Achieving A Happy Ending With The Tragic Female Lead [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 22

The night breeze brushed against her face, gradually dispersing the scorching heat.

Su Mi opened her eyes and leaned back against the doorframe to steady herself. Looking at the small courtyard cluttered with various odds and ends, she momentarily lost her sense of direction.

She lowered her head slightly and looked behind her, as if remembering something.

In her haste just now, she had left Coal Ball (Meiqiu) inside. Fortunately, since they were now outside, they could still communicate regardless of the distance.

Initially, Su Mi called out to it several times without receiving a response.

Just as she began to wonder if it had malfunctioned, Coal Ball finally replied.

【Master, please wait a moment.】

Su Mi stood in place and waited until she sensed something unusual near the side window. She turned to look.

She saw the hidden Coal Ball struggling to squeeze out through the half-open window. With a “thud,” it fell out, rolled twice on the ground, and came to a stop at Su Mi’s feet.

Su Mi hesitated for a moment before bending down to pick it up. She shook off the dust clinging to it, her expression showing unmasked disdain.

The person and the ball stared at each other.

【Master, did you call me for something?】

Su Mi’s eyes flickered. After a long silence, she asked, “How… is she?”

Coal Ball felt a bit windswept and chaotic hearing this. It struggled internally for a long time before deciding to speak.

【The female lead… seems a bit shy.】

“……….”

Su Mi felt the heat that had finally subsided beginning to surge back. She took a deep breath, her voice carrying a hint of gritted teeth, “Who asked you about that!”

Now it was Coal Ball’s turn to be stunned. If not that, then what?

Su Mi felt a sense of powerlessness, squeezing the words through her teeth: “I’m asking about her injury, if she is in pain again.”

Coal Ball felt somewhat wronged. It was just a humble portable system, why did it have to endure so much?

【After you left, the female lead didn’t seem to show any emotions like pain or discomfort.】

Hearing this, Su Mi felt slightly more at ease.

“Go back and watch her. Tell me if anything seems wrong.”

Coal Ball wondered why it had bothered coming out in the first place, but it didn’t dare ask. It could only roll back dejectedly.

The moonlight inside the room was not as bright as it was outside, and the area by the bed happened to be in the shadows.

Wanqi Yue remained sitting on the bed, hugging her legs and burying her face in her knees.

Coal Ball cautiously returned to the bed, intending to stay in the corner, but its body was suddenly lifted. It found itself meeting Wanqi Yue’s bright eyes.

“Where did you go?” Wanqi Yue looked toward the door, where she could faintly see a figure standing outside. “Did you go to find Eldest Senior Sister?”

Coal Ball: …….

It thought to itself: Why don’t you two just ask each other face to face?

After speaking, Wanqi Yue sighed to herself. “I forgot you can’t speak.” However, she didn’t give up easily. “If you understand me, blink your eyes.”

Coal Ball immediately blinked.

Wanqi Yue was somewhat surprised. She hadn’t expected this small creature in the illusion to actually possess spiritual intelligence perhaps that was why it survived unlike other things in the illusion.

“Did you go to find Eldest Senior Sister just now?”

Coal Ball hesitated for a moment, then blinked.

Wanqi Yue bit her lower lip and asked with a hint of expectation in her voice, “Then, did Eldest Senior Sister look… the same as usual? If so, blink twice.”

Coal Ball hurried to blink twice. It had the hang of this now and definitely wouldn’t get the answer wrong.

But the spark of hope in Wanqi Yue’s eyes suddenly faded. She lowered her head and whispered softly, “Is that so?” Was she the only one who cared?

While Coal Ball was still confused, Su Mi inquired from the other side again.

【It’s hard to tell if there’s an issue with the injury for now, it’s just…】

Su Mi heard the hesitation in its voice and turned, making a move to push the door. “Just what?”

It seemed that if it said anything negative about Wanqi Yue, she would burst back into the room.

【The female lead seems a bit downcast. I don’t know if it’s because of the injury on her back.】

Su Mi’s hand on the door stiffened. Her fingers twitched, but she pulled her hand back. The slight flattening of her lips revealed her current state of mind.

She took two steps back, walked down the steps, and entered the courtyard.

In the corner of the yard stood several large vats used to collect rainwater. At this moment, the surface of the water reflected the shimmering moonlight.

Su Mi walked over and saw her own reflection in the water not very bright, but clear enough.

She saw herself in the water reaching up to press her finger against the wound on her lower lip, slowly wiping away that bit of blood.

The wound that had stopped bleeding began to split open again, oozing dark red droplets of blood.

The next day at the first mark of the Mao hour (approx. 5:15 AM), the sky was just beginning to brighten, and all things were still in slumber.

A closed door in the courtyard was pushed open. Qiao Wuyu, who had just woken up, rubbed her eyes as she walked into the yard. Drowsily, she noticed someone already standing there and muttered under her breath, “Who’s up this early?”

Just as she was about to walk over to see who it was, the person turned their head slightly, allowing her to see their face clearly.

“Eldest Senior Sister? Why are you up so early?” Qiao Wuyu was quite shocked. She had assumed it would be the habitually disciplined Second Senior Sister. “How are your injuries?”

Su Mi only gave a casual acknowledgment and said nothing before turning her head back.

Qiao Wuyu sensed that she didn’t seem to be in a good mood. She couldn’t help but think of the scene she witnessed last night, and her heart felt a bit uneasy.

Could it be that her joke went too far, and now Eldest Senior Sister disliked her?

But she hadn’t actually misunderstood anything last night. After all, she could tell with her eyes closed that such a thing was impossible. Who was Eldest Senior Sister? How could she ever be associated with such worldly, romantic affairs?

At the time, she was just feeling playful and wanted to prank… cough, tease her Junior Sister.

Qiao Wuyu thought she should explain herself. Thinking this over, she circled around to face Eldest Senior Sister.

“Eldest Senior Sister, I was joking. Of course, I wouldn’t misunderstand you” Her words came to an abrupt halt when she saw the small, scabbed over wound on Su Mi’s lower lip that was almost healed.

“Wouldn’t misunderstand what?” Su Mi looked at her with a slight frown.

Qiao Wuyu swallowed hard and managed to finish her sentence. “N-No… wouldn’t misunderstand… that you would sleep in late. Haha.”

She gave a couple of dry laughs, not knowing what she was saying anymore. Then, she suddenly glanced behind her and said quickly and seriously, “I just remembered I didn’t fold my quilt. Eldest Senior Sister, I’ll go back and make the bed first.”

With that, she turned and ran off without looking back.

Su Mi listened to her nonsensical words and watched her fleeing back, but she wasn’t in the mood to care.

Soon after, many other disciples began to trickle out of their rooms, but because Su Mi was standing there, no one dared to move about freely.

Yue Qianzhou also came out early. The first thing he did upon emerging was search for Wanqi Yue’s figure, but unfortunately, she was nowhere to be seen. Due to the mountain lord’s parting words yesterday, the Qingyang Mountain disciples, though not showing it on their faces had unconsciously become more guarded against him.

Su Mi naturally noticed Yue Qianzhou as well. However, she had always ignored this man and didn’t know what was wrong with him today that he would actually take the initiative to approach her.

“Immortal, how are your and Miss Wanqi’s injuries?”

Su Mi looked at him, thinking that this man was indeed using a pretext to inquire about Wanqi Yue’s situation.

She gave him a sidelong glance. “What does it have to do with you? A night has passed, does Young Master Yue think everything else has passed with it?”

Yue Qianzhou’s face stiffened. “What do you mean by that, Immortal?”

Su Mi said composedly, “I still remember everything that mountain lord said. Do you think I would believe a few light words from you? If I were you, I would be extremely careful about what I say and do right now. Young Master Yue, do you think I am right?”

Yue Qianzhou tugged at the corners of his dry mouth. “I do not know where I have offended you, Immortal?”

Su Mi swept a glance over him. “From head to toe.”

Afterward, she ignored whatever expression Yue Qianzhou made and walked to the room where Wanqi Yue was staying. A hint of hesitation appeared on her face, but she eventually raised her hand.

Knock, knock…

After the knocking, Su Mi waited quietly for a while, but no sound came from inside. She turned to ask Coal Ball, who had stayed in the room, and the system indicated that the female lead seemed to still be sleeping.

Su Mi suddenly called out to Qiao Wuyu, who was passing behind her, and told her to go in and wake Wanqi Yue.

Qiao Wuyu, who had been trying very carefully to lower her presence only to be caught anyway, pointed at herself in disbelief. “Me? Me?”

“Is there a problem?” Su Mi felt her attitude was somewhat strange.

“……No, of course not.”

In the end, under the gaze of the Eldest Senior Sister, Qiao Wuyu reached out and pushed open the door. After entering, she looked back and saw her Eldest Senior Sister staring straight toward her, though clearly not at her.

Qiao Wuyu took a deep breath and turned toward the bed. Fortunately, she didn’t see anything she shouldn’t have, her Junior Sister, lying on her side with her back turned, had neat and clean clothes with no signs of disarray. She breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward to wake her.

Wanqi Yue first gave a muffled response and then slowly turned around, her eyes still closed, looking like she hadn’t fully woken up yet.

When Qiao Wuyu saw the marks on Wanqi Yue’s mouth, which were several times more obvious than the one on Eldest Senior Sister’s, her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth but couldn’t find any words.

Wanqi Yue slowly opened her eyes, and the figure before her shifted from a blur to clarity.

“Fifth Senior Sister, why is it you?” Wanqi Yue asked subconsciously.

Hearing this, a bitter smile squeezed onto Qiao Wuyu’s face. “Yeah, why is it me?”

At this moment, Su Mi, standing at the doorway, could only watch the scene inside from a distance. She saw Wanqi Yue sit up from the bed with sleepy eyes, and then the faint sound of the two talking drifted out.

The voices were low, so she couldn’t hear them clearly.

Unsure of what was said, Wanqi Yue suddenly looked over. Upon noticing this, Su Mi immediately stepped aside and hid her figure.

She didn’t know why she was hiding, it was as if a sense of guilt from potentially being discovered prompted her to do so.

Su Mi stood silently at the door where Wanqi Yue couldn’t see her for a while, then left the area before the person inside could come out.

At the third mark of the Mao hour (approx. 5:45 AM), as daybreak approached, all the Qingyang Mountain disciples gathered to discuss their next move. Yue Qianzhou originally wanted to join in, but after seeing Su Mi’s “kind” gaze, he “proactively” stepped out, stating he would not participate and would instead stay with the Qingyang Mountain elder to wait for their return.

Without him, Su Mi’s communication with everyone became simpler and faster.

Based on the current information, they could basically confirm that the medical immortal named Bai Zhi was inextricably linked to this city. The easiest breakthrough points should be the City Lord and the shopkeeper, they needed to figure out the relationship between Bai Zhi and them, as well as what role Fairy Zhuoguang played in all of this.

As for that mountain lord, this encounter had raised many questions in Su Mi’s mind, and the portable system had not yet provided any relevant information.

Regarding her, Su Mi decided to take it one step at a time.

As for the City Lord and the shopkeeper, given that both were ordinary people, they were relatively safe. However, the City Lord’s mansion was heavily guarded, and there was no guarantee that these mortal nobles wouldn’t hire rogue cultivators for protection. If too many people went, it might alert the enemy, so they decided to split into two groups as before.

Su Mi would lead Wanqi Yue to the City Lord’s mansion, while Fang Yun would lead the others to secure the inn’s shopkeeper and his staff.

Just as everyone thought there were no objections and they could leave, Wanqi Yue suddenly spoke up.

“I’ll go with Second Senior Sister and the others.” Wanqi Yue kept her head down, not daring to look at Su Mi. “Eldest Senior Sister, please choose someone else.”

This statement stunned everyone. Everyone present knew that Junior Sister Wanqi respected and loved her Eldest Senior Sister the most. On any other day, Wanqi Yue would have jumped at the chance to be alone with her.

Su Mi looked over and saw that the wound on Wanqi Yue’s lip was completely gone, leaving only a rosy hue.

Su Mi’s lowered eyes appeared somewhat cold, and her thin lips moved slightly: “No. You are coming with me.”

Wanqi Yue kept her head down and refused to speak, as if in silent resistance.

Fang Yun also seemed to perceive that the two were having a falling out. She took the initiative to lead the others away first, leaving the space for Su Mi and Wanqi Yue.

After the disciples left, they couldn’t hold back their desire to gossip, whispering quietly behind them.

“Fifth Senior Sister, I saw you were the one who went to get Junior Sister Wanqi today. What happened between them?”

“Speaking of which, Junior Sister Wanqi looks listless today, very different from usual.”

“Yeah, yeah! And as soon as I stepped out today, I saw Eldest Senior Sister standing in the yard alone. She looked even more terrifying than before; I didn’t even dare go near her.”

To all of this, Qiao Wuyu kept her mouth tightly shut, not daring to say a word.

Could she say what she had seen? Without evidence, based only on a coincidental wound, could she?!

Besides, she was the one who had helped wipe away that suggestive piece of evidence for Little Junior Sister. She really had worried herself to death for the sake of their reputation.

Eventually, this bit of gossip was extinguished by Fang Yun turning her head back.

When Fang Yun and the others left, they even helped close the door. Now, only Su Mi and Wanqi Yue remained in the room.

Su Mi hadn’t checked the values above Wanqi Yue’s head in a long time. Looking now, she found they had dropped to 50. She tightly clenched her hand hidden within her sleeve, her nails digging deep, bloody marks into her palm.

Neither of them spoke first, as if they were locked in an invisible contest of wills.

Ultimately, Su Mi was the first to yield and spoke.

“Why are you unwilling to go with me?” Su Mi felt the stinging pain in her palm and asked softly, “Is it because of what happened last night?”