After Marrying the Evil God - Chapter 9

“I’ve learned something new today, truly,” Zhang Zhe said, immediately pulling Xing Qiang over to take a photo together. Both of them stood with their hands in their pockets, looking quite proud and arrogant. Tan Shanshan could only laugh helplessly as she snapped a picture of them.

After the photos were finished, the group continued their journey. By the time they reached the resort at the mountain summit, it was just after 8:00 AM. Having worked up a sweat during the climb, Xie Chouzhuang went to his room to take a shower. Just as he stepped out of his door, he was startled to find a girl standing in the hallway.

“Excuse me, do you need something?” Xie Chouzhuang asked, caught off guard.

“I… I…” Gu Yuan stuttered, her head lowered. “Could you… come over here… for a moment?”

Xie Chouzhuang followed her to a secluded spot. His only impression of Gu Yuan was that her grades were excellent; she usually sat quietly alone in the classroom solving problems, always keeping her head down. She seemed to lack self-confidence.

“Xie… Xie Chouzhuang,” Gu Yuan mustered the courage to look him in the eye. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to say… I lik—”

“Student Gu,” Xie Chouzhuang interrupted her. “I’m so sorry, please wait a moment. I just realized I left something important in my room.”

Gu Yuan instinctively reached out to grab him, but he moved away, avoiding her touch without making it obvious.

“I apologize; that item is very important to me. It was given to me by my fiancé. I need to go get it first.”

“Fiancé?” Gu Yuan froze in place before turning around and running away.

Xie Chouzhuang sighed and headed to the restaurant, but he noticed Gu Yuan wasn’t there. Worried that something might have happened to her, he asked Tan Shanshan, “Why didn’t Gu Yuan come?”

“Since when is our ‘Study God’ so concerned about his classmates?” Tan Shanshan asked with a teasing look.

Xie Chouzhuang explained calmly, “I saw her earlier and she didn’t look well, so I was just asking.”

“Yuanyuan is resting in her room. She’s fine.”

Once he confirmed she was okay, Xie Chouzhuang dropped the subject.

The Confrontation

Just as breakfast ended, Gu Yuan suddenly appeared before him again.

“Xie Chouzhuang, were you threatened by your brother?”

The classmates, who had been chatting, froze in surprise.

“Yuanyuan, I thought you weren’t feeling well?” Tan Shanshan hurriedly tried to pull Gu Yuan away.

“Shanshan, don’t stop me!” Gu Yuan shoved Tan Shanshan aside and glared at Xie Chouzhuang. “Did your brother trade you for company interests? I have ten thousand yuan on this card; I’ll give it all to you. Please, don’t do anything reckless.”

Xie Chouzhuang was baffled. “What on earth are you talking about?”

“Stop hiding it! I know! Your brother sold you off to some old man for the sake of the company!”

Xie Chouzhuang: “???” Does my brother know you’re slandering him like this?

This statement stunned the group for several seconds.

“Chouzhuang…” Li Yang spoke hesitantly. “Did your brother really…?”

Xie Chouzhuang’s face went cold. “That’s a lie. My brother and I have a great relationship. I don’t know how you came to that conclusion, but I can tell you quite responsibly: my family is very harmonious. We don’t need to sell a son to maintain client relationships.”

Tan Shanshan quickly tried to smooth things over. “I’m so sorry! Yuanyuan isn’t feeling well today; she’s talking nonsense! We were just discussing a novel earlier and she got too invested in the plot. My apologies.”

“Shanshan, don’t block me! You admitted it yourself just now! If your brother didn’t force you, why would you marry an old man?!” Gu Yuan screamed.

Xie Chouzhuang took a deep breath. “I never said my brother sent me to an old man. First of all, I am an adult; it is normal for me to be in a relationship. Secondly, I clearly said ‘fiancé’—on what basis are you judging his age? Finally, who I date has absolutely nothing to do with you. Please, act like a normal person.”

Gu Yuan began to cry and shout. “I’ve always seen you as a role model! How can you like men? What right do you have to like men? Liking men is so disgusting…”

“Enough!” Xie Chouzhuang interrupted her sharply. “You are clearly unstable. I have already contacted the resort staff.”

“Yuanyuan, stop this. Let’s go back.”

Behind her glasses, Gu Yuan’s eyes were bloodshot. A voice in her head whispered seductively: If you can’t have him, kill him. Kill him, then kill yourself. Even as ghosts, you can be together.

“Yes… kill him. If I kill him, we can be together. How could he like a man? How could he…” Gu Yuan muttered incoherently.

“Yuanyuan, what are you saying?” Tan Shanshan couldn’t hear her.

Gu Yuan slowly raised her head, her eyes becoming eerily calm. “Nothing. Student Xie, I’m sorry. I was too emotional just now. I only did this because I like you too much. I apologize.”

As she spoke, Gu Yuan walked toward Xie Chouzhuang.

“It’s fine. I don’t care what you think, but I’m leaving now.” Xie Chouzhuang turned around, only to hear a sudden chorus of screams.

The Tragedy

“Then just go die!” Gu Yuan’s face twisted into a ferocious mask as she pulled out a knife and lunged toward Xie Chouzhuang’s heart.

Unexpectedly, halfway through her charge, her foot was suddenly tripped by something. In an instant, she lost her balance and fell forward. The tip of the steak knife she held was now pointed directly at herself.

With a muffled thud, the razor-sharp knife plunged straight into her forehead, piercing through to the back of her skull. Her head was skewered completely.

The horrifying scene plunged the surroundings into a dead silence. Then, a heavy impact followed.

Thump—

Gu Yuan’s eyes were wide, filled with disbelief as she crashed heavily to the ground. Dark red blood surged from the wound like a broken dam, pooling quickly on the floor. Under the sunlight, the vivid red looked monstrous. The pool of blood continued to spread, staining the ground crimson.

Reflected in the blood were the pale, terrified faces of the young students. They stared at the gruesome scene, their mouths agape, unable to make a sound.

“AAAAAAAH!” a nearby staff member screamed in terror. “Someone’s dead! Someone’s dead!”

In an instant, the entire resort was in an uproar.

The Dark Truth

Inside, the classmates looked at each other in shock.

“How… how could this happen…” Tan Shanshan stared at her friend’s pale body, completely stunned.

“We all saw it; Gu Yuan tripped on her own…” Zhang Zhe swallowed hard.

“Why did she suddenly go crazy?” Li Yang’s face was ashen as his legs gave out, and he collapsed to the floor.

When the resort manager arrived and saw the crowd, he felt his world collapsing. He urgently evacuated the guests and sent staff to wait for the police at the entrance.

Xie Chouzhuang was also deathly pale. He had seen it—at the moment Gu Yuan rushed toward him, a dark shadow had wrapped around her ankle, causing her to trip. Furthermore, the knife shouldn’t have hit her head; it had been moved by the shadow.

The one who had killed her was a Ghost!