When the Female Lead Becomes Obsessive – Chapter 56
by Little PandaVolume Three: Those Years I Was a Wangye
Wen Nuan heard footsteps and immediately turned to look, just in time to see Lin Tinghan walking over, her expression cold and severe, looking quite aggressive2.
“Tinghan?”
Wen Nuan really wanted to ask, how did your blackening value suddenly increase?
But the words, having reached her lips, took a sharp turn. She asked gently, “I heard you were ill, and I was very worried about you, so I came to see you. Are you feeling any better?”
Lin Tinghan glanced at Qi Hanrong and sneered, “This lowly one is unworthy of Xian Wang’s concern. As Xian Wang can see, this lowly one’s body is fine, not worth Xian Wang traveling such a long way with a beauty to visit.”
She turned her head and said to Ruilin, “Ruilin, the doctor said your master is not to see guests recently. See them out.”
Seeing Lin Tinghan about to leave, Wen Nuan immediately stepped forward, but Ruilin blocked her way. She could only call out helplessly, “Tinghan, I came this time because I have something I want to say to you. It won’t be too late to drive me away after you’ve heard me out, will it?”
Lin Tinghan paused, turned to look at Wen Nuan, her eyes indifferent. “What other matters does Xian Wang have?”
“I came this time to explain clearly to you what happened a year ago,” Wen Nuan said earnestly, looking at Lin Tinghan with a serious expression. “We have known each other for many years. You should be clear about my character. That incident a year ago, there was a reason for it3, it was because…”
When Lin Tinghan heard Wen Nuan take the initiative to bring up the incident from a year ago, her face instantly changed, her expression becoming sinister.
Her gaze suddenly sharpened, her words laced with barbs4, and she said sharply, “Yes, this lowly one and Xian Wang have known each other for many years, so naturally, I know of Xian Wang’s dissolute, unrestrained, and dashingly carefree nature. Hasn’t Xian Wang always upheld the principle of ‘to die under a peony flower, even as a ghost, is a romantic affair5’?”
System (picking its nose): 【This wave of sarcasm from the female lead, I give it full marks.】
Wen Nuan: “……You’re everywhere, aren’t you!?”
Lin Tinghan’s fingertips clenched, her eyes glaring with fury6 as she said, “As the saying goes, one should not deceive the husband of one’s sister7, but this lowly one knows that Xian Wang is a sage unfettered by worldly conventions, and certainly wouldn’t care about these Three Cardinal Guides and Five Constant Virtues8, or the Five Human Relationships and Eight Virtues9. After all, in your, Xian Wang’s, heart, any man you desire must be obtained, even if it means using certain methods to forcibly possess him. Isn’t this your nature?”
Wen Nuan: “…..”
It seemed that incident back then had left a considerable shadow in Lin Tinghan’s heart.
【Isn’t that so?】the System tsked. 【Forcing a perfectly good girl into becoming such a sarcastic person10.】
Wen Nuan: “…..Scram!”
Qi Hanrong watched in shock as Lin Tinghan berated Xian Wang until she was speechless. Although there was no overt insult in each word and sentence, between the lines was nothing but mockery and disdain.
And Xian Wang merely endured it silently, not refuting, not getting angry, accepting all of Lin Tinghan’s fury.
No wonder people in Jiajing City often lamented the deep sisterly bond between Xu Wen Nuan and Lin Tinghan back then, saying they were perfectly suited for each other, their hearts linked in mutual understanding.
At that time, he had found it strange; after all, using such obscure and unclear terms for two women was indeed a bit awkward.
But looking at it now, he felt it was somewhat fitting.
Although rumors in the streets said these two had long since severed all ties, when they met again, they showed no regard for the disparity in their statuses. One scolded while the other endured, creating an unexpectedly harmonious and compatible scene.
Much like an old married couple, deeply in love and without doubt.
Wen Nuan was so berated by Lin Tinghan that she felt too ashamed to show her face, yet she couldn’t refute a single thing, only able to silently bear the anger Lin Tinghan had suppressed for a year.
Seeing Wen Nuan hang her head in silence, with a stubborn look that said ‘scold or hit me as you please, I won’t change,’ Lin Tinghan became so angry she couldn’t catch her breath. She bent over, her throat feeling blocked and uncomfortable.
“Cough….cough….”
She clutched her chest, which heaved violently up and down. The intense coughing made Lin Tinghan’s face flush red.
“Young Miss?!” Just as Ruilin was about to go and support Lin Tinghan, she felt a blur before her eyes.
Xian Wang had rushed over and was holding her young lady, patting Lin Tinghan’s back rhythmically, her voice gentle and soothing.
“Slowly, breathe slowly. I’m right here for you to scold, what are you rushing for, ah?” Wen Nuan saw her coughing severely, her fair face flushed red from the effort, even coughing out tears.
The two were so close that Lin Tinghan could smell the faint fragrance from Wen Nuan’s body; it was still that familiar scent.
Faint, like the ethereal mist in a mountain forest.
Lin Tinghan looked at the hand gripping her arm. She let herself sink, carefully11 nestling into Wen Nuan’s soft embrace, panting heavily as she said, “I… I’m fine….”
“You call this fine?” Wen Nuan saw Ruilin standing there foolishly. “Ruilin, quickly go call a doctor.”
Ruilin snapped back to her senses and immediately responded, “Yes, Wangye.”
“It’s nothing, I’m fine…” Lin Tinghan grabbed Wen Nuan’s wrist, her fingertips pausing slightly as they touched her warm skin.
She looked up, her eyes glistening and moist, blinking gently as the tears she had been holding back rolled down. “I’m really… fine…”
It was just a fit of anger; she had been breathing too rapidly and choked a little.
Wen Nuan: “……”
This is still called fine?
She’s already crying!
Ruilin hadn’t run far when she saw a man running towards them from ahead and exclaimed, “Who let Young Master Fang out?!”
Everyone looked over at the sound and saw a man in a cyan long robe running towards them, trembling. His face was sorrowful, his figure gaunt, and he cried as he ran, “Wangye….. Wangye….?”
Wen Nuan felt the body in her arms stiffen. It seemed the reason for Lin Tinghan’s blackening was indeed that incident with her and Fang Yongsi.
Fang Yongsi spotted Wen Nuan at a glance, pushed aside Ruilin who tried to block him, and ran straight towards Wen Nuan. “Wangye? You’re back! Are you back to marry me?”
Her arms suddenly empty, Lin Tinghan heaved a long sigh of relief. Looking at Fang Yongsi, she said coldly, “Who let you out?”
Fang Yongsi pointed at Lin Tinghan and said angrily, “Wangye, during the days you were away, this woman imprisoned me! She wouldn’t let me go out to find you! I could only be trapped in my room, washing my face with tears all day long12, begging Heaven for your early return to save me.”
He stepped forward, grabbing Wen Nuan’s arm, his eyes full of hope. “Wangye, did you come specially to take me away today?”
Wen Nuan felt the air pressure around her plummet, a chill rising from her back.
Lin Tinghan sneered, “So, Xian Wang’s visit to the Lin Manor to inquire about an illness was a pretense. Wanting to take away the person you long for day and night was the real purpose of coming to the Lin Manor, ah?”
And she had actually thought Wen Nuan had changed her ways, showing some tenderness and concern for her.
So it was all for Fang Yongsi, for a vile man!?
She stared deadly at Wen Nuan, her lips bitten until they bled without her noticing, her fingertips digging fiercely into her palms.
Why can’t you live without men?
Can you really not survive without a man?!
Why?
…….
【Ahhh! The blackening value is rising!!】the System clutched its head and roared. 【The blackening value is already 9.6!!】
Wen Nuan turned pale with fright13, looked at Lin Tinghan, and immediately explained, “No, it’s true that I was worried about your illness. As for Fang Yongsi, I want to explain clearly to you about that incident a year ago. That matter actually has another tru….”
Fang Yongsi’s eyes darted around, and he immediately collapsed to the ground, hugging Wen Nuan’s thigh and sobbing, “Wangye, you and I are clearly mutually in love, so why care about Lin Tinghan’s wishes? When our feelings for each other were intense, making love14 is only natural and normal15. I truly like you, Wangye. Even if you slept with me and then didn’t want me, my feelings for you are sincere and true. Heaven and earth can witness this love, ah?”
Wen Nuan: “……”
Brother, are you deliberately trying to stage an accident and extort me16, ah?
Don’t you have a f*cking clue in your own heart whether I, your father17, slept with you or not18?
What the hell19 are you doing hugging my thigh and crying here, ah?!
Fang Yongsi deliberately exposed his arm, allowing everyone to see his fair skin. The spot where the chastity mark20 should have been was gone, proving this man was no longer “pure.”
Wen Nuan looked at Qi Hanrong. Qi Hanrong nodded silently and lifted the light gauze on her bamboo hat a little.
“Fang Yongsi, look at me.” Wen Nuan shifted Fang Yongsi’s gaze towards her, making it convenient for Qi Hanrong to bewitch him. “Is everything you said true? Did I really sleep with you? Did your chastity mark disappear because of me?”
Just as Fang Yongsi was about to refute, he felt a flash of pale blue fluorescent light before his eyes, and an ethereal voice seemed to whisper in his ear.
“Tell everything truthfully….”
Fang Yongsi, who had been aggrieved and sobbing, suddenly changed his expression. His eyes were now full of calculation and harshness.
He stared at Wen Nuan, greed almost overflowing from him. “Yes, Wangye is right, there’s nothing between you and me. But so what? As long as I drugged you, and with that drug’s potent effects, with only you and me in that room, you definitely wouldn’t have been able to resist its effects and would have slept with me. When that time came, I could have become Xian Wang’s Prince Consort, enjoying endless glory and wealth, hahahaha…..”
Everyone was endlessly astonished, never expecting the truth from a year ago to be so vile and base.
Lin Tinghan looked at Fang Yongsi in disbelief, not expecting him to reveal the truth himself. “Then your chastity mark…?”
Fang Yongsi looked at Lin Tinghan, his eyes full of mockery. “If you don’t want me, others do. Every time I wanted to get close to you, you rejected me, making me feel deeply humiliated. You look down on my Fang family’s decline, thinking I, Fang Yongsi, am not good enough for you, so you didn’t want me.” He touched his own cheek and smiled foolishly. “But some people like me, ah, they’d die to be with me. I found solace in them. They submit to me, are infatuated with me, and some even want to marry me, ahahaha.”
“But they don’t know, I’m just playing with them. They think they’re my sweetheart, think I can’t live without them. What an idiot’s daydream, utterly foolish, hahaha….”
Wen Nuan frowned. “So, your chastity mark wasn’t removed by me? It was because you yourself are indiscreet, seducing women, and got rid of it yourself?”
Fang Yongsi snorted with laughter. “It’s just a chastity mark, not some precious thing. Usually, when I have nothing to do, I just dot it with some cinnabar21 to pass it off as real, fooling all of you.”
He stepped forward, wanting to caress Wen Nuan’s cheek, but Wen Nuan dodged him. “You are a Princess. If I were to be with you, I would at least have the status of Xian Wang’s Side Consort22, definitely much more prestigious than this Lin Manor’s Official Consort23. But you, it’s clearly rumored outside that you’re dissolute by nature, yet when I drugged you, you remained completely unmoved, turning a blind eye. It troubled me greatly, ah?”
“But there was no choice, what’s done is done, no use regretting. At that time, I had already called everyone to catch us in the act. That way, everyone would know Xian Wang slept with me. Then you wouldn’t be able to silence the widespread gossip, and even if you wanted to love and leave me24, you wouldn’t be able to. You’d have no choice but to marry me into the Prince’s Manor25. By then, I would become the most honored man in the entire world, hahaha….”
Lin Tinghan trembled all over, stepped forward, and slapped Fang Yongsi across the face, shouting sharply, “Vile wretch!”
Qi Hanrong blinked, and the bewitchment art was lifted.
Fang Yongsi was knocked to the ground by Lin Tinghan. In an instant, awareness of everything he had just said flooded back into his mind.
He looked at the crowd, his face showing terror, especially Lin Tinghan, whose icy eyes revealed a chilling malice and killing intent.
She wants to kill me!
This thought flashed through Fang Yongsi’s mind.
He looked around, then scrambled frantically to Wen Nuan’s feet, grabbing her leg and crying out, “Wangye, Wangye, I was wrong, I was wrong! It was a moment of folly, I had ulterior motives and ill intentions! It was my baseness and shamelessness! I beg Wangye to spare my life, I beg Wangye to spare my life…..”
“Get your filthy hands off!” Lin Tinghan stepped forward, grabbing his clothes, trying to pull Fang Yongsi away.
However, Fang Yongsi clung on too tightly. Wen Nuan was pulled and tugged by him, her body swayed, and she unexpectedly fell towards Mingxin Lake26.
Splash—
Water splashed everywhere.
For a moment, everyone exclaimed in shock.
“Wangye—”
“Xian Wang—”
“Wen Nuan—”
The author has something to say:
Wen Nuan (pinching her nose): This lake water stinks so much, ah!
System (faintly): Alright, you’re playing the self-injury stratagem27, still being so fussy?
Author-jun28: Next time, I’ll find you a clean lake.
Wen Nuan (exclaiming): Still jumping?
Footnotes
- 真相大白 | zhēnxiàng dàbái | Lit. “the true facts become greatly white/clear” | Fig. The whole truth is revealed; everything comes to light.
- 氣勢洶洶 | qìshì xiōngxiōng | Lit. “manner/spirit imposing and belligerent” | Fig. with a menacing air; aggressive; truculent.
- 事出有因 | shì chū yǒu yīn | Lit. “matter emerges has cause” | Fig. Everything happens for a reason; there’s a cause for it.
- 夾槍帶棍 | jiā qiāng dài gùn | Lit. “mixed with spears and carrying sticks” | Fig. (of speech) full of barbs, sarcastic, hostile innuendo.
- 牡丹花下死做鬼也風流 | mǔdān huā xià sǐ, zuò guǐ yě fēngliú | Lit. “under the peony flowers die, become ghost also romantic/stylish” | Fig. It is worthwhile to die for the sake of a beautiful woman or for pleasure.
- 目眦欲裂 | mù zì yù liè | Lit. “eye sockets about to split” | Fig. To glare with fury; eyes wide with anger.
- 姐妹之夫不可欺 | jiěmèi zhī fū bùkě qī | Lit. “sisters’ husband cannot be deceived/bullied” | A moral saying emphasizing loyalty and respect within close relationships.
- 三綱五常 | Sāngāng Wǔcháng | The Three Cardinal Guides (ruler guides subject, father guides son, husband guides wife) and Five Constant Virtues (benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, fidelity) in Confucianism.
- 五倫八德 | Wǔlún Bādé | The Five Human Relationships (ruler-subject, father-son, husband-wife, elder-younger brother, friend-friend) and Eight Virtues (often listed as filial piety, fraternal submission, loyalty, trustworthiness, propriety, righteousness, integrity, sense of shame).
- 陰陽人 | yīnyáng rén | Lit. “yin-yang person” | Can refer to an intersex person, but in this context, it implies someone who is sarcastic, two-faced, or behaves erratically, often due to trauma or bitterness.
- 小心翼翼 | xiǎoxīn yìyì | Lit. “small heart cautious wings” | Fig. With extreme caution; very carefully; gingerly.
- 終日以淚洗面 | zhōngrì yǐ lèi xǐmiàn | Lit. “all day use tears wash face” | Fig. To live in constant sorrow; to cry all the time.
- 大驚失色 | dàjīng shīsè | Lit. “great shock lose color” | Fig. To turn pale with fright; to be greatly alarmed.
- 翻雲覆雨 | fānyún fùyǔ | Lit. “overturn clouds, summon rain” | Fig. To make love, to have sexual intercourse. (Can also mean to be fickle or to manipulate, but here refers to intimacy).
- 人之常情 | rén zhī chángqíng | Lit. “person’s common feeling” | Fig. Human nature; a common human experience; perfectly natural.
- 碰瓷 | pèngcí | Lit. “touch porcelain” | Internet slang: to extort by feigning injury in a staged accident; to falsely accuse someone to gain benefits.
- 老子 | lǎozi | Lit. “old master” or “old father” | An arrogant and informal way of saying “I” or “me,” implying superiority.
- 逼數 | bīshù | Lit. “c*nt number/count” | Vulgar slang: often part of the phrase 心里没点B数 (xīnli méi diǎn B shù) meaning “to have no f*cking clue,” “to be cluelessly unaware”.
- 你大爺 | nǐ dàyé | Lit. “your grandpa/paternal uncle” | A vulgar exclamation of anger, frustration, or contempt.
- 守宮砂 | shǒugōngshā | Lit. “palace-guarding cinnabar” | A mythical mark made with cinnabar, traditionally on a virgin girl’s arm, believed to disappear after sexual intercourse. Its use on a man here is unusual and likely for plot purposes.
- 朱砂 | zhūshā | Cinnabar; mercury sulfide. Used in traditional Chinese medicine and for making red ink/pigment, also associated with the chastity mark.
- 側君 | cèjūn | Side Consort; a consort of a lower rank than the principal consort (Zhengjun or Wangjun).
- 正君 | zhèngjūn | Official Consort; Primary Consort. The main, officially recognized spouse, typically of highest rank among consorts.
- 始亂終棄 | shǐluàn zhōngqì | Lit. “begin disorder end abandon” | Fig. To begin by toying with someone and end by abandoning them; to be fickle in love and discard one’s lover.
- 王府 | wángfǔ | Prince’s Manor/Residence. The official residence of a Wang (Prince/King).
- 明心湖 | Míngxīn Hú | Lit. “Clear Heart Lake”.
- 苦肉計 | kǔròujì | Lit. “bitter flesh plan” | The self-injury stratagem; one of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, involving injuring oneself to gain the enemy’s trust or to deceive them.
- 君 | jūn | A suffix often used after names or titles in East Asian contexts, particularly online, to show respect or endearment, similar to “-san” in Japanese but can be more informal or specific to certain communities.
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