The Mad Beauty and the Sick Young Lady [Transmigration Novel] - Chapter 26

Su Li spent several restless days at home.

After she sent that text message, Jiang Zhuoye really didn’t contact her again. Su Li was anxious and worried, sometimes feeling that their friendship might be over, and other times thinking that perhaps it could still be salvaged.

She didn’t even have the heart to work on the items on her bucket list. The draft she had drawn earlier was difficult to continue.

Guan Jingxian, ever since she learned that Ying Feiyan was in trouble, was overjoyed and wanted to take Su Li out to celebrate, but Su Li, preoccupied with her thoughts, declined.

Guan Jingxian came over to see Su Li a few times. Each time, Su Li hesitated to speak, and Guan Jingxian noticed that something was off:

“Do you have something you want to say?”

Su Li:

“No, no, no…”

Guan Jingxian said, “Oh,” feeling completely unconcerned, and then brought up a new topic:

“Did you know that a comic has been very popular online recently? I looked at the title, it’s called something like Miss Illness’s Daily Life. I thought of you right away!”

Su Li forced a smile:

“Oh.”

Guan Jingxian:

“That comic has been too hot these past few days. Even Jiang Zhuoye reposted it! Did you see it? I completely don’t like looking at anything that’s drawn, but aren’t you an art major? Go check it out, see what she drew that could make Jiang Zhuoye like it so much!”

Su Li had nothing to say and just smiled.

Jiang Zhuoye was probably retaliating; the day after cutting off contact with her, she logged onto Weibo and reposted Miss Illness’s Daily Life.

She reposted the latest installment of the comic, which was the one where Miss Leaf threw the flower at Miss Fei. Jiang Zhuoye also added a caption: I really like the author of this comic.

The fans hadn’t reacted much after reading the comic, but upon seeing the caption, almost all of them went crazy. The fandom was like an oil splashed ant nest, exploding into chaos, with all kinds of comments.

The fan count of the Miss Illness account skyrocketed by a million overnight. Comic comments changed from a few hundred per post to tens of thousands, and after several days, comments and various private messages were still continuously increasing.

There were some voices of doubt, and some haters who cursed, but more people were looking forward to Miss Illness’s next update, wanting to know more about the celebrity’s private life.

The editor was practically thrilled, urging her to update repeatedly. When Su Li thought about updating and having to redraw “Miss Leaf,” she felt terrible. So, she temporarily blocked the editor and never opened Weibo.

Now, Guan Jingxian, this big silly girl, actually brought this up. Su Li felt even more bitter and didn’t know how to respond, so she just remained silent.

Although Guan Jingxian sensed the atmosphere was odd, she knew Su Li had poor health and sometimes found it hard to concentrate, so she didn’t think too much about it. She casually asked:

“Jiang Zhuoye said in her repost that she really likes the author of that comic. Now the entire internet is guessing if Jiang Zhuoye is in love, or if she has someone she likes in her heart. Is this a tentative way of making the relationship public? But is a comic drawing Alpha not really worthy of a big star? Do you know who Jiang Zhuoye likes? You’re quite close to her.”

Normally, Su Li would be insensitive to words like “like,” “dating,” and “worthy,” but now… every word felt like a sharp knife plunging into her heart, leaving her bruised and with nowhere to hide.

“I… I’m not sure either,” Su Li replied, her throat dry.

“Is that so… But it’s true that Jiang Zhuoye is a rather strong Omega personality. Pairing her with a gentle, artistic young Alpha male isn’t bad either. Do you know if the person she likes is a male or female?”

Guan Jingxian was immersed in gossip and didn’t notice her friend’s strange expression or pale face.

“Probably… a male…” Su Li weakly replied, trying to completely distance herself from the situation.

“Wow, a big star and a young Alpha male. I’m all for it! When will Jiang Zhuoye bring her young Alpha male out to eat with us? My treat! We can’t miss this opportunity for close up gossip!” Guan Jingxian rubbed her hands together, excited at the thought of being on the front lines of the gossip.

“Hehe, there will be a chance.” Su Li, on the other hand, imagined Jiang Zhuoye bringing herself and Guan Jingxian to dinner, and solemnly introducing, “This is my young Alpha male…”

That scene was too beautiful; she dared not imagine it!

After seeing Guan Jingxian off, Su Li walked into her studio, faced the rough draft of the painting she had spent the afternoon preparing, and just sat there quietly, unable to continue.

The thought that Jiang Zhuoye might like her made the brush in Su Li’s hand unsteady. She felt that the eyes of Jiang Zhuoye looking through the canvas were filled with an… indescribable, fervent love.

Su Li had grown up and gone to school outside, and she wasn’t without admirers. There was a male Alpha who played guitar and sang for her on the field, and a female Alpha who often took her shopping for clothes.

The problem was that back then, Su Li’s heart was completely filled with Ying Feiyan, leaving no room for anyone else. Those people simply couldn’t get her to agree to dates and slowly disappeared.

Su Li didn’t think there was anything wrong with using the cold shoulder to make suitors disappear, but when facing Jiang Zhuoye, she couldn’t remain calm. She kept wondering if she was being too cruel.

It had been a week without contact. Su Li would immediately scroll past any news of Jiang Zhuoye she saw online; just seeing the name was a painful sight.

She felt it might be because before she realized the other person liked her, she truly considered her a very good, perhaps even best, friend. Suddenly trying to weaken that friendship was indeed too difficult, and it was also a torment for herself.

“How about… I find a way to explicitly reject her and then tell her we can be good friends. It doesn’t necessarily have to be romance, right?” Su Li murmured vaguely to the somewhat rough draft of Jiang Zhuoye on the canvas, trying to convince herself.

“But I haven’t contacted her, and she hasn’t contacted me either, so should I approach her? Wouldn’t that seem strange?”

“And how do I explicitly reject her? She hasn’t confessed. It would be ridiculous for me to go up and reject her myself.”

It was then that Su Li realized her social experience was staggeringly lacking. She simply didn’t know how to handle this situation and could only sit in front of the canvas, muttering like a lunatic.

Eventually, Su Li sighed at the image of Jiang Zhuoye in the painting.

It was already afternoon. The thin winter sunlight shone through the window onto the canvas. A ray of light happened to illuminate Jiang Zhuoye’s face, casting a beautiful orange-red glow.

The same orange-red glow was also shining on Jiang Zhuoye’s filming location. Seeing the excellent lighting, the director rushed to shoot several scenes during the twilight.

Jiang Zhuoye’s performance was somewhat unstable. Several times, she was distracted, lacking emotional investment, and had to reshoot the takes. By the end of the shoot, the light was gone.

Although the director wasn’t a superstar director, he had a temper. He kept Jiang Zhuoye on set and lectured her with a sullen face for ten minutes, finally huffing heavily through his nose and walking away with his hands behind his back.

Jiang Zhuoye also had a sullen face, sitting in her private van, arms crossed, saying nothing.

Her assistant, Xiao Cao, who hadn’t been with her for long, didn’t quite understand Jiang Zhuoye’s temper and went outside to buy her a cup of coffee.

However, as she held the coffee and opened the car door, before she even stepped into the van, she heard Jiang Zhuoye’s voice:

“Get out.”

Assistant Xiao Cao:

“I bought you coffee, it’s the Italian style you like…”

A voice as cold as ice came from inside the car, containing a suppressed anger that made one not doubt that if she stayed for a few more seconds, the fury would erupt like a volcano:

“I told you to get out, didn’t you hear me?”

Assistant Xiao Cao scrambled out with the coffee and immediately called Jia Sihan:

“Sister Sihan, I think Ah Ye is in a bad state…”

Jia Sihan immediately rushed to the set and appeared at the van door half an hour later, gently knocking:

“Ah Ye, it’s me, Sihan. Can you let me in so we can talk?”

The car was silent, but the door opened.

Jia Sihan stepped into the car and was instantly enveloped by the low pressure. Seeing Jiang Zhuoye’s face, she immediately went silent. All the prepared words of persuasion vanished.

Jiang Zhuoye was holding a lady’s cigarette between her fingers, unlit, but she was constantly kneading it with her hand, slowly crushing the tobacco.

A large pile of tobacco dust had already accumulated at her feet.

Jia Sihan knew this was Jiang Zhuoye’s small habit when she was annoyed. She also knew that fortunately, there were no ceramic or glass items in this car; even the cups were alloy, otherwise, she wouldn’t have anywhere to step right now.

Jiang Zhuoye’s private villa had two large rooms filled with various collections of porcelain and glass items, many of which were bought at high prices.

Others only thought Jiang Zhuoye was a tasteful collector, but only Jia Sihan knew what she used those things for.

Smashing them to hear the sound.

The more expensive the item, the more exciting the smash.

Now she was only crushing tobacco, which was quite eco-friendly and green. Jia Sihan felt the situation was manageable and stepped forward to offer comfort:

“I heard from the director that your state hasn’t been very good this past week. Your performance isn’t as good as before, and your emotions are often not quite right. Can you tell me what happened?”

Jiang Zhuoye held the cigarette with her two slender fingers, slowly raised her eyes to look at Jia Sihan. The sharp light emanating from her eyes made even the experienced gold-medal manager, Jia Sihan, a little unable to cope.

“What happened? Ha… Nothing happened.” Jiang Zhuoye gave a self-mocking laugh and lowered her head again.

Jia Sihan:

“…”

Are you kidding me?

She carefully reviewed all of Jiang Zhuoye’s circles, thought hard, and found a new angle:

“Is it possible that the young CEO Jin is bothering you again? If things are really bad, I can talk to Chairman Jin about it.”

Jiang Zhuoye sneered, didn’t answer, but her expression clearly showed that she didn’t even remember who young CEO Jin was. So, it wasn’t this reason.

Jia Sihan looked up and thought again, her eyes lighting up:

“Mr. Lu? I heard Mr. Lu is back in the country recently. Is he looking for you?”

Jiang Zhuoye still remembered who Mr. Lu was and scoffed:

“If he dares to look for me again, I’ll castrate him.”

Jia Sihan:

“…Then I’ll buy you the scissors. I’ll help you, as long as you can continue working after you castrate him.”

Jiang Zhuoye lowered her head again, her eyes sad.

Jia Sihan understood, it wasn’t about Mr. Lu either, which left only one possibility.

“Did you have a fight with that young girl of yours? Hahahaha, I’m telling you, Jiang Zhuoye, Jiang Zhuoye, you’re an adult, and you’re letting this kind of high school girl fight affect your work? Your persona is collapsing, you know? Hahahahahaha…”

The more Jia Sihan laughed, the tighter Jiang Zhuoye frowned. Finally, she slapped the side with force, making the water cup on the table jump up:

“Shut up! Get out!”

Jia Sihan:

“Hahahahaha, did I hit a sore spot! I’m truly dying of laughter. Jiang Zhuoye, how old are you this year? You’ll be 28 after the New Year, you usually look so seasoned, but you’re acting out a high school argument? Why are you so cute!”

Jiang Zhuoye:

“…You’re the cute one, your whole family is cute.”

Jia Sihan calmly thanked her:

“Thank you for the compliment. Alright, now tell me, what happened with the young girl?”

Jiang Zhuoye stubbornly refused to speak. Jia Sihan found it increasingly amusing, covering her mouth with her hand and laughing nonstop, her shoulders shaking constantly.

Jiang Zhuoye probably couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She forced out a sentence:

“She suddenly ignored me and wouldn’t allow me to contact her.”

Jia Sihan:

“Pfft hahahahahaha!”

Jiang Zhuoye stood up, about to take action. Jia Sihan quickly shut up, suppressing her laughter while offering advice:

“Oh, my little ancestor, what can I say about you, hahah… Young girls are all contradictory. She told you not to contact her, and you just listened? Making friends is like falling in love; one side always has to take the initiative. If you don’t take the initiative, are you going to rely on that girl to do it? Hahahaha… Regardless of the reason, you should call when you need to call, and if you want to see her on a day off, go see her! Why aren’t you usually so obedient to me?”

Jiang Zhuoye was stunned for a long time, then fiercely crushed the cigarette in her hand, stood up, pushed Jia Sihan out of the van, and slammed the door shut.

Jia Sihan was still outside, her shoulders shaking with laughter. Assistant Xiao Cao rushed over upon seeing the situation:

“Sister Sihan, what happened? Did Ah Ye give you a hard time?”

Jia Sihan clapped her hands, smiling:

“It’s nothing, she listens to me.”

Assistant Xiao Cao’s eyes were starry:

“Sister Sihan is amazing. Ah Ye is so ill-tempered, and she still listens to you.”

Jia Sihan patted Xiao Cao’s head, speaking with a slight sigh of emotion:

“I’ve been with her for so many years. If you ask me, I think Jiang Zhuoye is actually quite pure at heart and easy to understand.”

Xiao Cao blinked, not understanding at all, and looked towards the van with a puzzled expression:

“But I feel like she’s particularly scary…”

Inside the van, Jiang Zhuoye took out her phone, looking at Su Li’s phone number screen.

Her fingers trembled slightly, and her mind flashed with the image of Su Li sitting on the sofa, talking, her eyes bright and twinkling like peach blossoms, a smile always on her lips.

Back then, everything was fine. She had even planned to take Su Li to a wildlife sanctuary on her next day off.

She couldn’t eat randomly, and playing couldn’t be too exhausting, so she planned to take her to see the carefree herbivores.

She wanted to bring a camera and take pictures of little rabbits eating grass from Su Li’s hand. Su Li would definitely smile brightly then, and the photos would look beautiful.

But now…

Jiang Zhuoye stared at her phone as if a dark, shadowy monster was hidden inside it, opening its mouth, waiting to swallow her fingers.

But she pressed the button regardless.

“Du…Du…”

No one answered. The longer the monotonous beeping lasted, the more irritated Jiang Zhuoye became. She took out another cigarette and fiercely crushed and mangled it.

The call ended, no one answered.

Jiang Zhuoye knocked over the alloy thermos cup placed on the nearby table.

A fire was raging in her heart, burning hotter and hotter, impossible to extinguish, unstoppable, spreading from her heart to her lungs, and from her lungs to her throat.

She was hot and feverish all over, wanting to break something. Su Li’s smile flashed through Jiang Zhuoye’s mind. She couldn’t understand her own thoughts, only feeling a throbbing at her temples and the flames running rampant.

Just then, her phone suddenly vibrated. Her hand shook, and she almost dropped it.

Su Li’s name was flashing large on the screen.

Jiang Zhuoye immediately answered, her voice hoarse:

“Hello?”

There was a moment of hesitation on the other end before a voice came through:

“Uh… Jiang Zhuoye, I was busy just now. Do you… need something?”

Jiang Zhuoye opened her mouth, not knowing what to say. The fire in her heart had naturally extinguished the moment she heard Su Li’s clear, cool voice.

Her throat was dry and smoky. Unable to say much, a neurotic smile appeared at the corner of her mouth:

“I’m fine. I just missed you.”

Su Li’s voice trembled, seemingly timid:

“Ah… Please don’t say things like that anymore.”

Jiang Zhuoye asked suspiciously:

“What’s wrong?”

Su Li hesitated, not knowing how to express herself, and managed to say:

“I, I might misunderstand. Let’s just be normal friends, and please don’t say those… kind of suggestive things, okay?”

A direct hit.

Jiang Zhuoye understood, but then the curve of her mouth deepened.

She answered gently:

“We’ve always been friends. What… did you misunderstand?”

Su Li’s ears tingled, her face flushed hot, and her voice became even more sickly weak:

“No, nothing at all. Well, then you should focus on work. Let’s, let’s not talk anymore… I have to hang up first!”

On the receiver, the person on the other end hung up immediately after speaking, “Click,” and all that was left was the dial tone.

Jiang Zhuoye held the phone. The fire that had been scorching everything a moment ago had completely vanished, not even a trace of ash remained.

She only felt a gentle warmth in her heart now, like the grass growing and the orioles flying in spring.

The young girl had automatically flown into her trap. All the waiting was worth it.