A Washed-up Movie Queen's Divorce Strategy [Rebirth] - Chapter 33

Ji Chenli was still injured. After Han Xinyuan climbed in, she didn’t close the window, letting the cold wind pour in. Ji Chenli shivered. Seeing this, Han Xinyuan hurriedly shut the window and apologetically scratched the back of her head with her good hand, offering a smile.

By the time she finished, Ji Chenli had put the glass back in its place and lay down again. She looked at her out of the corner of her eye and asked, “Weren’t you supposed to go back to C City?” Ji Chenli’s upper body was still bare under the quilt, and facing Han Xinyuan like this made her feel strange.

“I did go back.” Han Xinyuan looked around and, seeing no chairs in the room, sat directly on the bed. She blinked at Ji Chenli. “I sneaked back out.”

Han Xinyuan looked at her and asked, “Hey, what’s wrong? Why is your face red?”

“No… it’s nothing,” Ji Chenli muttered, tucking the corner of the quilt tighter, terrified that Han Xinyuan might discover something. Ji Chenli thought that Han Xinyuan sure had a lot of energy. Accustomed to their mutual sarcasm, her mind whirled, and assuming she knew the purpose of the visit, she gave a snort of laughter. “Come to see how miserable I am? Fine, look all you want.”

“I…” Han Xinyuan thought to herself that in order to come and say thank you, she had offended both A-Lang and her grandmother. Yet the person on the bed was making her out to be the villain with just a few words. So, she intentionally put on a mocking and sarcastic expression. “Exactly. Seeing you so pathetic, I can rest easy.”

Ji Chenli’s face darkened.

For some reason, when Han Xinyuan smiled like that, Ji Chenli felt as if she had returned to her previous life. The last time she saw Han Xinyuan, she had smiled just like that. Or rather, that was when Han Xinyuan was at her most triumphant; she always had that mocking, condescending smile for Ji Chenli. It was just that the Han Xinyuan of this life was still young. Ji Chenli thought it would take another two years for her to cultivate that persona. Plus, since she was about to move away from the center of the drama, she thought she’d never have to see Han Xinyuan smile like that again for the rest of her life. Who knew that what was meant to come would always come? There was no hiding from it.

Han Xinyuan saw Ji Chenli’s gloomy face and found it quite amusing, but as she studied her more closely, she noticed Ji Chenli’s cheeks were so thin they were sunken. She felt a twinge of pity. “Hey, how is your injury?”

“Can’t die from it.” A slight curve appeared at the corner of Ji Chenli’s mouth as she adopted the stance she used to deal with Han Xinyuan in her previous life.

“Then when are you going back?” Han Xinyuan asked again.

“Why are you suddenly so concerned about me?” Ji Chenli asked, then mocked: “Afraid I’ll go back and fight you for Ming Lang? Don’t worry, someone like Ming Lang… only you would treat her like a treasure. Even if you gave her to me, I wouldn’t want her.”

“Don’t be like that,” Han Xinyuan chirped, raising an eyebrow happily. “You’re making it sound like you’re letting me have her. Where’s the sense of achievement in winning if you’re like that?”

Han Xinyuan thought to herself: Why didn’t I notice before? The way Ji Chenli pretends to be calm when she’s actually furious is just too funny. It makes me want to tease her.

“Are you done? Get lost, I’m sleeping,” Ji Chenli said with disgust.

Seeing that she had pushed too far, Han Xinyuan quickly sobered up. “I just came to thank you.” Fearing a simple “thank you” lacked sincerity, she added: “Sincerely. If not for you, I would have died in the earthquake.”

“No need. Last time you blocked for me, so we’re even,” Ji Chenli said, pulling the quilt over her head.

Her voice was muffled by the blanket. Han Xinyuan didn’t hear her clearly. “What did you say?”

“I said get lost, don’t disturb my sleep.” Seeing the current Han Xinyuan reminded Ji Chenli of her flaunting her power in her hospital room in the previous life. Her mood soured, and she sneered: “I wish you and President Ming two years and three kids, with descendants in droves.”

Han Xinyuan almost choked. “Ji Chenli, where do you learn these things?”

“I’ll have to say it sooner or later, might as well say it now and get it over with. It saves me from forgetting to say it if I accidentally get stomach cancer later,” Ji Chenli said self-deprecatingly. “I couldn’t even dodge an earthquake—something with such a low probability—let alone anything else…” As she spoke, her expression froze. That sense of danger that struck her heart that day returned. Her face changed drastically, and she hurriedly pleaded with Han Xinyuan: “Miss Han, please help me call Ming Lang over. I have an emergency.”

“Now you know to beg me? I won’t…” Han Xinyuan wanted to keep bickering, but seeing that Ji Chenli didn’t look like she was joking, she became serious. “Is it serious?”

“Yes!” Ji Chenli nodded frantically. “Please, Miss Han, it’s a matter of life and death!”

“Wait a moment, I’ll go right now.” Han Xinyuan knew her limits. Hearing it was a matter of life and death, she didn’t care about the consequences of Ming Lang catching her sneaking back. She ran toward the door. To her surprise, as soon as she opened it, she saw Ming Lang sitting on the floor against the wall outside, looking entirely unrefined. She had her eyes closed, seemingly catching up on sleep. The hallway was crowded with people, yet Ming Lang sat curled in a corner, completely undisturbed by the noise.

But the moment Han Xinyuan opened the door, Ming Lang woke up. She snapped her eyes open and looked toward Han Xinyuan. The worry in her eyes flashed and vanished the moment she saw who it was. She supported herself against the wall to stand up, pinched the bridge of her nose, and took a deep breath. “You shouldn’t be here.”

Han Xinyuan looked at the dark circles under Ming Lang’s eyes and saw how she had seemingly become accustomed to sleeping like this. Her heart felt tight, and her nose stung. “Why are you sleeping here? Isn’t it loud?”

“I’ll have Luyang send you back,” Ming Lang said.

“We can talk about that later. Ji Chenli is looking for you. She seems to have an emergency.”

Upon hearing this, Ming Lang didn’t care about Han Xinyuan anymore and brushed past her into the ward. As Ming Lang walked by, Han Xinyuan felt the air carried a layer of dust. She didn’t know how long Ming Lang had been staying in this chaotic place in such a disheveled state.

Han Xinyuan had chased Ming Lang for over a decade. She felt an instinctive heartache for her, but thinking about how her years of devotion couldn’t compare to a single indifferent glance from Ji Chenli, she felt a surge of vengeful satisfaction. These two emotions mixed together, and even the conviction Han Xinyuan had held for ten years began to waver.

Ming Lang had no time to analyze Han Xinyuan’s shifting emotions. She only thought about what urgent matter Ji Chenli had. Entering the room, she saw Ji Chenli leaning against the headboard, clutching her waist, struggling to dress herself.

“What are you doing?” Ming Lang scolded. “The doctor said you can’t get out of bed yet!”

“I want to go back to C City.” Ji Chenli finally managed to get her arm into a sleeve. “Ming Lang, I know you must have a way. Consider me shameless for using you, but please, can you get me back? Plane, train, bus—as long as I can go back, anything will do.”

But Ji Chenli’s primary doctor had said she shouldn’t exert herself and needed quiet rest. So, Ming Lang’s eyes flickered as she said, “The roads are blocked right now. You can’t go back.”

“Who are you lying to?” Ji Chenli said anxiously. “How did Han Xinyuan get back? And how did she get back here? Ming Lang, I beg you, let me go back…”

The more Ji Chenli thought, the more terrified she became. She broke into a cold sweat. “It’s going to be too late… Sister Tao Yuan… if it’s any later, it’ll be too late…”

Marrying Ming Lang, the movie, the earthquake, and Han Xinyuan’s change… everything was moving along the exact same trajectory as the previous life, yet everything had become unpredictable. Ming Lang’s attitude after marriage had changed, the movie script had changed, and the timing of the earthquake had changed… So what would happen next? Would she win Best Actress first, or… would Tao Yuan… die first?

Ji Chenli had naively thought that as long as she avoided the specific time points of her previous life, everything would be fine. She would have a happy second half of her life with Tao Yuan. She would watch Tao Yuan be happy. But now, she felt her heart twisting in pain, so sharp she could hardly breathe.

If everything was already destined, if Ji Chenli couldn’t change anything, did that mean Tao Yuan was destined to have no future?

No… no!

Ji Chenli didn’t care about her pride or her anger toward Ming Lang anymore. She reached out to her almost imploringly. “Ming Lang, as long as you let me go back to C City, I’ll listen to you from now on. I beg you…”

“Tao Yuan… her fate shouldn’t be like this.” Ji Chenli pleaded with Ming Lang. “Ming Lang, I’ll listen to everything you say in the future. Just let me go back. Tao Yuan is my only family left… she’s the only one I have left!”

Han Xinyuan stood at the door watching them from a distance, finding Ji Chenli’s words very strange. Han Xinyuan had investigated Ji Chenli’s background before. She had been an orphan since childhood and relied on Tao Yuan for everything. She knew they were very close, and it was normal for Ji Chenli to worry about Tao Yuan. But the way she spoke made it seem as if she already knew Tao Yuan’s life was in danger. It was beyond strange.

Han Xinyuan wanted to keep eavesdropping, but Ming Lang suddenly shot a glance back at her. Caught off guard, Han Xinyuan was pierced by Ming Lang’s sharp gaze. She shivered and quickly scurried far away from the ward. Ming Lang walked to the door and snapped her fingers toward the hallway. Two lean, cold-looking men emerged from nowhere. They wore old clothes no different from the refugees and patients in the corridor, their faces covered in dust; they had evidently been hiding in the crowd all along.

Han Xinyuan sighed inwardly; since “that incident,” no one in the Ming family was anything but cautious. She looked around and spotted two more sharp-eyed men staring at her from a corner. But as soon as she met their eyes, they vanished around the corner. Han Xinyuan had, after all, been taught by the same master as Ming Lang; she didn’t need to step forward to know these two were sent by Ming Lang to monitor her.

Ming Lang ordered the two men to guard the door and allow no one to approach. She closed the door and returned to Ji Chenli’s side. She looked down at her for a while. Ji Chenli, needing her to send her back to C City, didn’t dare challenge her. She let Ming Lang stare for ten minutes before hearing her speak: “Chenli, in your heart, is everything I do meant to harm you?”