Volume One, Chapter Four: She Won't Take the Blame for This!

Fu Mingyue’s sharp, angular profile came into view. As the car door on the other side opened, Li Susu hurried over to Ji Yunshuo. "Yunshuo, why are you here? Get in the car quickly!"

Ji Yunshuo shoved Li Susu away with sudden force!

Li Susu’s eyes flickered...

"Thud!"

Li Susu, who had fallen directly to the ground, wore a look of shock and bewilderment.

Fu Mingyue saw it clearly. "Ji Yunshuo! What are you doing!"

Furious, Fu Mingyue immediately stepped out of the car and shoved Ji Yunshuo aside!

Already limping from her previous fall, Ji Yunshuo was knocked flat onto the ground.

Fu Mingyue stared at her with undisguised disgust. "Susu was kind enough to help you, yet you pushed her down! I never realized you were so vicious!"

"It’s fine, I’m okay, Mingyue." Li Susu quickly interjected, "struggling" to stand up, only to wince and hiss as if she had aggravated an injury.

Fu Mingyue pulled her up with a look of heartache. "Where are you hurt? Let me see. Did you hurt your elbow again?"

"I'm alright." Li Susu put on a brave face, as if to say, "I'm fine, I can bear it." She then added, "You should go help Yunshuo up instead."

Fu Mingyue watched with cold indifference as Ji Yunshuo struggled to stand once more. He couldn't resist mocking her. "Stop the act! I barely touched you, yet you fell. What a schemer! I really misjudged you before—you deceitful wretch!"

Ji Yunshuo glanced at him, her clear eyes devoid of any ripples.

Having faced reality, she no longer felt aggrieved by Fu Mingyue’s prejudice. However, she was not about to take the blame for something she didn't do.

"She grabbed my injured arm the moment she got out of the car. Pushing her was an instinctive reaction. If you don't believe me, feel free to pierce your own elbows with glass shards and have someone grab them to see how it feels. Don't tell me you didn't know my elbow was injured, especially since I was just pushed out of the car by Mother." As she spoke, Ji Yunshuo turned slightly, revealing her deformed elbow, the gauze soaked through with fresh blood, right before Fu Mingyue’s eyes.

Fu Mingyue was stunned!

So much blood...

And the elbow... it was clearly fractured! How much pain must she be in?

Li Susu looked full of guilt. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Yunshuo. I truly didn't remember that your elbow was injured."

Fu Mingyue, however, became even angrier. "Then why didn't you dodge! You specifically let Susu help you with that arm; you did it on purpose! Susu, you don't need to apologize to her!"

Ji Yunshuo gave a light, bitter laugh and lifted the hem of her skirt. "She has all her limbs intact and moves so fast. How do you expect someone with a broken arm and a crippled leg to dodge?"

"This..." Fu Mingyue looked on in shock at the scars covering her pale legs. The most severe one, on her knee, was a mangled mess of flesh and blood. His heart gave a painful tug!

"Yunshuo..." Li Susu’s eyes reddened, her voice choking. "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were hurt this badly. I... I'm so sorry..."

Ji Yunshuo glanced at her, unwilling to continue the entanglement. She turned to leave.

Li Susu questioned, "But, is Mother Ji really that cruel? How could any mother be so heartless to her own daughter?"

Ji Yunshuo remained calm. "Indeed. I wasn't as lucky as you to have a good mother. No, that’s not quite right—strictly speaking, she isn't my mother anyway. After all, I am an orphan."

With that, Ji Yunshuo continued to hobble forward. No one truly cared if she was in pain; she had to go and dress her wounds herself.

But after only two steps, her wrist was seized!

Fu Mingyue glared at her with fury. "This injury wasn't caused by Susu, so why are you being so snide? Don't you see she’s standing up for you?"

"Should I thank her, or perhaps kneel and kowtow before I’m allowed to leave?" Ji Yunshuo asked. "Is the blood I've shed today not enough? Must I bleed out and die right here for you to be satisfied?"

Fu Mingyue’s gaze darkened. "What nonsense are you spouting! That is not what I meant at all! Can you speak properly for once?"

"Why don't you suffer injuries like mine, then tell me how to 'speak properly' when you're in so much pain that even breathing is a struggle?" Ji Yunshuo pulled back her only relatively intact arm and continued forward.

"Stop the act! If you were really as badly hurt as you look, you wouldn't be able to keep quiet about the pain!" Fu Mingyue scoffed with disdain. "You'd make a huge fuss and head to the hospital even for a scratch! Did you have them wrap your wounds in blood-soaked gauze on purpose? How else could you be bleeding so much while still having such a sharp tongue?"

Ji Yunshuo stopped in her tracks, her heart turning cold.

Fu Mingyue gave a mocking smile. "I hit the nail on the head, didn't I?"

Ji Yunshuo turned back and looked at him earnestly. "Back then, I truly wanted to win your attention. I hoped you would come to the hospital to see me, and I foolishly believed you would actually care. Now I know—no matter how badly I'm hurt, you will never care. Even if I were to die, you would only watch with cold indifference. No, you wouldn't even mind sending me to my death sooner."

Fu Mingyue froze! He wanted to retort... but the earnest, desolate look in Ji Yunshuo’s eyes made his heart ache.

Unable to hold on much longer, Ji Yunshuo tried to speed up her pace toward the elevator.

At the elevator bank, Ji Yunshuo reached out to press the button.

A long-fingered hand pressed the 'up' button a step before her.

"I don't like you, but I never wanted you dead. Stop projecting your own vicious heart onto me!" Fu Mingyue retorted coldly.

Ji Yunshuo glanced at him. That was true; he only wanted to gouge out her eyes, not end her life. But to her, losing her spiritual vision was worse than death.

"What is that look?" Fu Mingyue was sick of those dead, hollow eyes, as if he had committed some heinous crime against her. "Is the divorce settlement I gave you not enough?"

Li Susu, who had caught up, was visibly stunned by this remark!

Ji Yunshuo had already stepped into the elevator, and Fu Mingyue moved to follow.

Li Susu called out immediately, "Mingyue, wait for me."

Fu Mingyue turned around instantly. Ji Yunshuo immediately pressed the door-close button; she didn't want to look at this scumbag and his mistress for another second.

"Wait!" Fu Mingyue tried to force the elevator open.

Ji Yunshuo only felt impatient. "Can't you just let me have a moment of relief from the pain?"

Fu Mingyue’s hand, poised to press the 'open' button, stiffened. The elevator doors closed completely.

Li Susu looked uneasy. "Is Yunshuo really that badly hurt? I... I really forgot about her arm. Do you think she’ll blame me?"

"Don't worry about her. I'll have the butler take you home first." Fu Mingyue took out his phone and dialed the butler’s number.

Li Susu quickly asked, "What about you? Are you going up to see Yunshuo? Let me go with you; I feel so guilty."

"It has nothing to do with you. Why would you feel guilty?"

"You pushed Yunshuo because of me, I..."

Li Susu’s eyes turned red, though she quickly suppressed it.

Fu Mingyue frowned. Thinking of how he had shoved the injured Ji Yunshuo, and the gruesome wounds on her arms and legs, a suffocating pressure filled his chest.