After Her Death, They Begged for Forgiveness - Chapter 20

“Gu Xiaozhou, what are you doing?”

Xu Bingqi grabbed Gu Xiaozhou, who was walking straight toward her bedroom as if no one else was around.

Due to Xu Bingqi’s action, Gu Xiaozhou couldn’t enter the bedroom but managed to catch a quick glimpse of its layout.

Against the wall facing the door stood a large desk cluttered with various music books and sheet music filled with notes. Some papers had curled edges, densely marked with revisions.

On the other side of the desk was a computer connected to a complex setup of audio interfaces, a mixer, and a MIDI keyboard. The keys on the MIDI keyboard were slightly worn and shiny, clearly from countless presses. On the computer screen, the music production software was still open on an unfinished project file, with various audio tracks and waveform graphs overlapping.

There seemed to be no traces of a second person living there.

So, the progress hadn’t advanced that quickly after all.

That vase’s actions weren’t very swift either.

A faint sense of relief quietly stirred in Gu Xiaozhou’s heart, like a tender sprout in spring growing softly in the most vulnerable part of her.

But at the same time, she felt somewhat displeased: “What’s the matter? Is there something I can’t see?”

Xu Bingqi stared intently into Gu Xiaozhou’s eyes: “What do you think you’re allowed to see?” She paused briefly: “I don’t want to end up trending online again.”

After speaking, Xu Bingqi carefully observed Gu Xiaozhou’s reaction. If Gu Xiaozhou appeared unnatural, it would strongly confirm her previous suspicions.

“What trending or not trending,” Gu Xiaozhou said, her tone full of impatience.

But then, as if stung by something, her eyes suddenly froze as she recalled how Xu Bingqi had recently appeared on the trending list due to clarifying a plagiarism scandal. The overwhelming public opinion felt as if it were just yesterday.

It seemed, indeed, to be because of her.

“What does it have to do with me?” Gu Xiaozhou forced calmness, tilting her chin up slightly. “Who knows what that was about? Besides, you didn’t suffer any losses, did you? You even gained a lot of praise for nothing.”

“Moreover, do you have any proof? Are you just relying on your subjective assumptions?”

Guilt spread like vines, and Gu Xiaozhou struggled to suppress the unease.

Those were things she had done before. She would never do them again.

As long as Xu Bingqi stopped opposing them, she would never resort to such methods again.

Xu Bingqi’s gaze remained calm, quietly taking in Gu Xiaozhou’s reactions.

Gu Xiaozhou’s fingertips trembled uncontrollably, a long-standing habit of hers whenever she felt nervous.

“Yes, it’s true I didn’t suffer any losses.”

Xu Bingqi lowered her eyes slightly, her eyelashes casting small shadows, and sighed softly: “Why is that?”

“Because you clarified it.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Gu Xiaozhou’s pupils contracted sharply, and the color slowly drained from her face.

She understood the implication behind Xu Bingqi’s words.

Xu Bingqi hadn’t been ruined because she had clarified the situation in time, but she could do so because she had already known her computer was under remote surveillance and had recorded evidence in advance.

When had Xu Bingqi found out about all this?

Gu Xiaozhou’s mind raced, memories flashing through her consciousness like a revolving lantern. Those fragmented images, some clear and some blurred, continuously intertwined and collided until they finally converged on the day of Jiang Ruo’s birthday.

Xu Bingqi had already changed by then.

“Why did I move out of the Xu residence?” Xu Bingqi closed the bedroom door, her caution born from past betrayals making her suspect Gu Xiaozhou might be plotting something again. “What do you think?”

The truth was, moving out hadn’t been because of that incident she hadn’t even known who was behind the schemes back then, nor how they were executed. But Xu Bingqi didn’t mind using the move as bait to test Gu Xiaozhou now.

Gu Xiaozhou’s heart tightened with unease. Had the butler been discovered?

Xu Bingqi’s relentless questioning had tangled her thoughts into a knotted mess of thread that she couldn’t unravel.

The anxiety in her heart grew like wild grass, making it increasingly difficult to gauge how much Xu Bingqi actually knew. Every question from Xu Bingqi felt like a sharp blade suspended above her head.

“You moved out of the Xu family simply because you were jealous of Jiang Ruo.”

As the words left her mouth, a cold premonition crawled up her spine. She vaguely realized she had just ruined what might have been a salvageable situation.

To escape blame, she had once again shifted all the fault onto Xu Bingqi.

Gu Xiaozhou lowered her head, feeling trapped in an inescapable cycle. Each time, she could only evade her unease by blaming Xu Bingqi, yet watching the growing distance between them filled her with bitter resentment.

It shouldn’t have been like this.

“Oh, I see.” Xu Bingqi neither denied nor confirmed the accusation, instead steering the conversation back on track: “Then what about when I was falsely accused of plagiarizing the composition? Was that also because I was jealous of Jiang Ruo?”

“What does it matter now? It’s all in the past, that chapter is closed!”

Gu Xiaozhou disliked Xu Bingqi’s calm yet pressing attitude. After all, the trending scandal hadn’t actually harmed Xu Bingqi, why was she so obsessed with dragging up old history?

“What if it’s not closed?”

Xu Bingqi’s question seemed directed at Gu Xiaozhou, yet also sounded like a murmur to herself: “If I couldn’t prove my innocence, how long would I have to endure this torment?”

In her previous life, she couldn’t even slice open her stomach like that character to prove how many bowls of noodles she’d eaten because she couldn’t even find the direction to begin proving her innocence. All she could do was suffer through the tidal wave of insults day after day.

In the end, she could only venture outside wearing a mask. Because whenever she was recognized, those vile curses would shoot toward her like arrows, piercing her already battered heart.

Gu Xiaozhou fell into rare silence.

She had no answer to this question had never even considered it before.

If Xu Bingqi couldn’t prove her innocence, would she have endured endless condemnation?

Even though Gu Xiaozhou didn’t want to face this question, she had to admit the answer was yes.

Once the scandal trended, even if she regretted it, she couldn’t stop public opinion. To end the farce, someone would have to admit they’d monitored Xu Bingqi and arranged everything before she could publish her composition.

There was absolutely no way she could ever admit to any of it.

Even now, she often feels relieved that when Xu Bingqi cleared her name, she only presented evidence that she hadn’t plagiarized, without guiding others to speculate about who was behind it all.

“You can’t answer that question either.” Xu Bingqi’s eyes were full of disdain as she let out a mocking smile. “Gu Xiaozhou, I really admire you. After doing something like this, you still have the audacity to accuse me of never preparing a cup for you.”

“Others have iron wills, but you have an iron face.”

After saying this, Xu Bingqi gently curled her lips and let out a faint, almost imperceptible sneer.

Gu Xiaozhou grew flustered. She finally gave up on confronting Xu Bingqi head-on over this issue, but she didn’t dare to grab Xu Bingqi’s sleeve like she had last time.

“I can explain,” Gu Xiaozhou said hurriedly. “I was just worried you’d be jealous of Jiang Ruo, so I resorted to this underhanded method. I won’t do it again.”

“Worried about Jiang Ruo?” Xu Bingqi shook her head. “You’re not worried I’d be jealous of Jiang Ruo, you’re just using her as your shield.”

“If you were truly worried about Jiang Ruo, you wouldn’t keep bringing her up in front of me, stirring up resentment against her. Or are you so sure that I’m tolerant enough not to hold it against you? But that would contradict your accusation that I’m inherently jealous, wouldn’t it?”

Xu Bingqi slightly furrowed her brows and asked softly, “By the way, does Jiang Ruo know about what you’ve done? Does she know that her dear sister is suppressing others under the guise of protecting her?”

“Absolutely not. Xiao Ruo is pure-hearted and has no idea about any of this.” Gu Xiaozhou couldn’t help but take a step forward. “Please don’t tell her.”

Xu Bingqi raised an eyebrow. It seemed Jiang Ruo was unaware.

And what about Xu Qingci? Did she know about these things?

Suddenly, Xu Bingqi lost the courage to ask further.

She was afraid of the answer to that question.

Once spoken, the answer that would inevitably come might be like a sharp knife, swiftly tearing open the scars that had been deliberately hidden.

Though on the surface she now shone brilliantly, far more successful than in her past life, in reality, she had already lost too much.

During the day, Xu Bingqi could regulate her emotions and comfort herself that everything was in the past. But in the pitch-black darkness, nightmares always arrived as expected, and she remained that helpless girl, enduring the loathing gazes of everyone in the abyss.

The nightlight by her bed had become a necessity, for she could no longer sleep peacefully in the dark.

Xu Bingqi sighed. Let’s just assume they didn’t know.

After all, her nightmares already had plenty of material.

But Gu Xiaozhou, the one who had driven her to despair in her past life, she had no intention of letting her off.

“Miss Gu, have you ever heard of ‘giving someone a taste of their own medicine’?”

Xu Bingqi picked up her phone and slowly turned the screen toward Gu Xiaozhou, smiling gently. “I recorded it.”

The clear recording interface on the phone was displayed before Gu Xiaozhou’s eyes, reflecting a cold glint in her pupils.

Gu Xiaozhou’s lips trembled slightly, but she couldn’t even muster words of accusation. Everything dissolved into a helpless dimness in her eyes.

“Are you going to post it online?” Gu Xiaozhou asked with difficulty after a moment. “How much money do you need? I can buy it from you.”

Xu Bingqi shook her head. “I’m not that desperate for money.”

She firmly believed that since they had already torn off all pretenses, the recording in her hand was the crucial bargaining chip. If she were to lose this recording, Gu Xiaozhou would undoubtedly escalate and resort to all sorts of unpredictable actions.

“Miss Gu, I’m not after money,” Xu Bingqi said, tightening her grip on the phone to prevent Gu Xiaozhou from snatching it. “All I want is for you to behave and stop provoking me.”

Support