The Cold Heroine Turned Into a Yandere After Being - Chapter 17

Love?

“Boss?” The woman looked at Mo Zhu with a hint of surprise.

“This is my senior from school, Qiao Ying,” Ji Shubai introduced her to Mo Zhu briefly.

Mo Zhu glanced at the woman. Usually, she was never one to let an atmosphere turn awkward, but this time she merely gave a slight nod without saying a word.

Ji Shubai didn’t want to dwell on the subject either. She looked at Qiao Ying. “Senior, are you here for the wedding too?”

“Yes! The bride, Wanqing, and I were high school classmates. I didn’t expect to run into you here.”

Qiao Ying seemed genuinely happy. Ji Shubai’s sudden decision to take a leave of absence had shocked them all, and their professors couldn’t provide any answers. Since leaving school, Ji Shubai had been impossible to find; she never shared anything when messaged.

“I see,” Ji Shubai replied, somewhat distractedly. She kept casting fleeting glances at Mo Zhu.

But Mo Zhu wasn’t looking at her. She was staring at the distant sea, her profile unreadable.

“Senior, why are you out here alone?” Ji Shubai was still thinking about what had just happened, wondering if Qiao Ying had seen anything.

“Oh, a staff member just told me someone was looking for me over here,” Qiao Ying said, looking around. “Have you been here the whole time? Did you see anyone else?”

“No.” Ji Shubai shook her head. She truly hadn’t seen anyone else during her time there—except for Mo Zhu.

“Strange. I wonder what that was about?” Qiao Ying murmured, puzzled.

“Senior, did you ask who was looking for you? Or you could ask the staff member who requested them to find you,” Ji Shubai suggested.

Hearing this, Mo Zhu knew she had to do something. She feigned a light cough, making a small sound to draw their attention.

When they both looked over, she let out an “Oh” as if suddenly realizing something. “Am I interrupting your reunion by standing here? My apologies.”

“Since you’re old acquaintances, Assistant Ji should stay and catch up with her senior.”

After saying this, Mo Zhu prepared to walk away, her heels clicking sharply against the ground.

Ji Shubai instinctively reached out to stop her, but her hand stalled mid-air, and she didn’t even manage to raise it fully.

Passing her by, Mo Zhu saw this. Her downcast eyes looked dark and murky in the night.

Qiao Ying, keenly sensing the off-kilter atmosphere, said, “You two probably have things to discuss. I’m the one interrupting. Junior Sister, let’s talk later!”

With that, she made a hasty exit.

After Qiao Ying left, Mo Zhu stopped walking, as if waiting for someone to ask her to stay.

Behind her, Ji Shubai closed her eyes for a moment before stepping forward.

She was cut off the moment she opened her mouth.

“Am I that shameful to be seen with?” Mo Zhu didn’t turn around. Her voice was extremely low, yet every word sounded like it was tempered in ice.

Mo Zhu turned to face her. The refreshing sea breeze blew the stray hairs around her face, the fluttering strands blurring the silhouette of her profile.

“Or is it that you find it embarrassing to be associated with me, Miss Ji?”

Ji Shubai froze on the spot.

In the depths of Mo Zhu’s eyes was a surging tide of emotion she had never seen before.

“When you introduced me just now, you wouldn’t even mention my name?” She took a step forward. Ji Shubai instinctively backed up until her heel hit the base of a nearby streetlamp.

The dim, yellowish light poured down from above like a stage spotlight, enveloping the two of them.

Mo Zhu lowered her head slightly. Her face was split by a sharp line of light and shadow; her high bridge was gilded with a golden edge, its lines as crisp as a sculpture.

Her eyes, however, were buried deep in shadow. The dark silhouette cast by her thick eyelashes almost completely obscured her pupils, making it impossible to see her true feelings.

She reached out, her fingertips brushing through the hair draped over Ji Shubai’s collarbone. The latter flinched. “Are you afraid your senior will find out something? Find out about our ‘complex’ professional relationship?”

Ji Shubai’s heart skipped a beat, and her clenched fingers tightened instinctively.

Mo Zhu looked up slightly, allowing the faint light to fall into her eyes like distant starlight reflecting on the sea. “This doesn’t seem to be the first time. Why were you so nervous when Xia Yitian took those photos of us earlier?”

The question was like a needle, accurately piercing the most chaotic corner of Ji Shubai’s heart.

She opened her mouth but didn’t know how to explain.

She truly did resist any intimate moments that might leave evidence. She didn’t want this mistake to be frozen in time or spread around, eventually becoming an uncontrollable variable.

Perhaps a while ago, she could have shared these thoughts without reservation, but now, the words felt impossible to speak.

Mo Zhu looked at the woman before her. Retreat, hesitation, guilt a myriad of emotions intertwined in Ji Shubai’s eyes.

This was exactly what she wanted to see: to make Ji Shubai feel guilty. It would also provide a logical explanation for her future actions.

However, seeing that Ji Shubai truly didn’t intend to defend herself, a strange, inexplicable spark of anger flared up in Mo Zhu’s heart.

Ji Shubai looked at her. Mo Zhu’s eyes clearly telegraphed her state—she was angry. Angry at her retreat, angry at her attempt to sever ties.

The air solidified for several seconds.

Mo Zhu suddenly withdrew her hand as if she had lost all interest. That lazy aura returned, but it felt much more distant than before.

“Doesn’t Assistant Ji still need to catch up with her senior? Go ahead. The boss grants you permission.” Her tone was flat and emotionless. After speaking, she actually turned and walked away, leaving Ji Shubai behind.

Only at the moment she turned did her expression turn completely cold.

As the night deepened, the sea breeze carried a salty chill across the open-air party.

By the time Mo Zhu returned to the crowd, her face wore its usual languid smile, as if the previous interlude had never happened.

“Oh, has our Eldest Miss Mo finally decided to come back?” Xia Yitian approached with a glass in hand, her eyes scanning behind Mo Zhu. “Where’s your new assistant?”

Mo Zhu took a drink directly from a waiter’s tray. The amber liquid shimmered in the glass.

“Didn’t you say I should be penalized for being late?” A smile hooked the corners of her lips, but her eyes held no warmth. “Are three glasses enough?”

Without waiting for a response, she tilted her head back and downed it.

The burn of the strong alcohol as it slid down her throat made her narrow her eyes. She drank the second glass just as quickly. Cheers erupted around her; someone clapped and shouted, “Little President Mo is so bold!”

Xia Yitian, however, noticed that something seemed slightly off about her, though she didn’t think much of it.

This was the scene Ji Shubai witnessed upon her return. Mo Zhu was leaning against a rattan sofa, her head turned as she smiled at someone telling a joke.

She watched as people placed their hands on Mo Zhu’s shoulder, watched as Mo Zhu’s eyes sparkled with laughter, yet never once looked her way.

Host, the female lead is looking at you.

Listening to Xiao Ta, Mo Zhu didn’t even shift her gaze. “Let her look.”

So, is this the ‘way’ you mentioned? Deliberately creating a predicament for the female lead so that in her panic, she ‘hurts’ you, thereby achieving a sense of guilt toward you?

“Exactly,” Mo Zhu admitted directly.

This is too risky. What if the female lead doesn’t feel guilty at all? And if she finds out, she’ll hate you even more.

“That’s why I said I’m taking a gamble.”

Qiao Ying’s mentor was the lady they had met at the restaurant that day. These people held a uniquely “pure” status in Ji Shubai’s heart.

When people do something bad, they often want to hide it from those who are kind and close to them; they want to cover it up at all costs.

Besides, Mo Zhu wasn’t one to just sit and wait; she would proactively do things to increase her leverage.

Host, is this method really effective?

Mo Zhu sipped her drink. “Isn’t the effect obvious? She clearly feels guilty toward me now. All I have to do is keep up the act and maintain my anger.”

Xiao Ta asked again, [Is your anger really just an act?

Mo Zhu lowered her eyelashes, watching the wine swirl in her glass. “Of course.”

[But from just now until now,] Xiao Ta’s voice carried a hint of hesitation, you have unconsciously crushed a third flower petal used for garnishing the glasses.

Mo Zhu’s fingertips came to a sudden halt.

She looked down. The pale blue petals had already been ground into juice between her fingers, staining a small patch of dampness. The remaining flowers on the rim of the glass were mangled.

Your heart rate has remained elevated for the past three minutes, exceeding the normal threshold by 17%. Do you need other data.

“I don’t,” Mo Zhu interrupted, her voice colder and harder than intended.

She tossed the ruined flower aside and took a tissue to wipe her hands slowly. She cleaned between every finger with extreme care, as if trying to erase a stain that didn’t exist.

Host, surely you haven’t actually fallen for the female lead?

Mo Zhu acted as if she’d heard a joke. In the blurred light, her profile looked like cold porcelain coated in glaze. “When it comes to acting, you have to make yourself believe it first for it to be real, right?”

Since the wedding festivities were in the evening, it was already the early hours of the morning when things broke up. Several people were walking unsteadily, leaning on each other for support.

But Mo Zhu walked very steadily. Only the sound of her high heels on the stone path was a bit disorganized.

Once they boarded the shuttle, Mo Zhu leaned against the seat and closed her eyes to rest.

Ji Shubai sat beside her, catching the faint scent of alcohol drifting on the breeze.

Throughout the journey, Mo Zhu maintained her posture of feigned sleep, keeping even her breathing perfectly controlled.

When the vehicle stopped, Ji Shubai thought she was asleep and reached out to wake her. But Mo Zhu seemed to have eyes in the back of her head, opening them just before she was touched.

Mo Zhu avoided her, stepped out from the other side of the car, and walked toward their villa.

They entered the house one after the other. Mo Zhu didn’t go upstairs; instead, she sat down on the living room sofa first.

Sensing something, she looked at Ji Shubai, who had followed her. “Is something the matter?”

“Aren’t you going to rest yet?”

Mo Zhu propped her elbow on the back of the sofa, resting her face on her hand. “Do I need to report everything I do to Assistant Ji?”

Ji Shubai didn’t respond. After a moment of silence, she spoke. “Then I’ll go up first.”

Mo Zhu watched her walk up the stairs until she disappeared on the second floor.

She suddenly remembered the question Xiao Ta had asked her earlier.

Love?

What a joke.

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