Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The temperatures became cool and chilly. Thus, all the male students in the Institute began wearing quilt jackets while the female students were dressed in colorful leggings, winter dresses, and heeled boots.
Wen Xinya took a stroll along the sidewalk of the Institute. She took a deep breath and allowed the chilly wind to fill her lungs, making her feel cool and refreshed.
“Wen Xinya!” Shen Mengting yelled in a shrilling voice, seething with exasperation and resentment. She sounded just as cold as the weather.
Wen Xinya stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly to see that Shen Mengting was standing at a short distance away from her, appearing horribly gaunt and emaciated. Her sunken eye sockets and hollowed cheeks made her eyes appear even larger than they already were. Her fair and porcelain skin had become jaundiced, and her hair was hoarse and brittle. Wen Xinya almost could not recognize her.
Staring at Shen Mengting with raised brows, Wen Xinya wondered to herself, Why is she here?
Shen Mengting had already been expelled from the Institute and was on the blacklist. Given how tight the security was at the entrance, how did she even manage to sneak in?
“You’ve already been expelled. How did you sneak into the school compound?” Wen Xinya asked, taking a step back, knowing that Shen Mengting must have had a reason for sneaking into the Institute to look for her. She was afraid that Shen Mengting might have gone through some emotional trauma and become deranged to the extent of committing terrifying acts of violence. She also did not rule out the possibility of Shen Mengting being manipulated by Ning Shuqian, who might have instigated her to harm Wen Xinya.
“You don’t need to know how I managed to sneak in. I came here especially to look for you.” Shen Mengting screeched, glaring at her maniacally.
“To look for me?” Wen Xinya scoffed with raised brows and a cold smirk.
Overwhelmed with resentment, Shen Mengting glared at Wen Xinya and said, “Wen Xinya, do you know why I’ve become like this? I was sent to the police station and put behind bars for more than half a month. I faced cunning and intimidating policemen every single day. They were just like devils who continuously interrogated me and forbade me from eating or drinking whenever I refused to comply. They even locked me up in a freezing, air-conditioned room.
Wen Xinya guffawed sarcastically. She thought that Shen Mengting should really count her blessings that the police did not subject her to physical torture in order to force her to own up to her crimes. Several nations were relentless and cruel when punishing drug addicts like her.
Greatly angered by Wen Xinya’s insensitive laughter, Shen Mengting hollered. “Wen Xinya, this is all your fault. If it weren’t because of you, I wouldn’t have ended up in such a pathetic plight. Did you know that the police sent me for rehab in a remote village just to kick my slight drug addiction? I was locked up together with other drug addicts. They were all a bunch of lunatics, lunatics…” She then covered her ears with her hands and began shrieking while shaking her head, clearly reminded of a traumatic experience.
“What has your drug addiction have to do with me? Was I the one who got you hooked onto the drugs? You were clearly the one who tried to get me addicted, but your plan backfired and you ended up getting addicted to drugs instead. How dare you have the cheek to accuse me when you’re the one at fault. Who sent you here? Was it Ning Shuqian?” Wen Xinya questioned sternly. No wonder Shen Mengting would end up in such a state. Turns out she had been sent to rehab. Although Wen Xinya had never been to rehab, she could imagine how harsh the conditions were.
Every single day during rehab, Shen Mengting had to face emaciated drug addicts who were just skin and bones and behaved like zombies. Although they were still alive, they were only physically living. In order to curb their addiction, they smashed things onto the ground, self-harmed, inflicted pain onto others, and even resorted to having sex with each other in order to curb the withdrawal symptoms. They did not care about the gender, age, and consent of the subjects they had chosen.
Shen Mengting flew into a rage. Glaring at her with bloodshot eyes, she quipped. “Wen Xinya, you cruel and cold-blooded bitch. How could you bring yourself to say those things to me when I’m already in such a sorry state? You’re inhumane!”
Wen Xinya could already tell that Shen Mengting was no longer in the right state of mind. Thus, she kept her guard up against her and said, “What’s the point of shifting the blame to me? Was I the one who landed you in this predicament? You’re so ridiculous it’s almost amusing. There wasn’t any no feud between us at all. If you didn’t agree to help Ning Shuqian and plot against me, none of those would have happened to you. This is life. You’re bound to receive bad karma for the misdeeds that you’ve done, and accumulate good merit for the kind deeds you’ve done. Everyone has to pay the price for their actions.”
Shen Mengting pressed her hands against her head and shook it hysterically. She yelled at the top of her lungs, “It’s you, it’s you, you were the one who caused me all the harm. I could have gone abroad to further my education and return home with glorious achievements. I had a bright and promising future, and I was the subject of envy to many others. I could have had the chance to earn lots of money and send my mother for better medical treatment. Yet, because of you… my dreams were shattered and there’s no turning back for me now… I hate you… I hate you…”
“Were those the privileges that Ning Shuqian promised to reward you with, should you succeed in harming me? I can only say that you brought all of these upon yourself, all because of your greed,” said Wen Xinya, who felt zero sympathy for Shen Mengting at all. After all, Shen Mengting was the one who resorted to unscrupulous means to get what she wanted. Thus, she deserved the retribution she got.
Shen Mengting stumbled forward and covered her ears while screaming and murmuring, “No, no… Wen Xinya, you were the one who harmed me. It was you…”
Wen Xinya gibed. “Ning Shuqian gave you so many benefits. She gave you the chance to study in Lanfeng and even sent your mother to the best sanatorium. Given her power and wealth, she could have saved you from imprisonment, but why didn’t she do that? Why didn’t she intervene to stop you from being sent to rehab? There are lots of drug rehab centers in the city that have better conditions than the one that you were sent to. She could have saved you from those nightmares by spending a little bit more money.”
Shen Mengting barked. “Wen Xinya, you shameless wretch. I forbid you from badmouthing Aunt Ning! If you’re trying to sow seeds of discord between me and Aunt Ning, you can forget about it. I won’t believe you. Aunt Ning treats me very well. Apart from my mother, she’s the person who’s the nicest to me…”
Wen Xinya glanced at her calmly before turning around to walk away. She had already expected Shen Mengting to react that way. After all, the fact that Ning Shuqian had decided to instigate Shen Mengting to look her up in school just went to show that she was confident of manipulating Shen Mengting.
“No…” Shen Mengting screamed and charged towards Wen Xinya’s back.
She stabbed the cold, sharp knife into Wen Xinya’s back.
At the instant that she did, the knife was prevented from digging into Wen Xinya’s flesh by the fabric of her clothing. Wen Xinya then bent backward at a seventy-degree angle and stabbed her pink fingernails into Shen Mengting’s bony neck.
The fruit knife dangled on her back. It was an inch away from being fatal.
Wen Xinya then turned around swiftly and kicked the hand that Shen Mengting was holding the knife in.
“Ah…” The knife flew out of Shen Mengting’s hand while she collapsed onto the ground.
Wen Xinya walked towards her slowly and stared at her from above. “Shen Mengting, everything that happened to you has nothing to do with me. You ended up like this because of Ning Shuqian…”
She then strutted away.
Wen Xinya did not call the police nor informed the security guards. She saw it as the last time she would show mercy to Shen Mengting, as a form of payback for the time that she had shielded her from the hot soup.
