Transmigrated into the Villainous Scummy Alpha in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 8

“What murderer?”

Holding her tighter, Lin Qi sighed. This girl must be having a nightmare. Of course she knew the female lead couldn’t possibly be a murderer.

Entering the dorm room without even turning on the lights, afraid the sudden brightness might wake the rare deep sleeper, Lin Qi gently placed her on the bed and tucked her in properly. Only then did she have time to ponder Jiang Ming’s sleep-talking.

What exactly had the female lead dreamed about?

Was it related to the rumors Song Jin had been spreading?

She couldn’t figure it out, especially since she didn’t know what Jiang Ming had experienced today. Even during dinner, her mental state had seemed terrible.

The only solution was to get the female lead transferred to Class A as soon as possible. Under her watchful eye, she might be able to shield her from some of the undeserved malice.

Groping in the dark for her toiletries, Lin Qi brushed her teeth and washed her face quietly. Still concerned, she glanced at Jiang Ming’s sleeping form, only relaxing when she saw the girl sleeping peacefully.

Lying in bed, unable to stop tossing and turning, Lin Qi found herself wide awake, her mind consumed with thoughts about what Jiang Ming might have endured.

If only she hadn’t been so exhausted when she read that book. Now she had no knowledge of Jiang Ming’s past before participating in the talent show.

“I didn’t… My father had reasons for killing. He wasn’t a bad person. He wasn’t…”

Startled by the sudden voice, Lin Qi froze mid-turn and looked toward Jiang Ming in the pitch-black room.

What did that mean?

Had the female lead’s father actually killed someone?

This…

Ah! Now she wanted to know Jiang Ming’s story even more!

With these thoughts swirling, Lin Qi unexpectedly drifted into sleep.

In her dream, she was lying on a bed again but not the narrow 1.2-meter dorm bed. The hotel’s large bed was warm and comfortable. Before she could process this, her phone fell straight onto her face.

“Ouch!”

Moving the phone aside, she tenderly rubbed her high nose bridge and wiped away the involuntary tears from the pain, confused about why she was here.

The decor looked familiar, almost like…

The hotel she’d stayed in before being stabbed to death in her previous life?!

This was the day! The day she’d been reading that talent show novel!

Overjoyed, she picked up her phone, the name appearing most frequently on the small screen was “Jiang Ming”!

She’d just reached the scene where the novel’s Lin Qi had Jiang Ming pinned on the bed, slapping her. This must be the exact moment she’d transmigrated into the story.

An immense weight pressed on her heart. Even though it wasn’t her actions, an inexplicable sense of responsibility bound her, making her feel she should treat Jiang Ming better, much better.

Shaking her head helplessly, she purchased the entire novel in one go and immediately started reading the chapter titled “Past.” She desperately wanted to know Jiang Ming’s history.

The book wrote:

Jiang Ming hadn’t been born this withdrawn and cold. She’d experienced fourteen warm, happy years. But all that peaceful beauty had been violently stained by a blood-red accident.

Her grandfather had been the director of their local hospital. Her parents were renowned university professors. As a child, Jiang Ming had been a sweet, soft girl who often smiled with her eyes.

But when she was fourteen, her grandfather made a mistake during surgery, resulting in the death of a patient who could have survived.

The patient’s son, a hot-tempered man, pulled out a dagger on the spot and stabbed her grandfather multiple times. The elderly man, nearing retirement age, couldn’t withstand the attack and died right there.

It was a severe case of medical violence.

That family seemed to have some influence before the trial, they obtained a mental illness certificate for their son. A flimsy piece of paper shattered the peace of Jiang Ming’s family.

Her parents wept day and night, consumed by grief and hatred. Though young Jiang Ming didn’t fully understand the meaning of death, the blurred red images in the news filled her with sorrow and indignation. Her kind, gentle grandfather had his life taken from him, and the murderer walked free.

As she watched her parents argue over the word “revenge,” Jiang Ming had no idea what would happen to their already fragile family in the following week.

It happened just after school. Jiang Ming, an excellent student, had entered the best local middle school thanks to her outstanding entrance exam results. In her second year, her teacher told her she could get into the top high school. She had planned to pretend to be happy, hoping to bring some joy to their gloomy household.

But instead, she saw a lifeless body hanging from the ceiling.

It was the person she had often buried her face in while acting spoiled, the one she shared all her secrets with, the one she never wanted to see like this.

Jiang Ming’s mother had committed suicide, right in front of her.

After collapsing from shock, Jiang Ming woke up in a hospital bed. The nurse who came at the sound could see it in her eyes pity.

Was it because she had witnessed her mother’s death?

With a loud sob, the pale girl buried herself under the blanket, as if hiding from the cruel, cold world could make her believe that everything that had happened was just a game her family was playing with her.

That when she returned home, her mother would still gently pat her head and ask with a smile, “Did anything fun happen at school today?”

“Jiang Ming, right? There’s one more thing you need to know.”

After the nurse called her name several times, Jiang Ming had no choice but to emerge, her eyes red like a rabbit’s. She lied to herself, saying she was ready to face reality.

“Little one, your father, he killed someone out of revenge two days ago. He was sentenced to ten years in prison. Today’s the day he’s being taken in. You should go see him.”

Another stab to her already shattered heart. Jiang Ming clutched her chest, curling up in pain as tears streamed down her face, her cries as quiet as a kitten’s whimpers.

The nurse couldn’t bear to watch, but she remembered the phone call she had just received from Jiang Ming’s father. His weary voice, thick with guilt, had practically begged her:

“Please! I really need to see her. I need to see my Xiao Ming. Please, I’m begging you.”

Tears welled in the nurse’s own eyes. She wiped the warm tears from Jiang Ming’s soft cheeks with her thumb and said helplessly, “Jiang Ming, your father really wants to see you. Today is the last chance you’ll have to see him.”

After a long silence, the kind-hearted nurse, who genuinely didn’t want this poor child to meet her irresponsible father, simply wiped Jiang Ming’s tears and silently stayed with the girl who had lost both parents within days.

“Sister, take me there.”

Surprised by the determined look in the girl’s eyes, the nurse nodded, “Alright.”

No one knew what Jiang Ming discussed with her father in prison. They only knew the once cheerful girl stopped speaking entirely. Days later, due to her registered Chinese nationality, Jiang Ming was deported back to China.

On the day of her arrival at the airport, Jiang Ming had an episode when a passenger pointed at her and called her a murderer’s daughter. Completely losing control, she pinned the passenger to the ground and bit them like a wolf awakened to its primal instincts.

The consequence was her confinement in a mental institution.

Unable to communicate with doctors and nurses due to her complete lack of Chinese, her frail appearance and withdrawn nature made her a frequent target of bullying by other patients. Those four years in the psychiatric hospital were the darkest period of Jiang Ming’s life.

Yet it was during this time of self-reflection that Jiang Ming overcame her psychological struggles. No, she couldn’t let herself become like those who tormented her.

Finally, at eighteen, Jiang Ming saw a glimmer of hope – her mother’s younger sister, Aunt Qi Xun, who had been studying abroad. After failing to contact her only sister for a year, Qi Xun spent three years searching across China and Japan before finding Jiang Ming.

Emerging from the institution, Jiang Ming grasped Qi Xun’s arm with a pleading look that no one could refuse, saying, “I want to study music. I want to sing.”

Thus, Jiang Ming enrolled in a world-renowned music conservatory. Within a year, her angelic voice earned her an invitation to a talent show.

Qi Xun expected her quiet niece to decline, but to her surprise, Jiang Ming agreed without hesitation. When asked why, she simply said, “Prisons have televisions. I want my father to see me.”

Reading this, Lin Qi suddenly jolted awake to complete darkness, the narrow single bed beneath her hard and unyielding. The dream had ended.

From the bed two desks away came the sound of restless turning – Jiang Ming was sleeping fitfully.

Remembering the book’s final line – “Prisons have televisions. I want my father to see me.” – it all made sense now. No wonder the novel’s protagonist didn’t care about starring in obscure web dramas or struggling in the entertainment industry. She just wanted her father, serving a ten-year sentence, to see her.

Now wide awake, Lin Qi threw off the covers and approached Jiang Ming, tentatively patting her thin back. The prominent bones felt almost sharp – she worried the girl might not even weigh ninety pounds.

Fortunately, the comforting touch seemed to calm Jiang Ming, who stopped tossing and turning.

Covering Jiang Ming’s eyes with one hand, Lin Qi turned on the desk lamp and retrieved the lyrics tucked inside the dictionary. Flipping it over, she recalled a phrase and wrote it down:

“May someone accompany you through life’s turbulence. If not…”

The pen paused here. The following sentence was originally supposed to be “May you become your own sun,” but Lin Qi looked at the kitten’s docile lower face and changed the stroke of his pen: “May someone accompany you through life’s turbulence. If there isn’t anyone, I can be your sun.”