After Encountering My Deceased Wife, I Became the Male Lead's Love Rival - Chapter 34

Chapter 34: Anger

Ling Qiu intended to make things difficult for Fang Ziyue, and naturally, she forbade anyone else from helping her.

On Fang Ziyue’s first day at the Ling house, she didn’t even have time to get near her wife; countless tasks were piled upon her. Had she not served as Ling Qiu’s housekeeper for years in reality, she would likely have been in a frantic mess and made a fool of herself.

Fang Ziyue set down the plants in her hands and looked up at the second floor. Behind the open window, the curtains swayed incessantly in the wind, offering glimpses of an empty room.

Fang Ziyue lowered her eyes, the smile at the corners of her lips deepening.

Hidden behind the wall, Ling Qiu’s expression stiffened. Why had she suddenly pushed her wheelchair back to avoid Fang Ziyue’s gaze? This was her home, wasn’t it? What was there to fear about looking at her own servant?

Steeling her expression, Ling Qiu picked up her coffee and returned to the window, under the pretext of watching the woman below suffer.

That scorching gaze fell upon her again, making Fang Ziyue’s smile grow even wider. The woman fussing over the plants suddenly looked up, made a gesture toward Ling Qiu, and shouted while Ling Qiu was still dazed: “Do I look good?”

Fang Ziyue, who felt uncomfortable if she didn’t tease her wife for a day, even blew her a kiss.

Ling Qiu’s hand holding the cup trembled slightly; the veins on her forehead bulged as she yanked the curtains shut. Is that woman an idiot!

Fang Ziyue let out a snicker at having successfully teased her away. She was out here working hard while her wife sat there watching the show? How could she not tease her?

Retreating to her bedside, Ling Qiu grew angrier the more she thought about it. Why had she kept such a thick-skinned idiot by her side to torture herself?

Knock, knock…

The closed bedroom door was knocked. Ling Qiu relaxed her brow, set down her cup, and answered, “Come in.”

The person who entered was Auntie Wang. Auntie Wang had been a servant in the Ling house for many years; sometimes her word carried more weight than the housekeeper’s. Consequently, the housekeeper disliked her and targeted her at every turn. Auntie Wang wasn’t one to look for trouble; as long as the housekeeper didn’t go too far, she would simply stay out of his way. She couldn’t very well fight him in the house and disturb the young mistress.

“A-Ling, you really ought to change your housekeeper.” The usually patient Auntie Wang was fuming. “It was bad enough when he skipped work before, but now he’s simply stopped showing up entirely.” Auntie Wang couldn’t stand the housekeeper’s bullying ways or his constant slacking.

“A grown man gets kicked a few times and can’t move?” Auntie Wang had seen the bodyguards who were beaten bloody still working diligently with their bandages on. Yet the housekeeper, who was perfectly fine, was lying in a hospital bed whining about non-existent pains, even saying: “Isn’t Miss Fang at home? These injuries of mine… it hurts just to see her.”

He was clearly dissatisfied with Ling Qiu’s handling of the situation. After all, Fang Ziyue had beaten him, yet Ling Qiu had let it pass so lightly. He was even spreading rumors everywhere that he was old and the Eldest Miss no longer needed him burning the bridge after crossing it.

“Even the neighborhood gossips aren’t as loud-mouthed as him.” Compared to the housekeeper, who treated Ling Qiu as his own child out of vanity, Auntie Wang was like a parent truly worried about her child. This was why Ling Qiu allowed Auntie Wang equal authority to the housekeeper.

“Uncle Liu is ‘broad-minded and heavy-bodied’; our Ling house is small indeed and can’t contain him.” Ling Qiu closed the medical records in her hand. These were the proofs Auntie Wang had obtained from the doctor to show the housekeeper was faking it.

“That may be so, but Miss, are you going to let it go easily this time as well?” Auntie Wang wasn’t stupid; she had discovered long ago that the housekeeper and Qu Haoyu had dealings behind the scenes. She believed the Miss had noticed too, but simply hadn’t dealt with him yet.

“No rush.” Ling Qiu tossed the records into the trash and wiped her hands with an alcohol wipe.

Uncle Liu had colluded with Ling Nianyao three years ago, and that cousin of hers was entirely devoted to Qu Haoyu. Uncle Liu was the spy they planted beside her; her every move was reported to Qu Haoyu. Since that was the case, “Let him stay in the hospital.”

A housekeeper thought he could use his status to blackmail her? Then let her see who would be the first to grow anxious.

“And the matter of the new housekeeper?” Although Auntie Wang disliked the current one, there were certain things only he could do, and she couldn’t step in.

Ling Qiu looked out the window. The flower beds had been tidied up, and the woman who had been working as diligently as an ant had disappeared to parts unknown. Why not let her try…

A dark glint flashed in Ling Qiu’s eyes as she said without hesitation, “Let Fang Ziyue take over the housekeeper’s position.”

“What?!” Auntie Wang’s voice nearly cracked in shock. She recovered and felt like knocking on Ling Qiu’s head to see if her mistress’s brain had fried. “That Fang Ziyue was trying to harm you with Qu Haoyu just a while ago. Have you forgotten so quickly, Miss?”

Wasn’t this inviting a wolf into the house?

“It’s fine.” Ling Qiu didn’t care much. Since she dared to use Fang Ziyue, she was confident she could control her. “Auntie Wang, call her here. I have something to say to her.” Ling Qiu waved her hand, ignoring Auntie Wang’s urgency.

Auntie Wang had no choice but to leave with a heavy sigh. She truly didn’t understand what was going on in her mistress’s mind.

Ling Qiu stared at the records in the trash, thinking back to the first few years Uncle Liu had followed her. In the beginning, he truly treated her like his own daughter. It wasn’t until Ling Nianyao appeared that everything changed. Ling Nianyao was like a “universal sweetheart,” making everyone crazy for her, obsessed with her, willing to sacrifice everything for her. Her parents, her housekeeper, her fiancé Qu Haoyu, even Auntie Wang…

Ling Qiu leaned back against her chair and closed her eyes. Everything was fake.

Her bedroom door wasn’t closed. When Fang Ziyue entered, she saw her wife with a pale face, head tilted back against the chair, eyes closed for a rest. This person, usually so cold and stern, possessed an unspeakable fragility at this moment. It made Fang Ziyue want to step forward, pull her into her arms, and comfort her.

Fang Ziyue sighed. She knocked on the door and, under Ling Qiu’s instantly cold and sharp gaze, held up a glass of milk.

“Since you have insomnia, don’t always drink coffee.” She very naturally stepped forward, took the coffee from Ling Qiu’s desk, and replaced it with the hot milk.

Ling Qiu looked at the ripples in the milk, her expression unreadable. After a long silence, she said in a low voice, “You are quite bold.” She was even managing her personal habits now.

“This has nothing to do with boldness.” Fang Ziyue made a clattering noise as she cleared away all the coffee and tea in the room. She hummed as she worked: “I just can’t stand seeing someone unable to take care of themselves.”

Ling Qiu’s brow twitched. In all her years, this was the first time she had heard someone say she couldn’t take care of herself. When she was a child, her mother only praised her for being sensible, and her father sternly told her: “You must be sensible and independent. When you marry Haoyu, you must support him well.”

Ling Qiu’s hands on her knees slowly clenched. But how could she possibly support a piece of “rotten mud” like him?

“Drink the milk while it’s hot.” Not knowing what her wife was spacing out about, Fang Ziyue warned her as she passed by carrying the various tea items: “If I come back and find you haven’t finished it, your bottom is going to get it”

Disobedient children get spanked; her wife was no exception.

“Are you an idiot?” Fang Ziyue was practically dancing on Ling Qiu’s nerves. Ling Qiu’s face darkened: “Fang Ziyue, remember your status.” A servant dared to speak to her like that?

“So?” Fang Ziyue let out a scoff. It wasn’t as if Ling Qiu held her weakness; what was there to fear?

Ling Qiu watched her leave the room. Gritting her teeth, she reached out and swept the hot milk off the desk. The white porcelain cup shattered into several pieces on the floor, and the milk splashed everywhere, forming a disgusting mess.

Ling Qiu’s eyes were dark and unreadable. She wanted Fang Ziyue to be angry, not herself. Perhaps she should kick this woman out; after all, even if she was a “real” person, so what? They were both trapped within this fake world. What could she do?

Having made up her mind, Ling Qiu moved her wheelchair away from the mess and waited by the window for Fang Ziyue to return. An aspiring heir expelled from the Ling house… surely there would be plenty of people wanting to hit her while she was down?

A smile of delight appeared on Ling Qiu’s lips. She felt she had been possessed to keep this woman by her side to torture herself. She must be quite mad.

“Sigh…” The moment she entered, Fang Ziyue saw the mess on the floor and sighed. She wasn’t surprised, but she still felt a bit displeased. She set a second, prepared glass of milk on the desk and said with a fake smile, “They say no one can replace a body ruined by anger. You really are finding ways to torment yourself; you must want to die.”

“My affairs are none of your business. Get out of the Ling house now.” Ling Qiu’s face was cold, her expression not faked. As the ruler of the Ling family, the woman who had single-handedly pulled the declining family from the mud to the clouds in Z City, the pressure she exuded when her face turned cold was immense.

The Ling family held seventy percent of Z City’s economic lifeline, with the rest divided among others. Ling Qiu was an existence no one dared to provoke. Since the Ling family’s rise, this had been common knowledge yet someone dared to be insolent before her.

Fang Ziyue brushed non-existent dust from her hands. Her wife in this life had one flaw: her heart was locked too tightly. The tall woman took two steps to Ling Qiu’s side, placed her hands on the wheelchair armrests, and leaned down, pinning Ling Qiu within the small space.

A trace of coldness appeared on her equally beautiful face, and a bone-chilling frost welled up in Fang Ziyue’s usually smiling eyes. She was very unhappy angry, even.

“Kick me out, and then what?” Fang Ziyue’s low chuckle was a bit hair-raising. “Do you plan to shut yourself in this broken room every day, away from the sunlight, drinking your coffee and tea until you die?”

Drinking coffee and tea despite insomnia, staying cooped up without taking a single step outside despite a pale complexion? Not even seeing the sun. Ling Qiu wasn’t socially anxious or lazy; she was committing slow suicide. She was using this terrible method to rebel against this fake world.

But of all things, she shouldn’t have tried to kick Fang Ziyue out at this moment.

The woman, full of rage, said coldly: “Head of the Ling family, are you really that ashamed to be seen?”

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