After Being Targeted by the Gloomy and Obsessive Movie Queen - Chapter 21

Chapter 21: Convalescence – Burying Affection by Hand

Li Lian!

Xu Yinyu’s gambler father.

When Xu Yinyu was seven, he was laid off by his company and became completely demoralized.

He spent his days drinking and gambling. After losing all the family’s remaining savings, he was forcibly sued for divorce by Xu Yinyu’s mother.

In their family, there were two daughters.

Xu Yinyu, the elder sister, was taken by her mother. The younger sister, Xu Lianyue, was left to run around with Li Lian.

They should have disappeared from Xu Yinyu’s world long ago. It was unbelievable that they had reappeared in her life in this manner.

Xu Yinyu left with shaky steps, forcing herself to calm down, and immediately went to the police station to report the crime.

Sure enough, in less than a day, someone sent a text message to the Yu family demanding a huge ransom.

The Yu family prepared the ransom money.

Xu Yinyu volunteered to take the ransom and exchange it for Yu Shujin.

That day, the rain poured down in sheets. Xu Yinyu was still wearing her summer school uniform, and the bone-chilling cold seeped in through the wide cuffs.

She arrived at the agreed-upon location.

The surroundings were overgrown with wild weeds, and broken ceramic tiles lay underfoot.

Xu Yinyu, carrying the heavy five million yuan alone, placed the money at the designated spot with a cold expression, then hid her body amongst the thriving weeds.

When hesitant footsteps sounded on the ground, Xu Yinyu slightly raised her head, her eyes trembling. She tightened her grip on the fruit knife.

Xu Lianyue, following Li Lian’s instructions, walked to a large trash bin by the abandoned factory. She saw a black travel bag, quickly opened it, and her eyes widened.

She had never seen so much money. With this much money, she wouldn’t have to worry for the rest of her life.

The wind blew the wild grass, and raindrops fell heavily.

A fierce look flashed in Xu Lianyue’s eyes. Just as she was about to zip up the bag, a silver glint flashed, and she instinctively recoiled.

Xu Yinyu immediately lunged at her, pinning Xu Lianyue to the ground. She forcefully held her struggling hands behind her back, placing the fruit knife across her neck.

“Where did you take her, Xu Lianyue?” Xu Yinyu’s voice, when cold, had a crystalline clarity. She used all her strength to tightly restrain Xu Lianyue’s limbs.

“Sis?” Xu Lianyue, pinned to the ground by Xu Yinyu, was initially irritated, but upon hearing Xu Yinyu’s voice, her body subconsciously relaxed. “Sis, what’s the use of worrying about an outsider? The money is what matters. With this money, we can run away, find a place where no one knows us, and we’ll be set for life.”

Xu Lianyue’s immature, sharp face was cruelly innocent at that moment.

Xu Yinyu sighed, lowering her voice. “Lianyue, tell your sister, where did you hide her?”

Xu Lianyue’s expression shifted, and she began to struggle intensely. “You want to go against us?”

Xu Yinyu nearly lost her grip. “Don’t you understand? The Yu family is not to be trifled with, nor are they a charity. Do you think they’ll let you off easy for extortion and threats like this?”

“Then let’s die!” Xu Lianyue laughed softly, looking at her. “Sis, I was already ruined by that bastard, by Mom, and by you. I don’t care about any of this. All I want is money.”

“Only money can reshape my life. Only money can give me everything I want. I only want money.”

As she spoke, her expression grew increasingly distorted, and her voice became more fragmented.

Xu Yinyu silently pressed her forehead against hers. Rain soaked them both. “Trust me this once, Lianyue. I’ll take you away. Just trust me. I’ll help you find the future you deserve. Your sister will stay with you.”

A flicker of softness passed through Xu Lianyue’s heart.

She told Xu Yinyu where Yu Shujin was hidden.

What happened next was like a dramatic movie on fast-forward. The unconscious Yu Shujin was rescued by Xu Yinyu. Li Lian was caught by the police and sentenced to life imprisonment, and the fleeing Xu Lianyue was taken away by the Yu family.

During that kidnapping incident, Xu Yinyu exhausted herself, navigating between Yu Shujin, her emotionless biological father, and the watchful Yu family.

To retrieve Xu Lianyue from the Yu family, Xu Yinyu signed an agreement with the Yu family matriarch. The content was summarized simply as: never come near Yu Shujin again.

Their nascent relationship had already suffered a large-scale propagation of rumors and slander through the school, and now it had gone through this kidnapping and extortion.

The image of Yu Shujin, near death and unconscious, constantly haunted her mind.

Tossing and turning, day after day.

She agreed, personally sending Xu Lianyue to a juvenile reformatory, then leaving Lexi City with her mother, leaving the place where Yu Shujin was.

She personally buried a relationship that died before it had even fully begun.

When Xu Yinyu was pulled out of the distorted memories, the sun was already shining on her face through the curtains.

Two days had passed.

She subconsciously shielded her eyes with her hand, but her wrist was weak, and all the pain in her body returned. A look of agony crossed her face. Everything from the past two days slowly became clear in her mind, along with the physical pain.

Xu Yinyu struggled to sit up, but a cold hand gripped her tightly, refusing to let go.

She violently turned her head and met the gaze of Yu Shujin, who was already awake.

Her body instinctively shivered.

Xu Yinyu’s body was at the limit of collapse. She forced her swollen, red eyelids open and weakly pleaded in a breathless whisper, “Water… water… water…”

The extreme fury and resentment from the previous two days were gone from Yu Shujin’s eyes. Her hand roamed Xu Yinyu’s slender waist, finally resting on Xu Yinyu’s shoulder, and she leaned over, pressing the person beneath her.

Xu Yinyu looked at Yu Shujin in despair. Her heart felt a chill. She subconsciously tried to hide herself under the covers but was firmly restrained by Yu Shujin’s shoulder hold, unable to move.

Yu Shujin kissed Xu Yinyu’s red, pouting lips. She would not allow Xu Yinyu to make any movement of avoidance or escape in front of her now.

Only when Xu Yinyu was near suffocation did Yu Shujin slowly let her go.

Xu Yinyu’s chest heaved up and down until the rim of a glass of water touched her lips.

She looked at Yu Shujin’s condescending posture. Even though she was too weak to sit up, she firmly told Yu Shujin, “I need to see my mother.”

Xu Yinyu tried to say something else, but Yu Shujin roughly pinched her chin and tilted the water glass to pour water into her mouth.

Half the water in the glass was poured into her, and the other half spilled onto Xu Yinyu’s body.

Warm water spilled on her. Xu Yinyu struggled to shrink back but was pulled back by Yu Shujin. “Don’t be clever again, trying those useless tricks to slip away from me. You can’t escape your destiny.”

Xu Yinyu shook her head at her, her eyes vacant as if looking through her. Her lips moved, and a weak, whispered plea was barely audible. “I want Mom…”

Yu Shujin’s heart ached at Xu Yinyu’s miserable state. She covered Xu Yinyu’s eyes with her hand, unwilling to look at her pathetic appearance—so rootless, so unsettled, so reliant on curling her body just to gain a semblance of security.

She hated that Xu Yinyu had simply walked away back then.

She hated that the other person had abandoned her precisely when she most craved a shoulder to lean on.

She hated even more that the other person, having fished her out of the darkness, chose to leave her in a deeper, bottomless abyss.

Xu Yinyu’s departure made her a complete joke, a total laughingstock. A budding romance became one person’s desperate struggle.

The overwhelming insults were like cement poured and dumped onto her back alone.

It forced her to return to the path she had desperately tried to escape.

Xu Yinyu couldn’t bear it and passed out again.

Yu Shujin closed her eyes, her expression deep, and immediately made a phone call.

Before long, Xu Ruoying entered the room with a first aid kit. She glanced at the master bedroom, “tsk”-ed, and waved her hand to dispel the sexually charged air.

She smiled at Yu Shujin. “Are you going crazy on her again? Boss Yu, I’m advising you, someone with a fragile and gentle nature like Miss Xu can’t withstand your torment many times. Don’t come looking for me if she dies.”

Yu Shujin sneered. “Just treat her well. Don’t talk nonsense. No one has the right to interfere in what happens between her and me.”

Xu Ruoying shot Yu Shujin an indifferent look, then went to Xu Yinyu’s side. Seeing the red and blue bruises on the skin exposed by her pajamas, she couldn’t help but gasp. “Boss Yu, you play rough, don’t you? I never heard you had this kind of fetish.”

Yu Shujin, wearing black silk pajamas, stood silently beside Xu Yinyu with her arms crossed.

“Skin abrasions on her wrists. Why are there so many hickeys on her neck? Are you trying to kill her?” Xu Ruoying asked Yu Shujin sincerely. “Hickeys on the carotid sinus can easily cause fainting or even shock.”

“Where is your basic biology knowledge?”

Yu Shujin was speechless by Xu Ruoying’s questions.

“Take her to the hospital. Don’t delay treatment and examination at home. If she doesn’t convalesce now, she is highly likely to develop a persistent high fever,” Xu Ruoying stated firmly.

Yu Shujin certainly didn’t want Xu Yinyu to die right next to her. They were meant to be entangled for a lifetime; there was no way she would allow Xu Yinyu to find release so easily.

Yu Shujin had no choice but to cooperate with Xu Ruoying.

She carried the unconscious Xu Yinyu by herself, put her in the car, and then got in herself.

Xu Ruoying had to sit in the front with the driver.

When the ride was bumpy, Yu Shujin placed Xu Yinyu’s head on her lap, her fingers gently stroking her earlobe.

A City First Convalescence Center.

Yu Shujin arranged for her to stay in a high-level VIP room. She stationed dozens of bodyguards around the area and stayed by Xu Yinyu’s bedside herself, not leaving for a moment.

During this time, Yu Zhenmin entered the room. She looked at Yu Shujin. “Shujin, you are, after all, a member of the Yu family. You need to make plans for the Yu family’s inheritance soon.”

Yu Shujin was vigilant and unmoved, her tone flat. “Grandma, not everyone has to live and die for the family. What I owed the Yu family before, I’ve paid back through my work all these years.”

“You don’t need to stare at me so closely. If you hadn’t been so self-willed back then, indulging my prematurely deceased biological father, driving my mother mad, and killing the fetus in her womb, the Yu family wouldn’t have withered like this.”

Yu Shujin’s hand smoothed the stray hair on Xu Yinyu’s forehead.

Yu Zhenmin’s eyes were intense. “It’s a pity there are no ‘what ifs’ in this world. I already regret it deeply. All these years, I’ve been a vegetarian and recited Buddhist scriptures. I’ve been praying for the soul of my early deceased son. I’ve lived in repentance. I’ve suffered enough, Shujin.”

“Your suffering was not caused by me, but my suffering was definitely something you inflicted firsthand.” Yu Shujin looked up at Yu Zhenmin, who was sitting in a wheelchair.

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