The Supporting Female Lead Chooses to Mark the Villain [Rebirth] - Chapter 79

Jiang Shubai was not stupid. He stood dazed for two seconds before quickly reacting.

“Heh, what do you mean you don’t care? If you didn’t care, why did you ask me out?”

“I indeed have some things I want to ask you,” Shen Nian stated her intention, her voice steady and devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

The man sneered.

This restaurant was famous for protecting client privacy. After becoming famous, Shen Nian had visited a few times with Shen Zui and had become a VIP customer. Choosing this place for their talk was something she had considered thoroughly.

“You disappeared for so long and suddenly reached out; you must have your own purpose as well, right?”

Jiang Shubai’s expression froze instantly.

Shen Nian was only in her early twenties. Young girls this age often gave the impression of being naive, innocent, and kind. But standing before her now, facing a gaze that seemed capable of seeing right through him, Jiang Shubai suddenly realized his original assessment might have been entirely wrong.

He had originally intended to put on airs to manipulate Shen Nian, but he hadn’t expected that upon their first meeting, the one being manipulated would turn out to be himself.

Without giving him much time, Shen Nian added, “Each of us gets what we need.”

“Cough.” Jiang Shubai tried to puff out his chest. “What do you want to know?”

Shen Nian didn’t hesitate and went straight to the point: “You never intended to raise the child from the start, so why was she born?”

Jiang Shubai picked a seat neither too close nor too far from her, scratching his face awkwardly.

“How should I know? By the time I knew about you, you had already been brought before me by that woman.”

Shen Nian frowned. “That woman?”

“You want to find her?” Jiang Shubai shook his head violently. “I don’t know. Ghost knows where she is now. I’ve even forgotten her name.”

In his youth, Jiang Shubai had relied on his good looks to fool around quite a bit. The woman probably naively thought she could tie him down with a child, so she secretly gave birth to Shen Nian and went looking for him.

At that time, Jiang Shubai was in the heat of a relationship with a newly met “sugar mommy” and had no time for her. After being insulted several times, the woman woke up to reality. Heartbroken and disillusioned, she turned around and left to start a new life.

And as the sacrificial lamb of their emotional tug-of-war—Shen Nian was left behind.

From the man’s stuttering narration, Shen Nian roughly pieced together her origins. She looked at him, remembering what Shen Zui had told her before, and asked, “Later, when the Shen family came looking, you sold me to them?”

Jiang Shubai was astonished. “They even told you about that?”

“Heh,” Shen Nian sneered.

The man didn’t give a direct answer, but clearly, his expression had already explained everything.

She was indeed a child abandoned by both parents, who was then bought by the Shen family to be raised as “medicine primer” for Shen Zui, luckily surviving until now.

Confirming these facts once more, Shen Nian found that she didn’t have much of an emotional stir. She was no longer that cowardly person from her previous life; besides, things that had already passed could no longer hurt her.

“You suddenly came looking is it because you want money?”

Now that her doubts were answered, Shen Nian turned her attention to his demands. She actually found it a bit strange at first because she hadn’t encountered Jiang Shubai at all in her previous life.

But soon, Shen Nian remembered that after she became famous in her past life, her manager seemed to have mentioned a fanatical fan who had been stalking her. In this life, she had made a name for herself in the industry earlier, so it was reasonable for Jiang Shubai to show up at this point in time.

“You, you…” Hearing this, Jiang Shubai was so guilty he started to stutter, likely feeling he couldn’t save face in front of this daughter.

But soon, the “professionalism” of a long-term freeloader made him subconsciously flash a flattering smile.

“Isn’t it only right for you to support your elders?”

“Elders?” Shen Nian found it hilarious.

Suppreasing her disgust, she said, “My ‘elders’ all live in the Shen residence. It’s not your turn to reach out to me for money.”

“Bah!” Jiang Shubai’s face darkened. “You really think those people in the Shen family are good people?”

He spat again. “They smile at us just because they want to turn us into medicine to cure someone!”

Shen Nian glanced at him indifferently. “And are you a good person?”

“You!” Jiang Shubai’s face turned green.

“At least the Shen family raised me. What about you?” Shen Nian’s gaze was like ice. “Knowing full well how the child would be treated after being bought, you still signed the contract for a bit of compensation.”

Jiang Shubai started making excuses: “I… at that time…”

“You don’t need to explain to me.” Shen Nian had completely lost her patience.

She didn’t even want to eat. After standing up, she picked up her phone. “Thank you for your answers just now. Two questions; I will pay a reward of 20,000 yuan for them.”

As she spoke, she showed her phone screen. “It’s been sent.”

Jiang Shubai accepted it immediately, then became greedy. “Only 20,000?”

“You can go look for another job where you can earn five figures just by answering a few questions.” Shen Nian put on her hat and mask, stepping past him to head out.

“No!” Jiang Shubai stepped forward to grab her arm, but Shen Nian dodged him easily.

“We finally recognized each other; is this how you treat your own flesh and blood father?! You think you can dismiss me with just 20,000 yuan?!”

Shen Nian looked at him, her eyes devoid of any warmth.

“You can choose to keep pestering me; I’m ready to deal with you at any time.”

She looked at him and suddenly gave a cold smile. “I hope you can endure it when the time comes.”

Jiang Shubai was nearly forced back by that look. Although he tried his best to stay steady at the end, his uncontrollably trembling hands already betrayed his fear.

Shen Nian checked the mask on her face. Just a moment before she was about to push the door open and leave, she heard the man squeeze a dry, stiff question out of his throat.

“I know you don’t want to acknowledge me, but are you going to ignore your grandmother too?”

Shen Nian froze, turning her stiff neck to look back.

Jiang Shubai’s face was somewhat pale, and he curled his lip while staring at her.

“Her body is about to give out.”

After finishing her overtime work, Shen Zui returned to the apartment and smelled a faint aroma of meat. Following the scent to the kitchen, she found Shen Nian boiling dumplings.

“President Shen finished looking at the documents?” Shen Nian stirred the dumplings in the pot and turned to ask with a smile.

“You haven’t had dinner yet?” Shen Zui approached.

As the boiling water rolled and steam rose, Shen Nian’s face was shrouded in a layer of mist. She nodded and admitted, “I just got back not long ago as well.”

“What script is so important?” Shen Zui was protective of her own; hearing this, she was somewhat displeased. “They asked you to go help and didn’t even provide a meal?”

Shen Nian shook her head. “You can’t slander Director Duan like that.”

Shen Zui: “Hmm?”

“It’s because I was craving them myself and wanted to come back to boil some dumplings to eat,” Shen Nian explained.

She scooped one out, broke the skin to confirm the filling was cooked through, then lowered her head to blow on it before placing the spoon against Shen Zui’s lips. “Want a taste?”

Shen Zui turned her head slightly. “I’ve already eaten.”

Shen Nian smiled, her expression and movements no different from usual. “Then treat it as a midnight snack and eat a little with me?”

“Okay.” Shen Zui doted on her and rarely refused any of her reasonable requests. She stepped back two paces. “I’m a bit tired; I’ll go take a shower.”

“Mhm.” Shen Nian nodded. “I’ve placed your pajamas on the rack for you; you can go straight in.”

Hearing this, Shen Zui smiled and tugged at her sleeve, gesturing for her to lower her head. When Shen Nian actually bent down, she landed a kiss on her little lover’s cheek.

Shen Nian was holding a large bowl and didn’t show any other reaction, only softening her voice: “Go on.”

Shen Zui was somewhat puzzled, lightly scratching her chin with a finger. “So well-behaved today?”

“Oh” Shen Nian elongated her tone. “So you like it when I’m not well-behaved?”

As she spoke, she made a move to put down the kitchenware.

Shen Zui shifted her body, nimbly exiting the kitchen. From a safe distance, she threw back a glare before turning and leaving directly.

By the time she finished her shower, changed, and returned to the dining room, Shen Nian had prepared everything. She raised her hand to beckon Shen Zui: “Come here.”

Shen Zui took her seat. She wasn’t very interested in the plump dumplings on the table; her gaze followed Shen Nian as she moved around.

Shen Nian took the initiative to feed her. Out of courtesy, she ate two before getting tired of it, resting her chin on her hand as she watched Shen Nian eat.

“Why do the dumplings you’re eating look like they taste better?” President Shen voiced her confusion.

Shen Nian teased her, putting on a food-protecting act: “It’s no use trying to flatter me. Who was the one just now repeatedly saying ‘enough, enough’? Now these are all mine.”

President Shen remained very dignified: “…It’s not like I wanted to eat them anyway.”

“Tsk.” Shen Nian didn’t hold back with her. “Keep on craving them then.”

Shen Zui deliberately looked away. In less than half a minute, she couldn’t help but look back again.

“Why did you suddenly want to eat dumplings?”

No particular reason.” Shen Nian bit into a dumpling skin, seeing the round filling inside.

The dumplings were expensive items bought from a high-end supermarket; although they were pre-made, the flavor was not inferior to freshly wrapped ones at all.

“The custom of eating dumplings for a reunion is a Northern thing; we don’t have much of a tradition for it here, do we?”

“Mhm.” Shen Zui nodded, adding, “We eat them less often.”

“If there really were such a custom…” Shen Nian swallowed the food in her mouth. “I have never had a reunion with my family; would that be wasting this meal of dumplings?”

Shen Zui suddenly looked up. She didn’t know why Shen Nian was suddenly talking about such a depressing topic and looked at her with some surprise.

Shen Nian, however, seemed oblivious. “What’s wrong?”

Shen Zui reached out to take her left hand. “Aren’t we together? Doesn’t that count as a reunion?”

Shen Nian stared at her fixedly, even putting down the spoon in her hand. After a moment, she curled her lips and nodded: “Of course it counts.”

Shen Zui stood up and walked over to her. Shen Nian pulled her chair back slightly, and Shen Zui took the opportunity to slip into her embrace, sitting astride her lap.

The next moment, she cupped Shen Nian’s face. “Don’t care about the past; we will have a happy future…”

As she finished speaking, her kiss fell like flower petals.

Shen Nian tilted her head slightly; the kiss that was supposed to land on her lips fell on her cheek instead. She kept her head down, avoiding Shen Zui’s gaze. “I don’t care about the past, but I don’t want to live in a muddle either…”

“What’s wrong?” Shen Zui was very sharp. “Did something happen?”

Shen Nian shook her head. She grabbed Shen Zui’s wrist: “I was just suddenly thinking aside from those parents who abandoned me, was there really no one who truly cared for me when I was little?”

Shen Zui thought about it. After a moment, she looked at Shen Nian: “Weren’t you raised in an orphanage before the age of three? Even if someone cared for you, you’ve probably forgotten it all.”

Shen Nian held her, her ear pressed against her heartbeat.

She said, “Back then you were just a kid too, right? Ten-year-old Shen Zui… were you in elementary school?”

Shen Zui gave a “Mhm” with a smile.

“Then the matter of adopting me was done by Grandmother and Mother?” These two titles were somewhat foreign to Shen Nian; she cleared her throat after saying them. “Regarding the things from that time, did you also hear about them from them?”

“Mhm.” Shen Zui nodded.

Shen Nian suddenly looked up. “When did you ask them about me?”

Shen Zui was dazed. She reached out to lightly stroke Shen Nian’s cheek, then helped her tuck away a stray hair.

“…You remembered?”

Shen Nian: “…” She rubbed her aching temples. “Remembered what?”

Shen Zui’s brow furrowed.

Shen Nian didn’t give her a chance to brush it off, lowering her voice to act spoiled: “Tell me, I want to hear.”

Shen Zui was silent for a moment before speaking gloomily: “Didn’t you ask me before why we had a falling out when you were little?”

Shen Nian reacted immediately: “It’s related to this?”

“Mhm.” Shen Zui nodded. She lowered her eyes, her mood becoming somewhat low due to the memories. “Before that, our relationship was very good. As soon as I got home, you would proactively cling to me.”

She paused here. “Then one day, Mother talked to me about your background. You accidentally burst in; I don’t know how much you heard. You were very afraid of the monthly blood draws back then. Hearing that you were adopted and realizing I was the culprit causing your suffering, you were greatly traumatized.”

Shen Nian: “…”

“After going back that day, you had a high fever. Once you got better, you were no longer willing to see me.” As Shen Zui spoke, she toyed with a strand of hair on her shoulder. Hearing that Shen Nian hadn’t spoken for a long time, she looked up: “What are you thinking?”

Shen Nian turned back, grabbing her hand and bringing it to her lips for a kiss. “I was young then; I really didn’t know better. To think I actually separated from you over such a trivial matter.”

Shen Zui tapped her forehead. “So you know to regret it now?”

“You never suspected it?” Shen Nian raised an eyebrow. “Whenever you and Grandmother spoke, there were always people on guard. How old was I then? How could it be so coincidental that I happened to eavesdrop?”

Shen Zui thought of her extremely controlling mother and remained silent, not picking up the conversation. Regardless of the fact that she no longer feared Shen Bi now, as a child, she had actually been troubled by her mother’s assertiveness.

Shen Nian didn’t force her to answer. No matter what Shen Zui thought, she already had her own answer in her heart.

Shen Bi’s eyes were so sharp! A “medicine primer” is, after all, a living person with warmth. From that time on, she had realized she should prevent Shen Nian and Shen Zui from getting too close, and she had acted swiftly and ruthlessly.

It had to be said that she had actually been very successful if Shen Nian hadn’t been reborn.