After Redeeming the Female Lead, I Faked My Death and Escaped - Chapter 31

“Don’t wait for me.”

After a brief lag, the app confirmed that Gu Qingzhu’s message had been sent. Staring at those four words, she felt as if her gaze had been scorched, instinctively turning her face away.

A moment later, an indescribable sense of frustration crept over her.

It was just a few consecutive days of seeing Ying Xu.

Why on earth had she sent such a foolish message?

Was she expecting a reaction from Ying Xu? Why?

Countless questions swirled in Gu Qingzhu’s mind, stirring a simmering anger not directed at Ying Xu, but at herself.

The oppressive mood made her want to retract the message, but before she could, someone noticed her shifting emotions and teased with a smile, “Miss Gu, who are you messaging?”

Gu Qingzhu paused, lifting her eyes to meet the speaker.

The banquet hall buzzed with clinking glasses and lively chatter. Gu Qingzhu sat in the most prominent spot, but most attendees knew her temperament and rarely approached her unprompted.

The young girl before her didn’t seem very old. When Gu Qingzhu looked her way, she even flashed a shy smile.

Beside her, a cold-faced Alpha spoke up, “Cheng Fei.”

“Quiet.”

Just two words, and the girl’s lively expression vanished. She lowered her head reluctantly, though not before casting a pitiful glance at Gu Qingzhu.

An Omega.

A weak, deliberately pitiable Omega.

The familiar dynamic made Gu Qingzhu smirk faintly.

Her fleeting smile stunned the others. Cheng Yuedu pressed her lips together, but Cheng Fei’s eyes brightened, her expression radiating innocence and charm. “Miss Gu”

“Shut up.”

The Omega’s voice was icy. Cheng Fei’s smile froze.

Gu Qingzhu lowered her gaze, intending to return to her earlier thoughts. But in that brief moment of distraction, Ying Xu had already replied.

[Okay.]

[Don’t drink too much… it’s bad for your health.]

[Do you need me to pick you up?]

Her eyes lingered on the last question, and irritation flared within her.

Ying Xu was truly foolish. Even now, after everything that had happened, she still sought Gu Qingzhu’s favor using the simplest, most laughable method: waiting for her to come home.

Perhaps to avoid being called out, Ying Xu would always place a book on her lap, pretending it was all a coincidence.

From the moment Gu Qingzhu stepped through the door each day, the Alpha’s gaze would cling to her, unwavering.

There was no malice in that stare just pure, unadulterated attention.

Could she even focus on the book like that?

Gu Qingzhu no longer cared to question how she knew where Ying Xu’s gaze wandered. She only felt vexed, staring at those replies as if flames were crawling up her spine, the heat unsettling her mind.

She didn’t know how to respond, so she chose not to.

Noticing the others still watching her, Gu Qingzhu finally frowned.

“Was I unclear?” she said coolly. “If you don’t want to be thrown out, keep quiet.”

This banquet had been organized by the Sheng family. Cheng Fei shouldn’t have been here in the first place.

The incident where she had deliberately locked Ying Xu in a room had been reported to Cheng Yuedu by Cheng Jun.

Cheng Fei wasn’t afraid of Cheng Jun her equally illegitimate sister, but she feared Cheng Yuedu, who would dock her allowance and confine her to her room the moment she returned home. For once, she had been forced to behave meekly.

This time, it should have been Cheng Jun accompanying Cheng Yuedu. But the other party seemed to truly live up to the rumors, wildly popular and so busy they didn’t even reply to messages. With a few sweet words, Cheng Fei effortlessly snatched the opportunity before anyone else could.

She knew that Cheng Yuedu seemed to want to use this occasion to arrange a marriage alliance with the heiress of the Sheng family. Whether it succeeded or not, Cheng Fei didn’t care. She only cared about her own future, attaching herself to someone wealthier and more powerful than the Cheng family, then playing both sides.

The best choice among them was Gu Qingzhu.

Even though they were both Omegas, it was just about sleeping together, as long as it was enjoyable, wasn’t that enough?

Besides, someone as proud as Gu Qingzhu would surely never allow a lover to mark her.

When Cheng Fei had first calculated this step, she found Ying Xu particularly laughable. An Alpha staying by Gu Qingzhu’s side probably hadn’t even held her hand, only to be discarded like trash in the end.

Because of this, she thought that being an Omega like Gu Qingzhu might give her some advantage.

Who could have predicted such a disastrous start?

With just two sentences, Gu Qingzhu’s tone was dripping with undisguised impatience and disdain.

Cheng Fei fell silent, and Cheng Yuedu, noticing this, swirled the glass in her hand.

“Apologies for disturbing you, Miss Gu.”

Gu Qingzhu didn’t respond, and Cheng Yuedu withdrew her gaze.

Not far away, the crowd erupted in noise someone’s arrival seemed to have caused a stir.

Cheng Yuedu spotted Sheng Qiuyu. Among familiar friends and family, she always wore her sweetest smile. Compared to her, Cheng Fei’s grin seemed childish and plain.

Sipping her tea quietly, Cheng Yuedu wondered did Sheng Qiuyu smile like this in front of Ying Xu too?

If so, then it was no surprise Gu Qingzhu disliked her.

After greeting her close friends, Sheng Qiuyu caught sight of Cheng Yuedu from afar.

She hadn’t forgotten her mother’s instructions and was about to approach when, with just a slight turn of her head, she saw Gu Qingzhu seated across from the Alpha.

The woman was browsing something, her expression displeased. That look instantly reminded Sheng Qiuyu of herself that afternoon, scrolling through topics related to Ying Xu only to find nothing but vile insults.

A surge of fury burned through her.

Why was it that the person who deserved to be scorned by the masses faced no punishment at all, sitting comfortably in such a glamorous banquet, basking in admiration?

Meanwhile, someone completely unrelated to the whole affair was placed under a spotlight, dissected from every angle, and subjected to endless abuse.

Did Ying Xu even know about this?

Sheng Qiuyu seethed with indignation, but after the initial rage, she abruptly calmed down.

Her gaze flickered between Cheng Yuedu and Gu Qingzhu, and suddenly, she remembered Cheng Yuedu’s goal, to find a suitable match for a marriage alliance, stabilizing the Cheng family’s situation and consolidating her position.

Wasn’t Gu Qingzhu the perfect choice?

She controlled the Gu family single-handedly wealth, power, influence everything Cheng Yuedu needed, Gu Qingzhu possessed.

It was only because of her past aloofness that no one dared to set their sights on her.

What if Ying Xu saw the person she adored sitting beside another Alpha, dating, smiling in a way she never had in front of Ying Xu, even discussing marriage?

How would Ying Xu react?

Would she give up on Gu Qingzhu completely because of this?

Excitement flooded Sheng Qiuyu’s entire body. She paused mid-step, no longer moving forward.

Her fingers tapped the screen, and pitiful words appeared in the chat box.

Sheng Qiuyu stared at the name of the contact “Promise” and finally, belatedly, it dawned on her. Even if Promise really gave up on Gu Qingzhu because of this matter, what would her reaction be?

Sadness, pain, the sorrow of a heart gone cold.

Was this what she wanted?

For just a fleeting moment, Sheng Qiuyu was lost in thought, but then she recalled Gu Qingzhu under the spotlight.

The woman was as indifferent as ever, aloof to those around her. It was as if she never smiled, incapable of even feigning a pleasant expression.

With resolve hardening in her heart, Sheng Qiuyu pressed “Send.”

This was the right lie.

When Promise received Sheng Qiuyu’s message, she was browsing StarNet.

The liveliness and sweetness in Sheng Qiuyu’s words inevitably piqued her curiosity, was there really anyone online, as the Omega claimed, who still believed in Promise?

The answer, of course, was no.

Like searching for a needle in a haystack, she scrolled for ten minutes, but all she saw was hatred, though the tone had softened compared to the peak of the backlash.

The intensity of human emotions seemed to be swayed by public opinion. When everyone hated together, the outrage was fierce and united. But as the fervor waned and the stage for performance disappeared, emotions became mundane again.

Bored, Promise opened her private messages.

In this private space only she could see, the dark emotions spread like mold. She skimmed through a couple, but amidst the barrage of blocked profanities, one message stood out.

[Good evening.]

The sender was a string of garbled characters. Promise clicked on it and found that before this message, they had also sent a photo of their dinner.

In the container were greens, potatoes, and a small portion of rice simple and unadorned, yet the sender had doodled a smiley face on it.

Their profile was filled with fragments of daily life. Perhaps a morning sunrise, a street scene, or today’s meal. Each photo was taken with care, immersing the viewer in the moment.

It seemed like an account meant purely for sharing snippets of life. After browsing a few posts, Promise learned that this was an Alpha from a remote city. Due to her background, she had little education and suffered from multiple illnesses.

Past her mid-twenties, yet her life already felt like it was in its twilight years.

Thus, she spoke openly about her reality online without reservation. She admitted to working in the service industry exhausting and painful, finding peace only during occasional volunteer work, accompanying children with disabilities like herself.

Sometimes, without breaching privacy, she would share the children’s daily lives and updates, talking about their struggles.

Her profile always seemed to mention others, like an observer documenting everything in plain words.

The reason she liked Promise was simple.

She thought the smiling Promise in the livestreams was fake, like a drowning dog just like her. The only difference was that Promise was under the spotlight, watched by thousands.

The latest post was from ten minutes ago.

[Today, an Omega spoke to me first.]

A passerby had stumbled into the comments: [That’s great! Waiting for an update!]

The garbled username replied: [There won’t be one. I was so happy I coughed up blood in front of her. Even now, I haven’t received her friend request.]

The netizen replied with a shocked emoji, seemingly startled by the turn of events. The garbled user didn’t press further, adding another comment:

[But I was prepared for this. I’m not really surprised.]

A few minutes later, she finished writing as if concluding a day’s diary entry and started a new line on another page.

How are you today? Wishing you all the best. @Ying Xu

Her fingertip slid to the bottom of the screen just as Sheng Qiuyu’s message popped up.

The Omega had sent a flood of pitiful emojis and text, but the core message was simple:

Can you pick me up after the party ends?

In the selfie, Sheng Qiuyu stood in front of a champagne tower. Under the warm lighting, the liquid shimmered, and the tablecloth beneath the tower was adorned with intricate patterns, the satin exquisite.

For a moment, Ying Xu emerged from the sluggish, lifeless tide of her routine, only to be plunged back into the dazzling, surreal world of gold and glamour.

She didn’t reply immediately, instead staring at the address.

Until now, Sheng Qiuyu hadn’t mentioned any nighttime plans after they parted ways, clearly private matters she didn’t want Ying Xu to know about.

Why bring it up now?

Sheng Qiuyu and Gu Qingzhu were attending the same party.

Ying Xu casually replied with a few evasive lines. In the past, the Omega might have been displeased but would eventually let it go. This time, however, her insistence was unprecedented.

She wanted Ying Xu to see her tonight.

Ying Xu was certain they were indeed at the same venue.

What did Sheng Qiuyu want her to see? Gu Qingzhu at the party?

Aside from Gu Qingzhu openly flaunting a lover and publicly belittling Ying Xu, she couldn’t think of any other reason for Sheng Qiuyu’s persistence.

But she wouldn’t argue with Sheng Qiuyu.

Once Ying Xu relented, Sheng Qiuyu brightened again, chattering about the people and happenings at the party. But Ying Xu didn’t bother reading the details.

Before getting into the car, Ying Xu used a secondary account to transfer a third of her earnings to the other party.

The words on the screen remained dull and uninspiring, yet an unfamiliar emotion welled up inside her. It took her a while to realize it was pity.

She couldn’t pinpoint why she felt this way, nor could she recall when she first encountered and understood the term.

But Ying Xu faintly sensed that this emotion was deeply familiar to the original owner’s body, like a fish returning to water. She felt an unprecedented sense of alignment, as if, every day in the past, “Ying Xu” had been looking at someone with this very emotion.

Until “Ying Xu” died.

This chapter will be expanded later timing uncertain.

Before that, allow me a few rambling words…

First, the title of this book is Redemption Before Death. In my opinion, if the story doesn’t clearly show how Ying Xu redeems Gu Qingzhu or how Gu Qingzhu’s feelings evolve, the so-called “comeuppance” would feel hollow and forced.

A character who neither recognizes their mistakes nor truly loves someone, only going mad for the sake of drama, would be out of character something I find off-putting, can’t write, and don’t want to write.

Gu Qingzhu’s world is shrinking until it’s entirely Ying Xu.

But Ying Xu’s world is still expanding her life, her friends, why she chose the worst ending, and why she still stays with Gu Qingzhu. These are all part of the story.