After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead's Love Rival - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Vitality

“Miss Fang had better not be lazy. If you complete these three days of kneeling properly, you can walk out of the Ling family on your own two feet.” The middle-aged man’s indifferent voice was laced with malice and disdain.

The moment Fang Ziyue opened her eyes, she felt as if her legs no longer belonged to her. A massive amount of information was funneled into her mind by the system.

Only then did she realize she had transmigrated into the body of the useless straw man who had framed Ling Qiu. The original owner was the most ambitious yet most incompetent of the children Ling Qiu had brought back from the orphanage. She had conspired with the male lead, Qu Haoyu, to murder the current head of the Ling family, Ling Qiu. But when the plot was exposed, the male lead pushed all the blame onto the original owner.

According to the Ling family rules, the original owner was sentenced to kneel in the courtyard for three days as punishment, after which she would be expelled with nothing to her name.

Fang Ziyue gritted her teeth and tried to move her numb legs. To be honest, she felt this punishment was too light. Someone had practically held a knife to her wife’s throat, and her wife was letting it go this easily?

Fang Ziyue made small movements with her legs, drawing a displeased scolding from the housekeeper supervising her.

“Miss Fang, you’d better be obedient and finish your kneeling honestly. Otherwise, I can’t guarantee whether you’ll even be able to walk out of the Ling house.”

The housekeeper had been by Ling Qiu’s side since she was a child, essentially raising her as a daughter. Now that Fang Ziyue had reached out her hands to harm Ling Qiu, how could he not be furious?

“Finish the kneeling?” Fang Ziyue pursed her lips and moved her legs. It would be one thing if her wife were standing before her; she wouldn’t mind kneeling to her wife for punishment. But she would never kneel to a stranger.

The original owner had only knelt for half a day before her alcohol-ravaged body gave out, and she had breathed her last. With more than two days remaining, they expected Fang Ziyue to keep kneeling? Impossible.

Through waves of pins and needles and sharp stabs of pain, Fang Ziyue finally got her legs moving again.

“Even if I finish the three days, I won’t be able to walk out.” The woman, who had been timid and shrinking just moments ago, suddenly ran a hand through her hair, pushing back the sweat-drenched strands.

As the heavy bangs were swept away, those weak, vacant eyes became deep, sharp, and imposing.

The housekeeper instinctively took a half-step back under that piercing gaze, his scalp tingling as he tried to avoid Fang Ziyue’s eyes. The way she looked at him was like evaluating a commodity at a price stripping away the fancy outer packaging and mocking the mediocrity within.

The housekeeper was not an exceptional man; he was an employee discarded by Ling Qiu’s father. Later, he had cried to Ling Qiu about having elderly parents and young children to support and how he couldn’t be without work, so Ling Qiu had designated him as her housekeeper. Now that this “shame cloth” had been ripped away, the housekeeper’s face burned with humiliation. In a fit of shamed rage, he lashed out at Fang Ziyue with a metal-tipped whip.

“You ungrateful thing!”

Miss Ling had treated this person well, yet she had raised a white-eyed wolf. The housekeeper was taking personal revenge, aiming the whip directly at Fang Ziyue’s face. Wasn’t it this face she used to seduce Qu Haoyu? Once her skin was ruined, let’s see how arrogant she could be!

Seeing this, Fang Ziyue tilted her head. The whistling whip grazed the tips of her hair and struck the ground with a piercing crack.

Playing for keeps, are we…

Fang Ziyue narrowed her eyes and licked her lips with displeasure. Regarding her entire person, aside from her right hand which was her livelihood the most important thing was this face that her wife loved to look at. And now, this person who wasn’t afraid to die had stepped right on her fuse.

Pushing off the ground with one hand, Fang Ziyue stepped forward with a speed so fast the housekeeper couldn’t react, and she kicked him away. The man, weighing over 170 pounds, was sent flying four or five meters, crashing heavily against a flower bed. He wailed, unable to even stand up.

Fang Ziyue showed no mercy. A creature that loved to borrow power to bully others was not fit to be her wife’s housekeeper.

The commotion Fang Ziyue caused was immense, and within moments, a group of bodyguards surrounded her. Encircled, the tall woman nimbly stripped off her flashy, tacky jacket and wrapped it around her hand, exposing the side with the metal studs.

Fortunately, the settings of this world were relatively friendly at least these bodyguards weren’t carrying guns, right?

Ignoring the warnings, Fang Ziyue struck first. The entire Ling family manor instantly fell into chaos.

“Tsk…”

In a dimly lit room, Ling Qiu who had finally managed to fall asleep with the help of sleeping pills sat up with a grim expression. The wind blowing through the open window ruffled the curtains, carrying the sounds of screams and fighting, which constantly battered Ling Qiu’s nerves.

The woman, whose movements were restricted, braced her body to move herself into a wheelchair, her eyes smoldering with suppressed rage.

Downstairs, the flower beds had been trampled into a mess of broken plants, the roses on the wooden fence had been stripped bare, and several bodyguards were even “lying as corpses” in the fountain. The culprit was wearing tacky, flashy black clothes, stepping on the housekeeper with her foot while holding the head of the security team by his collar.

The woman who had been dragged to the Ling house this morning shivering and pleading for mercy, kneeling down like a coward, suddenly possessed vivid color and intense emotion. This caused the fire in Ling Qiu’s heart to subside slightly, replaced by curiosity.

“Who are you?”

This was not the Fang Ziyue she knew. The person she knew was someone who lived in a stupor of wine and dreams, had high goals but low skills a total straw man. Ling Qiu hated such people; they lived a fake life. Of course, this world itself wasn’t real.

“The Family Head has forgotten me so quickly?” Having just finished the fight, the woman slowly unwrapping the blood-stained clothes from her hand exuded a dangerous sense of pressure.

Fang Ziyue liked the setting of this world. She liked calling Ling Qiu “Family Head… Madam~”

Ling Qiu’s brows furrowed deeply. She disliked Fang Ziyue’s tone—lazy and improper.

“Answer my question, or go to prison. Think carefully.” Ling Qiu set her face, her cold gaze sweeping over Fang Ziyue. She didn’t like listening to nonsense. Fang Ziyue had conspired with that idiot Qu Haoyu to plot against her; the evidence was still in her hands. She could send this woman to jail at any moment.

“Don’t be so serious, Madam.” Fang Ziyue chuckled softly, the sharp, bloody aura around her dissipating. She gave the moaning housekeeper under her foot a nudge and spread her hands innocently. “I am Fang Ziyue, there’s no faking it. As for what you see, it’s merely the product of my legitimate self-defense.”

The woman in the tacky, shimmering clothes picked up the whip from the ground and cracked it loudly, making Ling Qiu’s fingertips tremble. Fang Ziyue toyed with the whip for a bit, finding the feel quite good. However, she glanced at her wife who was sitting in a wheelchair with a cold face and felt it was a pity as she kicked the housekeeper aside.

One must look at the master before hitting the dog; she didn’t want to enrage her wife. As for that bullying housekeeper, it wouldn’t be too late to bag his head in a deserted place later.

“Madam, don’t look at me like that. I’m timid and can’t handle being scared.” Fang Ziyue stepped forward without reservation and handed the whip to Ling Qiu.

Taking the whip with a neutral expression, Ling Qiu felt certain in her heart: the woman was still fearful of the evidence in her hands and dared not act.

“I can let you leave, but your punishment is not over.” Ling Qiu was a woman of her word.

Fang Ziyue looked down at the indifferent Ling Qiu and couldn’t help but find it amusing. “How do you have the nerve?”

Her gaze swept over the “corpses” littering the ground behind her, then at her wife sitting in a wheelchair, helpless, someone she could throw into the fountain with one hand. “Are you always this brave, Madam?”

“You can try me.” Ling Qiu looked up calmly, her dark eyes filled with the confidence and certainty of someone who held all the cards.

As someone who had been targeted and framed by Qu Haoyu and his people since childhood, Ling Qiu couldn’t possibly be a naive “Silly Sweet White.” If Fang Ziyue dared to lift a hand against her, she shouldn’t dream of leaving the manor.

The standoff between the two finally ended with Fang Ziyue backing down. Resigning herself, she ran a hand through her hair. The tall, rebellious woman took a few steps back to the housekeeper and retrieved the original owner’s money from the pockets of the man she had kicked unconscious.

Oh, wait, it should be her wife’s money. After all, the original owner spent the Ling family’s money, and the Ling family had been expanded single-handedly by Ling Qiu.

But from Ling Qiu’s angle, she could only see Fang Ziyue frisking the housekeeper like a common thug. She frowned in displeasure: “What are you doing?”

“Hmm?” Fang Ziyue happened to pull out a stack of red bills. She counted them and gave a half-hearted hum, not bothering to answer Ling Qiu directly.

The displeasure in Ling Qiu’s eyes deepened. Chronic insomnia had made her temper increasingly worse; cold and irritable had almost become the labels the outside world used for her.

“Fang. Zi. Yue.” Ling Qiu emphasized each syllable.

Now it was hard for Fang Ziyue not to notice her wife’s rage. However, she was someone who wasn’t afraid of death. Fang Ziyue flicked the money in her hand, her gaze sliding from Ling Qiu’s face down to her thighs, before she shook her head and said, “Madam, this manor is too far from the city. I need to find some money to catch a cab back. My money was all taken by him. If I don’t ask him, do I ask the Family Head for it?”

Fang Ziyue scanned Ling Qiu’s prim and sharp clothes and let out a light tsk. “A pity you have no money on you, and I don’t want to frisk you anyway.”

Ling Qiu had many enemies. There were those who called her cold-blooded because of her indifference, those who were jealous of her power because she was a woman, and those who looked down on her because she was a “cripple.” But she had never heard anyone look down on her for being poor. This… was quite novel.

“I’m off.” Fang Ziyue waved her hand. She still had to go out and work. Otherwise, having no money and no capability wouldn’t win over her wife. Her wife in this world absolutely despised useless straw men; she had to work hard.

“Stop.” The moment Fang Ziyue turned around, Ling Qiu instinctively gripped the armrests of her wheelchair.

“What?” Fang Ziyue tilted her head but didn’t turn back.

What? Fang Ziyue’s blatant disregard made Ling Qiu’s blood boil. She said sternly, “Did you not hear what I said? Your punishment is not over.”

Fang Ziyue knew her wife wouldn’t let the matter go easily, but her legs truly did hurt. The woman clutching the money let out a scoff, turned her head to look at Ling Qiu in the wheelchair, and retorted without fear: “Since I’m going to be kicked out of the Ling house anyway, I’d rather walk out standing now than crawl out after kneeling.” She wasn’t stupid; why suffer for nothing?

As for the evidence of the original owner’s plot against Ling Qiu, her wife could turn it in whenever she wanted. At worst, she’d use points to exchange for a Life-Saving Card with the system.

Fang Ziyue’s death-defying response made Ling Qiu’s hands tighten, her knuckles turning white on the armrests. Fang Ziyue’s every move was under her nose; there were no omissions. Ling Qiu didn’t know if this person was truly hiding deep secrets or if she was just too stupid to be afraid of anything. But she indeed couldn’t keep Fang Ziyue here by force. Realizing this, Ling Qiu’s expression became even gloomier.

In this rigid, fake world where everything seemed to follow a script, the suddenly changed Fang Ziyue was the only bright color. Like rain after a long drought, a bit of active vitality had suddenly appeared before Ling Qiu’s stagnant eyes. She was unwilling to let her go.

The fish is on the hook…

Fang Ziyue suddenly clenched her fist and coughed lightly, hiding the smile at the corner of her mouth. She softened her attitude, giving Ling Qiu a way out: “Of course, if the Madam can find a different form of punishment that we can both accept, that would be even better.”

Who exactly was the one who committed the wrong? Who was the head of the family? Ling Qiu was amazed by this woman’s thick skin. Usurping authority how does she dare?

Having fully grasped Ling Qiu’s weaknesses through the data provided by the system, this woman dared very much. She even walked up to Ling Qiu and crouched down, looking up at her cold wife with a smile: “How about I be your bodyguard? For free, as punishment.”

Hearing this, Ling Qiu instinctively looked past Fang Ziyue at the “corpses” still moaning on the ground behind her. She had spent a lot of money to maintain these people, yet they had been beaten into the dirt by a single slender woman.

Ling Qiu lowered her eyes, looking at the smile of the person before her. A sudden surge of malice rose in her heart.

“I don’t need a bodyguard. I only lack a servant to clean up.” Ling Qiu disliked the “calculated” smile on Fang Ziyue’s face, which looked as if everything were within her grasp. She preferred Fang Ziyue being angry. In a gray, fake world, perhaps her rage would be a vivid red, bright enough to sear the eyes.

This played right into Fang Ziyue’s hands. She shoved the money into Ling Qiu’s hand, treating it as confiscated funds, stood up, and pushed the wheelchair with delight. “No problem.”

Her goal was to stay by her wife’s side. As for what her identity was, it wasn’t important for now. Water must be drunk sip by sip, and a meal must be eaten bite by bite; one must not be too hasty.

Being pushed along by Fang Ziyue, Ling Qiu pursed her lips, feeling that the development of the situation had exceeded her expectations. The suddenly changed Fang Ziyue had become very troublesome—a straw man had suddenly grown thorns capable of resisting external pressure. Most importantly, this person wasn’t afraid of her at all.

None of the prospective heirs of the Ling family didn’t fear Ling Qiu. Ling Qiu was fickle and heartless; she didn’t care how much others sacrificed for her, she only fixated on their mistakes. Once a person lost their value, she would discard them without hesitation. That was the outside world’s judgment of Ling Qiu.

“Don’t follow me. Go clean up the things in the flower beds and the fountain immediately.” Since the other party wanted to be a servant, she should do her duty.

Ling Qiu assigned a pile of work to Fang Ziyue, while she herself held a cup of hot coffee and watched the busy figure below through the window.

In a monotonous, fake world, a real person had barged in. Ling Qiu set down her cup, the bottom hitting the porcelain saucer with a crisp “click.” She wasn’t sure if keeping Fang Ziyue by her side was right or wrong, but she hoped this person could bring some vitality to her stagnant life.

“You’d better not disappoint me.”

Her low, raspy voice scattered into the wind, vanishing without a trace in an instant, failing to reach anyone’s ears…

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