After Her Death, They Begged for Forgiveness - Chapter 48

After a full day of back-to-back filming, the cat demon anxiously scanned her surroundings.

Would her sister weave through the bustling crowd like last time, gently take her hand, and lead her home?

“Teacher Song, why are you still here? Waiting for someone?”

The crew members were gradually packing up props and dismantling sets, casually greeting Song Guanjin as they passed by.

The cat demon had fully adapted to being addressed as “Teacher Song.” She nodded, then shook her head. Fortunately, the crew member didn’t pay much attention and simply walked away, carrying a camera.

After some hesitation, Song Guanjin decided to check her phone first to see if her sister had sent any messages.

She had been filming all day, barely eating a proper meal at noon, let alone touching her phone.

It was as if she had been disconnected from the world all day.

As she carefully took out her phone, her fingertips trembled slightly. Before she could unlock it, she caught the rich, sweet aroma of caramel mingled with the deep, roasted fragrance of chestnuts.

For a hungry cat demon, this was an utterly irresistible temptation!

Song Guanjin spun around and saw Xu Bingqi standing quietly behind her, holding a bag of enticingly fragrant sugar-roasted chestnuts.

“I went to queue for sugar-roasted chestnuts, so I’m a bit late.”

The cat demon was unconsciously drawn to the aroma of the chestnuts. She took a few steps forward but then cautiously stopped.

Could this be her sister’s scheme?

Lure her in with delicious food, then slap a demon-repelling talisman on her when she least expected it.

Xu Bingqi looked puzzled at the hesitant Song Guanjin, unable to understand why the usually gluttonous kitten was suddenly acting so reserved.

Had the cat demon finally started managing her figure under the influence of the film crew?

But theoretically, a cat demon should be able to freely transform her appearance.

“Sister, am I still your good friend, right?”

Xu Bingqi was taken aback for a moment, then nodded.

So much had happened today that she had completely forgotten about Song Guanjin revealing her true form that morning.

The cat demon swallowed hard, her gaze shifting between the bag of chestnuts and her sister’s calm expression. After a moment’s hesitation, she slowly approached at her sister’s gesture.

In the end, she still believed her sister would never harm her.

“Now you’re scared? Weren’t you clinging to me earlier?”

A smile softened Xu Bingqi’s usually cool and distant features. She handed the bag of chestnuts to Song Guanjin, continuing to tease the cat.

Spending time with Song Guanjin made her feel completely at ease, allowing her to momentarily escape the series of events that had unfolded that day.

And she could enjoy the simple pleasure of teasing a cat.

“I’m scared, but I still want to cling to you.”

Song Guanjin eagerly tore open the bag, deftly picking up a chestnut and using her fingertips to peel off its caramel-scented shell.

Xu Bingqi shook her head with a smile.

Song Guanjin was the most food-obsessed cat she had ever met, her craving for delicious treats written all over her face.

Just as Xu Bingqi was reminiscing about what other foods the greedy cat enjoyed, a perfectly peeled, plump, and glossy chestnut appeared in her line of sight.

“Sister, you try it first.”

Before Xu Bingqi could react, Song Guanjin had already brought the chestnut to her lips.

Everything seemed to slow down like in a movie, the air faintly filled with a sweet, ambiguous tension, mingling with the rich aroma of chestnuts that drifted lazily around.

“You!”

Xu Bingqi had just uttered a single syllable when Song Guanjin, with her slender fingers, deftly and gently placed a chestnut into her sister’s mouth.

Under Song Guanjin’s intense gaze, Xu Bingqi’s ears flushed red. She lowered her head slightly and chewed the chestnut with noticeable discomfort.

“Is it good?”

Xu Bingqi let out an almost imperceptible sigh and, after a moment, softly replied, “Mm.”

Compared to whether the chestnut tasted good, she was more concerned about whether Song Guanjin had washed her hands before peeling it.

“Guanjin, did you wash your hands before peeling the chestnuts?”

After walking a dozen more steps, Xu Bingqi finally voiced the question that had been troubling her for a long time.

“Nope.” The cat blinked her eyes and smiled as she noticed Xu Bingqi’s slight hesitation. “But I wiped my hands with an alcohol wipe before peeling them.”

She stretched out her hand, revealing the crumpled wrapper of the opened wipe.

“Good thing I haven’t seen a trash can yet, so I didn’t throw it away. Otherwise, you’d have been worried this whole time.”

The cat demon smiled triumphantly.

Her sister was more concerned about whether her fingers were clean than the fact that she was a cat demon. Surely that meant her sister wasn’t too shocked about her being a demon, right?

The Sword of Damocles hanging over her head seemed to be gradually shifting.

However, for Gu Xiaozhou, the situation she faced was far more complicated.

“Don’t make things worse. Can you go walk Douhua first? Douhua’s been barking all day.”

Gu Nan was well aware that her daughter was far more troublesome than this beagle.

“I’m worried Bingqi might misunderstand me.”

Gu Xiaozhou casually picked up the beagle’s toy and stuffed it into its mouth, hoping to quiet it down for a moment. But after spitting out the toy, the dog’s barking only grew louder.

Gu Nan rubbed her forehead. “How did you end up raising a dog like this?”

Like her daughter, Gu Nan knew very little about dog breeds. Instead of attributing Douhua’s incessant barking to its breed, she believed the dog’s inappropriate noise-making was purely a reflection of its owner, Gu Xiaozhou.

“I’ll take Douhua for a walk later.” Gu Xiaozhou picked up the disgruntled beagle, stroking its head to soothe it, but her eyes remained fixed on her mother. “I’m just worried Bingqi will be disappointed in me because of this.”

“I’ve said this many times already. Everyone knows now that it was Xiao Hua who did it. Unless Xu Bingqi goes completely offline, she won’t blame you wrongly.”

Gu Nan patiently explained to her seemingly obtuse daughter, then picked up her bag, ready to leave the home shared by the two of them and the dog. She felt her composed expression was about to crumble.

“Mom, do you think Bingqi really believes Xiao Hua did it?”

The only response Gu Xiaozhou received was the sound of the door slamming shut.

Gu Nan could no longer communicate with her daughter, who seemed to have turned into a broken record.

Gu Xiaozhou sighed dejectedly and stroked the beagle’s head. “Douhua, do you think Bingqi knows it wasn’t me?”

A beagle wouldn’t reason with its broken-record owner. It continued to bark, “Wer wer,” urging its owner to take it for a walk.

Gu Xiaozhou sighed regretfully, somewhat wishing she hadn’t followed Jiang Ruo’s advice.

How could Xu Bingqi possibly like such a loud and silly dog?

Gu Xiaozhou resignedly closed her eyes for a moment, then deftly clipped the leash onto the dog and headed out for a walk, her mind heavy with thoughts.

But later, she was immensely grateful she had adopted Douhua.

Because on her walk, she ran into Xu Bingqi and the “vase” standing beside her.

The vase still had chestnut crumbs stuck to the corner of her mouth, a clear sign of her little scheme to tempt Bingqi.

But none of that mattered now. What mattered was that she could personally explain to Bingqi that everything had been Xiao Hua’s doing.

While Gu Xiaozhou was racking her brain for the right words, Douhua had already caught the enticing aroma of sugar-roasted chestnuts and joyfully dashed toward Xu Bingqi and Song Guanjin.

Normally, Gu Xiaozhou could easily rein in Douhua’s sudden bursts of energy, but at that moment, she was too preoccupied with her thoughts. The dog’s powerful tug sent her stumbling and sliding right up to Xu Bingqi.

Both women were taken aback by Gu Xiaozhou’s sudden appearance, and the beagle’s excited barking made them freeze in place.

“Just walking my dog, what a coincidence, haha.” Gu Xiaozhou felt that perhaps she’d spent too much time with Douhua and was starting to act just as silly. “This is my dog, a beagle.”

Song Guanjin curled her lip in disgust and tightened her grip on the bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts.

After centuries of existence, she knew dogs all too well. This silly creature clearly wanted her chestnuts, the ones her sister had bought just for her. There was no way she was sharing them with a dog.

Xu Bingqi, on the other hand, was surprised that Gu Xiaozhou would own a beagle. In her impression, the pampered Miss Gu neither liked dogs nor knew how to care for one.

And a beagle, of all breeds that was practically expert-level difficulty.

Xu Bingqi studied the beagle carefully and suddenly felt a sense of familiarity, as if she’d seen this dog somewhere before.

A suspicion began to form in her mind. Without revealing anything, she asked calmly, “His name is Douhua, isn’t it?”

Hearing his name called out so accurately, Douhua barked even louder. His logic was simple: if this person knew his name, the chances of getting some chestnuts were high!

“Yes!”

As soon as Gu Xiaozhou answered, she seemed to realize something. Seeing Xu Bingqi let out a soft scoff, she slowly swallowed the rest of her words.

She remembered how Xu Bingqi could have known Douhua’s name.

The first time she’d shared a photo of Douhua in the comments section, Xu Bingqi had replied and even cracked a rare joke.

Encouraged, Gu Xiaozhou had eagerly posted more pictures of Douhua in the comments after that, enthusiastically telling everyone the dog’s name was Douhua.

Eventually, Xu Bingqi had grown familiar with the username of Douhua’s owner.

Song Guanjin crushed a sugar-roasted chestnut with an audible crackle. She then set the chestnuts aside and tugged at Xu Bingqi’s hand in displeasure. “Sister, don’t pay her any more attention not even in the comments.”

She absolutely couldn’t let her sister be charmed by this silly dog and its silly owner!

Was this silly dog even clever? Could it possibly be as enchanting and adorable as her true form?

Douhua sensed the awkward tension growing between the two sides. He lay down dejectedly on the ground, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on the bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts in Song Guanjin’s hand.

“Bingqi, what happened today wasn’t my doing, it was Xiao Hua.”

Gu Xiaozhou immediately steered the conversation away from Song Guanjin’s dangerous topic and eagerly explained, “We’ve already taught Xiao Hua a harsh lesson. His funding chain has been cut off, and he’s not far from filing for bankruptcy.”

Then, lowering her voice, she added, “And Aunt Xu has already uncovered Xiao Hua’s tax issues. Soon, he’ll be sewing clothes in prison.”

Xu Bingqi had already known it was Xiao Hua’s doing. With her music variety show recording approaching, Jiang Ruo and Xiao Hua would undoubtedly resort to any means to cause trouble.

But she hadn’t expected Xiao Hua’s punishment to come so swiftly. She had always assumed Xu Qingci’s assurances were nothing but empty promises after all, in her past life, Xu Qingci had been so pleased with Xiao Hua as Jiang Ruo’s boyfriend.

Xu Bingqi paused briefly before speaking calmly, “Alright, thank you. But I’ll handle the follow-up matters myself.”

It was true that Xu Qingci and Gu Xiaozhou had acted promptly. By the time she woke up, the trending gossip and public opinion had already subsided.

Still, sending Xiao Hua to prison with her own hands was her original intention. She didn’t want to rely on others to accomplish this.

“But this is what we owe you, Bingqi,” Gu Xiaozhou explained amidst the sound of Douhua begging for food. “I’m sorry for what I did before. I want to make it up to you.”

“Didn’t you hear? My sister said she’ll handle this herself.”

Song Guanjin had no patience to continue arguing with Gu Xiaozhou. Moreover, she noticed her sister glancing at that silly dog more and more frequently.

The cat demon felt a strong sense of crisis. She decided that once they returned home, she would make an agreement with her sister: if her sister wanted to keep her, she couldn’t show interest in any other pets.

This was a matter of principle.

She couldn’t bear the thought of her beloved sister being someone who lavished affection on everyone. If her sister petted a stray cat today and fed a silly dog tomorrow, she would definitely feel jealous.

Unaware of the turmoil in Song Guanjin’s heart, Xu Bingqi nodded at Gu Xiaozhou and said, “What’s in the past, let it stay in the past. I’ve said it many times, I don’t want to see you again.”

Song Guanjin breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Even with that silly dog around, Gu Xiaozhou was still no match for her!

“Ultimately, I’m also to blame for what happened before. I shouldn’t have let my guard down around you back then.”

Xu Bingqi had spent this time seriously reflecting on her actions in her past life, and her mindset had grown much calmer. “If I hadn’t trusted you then, perhaps none of this would have happened.”

These words struck Gu Xiaozhou harder than anything else, piercing her heart like a sharp, thin blade.

She had once earned Xu Bingqi’s trust, but she would never have it again.

She couldn’t refute Xu Bingqi’s words at all. It was true, if Xu Bingqi had been wary of her back then, none of this would have happened, and they could have remained friends.

Someone like her truly didn’t deserve Xu Bingqi’s trust.

“Sorry, I didn’t expect to actually run into you today,” Gu Xiaozhou took a deep breath, as if it could slightly ease the stabbing pain in her heart. “I’ll do my best to stay out of your sight from now on.”

Xu Bingqi gave a cold nod.

At this inopportune moment, she recalled what Jiang Ruo had said earlier. Jiang Ruo once mentioned that if this world hadn’t been treated as a novel world for executing the “Group Pet” mission, perhaps everything from her past life wouldn’t have happened.

But after all, there are no “what ifs” in this world.

She couldn’t imagine Gu Xiaozhou consistently treating friendship with sincerity from beginning to end, just as she couldn’t picture Xu Qingci showing genuine care.

Belated remorse cannot make up for anything.

The beagle, having waited in vain, continued to lie on the ground whining, putting on a dramatic display of refusing to get up without getting candied chestnuts.

Since its owner had bought it so much time, it absolutely had to get those chestnuts!

Gu Xiaozhou tugged hard on the leash, but Douhua remained sprawled on the ground, whining at Song Guanjin who wore an expression of utter disdain.

The cat spirit snorted in anger, she knew this dog was just as shameless as its owner!

But if she didn’t give this silly dog some candied chestnuts, there was no telling how long this pestering would continue.

Just then, Xu Bingqi seemed to have thought of something and calmly said to Gu Xiaozhou: “Please convey to Ms. Xu that I will gather evidence regarding the tax issues. I intend to personally send Xiao Hua to prison.”

She had no intention of accepting Xu Qingci’s belated compensation.

While Gu Xiaozhou was still processing this, Song Guanjin quickly tossed a few candied chestnuts toward the beagle and eagerly pulled her sister’s hand to leave.

She was afraid that after finishing the treats, the dog named Douhua would chase after her and continue its pitiful begging act.

Finally back at the hotel, the cat spirit whose mind was now completely occupied by anger had completely forgotten about her exposed identity and couldn’t wait to confront her sister.

“Sister, don’t tell me you actually think that silly dog is cute?”

She’d lost count of how many times her sister’s gaze had been glued to that beagle.

What if some dog spirit appeared out of nowhere to compete for her sister’s affection? That would be even more troublesome.

Although Gu Xiaozhou posed no threat as a rival, her dog was an absolute master at pretending to be pitiful and vulnerable.

Song Guanjin felt an urgent need to reinforce her position in her sister’s heart.

She decided to immediately confess all the secrets about her true identity to her sister!

Song Guanjin thought to herself: I can be a friend, a lover, and a cat, she needed to make her sister understand that she was the most unique one of all!

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