The Plan to Save the Villainess Supporting Actress [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 24.4

Yu Yulin called after her, “Are you really okay? Do you want me to come with you?”

“Probably not? She’s running so fast, she must be fine.”

Jian Zhiyao craned her neck, patting her chest dramatically with a sigh. “Thank goodness Zhu Ran didn’t have low blood sugar, or I’d never forgive myself!”

“That doesn’t get you out of buying ice cream. Don’t forget.”

The laughter and chatter behind her grew distant. Zhu Ran stopped at the doorway, her peripheral vision catching Nan Zhi and Mu Siqiong’s figures turning the corner of the staircase.

Her body moved before her mind could react. Light-footed, she followed the path Nan Zhi had taken, as if pulled by some magical force, step by step.

Summer had yet to arrive, but clusters of clouds still drifted across the sky.

The moment she stepped outside, a wave of scorching heat hit her face.

Following the shade of the camphor trees past two intersections, familiar voices drifted from ahead.

“I’m partly responsible too. I’m really sorry.”

It sounded like Nan Zhi apologizing to Mu Siqiong.

Zhu Ran’s steps faltered. She felt now wasn’t the right time to interrupt.

Eavesdropping didn’t seem right either, so she turned to leave.

“And also, I really didn’t do all this just for Zhu Ran.”

Me?

“Zhu Ran doesn’t need me pulling strings behind her back.”

The heat surged to her eyes, a sting more unbearable than the rain that day.

Her nose and the corners of her eyes ached fiercely, like the lingering mist slowly gathering into droplets in half a minute, they’d fall into the muddy puddles below.

The summer heat was too relentless.

She sniffed lightly, blinking away the tears to clear her vision.

A dark droplet plopped onto the concrete, merging with the dampness of the rainy season until it was indistinguishable.

Zhu Ran steadied herself. When she turned around again, she couldn’t help but freeze.

Behind the shade of the tree, the figure that had initially been barely visible was suddenly pounced upon by a familiar silhouette. The girl seemed momentarily stunned, taking a small half-step back as a questioning sound escaped her lips.

“What… what’s going on?”

Nan Zhi didn’t answer.

She simply held Mu Siqiong like that.

All chaotic thoughts were instantly wiped clean.

Devoid of any thoughts or emotions, Zhu Ran felt like an empty puppet, mindlessly pulled forward by invisible strings for a couple of steps.

Then she heard her own voice speak.

“What are you two doing?”

No, no that wasn’t what she wanted to say.

No, she hadn’t even meant to step forward and interrupt them.

Why?

Reason had completely abandoned her, and this time, even control over her own body was lost.

Inside her hollow shell, Zhu Ran’s very soul trembled.

This shouldn’t be happening. She’d be hated for this.

Jiang Zhiyun? Or Shen Yan?

Who was it that had said not to ruin their family’s happiness by standing in the way?

Then was she now ruining Nan Zhi’s happiness too?

Her vision blurred, making it impossible to discern the expressions opposite her. Zhu Ran didn’t know what she heard, nor what she replied.

That indistinct pink figure stood motionless in place.

No words, no movement.

Just like the Shen family of the past.

A small voice in her heart protested no, Nan Zhi wasn’t like the Shen family. Nan Zhi would never be like that.

But a far greater whirlpool of emotions dragged her in, tearing her apart.

Reason? Her body?

Zhu Ran felt as though not a single part of her remained intact.

In her daze, the smiling face of Shen Jiaying from their teenage years suddenly surfaced.

That sweet, praised-by-elders, beloved-by-classmates smile was now laced with cold, venomous serpents, silently flicking their forked tongues.

Zhu Ran.

She saw that smiling face open its gaping maw.

Remember those who died because of you.

You don’t deserve happiness.

Damp, suffocating moisture slowly clogged Zhu Ran’s nose and throat. Just before she could drown.

An embrace suddenly enveloped her.

Instinctively, Zhu Ran tilted her head up.

The whisper of stray strands of hair brushed past her ear, warm arms wrapped around her vulnerable neck, her cheek barely grazing the other’s.

In that moment, the entire world seemed to shrink down to the familiar scent of coconut milk clinging to Nan Zhi.

“Mu Siqiong was crying just now, so I was comforting her.”

A lie.

So why did her blood sing and surge in response?

“Wahh, it’s been so long since I last saw you! I missed you so much! There’s someone annoying in our group. I miss playing with you even more now.”

And this was it sincere?

Her left atrium pulsed back to life.

Time, forcibly suspended, began to flow again. Tick, tock not the sound of water dripping into mud, but Nan Zhi nudging the second hand in her world.

“Today, I want to leave work with you too. Remember to wait for me! Or I’ll come wait for you.”

Of course.

“No answer means you agree!”

Mm.

“Go for it, Zhu Ran. No matter what you do, I’m on your side.”

The moment the embrace ended, Zhu Ran slowly raised a hand, as if to hold on.

But Nan Zhi had already turned away.

As sunlight spilled over them, she saw Nan Zhi glance back once more, flashing her a dazzling, radiant smile.

Her fingers gradually curled inward, clenching tightly into her palm.

Nails dug into flesh, the pain crawling up her limbs and seizing her heart.

The moment the sharp sting flared, the illusion completely dissolved beneath the sunlight.

Still resorting to the old tricks, huh? Zhu Ran tugged at the corner of her mouth in a daze.

But at least this time, she snapped out of it with just this much.

“Alright, let’s keep the lyrics divided as they are now.”

Mu Siqiong let out a soft sigh of relief, one major issue finally settled.

Next up: rehearsal.

Her gaze swept over everyone in the classroom, and she couldn’t help but sigh again.

The lingering tension from the argument hadn’t dissipated. She and Nan Zhi had bought some ice cream, but everyone just ate it in silence. Shao Xiling and her friends even refused theirs outright, letting the ice cream melt into soggy lumps in the bag.

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