Did I Succeed in Redeeming the Villain Today? - Chapter 36

Chapter 36: Temptation from Lu Ling

The excitement in the small auditorium never ceased, as the metallic percussion transformed into rock music. The dim lights flickered, casting swaying shadows across the girl’s face according to the rhythm of the music, causing her expression to drift between light and dark.

Lu Ning looked up at Mu Qiuyu standing before her. Her hazy, chaotic eyes slowly curved into a smile: “Mu… Qiu… Yu… you’re trying to trick me into talking again, aren’t you?”

The memory of being forced into “anesthesia” was still vivid; Lu Ning’s guard was at an all-time high. Mu Qiuyu hadn’t expected this unreliable System to have such a persistent sense of vigilance. She let out a small laugh and admitted frankly: “Yes, I am.”

“Hmph, I knew it.” Lu Ning wrinkled her nose. “I’m not going to tell you when that was.”

The person’s words were childish, and her behavior wasn’t much more stable. As she spoke, she crossed her arms over her chest and turned her head away, looking for all the world like she had successfully protected her secrets from Mu Qiuyu.

Mu Qiuyu didn’t consider herself someone who laughed easily, yet she was somehow amused by Lu Ning’s gesture. Since the night was young and time was on their side, Mu Qiuyu reached out to pull the person who was refusing to talk to her, initiating a reconciliation: “Fine, then don’t tell me. It’s late; we should head home.”

Hearing this, Lu Ning turned back around. She looked at the still-boisterous auditorium, confused: “It’s over already? Is Li Xiang’s performance finished?”

“Not yet, but I want to go back,” Mu Qiuyu told her honestly.

“Did you tell Li Xiang?”

“Mu Qiuyu, do you know that you need to be polite in social interactions?”

“I know you don’t like these things, but Li Xiang and Pei Yinyue are good partners. You need to maintain your friendships with them.”

“You’re young now and think you can walk through the world all by yourself, but the truth isn’t like that…”

Mu Qiuyu hadn’t expected that a simple request to leave early would trigger such a long-winded lecture from Lu Ning. Alcohol acted like a chemical reagent, instantly scrawling all the worries Lu Ning usually hid in her heart for Mu Qiuyu right across her face.

Lu Ning’s slightly flushed face was turned toward Mu Qiuyu, her eyes staring intently. “Humans are social animals. Friends like these will be very precious when you grow up.”

Faced with Lu Ning’s earnestness, Mu Qiuyu stared back just as seriously. She looked as though she was taking Lu Ning’s words to heart, yet also as though she hadn’t heard them at all. The lights swept over the booth again. Mu Qiuyu’s eyes held a contemplative look as she asked: “Do you actually have friends like that, or are you just imagining it because you don’t?”

In the midst of the restless metal music, Mu Qiuyu’s voice sounded exceptionally calm, yet carried a hint of skepticism.

Lu Ning caught it immediately and declared indignantly: “How could it be my imagination! I have a friend exactly like that, okay!”

“Is that so?” Mu Qiuyu raised an eyebrow slightly, questioning the visibly drunk person. “What’s her name?”

“Why should I tell you?” Lu Ning mumbled a rebuttal and shrunk back into the corner of the booth.

Only this time, her vigilance against Mu Qiuyu’s question was much lower. Alcohol hadn’t expected that a concentration insufficient to intoxicate a minor would ferment so rapidly in an adult body. Lu Ning no longer knew why she was guarding against Mu Qiuyu; she was only holding on through a shred of reflex.

This weak reaction was visible in the dim environment, and Mu Qiuyu saw it clearly. Without pausing, she continued: “Because you lost the bet when we first met. This is the wager I’m collecting.”

When logic and facts combined, the brain paralyzed by alcohol simply crashed. Lu Ning blinked, seemingly trying to remember if what Mu Qiuyu said was correct. Mu Qiuyu didn’t give her the chance, leaning against the table behind her. Her movements were relaxed, and her words even more nonchalant: “What? You just taught me so many principles, yet you can’t even keep a promise yourself?”

At this mention, Lu Ning’s internal “teacher alarm” went off. As a teacher, one must lead by example; only by keeping one’s word can students trust you.

Thus, Lu Ning didn’t hesitate: “Of course I can!”

“My friend is called Ji Xiao. We grew up together—elementary, middle, high school—we even went to the same university. We were an invincible duo in the whole department, you know!”

At this, Lu Ning raised her head proudly. The light brushed past her peripheral vision, and she saw Mu Qiuyu narrow her eyes in apparent admiration, nodding at her: “So that’s how it is…”

“Exactly!” Lu Ning echoed. She felt Mu Qiuyu fully believed her, so she steered back to her previous topic: “So, if you’re leaving early, you must express your apologies to Li Xiang and give her more compliments.”

“Do you hear me?” Lu Ning said, shaking her arm, which in turn shook Mu Qiuyu’s hand that was holding it.

“I hear you,” Mu Qiuyu replied, actually following Lu Ning’s instructions and pulling out her phone to compose messages to Li Xiang and Pei Yinyue.

The dark booth lit up as the phone screen illuminated the girl’s clean profile. The drunken Lu Ning had completely forgotten social etiquette, tilting her chin up and watching Mu Qiuyu edit the messages with satisfaction. She was feeling a bit smug, even pushing her luck.

Seeing Mu Qiuyu do as she said, she demanded: “No, just ‘hearing’ it isn’t enough. You have to remember every single word I said today.”

Mu Qiuyu’s hand stopped typing. She shifted her gaze from the screen, casting a deep look toward Lu Ning: “Lu Ling, you’re the one who asked for this.”

“Yup!” Lu Ning nodded vigorously.

Seeing Lu Ning’s strong demand, Mu Qiuyu readily agreed: “Fine.” She stared directly into Lu Ning’s eyes. Her cool voice cut through the restless music, word by word: “I won’t forget a single word you’ve said here today.”

“That’s more like it.” Lu Ning leaned back against the seat, completely forgetting what she had actually said just seconds ago. But then she seemed to remember something else and beckoned to Mu Qiuyu: “Mu Qiuyu.”

The gesture signaled Mu Qiuyu to lean closer. Mu Qiuyu’s gaze paused. A drunk Lu Ning looked no different from usual, yet somehow felt different. Mu Qiuyu didn’t know what Lu Ning was going to do, but she followed the instruction anyway.

“Wh—”

Before the question could leave her mouth, a hand landed on top of Mu Qiuyu’s head.

“Good girl. Teacher is very proud.”

It was Lu Ning’s voice, full of laughter, ringing right by Mu Qiuyu’s ear. The person sat up straight and, with a death-defying boldness, reached out and patted Mu Qiuyu’s head.

The surroundings were still noisy, but Mu Qiuyu’s world suddenly went silent. Her fluffy hair was pressed down by the slightly heavy palm, leaving a sensation of warmth and moisture. Like a midday rain in spring.

Mu Qiuyu looked up at the person before her. Flushed with alcohol, Lu Ning’s face was covered in an unnatural glow, like a sunset or a ball of blazing fire. Anyone touched by her would be scorched by that fire. And they were currently so close there was no distance at all.

Mu Qiuyu’s heart gave a heavy thump. It was scorched by the fire, slamming against her fragile chest.

“Keep…”

The person in the booth was pulled up. Before the words “up the good work” could leave Lu Ning’s mouth, her sticky voice was cut off by the sudden force of Mu Qiuyu pulling her. She was led out of the auditorium.

The music followed the girls’ footsteps through the crowd until, finally, the doors were pushed open from the inside. The clamor leaked out, abruptly breaking the silence of the night. This leakage felt like a brief, accidental interlude, severed the moment the doors swung shut. The world returned to its quiet tone.

Lu Ning was dizzy. She only saw her hand being held by the person walking quickly in front of her. She didn’t remember how they left the auditorium or where the person was taking her, but she followed. Because she recognized this person. This person was Mu Qiuyu. A Host who wouldn’t hurt her.

The wind blew past Mu Qiuyu’s face. The March night air wasn’t all that gentle. The blade-like air scraped against her, and the specks of light acted like the friction of falling impulses, gradually cooling her thoughts.

Mu Qiuyu was indeed only a seventeen-year-old girl now, her long, lean legs making her pace light. But her soul was that of a twenty-seven-year-old woman. That was an age that knew much more and was capable of trying anything. Mu Qiuyu couldn’t understand why a drunk person wasn’t repulsive, but instead made inappropriate thoughts sprout in her mind.

She is just a System. She isn’t even a life form that belongs to this world. Am I crazy?

Mu Qiuyu’s heart beat rapidly. The emotions piling up in her head were like a tangled ball of yarn, being toyed with by a black cat with innocent eyes, rolling back and forth in her heart. And yet, she couldn’t abandon this cat.

This person was drunk; she could talk nonsense in front of her. Even if it were in front of Li Xiang, she could get past it. But if her “nonsense” were heard by Pei Yinyue, Mu Qiuyu didn’t know if that person would suspect Lu Ning’s identity as she had. Mu Qiuyu disliked unstable factors. The more disastrous the potential consequences, the more cautious she had to be.

Even if the purpose of leaving the auditorium was to get away from Lu Ning and find peace, she still had to carefully keep the culprit by her side.

Dammit.

On the weekend, the streets near the school were sparsely populated. Mu Qiuyu pulled Lu Ning recklessly, soon reaching the sidewalk. After the long, rapid walk, she had calmed down, and her pace slowed. But mostly, it was because Mu Qiuyu’s physical strength had reached its limit. Though she didn’t have much to begin with.

“Need to exercise more.”

While Mu Qiuyu was gasping for air, a light sentence floated down from above her. She looked up and saw Lu Ning wasn’t breathless at all—the red on her face was still just a reaction to the alcohol.

“What are you going to do in the future? Universities have 800-meter physical tests every year. If you fail, you have to retake it. It’s a lot of trouble if you delay graduation,” Lu Ning said worriedly, trying to help brush the stray hairs from Mu Qiuyu’s face.

Whether out of stubbornness or to avoid any further “temptation,” Mu Qiuyu raised her hand and brushed the fingers away. “Typical schools won’t hold you back for that.” The girl’s gesture was somewhat cold, and her voice carried a distant chill.

If Mu Qiuyu had done this to anyone else, the conversation would likely have ended there. But not with Lu Ning. Others didn’t know what Mu Qiuyu’s future would be like, but how could she not? Mu Qiuyu was destined for a life far from “typical.” Her future wouldn’t be any easier than her present; she needed a healthy body and a healthy psyche.

“But you still need to live healthily,” Lu Ning murmured, leaning against a lamp post and looking at her fingers that Mu Qiuyu had rejected. “Don’t hurt yourself anymore.”

Lu Ning didn’t pull her hand back. Instead, she reached out toward Mu Qiuyu again. The hand Mu Qiuyu had personally crafted finally touched her profile, moving from her breath-filled lips all the way up, brushing past her cheek and cheekbone, finally stopping at her eye socket.

“Your mother would be heartbroken,” Lu Ning said.

Clearly, it was she who had reached out to wipe Mu Qiuyu’s eyes. But why was it that tears were streaming from her own eyes?

Mu Qiuyu didn’t understand. Yet her heart, like a resonance, felt a sudden, sharp pain.

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