She Is Such A Jerk, And Yet She’s The One Crying! - Chapter 5

The charcoal ran out within a few days. Lin Dongruan insisted on going up the mountain to gather branches for firewood, just as she had done before. Despite Qiang Ning’s repeated attempts to persuade her, Lin Dongruan could not be deterred.

Qiang Ning slammed the door shut, her voice uncharacteristically sharp: “The heavy snow has blocked the mountain trails. Do you want to die?”

“I don’t want you to pawn your belongings anymore, nor do I want you to suffer from cold and hunger.” Lin Dongruan remained as gentle as ever, her rebuttal delivered with a calm composure. “If I were alone, it wouldn’t matter, but you are still young. You shouldn’t have to suffer with me.”

Qiang Ning was dissatisfied. Lin Dongruan always treated her like a child, but she was clearly twenty-two. How was she still young?

Seeing her irritation, Lin Dongruan added: “The snowy roads are slippery. It’s better if I go alone. Stay at home; you won’t encounter any danger here.”

The moment Lin Dongruan spoke, Qiang Ning was not comforted; instead, she became even more incensed. Raising her voice, she argued: “I’m not afraid of danger, and you aren’t allowed to go either.”

Lin Dongruan smiled, pointing out her thoughts: “So, are you worried about me?”

“Who’s worried about you? Don’t flatter yourself,” Qiang Ning said. “Sister, do you know how deep the snow has piled up outside? What if you go up the mountain and step into a bottomless snowdrift? How is that not dangerous?”

“But we need to start a fire.” Lin Dongruan stood up and moved Qiang Ning’s hand away from the door, still intending to go out. “I cast a divination for myself before you arrived. My life will not end in these coming years. Rest assured.”

Qiang Ning had almost forgotten that this Imperial Preceptor was an expert in the arts of fate and numerology. When it came to such mystical theories, she couldn’t win an argument against her.

“In my opinion, that short fence behind the house is quite useless. It doesn’t keep out thieves and just takes up space. It would be better to just chop it down and burn it as firewood,” Qiang Ning suggested, having disliked that fence for a long time. “We can get through these few snowy days for now, and once the weather clears and the snow melts, we can think of another way.”

“Alright,” Lin Dongruan agreed.

Qiang Ning had never experienced such a destitute and heart-wrenching life. While helping to chop the wood, she accidentally cut her finger. She frowned as she watched a bead of blood seep from her fingertip, feeling not just miserable, but also increasingly agitated.

Whoever wants this kind of life can have it!

Qiang Ning’s face darkened, her expression turning villainous. she didn’t really want to keep up the act anymore.

Tensing her jaw, she flicked away the bead of blood on her finger and turned to walk out—

Suddenly, someone pulled her back. Lin Dongruan caught her in a half-embrace, firmly coaxing the dark-faced Qiang Ning back into the house.

Qiang Ning sat on the bed without a word, watching coldly as Lin Dongruan searched for clean gauze.

“Keep looking, the wound isn’t even bleeding anymore.” Qiang Ning spoke harshly, showing no regard for the other’s feelings. “Four bare walls and not a tile to your name. Only someone like you could endure this kind of life.”

Lin Dongruan’s silhouette paused abruptly. She stopped her search and turned back toward her.

Qiang Ning sat haughtily on the edge of the bed, waiting to see how she would respond.

But Lin Dongruan gave no verbal reply. She simply sat quietly by the bed, took Qiang Ning’s finger, and looked down at it. “A tiny wooden splinter like this is easily overlooked. If it isn’t removed in time, it will hurt later.”

If she hadn’t mentioned it, it would have been fine, but once she did, Qiang Ning vaguely felt the discomfort in her fingertip.

It seemed… there really was a splinter.

“What should be done?” The Princess, lacking any experience, set her temper aside for a moment and deigned to ask, “Suck it out?”

“It can be picked out with a fine needle.” Lin Dongruan couldn’t find gauze, but needle and thread were easy to come by. She quickly took a fine needle from the table, passed it through boiling water, and took Qiang Ning’s hand, preparing to remove the splinter.

Seeing the sharp point of the needle, Qiang Ning grew nervous and flinched back. She was a bit afraid of such things, and her voice even trembled slightly: “Take that thing away.”

Lin Dongruan stopped and advised: “But if it’s not picked out, it will be uncomfortable.”

Qiang Ning snapped: “It won’t kill me anyway… Hiss, what are you doing?”

Her fingertip was already uncomfortable, and Lin Dongruan had gently pressed around the area where the splinter was lodged. A sharp, stinging pain instantly flared up, and the area began to look slightly red and swollen.

It really was as she said.

“Fine, if you want to pick it out, then do it.” In a fit of bad temper, Qiang Ning gave up. She turned her head away, her fingers curling slightly in fear.

“Don’t be afraid.” Lin Dongruan gently smoothed out her curled fingers, coaxing her warmly, “Be good.”

“I’m already grown, don’t treat me like… Ouch, be gentler…” Qiang Ning’s words were cut short by the sharp pain in her finger. Although she was dissatisfied with Lin Dongruan coaxing her like that, she had to admit that the other woman’s soft, warm voice falling on her ears was very pleasant to hear.

For some reason, Qiang Ning really was coaxed like a child.

She even became a bit more pampered without realizing it. Frowning from the pain, Qiang Ning wanted to hear Lin Dongruan’s voice: “Hey, have you coaxed people like this before? Why are you so practiced at it?”

“Before… I had a disobedient student,” Lin Dongruan recalled for a moment. “They always needed someone to coax them.”

Oh, Qiang Ning thought. That student was her disappointing younger imperial brother, the current Emperor.

Lin Dongruan was the Imperial Preceptor and shared a teacher-student bond with the Emperor that had lasted for several years. Qiang Ning had only luckily obtained a brief moment of Lin Dongruan’s care. Although there was nothing to compete for, Qiang Ning felt uncomfortable in her heart. She had only known Lin Dongruan for a short time and was being coaxed like this; when the Emperor was a young Crown Prince, wouldn’t Lin Dongruan have plucked the stars and the moon for him?

Qiang Ning became unhappy and suddenly pulled her finger back. Blood dripped from the fingertip where the splinter had just been removed, but she didn’t care at all.

“Throwing a little tantrum again.” Lin Dongruan gave a helpless and doting smile, tilting her head to ask, “What are you thinking about that’s making you so unhappy?”

“What is there to be unhappy about?” Qiang Ning was already prepared to leave, so she let her malice show fully. “I can’t stand how good your personality is—being so good to everyone. It’s truly boring.”

After Qiang Ning finished speaking, Lin Dongruan leaned a bit closer, appearing as if she were about to say something more.

“Don’t come near me, I’m upset.”

Qiang Ning turned her body away and moved to a different spot, her face devoid of any smile.

This anger was obvious enough. Lin Dongruan placed both hands on her shoulders and pulled her back. However, even though Qiang Ning’s body was straightened, her head remained turned away, stubbornly refusing to look at her.

Helpless, Lin Dongruan could only reach out…

When Qiang Ning sensed a movement near her neck, she instinctively became alert and brushed the other’s hand away.

Lin Dongruan froze in place. After thinking for a long time, she said: “If you don’t like seeing me, I won’t come back today. When your anger has subsided…”

Qiang Ning: ???

What kind of logic was this? She was actually going to let her, an outsider, stay in the house while she herself left?

Does this person have any spirit at all?

Even if one has no temper, they shouldn’t be tolerant to this extent, right?

“How can you have such a good temper?” In a surge of emotion, Qiang Ning raised her hand and placed a finger on Lin Dongruan’s cheek. “I’ve bullied you like this, and you’re still not angry?”

“Why should I be angry?”

Lin Dongruan was puzzled.

Perhaps Qiang Ning had ignored the fact that her finger was still bleeding. By the time she regained her senses, the blood had accidentally stained Lin Dongruan’s face, like drops of red plum blossoms blooming in the snow, adding a great deal of vivid color to Lin Dongruan’s cold and elegant features.

The moment she realized this, Qiang Ning’s throat tightened, and she felt a sense of dry heat.

“Is it that no matter how I treat you, you won’t get angry?”

She murmured, sounding less like she was asking a question and more like she was talking to herself.

“Perhaps…”

Lin Dongruan didn’t know either.

The look in Qiang Ning’s eyes gradually deepened. Amidst the flickering darkness of her gaze, she finally reached the limit of her patience. She grabbed the other’s neck and pushed her onto the couch. She wanted to see exactly where this person’s limit for anger was!

This was a case of the wicked taking an inch and the kind-hearted suffering through their soft-heartedness. Qiang Ning leaned down, biting into the soft skin of Lin Dongruan’s neck like a wolf cub. Lin Dongruan accepted it half-willingly, without the slightest hint of anger. Instead, she even raised her hand to gently stroke the smooth black hair at the back of the other’s head.

“Does it hurt?”

Qiang Ning spoke with malicious intent while biting the delicacy beneath her, her voice thick and muddled.

Lin Dongruan didn’t answer directly, but only said—As long as it vents your anger.

Vent what anger! It didn’t vent her anger at all!

Qiang Ning didn’t know what she was currently angry about, nor did she know what she was doing. She was simply following her heart, leaving numerous red marks on Lin Dongruan’s neck, and then using her tongue to remove the blood that had accidentally stained the other’s face.

As their breaths intertwined, she seemed like an unreasonable child, taking advantage of the elder’s groundless doting to keep demanding more. The other person’s repeated indulgence amplified the evil and desire in her heart. All coolness and rationality were cast aside, leaving only the most genuine longing in her heart.

She wished she could swallow the other person whole.

Why don’t you struggle!

Why don’t you resist?

This kind of bottomless indulgence will lead to trouble, don’t you know?

The questions in Qiang Ning’s heart did not turn into words, but instead became vengeful acts of abuse. She bit down again and again, trying to get even a shred of resistance from the other.

But there was none. Lin Dongruan just held her loosely, letting her go mad, without any pushing or dissatisfaction. She only bit her lip and breathed softly when in pain.

In the end, Qiang Ning maliciously bit down on those thin, cool lips. With just one bite, blood appeared, and it drew a soft hum of pain.

Lin Dongruan lowered her hands, her eyes filled with moisture. Although she had to look up at her, her gaze was entirely full of pity.

Being looked at by those eyes, Qiang Ning was instantly sobered, as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head. Her mind exploded into a vast expanse of white, and she realized belatedly what she had done.

Qiang Ning slowly released the hand she had been using to support herself next to the other, her fingertips trembling slightly in disbelief.

What… had she done…

Lin Dongruan’s collar was slightly disarrayed, and her black hair was scattered on the couch. Other than the red marks on her neck and lips, she hadn’t actually lost anything. However, just lying there, still maintaining her cold and self-possessed appearance, made Qiang Ning’s methods seem even more sinful and her intentions even more malicious.

Qiang Ning gradually felt regret. It was as if she had humiliated the other person, betraying that trust and indulgence. It was her fault. Truly, why was she going mad for no reason?

“Sister, did I scare you?”

Qiang Ning knew she wasn’t acting like a decent person and even had a tendency to return kindness with ingratitude. Therefore, her voice was weak, carrying a bit of a pleasing tone as if wanting to make amends.

“Why don’t you scold me?”

“It’s nothing.” Lin Dongruan remained gentle. She slowly raised her hand, smoothing the stray hairs near Qiang Ning’s ear, and said with a sense of relief, “You like to bite people, I know.”