After the Strategy Failed, the Heroine Turned into a Crematorium - Chapter 44

Zhiyun Network.

Qi Zhie sat at her desk, engrossed in signing documents when the office door was abruptly pushed open without warning. The sharp click of high heels against the floor gradually drew closer.

Finishing the last signature, Qi Zhie looked up at the uninvited guest, her delicate and composed face betraying no emotion.

Ren Shuliu stared at the woman before her, curling her lips into a mocking smile. She casually walked over to the fridge, pulled out a bottle of water, and sprawled on the sofa. “How ruthless. After all the time we spent together, is there really no trace of affection left?”

The folder closed softly as Qi Zhie stood and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window. She pulled open the sheer white curtains that had been drawn shut, allowing the unfiltered, glaring sunlight to pour in and envelop her. The scorching heat spread through the air.

“I gave her a chance,” came the indifferent, emotionless reply.

She hadn’t denied Bian You the opportunity. If Bian You had broken up with her upon sensing her growing detachment, she could have walked away unscathed. Or if, when Yin Li appeared, Bian You had shown even a shred of hesitation, the outcome wouldn’t have turned out like this.

Ren Shuliu scoffed. “Then why choose this method?”

Qi Zhie didn’t answer immediately. Instead, her thoughts drifted back to her past life before returning to the moment she had been reborn. Her grip on the curtains tightened slightly.

“For her, this was the only way.”

From beginning to end, this body this existence tied to Bian You was only suited for this kind of condemnation.

“Then why show mercy?” Ren Shuliu took a sip of the ice-cold water, the chill biting at her fingertips.

Qi Zhie turned her head and regarded her coldly. Who, after witnessing everything she had done, would dare claim she had shown mercy?

“Tsk, don’t look at me like that. Whether you went easy or not, you know best.” Ren Shuliu lifted a hand, admiring her manicure as she drawled, “If you hadn’t deliberately left gaps, why set up such a flawed scheme?”

“You yourself are the best witness.”

Yet, she had chosen someone Bian You neither knew nor had met to file the accusation. With the Bian family’s resources, overturning such a case wouldn’t be difficult. It was even possible for the investigation to trace back to Qi Zhie.

This woman had practically thrown herself into danger, utterly foolish.

Qi Zhie sat down across from her and asked instead, “Did you come here just to say this?”

“What, isn’t that reason enough for me to make the trip?” Ren Shuliu crossed her legs, swinging one foot lazily. Her strikingly beautiful face wore a faintly mocking smile. “Do you really not regret it? Cutting off every possibility between you two.”

Qi Zhie stared at her impassively. “What exactly do you want?”

“Tsk, so humorless. I’m starting to pity Bian You a little, how could she fall for someone like you? Looking back now, she really treated you well. A devoted alpha like her isn’t easy to come by.”

Her tone was thick with schadenfreude, dripping with playful sarcasm.

“If you’re truly bored, go meet with President Zhang from Shunlian.”

“Fine, I’ll take pity on you and give you some time to reminisce about the past. After all, the good old days are over now.”

Ren Shuliu smirked, then left the same way she had arrived.

Qi Zhie’s expression gradually darkened as she leaned back against the sofa, her fingertips lightly rubbing together. She had indeed been affected by Ren Shuliu’s words.

Returning home from work, she unexpectedly saw two people at her doorstep who shouldn’t have been there.

Mi Yue’s expression was complicated as she recalled Bian You’s words. In the end, she didn’t say much else and got straight to the point: “I came to collect A’You’s things.”

Qi Zhie lifted her gaze and silently studied her for a long moment. Su Qinran, standing beside Mi Yue, suddenly shifted slightly to shield her, as if wary of Qi Zhie.

Lowering her eyes, Qi Zhie opened the door.

“Come in.”

Mi Yue and Su Qinran stepped inside.

“No need to change shoes.”

Hearing this, the two didn’t stand on ceremony and walked in without changing.

This was Mi Yue’s first time here. Her eyes swept around, taking in the lived-in atmosphere, the many small details that reflected the owner’s thoughtful touches. But upon closer inspection, Mi Yue realized those details were all things Bian You had asked her to handle.

Mi Yue: “…”

“This is her room.” Qi Zhie opened the door to the guest bedroom.

Without wasting words, the two began packing up Bian You’s belongings as instructed. They gathered everything to be taken away, and once finished, someone would come to haul it all off for disposal.

After clearing out Bian You’s things from the guest room, Mi Yue looked at Qi Zhie and said, “She mentioned there are still some items in your master bedroom that need to be thrown out.”

Qi Zhie remained silent, meeting Mi Yue’s serious yet distant gaze before wordlessly opening the door to the master bedroom.

Mi Yue meticulously followed Bian You’s instructions, even packing up the little rubber duck Bian You liked to use during baths nothing was left behind.

After their relentless efforts, they ended up with five massive black trash bags full of belongings. Qi Zhie’s home instantly felt colder and emptier.

Qi Zhie stared at the pile. She had always known Bian You had quietly brought many things into the house, but she never realized just how much.

Su Qinran was still holding a box Qi Zhie recognized it as the set of brooches Bian You had won at a charity auction. Originally meant as a gift for her, Bian You had been angered by her words at the time, and the brooches had never resurfaced since.

Noticing Qi Zhie’s gaze lingering on the box, Mi Yue said, “A’You said she’s giving these to Su Su. They’ll be perfect for her to wear at events.”

The gemstone brooches were valuable in their own right, so Su Qinran wearing them wouldn’t be beneath her status.

Qi Zhie pressed her lips together but didn’t interfere as they called someone to haul everything away.

Before leaving, Mi Yue looked at Qi Zhie’s silent figure, her chest burning with discomfort. She wanted to say something harsh to Qi Zhie but remembered Bian You’s request she didn’t want things to end ugly.

Mi Yue always listened to Bian You, so no matter how much she wanted to lash out, she held back in the end.

Back in the car, her eyes stung, her nose reddened, and she buried her face in Su Qinran’s chest, sobbing, “How could it come to this? How could she do this? How can she be so heartless!”

“I always thought they were perfect for each other, but it was all a lie!”

Bian You had said, “She never loved me at all.”

Can feelings really be faked? Then what is real, and what is false?

Su Qinran held her, gently stroking her head to comfort her while sighing inwardly.

Mi Yue had been sheltered too well by her family, shielded from the filth of the world. Her thoughts and actions were simple, and it was precisely this simplicity and purity that had drawn Su Qinran to her.

But Su Qinran had been steeped in the entertainment industry, a cesspool for far too long and had witnessed countless dark things. In her eyes, Qi Zhie’s actions were relatively mild.

“I’ll never believe in love again, wuwu…”

Su Qinran’s hand paused mid-stroke before she pinched Mi Yue’s ear and twisted it, gritting her teeth. “What kind of nonsense are you spouting?”

Where did this person think she stood?

Mi Yue sniffled, rubbing her ear as she hiccuped, “I was just saying it.”

Su Qinran sighed softly, helpless against her.

Eventually, Bian You was released on bail pending trial, but the online uproar over her case was too great. She didn’t return to work at the Bian Corporation, instead staying home and rarely going out.

When she returned to the Bian family home, Yu Fanyun came to see her once. There was no warmth between them in fact, Yu Fanyun even thought it wasn’t impossible for Bian You to have done such a thing. This visit was more about expressing her disappointment than anything else.

Bian You offered no defense. Strictly speaking, Yu Fanyun’s child had indeed committed such an act it was just that Bian You was now bearing the consequences in their place.

She had Assistant Zhou help her sell the apartment she’d bought above Qi Zhie’s. She’d never spent a single day living there, yet it had ended in such a bleak conclusion.

Three days after her release, she received a call from Qi Zhie.

Qi Zhie said, “You still have a piano here.”

Hearing Qi Zhie’s voice again still made her heart tremble, but after that tremor came a coldness that seemed to freeze her entire body.

“That was a gift for you. I don’t take back what I’ve given away. If you don’t want it, you can smash it yourself,” Bian You said coldly.

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line before Qi Zhie replied, “It’s your property. I don’t want to interfere.”

Bian You scoffed. “Fine. Wait for me, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

She hung up, got up without even changing out of her loungewear, and drove straight to Qi Zhie’s place, ringing the doorbell.

When Qi Zhie opened the door and saw Bian You standing there, she froze.

Bian You had lost so much weight that her clothes hung loosely on her, a size too large. She had always been someone with a slight obsession with cleanliness, yet now she appeared unkempt before Qi Zhie.

Bian You walked past her without hesitation. “Excuse me, I won’t be changing my shoes.”

Stepping into Qi Zhie’s home again, the place looked just as it had the first time she’d visited cold and devoid of warmth.

Entering the piano room she had once decorated, sunlight still streamed in just as serenely and warmly as before, but now it no longer carried any sense of comfort.

Instead of violently smashing the piano, Bian You found tools to dismantle it as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb the neighbors.

Qi Zhie had followed her silently since she entered, watching her every move, standing stiffly to the side.

From the moment Bian You swam through the door, she hadn’t spared her a single glance, remaining indifferent from start to finish, as if they were strangers.

“Don’t you hate me?” Qi Zhie suddenly spoke up.

Bian You’s hands didn’t pause in their task as she replied coolly, “Since I’ve taken over her body and reaped the benefits it brought, I must bear all the consequences that come with it.”

“It’s unreasonable to want only the good while trying to wash your hands of the bad.”

“I asked if you hate me,” Qi Zhie repeated.

Bian You’s hands stilled. She remained crouched motionless, staring silently at the dismantled pieces before her.

The atmosphere grew heavy, stifling to the point of suffocation.

Qi Zhie crouched down beside Bian You, looking at her as she asked again, “Do you hate me?”

Bian You lifted her gaze to meet hers. After a quiet moment, she suddenly laughed, a bitter, mocking laugh that reddened the rims of her eyes.

“Qi Zhie, what’s the point of coming here to say all this now? Whether I hate you or not, what difference does it make to you?”

Someone who doesn’t even know love, how could they care whether you hate them or not?

Qi Zhie was momentarily at a loss for words. Her expression darkened, and she fell silent, as still as a statue.

“Qi Zhie, I remember we once agreed that if our feelings faded, we’d part amicably and give each other a dignified ending.” Here, Bian You paused. She wanted to ask if Qi Zhie had been lying to her even back then, but in the end, she swallowed the words.

Did the answer even matter anymore? And judging by her actions, wasn’t the answer already clear?

From the very beginning, she had never intended for them to walk a peaceful path together. From the very start, she had never planned to give them a dignified ending.

Qi Zhie’s long lashes trembled slightly, casting deeper shadows beneath her eyes.

She studied Bian You’s gaunt face, the sharp angles of her features now more pronounced. Those once-bright, clear eyes were now clouded with gloom, a far cry from their former clarity.

When Bian You had been radiant and untarnished, Qi Zhie had wanted to drag her down, to press her into the mud, to taint her until she was as filthy as herself someone only fit to experience the filth of this world.

But now that she had truly pulled her down, watching her become like a rat scurrying through the streets, despised by all, Qi Zhie found no satisfaction in it.

She wasn’t happy. Seeing Bian You like this, she wasn’t used to it.

Bian You’s lips curled slightly as she fixed her gaze on Qi Zhie. Her heart ached as if being torn apart, yet she enunciated each word clearly: “Since you’ve done it, then have the decency to follow through with your convictions. Don’t regret it.”

Don’t come back now with words that stir up illusions.

Halfway through dismantling, Bian You couldn’t continue. She stared at the ruined piano, swaying slightly as she straightened up her body was clearly weakened from lack of rest these past days.

“You can arrange for someone to haul the rest away. If you’d rather not bother, I can do it just make sure you’re home to let them in.”

Bian You had no desire to stay any longer. As she turned to leave, Qi Zhie suddenly grabbed her hand.

She turned back, her gaze calm as she looked at Qi Zhie.

Under that steady stare, Qi Zhie seemed to flinch, her grip loosening until she finally let go.

Bian You lowered her gaze to look at her for a long moment, her eyes growing colder by the second. Finally, she said, “My hands just got dirty. May I borrow your bathroom?”

Her tone was icy and distant, laced with a formality that was utterly unlike the Bian You of the past.

Qi Zhie stepped aside, letting her walk out of the piano room.

Bian You strode straight into the guest bathroom, turned on the faucet, and began washing her hands. Raising her eyes to meet her reflection in the mirror, she saw even the red veins in her eyes standing out proof of just how haggard she had let herself become these past days.

When she stepped out of the bathroom, Qi Zhie happened to be coming out of the kitchen with two glasses of water, offering one to her.

Bian You took it and drank a few sips, only for Qi Zhie’s question, Do you hate me? to suddenly echo in her mind.

How could she truly not hate her? Even if she told herself she was bearing the consequences of the original owner’s actions, she still couldn’t shake the resentment of having her genuine feelings trampled upon.

“Tomorrow, I’ll go to the hospital to have the mark completely removed. After that, we’ll have nothing more to do with each other.”

Qi Zhie abruptly lifted her head to stare at her, her grip on the glass turning pale and stiff.

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