After the Second Playthrough, the CP-Less Female Lead Kneels and Begs Me for Forgiveness [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 24

In the days that followed, the figure of Pei Xi was nowhere to be seen. Only Pei Qing remained persistent, visiting Shao Xibei every single day.

No matter how cold and indifferent Shao Xibei remained, Pei Qing’s enthusiasm stayed terrifyingly high. The obsession in his eyes had reached a level of feverish madness.

Shao Xibei loathed it. Being watched with such a gaze made her stomach churn with nausea.

When Pei Qing reached out to touch her hand, Shao Xibei brushed him off without hesitation, her face filled with disgust. “You truly make me sick like this.”

Pei Qing forced a smile. “Xiao Xi, I simply lost myself in my feelings. I swear, I won’t do it again.” Fearing he might upset her further, he immediately retreated several steps, maintaining a distant gap between them.

Lately, his body had been feeling increasingly heavy. Only here, in Shao Xibei’s presence, did he feel a sense of relief and a calm heart.

Shao Xibei watched him coldly. The middle-aged man’s cheeks had sunken in at some unknown point; his eye sockets were dark hollows, and his lips had turned a bruised purple. His once normal physique had become hunched and withered. He walked with a floating, unstable gait, looking for all the world like a man in the final stages of a terminal illness.

“Get out,” Shao Xibei said frostily.

Pei Qing nodded frantically. “Ah, yes, alright. I’ll leave right away.” With that, he turned around and stepped out of the room, slowly closing the door behind him and leaving Shao Xibei alone.

Staring at the door, Shao Xibei fell into deep thought. Just as Pei Qing had turned his back, she thought she saw small, child-sized palm prints on his hands, feet, and shoulders.

But in the blink of an eye, they were gone. Perhaps her eyes were playing tricks on her.

Since her body was so weak, it stood to reason she might see things. Shao Xibei extended her hand, looking at her wrist—which seemed fragile enough to shatter at a touch—feeling a deep intuition that she was never meant to be this way.

She sighed. Currently confined to this courtyard, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to leave; rather, she was penniless and possessed a body that coughed up blood after just a few steps. She had no means to escape.

As she thought this, she coughed up a bit more blood.

The bright red stains made her eyes ache. In all these days, she had recalled nothing; her mind remained a complete blank.

Pei Qing’s behavior felt more and more “off.”

Initially, perhaps out of fear that she might drop dead if she got too angry, Pei Qing had been patient and indulgent, acting like a proper elder and avoiding any transgressive behavior. But his pathological gaze could not be hidden. She had found him revolting from the very beginning.

Shao Xibei lowered her eyes and took a small sip of the high-quality tea on the table. She had to find a way out. Otherwise, if Pei Qing eventually lost his mind and snapped, she feared she might not be able to stop herself from killing him—and that would be her true undoing.

The Master’s Quarters

The moment Pei Qing returned to his bedroom, he collapsed heavily onto the bed.

He called out to the maid outside in a raspy, strained voice: “Liu Ye, go quickly… cough, cough… go fetch Dr. Li.”

The maid responded immediately.

After some time, he didn’t see Dr. Li, but rather Madam Pei, who arrived with Pei Xi in tow.

“I really don’t want to argue with you today,” Pei Qing said, barely lifting his eyelids as they entered.

Madam Pei’s eyes were full of worry. She hurried to his side, her voice tinged with a mix of resentment and concern. “You stubborn man… I heard from Liu Ye that you called for the doctor again. Has your condition worsened?”

Pei Qing looked at her with suspicion, answering her question with another: “Yuhua, are you no longer angry?”

Hearing this, Madam Pei looked even more aggrieved. “What is there to be angry about? After all these years, don’t you know my temperament? I stopped being angry long ago; I was just waiting for you to coax me a little.”

“And yet,” she continued, “you stayed with your ‘new favorite’ and neglected your own health.”

Pei Qing watched Madam Pei’s every move. He seemed to recall the sweetness of their early years together. That’s right, he thought, Yuhua loves me so much; how could she stay angry over something like this?

He managed a smile. “Yuhua, you must believe that you are the only one I truly love.”

Madam Pei shyly swatted his shoulder with her handkerchief. “Have you no shame? The child is right here.”

Just then, a knock came from the door. “Master, Dr. Li has arrived.”

“Let him in,” Pei Qing replied.

The man entered. Dr. Li was a famous physician in Yuzhou, known for his refined skills. However, despite seeing the Master of the Pei family several times, he could never find the cause of the illness.

Seeing Pei Qing’s current state, he couldn’t hide his shock. It had only been two days since they last met—how could he have withered so drastically?

After examining him once more, Dr. Li shook his head. “Forgive my lack of skill, but I truly cannot find the physical root of Master Pei’s ailment.” Judging by his face, it looked like a loss of vital essence—as if he had spent too much time indulging in wine and lust. Yet, his pulse was steady; his blood and Qi were only slightly deficient, nowhere near enough to explain his outward appearance.

Dr. Li stroked his white beard and asked, “Has Master Pei been taking the prescriptions I gave?”

Pei Qing nodded.

Dr. Li asked again, “Have you consulted any other physicians?”

“Yes,” Madam Pei answered for him. “We’ve consulted almost every doctor in Yuzhou. They all say the same as you, Dr. Li.”

Dr. Li’s brow furrowed as if a thought had occurred to him. “Master Pei, there is something I’m not sure I should mention.”

Pei Qing nodded. “Just say it.”

Dr. Li said, “I once treated a scholar who had the exact same symptoms as you. Many doctors failed to cure him. Eventually, a relative visited and claimed the scholar was possessed by evil spirits and needed a Taoist priest. They actually brought in a priest, and the scholar recovered.”

Madam Pei lowered her eyes, masking her emotions. “Dr. Li, are you suggesting my husband is possessed?”

Pei Qing, however, was dismissive. He waved his hand dismissively. “Possessed? Nonsense. It’s all fake.”

Seeing this, Dr. Li said no more. He prescribed a few sedative herbs and departed.

Once he was gone, Madam Pei grabbed Pei Qing’s hand, her eyes swimming with concern. “Husband, perhaps we should invite a Taoist priest after all.”

The mere mention of a priest sent Pei Qing into a fit of rage. His emotions spiked, triggering a violent coughing fit. “Cough, cough, cough! Don’t mention priests to me! They’re nothing but charlatans putting on a show!”

Seeing this, Madam Pei hurried to soothe him. “Alright, alright, I won’t mention it. I heard Dr. Zhang from Huichun Hall is also quite skilled; I’ll have him come over to examine you another day.”

Once his breathing leveled out, Pei Qing gripped Madam Pei’s hand tightly. “Yuhua, you are still the one who cares for me most.”

Madam Pei simply offered a faint smile. “If I don’t care for you, who will?”

After some time, Pei Qing’s eyelids grew heavy with exhaustion, and he eventually fell into a deep sleep.

Seeing this, Madam Pei straightened up. She turned to Pei Xi, who had been standing silently in the background like a ghost, and said, “Let’s go.”

Once they reached the main hall, Madam Pei slowly leaned back into her chair, her eyes narrowing. “Xi’er, that bitch is still alive after all these days.”

With a heavy thud, Pei Xi dropped to her knees before Madam Pei.

Madam Pei merely chuckled. “Get up. Ming’er will be back tomorrow.”

Hidden beneath her sleeves, Pei Xi’s hands clenched instinctively.

“Mother, I…”

Madam Pei cut her off. “Enough. I know what you want to say, and I have no interest in hearing your explanations.”

“Pei Xi, do you see it? Do you see that disgusting look on your father’s face—always wanting what he doesn’t have while clutching what he does? That is the nature of men.”

Pei Xi kept her head lowered, as she always did.

Watching Pei Xi’s behavior, a wave of profound annoyance rose within Madam Pei. “I truly don’t understand how you grew up to be such a lifeless thing. It’s irritating just to look at you. I wonder if Pei Qing beat the brains out of you three years ago.”

Pei Xi remained silent.

Suddenly, Madam Pei snapped. “Raise your head! Look at me!”

Hearing the command, Pei Xi hesitated but ultimately looked up.

Because she was kneeling, looking up at Madam Pei forced her into a posture of supplication, making the eyes hidden behind her messy bangs clearly visible.

Slap! A sharp, loud crack echoed through the room.

Her face burned with stinging pain, but Pei Xi didn’t reach up to touch it. Instead, she lowered her head once more.

“Sure enough, no matter how many times I see them, your eyes disgust me. If you hadn’t truly come out of my own womb, I would suspect you were a stray I picked up.”

“Get out.” Madam Pei rubbed her temples. She still had to go oversee the shops later and didn’t want to waste any more time on Pei Xi.

Pei Xi walked out and once again found herself at the entrance of Shao Xibei’s courtyard. As always, guards were posted there.

This time, she stood at the gate for a very long time. Over the past few days, she had been constantly thinking about the woman inside. She remembered the moment she had been tackled to the ground; she had wondered then if a mother’s embrace felt like that—scented and soft. But that hadn’t truly been an embrace.

Pei Xi gazed up at the azure sky, reaching out her thin, withered hand and spreading her fingers wide.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps between her fingers and into her eyes. Her light-colored pupils appeared crystal clear under the sun’s glow.

No one likes me. No one needs me.

I—

Why didn’t I die three years ago?

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