SCHS - Chapter 37
Chapter 37
Qin Zhen believed Wen Shixue was a sensible child. She knew when to joke and when not to, so Qin Zhen was willing to trust her. Moreover, if even she didn't trust her, Wen Shixue would feel even less secure at Chenfeng.
Although the matter sounded truly fantastical, a flesh-and-blood young lady being controlled to become an empty shell doing all sorts of bad things... What unimaginable things had she experienced? Was it persecution from her family, or some other reason?
Qin Zhen asked softly, "Is that all?"
Hearing such a thing so suddenly, how could her curiosity be restrained? And she couldn't control it—she couldn't control the urge to know more about her and the suffering she had endured.
Wen Shixue looked around, then smiled mysteriously, "We can talk more slowly when we get back."
With so many ears around, Qin Zhen understood. She nodded solemnly, "Okay."
There was no refusal, no scolding for being silly.
A wave of tenderness washed over Wen Shixue's heart. She couldn't help but walk over to her, hug her tightly, rest her head on her shoulder, and say with a beaming smile, "Qin Zhen, you're so cute!"
So cute that she was starting to feel jealous of her future girlfriend.
Qin Zhen: "...?"
Why was she suddenly cute?
Wen Shixue clearly had no intention of explaining. She turned back and continued picking out items as if nothing had happened, as if she hadn't said those strange, supernatural things.
Qin Zhen didn't say anything more, calmly pushing the cart and selecting ingredients, her mind focused on preparing nourishing food for Wen Shixue.
She had to be even better to her from now on.
...
Wen Shixue specifically chose the leisure time after they had both eaten and showered to talk about this. After Qin Zhen said she would believe her, the suppressed desire to confide burst forth, sprouting and growing wildly, impossible to control.
She could speak, or rather, she could try to speak. Anyway, she had already planned her retreat.
If, in the end, Qin Zhen didn't believe her, she could just say it was a dream, a joke, not to be taken seriously. Even if Qin Zhen wanted to announce it publicly, if she flatly denied it, what could anyone do to her?
It would just make her very sad that Qin Zhen didn't believe her consistently until the end...
She hugged the rabbit and nestled in a corner of the sofa. Qin Zhen brought her a glass of warm water. She glanced at it, then looked up and negotiated, "Lao Qin, the child wants cola."
Qin Zhen's expression didn't change, "No."
Wen Shixue said righteously, "We're telling a story! How can we not have some drinks and melon seeds!" Then, as if by magic, she pulled out a large bag of milk-flavored melon seeds from behind her back. "I've got the melon seeds ready!"
Qin Zhen: "..."
The one listening to the story hadn't even mentioned eating melon seeds, so why was the one telling the story planning to snack on them?!
Qin Zhen confiscated them on the spot, saying sternly and impartially, "That's too many, you'll get heaty. Drink your water obediently, it's good for your health."
Wen Shixue thought miserably: Qin Zhen is too cruel to me.
But seeing as Qin Zhen had said she believed her today, she quickly forgave Qin Zhen's heartlessness. After taking a sip of warm water to moisten her throat, she carefully chose her words. "Lao Qin, have you ever thought that the world we live in might... be a book?"
It was the first time Qin Zhen had heard such a hypothesis. Her action of pouring the melon seeds paused slightly. She answered honestly, "No."
The most imaginative she had ever been was when she was a child sitting in the orphanage counting stars, fantasizing that people lived inside the stars and wondering if they had parents. As she grew up, she knew that to change her fate and live a good life, she had to study hard, get into a good university, and find a good job. So she gave up time for fantasy and immersed herself completely in studying, never letting her imagination run wild again.
Hearing Wen Shixue make this hypothesis today, she felt a bit of novelty. And from Wen Shixue's demeanor, it didn't seem like something she had made up; rather, it seemed like something she had personally experienced.
"Then you can think about it now," Wen Shixue said with a smile. "Although it's very disruptive to our science and sounds hard to believe."
To be honest, if she were in Qin Zhen's position right now, she might not be able to fully digest and calmly accept this shocking matter in a short time. When she first accepted this, she had stayed up all night thinking it through before she could accept it.
But the matter had already happened. Sitting around questioning it was useless. Since there was a chance to resist, she would resist. Waiting for death was not Wen Shixue's style.
Qin Zhen didn't even need to imagine, because her words were an answer—this world was indeed a book. They weren't real people, they only existed between the lines, everything was fictional.
Qin Zhen twirled a milk-flavored melon seed, her heart shaken for a long time. After a long period of complex silence, she finally asked, "...What kind of book is it?"
Wen Shixue glanced at her and replied, "It's a romance novel where the characters and plot serve the male and female leads' love line. You should know what a romance novel is?"
Qin Zhen didn't seem like someone who would read such things, so she needed to confirm to make it easier to explain.
Vice President Qin, who had hoped it was a group novel about individuals struggling and developing, fell silent. After a moment, she replied, "...I know."
She personally didn't read these novels, but people around her did, like her university roommates. As a group of happy omnivores, as long as it was good, there was nothing they didn't love to read or couldn't finish.
Wen Shixue nodded understandingly, both adding to her explanation and comforting her. "Of course, not every character has to serve their love story. Those who weren't written about naturally don't need to."
Wen Shixue propped her head up, stroking the rabbit's paw, and said, "You can also think of it this way: although it's a book, it's also a complete world. Outside of the male and female leads, there are tens of thousands of people living, uncontrolled, doing as they please, doing whatever they want, essentially no different from real people, and they also form this complete world."
"Like you, like every department head at Chenfeng."
"You have never appeared in their plotline from beginning to end, so you are free."
Given the identity of a free person, Qin Zhen's tense mood relaxed slightly. She then remembered what Wen Shixue had said at the supermarket and casually asked, "So you... are different?"
"Yes, I'm different," Wen Shixue said. "I exist within the plotline, 'gloriously' placed in the position of the second female lead, serving as a... well, I guess you could say an important tool character."
"This tool character is completely devoted to the male lead, crazy for him, losing her mind and hitting walls for him, and treating every woman who gets close to him as an enemy. The female lead, of course, is my number one enemy. So besides making things difficult for her and trying to break her and the male lead up, I wouldn't do anything else. That's what people now call a 'vicious supporting character'."
Qin Zhen saw the rabbit's paw being squeezed out of shape in her hand. The veins on the back of that fair hand bulged, as if she was very angry, but her expression was as calm and composed as ever—she was restraining herself.
Wen Shixue got angry just thinking about the plot forced upon her. Her head felt like it was going to explode. Fortunately, heaven gave her a chance to choose her fate again, so she didn't have to repeat the same mistakes. She adjusted her mood and spoke as casually as if they were just chatting. "After doing so many bad things, my ending was naturally a ruined reputation, a terrible death, satisfying everyone, and the male and female leads finally got together and lived happily ever after."
"That's the general plot of this book. It's just that later I had a small accident, and suddenly these plot details appeared in my head. Since I already knew, how could I possibly follow the original plot and let myself die a terrible death? So I decided to change my fate, and then I met you at Chenfeng."
Qin Zhen lowered her eyes, recalling her original ending, and said softly, "That wasn't your fault."
The strength in Wen Shixue's hand instantly released. Her gaze lingered on Qin Zhen, her eyes subtly filled with anticipation. "You believe what I'm saying?"
Qin Zhen looked at her, her expression unchanged, making it impossible to guess her current thoughts.
Wen Shixue's brows furrowed slightly. She suddenly felt that her earlier comfort was an illusion. Perhaps Qin Zhen wouldn't believe her either. After all, it sounded severely detached from reality, making it hard to believe.
Thinking this, she felt a little dejected.
"Hold out your hand," Qin Zhen suddenly said.
Wen Shixue was stunned, then extended her hand blankly. The next second, a handful of peeled melon seeds appeared in her palm. She stared at Qin Zhen in a daze. The other woman was calmly tidying up the melon seed shells on the table, saying as she did so, "You can have more if it's not enough, but don't eat too many."
Wen Shixue's eyes lit up slightly. Her voice trembled unconsciously, "Qin Zhen..."
"Hmm?" Qin Zhen responded patiently.
"You don't think I'm lying to you?" she asked.
Qin Zhen stopped what she was doing, turned to look at her, and said calmly, "I can tell if you're lying, because I understand you."
She gently held her hand and said softly, "Although I don't know what happened in the original plot, I know that you are free now, you can do what you want, change the terrible ending, make your own choices, and live a life that truly belongs to you. So I am sincerely happy for you."
Wen Shixue gazed at her. "You don't find it hard to accept? After all, suddenly becoming a paper person?"
Only then did Qin Zhen understand what she meant by "paper person." She lowered her head and chuckled softly, "It is a little hard to accept, but it's not impossible to accept. At least it's still a complete world, and I'm still a free existence, still flesh and blood with emotions and desires, not constrained by anyone, right?"
Since Wen Shixue could break free from the mire and live her own life, and the world remained as usual, without the slightest change, it meant that the force whose name they couldn't speak didn't forcefully demand every character stay in their position and repeat the plot. It allowed and accepted individual changes, and didn't blindly stifle individual consciousness. So there was nothing to fear.
Therefore, she could accept this matter and continue to live as a "person."
Wen Shixue's eyes were teary, on the verge of crying but not crying, smiling but not smiling. She held the handful of melon seeds in her palm for a long time before saying with a smile, "You figured it out so quickly. I didn't sleep all night back then, thought about it for a long time, and even layered it with another concept before I could accept it..."
"Layered what?" Qin Zhen didn't understand, and gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eye with her thumb.
Wen Shixue, with a red nose, lowered her head and slowly began eating the melon seeds, one after another. As she ate, she said, "I thought that the world outside of us might also be written, not truly existing, just that no one has discovered it. Thinking that since everyone might be in a book, there's nothing to mind, so... I let it go."
Qin Zhen was amused by her. Her fingertip gently stroked her cheek, her voice unconsciously carrying a hint of indulgence. "You, your little brain always thinks differently from others."
Wen Shixue's heart inexplicably softened at the tone, feeling an indescribable fondness. She looked up and said directly, "I like it when you talk to me like that."
It was a different and special feeling. She had never heard Qin Zhen speak to anyone else in that tone, which at least meant she was the special one—and she felt quite proud about it.
"I especially like it," she added with a smile, her eyes curved, her face delicate and beautiful, like a flower in spring, like the moon in the dark night, making one's heart flutter and hard to resist.
It also made one feel a little... like kissing her.
Noticing this thought, Qin Zhen's smile instantly vanished. She quickly withdrew her hand and reverted to her usual unshakeable calm demeanor, getting up and walking away. "Go to bed early after you finish eating."
Wen Shixue unexpectedly witnessed a face-changing act. A row of question marks slowly appeared above her head: "?"
She called out to Qin Zhen's door in confusion, "Lao Qin, is your face made of a book? How can it flip so quickly?" After thinking for a moment, she added, "Are you feeling shy again!"
Qin Zhen leaned against the door, rubbing her forehead in distress, completely baffled by her recent wicked thought.
Why on earth would she suddenly want to kiss Wen Shixue?
Even her heart rate had quietly sped up.
Could it be...
—Could it be that she had fallen for her?!
aww
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