After Becoming Roommates with an Obnoxious Wealthy Heiress - Chapter 45

Miss Zhu is not someone you should dare to desire.

Amidst the fury filling Qin Shuyue’s gaze, the flames spread hotly into Zhu Lingyi’s eyes, where ice melted into fire.

Zhu Lingyi sat with her arms spread wide, reclining lazily against the back of the sofa. Her eyes remained fixed on the unyielding stubbornness in Qin Shuyue’s expression. Those eyes were like frozen depths in an abyss piercingly cold and intimidatingly dark.

She desperately wanted to break the stubborn bone in this woman’s body.

What right does she have to resist me?

But as she watched Qin Shuyue’s bloodless lips turn whiter and whiter, Zhu Lingyi narrowed her eyes, and a flash of a different emotion flickered through them.

She couldn’t make things difficult for a sick person.

Slowly withdrawing her gaze, the words of reproach at the tip of her tongue transformed into a single question: “Have you eaten dinner yet?”

Qin Shuyue froze. Hadn’t dinner been the very thing this woman had ordered her to eat?

Still simmering with anger, she opened her lips to retort sharply, “Miss Zhu truly has a short memory for someone of such high status.”

It was pure sarcasm.

Qin Shuyue expected Zhu Lingyi to get angry or hurt her again. But it didn’t happen.

Zhu Lingyi actually let her off the hook easily.

“Eleven thirty. That is the absolute limit of my tolerance.”

Having said this, Zhu Lingyi put her hands in her pockets, straightened her waist, and stood up from the sofa. She bypassed Qin Shuyue, the rhythmic “tap-tap” of her shoes on the floor gradually fading away.

Qin Shuyue turned her head to watch her leave.

Zhu Lingyi’s back was ramrod straight, her posture elegant. Every step was unhurried and steady, as if she were indifferent to everything, yet held the world in the palm of her hand.

And every one of those steps felt like it was treading directly on Qin Shuyue’s heart.

Qin Shuyue rubbed her aching knees and pressed her hand against the sofa cushion to push herself up. She collapsed back onto the sofa, exhausted, staring blankly at the grey-striped ceiling.

The ceiling seemed to drop inch by inch, pressing down on her heavily. The stripes appeared to tear into cracks, bursting outward. Dark, terrifying tentacles reached out from the narrow, gloomy fissures, writhing slowly as they coiled toward Qin Shuyue’s neck.

Qin Shuyue snapped her eyes shut.

A hallucination?

When had her imagination become so vivid?

She took several heavy breaths to steady the chaotic thoughts in her mind. When she slowly opened her eyes again, the ceiling was still a somber grey.

Qin Shuyue’s hand fell limply across her forehead. She let out a long, slow sigh. The mechanical “tick-tock” of the Western-style clock on the white wall drowned out her sigh.

She didn’t know when she fell asleep, curled up on the sofa like a lazy kitten. Her brow was furrowed, and she mumbled occasionally in her sleep, her words indistinguishable.

As Zhu Lingyi might have put it: “Can’t you even find peace in your dreams?”

The stars shifted and the sun broke through the dawn. Piercing light projected through the floor to ceiling windows of the living room, a beam landing right on Qin Shuyue’s closed eyes.

She slowly opened them, looking at the unfamiliar surroundings in a daze before sitting up. It took a moment for her to regain her bearings.

She had fallen asleep on the sofa.

After fumbling around, she pulled her phone from her pocket. She checked the time: 5:00 AM.

With a helpless sigh, she put the phone back.

“Time to work.”

Since her second year of high school, hadn’t she been forced to adapt to this kind of life? While others indulged in beautiful dreams and fantasies about the future, she had to struggle for her livelihood.

After a lightning-fast wash, she ran to the kitchen and took over the maid’s chores.

I spoke too harshly yesterday; is she angry? Qin Shuyue thought as she sliced carrots. I hope she isn’t… Should I go apologize to her?

Hmm…

Just as guilt began to stir in her heart, she suddenly remembered Zhu Lingyi uploading that video of her.

Unforgivable, she thought.

She tinkered with the breakfast while lost in thought. Finally, a carrot shaped like a rabbit sat on a milky-white ceramic plate, decorated with tiny bits of egg yolk for cheeks. Beside the rabbit, she placed a string of cucumbers. A few kernels of corn were scattered irregularly beneath the rabbit, giving it a unique flair.

Afterward, she made a fruit yogurt cup with diced strawberries, mangoes, and blueberries. Once everything was set on the table, she greeted the maid and left with her canvas bag.

Heqing Courtyard was in a terrible location or so Qin Shuyue felt. Back at the freshman dormitory, the cafeteria was only three minutes away. Now, it took at least ten minutes of walking. It severely cut into her sleep time.

She sighed helplessly.

Qin Shuyue walked briskly in a hurry. The strap of her canvas bag slipped frequently, and she kept pulling it back up. At the thought of Sister Yu’s fierce, malevolent face, Qin Shuyue desperately wanted to run away.

More than once, she had wanted to escape this place, to escape these unpleasant people and things. But she had no choice; she was caught in a whirlpool she couldn’t swim out of.

She finally reached the cafeteria. As usual, she stuffed her bag under the checkout counter and took her work uniform out of the locker. Her hand felt inside, but it was empty she grabbed only air.

Qin Shuyue’s heart leaped into her throat. Her mind raced, trying to remember if she had worn the clothes home and forgotten to bring them back.

While she was lost in thought, a sharp voice suddenly rang out behind her.

“Hey! Who are you? What are you doing here?!”

Qin Shuyue spun around instantly. She stood up, looking like she had been caught in a crime, her hands tucked behind her back. It was as if she really were there to do something bad.

The girl opposite her frowned deeper upon recognizing the “suspicious” person.

“Are you that forum ‘celebrity’?”

Qin Shuyue paused. She looked up sharply at the girl, then hurriedly lowered her head, standing there helpless and flustered. She wanted to flee, but the girl blocked her path, leaving no gap to escape.

The girl’s large eyes were filled with doubt and confusion, but her frown only intensified.

Qin Shuyue gripped the hem of her clothes tightly, not knowing how to answer. In that moment, Sister Yu emerged from the back kitchen. The moment she lifted the curtain and saw Qin Shuyue’s face which she perceived as faking innocence and pity her anger flared.

“You wretched girl, what are you doing here now? Out! Get out right now!”

Sister Yu pushed and shoved Qin Shuyue out, then snatched her bag and threw it at her feet.

“Didn’t anyone tell you? You’ve been fired.”

Sister Yu stood with her chest out and arms crossed next to the new girl.

“This is the new employee we hired for the bun shop. She’s quick, knows how to handle things, and is flexible. She’s way better than you.”

“I told you before if you won’t do it, plenty of others will. Get lost! Don’t affect my business!”

With that, Sister Yu grabbed the new girl’s arm and led her back to the kitchen. Before being pulled away, the girl looked back at Qin Shuyue and the bag on the ground with a complicated expression.

Was Sister Yu… being too excessive?

This was so undignified. Especially with so many people in the cafeteria.

Qin Shuyue, however, was long accustomed to such situations. She calmly bent down, picked up the canvas bag, and patted off the dust. Even though people in the cafeteria cast strange looks at her, she didn’t care.

Hadn’t she suffered enough cold irony, rolled eyes, and criticism?

She sighed and checked her bank balance on her phone.

800 yuan.

It turned out that as early as the third day of her unconsciousness, Sister Yu couldn’t wait to kick her out. But without the school’s consent and Zhu Lingyi’s tacit approval, how could Sister Yu have actually fired her?

After thinking it over, she checked her class schedule. A 10:00 AM class. She put her phone away and walked toward the teaching building.

“Professor Chen, sorry to disturb you.”

Qin Shuyue pushed open the office door, poking her small head inside. Professor Chen’s right hand was on the mouse, clicking occasionally while her eyes remained glued to the computer screen.

“Qin Shuyue?” Professor Chen looked at her in surprise. “Why are you here at this time?”

“Come in.”

Qin Shuyue walked in obediently. Professor Chen pointed to a small stool next to her desk. “Have a seat.”

Qin Shuyue gave a soft “mm” and straightened her clothes before sitting down. She didn’t know how to start, so Professor Chen broke the silence.

“Are you feeling better?” Professor Chen asked gently.

Qin Shuyue blinked, her stunned expression asking, How did you know?

Qin Shuyue couldn’t hide her expressions. Professor Chen knew what she was thinking with one glance. Seeing her reaction, Professor Chen couldn’t help but smile slightly. “It was Miss Zhu’s assistant who called to inform me. She said you fainted. Are you alright?”

Qin Shuyue shook her head. “Thank you for your concern, Professor Chen. I’m much better.”

The counselor nodded and returned to her work. She added, “Remember to eat more meat. Look at you, you’re far too thin.”

“Yes, I understand,” Qin Shuyue replied with her head down.

The counselor took the initiative to ask, “Is there anything else?”

Qin Shuyue clenched her fists, finding it difficult to speak.

“I… I wanted to ask, during the time I was unconscious was it the school’s decision to fire me?”

Professor Chen didn’t give her a direct answer. She sighed, stopped what she was doing, and turned to look seriously into Qin Shuyue’s dim eyes.

“The school’s work-study requirements state that students must be in good health. If you fainted in the cafeteria, it would cause a massive PR storm for the school,” Professor Chen advised gently. “Qin Shuyue, I know your family situation. I will make sure to save a spot for you for the poverty grant this year.”

“Who was it?”

Qin Shuyue’s hands gripped her clothes tightly as she bit her lower lip. Faced with Professor Chen’s silence, Qin Shuyue took a deep breath and asked again firmly, “Who was it? Was it the school’s idea?”

Professor Chen looked at her silently. She had intended to be vague, but faced with Qin Shuyue’s insistence on getting to the bottom of it, she had no choice.

She sighed. “The school’s intention is Miss Zhu’s intention. Miss Zhu has always been a thoughtful and considerate student. She was worried about your health, so she.”

Seeing Qin Shuyue’s head drop lower and lower, Professor Chen patted her shoulder out of pity.

“She wasn’t worried about me.” Qin Shuyue’s face turned dark, her eyes shadowed with suppressed anger. “She was worried I would ruin the school’s reputation.”

Professor Chen nodded, thought for a moment, and said, “Our school is very famous locally and even nationally. With the internet so developed nowadays, if you really fainted in the cafeteria and a student recorded it and put it online, it would.”

“It would be bad for the school.”

Qin Shuyue gave a stiff, bitter smile. She opened her mouth with difficulty, her voice forced and strained. “But I really need that money.”

“Is it because of your mother?” Professor Chen didn’t elaborate, but she knew just by looking at Qin Shuyue’s expression. She thought for a moment, then pulled out her phone. “How much are you short? I’ll transfer it to you first.”

Qin Shuyue looked up in disbelief. Her pupils contracted violently. Shock, pain, and a sense of being looked down upon surged into her heart like a rising tide.

She hurriedly said goodbye to the counselor and ran out of the office. Reaching a stone pillar, she leaned against it with one hand and couldn’t stop dry-heaving, nearly vomiting bile.

“So disgusting.”

Whenever she closed her eyes, her mind filled with the counselor’s sympathetic and pitiful gaze. It felt like torches burning her, roasting her on a furnace, trapping her in the pity of others.

She hadn’t eaten breakfast, so there was nothing in her stomach to throw up.

She had no job now; for the first time, she was idle. She didn’t know where to go, like a lost puppy, circling the massive campus several times. Aimless.

She walked with her head down, dejected, along a quiet path.

Song Jiajia, Liang Qi, and their group seemed to be waiting for her. They blocked her path. Qin Shuyue had no heart to deal with them and didn’t even look up. She tried to walk around them.

But Song Jiajia let out an “ah” and stretched an arm out to block her.

“What do you want now?”

Qin Shuyue looked up tiredly, feeling exhausted by their repetitive tactics. She never understood why Liang Qi and Song Jiajia insisted on targeting her. What did they gain? Money? Fame? Status?

None of the above.

Once, Song Jiajia had gripped her hand in a cold water tank and whispered in her ear: “Because it’s fun.”

That one phrase “it’s fun” had tortured Qin Shuyue for an entire year. Every time Song Jiajia appeared, Qin Shuyue would break out in goosebumps.

But today, she didn’t. She felt no emotion. Indifference, disregard she didn’t even care about what they said. It was as if her soul had been stripped from her body, leaving only a weathered husk in the world.

“I just want to show you a video.”

Song Jiajia shot a look at Liang Qi, who immediately unlocked his phone and played a video.

Qin Shuyue hadn’t intended to look. Not until she heard a voice that was all too familiar. Rough, sharp, and very rude. Her gaze slowly shifted to the screen.

“Miss Zhu, Qin Shuyue hasn’t come to work for three days. I wanted to ask, is she… you know, still coming to work?”

Sister Yu was seen rubbing her hands nervously, looking apprehensive in front of a woman who stood a head taller than her.

The person receiving her wasn’t a maid or Jiang Feiwan, but Zhu Lingyi. Jiang Feiwan stood behind her. Zhu Lingyi’s long legs gave her an aura of invisible pressure.

“Her?” Zhu Lingyi’s tone was light and dismissive, as if discussing a trivial matter. She glanced toward the house and said nonchalantly, “Is this the kind of thing I need to teach you how to handle?”

Watching the video, Qin Shuyue’s eyes turned cold, her hands clenching unconsciously. Hearing that casual remark from Zhu Lingyi, her emotions became uncontrollable.

She snatched the phone from Liang Qi, her eyes fixed in disbelief on the “Little President Zhu,” who everyone in school thought was the epitome of power and elegance.

With just those few words, she had decided everything for her.

Seeing Qin Shuyue’s deeply wounded expression, Song Jiajia smirked. “Qin Shuyue, stop dreaming. Miss Zhu never took you seriously.”

“She could have stopped everyone from messing with you with just one sentence. But she stayed indifferent, letting others stomp you into the mud.”

Liang Qi and the others behind Song Jiajia snickered, looking at Qin Shuyue as if she were a joke. Overestimating herself.

“Qin Shuyue, this isn’t a place you belong,” Song Jiajia said, puffing out her chest and bumping into Qin Shuyue, forcing her back several steps.

“And Miss Zhu is not someone you should dare to desire.”

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