After Being Targeted by the Gloomy and Obsessive Movie Queen - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Quarrel – Willing? Unwilling

The final sensation before all consciousness vanished was the cold touch of lips against hers, and the scent of hyacinths permeated the air.

Xu Yinyu had a dream.

In the dream, seventeen-year-old Yu Shujin was still a pitiful figure endlessly subjected to slander and abuse.

Xu Yinyu was still the highly regarded, academically brilliant top student in her classmates’ eyes.

And Shen Lu was still Xu Yinyu’s good friend.

When Xu Yinyu once again approached that familiar alleyway, her steps slowed for a second. She sensed the subtle crisis that was about to occur.

But upon hearing that familiar yet unfamiliar cry for help, she immediately rushed over.

Xu Yinyu spread her arms, firmly shielding the person being bullied behind her, and angrily condemned the bully’s actions.

She wasn’t sure what she was saying. Her body was actually trembling, her voice became increasingly fractured, and her sentences lacked logic.

But the bully’s figure grew blurry to her. Xu Yinyu turned to comfort the girl she had saved.

Only to discover that the person she saved was Yu Shujin.

A Yu Shujin with a bloody head and despair in her eyes.

She was muttering alone, sitting in the corner against the wall. Blood from her head streamed down her stunning, beautiful face. Her eyes, empty and lifeless, skipped over Xu Yinyu and looked into the distance.

Then, suddenly, hot, fervent tears began to stream down from Yu Shujin’s eyes.

Xu Yinyu subconsciously reached out to catch them but passed right through Yu Shujin’s figure.

She stood frozen, wanting to look back at Yu Shujin again, but a gigantic presence behind her dragged her back into the darkness.

Xu Yinyu tried to resist but was tightly wrapped by surging tentacles.

The nightmare repeated in endless cycles.

The kidnapping during the heavy rain, the hesitant Hongmen Banquet, the red wine at their reunion, and her utilization as a bargaining chip and a tool.

Re-enacted over and over.

Xu Yinyu awoke, tearing through the dream. She looked at the unfamiliar ceiling, digesting her emotions with an indifferent expression.

Yu Shujin, who was handling documents nearby, immediately put down her work when she noticed Xu Yinyu stirring and offered her a cup of warm water.

“Awake? Drink some water.”

Xu Yinyu had been confined by Yu Shujin in a villa in the suburbs.

The layout of this suburban villa was relatively simple, with cool white tones as the base. All furniture and fixtures with sharp edges were meticulously wrapped.

Beneath the rigid, minimalist decor, a sense of soft elegance and thoughtfulness permeated the space.

Xu Yinyu felt a soreness in the back of her neck and frowned. She didn’t take the water cup from Yu Shujin. Instead, she turned over, facing the other direction, and closed her eyes to continue sleeping.

Yu Shujin’s hand, holding the cup, paused in mid-air. “Do you want to eat now? I’ll ask Aunt Fang to reheat the meal for you.”

Xu Yinyu lifted her eyelids, speaking with extreme coolness. “No, I don’t. No need. Thank you for your concern.”

Yu Shujin gripped the water cup, her knuckles white from the force. Her brow was already furrowed, but she didn’t dare to show anger. She managed her emotions and proposed again, “Then I’ll accompany you downstairs to eat?”

“When do you plan to let me go?” Xu Yinyu asked with difficulty.

Receiving no answer, Xu Yinyu sighed internally.

Her body was suddenly pulled to the edge of the bed by an external force. Xu Yinyu met Yu Shujin’s pitch-black eyes, feeling an eerie sense of being swallowed by the monster from her dream.

Yu Shujin’s finger stroked her cheek. “I have no such plan. I will give you a wedding of the century. You don’t have to do anything. Just leave everything to me.”

Yu Shujin’s fingers had long developed calluses from handling countless documents. Their touch against Xu Yinyu’s delicate skin created a slight tingling sensation.

Xu Yinyu looked straight at her and said calmly, “I never asked you for a wedding, Yu Shujin. Likewise, you should know that I no longer wish to have any relationship with you.

As far as I’m concerned, we are finished.”

As the words fell, Xu Yinyu saw a distinctly obsessive and sinister expression cross Yu Shujin’s face, wrapped in a storm-like madness that sent a chill down Xu Yinyu’s spine.

“A-Yu, the status of our relationship cannot always be decided by you alone.

You can’t just walk away when you feel like it, leaving me behind. You can’t just pack your bags and think I’ll be obediently discarded like a stray dog from eight years ago?

How could that happen?” Yu Shujin completely tore away her gentle pretense, revealing her true claws and teeth.

When encountering a problem, Xu Yinyu always liked to retreat, no matter what was behind her. Even if it was a cliff, if she saw someone in front, she would retreat.

It wasn’t until she was desperately cornered that she would try to take one small step forward, only to shrink back again.

Yu Shujin admitted she demanded too much in this relationship.

Xu Yinyu always retreated further and further from her advances until she was forced into this moment, where she stepped forward to Yu Shujin and told her that this unhealthy relationship must end.

How could that happen?

When Yu Shujin chose to attack, the moment Xu Yinyu chose to retreat, the gears of fate turned, their broken connection re-established, and everything took a positive turn.

How could Yu Shujin possibly abandon this excellent opportunity to press her advantage?

She knew Xu Yinyu’s feeling of dislike towards her was strong right now, but as long as their past genuine affection served as the foundation, she would show weakness once, twice, three times…

Yu Shujin was determined that she could reconcile with Xu Yinyu.

“What do you want me to do to let me go?” Xu Yinyu struggled, attempting to push away Yu Shujin’s restraint.

“I want you to be my wife.” Yu Shujin pulled Xu Yinyu into her arms, inhaling the clean fragrance of Xu Yinyu’s hair, striving to suppress her violent tendencies. “A-Yu, I won’t do anything to hurt you again.”

Xu Yinyu, however, said, “You are hurting me right now by forcibly keeping me here.”

Yu Shujin spoke of beautiful prospects for them, but everything she did was against Xu Yinyu’s will, restricting her freedom.

“You are still holding me now, disregarding my wishes.”

After speaking, Xu Yinyu pushed Yu Shujin away in annoyance.

Yu Shujin, who was caught off guard and listening intently, was abruptly pushed away. Her face froze for a moment. She stood up and silently looked at Xu Yinyu.

“Do you really think you like me, Yu Shujin?” Xu Yinyu asked suddenly.

Yu Shujin subconsciously tried to open her mouth, but Xu Yinyu stopped her.

“It was coercion and enticement from the beginning, with no genuine willingness. Even if I did open my heart to you, it was the result of your relentless torment. Is this kind of affection the beautiful love you speak of?”

“Do you even see me as an independent person? Ultimately, your affection turned me into a parasite who just needs to hold out my hand for food and clothing. You can insult me, monitor me, send people to follow me, eavesdrop on me, and even send me into the hands of the kidnapper Shen family, leaving me terrified.”

Yu Shujin’s face changed drastically. The last event, which she had clearly done in secret, how did Xu Yinyu find out?

“Tell me, which one of these things, one after another, has anything to do with liking someone? This is just how you are: it’s always others who wrong you. You only see others’ faults towards you, but you are perpetually blind to the good others do for you!”

“Back then, when I left Leixi City, I was repeatedly manipulated by the Yu family matriarch. I didn’t even get to take the college entrance exam and ended up saddled with a million-dollar debt. I had just finished repaying it for a year when I ran into the Su family and you.”

“Yu Shujin, I only made one mistake! And I took all the burden on myself back then,” Xu Yinyu’s voice carried intense emotion.

“The students’ verbal abuse, the bullying, my mother’s blame—I didn’t easily escape any of it. Even after leaving Leixi City, my mother and I were busy earning money. We didn’t dare to take a single break. My mother never enjoyed any blessings at all.”

Yu Shujin suddenly froze. The sinister look in her eyes receded like a tide. Her heart was mixed with complex emotions, a feeling of pain as if her very flesh was being cut away.

Her lips moved repeatedly, but she could only say with guilt and fear, “I… I didn’t know…”

“Of course you didn’t know. Because you always take it for granted that the world should revolve around you. You only care about whether you are satisfied and happy. Do you ever care about others? You didn’t even know I hated Shen Lu.”

Xu Yinyu said coldly, a mocking smile curving her lips.

She was unusually talkative today, pouring out all the bitterness in her heart to Yu Shujin.

Yu Shujin lowered her eyes, her tone husky. “Do you think I haven’t done anything good for you at all?”

“What do you call ‘good’?” Xu Yinyu took a deep breath. “Driving away all my colleagues, making my boss dislike me, leading to my exclusion, isolation, and even bullying.”

Yu Shujin closed her eyes. The things Xu Yinyu previously seemed unconcerned about were not due to dullness; they were due to tolerance.

How could Xu Yinyu not know Yu Shujin’s intentions?

Kidnapping her would not only provide first-hand criminal evidence against the Shen family but also allow Yu Shujin to play the hero, saving the beauty, enabling Xu Yinyu to completely drop her defenses, be grateful to her, and become compliant.

Making people at the company dislike her was to force her to resign, completely cutting off her chances for outside communication, turning her into Yu Shujin’s gilded cage bird, forever unable to step out of her prison.

Time and time again, even if Xu Yinyu didn’t initially detect Yu Shujin’s machinations, she slowly realized Yu Shujin’s goal, yet she chose not to confront it.

“Yu Shujin, I am genuinely sick of you.”

Xu Yinyu looked exhausted. “I don’t have the strength to accept a lover full of schemes and deception anymore.”

Yu Shujin shook her head. “A-Yu, listen to me. Regarding the company matters, I was just too afraid that someone would steal you away. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Xu Yinyu covered her ears. “Stop talking. I don’t want to argue with you anymore.”

Yu Shujin looked at Xu Yinyu with an incredibly wounded expression. “But what can I do? I also want to stop causing you such pain. I also want to end this painful relationship, but as soon as I close my eyes, my mind is filled with your image, your back shielding me.

Now, if I distance myself from you, I immediately see you lying in a pool of blood. What can I do? What should I do!”

Every word, blended with Yu Shujin’s very being, contained thousands of tender emotions, making it agonizingly difficult to give up.

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