After Dumping the Female Lead, It's My Turn to Cry - Chapter 38

During dinner, Ruan Yubai used herself as a live demonstration of a “saw-toothed gourd,” vividly portraying someone who keeps their mouth shut tight.

Even the soft-hearted Father Ruan and Mother Ruan, who had originally been somewhat annoyed with Qing Ling, could not help but speak up. “Xiao Qing, you have been working so hard lately. Tossing and turning between two places like this is just too much trouble,” Mother Ruan said.

Qing Ling paused her chopsticks and gave a polite smile. Such a smile might look fake on many people, but on the female lead, it appeared elegant and beautiful. It made one feel as though they were bathed in a spring breeze. “You are too kind. I can always find an afternoon of time. Not to mention that Student Yubai takes great care of me at school. Actually, being at your home is when I feel most relaxed. I am the one who has been disturbing you lately.”

Ruan Yubai sipped her juice silently. In her mind, her eyes had already performed a 360-degree orbital rotation. She thought to herself, Keep spinning it, just keep spinning. Even a pig would not believe you!

However, Mother Ruan could not hear her daughter’s inner monologue. This “iron-straight” woman was easily moved, and she suddenly beamed with a wide grin. “Nonsense. How could we not know what Ruan Yubai is like? She is the one who has been bothering you. Her grades have skyrocketed recently. Before this, no matter how we forced her, it was useless.”

Father Ruan chimed in, “That is right. Regardless of all those complicated matters, it is quite nice for two young girls to just be friends. Xiao Qing, do not feel burdened.”

The implication was clear. The Ruan family would no longer dwell on the matter of the arranged marriage alliance. From now on, they would simply interact as ordinary friends.

Hearing this, Qing Ling cast a fleeting glance at Ruan Yubai. Her red lips moved slightly, but in the end, it turned into a soft, beautiful smile as she gently agreed.

Of course, there are many ways to interpret the phrase “ordinary friends.”

For instance, ten years later, you might suddenly encounter an old acquaintance on the street whom you barely recognize. You would exchange polite, distant greetings and perhaps make small talk over a cup of coffee before going your separate ways. You might even forget what you talked about by the time you leave. When a jealous lover asks who that person was, you could smile and tease without any burden.

“Just an ordinary friend, darling. Why are you always so jealous?”

It is a relationship even more nonchalant than that of an ex-lover, a best friend, a classmate, or even a former nemesis.

Ruan Yubai thought so too. If she were lucky enough to escape the predetermined plot of this melodramatic novel, the words “ordinary friends” would undoubtedly be the best definition of her relationship with the female lead. It would be a chance encounter like a dragonfly skimming the water, leaving no trace once forgotten.

Yet, as Ruan Yubai looked at the young lady’s beautiful and serene face, for some reason, she felt a slight tightness in her chest. She placed her half-empty bowl on the table and muttered that she was done before heading upstairs.

Below the stairs, Father Ruan whispered, “What is wrong with this child? Is her rut period approaching?”

Mother Ruan actually pondered for a moment before frowning deeply. “Is she not a Beta? Do Betas have rut periods too?”

Opposite them, Qing Ling’s gaze quietly fell upon the girl’s hurried retreating figure. As the bedroom door slammed shut, Qing Ling blinked thoughtfully. Her eyelashes drooped as her chopsticks picked up the last grain of rice and brought it to her lips.

The idea of a Beta having a rut was fake, but Ruan Yubai’s irritability was very real. Even a bath did not ease her mood. Her frustration reached its peak when she found the source of her annoyance sitting poised at her desk.

Ruan Yubai stomped over, forgetting even to dry her hair. Water droplets dripped down, dampening the female lead’s sleeve. “Ordinary friend, who allowed you into my room?”

Slender fingers pressed against the slightly damp fabric. The female lead’s dark eyes slanted upward subtly, and her voice was faint. “I thought you had no intention of announcing this engagement.”

That was a given. But in this situation, whoever admitted it first was a stupid pig.

So, Ruan Yubai retorted indignantly, “Who says? Clearly, it is you who does not want it. It is one thing to decline in front of outsiders, but here with just the two of us, you have the nerve to… What are you doing!”

Ruan Yubai’s righteous voice cracked completely when she saw what Qing Ling was doing. As the Student Council President of Laurels, Qing Ling naturally had an official social media account. Established only a few months ago, it had already gained 100,000 interstellar followers, with daily views reaching millions. The terrifying part was that she achieved this while only reposting official school documents.

At this moment, the female lead, with that same cold expression, was typing a message in the post box equivalent to a nuclear bomb detonating in ten seconds. Instead of going public with the male lead, the female lead was going public with her, a cannon-fodder supporting character. This was ridiculous. Her sense of responsibility should not be used for this.

“Are you serious?” Ruan Yubai swallowed hard. Disbelieving, she swiped the screen. Realizing there was no signal issue and the post would go out the next second, she urgently grabbed Qing Ling’s hand. “Do not! Ms. Qing, stay sane!”

Under Qing Ling’s calm gaze, Ruan Yubai’s courage instantly collapsed. “Fine, it is me! I do not want to announce it. I want to hide the engagement. I am a scumbag, and I am an irresponsible jerk. Please, do not post it.”

The female lead was actually playing for keeps. Why go this far? Last time, she nearly coughed up blood just from a temporary marking. If this were announced, she could skip the ICU and report directly to the cemetery.

Qing Ling’s gaze darkened for an instant but quickly returned to normal. She tapped the desk. “Where is the homework I left for you last time?”

Her eyelashes trembling slowly, Ruan Yubai silently turned her head away. She had torn it up. “If I said Blackie ate it thinking it was catnip, would you believe me?” she asked weakly.

“What do you think?”

Ruan Yubai had never met someone who made her feel so powerless. Dissatisfied with her cowardly state, she slapped the table and acted like a bully. “I tore it up! Not a single page is left! I shredded it into confetti!”

The more Ruan Yubai spoke, the more she felt she was right. Clearly, it was the female lead who wanted to break the engagement, yet she wanted to destroy her physically during the marking and now mentally too. As Lu Xun from Ancient Earth said, if you do not explode in silence, you will perish in silence. Even a cannon fodder needs to stand up one day.

Ruan Yubai puffed out her chest, feeling herself expand from a useless fish into a round, prickly pufferfish. “I am just not writing it! What can you do to me!”

The girl’s skin was pale and fine, and her clear almond eyes shimmered with soft light. Her long silver fish tail seemed to drip with glistening water, like a misty stream. Qing Ling looked down at her and reached out a finger to touch her soft, beautiful hair.

“Let us talk nicely, do not get physical!” Unfortunately, Ruan Yubai’s forced bravado did not last a second. When that long, fair hand approached, she instinctively shrank back. She transformed from a fierce pufferfish into a flat stingray. “At worst, I will go dig through the trash can. I can piece it back together. I was wrong!”

Until the female lead’s faint chuckle sounded in her ear, Ruan Yubai confusedly opened her eyes. However, seeing the transparent lint held between the female lead’s fingertips, she wished she could beat herself back into a pufferfish. Why was her kneeling speed always faster than her sword-drawing speed?

“I do not believe I showed any such intention, but Ms. Ruan always seems to misunderstand.” Qing Ling released her fingers, letting the tiny bit of lint fall into the trash. She lifted her eyelids and slowly looked the Salted Fish up and down, making Ruan Yubai’s skin crawl, before saying softly, “Do you really want me to discipline you?”

Help! What kind of terrifying academic professional term was that? Ruan Yubai had not eaten the pork, but she had seen the pig run. Certain scenes flashed through her mind, making her scalp tingle. Before Ruan Yubai could even process the situation, her body moved instinctively.

Like a small animal’s instinct for danger, she hunched her shoulders and slid her chair back several steps. Terrified, she protected her bottom where the other’s gaze had lingered for a moment and retorted sharply, “I do not! Do not slander me! It is just homework, right? I will do it properly!”

If there were a topic on the Interstellar Net called how to use the fiercest tone to say the most cowardly words, Ruan Yubai’s quotes would undoubtedly be the top answer. After a flurry of chaotic stationery shuffling, the room fell silent, save for the scratching of a pen and the occasional soft rustle of turning pages.

Ruan Yubai peeked over. It was a thick book like a brick. The brick-red cover made the young lady’s knuckles look even more delicate and clean. The title was Crime and Punishment. Ruan Yubai quickly looked away, turning a page with the same agony as drinking bitter coffee. What did she ever do wrong!

As the lamplight cast a thin, warm yellow glow over the girl’s slender shoulders, Qing Ling closed her book. She pressed her brow tiredly. Exhaustion was almost impossible to hide, leaking out from the faint shadows under her eyes. “This time, Nan Zhuti and I underwent a new mental power evaluation. Since the results differ significantly from when we entered school, the entire school will be re-tested soon.”

Hearing the male lead’s name, Ruan Yubai’s thoughts lagged for a moment. It took a while to recover as she asked in disbelief, “You mean we will have another chance for class placement testing?”

This was a rhetorical question, but Ruan Yubai was genuinely shocked. This development was definitely not in the original novel. Take the male lead, for example. He had always been in Class F at Laurels. Even when he shone across the land with grades far exceeding the elites of Class A, he remained in Class F. That seemed to be Laurels’ eternal school motto. Ruan Yubai had not expected the accident at the shooting range to trigger such a massive change.

“With your current strength, entering Class A is possible.” Qing Ling checked her watch. “But I can only stay here for another three hours today. There are things to handle at Laurels. I might not be able to come back for a while.”

Of course, this was not because the female lead could not finish grading the homework, but because Ruan Yubai had torn it all up in anger and was now laboring to redo it. As if not noticing Ruan Yubai’s guilty expression, Qing Ling said, “Come find me in the top floor office on Wednesday. Can you finish in two days?”

“Yes, I can.” Since the deadline was generous, Ruan Yubai stopped her pen and finally asked the question buried deep in her heart. “The thing with Nan Zhuge, was that your doing?”

There was no reason to deny it. Qing Ling nodded casually. “I cannot say it was all me, but there was indeed a part of it that was my doing.”

At the time, the two lackeys who shot through Nan Zhuti in public were indeed a bit impulsive, but even Qing Ling had not expected that incident to have such a powerful deterrent effect on Nan Zhuge. Seeing his once-arrogant younger brother trapped in a whirlwind of public opinion, Nan Zhuge panicked. Unlike others, he had dirt in Qing Ling’s hands.

And who was Qing Ling? She was a lunatic. Previously, he had been calculating, waiting for some other brave soul who disliked the eldest Miss of the Qing family to act. He would stand by and watch until the walls fell and everyone pushed. At which point, a weak and beautiful Omega like Qing Ling would naturally fade away. Even if his brother liked her, she would be just one of many lovers.

But he never imagined Qing Ling could be this ruthless. When the forum reached its peak, Nan Zhuge did not know how his brother felt, but his own nightmares never stopped. Kindergarten teachers teach us never to make decisions in the middle of the night. Nan Zhuge tossed and turned in his dorm, and in an impulsive fit, decided to strike first. He sent the records of his previous dealings with Qing Ling to the Grand Archbishop.

That is right. Nan Zhuge did not want to beg his father like his brother did because that would seem too cowardly. Two brothers being defeated by a fallen Omega beauty sounded more bizarre than tabloid news. His remaining Big Alpha pride made him reject that option. He sifted through the high-ranking officials and finally decided the Grand Archbishop would be his chosen one.

Nan Zhuge used his clever little brain and meditated all night. Since he was sending the email, he could edit the messages. He could cut the conversations into fragments that favored him. Not only could he curry favor with the Grand Archbishop, but if things went south and Qing Ling tried to drag him down, he could use this evidence to convince the Archbishop he was innocent and that this snake-hearted Omega was lying.

Once this was established, no matter who tried to use this against him later, the Grand Archbishop would believe he had not committed any misconduct toward the young master. Exposing the leverage and then using his unique whitewashing skills to subvert the truth was a brilliant plan.

The more Nan Zhuge thought about it, the more excited he became. Although there were many holes in the plan, he was too scared now. In his dreams, the eldest Miss was always coldly drawing a bow at him, and the dream always ended with him clutching two holes in his nose, crawling around in pain like a snake. He still had many Omegas he had not slept with yet. He did not want to crawl!

So, on another sleepless night, Nan Zhuge gritted his teeth and pressed send. However, Nan Zhuge likely did not know that for security reasons, all emails sent to these nobles would be intercepted by the school. In other words, the email he wanted to send to the Grand Archbishop was placed directly in front of the party involved, which was Qing Ling.

A nightmare. An absolute nightmare. In the following days, Nan Zhuge did not receive a reply from the Grand Archbishop. Instead, he was stopped by the secretary next to the President. This Class A secretary, also an Omega, took out a terminal and could not help but mock him. “You have quite the nerve, trying to scam the Grand Archbishop with this stuff.”

That recording was, of course, Nan Zhuge’s personal edit. The secretary did not know about the deal between the President and Nan Zhuge. She just thought Nan Zhuge was another loser who became resentful after a failed confession and tried to smear her with an email. She said disdainfully, “The President is generous and will not hold it against you, but this kind of intentional smearing and harassment is a crime, you know?”

A bolt from the blue. As the secretary watched Nan Zhuge walk away like a living corpse, she felt quite proud of herself, thinking she had scared the bully of Class A and done a small favor for the President.

Unfortunately, Nan Zhuge did not know. A few days later, when he met Qing Ling, his fear reached its peak. Despite knowing about the incident, Qing Ling had not mentioned a word about it in front of him. What did that mean? It meant Qing Ling had already teamed up with the Grand Archbishop to deal with him! A fallen noble lady was not scary, but if you added a revenge-seeking Grand Archbishop, he might actually be assassinated.

Thanks to the male lead’s brother’s incredible imagination, Nan Zhuge had lost all reason. When his father sent an email ordering him to attend a state banquet where the Grand Archbishop would be present, he even had the stupid guess that his father did not care about him either. He thought his father wanted blood for blood and wanted to push him out to fill the hole in the Archbishop’s heart.

He cursed through chattering teeth. He knew his stallion father had feelings for the fragrant Grand Archbishop. Two old goods actually dared to play out some Crispy Duck literature. He wondered where that Alpha-turned-Omega young master actually came from.

One could not blame others. One could only say Nan Zhuge liked to judge others based on the uncontrollable pheromones of an Alpha, which eventually led to his self-destructive public exposure at the banquet. In reality, Qing Ling’s true layout was only halfway deployed when Nan Zhuge lit the fuse himself. Luckily, her follow-up arrangements worked in time, otherwise she would not have been able to wrap things up so beautifully.

Regardless, the introduction of the Special Protection Regulations for Transgender Omegas should no longer face obstacles, making her careful planning worthwhile. Seeing the newly announced real-time voting rate becoming one-sided, Qing Ling closed her terminal and smiled slightly. When such an overwhelming situation appeared, even if someone wanted to meddle, it would be too late.

Just as she thought this, she saw the girl’s round almond eyes looking over seriously. While Qing Ling was hesitating over her wording, she heard Ruan Yubai ask curiously, “How long has it been since you slept?”

Qing Ling froze.

“Since things are handled, you should rest well.” The girl’s soft finger lightly brushed over the eyelid area, her tone a bit regretful. “You have dark circles now. If you keep staying up like this, your title as the Interstellar’s Number One Beauty will be hard to keep.”

No matter how serious the atmosphere, this child could mess it up completely. Qing Ling was caught between laughter and tears. “What Interstellar’s Number One Beauty? Did you crown me that?”

Ruan Yubai blinked. “Yeah, I did. Is that not allowed?”

Regardless of the female lead’s personality, purely from a physical standpoint, Qing Ling was indeed the most beautiful person Ruan Yubai had ever seen. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but by the standards of the Salted Fish, Qing Ling was the best-looking.

Compared to the complex emotions she felt when Qing Ling’s uncle passed away, Ruan Yubai was genuinely happy to see Nan Zhuge suffer. The worse, the better. Since she had such spiteful thoughts herself, how could she blame the female lead? That would be a bit too much.

As the saying goes, the enemy of the male lead’s brother is a friend. Because of Nan Zhuge’s massive scandal, Ruan Yubai decided to delay being a villain for a day. However, such soft-heartedness rarely lasted more than a second.

“Then continue your problems. I will go downstairs to rest for a bit,” Qing Ling said.

Qing Ling was very compliant, but Ruan Yubai panicked. “No, wait! Why do you not sleep in my bed?”

Since knowing the female lead intended to break the engagement, Qing Ling’s room had not been cleaned for a long time. The dust inside could probably support three spiderwebs. The suggestion slipped out unconsciously. Seeing the female lead’s eyebrow arch slightly, Ruan Yubai regretted it. Although she was a Salted Fish, she had a strange obsession with cleanliness and did not like others sleeping in her bed, not even family.

Before Ruan Yubai could think of a way to retract the offer, she heard Qing Ling’s faint voice. “But I do not really want to use your bedding.”

Well then. Ruan Yubai was furious. She had not even rejected the female lead yet, and the female lead dared to reject her!

“You must sleep here!” Ruan Yubai aggressively pushed the young lady onto the bed. She expected fierce resistance, but unexpectedly, the female lead was so delicate this time. Without using much force, she successfully pushed her down. Ruan Yubai clicked her tongue, wondering if her strength had improved this much.

Because she had not expected the Omega to be so frail, Ruan Yubai had used all her might. Due to the miscalculation of force, the consequence was that she also tumbled onto the bed. Long, smooth strands of hair brushed softly against Ruan Yubai’s cheek. She could see her own tiny reflection in those dark eyes. The lights behind them scattered, blending into a brilliant backdrop of a winter night.

The female lead really is beautiful, Ruan Yubai thought blankly. If only she did not bully me so badly. I would be willing to give her all the gummy worms I have saved. Well, giving all of them might be a bit difficult because it went against a Salted Fish’s instincts, but half should be okay.

“Ms. Ruan,” who knows how much time passed before a gentle fragrance wafted over, turning into a faint, curling mist, “if you do not get up, are you planning to sleep with me?”

Support After Dumping the Female Lead, It’s My Turn to Cry