Chapter 13: Come to My Home

Following the system’s guidance, she had rushed over the moment she could, and Bai Zhinuo had still ended up beaten like this.

If she had let the original plot run its course and let those three bully and beat the little thing as they pleased…

Then it would be a genuine miracle if she survived three chapters.

At that thought, Shen Qingci couldn’t help feeling some regret.

She had been too hasty.

She had let those three animals die too easily.

All traces of their bodies had already been wiped clean. Even if she suddenly felt like composing poetry, there was no subject left for it.

Bai Zhinuo didn’t see any of that. She kept her head down, her small hand trembling inside Shen Qingci’s palm.

But she could feel the hand holding her arm tighten for just a moment. A fingertip pressed lightly against the bruise on her forearm, the force restrained again and again.

Even that casual pressure hurt quite a bit.

“Hiss…”

In the end, Bai Zhinuo couldn’t hold it in. She let out a soft breath.

Shen Qingci snapped back to attention at the sound. She loosened her grip at once and looked down at her.

“Here too?”

Bai Zhinuo didn’t dare look at her. She gave a muffled “Mm.”

That bruise had come from being shoved against the wall by Zhao Min earlier. It hadn’t hurt at the time. Now, with Shen Qingci’s fingertip on it, the dull ache was rising to the surface.

Shen Qingci looked at her for a while. Then she let go and took half a step back.

This kid was way too fragile. Who knew how many other injuries she was hiding.

Let her catch her breath first. If she ended up hurt worse, it wouldn’t be fun anymore.

“Did you have dinner?”

Bai Zhinuo nodded.

“Did you eat enough?”

She nodded again, then thought for a moment and added in a small voice.

“I had two servings of rice, and, and meat! Meat with fat on it…”

When she said “meat,” her eyes lit up, as if recalling some delicacy rarely seen in the mortal world.

Shen Qingci watched her expression. The corner of her mouth curved up without her permission.

But underneath was a faint trace of hidden pity.

What kind of hard life had this kid lived before I arrived?

She was already miserable enough, and she couldn’t even survive three chapters. She was just a trigger to bring the male and female leads together.

Not even a good match at that.

Tragic, tragic, tragic…

That faint smile looked more real to Bai Zhinuo than the expression Shen Qingci had worn while dealing with Zhao Min and the other two.

Without realizing it, she broke into a silly smile of her own.

“That’s good, your home…”

As she spoke, Shen Qingci’s gaze drifted off Bai Zhinuo’s face and casually swept across the room.

Then her gaze stopped.

She hadn’t looked before. Now that she did, the shock hit her.

When she’d burst in earlier, all her attention had been on Bai Zhinuo. She hadn’t looked closely at the surroundings.

Now she truly saw what Bai Zhinuo’s so-called “home” really was.

The west wall was bare concrete, never plastered, with dark damp stains and moss creeping up from the base.

A single naked bulb hung from the ceiling, its wattage so pitifully low that it gave off less light than the moonlight outside the window.

There was nothing on the floor except the shattered remains of the wooden door she had smashed earlier.

In the corner were a few stacks of old textbooks, spines worn through, covers curled at the edges.

But it was clear their young owner had done her best to keep them alive, treasuring them dearly.

A straw mat lay on the floor against the wall, yellowed with age, its edges frayed into prickly strands.

A thin old quilt sat folded on top of it, its cover washed until the original color was impossible to tell.

It was clean, but the weight of the years on it couldn’t be disguised.

There was nothing else in the room.

No table, no chair, no wardrobe.

There wasn’t even a proper pillow. The patched old quilt was folded into a square at one end of the mat, doing the job of one.

A clothesline ran across the corner, holding two faded school uniforms and a neatly folded set of spare clothes.

All her clothes put together wouldn’t fill an ordinary school bag.

Shen Qingci’s brows knitted together.

She slowly paced around the cement box of a room, less than ten square meters, her soles crunching softly over the wood splinters.

Bai Zhinuo stayed rooted in place, watching her walk the cramped space. Only then did she realize how shabby her home was.

Perhaps it was the first time someone like Shen Qingci, the young lady of the Shen family, had ever seen such a place. Bai Zhinuo burned from her ears down and buried her face even lower.

She never revealed her address or family situation at school, all to preserve the pitiful scraps of dignity she had.

But now, the last bit of cover she had left was already pinched between Shen Qingci’s fingers.

How much of it remained depended on a single thought.

Shen Qingci stopped in front of the straw mat and looked down at the thin old quilt, almost translucent.

“You live here?”

Her voice was calm. But Bai Zhinuo could hear something beneath that calm.

This time, she couldn’t quite tell what it was.

She kept her head down, her voice so weak it seemed squeezed from the back of her throat.

“Mm.”

Shen Qingci turned to look at her.

Bai Zhinuo stood in the moonlight. Her uniform sleeves were too short, exposing her thin wrist bones.

The left side of her face was swollen. Her lip was split. Her messy hair was stuck to her forehead. She was so thin that a gust of wind could have knocked her apart.

But she just stood there, hands twisting in front of her, clutching the torn hem of the uniform that had ripped during the scuffle. Her head was bowed, her back hunched, as if she could make herself even smaller.

Shen Qingci watched her for a few silent seconds.

Then she turned and walked over to Bai Zhinuo.

“Pack your things.”

Bai Zhinuo looked up, stunned.

“You’re staying at my place tonight.”

Bai Zhinuo opened her mouth, then instinctively shook her head.

The shake was light, barely a movement, a pure reflex.

“I, I don’t need to… I’m used to sleeping here…”

Her voice got smaller with every word, the last few nearly inaudible.

Was she really used to it?

Could anyone really get used to this?

But what other choice did she have besides getting used to it?

Shen Qingci said nothing. She simply watched her.

Bai Zhinuo’s back prickled under that gaze. She swallowed and added in a small voice.

“And I… I’m dirty. I’d make your place dirty…”

“Dirty?”

Shen Qingci repeated the word. There was no disgust in her voice, only real curiosity.

“Before you ate at the cafeteria earlier, how long had it been since your last proper meal?”

Bai Zhinuo’s lips moved, but no sound came out.

“A week?”

Shen Qingci took a step forward.

“Or longer?”

Bai Zhinuo turned her face away, her ears bright red.

Shen Qingci took another step, closing the distance to less than an arm’s length.

She reached out and took Bai Zhinuo’s chin, her touch very light, simply turning her face back.

“I remember you promised this young lady that you’d be my toy.”

“N-no, wasn’t it toy sidekick?”

Bai Zhinuo’s lashes trembled.

Shen Qingci curled her lip, looking unconcerned.

“Same thing. Whatever.”

“Anyway, if this young lady’s sidekick lived in a place like this and word got out, I’d lose face.”

Her tone turned lazy.

“Besides…”

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