinxin had no intention of letting her live a peaceful life.
That person seemed to harbor many secrets. Besides mourning his deceased wife, Long Qinxin had developed some interest in “Lu Shiyu” herself.
