Chapter 9: I Also Want Cake (9)
“Host…” The system savored Jiang Zhiyan’s words. “Was that sentence meant to make her not blame Yang Xiao, or was it sowing discord?”
“Sowing discord.” Jiang Zhiyan readily admitted her malicious intentions. “I’m the vicious female supporting character, how could I be so kind?”
The system felt something was off. Three minutes later, it realized: “Why are you driving a wedge between the female lead and her best friend?”
“I also drove a wedge between the female lead and the male lead, with remarkable results. I’m truly suited to be the vicious female supporting character. Stop talking to me, I need to do my homework.”
The system swallowed all its complaints.
What an unlucky host.
The system quickly downloaded a few Buddhist scriptures to help itself calm down.
Jiang’s mother didn’t return until Jiang Zhiyan went to bed. Jiang’s father did come back. At first glance, he looked like a respectable man, but he reeked of alcohol, mixed with the scent of perfume and cosmetics, a nauseating combination.
Jiang Zhiyan carried her cup and fruit upstairs, not wanting to interact with him at all.
“You have it easy every day, just going to school, not like me, having to go out for social events.” Jiang’s father burped, glancing at Jiang Zhiyan. “Seeing your old man, not even a greeting. Ungrateful brat!”
Jiang Zhiyan stopped on the stairs and turned around, looking down at her father. If she had initially just wanted to scare her mother, now she really wanted to stab him.
“You don’t have to come back.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at him coldly. “First, at least do some prep work before acting. Second, I’m not yet eighteen, you have a legal obligation to support me. Third, I didn’t appear in your dreams begging you to have me.”
“You beast.” He widened his eyes. “How dare you talk to your father like that? You think you’re above the law?”
As he stumbled up the stairs, Jiang Zhiyan calmly placed the plate on the floor and picked up a fruit knife, twirling it a couple of times. She didn’t say anything else, just looked at him.
Jiang’s father stopped, staring at the knife in her hand, then took two steps back.
“You’ve had so much to drink. If you roll down the stairs, hit your head on the floor, become paralyzed, or die, it’s all possible.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at the surveillance camera in the hall. “I can also tamper with the surveillance footage.”
“How could I have given birth to such a beast!”
“You can gallivant around outside, fooling around, and still claim you’re tired…” Jiang Zhiyan paused. “Isn’t it normal to give birth to a beast like me? Do you have no self-awareness about your own genes?”
“Oh, I forgot, you can’t give birth. After all, with your indolent personality, it must be difficult to endure the pain of childbirth.”
“You! You!” Jiang’s father pointed at Jiang Zhiyan, clutching his chest, then charged up the stairs again, trying to snatch the fruit knife from her hand.
Jiang Zhiyan took a step back and kicked over the fruit plate. The fruit rolled out. Already drunk, he lost his balance, fell backward, and tumbled down the stairs.
“How clumsy, slipping like that.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at her father lying on the floor, sighing regretfully. “What a pity, I should have let him come all the way up… This height isn’t enough.”
Jiang Zhiyan looked at the nearby surveillance camera: “The camera…”
“It’s broken, no one’s come to fix it.”
Jiang Zhiyan tugged at the corner of her mouth: “Saved some points.”
Her father wasn’t unconscious yet, struggling to reach for his phone. Jiang Zhiyan walked over to him, her eyes devoid of emotion. He looked at her in terror.
Tears suddenly streamed down Jiang Zhiyan’s face, and she screamed in panic: “Auntie! Auntie! Dad fell down the stairs drunk!”
Her father looked at her with increasing terror, but his head was heavy, and the alcohol took effect, quickly causing him to lose consciousness.
“Host, how are you going to explain this?”
“I’ll say I was arguing with him for Mom, and then he got drunk and wanted to come up and hit me. During the struggle, the fruit plate overturned, and he fell. Then I’ll use a prop card depending on the situation.” Jiang Zhiyan saw the housekeeper hurrying out of her room from the corner of her eye. “Auntie!”
Her father was rushed to the hospital for examination.
Jiang’s mother’s whereabouts were unknown, and she hadn’t been contacted yet.
Jiang Zhiyan sat in the hospital corridor, staring at Liang Xi’s name, then glancing at the time. 11:30 pm. She probably hadn’t slept yet.
After hesitating for three seconds, she decided to call Liang Xi. This was a good opportunity to get closer. Not telling her would seem distant.
The other party was indeed awake. The call was answered after three seconds.
“Liang Xi.” Jiang Zhiyan cried out, her voice choked with sobs.
The person on the other end immediately panicked, asking anxiously: “Why are you crying? What happened?”
“My dad rolled down the stairs during an argument with me. He seems to have hit his head and passed out. I’m so scared. I can’t reach my mom right now, I, I don’t know who to call, who to call. I’m sorry to bother you so late, but I’m really scared…”
Putting on a full performance, Jiang Zhiyan cried so miserably that a passing nurse gently patted her shoulder, and a nearby stranger offered her a small pack of tissues.
“Which hospital? I’ll come find you.” Liang Xi said.
“No, no, no need. I just wanted to call you because I have no one to talk to. If you come, I’ll feel even worse. I’m sorry.” Jiang Zhiyan said. “Sob, sob, sob, I really didn’t want to bother you.”
“It’s okay.”
Of course Liang Xi couldn’t come. After contacting Jiang’s mother, when she arrived, troublesome things would definitely happen. It was better to hide that side of things.
Jiang Zhiyan looked at the doctor in the distance and stood up: “Sorry, the doctor is out, they might have something to say. I’ll go take a look.”
“Okay, if anything happens, call me. My phone is always on.” Liang Xi comforted her. “Don’t worry, it’ll be alright.”
“Yes, you go to sleep first. My dad’s assistant has arrived. Thank you.” Jiang Zhiyan whispered. “I feel much better after talking to you.”
After Jiang Zhiyan hung up the phone, the system finally spoke: “So, do you want her to sleep or not? Isn’t that too hypocritical?”
“You ask too many questions.” Jiang Zhiyan didn’t answer the question and walked towards the doctor.
Jiang’s father had fallen into a coma. The intracranial hemorrhage was quite serious, and there were other various issues, but Jiang Zhiyan didn’t listen.
She glanced at her father’s probability of death. He wouldn’t die yet.
She pretended to be at a loss, collapsing onto a bench, tears streaming down her face.
The housekeeper finally managed to contact Jiang’s mother.
After hearing the news, Jiang’s mother screamed twice on the phone, then quickly hung up.
Jiang Zhiyan let out a breath: “Troublesome.”
**********
Chapter 10: I Also Want Cake (10)
Jiang Zhiyan leaned back in her chair, twirling the bracelet on her wrist, and yawned.
“You still have school tomorrow, why don’t you go back and rest?” The housekeeper said. “I’ll wait here for Madam.”
Jiang Zhiyan shook her head: “Auntie, you go back and rest. Dad’s assistant is here, it’s fine.”
Five minutes later, both of them were still sitting there.
She caught sight of someone approaching from the right corridor out of the corner of her eye and frowned.
“Why are you here?” Jiang Zhiyan stood up, pressing her temples.
“Liang Xi told me.” Lin Shenyu ruffled his messy hair, casually draped in his school uniform, looking like he had just crawled out of bed. “How is he now?”
“I’m fine, you should go back.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at him. “You still have class tomorrow.”
Lin Shenyu actually didn’t want to come. He was with Jiang Zhiyan purely to make someone uncomfortable. As for feelings, there were basically none. But thinking about what happened during the day, and how Jiang Zhiyan told Liang Xi about this but not him, made him feel uneasy.
So he wanted to come and see, to see Jiang Zhiyan’s reaction. As he expected, her expression was devoid of surprise.
“I just arrived.” Lin Shenyu tossed a bottle of mineral water to Jiang Zhiyan, about to say something more when a woman’s sharp voice rang out behind them.
“Jiang Zhiyan!”
Jiang’s mother ran from the other end of the hallway: “What did you do? How could you be so heartless! He, is he really your…”
She raised her hand, but the slap didn’t land on Jiang Zhiyan’s face. Instead, it landed squarely on Lin Shenyu’s face, the crisp sound echoing clearly in the quiet hallway.
Jiang Zhiyan looked at Lin Shenyu, who had flashed in front of her, and frowned. She hadn’t expected him to do that.
Too many complications were not good. She might need to artificially advance the plot.
Lin Shenyu touched the corner of his mouth, frowning. He had never been slapped in his life, and the first time he was slapped, he was actually slapped until he bled.
Jiang’s mother’s hand was still raised, startled by the sudden turn of events, and she took a step back.
“You, you?” Jiang’s mother’s gaze shifted back and forth between Jiang Zhiyan and Lin Shenyu.
Jiang Zhiyan suddenly realized that her mother didn’t know about her daughter dating. Her biggest wish was to cultivate her daughter into a qualified wealthy wife, marry her into a rich family, and achieve upward mobility, which is why she forbade her daughter from dating.
Lin Shenyu did meet Jiang’s mother’s requirements, but it was still too early.
Great, the situation was even more chaotic now.
Jiang’s mother gasped, her lips moving, then lowered her hand, somewhat speechless. Her expression didn’t change much, but her slightly trembling hand showed that she was starting to panic.
She knew Lin Shenyu.
“Mom, what are you doing? Dad came back tonight reeking of alcohol and perfume, so I couldn’t help but say a few words to him…” Jiang Zhiyan’s tears fell like large drops. “Then he thought I was being disrespectful and wanted to hit me, knocked over the fruit plate, and then he lost his balance and rolled down the stairs.”
Jiang’s mother looked at Jiang Zhiyan, her eyes a bit dazed.
Now, the Jiang Zhiyan of today overlapped, separated, and overlapped again with the Jiang Zhiyan of the past few days.
Her mind was in a mess, filled with all kinds of information.
Jiang Zhiyan gently pressed her mother into a seat, comforting her softly: “Mom, you’re probably too stressed, so your mind is a little unclear. Rest well, Dad will be fine.”
Jiang Zhiyan turned to look at Lin Shenyu. He was looking at the wound on his face with his phone, his expression clearly saying “unhappy.”
“Should I take you to get it treated?” Jiang Zhiyan asked.
“Shouldn’t you take the initiative to take me to get it treated?” Lin Shenyu retorted.
Jiang Zhiyan picked up her bag: “After you get it treated, you should go back. Thank you for just now.”
Lin Shenyu felt like he had been slapped for nothing. He picked up his jacket, looked down at his phone, and followed behind Jiang Zhiyan. Noticing that the person in front stopped suddenly, he looked up.
Liang Xi rushed over, carrying a box.
“Didn’t I tell you not to come?” Jiang Zhiyan immediately went to meet her. “It’s so late.”
Lin Shenyu: …
“I was still worried about you.” Liang Xi panted softly. “I was afraid you’d be hungry.”
She still remembered Jiang Zhiyan saying that her family made her maintain her figure, so she probably didn’t have much to eat at night.
“What happened to him?” Liang Xi’s gaze lingered on Lin Shenyu’s face for a second.
“He shielded me when my mom wanted to hit me. I’m taking him to see a surgeon now.”
“Hit you? Why would she hit you?” Liang Xi frowned. “It was your dad who lost his balance, what does it have to do with you?”
Liang Xi didn’t want to criticize an elder, but she couldn’t help it.
When Liang Xi appeared, Lin Shenyu already felt like a third wheel. After Liang Xi pointed out the key issue, he felt even more superfluous.
“She… was a bit agitated.” Jiang Zhiyan smiled bitterly.
“I still need to get my wound treated.” Lin Shenyu interrupted them.
“I’ll go with you.” Liang Xi said, following beside Jiang Zhiyan, opening her box. The sweet aroma seemed out of place in the hospital. “What do you want to eat? Sandwiches, cupcakes, and some snacks. I made the sandwiches and cupcakes myself; the snacks are store-bought.”
“I’ll have a sandwich.” Jiang Zhiyan chose one.
“Do you want some?” Liang Xi looked at Lin Shenyu.
“No, my mouth hurts.” Lin Shenyu said stiffly. “Forget it, I’m not going to look. I’ll go back and disinfect it myself. You don’t have to see me off.”
“Okay, be careful on your way.” Jiang Zhiyan nodded.
Lin Shenyu suspected that Jiang Zhiyan had no intention of seeing him off. Her legs indeed didn’t move an inch.
“Or, do you want to wait a bit?” Jiang Zhiyan looked at her phone. “Wei Ting said he’s coming to pick you up.”
“Are you crazy? Why would you tell him?” Lin Shenyu turned around, his eyes widening, mentally sending out a string of expletives.
“Aren’t you with me because you want to make him uncomfortable? I thought you cared about him.” Jiang Zhiyan looked at him.
Lin Shenyu frowned.
“Although I don’t know what you need to do to be satisfied, we can break up anytime.”
“Host, what are you doing!” The system exclaimed. It had only been slightly distracted, how did the plot take such a sharp turn upon its return?
“Just reasonably advancing the plot.”
Lin Shenyu stared at Jiang Zhiyan. Although he found it unexpected that she brought this up here, her previous behavior served as an explanation. He didn’t know when she had found out.
“I originally wanted to keep up the pretense with you, but you took a slap for me.”
Lin Shenyu sneered: “Well played. You’re not as stupid as I thought.”
Liang Xi, standing to the side, clutching Jiang Zhiyan’s sleeve, also looked a bit stunned. Watching him leave, she lowered her voice: “What does that mean?”
“It means I was cooperating with him to anger Wei Ting. That slap settled the score. My dad will probably be in the hospital for a while. If he wants revenge, his company might not be able to handle it.”
“Using relationships to get revenge? How childish.” Liang Xi said disdainfully.
“After all, he’s a pampered young master. But he’s overthinking it. Wei Ting doesn’t like me either, he’s just upset, it’s just a matter of pride.” Jiang Zhiyan pulled Liang Xi’s wrist. “Let’s go sit over there for a while. I don’t want my mom to see me eating.”
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