Fell In Love With My Older Sister’s Friend - Chapter 97

“I’m not going to eat you,” the nominal father sneered, his gaze sweeping over Lin Qingyue from top to bottom, lingering on the jade peace buckle at her waist, his eyes lighting up.

She really has done well that buckle looks very expensive, not to mention the small handbag she’s carrying. The leather material inside must certainly hold money.

Lin Qingyue had already lowered her head and taken a few steps away when a rough, large hand pressed down on her shoulder, leaving a reddish black mark instantly on her fair skin.

“In such a hurry to leave?” The man circled in front of her in a few strides, boldly blocking her way, his greedy eyes fixed on the peace buckle.

He reached out to snatch it away. Lin Qingyue frowned, her movement faster than her reaction, and without hesitation, she reached out to cover it, the price being a hard slap from him.

She dodged quickly, and as she turned her head, the gust of the slap only grazed her cheek, but a patch on the side of her face immediately swelled red and burned fiercely.

However, the peace buckle was held intact in the palm of her hand, safe and sound.

Lin Qingyue’s peach blossom eyes widened, a wave of lingering fear washing over her, so much so that she couldn’t feel the pain on her face.

Getting injured was within the plan, but this item absolutely could not be taken.

This was given to her by Zhizhi even letting him touch it was a defilement.

“Dodge, dodge, dodge,” the man spat on the ground, roaring curses, “Your old man is so poor he has to beg for food, while you and your dead ghost of a mother live in comfort. Why shouldn’t you give me some money when you have it?”

He spoke as if it were his rightful due. His bronze colored face flushed with anger, yet there wasn’t a trace of shame. Didn’t this come as naturally as breathing?

Lin Qingyue silently took a step back, lowering her head, but said firmly, “I can’t give it to you.”

Having been struck, the woman looked even more pitiful, appearing frail and powerless, as if one slap could knock her down. This appearance was most likely to ignite the man’s beastly instincts.

The man spat again viciously, “Damn it, you are your father’s property! You won’t give it? I’ll take it myself!”

He was used to acting like a tyrant at home, so much so that for a moment he forgot that Lin Qingyue had long since grown up and was no longer the little girl he could simply pin down and beat.

After several failed attempts, Lin Qingyue’s appearance looked increasingly pathetic, even the hairpins in her bun were slightly loosened, clearly suggesting she wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

His intuition told him this was the moment.

“If you don’t hand it over, don’t blame your father for showing no mercy!” The man grinned menacingly, randomly picking up half a shattered beer bottle from the roadside ditch and swinging it down towards Lin Qingyue’s head.

University students from the nearby college occasionally got into drunken brawls here, so finding a handy weapon was not surprising.

Against the sunlight, the man waved the beer bottle, his bloodshot eyes, and his most ordinary features, truly carving out the image of a demon.

Lin Qingyue slowly closed her eyes. If hell existed on earth, she had been living in it since childhood, still carrying the demon’s blood, so filthy she herself despised it.

But demons roamed the world freely, while she couldn’t even stand in the sunlight. Why was the world always so unfair?

The beer bottle came straight at her. She didn’t dodge instead, she rapidly turned her body. With a ‘bang,’ her spine felt almost broken, and a large patch of crimson bloomed on her skirt. The pain was so intense her lips went numb.

Shards of glass embedded themselves in her flesh, a piercing, agonizing pain. As she turned around, boundless darkness filled Lin Qingyue’s vision.

Fortunately, she had long been accustomed to walking in an endless hell, unseen by the sun.

To glimpse light within the darkness is to be the moon.

The man did not share her surname he had casually given her a name like a small flower or grass. It was her mother who explained poetry and literature to her, taught her the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and gave her a name using her own surname.

Lin Qingyue, my daughter, my life has been wasted, may you find light in the darkness. May you have the chance to leave this cursed land, to escape this terrifying man. May you live your life pure and safe.

Lin Qingyue took a deep breath, ignoring the pain in her internal organs. Amidst the blood-soaked mess, she stared at the man, a smile slowly curling on her lips.

Her action was faster than she had anticipated. Before the man could move again, she pulled out a hairpin from her bun.

The long silver hairpin had a wide end and a tip ground very sharp, feeling like a small dagger in her hand. Her long hair cascaded down, now stained with blood, sticking to the corners of her mouth, making her appearance temporarily exquisitely beautiful, like a female ghost resurrected.

When the beer bottle swung down towards her head again, the hairpin in her hand tasted the gushing blood.

What a coincidence a casual swipe landed right on the carotid artery.

Lin Qingyue did not close her eyes, but she couldn’t clearly see what was in front of her. She only felt enveloped by a thick, sticky red color all over her body. She hated this feeling, like the relentless setting sun in a small mountain village. Like the ravine where countless innocent lives had been buried.

She had succeeded. The beer bottle also reached her neck. Before it could advance another inch, the man’s face twitched strangely a couple of times, the beer bottle helplessly slipped from his grasp and clattered onto the ground with a clang.

A few tiny shards splashed onto her leg, causing a sharp sting, but Lin Qingyue was completely oblivious.

She slowly lowered her arm. Her red dress was dripping blood, and it was indeed dripping. The hairpin in her hand was dyed a vibrant red, and her skirt was seeping blood. Eerily beautiful and tragic, as if she had just crawled out of hell.

She did not move forward for a follow up strike, nor did she take any other action. She just stood there, looking stunned and bewildered, for half a minute, before finally collapsing weakly onto the ground. She was barely half a meter away from the man struggling on the ground.

Blood flowed like a river, an eye stabbing expanse of red. She sat in the pool of blood, her skirt spread out like a Mandrake flower rumored to be watered by fresh blood. Exceedingly beautiful, and terrifyingly so.

The blood converged into a small stream, mixing with the blood from the man. She dipped a finger in it, brought it to her nose to sniff the same metallic smell. How strange, she carried the same blood as this person.

Having held the hairpin for too long, her hand already ached. The blood soaked woman suddenly remembered something, opened her palm, and looked thankfully, the peace buckle lay clean and untainted in her hand, without a speck of dust.

She recalled that last year, after staying in Weicheng for several years, she finally had news about her mother, only to be tracked down by this man at this critical moment. She wasn’t afraid for herself, but she feared the man would harm her mother, which is why she fled to Weicheng in a panic to divert the man’s attention.

She went through all this trouble only to protect the people she loved: first her mother, then Zhizhi.

But why should she have to be so cautious, so meticulous? One mistake could lead to imprisonment. Yet this man could act recklessly and brazenly follow and harass her, and no one could stop him because it was “family business.”

She had done nothing wrong; she only wanted to stand in the sunlight with her integrity intact, to live openly and honorably.

Lin Qingyue ground her teeth and crawled forward inch by inch, gently placing her hand under the man’s nostrils. He was no longer breathing.

Finally, an expression of confusion and terror appeared on her face. Trembling, she pulled out her phone, first sending a short message to Xu Luzhi, and then dialing the police emergency number.

Her red dress fluttered. Lin Qingyue stood alone by the riverbank, gazing at the surging river water, suddenly feeling an urge to jump in.

But she couldn’t. Even if there was only a one percent chance, she had to live to return to find Xu Luzhi, to find her mother. Self-defense claims were judged too strictly if she had done this much and still ended up imprisoned, she would rather die.

The world wasn’t entirely fair, but Lin Qingyue was willing to use her life to write justice. She didn’t resent the judge who might issue a verdict, because they too had constraints and considerations. In that case, let her, the one with nothing to hold her back, handle these matters.

When she heard the sirens, Lin Qingyue tilted her face up to the sky, finally feeling the bone-piercing pain in her back.

The weather was beautiful today the sunlight was gentle, and there was a faint scent of flowers in the wind. She truly wished Zhizhi could see such good weather. She wished she would have the chance to see such good weather in this life again. A day where she wouldn’t fear violence and human trafficking that could erupt at any moment, a day to walk cleanly in the sunlight.

Xu Luzhi was completely caught off guard when she received the message. She had just woken up from a deep nap, but the sleep had been chaotic, filled with flickering images of Lin Qingyue in a red dress, heartbreakingly beautiful.

Amidst the shock, when she finally woke up and saw Lin Qingyue’s message, she thought she was still dreaming.

The message Lin Qingyue sent was very brief, even containing typos, seemingly hastily composed in a rush.

She wrote: “Zhizhi, I’m very sorry, but I did nothing wrong.”

She wrote: “Before this, let’s break up. You must not look for me.”

She wrote: “May you fly high like a bird and meet someone better than me.”

She wrote: “I hope little Zhizhi’s life is filled with all you wish for, untouched by dust.”

These were the words Lin Qingyue kept hidden in her heart; thousands of words boiled down to a few brief sentences.

She didn’t want to break up, but she wanted even less to drag Xu Luzhi down with her. If the worst outcome occurred, let her drown alone in the pool of blood in hell, while Xu Luzhi remained pure, never having to see the darkness of the world. Lin Qingyue, with blood on her hands, was unworthy of such a good Xu Luzhi.

As she sat in the police car, Lin Qingyue thought, let Xu Luzhi forget her. There were plenty of better girls out there. But she had never felt such a frantic craving a desperate desire to return to Xu Luzhi’s side, to hold her and kiss her one more time. She even regretted her impulsive actions; perhaps in a few years, everything would have been different.

But she couldn’t bear the thought of Xu Luzhi being harassed by that man, not even once. They were both girls, it was hard to fight against the darkness in the world; she was willing to use her own life to keep Xu Luzhi safe and sound.

Xu Luzhi’s heart sank. Her gaze settled on the word “break up,” and her intuition told her that Lin Qingyue had done something.

She tried to message back, but as expected, she was blocked.

Xu Luzhi stared blankly for a moment, then let out an exasperated laugh. Lin Qingyue had hidden things from her so well, not even leaving a shred of evidence, fearing she would be implicated. But she didn’t know that Xu Luzhi wanted nothing else only for her to be safe.

However, the fact that Lin Qingyue could send her a message proved she was alive and conscious. Compared to the worst-case scenario, this was a small comfort to Xu Luzhi.

Lin Qingyue said, “Don’t look for me.” Xu Luzhi suddenly realized something. She opened her computer and, with a few quick operations, Lin Qingyue’s location clearly displayed on the screen:

The police station near Lincheng University in Lincheng City.

This location came from a hidden GPS inside the peace buckle, tailor made for Lin Qingyue, with a switch only she could activate. She had feared something happening to Lin Qingyue, but the result was even faster than she had imagined.

Xu Luzhi’s mind went blank. Usually calm and self-possessed, she was speechless now, unable to even think of the next step.

What should she do? When giving speeches on a grand stage, she was poised and self-assured; facing several academicians whose combined ages numbered over a thousand, she was calm and composed. But facing Lin Qingyue’s current situation, it felt like an electric current had passed through her entire body.

After a long moment, Xu Luzhi reached out and gently touched the computer screen, as if staring at those few words could somehow rescue Lin Qingyue.

She finally did what she had been forced to consider.

A pain shot through Xu Luzhi’s chest, and she slumped onto the chair, mourning her powerlessness, her utter weakness. For the first time in her life, she hated that she wasn’t a burly man. But what was wrong with being a girl? Why must one pay such a heavy price just to protect the person they want to shield?

Xu Luzhi didn’t know, but tears streamed down uncontrollably. Her hand moved, unconsciously dialing a sequence of numbers on the screen, but she hesitated to press the final call button. It wasn’t that she couldn’t use complex connections or favors, but that would only harm Lin Qingyue. What her “sister” wanted was to live openly she wouldn’t appreciate such special treatment, even a little bit of care.

But she herself had done nothing wrong she just wanted to stand proudly in the sunlight. Why did it have to take being covered in blood to achieve that?

Xu Luzhi’s heart ached ceaselessly she hated herself because she could do nothing but cry.

Her fingertips hovered over the flight booking interface, but she knew clearly that even if she went, she wouldn’t be able to see Lin Qingyue. Lin Qingyue wouldn’t want to see her covered in guilt and sin.

Xu Luzhi’s screen was paused on the payment confirmation. By the time she saw the message, several hours had passed since Lin Qingyue’s incident; she could delay no longer.

Just as she was about to press the payment button, the location on the screen flickered and changed to Lincheng University. Then, it changed again to the house where Lin Qingyue lived.

Xu Luzhi’s hand trembled, and she canceled the payment. She stared at the continuously blinking location on the screen, feeling as if she had survived a near death experience. She touched her back and found it drenched in cold sweat, as if she had just walked through the gates of hell.

Thank goodness, Lin Qingyue was still alright.

She looked down and tried to message Lin Qingyue, but she was still blocked. Xu Luzhi felt a bit lost, thinking perhaps Lin Qingyue had forgotten to remove the block. Regardless, she wanted to rush to Lin Qingyue’s side as soon as possible.

But just as she thought this, the location changed once more, following a continuous trajectory. Xu Luzhi watched intently for a while before finally realizing the destination Lincheng High Speed Rail Station.

Is my sister leaving for another city without saying goodbye again?

Xu Luzhi’s eyes darkened with uncertainty. She wanted to catch Lin Qingyue, but she wasn’t sure where Lin Qingyue was going, and even rushing to Lincheng now would be too late. Lin Qingyue’s movements were astonishingly fast; after a short while, the indicator showed she had already left the Lincheng area.

She must have bought a ticket for the very next train.

Xu Luzhi deduced that Lin Qingyue had something very important she needed to do that required her to leave Lincheng for another city.

She felt a pang of frustration, but more overwhelming was the uncontrollable heartache. She felt heartbroken for Lin Qingyue, flying off alone toward a distant dream, while she remained powerless. If only she could do anything and everything.