After Failing To Tame The Scumbag - Chapter 11

“Would being A-Xiu’s puppy be enough?”

Yun Chuxiu brushed away Ji Jin’s hand, the one clinging to her with such persistence and refused to look into those eyes that had reddened in an instant. In the span of two short breaths, she had made her final decision.

“A-Xiu…”

“I don’t want to hear you speak right now.”

Yun Chuxiu glanced at the clock on the wall. After all this tossing and turning, she had missed breakfast, and the morning was already half gone.

Once I finish packing, I’ll go have a proper meal, she thought. Her heart was unexpectedly calm. That flame that had been burning for reasons unknown seemed to have finally burnt out on this ordinary day, leaving behind nothing but a pile of ash that no longer stung.

Ji Jin stood with her head bowed, silent. Her brain, already chaotic from a sleepless night, felt as though a bucket of ice water had been poured over it. She was jolted awake, and she didn’t dare imagine what kind of mood the usually proud and self-contained Yun Chuxiu had been in these past few days.

…Even her mother had shown up. It was clear the rumors had reached a terrifying level.

And she… when A-Xiu needed support the most, she had only blinded herself, using clumsy and absurd methods to escape the reality… hoping it would all pass quickly, hoping they would return to the intimacy they once shared.

Only the beauty of the past is real; it will never be changed by external things. Ji Jin had always told herself this, once, twice… she had tasted too much sweetness in her escapism, to the point where she had completely forgotten that there are two people standing in this relationship.

“Ji Jin,” Madam Ji frowned as she looked at her daughter standing blankly in the middle of the living room. She sensed deep down that her visit had ruined things, but she still refused to show any sign of softness. Steeling herself, she said, “What do you look like right now? If your competitors saw you like this, your current position…”

“Mother!” Ji Jin interrupted her. Her body trembled, and in a brief moment of eye contact, she felt a piercing thorn from across time strike her right between the eyes.

In the past, she had been most afraid of her mother making that expression.

It was as if, in one calm gaze, love was stripped away, expectations were stripped away, and all that remained between them were two names tied together by blood.

But.

Did that “thing”… ever really exist?

If it did, why was it that when she searched her mind for images related to love… every single one was occupied by the gaze of another person?

Yun Chuxiu…

Yun Chuxiu.

Ji Jin thought dazedly that the time they had spent together had actually surpassed the sum of her years in a mother-daughter relationship.

Why… why was she only realizing this now?

Why was it that the thing that made her remember all this was the sight of A-Xiu’s departing back?

“Did you come here today just to ruin the most important thing I have?” Ji Jin lowered her eyes, her voice cold. It was as if the facade she had worked so hard to maintain had finally cracked or perhaps, she had simply gone mad.

“Most important” these words carried heavy weight.

Madam Ji froze, completely blindsided by an answer so far removed from what she expected.

“Do you really think she is that important?” For the first time in six months, Madam Ji looked seriously at the daughter who was gradually slipping from her control. She felt a complex emotion she couldn’t name. “Ji Jin, I didn’t see any of that in your behavior.”

“How is that possible…” Ji Jin opened her mouth to refute such an absurd claim, but her voice remained raspy for a long time. In the end, she couldn’t utter a complete sentence.

She simply covered her face. Her eyes, split by the light, held only a vast, wandering emptiness of white.

The sound of a suitcase rolling across the floor echoed in her ears unexpectedly.

Ji Jin turned her head blankly, like a sluggish zombie. The more she wanted to reach out, the longer the sun dragged her shadow behind her.

…It really was broken.

Yun Chuxiu sighed softly. She remembered Ji Jin’s good points again and decided to give her one last chance to speak, one that wouldn’t change the outcome.

She stood quietly and waited. Ji Jin opened her mouth and closed it several times. In the end, she couldn’t manage a single one of the sweet words she usually spoke.

“…Can you… not leave?” Ji Jin’s hanging fingers twitched unconsciously. She looked soul-crushed, almost shivering despite the hot weather.

How pathetic.

Yun Chuxiu smiled, her tone still as gentle as ever, the curve of her lips not wavering for a second. “No.”

“I’ve really indulged you too much,” she said, accepting the bitterness of the consequences. Yun Chuxiu didn’t want to beat around the bush anymore. She looked at Ji Jin quietly and said, “After this, I’m moving to the house closer to the studio. I think you know where that is.”

Ji Jin caught the key point of that sentence, and a spark of light flickered in her eyes again. “I can go find you… A-Xiu, our relationship hasn’t changed, has it?”

Yun Chuxiu nodded indifferently, and having given her answer, she picked up her suitcase to leave.

Ji Jin’s body moved faster than her brain. Before she could say another word, her hand was already on the suitcase.

“I’ll see you off,” Ji Jin said, ignoring her mother’s incredulous gaze. She kept her head low, her voice soft and supple. “That house hasn’t been lived in for a long time. I’m not worried about you going there alone.”

Yun Chuxiu: “?”

Yun Chuxiu felt that Ji Jin was definitely not lucid. She put a hand on Ji Jin’s shoulder and turned her aside. “You can’t go.”

Just a moment ago, Ji Jin was trying to stay neutral to avoid upsetting her mother, and the second Yun Chuxiu decided to leave, she switched to “auto-follow” mode?

“It’s not necessary,” Yun Chuxiu said, trying to analyze the situation rationally. “First, I’m not throwing you away for that kind of reason. Second, that’s my house. Why are you going there? To case the joint?”

“It’s not like you’re a puppy that has to stay by its master’s side.”

“…That’s not what I meant.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Yun Chuxiu slapped her own forehead. She thought helplessly that she had been completely led astray, to think she could say such “puppy-play” nonsense so naturally.

And there was someone else here.

Given Madam Ji’s imagination, wouldn’t she take this accidental remark as a direct provocation?

Yun Chuxiu considered it for a few seconds and felt it wasn’t right.

“Actually”

“Would being A-Xiu’s puppy be enough?” Ji Jin’s tone was muffled. A screw seemed to have come loose in her head as she gave a non-sequitur response. “I’ll do it very well. If A-Xiu likes puppies, then take me with you.”

Yun Chuxiu: “…”

Yun Chuxiu: “…………”

The logic was sound, but this was too shameful.

Yun Chuxiu didn’t even dare to look at Madam Ji’s expression.

Yet Ji Jin took this silence as a valid response. Not only did she not stop, but she continued with sincere persistence: “I’ll find my own food when I’m hungry, I’ll walk home myself when it rains, and I can be a giant body pillow for A-Xiu to hold.” She paused intentionally, her tone shifting to a terrifyingly calm register. “I won’t betray you. I’ll only wag my tail for you.”

Every living thing in the room was stunned into silence. The scene fell into an eerie stillness.

Yun Chuxiu secretly pinched her hand. Only when the sharp pain flared did she realize this chaotic scene wasn’t a dream.

…It looked even scarier now.

“I don’t keep dogs,” Yun Chuxiu said, emphasizing her helplessness. “The most important thing for you right now is to go cool your brain down.”

Ji Jin blinked. Something metallic weighed heavily in her eyes, looking like fishhooks, or perhaps chains.

Yun Chuxiu was frozen in place, unable to move for a full thirty seconds.

“I’m not lying,” Ji Jin said. She was, in fact, incredibly sober. She glanced at Madam Ji, who sat frozen on the sofa. After completely discarding her pride, Ji Jin felt an unprecedented thrill from this hidden sharp edge.

Didn’t her mother like to belittle Yun Chuxiu?

Didn’t she always think that in their relationship, the weak one was always her A-Xiu?

Stop fantasizing. Open your eyes and look, she should have paid for that cowardly escapism long ago!

“I will do it well, better than anyone else. If A-Xiu is willing, we can go get married right now. We can become whatever kind of relationship A-Xiu wants.”

Ji Jin had hit rock bottom and rebounded. In the face of the possibility that “Yun Chuxiu might leave her,” everything else was just a hollow weight on the scale. She carefully cupped Yun Chuxiu’s hand, her eyes shining, intertwined with a drowning chaos, weaving a suffocating net.

Yun Chuxiu slapped her hand away. When she heard the word “marriage,” she gasped slightly. The first thing she felt was a suffocating sense of being shackled.

“Ji Jin,” Yun Chuxiu emphasized the name. Her gaze collided directly with the madness surfacing in Ji Jin’s eyes. The last shred of hope in her heart vanished.

“Do you know what you’re saying?” Yun Chuxiu watched Ji Jin’s frozen, bewildered expression. Every word seemed to be pushed through her teeth, very softly. “You’ve turned all my past expectations and desires into a joke.”

“What kind of terrible person must I be to have you use such a crazed attitude to lift me up, by stepping on yourself first?”

Yun Chuxiu looked at her quietly and took a step back. The disappointment in her eyes grew thicker until, finally, it heartlessly swallowed all the sunlight.

For the first time, she found the word “marriage” utterly disgusting. So disgusting that she turned and left without even taking her luggage.

“…Ji Jin,” Madam Ji sighed. The shock and fear hadn’t dissipated; if anything, it was intensifying, briefly reminding her of her status as a mother.

“I misjudged this time,” she said. “Yun Chuxiu is indeed a good child. Falling to this point… it was my failure for not teaching you how to handle these relationships.”

“There are too many obstacles between you now. Letting go is better for everyone. The next…”

“There is no next,” Ji Jin finally looked at her. Her eyes were terrifyingly hollow, as if a piece had been gouged out. “She is gentle and soft-hearted. Others will hurt her.”

Madam Ji: “…”

Madam Ji: She’s completely lost it.

Having discarded her pride, Ji Jin had now smoothly discarded her sanity. Seeing that the situation was irreparable, unable to persuade or scold her daughter back to normal. Madam Ji could only make a hasty excuse and leave.

Compared to the ease with which she arrived, her departure looked more like an escape. She nearly tripped over a pebble on the road.

The housekeeper, who had been keeping a low profile, was completely terrified. Especially realizing she was now alone in the house with Ji Jin, she kept her breathing as quiet as possible.

“Auntie,” Ji Jin didn’t turn around, but her voice carried over. She didn’t sound any different from the usually easy-going CEO Ji. “Please warm up the breakfast. A-Xiu probably doesn’t have the appetite to eat right now, so I have to bring it to her.”

The housekeeper subconsciously asked, “Ah, just… just like that?”

Ji Jin guessed she had misunderstood something. She pinched the bridge of her nose and explained, “I scared you, didn’t I? That was just a tactic. I’m in a good state, I’m not crazy or sick.”

Housekeeper: “Um…”

The housekeeper politely reminded her, even using formal honorifics out of habit: “Your hand seems to be bleeding. Is it okay?”