You said you hated men, why are your eyes now full of love?-Chapter 97 - The Tenderness Encountered in the Alley (Part 3)
Ji Mu opened his eyes, and the lush scenery around him came into focus.
Dappled light and shadow played across his face, making him feel disoriented as if he had fallen from the clouds back to reality. Fragments of memories swirled in his mind.
His chest felt heavy, as if a thousand words were trapped inside, unable to find an outlet.
This accumulation of emotions represented the concentrated negativity from the girl's childhood experiences.
It was like this forgotten city of ruins, neglected by the world and unable to save itself.
When Ji Mu stood up from the treetop, the soreness and weakness in his body had dissipated. Even his bloodied, blistered hands had healed completely.
How long have I been asleep?
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept past, and Ji Mu looked up involuntarily. His gaze pierced the drifting, fluttering yellow leaves and landed on a petite, delicate figure not far ahead.
Silly Goose?
The confusion on his face faded, and his body reacted faster than his mind. He stepped toward the girl.
Sensing his approach, Ruan Qingqing slowly turned her head.
Her porcelain face wore a smile as pure and beautiful as ever.
"You've come, Mu Mu," she said.
Ji Mu approached her side and looked down at the mist-shrouded ruins below.
He slowly asked, "What are you doing here?"
"I just wanted to stay for a while."
The girl playfully blinked and said, "The scenery is quite nice."
He glanced around silently at the gray, gloomy sky. The eerie dampness hardly matched the idea of a pleasant environment.
Carefully choosing his words, Ji Mu took her wrist and said, "Let's go back. Aunt Ruan is still waiting..."
"Mu Mu."
Ruan Qingqing fell silent for a few seconds before her voice softened.
"I've killed someone."
Her statement sounded calm, as if she were casually asking if he had eaten.
Ji Mu paused for a moment.
"Surprised?" Ruan Qingqing tilted her head slightly, a smile tugging at her lips.
“The rumors at school aren’t just rumors. I really did kill someone when I was 14."
Ji Mu's throat felt dry.
An invisible force seemed to block his lips, making it impossible to speak.
He knew it from the memory of the other's desperate resistance and hopeless struggle that he had just seen. But he only knew it.
The girl's voice continued to echo in his ear.
"The landlord held my mouth tightly with one hand to prevent me from making a sound while tearing apart the clothes my mother had painstakingly sewn for me with the other. I was very scared and could only kick wildly with both feet."
A young girl's strength couldn't make any waves in front of an adult.
"My mother's sleep is very light. She rushed over when she heard the noise and saw this beast unbuckling his belt, ready to violate me."
With a calm demeanor, Ruan Qingqing recounted the specific events of that night.
"She rushed forward desperately, scratching and biting to block the landlord while shouting for me to run out and get help from the neighbors."
"But my mother was too weak. Already frail and sickly, how could she possibly be a match for the beastly landlord?"
With just one encounter, she was knocked unconscious and fell to the ground.
In the pitch-black night, the landlord repeatedly cursed her as he struck her with increasing viciousness, leaving her covered in blood.
My mother had no strength left to stand up, yet she still clung to the landlord's pant leg, refusing to let go.
At that moment, the girl who had witnessed everything began to tremble, her heart filled with negative emotions for the first time, activating her mystical fox bloodline.
"I killed him."
She smashed open his skull with the most brutal method, and gray-white brain matter spilled all over the ground.
Later, the security team came to investigate for several days. They concluded that the 14-year-old girl had accidentally smashed the other's head in a moment of desperation to protect her family and herself, which was understandable. Ultimately, this incident was ruled self-defense.
"Maybe they pitied the two of us."
"The landlord had no relatives. After he died, someone should have reclaimed his property, but many days passed without anyone coming to do so."
"When the news spread, no landlord in the southern district would rent to a murderer, and the rent in other places was expensive. After much thought, my mother and I decided to stay here."
Meeting the boy's gaze, Ruan Qingqing asked with a faint smile, "Do you think my mother and I are quite pathetic?"
Even though they nearly fell victim to a scumbag, they continued to stay shamelessly.
In this world, no one was more shameless than them.
Ji Mu remained silent.
In the face of the girl who had revealed her scars, no amount of comfort seemed adequate.
"Mu Mu."
Ruan Qingqing raised her hand, lingering in midair. Clouds covered the sky, blocking the sunlight, much like the haze over her eyes.
"I'm so tired..."
She was tired to the point of not wanting to continue living.
Why does life have to be so bitter?
No matter what you want, you will lose it.
She caused her father's death, burdened her mother, and repeatedly put this boy in danger.
It seemed that she had been born with bad luck that had continuously affected those around her.
Someone like her didn't deserve to talk about happiness.
Ji Mu remained silent, gazing into the girl's dim eyes. In a slightly hoarse but slow and firm voice, he said, "Silly goose, I'll take you back."
Ruan Qingqing smiled brightly.
"Why would you take me back? I'm a disaster."
She turned her head slightly. "If I do something in the future that crosses your bottom line, would you still choose to take me back?"
Would you choose me, flaws and all?
"Silly goose..." Before Ji Mu could answer, something appeared in his arms.
A delicate pendant hung around his neck, its gemstone shimmering faintly.
"It will help you leave here and return to reality." The girl gazed at him gently. "Even if this spiritual world is destroyed, it will protect you from harm. Mu Mu, you've already done enough. I'm really happy to see you come to find me."
After saying this, countless thick branches from around him wrapped around Ji Mu, rendering any attempt to escape futile.
"Silly goose! Silly goose!"
Ji Mu struggled in vain and began to panic, but received no response. He was forced to retreat further and further.
Ruan Qingqing stood on a treetop and looked in the direction the boy was leaving.
She was never a good child.
More than once, she had harbored the evil thought of possessing him forever.
But she always hesitated, unable to bring herself to do it.
Because Ji Mu was the only light in this dark world.
He was not a puppet or a doll; he had his own life.
If I disregard his wishes and hurt him for my own selfish desires, how would I be any different from the bullies of my past?
"Mu Mu, do you think the moon favors only one of the stars around it?"
As she spoke, irregular cracks began to spread across her once fair cheeks.
Like broken porcelain glued back together, it would shatter again with a gentle touch.
Overwhelming negative emotions from the fusion of past and present memories constantly clashed against this fragile mental world.
Accepting the past meant transforming into a paranoid madman, while extinguishing the soul meant fully embracing death. It all hinged on a single thought.
Clearly, she had made her choice.
She allowed her body to show signs of collapse without any intention of stopping it.
Perhaps in a little while, she would turn into a bubble and return to nothingness.
"Mu Mu..."
It feels like I'm waiting for you yet also giving up on you.
So, I give you the right to choose.
This...is the last time I give you the chance to leave me personally.
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