Green Plum, Green Plum (End)
“I announce that Shen Yelan has failed.”
One black, one white.
Crossing from the neck down, the waist revealed two intersecting slits, showcasing the delicate waistline. Below was a wavy, rolling ruffle skirt that stopped just at the calves, with the black being seductive and the white being pure.
Half angel, half demon.
Xu Jiao wore white, with her slightly curled hair cascading down her shoulders, accentuating her noble and ethereal temperament. Clearly possessing an extraordinarily clean, almost otherworldly aura, yet the bruises made on her shoulders and below her collarbone instantly made her pure aura seem contradictory.
Contradictory enough to make one want to explore, captivating.
As for Shen Yelan…
She is like a walker of the night. As the saying goes, if you want to look chic, wear mourning black.
With just the style and lines, without any extra embellishments, the black long dress completely showcased her good figure. Even her expression was equally cold, only in her eyes when looking at Xu Jiao, there was a deep infatuation written.
On the surface, she appeared indifferent, like a devil that lures mortals into depravity while remaining untainted herself. But in reality, only she knew that the first to be dominated by those ** was herself.
She willingly prostrated herself at the feet of the god.
Even if the god only casually and indifferently glanced at her.
For a moment, Xu Jiao felt that looking at Shen Yelan was like looking into a mirror, with the two people inside and outside the mirror being opposites of each other.
When Xu Jiao was looking at Shen Yelan, Shen Yelan was also seriously looking at her. Seeing the snow-white dress on Xu Jiao, with its sparse fabric, Shen Yelan had an impulse to tear the thing to pieces.
Thinking of this, Shen Yelan’s eyes darkened. Xu Jiao clearly felt a subtle fermentation of certain emotions in the air, and suddenly raised her hand to push Shen Yelan outward.
“You wear this and go directly to checkout. I want to change out of it.”
Shen Yelan grabbed her wrist in return and persistently asked, “Why won’t Sister Xu Jiao wear it?”
Xu Jiao raised her chin with a half-smile, so that she could see those mischievous marks more clearly. She leaned closer to Shen Yelan, her breath brushing against the other’s chin, and asked softly with a hint of implication, “Do you want everyone in the world to see this?”
Shen Yelan’s throat moved.
No, she didn’t.
Whether it was the beautiful, serious, or the charming Xu Jiao in bed, she did not want anyone to see her.
In that brief moment of hesitation, she was already pushed out of the fitting room by Xu Jiao. Shen Yelan stood guard at the door like a guardian deity. Shortly after, an arm extended from inside and handed her the white dress.
Holding two dresses, Shen Yelan said towards the inside, “I’ll go pay. Sister Xu Jiao, wait here. Don’t wander off.”
Xu Jiao’s voice came from inside, “I need to go to the restroom. It’s just next door, very close. You go ahead.”
……
“Hello, the total is 992 yuan. How would you like to pay?”
The sweet voice of the cashier in the store reached her ears. Shen Yelan took out her card and handed it over to pay, her gaze drifting to the transparent glass of the store, looking outside. She saw Xu Jiao emerge from the fitting room and blend into the crowd.
As her beloved disappeared from view, Shen Yelan couldn’t help but feel a bit anxious.
She involuntarily urged the cashier to hurry up in a low voice. By the time she walked out with the dresses, Xu Jiao was nowhere to be seen.
Standing in the bustling mall, Shen Yelan looked up at the signs above, trying to determine the direction of the restrooms, but unfortunately, there were signs pointing left and right. She couldn’t help but hesitate for a moment.
At that moment—
Xu Jiao’s back came into her line of sight.
Shen Yelan, holding the bag, quickly squeezed through the bustling crowd without even saying a polite “excuse me,” her face full of tension, as if she was afraid that if she was just one step slower, she might miss something.
When she finally reached the spot where she had seen Xu Jiao earlier, she looked around but couldn’t find her.
“Shen Yelan.”
A sound came from behind; it was Xu Jiao’s voice.
She turned her head abruptly to look, and at that moment, a calling sound came from the original direction as well: “Shen Yelan.”
Shen Yelan suddenly turned her head, her eyes gently moving in their sockets, but no matter what, she couldn’t find that familiar figure within her line of sight.
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She tried hard to calm down from this situation and only after a while did she think of calling Xu Jiao. As soon as she took out her phone, she saw it had only three percent battery left. Almost immediately after she dialed the number, a sharp “beep” sounded in her ear, and the phone automatically shut down.
Shen Yelan: “…”
She told herself that the most urgent thing to do was to return to the store where she had originally bought clothes, but the constant sounds in her ears and the figures that appeared and disappeared at various corners kept troubling her.
Where exactly is Xu Jiao?
“Shen Yelan! Come here quickly!”
“Shen Yelan, I found a nice jewelry store. Do you want to check it out with me?”
“Shen Yelan, come over here.”
The sounds and movements grew increasingly intense. Shen Yelan originally planned to ignore them, but her gaze suddenly fixed on a certain corner.
It felt as if a venomous snake in the dark was secretly staring at her.
In the calm air, there was a faint but pervasive sense of danger silently seeping through, alerting her to the presence of danger, even causing her hairs to stand on end.
Regardless of whether Xu Jiao appeared or not—
She thought, she couldn’t bring this danger over there.
……
“Is it really her? I can’t believe it. How could someone under Dong’s command be this weak…”
“How would I know? But according to the information, this person is indeed the one Dong values the most. They seem to have a master-disciple relationship, which appears to be very important in China.”
“Are you kidding? She can’t even see where we are? Her reaction speed is even worse than that of an ordinary person. Look!”
“Forget it, let’s just complete the orders from above and leave—what the hell, how can her strength fluctuate so much?”
In the secluded fire escape of the shopping mall, none of the hustle and bustle seemed to reach there. Even the dazzling and colorful lights of the world seemed unwilling to illuminate this corner; it was simply too dark here.
Shen Yelan heard those voices, but she didn’t care. She didn’t even notice the pain on her body. Because her vision was impaired, she could only rely on her hearing to determine the direction of the enemies, but even her hearing was severely disturbed.
“Ah! Shen Yelan! I’m hurt!”
“Hehe, I was just kidding. You’re so easy to fool! Xu Jiao would never come to such a dangerous place. Only a fool like you would come to such a dangerous place for her.”
“Shen Yelan, you seem to be bleeding a lot. Are you dying?”
“How pitiful you are, not even having time to say goodbye, dying in such an unnoticed corner. Perhaps Xu Jiao will stroll around the mall, not finding you, and then she’ll leave, leaving you here to slowly grow cold.”
……
“Cough, cough, cough…”
All those sounds ceased. Shen Yelan clutched her abdomen, carefully listening to see if any male voices were still amidst the noisy clamor. The dagger in her hand was snatched from one of them. Now, one, two, three… five thuds hit the ground.
Just as she had anticipated.
She discarded the object in her hand. Only then did her pain nerves belatedly start to inform her just how much her wounds hurt.
Shen Yelan staggered, trying to reach the nearby wall for support, but she tripped over one of the fallen bodies on the ground. She fell headfirst, only able to hear her own heavy breathing.
Even the usual rampant taunts seemed to weaken at this moment, only occasionally ringing out a few scattered phrases: “Shen Yelan, are you done for?”
“Are you really going to die?”
She curved her lips slightly, her throat continuously producing coughs, and the metallic-tasting liquid seeped from the corners of her mouth. Pressing firmly on the wound in her abdomen, Shen Yelan surprisingly had the strength to respond to those voices:
“Yes,” she said, “I seem to be dying.”
“This way, you won’t have to worry about how to break up with me. Will you be happy? Sister Xu Jiao?”
Those faint, rustling sounds like leaves stirring fell silent, as if out of her own final pity for herself, unable to bear uttering the hurtful answer.
……
“Shen Yelan.”
The voice by her ear became a bit more real. Shen Yelan was about to fall asleep but was awakened by this bothersome noise. Her eyelashes fluttered, and she let out a low “shh.”
Shh, all of you hallucinations, be quiet.
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She didn’t realize that she hadn’t heard those voices for a long time. She wanted to quietly fall asleep alone, but this time the hallucination was particularly excessive. Not only did it wake her up, but it also insisted on chatting with her.
“Don’t sleep, Shen Yelan, I called an ambulance, don’t sleep!” Xu Jiao’s voice sounded somewhat anxious.
Shen Yelan felt cold water droplets pattering on her face. She furrowed her brows and asked, “Sister Xu Jiao?”
She moved her lips and weakly said, “It seems like it’s raining. Did you bring an umbrella?”
Xu Jiao looked up at the sky, wanting to move Shen Yelan under the nearby eaves to prevent rainwater from getting into her wound and worsening the infection. But she didn’t know how to move her, especially with the large pool of blood underneath. The amount of blood was enough to make any normal person feel dizzy just by looking at it.
She didn’t want to fail at this critical moment. Holding Shen Yelan’s face, she commanded in a stern tone:
“Don’t you dare die, Shen Yelan.”
“As long as you don’t want to, you won’t die.”
You are the protagonist of this world, you are the will of the world. As long as you don’t want to die, you can keep living.
Shen Yelan quietly listened to her words, as if she understood, yet also as if she didn’t. It took her a while to gather enough strength to move her lips. Before the sound in her throat could come out, a strong light flashed across the sky.
Following that was a thunderous roar, rumbling—
Rain fell mercilessly, pattering down, splashing on the stone pavement and sending droplets flying everywhere, some even splashing onto Xu Jiao.
This will be a heavy rain.
Xu Jiao couldn’t hear Shen Yelan’s words clearly, so she could only repeat to her, “You have to live, Shen Yelan.”
This time, Shen Yelan slowly and gently shook her head at her, then said a number to Xu Jiao, “Seven.”
This is the seventh day we’ve been together.
Exactly one week.
After today, you will no longer be my girlfriend.
Xu Jiao inexplicably understood what she meant, and without caring about what price she might have to pay, she just didn’t want this world to end like this, and loudly said, “After today! I will still be your girlfriend! As long as you want!”
Shen Yelan curved her lips into a smile.
She said, “I can’t see you anymore, Sister Xu Jiao… I don’t know if you are real or just my hallucination… But it’s fine, after all, it’s only now that I can say this, while I haven’t regretted it yet—”
“No matter whether I can survive or not, you are free.”
“Do you know? I was once treated so gently by you… cough cough… I also wanted… also wanted to be like you, but… it’s so hard, I can never seem to learn…” I am obsessive, dark, and want to have everything.
“But… at least now I am trying to learn to let go…” Perhaps this is my only gentleness.
Suddenly, many scenes appeared in front of my eyes. It was when Shen Yelan first saw Xu Jiao, seeing her come out from the corner, driving away those classmates who wanted to collect protection fees from her.
And Xu Jiao reaching out her hand to her: “It’s cold sitting on the ground, get up.”
And Xu Jiao saying in the gym: “I am not helping you.”
And many, many more…
Finally, it freezes on the night she wanted to buy a cake for her first birthday.
Shen Yelan moved her lips, silently repeating those wishes she had back then. After a while, she realized she seemed to be drifting further and further away from her wishes of that time. Fortunately, it’s still timely to correct it now.
“You should have the brightest future… I hope you can escape from me, and the rest of your life will be filled with happiness… The myriad flavors of life, only yours will be sweet… I hope no one ever betrays you…”
“Sister Xu Jiao, today you haven’t asked me if I’m happy yet?”
“I am very happy.”
“I announce that the one-week lover trial period is over… cough cough cough, and Shen Yelan… has failed.”
Shen Yelan’s usually hoarse voice now sounded like a broken bellows. It was unclear what was wrong with her lungs, or if the injury to her abdomen was too severe. Xu Jiao could even see the blood clots she spat out from the corners of her lips.
Yet she still persisted: “No.”
Xu Jiao said, “It’s not over. I still owe you a clay figurine. I haven’t learned how to make it yet. I haven’t sculpted it.”
Shen Yelan shook her head again, made an effort to smile at her, as if wanting to say something, but ultimately didn’t have the chance. At the same time, the system calmly informed Xu Jiao, “Shen Yelan’s blackening value, 0. Congratulations, host.”
Xu Jiao calmly asked, “Congratulations for what? For failing another world?”
She looked at the person lying on her lap and whispered, “She doesn’t want to live, why?”
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Why indeed?
Clearly, the blackening value had returned to zero. Clearly, things were about to take a turn for the better. Why did it turn out this way?
Xu Jiao whispered to Shen Yelan, “We’re not finished yet.”
Shen Yelan moved her finger, as if wanting to touch her. However, just as her hand moved slightly, it fell, and the curve of her lips, which was about to form a smile, fell as well—
She still hadn’t touched Xu Jiao.
Just like at the beginning of their story, she extended her arm, trying to reach this beautiful, dreamy vision. But the moment she touched it, she realized that from start to finish, all she had touched were the iridescent bubbles under the sunlight. Those beautiful scenes, like castles in the air, were all illusions, shattering at a touch.
Xu Jiao had never liked her.
Shen Yelan knew this all too well.
Now, it was time for her to wake up from her dream.
“Rumble—Rumble—”
The torrential rain poured down with all its might, as if the sky was about to collapse, blocking the ambulance halfway. Rainwater mixed with mud overflowed from the flower beds beside the road, accumulating on the cobblestone path, with the water level continuously rising and rising.
The filth and bloodstains were all washed together, blending into one. A dark black dress spread out, like a large, blooming black lotus of hell on the ground. The visibility in the entire city became extremely low, as if the whole world was mourning the departure of the protagonist.
It was as if this rain was going to drown the entire city.
And later, the people in this city never saw such a heavy rain again.
