When the Villain Falls Madly in Love with Me - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Saving the Villain

“Hello? Hello?”

Who was it this time?

Le Le furrowed her delicate brows, annoyed by the voice disturbing her rest. She raised her hand, wanting to wave away the irritating sound.

“Hiss—” The movement pulled at the wounds on her back. The sharp pain instantly scattered her drowsy consciousness, and she snapped her eyes open.

It was pitch black. She almost forgot she was still locked in the dark room.

She slowly propped herself up, her gaze habitually turning towards the narrow slit under the door—the slot for food, and the only source of light in this prison.

“Dong, dong…” Several dull knocking sounds came again.

Le Le merely glanced listlessly toward the door, a feeling of irritation coiling around her like a vine.

“Is anyone there?” A child outside the door pressed close to the slit, asking timidly.

A mischievous idea surfaced without warning. Le Le silently slid off the bed, tiptoed onto the cold floor, and slowly approached the door.

Just as the voice hesitated and was about to sound again…

“AH!” She suddenly let out a massive shriek right by the door slit.

“WAAAAAHHHH!!!” Instantly, a horrified wail erupted outside the door, accompanied by a muffled thud of something heavy hitting the floor.

“Which murderous idiot is wailing in the middle of the night!” The skinny woman’s sharp, sarcastic curses immediately followed.

Afterward, there was the sound of frantic running outside, followed by the woman’s limping pursuit.

Le Le cracked a smile, chuckling silently. The expression was exceptionally cold in the darkness.

“You little brat, running so fast! Don’t let me catch you!” The woman returned exasperated, abruptly pressing her face close to the door slit. Her murky eyes peered in malevolently, resentment practically overflowing.

Le Le knew that if the woman had the key, she would definitely be in for a brutal beating tonight. She stared back at those eyes without flinching, her gaze as still as an ancient well.

“The little beast dares to glare at me? You just wait!” The woman’s voice ratcheted up, its sharp tone betraying a sense of offended fury.

Le Le stood her ground, watching the woman limp away with curses. Only then did she turn and move slowly back to the bed.

Fortunately, the bed was a simple cot and not high, or she would have struggled to get back on.

In the following days, no one bothered her again. The bruises on her back looked less savage, at least no longer making her dizzy with pain every time she moved.

On the day she was released from confinement, the old woman secretly gave her a biscuit, which she deftly hid in her backpack.

Back in the dormitory, a strange little girl lay in the bed space formerly occupied by the plump girl on her left. Le Le didn’t pay it much mind. Children in the welfare institution came and went like water—too many were adopted, died of illness, brought in, or sent away. She couldn’t keep track of them all.

“Ah! You’re out!” When the unfamiliar girl saw her, her eyes instantly brightened, as if she had discovered a treasure. She immediately abandoned the companions she was chatting with and ran over excitedly.

She tried to take Le Le’s hand, but Le Le subconsciously dodged. The girl gave an awkward laugh and introduced herself in a very familiar manner: “Hello, Le Le, my name is Li Xin. I’m new.”

Hearing the ill-fitting excitement in her voice, Le Le lowered her eyelashes and zipped up her backpack. She sneered coldly inwardly—another new fool. What was there to be happy about coming here?

“I was the one who called out to you that night! I wanted to bring you food, but…” Li Xin began to explain herself.

So it was this idiot. Le Le truly couldn’t be bothered with her nonsense. She walked straight to her bed and flopped down face first, building a wall of silence to shut out the world.

Li Xin kept buzzing chatter into her ear.

Fortunately, after a little while, the other children pulled her away. Their hushed voices drifted over like mosquitoes: “Xin Xin, why are you talking to her? She…”

“Exactly, she’s weird…”

The fragmented sounds gradually blurred and faded away. Having starved and frozen in the dark room, and with her injuries not fully healed, fatigue washed over her like a tide. Le Le quickly drifted back into a deep sleep.

Since Li Xin arrived, Le Le had an inseparable shadow following her, constantly calling “Le Le, Le Le,” which was terribly annoying.

“Stop following me!” Le Le raised her hand and forcefully pushed her.

“Ah!” Li Xin didn’t expect her to push and lost her footing, tumbling down the stairs.

Le Le kept a poker face and walked down expressionlessly. She reached out and pulled her up. “How is it? I told you not to follow me. You brought this on yourself.” She pursed her lips, her tone extremely stiff.

“Hehe, I’m fine.” Li Xin inhaled sharply, grimacing in pain. Luckily, the steps weren’t high; only her ankle was swollen. Yet, a thoughtless smile still hung on her face.

Le Le awkwardly turned her head away and helped her find the old woman.

“Why do you always follow me?” Le Le’s voice was muffled.

Li Xin hopped comically. She laughed and said, “At first, I saw you were always locked in the dark room, and I thought you were so pitiful, so I wanted to bring you food. But the first time I secretly saw you…”

She paused, her smile deepening. “I just thought you were so special, super, super cool! I like people like you, and I want to be your friend!”

The barrage of “special” left Le Le dizzy. Special? There were many children like her in the welfare institution. What made her special?

She pursed her lips again, only squeezing out a simple “Oh” from her nose.

Li Xin, however, took this as a colossal sign, excitedly trying to lean closer to her. “You agreed? Did you agree?” Her body tilted forward as she lost balance.

Le Le was unaccustomed to people getting too close and backed away a few steps. With Le Le no longer supporting her, Li Xin’s body started to pitch forward.

Le Le quickly caught her, but Li Xin hugged her tightly. Her elevated tone chimed in Le Le’s ear: “Then we’re best friends!”

Le Le was noncommittal, her face still expressionless, but she voluntarily resumed supporting her.

“Let me tell you…”

Along the way, Li Xin chattered endlessly about all sorts of things—what kind of people her parents were, how she ended up at the welfare institution, what she wanted to do after arriving…

She talked about everything under the sun, a torrent of words that made Le Le want to sew her mouth shut.

“Le Le, you are so cool.” Li Xin pouted, unhappy about her lack of response.

“Mhm,” Le Le replied softly. Regarding her parents, she was a blank slate, utterly lost. As for the future? She didn’t have the luxury of thinking that far ahead. Being alive and getting fewer beatings and scoldings was her entire focus.

Because the two became friends and Li Xin had twisted her ankle, the chore of fetching meals fell to Le Le.

She held the two bowls and delivered them to the woman with a cold expression, bracing herself for ridicule. After a moment, the woman glanced at Li Xin but said nothing, only rolling her eyes while serving their portions.

Le Le turned her head to look at Li Xin, who was quietly sitting in her spot, finding it a bit strange.

“Why are you still standing there? Don’t others need to eat?” The woman irritably tapped the pot with the ladle, urging her to hurry up and leave.

Le Le carried the two bowls of meager food and sat down next to Li Xin, staring at Li Xin’s skin, which was paler than everyone else’s, with a scrutinizing gaze.

“Hehe, what’s wrong? Hurry and sit down to eat.” Li Xin gestured for her to sit.

Le Le slowly sat down, deep in thought.

Feeling a tingling on her scalp from being stared at, Li Xin finally smiled and explained: “Alright, alright! I surrender! Le Le, your eyes are too scary! Actually… I didn’t tell you the whole truth. The director is my cousin. What I said before… was all made up. My parents are too busy to care for me, so they dumped me here.”

Le Le didn’t speak, her eyes still fixed on her overly pale skin.

Li Xin was practically ready to raise her hands in defeat. She could guarantee that no one could hide anything under Le Le’s sharp gaze.

“Also, I’m sick. The doctor said there’s no cure,” Li Xin said lightly, though her brow subtly furrowed. “I’ve been stuck in the hospital since I was little, and I absolutely hate hospitals, so I came here!”

Le Le listened, was silent for a few seconds, then lowered her head and began to eat her rice quickly.

“Don’t you have anything to say?” Li Xin pointed at her, exclaiming in disbelief.

“Say what?” Le Le looked up at her, confused.

“Like… comforting me, saying, ‘You’ll get better!’ or maybe hugging me?” Li Xin opened her arms, gesturing, trying to mimic a touching scene.

“…” Le Le’s mouth twitched. Her tone was as indifferent as if she were commenting on the weather: “Everyone is going to die. There’s nothing to comfort.”

“Wow!” Li Xin’s eyes brightened even more, as if she had discovered a new continent. “Le Le, you really are so cool! You’re different from everyone else! I love that about you!”

She tried to cling to her again, but Le Le firmly pushed her away with her arm. “Go away.”

If she wasn’t going to live long, why insist on being friends with her? When she died, it would be over for her, but Le Le would have wasted time feeling sad and upset. That wasn’t fair.

Her own time was limited and precious.

Cut your losses. This was Le Le’s first unlearned principle. She stopped paying attention to this girl who was destined for an early death.

Li Xin, however, was like an unyielding cockroach. She used every method to try and reconcile—secretly giving Le Le the candy she had saved up, clumsily folding paper cranes, deliberately speaking interesting things loudly as Le Le passed by…

But each time, she was rebuffed by Le Le’s icy face and immediate turn-away.

After a few months of this back-and-forth, the shadow behind Le Le finally disappeared completely. Life returned to its original state: alone, enduring the skinny woman’s endless curses and the ever-smaller portions of food in her bowl.

Nothing is different, she told herself.

A few days later, the director called her into the office.

This was her first time inside the director’s office. It wasn’t filled with the piles of money and treasures Le Le had imagined, but only a heap of carelessly stacked files and books.

“Li Xin called for you,” the director said, pinching her temples and handing the phone to her.

Le Le didn’t take it because she didn’t want to listen.

The director angrily slammed her hand on the desk, pointing at Le Le’s nose and shouting insults: “Ungrateful! A heartless wretch!”

She later learned that it was Li Xin’s last phone call, during which she had begged her wealthy parents to adopt Le Le or leave her some money.

However, Li Xin’s parents were emotionally exhausted from the grief of losing their daughter and had no time to spare for Le Le, who was far away in the countryside. Thus, Le Le remained in the welfare institution, suffering abuse.

After finishing the chores assigned by the welfare institution, Le Le often sat alone on the cold steps outside the dormitory building, staring blankly at the gray sky.

She, too, had the “big sickness” that required a lot of money to cure. Would she also die like Li Xin, simply gone the next time someone looked?

She wasn’t sure if, on the day Li Xin left, she had hoped for her recovery and return, or for her to disappear forever.

In any case, the person was dead. She did feel a little sad, but not much.

Her initial decision was absolutely correct.

Therefore, she would never try to make another friend. It was simply too unfair to the other person.

“Hello?” A timid voice, tinged with a forced familiarity, sounded behind her without warning.

Someone tapped her on the shoulder, interrupting her complicated thoughts.

Le Le was confused. How could anyone initiate contact by tapping her shoulder? Not everyone was the director’s niece.

“I’m new here…”

She turned her head, but before she could clearly see the person, a sudden roar erupted in her ears. Her head felt like it was being torn in two. She covered her head, trying to open her eyes.

What she saw was a flash of white, with dense lines filling her vision.

【System, do you think this will really work?】

【Oh, don’t worry about it. Just act like this. This is her ‘white moonlight’ (unforgettable first love/idealized person), it’s guaranteed to work!】

【Alright, alright! Hope it succeeds on the first try! Go, Save the Villain Project!】

After this baffling conversation drilled into her eardrums, the ringing suddenly vanished like a receding tide. The intense headache also subsided instantly, leaving a strange clarity.

When she opened her eyes again, she saw a small girl opposite her wearing a brand-new, yet cheap-looking, white dress.

On her face was a smile that was trying hard to be radiant but looked stiff, with a careful desire to please and a subtle, predatory scrutiny, like an animal observing prey.

Was she imitating Li Xin?

Save the Villain Project?

What is a villain?

Is that me?

Disgusting.