The Female Lead of the Abusive Novel Can Hear My Heart's Voice - Chapter 28

Day after day, the sun rose and set; in the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.

After finishing the funeral, Xia Chi looked heavily at the old director’s tombstone, then held Tang Tu’s hand and led Tang Mingming back to Jiangcheng.

In the countryside, education resources were always much worse than in the city. She took Tang Mingming to a high school in Jiangcheng to handle his transfer, and Tang Tu wasn’t left behind either he also attended a middle school in Jiangcheng.

With things settled on this side, she hadn’t even had time to catch her breath before Xia Mucai’s side of things awaited her resolution.

The two children’s schools were close to each other. They each dragged their own luggage and awkwardly greeted Xia Chi at the fork in the road before leaving.

Xia Chi gave them thorough instructions, telling them to study hard. She gave them each some pocket money, saying not to skimp on themselves and to eat whatever they wanted.

For a moment, she felt like the mother of two children. Although she was only twenty-three, she felt a deep, old exhaustion.

Ignoring all other thoughts, she took a taxi to the villa Xia Mucai was still waiting for her there.

She didn’t know if it was still possible to coax her after half a month.

She had left so suddenly, without even saying, “Wait for me.”

The car stopped at the villa’s entrance. The ride-share driver was frequently shocked upon entering the gated community, seeing the luxurious villas, nearly pulling out his phone to take pictures.

Xia Chi opened the door and walked in, full of poise.

She pressed the door handle unlocked. The door opened, and she stepped inside.

Inside, only one chandelier cast a dim light. The windows around didn’t provide much natural light; some were blocked by garden trees, others too far from the living room.

On the leather sofa sat her parents. Her father crossed his legs, engrossed in the information on his phone, while the TV played financial news.

Her mother sat upright, like someone who had been waiting a long time, quietly watching the entrance.

A voice said, “You’re back.” It startled Xia Chi.

She forced her heartbeat to calm and took a deep breath.

She dared to look directly at her parents, who exuded an oppressive aura, but she wasn’t timid.

She neatly placed her shoes and, wearing slippers, walked straight over.

“Mom, Dad, where’s Caicai?”

Her father, who had been engrossed in his phone, glanced at her once, then put away his phone and uncrossed his legs.

Judging by their posture, Xia Chi thought she must have done something terribly wrong, that’s why they looked at her with such hatred.

Her father pointed at her, scolding, “How dare you come back? Caicai was so angry at you she left home.”

Hearing this, Xia Chi bit her teeth, feeling very guilty.

Since Xia Mucai stopped answering her calls, she had sensed her anger.

But she never imagined it would be so bad that she left home.

Her mother didn’t stop adding fuel to the fire, “Caicai said she never wants to see you again. What happened between you two?”

“Nothing happened. I’m going to find Caicai and bring her back.”

“Wait,” her mother said anxiously, standing up and repeating her words. “Caicai said she doesn’t want to see you.”

Xia Chi clenched her jaw and tried not to pay attention to the pain in her heart.

“I know, but I have to find her first. Then I’ll listen when she personally tells me she never wants to see me again.”

This sentence hit like thunder. Her mother pointed at her angrily, “How can you be so stubborn? Caicai already said she doesn’t want to see you. Do you want to make her never come back to this family?”

“If you want her to come back sooner, then hurry up and marry Teng Jingsi. If you leave the Xia family, she’ll come back.”

Xia Chi’s heart shattered as if hit by a hammer. Did Xia Mucai really hate her so much she didn’t want to see her?

Was their last meeting half a month ago when they returned home together?

She was so unwilling she hadn’t even done anything. She didn’t know if Xia Mucai liked her or not.

So unwilling too unwilling.

Xia Chi turned to face her mother, speaking slowly and clearly, “I want to know where Caicai went. Tell me. I just want to see her once, then I’ll go marry Teng Jingsi.”

“I won’t marry Teng Jingsi otherwise.”

“You’re just thinking about your future,” Mrs. Fu said, frowning and crossing her arms.

She immediately criticized Xia Chi’s lack of filial piety, “Now you dare threaten us? Who knows what you’ll do to us later?”

What shocked Mrs. Fu was that Xia Chi insisted like this was very important for the Xia family’s alliance, firmly stating, “If you don’t tell me where Caicai is, I won’t marry Teng Jingsi.”

She almost made her own mother faint with anger.

Only then did Mr. Xia signal Mrs. Fu to calm Xia Chi down first; they would handle the rest later.

“Enough, enough, you child…”

Xia Chi waited for her mother to relent and tell her where Xia Mucai was.

She suppressed the hope in her eyes and furrowed her brows, making it clear to others she wasn’t to be trifled with.

She was a completely different person from when she had just entered society; now, no one could easily step on her.

“Where is she?”

Mrs. Fu sighed, “If you see her, she’ll avoid you. Don’t push her too hard. I’m afraid she might do something stupid.”

“Where is she!” Xia Chi didn’t want to hear her mother’s nagging, raising her voice coldly.

“She… she’s in Binhai City.” Mrs. Fu played the aggrieved mother to the fullest; outsiders would only think Xia Chi was unfilial and rude.

Jiangcheng was thousands of kilometers away from Binhai City, quite far.

It was not a big city, just a small southern coastal city.

Xia Chi hurriedly left the villa. The couple’s faces instantly fell.

“That vixen is quite smart. I don’t know how she realized how much we value her marriage to Teng’s son,” Mrs. Xia stared at the closed door, as if her eyes could pierce through it and stab Xia Chi in the back.

Mr. Xia stood up from the sofa, hugged Mrs. Xia, and said, “She probably saw the company’s financial problems. Caicai is too foolish, giving up the deputy general manager position just like that.”

“Dear, do you think that vixen will bring Caicai back?”

“No. Because Caicai is afraid to see her. If she meets Caicai and Caicai avoids her, she’ll know we didn’t lie to her.”

The villa echoed with a rare sinister laugh.

They were convinced they were doing this for Xia Mucai’s own good.

If they didn’t, Xia Chi would be the death of Xia Mucai.

After arriving in Binhai City for half a month, Xia Mucai only felt the weather’s heat.

The barbecue vendor next door fanned himself with a palm fan, lazily flicking it, and the towel hanging around his neck wiped the sweat dripping down his forehead.

He sighed, his cat ears drooping.

The coastal city was just too hot, like a sauna, with heat waves rising from the ground.

Today, she went out to do business but didn’t pick a good time; she should have come out at night.

A useless person who knew nothing, she could only rely on her supposedly lucky cat to make a living.

Her stall had the words “Blessing” painted in red spray paint. The fee was exorbitantly high: ten thousand yuan per blessing.

In the night market, she was a special existence. Business was terribly bad; interested people occasionally glanced but were put off by the price.

She didn’t even think ten thousand yuan was expensive, just felt her location was bad.

So she came early today at 4 p.m. to grab a spot and was nearly melting from the heat.

Regretted coming early did she have to make this money?

If she didn’t make money today, the five-star hotel would kick her out, and she’d have to sleep under a bridge.

The barbecue uncle beside her sneered when he saw her cart with “Blessing” written on it.

“No one’s dumb enough to believe in this crap.”

Xia Mucai rolled her eyes. Her true form was a talisman cat that could bring luck.

Anyone who touched her would know.

Usually, she didn’t let anyone touch her, only now because she was desperate did she bring it out to make some money.

“Know nothing. My treasure really brings blessings,” Xia Mucai pouted. Unfortunately, the barbecue uncle overheard.

“Haha, if anyone believes it, I’ll wash my hair standing on my head.”

Xia Mucai turned from her low stool and stood up, “I’ll definitely sell one today, just wait and watch.”

“If you sell one today, I quit my business and reserve this spot for you every day.”

The offer was tempting. Xia Mucai agreed without hesitation, her anger gone.

“Just wait and see.”

At 7 p.m., the nightlife started to pick up. The street was crowded, bustling with people, except at her stall, where only two or three people glanced and left. The barbecue uncle next door was too busy to mock her.

Smelling the barbecue aroma, her stomach growled at an inappropriate time. The uncle’s barbecue skills were truly amazing.

Just smelling it made her mouth water.

Thanks to the uncle, her originally quiet stall had gathered quite a few onlookers.

But the price really drove people away.

A cute girl in a delicate outfit softly asked, “Master, why is your blessing so expensive?”

Xia Mucai liked people who were pleasant to look at and had good tempers. She cleared her throat and said, “If you touch my lucky cat, I guarantee good luck within one day. If not, I can refund you.”

She was very confident. If the price was one thousand yuan, maybe people would try just for fun.

But ten thousand? No one was stupid.

Still, Xia Mucai was treated like a fool.

The cute girl left, and a clearly provocative young man approached.

He looked about 25, dyed blond hair, decent outfit a white T-shirt and black casual pants looking like a proper dude.

But he rudely shoved his phone close to Xia Mucai’s face for a live stream.

“Folks, let’s see what this young lady is selling.”

Comments flew on the screen: “Damn, bro, you’re so lucky.” “Where is this girl selling? I’m coming right now, she’s so damn pretty.” “Is this an actor hired by the streamer?”

The male streamer’s audience was mostly men. His livestreams were usually him randomly finding pretty girls on the street and asking for WeChat to please his viewers.

“Guys, send some gifts! I’m recharging!”

Seeing the gift cars and animations flood the screen, the man smirked darkly and brought the phone even closer.

“Miss, add me on WeChat.”