Fate Trading System – Chapter 369

Plan B

Heart-Stealing Operation 28

Chu Muyu¹ ran away.

She fled back to her own room, lost her head in a panic, slammed the door shut, and slid to the floor, gasping for breath.

What had she just heard? Were those sounds real? Could that be the truth that Lin Xiaohuan had been hiding all this time?

Chu Muyu couldn’t stop her mind from racing. All the strange feelings from their previous interactions surfaced at once. Disconnected fragments now seemed to have a thread that could string them together, finally leading to the truth.

Was Chu Yanxi² using her to threaten Lin Xiaohuan?

The amount of information was too overwhelming. For a moment, Chu Muyu found it a little hard to accept.

It was as if this reality had shattered all her previous perceptions.

All those things she had taken for granted as correct actually had a more absurd explanation.

And often, the more absurd and unbelievable something is, the more likely it is to be the truth.

Chu Muyu ran to her bed and sat down, looking toward the door as if she could see a much wider world through it.

Why on earth had things developed this way?

Lin Xiaohuan really did still care about her. That was why she was able to rush to her side so promptly last time when she was in danger, preventing anything from happening to her. And it was because of this profound sentiment and deep friendship that she had chosen to stay by Chu Yanxi’s side in exchange for her safety.

Lin Xiaohuan…

Chu Muyu buried her face in the quilt, holding back the urge to cry.

Prompted by Fourteen, Su Xin jumped off the bed and closed the door right after Chu Muyu left.

Chu Muyu had always been loved. Before she lost her parents, this love came from the affection of her family. Even though she was an illegitimate daughter, her father doted on her, even wanting to have her entered into the family genealogy register³ to become an official descendant.

After Chu Muyu lost her parents, she lived the life of a pitiful little thing. This person was indeed very good at reading the situation⁴; she was just mentally tormented from time to time, but her body wasn’t subjected to too much abuse.

The original wife’s two children were actually quite clever. Even at that young age, they already knew that the key to tormenting the daughter of the little third⁵ was not physical, but mental.

So they constantly belittled her status, making her see clearly what kind of goods⁶ she was, how disgraceful her identity was, and how filthy the blood in her veins was.

The hatred of children is the most direct and the most undisguised.

This planted a deep seed of inferiority in Chu Muyu’s heart, making her remember at every moment how inglorious her birth was. Therefore, after being adopted by Chu Yanxi, her heart was filled with gratitude and awe for her.

After growing up, Chu Muyu received the affection of many more people, but most of that affection was directed at her outer appearance⁷ and her generosity.

There had never been anyone like Lin Xiaohuan, who would give so much for Chu Muyu, willing to sacrifice everything for her, willing to endure torments she could not accept for her sake.

Such a sincere heart, placed before anyone, would be impossible to refuse, let alone for Chu Muyu, who lacked a sense of security and had always hoped for someone to love her no matter how flawed she was.

How could she not love her? How could she bear not to?

Su Xin sat on the bed, a hint of coldness showing between her brows and eyes.

“You little bad egg⁸.”

Chu Yanxi reached out and gently flicked Su Xin’s forehead. Her little girl was truly a little bad egg who knew how to play with people’s hearts.

“Go out tomorrow. Anywhere is fine, as long as it’s for less than half an hour. Only when you’re not here will she have the time to say something to me.”

“You really understand her.”

“A child’s thoughts are easy to guess in the first place.”

“Putting on mature airs.”

Chu Yanxi pulled her little girl over into her arms and continued what she hadn’t finished just now.

“Mmm… Didn’t I learn this from you?”

On the cool night, Su Xin once again personally experienced the comfort of the large bed in Chu Yanxi’s room at the Chu family home.

The next day, Chu Muyu opened her eyes early. It could be said that she didn’t sleep well the entire night, tossing and turning from side to side, with many things weighing on her mind.

She opened the door a tiny crack, pressing herself against it to watch the movements in the hallway.

She saw that Chu Yanxi had already gotten up, washed, gone downstairs to eat breakfast, and then left the house.

The house returned to a state of silence. In fact, most of the time, this house was very quiet. The servants all walked with light feet, careful to avoid making any noise.

Except for some activity around the three mealtimes, everyone else stayed obediently where they were supposed to be and didn’t walk around.

After getting up and washing, Chu Muyu didn’t go downstairs. She stood at the door to Chu Yanxi’s room, hesitating whether to push it open.

She didn’t know what the consequences of opening it would be, but she knew that if she didn’t, some of her questions would never be answered, and some of the words she wanted to say might never have a chance to be spoken.

Fighting with Chu Yanxi for a person? How was that possible…

Chu Muyu hardly dared to imagine such a possibility.

But if she really couldn’t let herself see the truth of the matter, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

Chu Muyu’s hand rested on the handle. As if summoning great courage, she pushed the door open.

Su Xin had already received Fourteen’s warning and had struck a pose on the bed.

Curled up on the bed, looking pitiful.

Indispensable on her body were the rough marks she had deliberately let Chu Yanxi make yesterday. Every single detail had to be perfect.

Chu Muyu stood there, and seeing every wound on Su Xin’s body, she felt a pain in her heart like being pricked by needles.

“Lin Xiaohuan.”

She spoke.

Chu Muyu noticed that the person on the bed seemed to have received a great shock, immediately pulling the quilt over herself and shrinking back.

“What are you doing in here! Get out, quickly!”

“She’s gone out, don’t worry.”

“You need to leave, now!”

Su Xin just kept urging her, her back to Chu Muyu, looking as if she didn’t want to hear her speak.

“You heard everything last night? Was it because of me?”

Chu Muyu bit her lower lip. She wanted to tell Lin Xiaohuan not to worry about her, but she also knew what kind of consequences those words would have.

If Chu Yanxi wanted to deal with her, it would be as easy as lifting a finger.

She couldn’t imagine what life would be like if she lost everything she had now.

But seeing the back of the person on the bed, she had the urge to say those words, disregarding all consequences.

This person shouldn’t be like this, at least not in such a miserable state.

She should be full of life and vitality, just like when they first met.

“Since you know, wouldn’t it be better to be sensible and get lost?”

Ignoring how harsh Su Xin’s words were, Chu Muyu slowly approached and saw the marks on her body.

She wanted to reach out and touch them, but Su Xin avoided her hand before it could make contact.

Chu Muyu only felt a searing heat in her chest, a burn that was incredibly painful.

“You’re not living well.”

Su Xin lowered her eyes, unwilling to listen to her.

“What… exactly happened?”

“Since you already know, there’s no need for me to narrate the process. It’s not a pleasant story anyway.”

Su Xin raised her head, looking straight at Chu Muyu.

“Don’t look at me with that pitying gaze. Doing this for you was my choice. I don’t need you to stand in front of me and look at me like this.”

“Lin Xiaohuan, why are you always like this?”

Always unilaterally being good to someone, without any regard for whether she would reciprocate.

In this world, there are some people who don’t deserve to be treated so well.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You wanted me to tell you, ‘Your mother has taken a liking to me, and if I don’t get with her, you’ll lose everything you have now,’ at a time when you hated me and didn’t want to be with me? Your reaction back then would surely have been to wish that I would obediently listen and stay by your mother’s side. That would be good for both of us, right?”

Su Xin’s tone wasn’t particularly agitated; she just spoke with a calm, almost certain, mocking inflection.

“Chu Muyu, I, Lin Xiaohuan, have never regretted meeting you. I don’t regret liking you, I don’t regret sacrificing for you, I don’t regret being hurt by you, and I don’t regret staying by her side and enduring torment for you.”

“But do you know what I’m most unwilling to see? It’s you knowing all of this. I know I must seem pathetic in your eyes right now, but I’m begging you, don’t pity me, and don’t feel sorry for me.”

“Because all you can do is pity and feel sorry. Once you walk out that door, can you just pretend none of this ever happened? We make a clean break with one cut⁹, and from now on, the bridge is the bridge’s and the road is the road’s¹⁰. Don’t… don’t think that I’m continuing to endure this for you… for you.”

Su Xin said this, but her voice grew more and more choked with sobs, breaking off intermittently.

Chu Muyu stood there at a loss, wanting to wipe away Su Xin’s tears, but her hand was slapped away.

“I’ll go beg Mother. I’ll go beg her.”

“Do you think it’s any use? If you really want what’s best for me, then don’t ever appear before me again.”

“Chu Muyu, can you not be so affectedly pretentious? You’re straight anyway, and you’ll never like me anyway, so please, can you stop giving me any more hope, okay?”

“What if I say I like you?”

Chu Muyu said without thinking.

“I know you’ve given up a lot for me. I’ll go beg her. She’s so powerful and has so many people around her, why does she have to have only you? You obviously like me, and I obviously only have you. I like you, Lin Xiaohuan.”

“I like it when you smile at me and are good to me. I like the way you look when you like me.”

Su Xin knew the time had come.

Her tone wasn’t happy, but rather filled with a sense of loss.

“You like me? Sorry, I don’t like you.”

Su Xin shook her head, wiping the tears from her face.

【Congratulations, Host. Mission complete. You will depart this world in one hour.】

Chu Yanxi was standing at the door at some unknown point. She walked in and lifted Su Xin off the bed in a princess carry.

Su Xin leaned into Chu Yanxi’s embrace, burying her head and refusing to look at Chu Muyu.

“Chu Muyu, I hate you. I don’t like you one bit.”

Su Xin’s voice was muffled.

“Mother!”

Chu Muyu called out urgently.

“You don’t need to call me that. From today on, you are no longer my daughter.”

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