After a Contractual Romance with the Scumbag Movie Queen - Chapter 54.2

Qi Puzhi’s composed expression faltered, as if she were slightly uneasy. “The packet contained 40 grams,” she said. “I used all of it.”

“Damn it!” Zhang Yi’s face flushed an even deeper red. He choked on his breath, coughing violently, then frantically stuck his fingers down his throat, trying to induce vomiting.

He thrashed about like a grasshopper tossed into a frying pan, stripped of all dignity. Eventually, he collapsed to the floor, still desperately trying to make himself vomit, but to no avail.

He writhed like a maggot.

Qi Puzhi: “…”

She leisurely took another sip of tea, watching the spectacle with detached amusement. Casually, she remarked, “Hang in there, whatever you do, don’t die… Otherwise, Qi Ke won’t have anyone to pin the blame on.”

Zhang Yi’s throat burned with pain. In a hoarse voice, he pleaded, “Call an ambulance, quick! Do you want to go to prison? Intentional murder carries the death penalty…”

“Oh?” Qi Puzhi replied. “So when you orchestrated that car accident to kill me, was it because you were so eager to experience prison life?”

Zhang Yi’s ragged breathing echoed loudly in the private room.

Each gasp sent sharp pains through his airways. Seeing her unyielding demeanor, he realized Qi Puzhi was dead serious, she wasn’t going to save him.

A glance at the two burly bodyguards restraining him confirmed that there was no escape.

A sense of utter defeat washed over him. In the face of impending death, his earlier dreams for the future had twisted into pure hatred for the woman before him.

“Why…” he snarled, clenching his fists and glaring at Qi Puzhi. “We’re both Qi Ke’s children. You’re the glamorous eldest daughter of the Qi family, while I was dumped abroad as a child, not even worthy of the Qi surname.”

“But what you don’t know is that I once lived near you for a while,” he continued, as if afraid death would silence him before he could dredge up the past to torment her. “I disguised myself as a servant in the Qi household, where I could watch you and your mother.”

His gaze turned lecherous as he stared at Qi Puzhi. “You were beautiful even as a child. My teenage fantasies revolved around you, me, and your mother.”

Qi Puzhi knew that showing any reaction would only gratify him.

Disgusted, she was about to order the bodyguards to gag him when Zhang Yi added, “Speaking of which, your mother’s death… it had something to do with me…”

Seeing Qi Puzhi’s movements falter, he chuckled. “She loved Qi Ke with all her heart, only to discover my existence… I even told her back then that I was willing to take Qi Ke’s place and love her, but unfortunately, she looked at me with utter disgust.”

“So many people look at me with that same disgust.” He sneered, his expression turning deranged. “Guess why it took the Qi family five days to find her after she hanged herself? And why it took you five days to rush back after receiving the news?”

Qi Puzhi’s already subtly quickened breath hitched abruptly. Under the table, her fists clenched so tightly they trembled.

Zhang Yi’s throat grew increasingly sore, his voice breaking as he spoke, yet he sounded triumphant:

“That was the most satisfying and successful plan of my life. I wanted to see the expression on the face of the Qi family’s eldest daughter, praised by everyone for her outstanding achievements, natural intelligence, and stunning beauty, when she returned home and saw her mother, whom she depended on, hanging there after five days, her body already decomposed and unrecognizable”

“I saw it.” Tears of laughter welled in the corners of his eyes. “That day, I hid in the kitchen and relished the sight of your expression. So fragile and pitiful, it was utterly intoxicating.”

Before he could finish, Qi Puzhi had rushed over and seized him by the throat.

The most appropriate way to defeat an enemy is to always maintain composure and grace, something Qi Puzhi had always perfected.

But.

“Shut up.” Her hands trembled as she choked him. The nightmare that had tormented her for years, barely faded, began to churn in her mind again because of Zhang Yi’s words.

Every detail in that scene was so vivid. For anyone, no matter how strong-willed, it was an unbearable cruelty.

Over the years, whenever she grew weary and wanted to give up on her carefully laid plans, the memory of that day would steel her resolve to carry on.

If she did not avenge this, it would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Zhang Yi struggled under her grip, his already flushed face turning a deeper shade of red. Compared to the effects of the lethal dose of poison he had taken, this felt even closer to death.

Qi Puzhi had always believed that, even in plotting her revenge, every step she took was just and with a clear conscience.

But now, she realized that perhaps human nature is inherently evil.

Because she truly wanted Zhang Yi dead.

Yet a voice of reason urgently warned her not to take a life. It would only add an unbearable weight to her already scarred heart.

It would crush her completely.

Staring at her trembling hands, she tried to pull them back as if saving herself, but it was as if she were possessed, she couldn’t control them.

No. She struggled desperately, her eyes reddening, tears falling, her vision blurring.

A pair of delicate hands took hold of hers, gently prying her trembling fingers from Zhang Yi’s throat and enclosing them in a warm grasp.

“Someone, gag him.” The young woman’s voice was cool and detached, tinged with impatience.

Then, the sound of the man gasping for breath after his near-death experience ceased.

Qi Puzhi froze.

She hadn’t even noticed when Jiang Tian had emerged from behind the screen.

Had Jiang Tian witnessed everything her losing control, her desperate act of choking Zhang Yi?

What had she looked like?

Most likely, she had lost all dignity, exposed in her raw, unsightly state, primitive and wretched.

This thought made her heart feel increasingly riddled with holes, almost as if it were bleeding. A sense of sorrow washed over her, the feeling of grasping at nothing, of losing everything.

Qi Puzhi’s tears flowed more fiercely, her eyes aching so much she could no longer clearly see Jiang Tian’s face.

Yet she could feel Jiang Tian’s gaze. This only deepened her humiliation.

“Don’t look at me.” Qi Puzhi choked out with difficulty, pulling her hand back from Jiang Tian’s palm and pushing her away forcefully. “Just go.”

Don’t stay here watching a woman who almost lost control and wanted to kill someone.

This was Qi Puzhi’s personal hell.

And someone like Jiang Tian was born to live in a world of light, swaying among flowers.

But Jiang Tian didn’t leave. Instead, she grasped Qi Puzhi’s wrist and pulled her into an embrace, refusing to be resisted.

She held her tightly, so tightly that with every passing second, she could feel Qi Puzhi’s body tremble with sobs.

Her own heart ached so much it shook, and she gently stroked Qi Puzhi’s back, speaking to her with the utmost tenderness: “It’s okay, sister, don’t be afraid…”

“Don’t be afraid.”

At first, Qi Puzhi kept pushing her away, urging her to leave.

But Jiang Tian held her tightly, leaving no room for escape.

After a while, perhaps exhausted from the struggle, Qi Puzhi gradually stopped resisting and stayed silently in her embrace, allowing herself to be soothed by Jiang Tian’s gentle pats.

After what felt like an eternity, she finally spoke, her voice utterly weary: “You’ve seen it now, this is who I am. All these years, I’ve carried hatred, never letting go of myself or others. I’m nothing like the Qi Puzhi you imagined, the one who bravely left her family to chase dreams in the entertainment industry, free and courageous.”

“Everything I’ve done wasn’t out of some enviable passion. but out of hatred, the kind that just now made me want to kill.”

In front of the person she cared about most, the one whose image of her she most wanted to preserve, she mercilessly laid herself bare, exposing the darkness she had once tried to hide.

“Jiang Tian, do you understand now?”

Suppressing the tremor in her voice, Qi Puzhi spoke each word coldly, finishing her final sentence.

Then, like a prisoner awaiting execution, she knew the end had come, yet still pitifully felt a flicker of tension.

As if there were still a chance.

“Hmm.” After a moment of silence, Jiang Tian responded softly, releasing one of the arms holding her and pulling back slightly.

The expected answer had come.

Qi Puzhi’s heart suddenly ached so sharply she could barely breathe.

It felt as if she was about to lose Jiang Tian. This realization made her feel as though some part of her was quietly beginning to shatter.

Tears streamed down silently. Just as Qi Puzhi was about to force herself to say with feigned relief, “Then you should go,” Jiang Tian’s freed hand cupped her cheek.

Soft fingertips wiped away the cascading tears.

Before a fierce kiss descended, she heard Jiang Tian’s voice.

Truly unyielding, Qi Puzhi thought. Faced with someone so wretched, she was still saying:

“I love you.