The Female Lead of the Abusive Novel Can Hear My Heart's Voice - Chapter 8

“Bang”

The office door closed. Xia Mucai didn’t spare Teng Jingsi a single shred of disgust because he wasn’t worthy of getting any emotion from her.

The words just spoken had warmed Xia Chi’s heart. Xia Mucai was still immersed in what Teng Jingsi had said. The engagement banquet was a major plot point, the first intimate scene between the male and female leads, and the biggest catalyst was herself.

She didn’t notice a person had already thrown themselves into her arms.

Delicate arms, like lotus roots, wrapped around her neck. A sweet, light fragrance enveloped her, and her neck tickled, filled with Xia Chi’s exhaled breath.

This glamorous scene made Mo Qi turn her head away. She watched her little assistant walk away, covering her eyes with her hands and muttering, “See no evil, see no evil…”

Was this her assistant? Leaving her Vice President to fend for herself.

Good, good, so this is how they want to play.

Xia Chi nestled in her arms, pulling her flying thoughts back.

This was the first time she had encountered such a situation, leaving her at a loss when faced with the person in her arms.

She was so helpless that she didn’t know where to put her hands, like a stunned goose.

In her impression, the female lead was strong and wouldn’t cry, perhaps like an emotionless robot. Even if her parts were dismantled, she wouldn’t feel pain; she was a numb person.

But unexpectedly, in her arms, Xia Chi was crying.

She must have suffered immense grievance to come to her and cry.

Did Teng Jingsi, by himself, give an emotionless robot feelings? Was this the male lead’s halo?

Xia Mucai shook her head, casting off the distracting thoughts.

She considered that she had never had the experience of comforting someone. Doing nothing might be best.

Xia Chi just needed her shoulder to cry on, and she would lend it to her.

In the quiet office, even a soft breath could be heard clearly, let alone a delicate sob.

Each sniffle made Xia Mucai’s chest tighten, as if her heart was being squeezed.

If she had insisted on holding Xia Chi’s hand back then, not letting her go to Teng Jingsi, would she not be crying now?

After a long while, the person in her arms rose, wiping her red eyes with her hand.

“Xia Mucai, have you ever seen mature wheat in a field? The countryside is golden yellow in autumn. Have you seen it?”

Xia Mucai shook her head. She hadn’t seen anything Xia Chi was talking about.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

Xia Chi, with red-rimmed eyes, took Xia Mucai’s hand. “I want to take you to a place.”

Xia Mucai could hear the tremor in Xia Chi’s voice. This place must be special.

She agreed without a second thought. “Okay, I want to go.”

The crystal tears had a strange attraction. Her hand unconsciously moved to Xia Chi’s face.

Her fingertip touched the fair, delicate skin. The sensation was cool, but the tears were hot.

The burning tears scorched her fingertip. Subconsciously, she drew it back. Suddenly, her heart pounded.

When she came back to her senses, Xia Mucai realized what she had done: she had wiped the tears of the male lead’s wife.

Was this her job? She had stolen the male lead’s moment. What was the male lead supposed to do now?

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Xia Chi’s eyes held surprise. Her surprised gaze met Xia Mucai’s.

The other party was busy explaining, seemingly afraid of causing a misunderstanding, careful and meticulous.

Xia Mucai was really different.

What was there to apologize for about helping her wipe her tears? She couldn’t help but laugh aloud.

When her laughter was heard, Xia Mucai just looked at her, full of confusion, and asked, “Xia Chi, what are you laughing at?”

She used her finger to wipe away the tears of laughter from the corner of her eye, and teased, “Your clumsy look.”

Xia Mucai was angry, pouting her lips. “I… What did I do to you? You called me clumsy!”

She groaned, her cheeks puffed out, making her look quite adorable.

Xia Chi quickly explained, “I didn’t mean to call you clumsy; I meant you are very cute.”

Xia Mucai wouldn’t listen to such words. Her cheeks were still inflated with anger. “You are saying I’m clumsy. If you keep this up, I won’t help you wipe your tears anymore.”

“Okay, okay, I won’t ever say you’re clumsy again.”

Xia Mucai’s hand was held by Xia Chi. Xia Chi shook Xia Mucai’s arm in a pleading manner. “Will you forgive me this once?”

Xia Mucai wasn’t unfeeling. She glanced over, her tone softening, and said, “Alright, I’ll forgive you this once.”

She didn’t know how happy Xia Chi was to hear her forgiveness; her heart felt like fireworks had exploded.

She was completely embraced. Xia Chi rubbed against her face. What was she trying to do? She was cat sharking!!! (A possible mistranslation of a Chinese Internet slang term suggesting a cute/sweet/intimate act, or a typo for ‘hugging’ or ‘smothering’ in a cute way.)

Finally, she pushed away the clingy Xia Chi. Xia Mucai patted her clothes, smoothing out the wrinkles.

When Mo Qi pushed open the door, she looked at her with an expression that said, “Vice President, you’ve finally finished your intimacy with Miss Xia.”

Did she look like someone who liked women? Don’t be ridiculous.

Mo Qi calmly and gently asked, “Vice President, is there anything you need?”

Xia Mucai cleared her throat and gave the little assistant a cold sidelong glance.

The assistant gave a sheepish smile, suddenly resembling a sycophant.

“Ahem, prepare the car. I need to go out.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She glanced at the little assistant, who was smiling with narrowed eyes, making it impossible to tell what she was thinking.

Her assistant was truly unfathomable, her depth of character completely surpassing her as Vice President.

Fortunately, she knew the plot that was to come, otherwise, she would really think she was being led in circles by her assistant.

At least she knew Mo Qi wouldn’t harm the Xia family; she was absolutely loyal to them.

Xia Chi walked behind, side-by-side with Mo Qi. She suddenly heard Mo Qi say, “The Vice President hasn’t been this happy in a long time.”

“Miss Xia is someone the Vice President has embraced in her heart. She’s never been this happy before today.”

Xia Mucai is happy?

Xia Chi looked at the person walking ahead, her steps light, like a child.

“Was she not like this before?”

“Ever since you arrived, she’s been like this.”

Xia Chi nodded, half-understanding, perhaps because of the sister who was and wasn’t her sister.

The shell held a cute cat inside.

“You two, walk faster! What are you whispering about, sneaking around?” Xia Mucai turned around and spoke. She had already reached the spot where the car was parked in the underground garage, waiting.

“Got it, coming right away,” Xia Chi and Mo Qi said in unison, very coincidentally.

The headlights of the white Porsche flashed in the garage. Xia Mucai smoothly sat in the back seat.

Seeing the two people behind finally catch up, the back seat now had Xia Chi accompanying her. She said to Xia Chi, “Do you still remember the way? Do you have the location? I’ll send it to Mo Qi.”

“I have the location; I already sent it to her.”

Xia Mucai was surprised. “Did you just send it? Is that why you walked so slowly?”

Xia Chi didn’t hesitate and blurted out, “Yes.”

“Mo Qi and I were talking about that. What did ‘Meimei’ (little sister) think we were talking about?”

“Um…”

How did the question get thrown back to her?

Xia Mucai hesitated for a moment and said, perhaps a bit conceitedly, “I thought you were talking about me, saying bad things or something.”

Hearing this, Xia Chi couldn’t help but stifle a laugh.

“How could we say bad things about you?”

She wanted to say, we are busy praising how cute you are.

Xia Mucai nodded, half-believing. “Fine.”

Mo Qi set the navigation, locked the door, stepped on the accelerator, and drove out of the dark garage.

After about a 2-hour drive, the surrounding environment was no longer the high rise buildings of the city center but rural wheat fields.

A vast expanse of green. Past this was a small town with a sparse population. In the town was an orphanage, the place where Xia Chi grew up.

The car horn sounded, and the children of the orphanage all opened their curious eyes to look. The shyer ones would peek through the iron gate to see who had come, while the bolder ones went up to the car door.

The children here were divided into two factions: one that didn’t want to leave the orphanage, thinking it was quite good, and the other that wanted to leave and live a life without worries about food and clothing.

Xia Mucai looked at the groups of children in front of the car door. Their eyes were bright, and they tried their best to show their good side.

“Those little ones will probably be disappointed when they find out it’s just me,” Xia Chi said, her tone full of affection, as if speaking about her own younger siblings.

“Will they find good families?” Xia Mucai asked.

“This place is remote. It’s already good if kind people are willing to sponsor them.”

That was true. Xia Mucai nodded with a sigh. [If someone could adopt them, the female lead wouldn’t have had to grow up in an orphanage. She’s so good-looking, she would surely be the first one an adoptive parent noticed.]

Xia Mucai’s inner thoughts were heard by Xia Chi again. From such a long sentence, she only heard Xia Mucai complimenting her looks.

This was unprecedented. She thought she was only moderately attractive.

If Xia Mucai were to hear Xia Chi’s self-assessment, she would be greatly astonished.

She would definitely grab a mirror and tell Xia Chi, “You call this ‘moderately attractive’? Those lively eyes, that beautifully straight nose, those thin but not mean-looking lips.”

It was a good thing Xia Mucai didn’t hear it.

Seeing Xia Chi open the door and step out, Xia Mucai quickly followed. The little ones waiting by the car door showed a disappointed look when they saw it was a familiar face, but it quickly vanished because they saw the sister they hadn’t seen in a long time, someone like family.

A naughty little girl tugged at Xia Mucai’s hand and asked, “Sister Xiaochi, is this sister your girlfriend?”

The child was not tall, about 1.4 meters, around eleven or twelve years old.

Xia Mucai was stunned to hear this.

She waved her hand, hurriedly saying, “No.”

“Indeed, no,” Xia Chi said, looking at Xia Mucai. Her eyes clearly sparkled, yet she said no.

The girl released Xia Mucai’s leg and ran to hug Xia Chi, clearly not believing the statement.

“Why aren’t you and the pretty sister a couple? You came in the same car. Sister has never brought anyone else here. Pretty sister is the first one.”

“Well… this…”

Xia Chi found it hard to answer and looked toward Xia Mucai.

It was as if she was saying, you have to ask this sister that question; she won’t let me tell the truth.

The child looked as if she knew everything. “I see. Sister Xiaochi brought her girlfriend back.”

“Sister Xiaochi is henpecked and afraid of her wife.”

“It’s not like that, no,” Xia Chi quickly explained.

She looked at Xia Mucai, sweating. “The child is still young; she’s talking nonsense.”

“Mhm, I know. I won’t take it to heart.”

For some reason, hearing Xia Mucai say that made her feel a little sour. She actually preferred the feeling of being misunderstood just now.

In that moment, she even had the feeling that Xia Mucai was her girlfriend, and she needed to protect her girlfriend.

However, a basin of cold water had been poured over her, waking her up from the fantasy.

Anyway, the little girl was shipping them (a Chinese internet slang term for hoping two people become a couple). She was staring at Xia Chi and Xia Mucai, giggling sweetly.

Xia Mucai and Xia Chi were drawn by the sound of a wooden crutch hitting the ground. Both of them looked up.

The elderly  (Director), almost seventy, hobbled out slowly with her crutch, her body hunched. A girl not yet eighteen was following her, supporting her.

Xia Mucai’s clear eyes stared purely at the old lady, as innocent as a baby.

Her scrutiny was purely out of curiosity; there was no calculation in her gaze.

[So this is the old director who raised the female lead.]

How admirable.

It was not easy for one person to raise so many children. The old director never demanded anything of the children of the orphanage when they grew up; such a kind-hearted person would become the male lead’s weapon to threaten the female lead.

The thought that this old lady would eventually die a miserable death made her feel as if she had witnessed the entire process of her demise.

Xia Mucai couldn’t help but clench her fists, enduring and gritting her teeth.

Such injustice, and yet she couldn’t do anything about it, becoming a cold blooded and indifferent bystander.

“It’s Xiaochi back,” the old director’s voice was hoarse and unclear, like a static-filled television.

Xia Chi stepped forward and said gently, “Director.”

“Sister Xiaochi,” the girl supporting the old director was named Tang Mingming. Her appearance was plain but enduring, a typical classical beauty, though her features hadn’t fully developed yet due to her young age.

She also grew up in the orphanage. Xia Chi found her in a small town alley during a cold winter. At the time, Tang Mingming was an infant, nameless, and was given the surname Tang by the old director. Mingming was a name Xia Chi had chosen.

She was quiet as a child, and as she grew up, she became even more introverted, much like a mirror image of Xia Chi.

Xia Chi was also very fond of this sister and, due to various factors, treated Tang Mingming as her own biological sister.

She walked to the old director’s side, helping to support her on the other side, and said with a gentle, older sisterly tilt of her head, “Mingming has grown taller again.”

Tang Mingming blushed, instinctively pulling at her sleeves and the corner of her clothes that slightly exposed her stomach.

Xia Mucai happened to see this scene, and her heart felt a sharp, sore pain, as if it had been stabbed by a knife.

She remembered that the trashy author only gave the old director an important role in the orphanage; these children were just background characters. Could she change the fate of these minor characters without affecting the important ones?

“Mo Qi,” Xia Mucai called out flatly.

Her assistant behind her stepped forward. “What is it, Vice President?”

Xia Mucai waved her hand grandly. “I want to sponsor these children’s education. Any money needed, just ask me for it.”

The old director’s wrinkled face showed great surprise. Her hand gripping the crutch trembled.

She almost knelt down to Xia Mucai.

Xia Mucai’s hand was gently tugged. Xia Mucai looked down; the cute, little girl was looking up at her. It was the little brat who had just called her and Xia Chi a couple.

The girl’s name was Tang Tu (Tang Rabbit). True to her name, she did say some ‘abrupt (Tang tu, the Chinese word for ‘abrupt’ which sounds like Tang Tu) things.

“Sister, do you want to drink the water I poured for you? Sister Xiaochi always says the water TuTu pours is very sweet.”

Xia Chi shouted from in front of her, “Let’s go, aren’t we going in to sit down?”

The brilliant sunlight illuminated the orphanage like a painting, run-down yet full of life and warmth. The scent of human presence was everywhere.