Transmigrated as the Cannon Fodder Boss of the Disabled Heroine - Chapter 28

Pei Yujiang spoke these words with complete sincerity, devoid of any hint of mockery or jest purely intending to comfort her.

Yu Zhiwan took a deep breath, spread her arms, and tentatively embraced Pei Yujiang’s shoulders.

The woman’s shoulders were neither too broad nor too narrow. Pei Yujiang wasn’t the large-boned type, her figure well-proportioned neither frail nor overly muscular, with beautifully maintained muscle definition. Yu Zhiwan had no trouble holding her, burying her face against Pei Yujiang’s shoulder as tears pattered down, dampening the fabric.

It had been years since she’d allowed herself to cry so freely, especially in front of someone else.

But Yu Zhiwan didn’t weep loudly or dramatically. Her crying was silent, like an injured animal suppressing its sounds, muffling the movements as she sniffled and slowly processed her emotions.

Her shoulders shook with each sob. Pei Yujiang neither comforted nor hurried her, simply lending her shoulder generously, letting Yu Zhiwan lean against her.

After a while, Yu Zhiwan cried herself out and sat up, her face a mess of tear tracks and creases from the fabric. She wiped it casually with her hand, then, embarrassed by her earlier display, awkwardly changed the subject:

“Are you hungry? Let’s go eat?”

The subject change was abrupt, clearly betraying her embarrassment. Pei Yujiang naturally avoided pressing the matter and instead asked:

“What ingredients would you like? I’ll order delivery first.”

In the end, they ordered some barbecue staples like enoki mushrooms, cardamom, eggplant, and sliced potatoes all pre-cut along with some frozen chicken strips and tenderloin, just enough for two to prevent waste.

Pei Yujiang also added two small side dishes. After packing everything up, she loaded the portable automatic grill onto a trolley and headed out with Yu Zhiwan.

Ningxiang was a city of flowers and waterways, crisscrossed with rivers. Though Yicheng wasn’t lacking in water, it couldn’t compare to the aquatic charm of southern cities.

A gentle stream murmured nearby, its surface rippling with the hazy glow of streetlamps lining the banks. The riverside wasn’t crowded, and even fewer people were barbecuing there. After setting up the grill, Pei Yujiang began skewering the pre-cut ingredients, planning to fetch some water from nearby in case the flames grew too strong later.

Yu Zhiwan, limited by her mobility, waited where she was.

Though blind, her hands were deft if she could handle extracting solutions, skewering ingredients was no challenge. When Pei Yujiang left, some remained unfinished, so Yu Zhiwan took over, the skewers flowing through her fingers like water. As she cleaned the tenderloin skewers, she suddenly heard a rustling noise.

Near the river was a park, complete with public restrooms and lawns. Yu Zhiwan couldn’t see, but she could hear what sounded like the panting of a dog.

The barbecue wasn’t cooking yet, so there was no aroma to attract animals. Besides, from the sound of its footsteps, this was no small dog. The heavy panting immediately painted an image in Yu Zhiwan’s mind, a large dog with a lolling red tongue.

Yu Zhiwan immediately set down the tenderloin skewer and bent to pick up the firewood stick Pei Yujiang had discarded earlier, relying on memory.

She wasn’t afraid of dogs, but she was afraid of mad ones and in this small town, there were definitely people who walked their dogs without leashes. Yu Zhiwan thought the owner might be nearby and was about to call out when a sharp whistling sound cut through the air. The dog lunged straight at her!

“Clang!”

The wheelchair spun with astonishing speed, far beyond the reaction time of an ordinary person. Yu Zhiwan’s hearing and sense of smell were exceptionally sharp, compensating for her blindness. The moment she heard the sound, she reacted instantly, rolling backward to evade the dog’s attack.

The large dog missed its target but immediately charged at her again, snarling viciously.

This time, Yu Zhiwan didn’t retreat. Instead, she raised the stick in her hand, calculating the angle in silence. As the dog’s sharp claws were about to strike, she aimed precisely at the hot breath exhaling from its mouth and thrust the stick sideways with all her might.

The impact sent the dog stumbling, locking it in a tense standoff with her. Her positioning was dangerously precise just a fraction off, and the dog’s fangs would have sunk into her. A rabies shot would have been the least of her worries; an unarmed blind woman could easily have had her arm torn apart by a beast this size.

Yu Zhiwan’s arms trembled under the strain, sweat trickling down her skin and seeping between her clenched fingers.

This was the scene Pei Yujiang walked into.

The spot was supposed to be safe no cars, barely any pedestrians, a quiet place for a stroll. Yet here was Yu Zhiwan, locked in a struggle with a massive wolfhound, her bangs damp with sweat, her arms shaking violently. It was clear she wouldn’t last much longer.

Wolfhounds weren’t the type to attack unprovoked. This one looked well-groomed, its coat glossy definitely not a stray. And unless threatened, they usually didn’t go after humans.

As Pei Yujiang sprinted toward them, she scanned the surroundings and spotted a young man in a black jacket and sunglasses lurking behind the bushes, watching intently.

The street was nearly empty. A child who had witnessed the dog’s attack burst into tears, and their parent quickly carried them away, unwilling to get involved.

Instead of rushing to Yu Zhiwan’s aid immediately, Pei Yujiang dashed toward the man. Before he could react, she twisted his arm and slammed him face-first against the rough bark of a tree.

“Ugh!”

The man hadn’t expected an ambush. He thrashed wildly, but Pei Yujiang overpowered him effortlessly. His panicked whimpers caught the wolfhound’s attention abandoning Yu Zhiwan, it bolted back to defend its master.

Pei Yujiang knocked the man out with a sharp elbow strike, dropping him to the ground. As the dog bared its teeth and lunged at her, she seized the scruff of its neck and shouted to Yu Zhiwan:

“Call the police!”

Yu Zhiwan, already fumbling for her phone, a specialized device with tactile buttons for the blind quickly dialed for help.

Their planned barbecue was ruined, the fireworks unseen. Instead, they spent over two hours at the police station, giving statements on empty stomachs.

The officers in Ningxiang were thorough, meticulously recording every detail without brushing them off as outsiders. They even reviewed surveillance footage to verify the incident.

Although Yu Zhiwan was from Wing City, she was strikingly beautiful not the delicate, refined beauty typical of southern women, but a captivating kind that was hard to fault. She was an Omega without a single flaw.

A frail Omega nearly being bitten by a dog for no reason on the street was already a serious disruption of public order. The police sternly questioned the young man who had let his dog loose and stood by watching the commotion. At first, the young man tried to deny it, but when he realized he couldn’t, he stubbornly insisted:

“I did it on purpose.”

“I just saw she was blind and wanted to scare her with the dog. I know I was wrong now. Next time, I’ll leash it when I walk my dog.”

When the police pressed him for a reason, he kept repeating the same line, adamant that his only motive was to frighten Yu Zhiwan for his own amusement. He claimed he never expected his dog would actually try to bite her, though it didn’t succeed and even got whacked a few times with a stick.

But Pei Yujiang instinctively felt he was lying.

The young man looked nervous, his eyes darting around. Besides, Yu Zhiwan had no grudge against him, and there were plenty of other people on the street. Her eyes were clear and lovely, and she moved with practiced ease, how could he have even known she was blind?

If he had said he targeted her because she was a disabled person missing both legs, that would have been more believable.

But Pei had no evidence, and she couldn’t just ask the police to arrest him based on her suspicions alone.

They had left late and spent so much time dealing with the incident that it was already past 11 p.m. when they stepped out of the police station. Though Ningxiang was in the south, November nights were still chilly. The air outside was heavy with dew, and the wind cut sharply through them, stripping away the warmth they had from the station’s heated interior.

The vibrant flowers ubiquitous in Flower City looked dull under the harsh glare of streetlights, their once-bright colors now washed out and faded.

At this hour, it was hard to hail a cab outside major cities. Pei Yujiang tried booking one on an app but waited several minutes in the cold wind with no luck. She didn’t mind the chill herself, but she worried Yu Zhiwan might catch a cold.

“How about I push you back?” she suggested.

The walk from the police station to their homestay was several miles, but Pei could easily jog that distance. Yu Zhiwan’s wheelchair would make the trip slower, so it was better to hurry.

Besides, tomorrow was Yu Zhiwan’s birthday. If they didn’t move quickly, they’d end up celebrating it right there on the street.

Yu Zhiwan tightened her coat. She had dressed warmly and wasn’t too cold. The Omega had been quiet throughout the police questioning, answering only when spoken to and never voicing strong suspicions about the young man. But now, in the biting wind, she lifted her head and looked up at Pei Yujiang.

“Aren’t you cold?” she asked.

“No.”

“Are you tired?”

“No.”

Pei wasn’t a night owl, but she could handle more or less sleep, she always woke up on time for her morning runs anyway. Under the streetlight, Yu Zhiwan’s face looked soft and pale, especially when she tilted it upward. There was something irresistibly pinchable about her cheeks, tempting Pei to reach out and give them a squeeze.

Yu Zhiwan said softly, “Then let’s walk back slowly. You don’t need to push me, we’ll take our time, okay? If you get tired, just step on my wheelchair footrest and we’ll amble back together.”

Pei Yujiang tightened her coat around herself as she listened, wondering if her cold resistance had weakened, how could she feel this chilly wearing a trench coat in a city like Ningxiang?

But Yu Zhiwan was the birthday girl, so Pei would naturally agree to anything she said, especially since this wasn’t an unreasonable request.

It was quite cold outside. Pei had started feeling the chill the moment they left the police station, initially blaming her own declining cold tolerance while puzzling over why Yu Zhiwan wanted to linger outdoors at night. But gradually, she understood.

Ningxiang was snowing.

This time, the weather forecast had been wrong. The heavens were playing a joke on this southern city as northern winds ushered in a cold front without mercy.

But southern snow was wet and gentle not like the heavy goose-feather snowfalls of the north. These delicate flakes didn’t fall as distinct particles but melted midair like rain, tangling and dancing under streetlights.

A few snowflakes landed on Yu Zhiwan’s head, immediately dissolving into droplets that traced the graceful slope of her nose. The cold air Yu breathed in wasn’t the harsh northern variety November’s winds weren’t that bitter yet, and combined with Ningxiang’s characteristically humid mildness, the snow-laden breeze became a tender blade, brushing against their faces with soft persistence.

The Omega’s snow-gentle voice came from behind as Yu, in her wheelchair, followed the path Pei had cleared:

“You wanted to see fireworks, didn’t you? Since we can’t have those, let’s watch southern snow instead.”

“Tell me—is the southern snow beautiful?”

“It’s beautiful. Just a shame such a perfect night had to be ruined by that idiot.”

Pei’s nostrils caught moist snowflakes with each breath. She pulled her coat tighter, avoiding mention of that strange individual earlier and suppressing her lingering questions about Yu Zhiwan.

Amid the fine snowfall, she checked her watch  the minute hand creeping toward midnight. As icy flakes melted on her lips, Pei suddenly recalled how novelistic couples always kissed during special moments.

Birthdays, first snow, any occasion worth celebrating became an excuse for locking lips. She usually skimmed past such scenes, never understanding the appeal of such saccharine displays, suspecting authors just padded word counts by inventing eight hundred reasons for characters to kiss.

“Yu Zhiwan, happy birthday.”

As the clock struck twelve, Pei turned back with a radiant smile knowing Yu couldn’t see it, but letting laughter warm her voice. Though there was no cake, making wishes against Ningxiang’s rare snowfall seemed romantic enough. Not wanting to admit being romance-averse, she asked:

“Do you have any wishes?”

Yu stopped her wheelchair:

“No wishes. But there are two things I want to tell you.”

Pei asked, “What?”

“My hands are cold.”

Pei Yujiang rubbed her hands together briskly to generate warmth, then moved behind the Omega. She grasped Yu Zhiwan’s hands and tucked them into the pockets of her coat. Leaning forward against the wheelchair, she adjusted her position and began pushing from behind.

Yu Zhiwan started moving again.

She seemed pleased by Pei Yujiang’s sudden thoughtfulness, her lips curling unconsciously. The warmth of her breath melted the cold snowflakes clinging to her temples:

“The second thing calling each other by full names is too formal. Can we switch to something else when we’re not at the company?”

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