Chapter 142 Chapter 142: The Two Who Must Change
Chapter 142: The Two Who Must Change
No one was wrong, or perhaps, everyone had their faults.
Chi Xiao Cheng didn’t want to be a substitute for the original Xiao Cheng, and even more, this near-death experience filled her with dread. She feared losing Su Tao forever, and even more, she feared Su Tao abandoning her due to plot progression and the influence of the world’s will.
Just like in her past life, she had given her all, only to be met with betrayal.
As Dark Xiao Cheng had said, possessing her, holding her tightly in her palm, was both a comfort to herself and a protection for Su Tao.
When fear overshadowed thought, reason diminished.
So much so that Chi Xiao Cheng forgot that this sustained high pressure, unlike before, hadn’t given Su Tao hope. How then could she be loved?
She had even closed off her own heart.
If the fake death plan had succeeded this time, it would have been fine. Chi Xiao Cheng had used a body double, and everything unfolded according to her plan.
Precisely because it failed, she personally experienced that feeling of life gradually draining away, of the person she loved drifting further and further.
Even knowing she had a second life, she still felt fear and panic, thus beginning to close herself off, becoming paranoid.
Was Su Tao wrong?
Others’ thoughts were unknown, but Su Tao had always felt that she was the one truly at fault.
She had turned Xiao Cheng into a yandere, neglecting her again and again, pretending to like her to ‘cure’ her, yet each time, the results only worsened.
Countless times she had evaded, and countless times regretted.
But facing those endless glasses of orange juice, and Xiao Cheng’s terrifying yandere tendencies, her regret was once again overtaken by fear and dread.
Her mind went blank.
Both stopped short of reaching out to the other.
Such a scene was not only something Su Tao didn’t want to see, but even Si Chen didn’t want to witness.
He and Doctor Lin had specifically analyzed Chi Xiao Cheng’s report. It was no exaggeration to say that because of this fake death, Chi Xiao Cheng herself had deviated from her own plan.
No matter what Su Tao said about love, Chi Xiao Cheng would believe it was a pretense.
She began to get fixated.
Believing that only by obeying her, by doing exactly as she said, was ‘true love’.
If things continued like this, could they still leverage Su Tao’s War God Father when he returned, as planned?
Now, with Su Tao’s reason completely gone, the probability of her going insane first was far greater than the probability of her falling in love with Chi Xiao Cheng.
If neither of them changed, being together would likely be an impossible task.
Si Chen hadn’t expected that not only would he have to be a mole and a mere tool, but now he also had to act as a matchmaker and a psychological counselor, trying to bring these two lost souls together.
Was there still hope?
It was worth a try.
Facing Su Tao’s question, Si Chen typed back, “The only solution now is for you to love her with all your heart, to make her truly feel your love, not your fake affection.”
The message came through, and Su Tao bit her lip. “Is it still too late now, to love her with all my heart? I… I don’t know how.”
After all, what was love, and what was liking?
Could it be that constant possession and paranoia, like Xiao Cheng’s, counted as liking?
Si Chen: “Whether it’s too late or not is another matter, but there’s no other way, is there? Unless you knock her out, give her a few sedative shots, or send her to a mental hospital and see.”
It was genuinely hard to say if Su Tao’s superhuman strength could overpower Chi Xiao Cheng in her darkened state.
Si Chen: “My previous advice stands: force yourself to love her!”
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t know what love is; just know what love looks like in Chi Xiao Cheng’s eyes.”
“It’s possession, it’s having the other person constantly in your thoughts, it can even be orange juice!”
“Since that’s the case, you should follow her line of thinking and love her. Show that you also want to possess Chi Xiao Cheng, that you want mutual love forever, and even actively drink her orange juice. How much orange juice can her frail little body have? Once you’ve pretty much drained her, she’ll be weakened and won’t be able to fight you, and then it’ll naturally be resolved.”
“Don’t think about the future; the first thing to do is to calm her down!”
Si Chen typed many words at once, and the sheer content made Su Tao tremble with fear.
Me, possess Xiao Cheng?
To obey her, and even take the initiative to actively drink her orange juice?
What did that mean? Was she supposed to become a yandere to cater to Xiao Cheng?
Just as Su Tao was pondering with her increasingly overloaded brain, her phone suddenly rang.
Chi Xiao Cheng, who had been in the room, poked her little head out because of the ringtone.
How could Su Tao dare to continue chatting with Si Chen? She quickly opened WeChat, deleted all chat history, and then forced a dry smile at Chi Xiao Cheng, who had walked into the living room. “It’s a call from the person in charge of where I work.”
Chi Xiao Cheng just pursed her lips and smiled. “Go ahead and answer, Tao Tao. I said I wouldn’t interfere while you’re relaxing with your phone.”
She sat down beside Su Tao, watching her sideways.
She smiled, looking as if she wanted to know the content of the call.
Su Tao had no choice but to bite the bullet and answer the phone. “Hello, Sister Long, is there something wrong?”
Although she called her ‘Sister,’ the voice that came through the phone was a shrill, auntie-like voice, shouting at Su Tao, “Su Tao, where have you been? You’re not coming to work? Do you still want this job or not!”
Su Tao’s face went pale, and she quickly explained, “Sister Long, I requested three days off, Manager Feng approved it.”
“That guy Feng means nothing! I’m the one who runs this store! How many days a month do you even work? What’s the meaning of constantly asking for leave? If you don’t want to work, just get lost! If you don’t come in, don’t expect last month’s and this month’s wages!”
“Sister Long, I…”
“Beep beep beep—”
The call had been hung up.
Su Tao leaned back on the sofa, staring blankly at the ceiling.
The snack supermarket where she worked was actually quite good. Shifts were often half a day or an evening, and the big boss was also very kind, taking good care of their part-time students.
As long as you came to work, didn’t slack off, and didn’t make mistakes, a half-day shift was 100 yuan, and a two- or three-hour evening shift was also 100 yuan.
Her colleagues were all part-time students and got along well, but only Long Mian, the manager of this branch, for some unknown reason, always targeted her.
Besides being busy, she also had to endure scolding.
She had clearly requested leave, and it had been approved.
In the current situation, how could she go back to work?
Su Tao glanced at Chi Xiao Cheng beside her, and her phone rang again.
This time, it was her mentor.
“Su Tao, how’s your paper coming along? The journal is publishing next week, so you should give me the first draft in these two days. Although time is tight, I know you’re capable and can do it.”
She was only a freshman, and she had already written two papers since the beginning of the semester; this was her third time.
Her mentor’s talk of ‘cultivating’ her, all those excessive expectations, had turned into pure pressure.
She actually didn’t want to write that damned paper at all.
“So tired…”
Su Tao leaned on the sofa, thinking again about what Si Chen had said.
So, so tired…
Tears welled up again, uncontrollably, but were quickly wiped away by Chi Xiao Cheng’s hand.
The petite figure was already standing on the sofa, bending over to pull Su Tao into her embrace.
“Xiao Cheng, I… woo…”
Su Tao could no longer hold back her tears, hugging Chi Xiao Cheng tightly and crying into her embrace.
Such a warm, comfortable embrace, so very pleasant.
And yet, so terrifying.
Chi Xiao Cheng gently stroked the back of Su Tao’s head, softly saying, “Cry, cry, it’ll feel much better once you let it all out.”
Any unhappiness you feel, I will solve it for you.
After Su Tao cried herself to sleep from exhaustion, Chi Xiao Cheng carried her to the bed.
Then she hid the fruit knife and quietly left the house.
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