Someone held her tightly in their arms, her cries carrying far and wide, sobbing uncontrollably.
The little paper smelled its brother's scent, a very faint pear blossom fragrance.
It's my brother who's back.
Blood and foam gushed from her slit throat. She was in too much pain to speak, and she opened her mouth in vain. No matter how hard she tried, all she could make was hiss.
Despite being unable to see anything and having already lost her sight, she still tried her best to smile.
I wanted to comfort him, to tell him not to worry or be afraid.
It's okay, brother. It's good that none of you are home.
It's okay, it doesn't hurt anymore.
The young boy frantically held her, his broken tears falling onto her blood-stained, blurred face, warming her skin.
Zhan Yinshu reached for the purse at her waist with trembling hands.
"...Brother bought you candy, sweetie."
His voice was so choked up that it was almost incoherent, and Xiaozhi couldn't hear him at all. But as the candy was fed into her mouth, the faint sweetness barely dispelled the unpleasant taste of blood and bitterness in her mouth.
This feeling made her feel at ease.
She thought she could finally close her eyes in peace.
Then, after a moment, or perhaps many years, she suddenly heard that familiar yet unfamiliar voice again.
"All the points I've accumulated are here. Damn it, I worked as a black slave for a year, doing illegal labor and serving as a system for six people at the same time, just to barely earn this much. I didn't expect to come back too late..."
I've given you all of this; it should be enough to exchange for a chance to be reborn.
However, my abilities and authority are limited. At the earliest, I can only send you to half an hour before her death. Think it over yourself.
Without points, I guess I'll just have to pack up and leave. Sigh.
But that's fine too. If what you want to do really succeeds, then from now on she will have a blank identity in this world.
There are no more character settings, no more following the plot, and no more being under any control.
After all, theoretically, the "villainous female supporting character" has indeed been written out of the story.
In a daze, Xiaozhi heard that voice laugh again, as if something gently brushed against her cheek.
"That's not right either, our little paper isn't a villainous female supporting character."
Who among us would play the villainous supporting character? We'd never do that! You'll always be the best little paper in the world.
Consider freedom my gift to you.
...
"Ah Zhi?!"
In her half-awake state, someone held her tightly, their voice filled with anxiety and worry, and their hands gently stroked her back.
Zhan Xinjia opened her swollen and painful eyes. The sky outside the window was just beginning to brighten, and candles were lit in the room. At this moment, she was sobbing incessantly in Xiao Shen's arms, her face and collar soaked with tears.
She was somewhat bewildered.
She sat up straight, her red eyes filled with confusion as she looked at the young man in front of her.
"Why am I...crying? What happened, Master Shen?"
He was solemn and his thin lips were tightly pursed.
In the middle of the night, Jide suddenly scratched at his door. This overweight orange cat always slept with Azhi, and after a moment's thought, he figured that something must have happened to Azhi.
He was quite frightened when he first arrived.
The little girl buried herself under the covers and cried incessantly. Her cries were so heart-wrenching that just listening to them caused a dull ache in one's heart, conveying a suffocating sense of despair. She seemed to be under a nightmare.
It took him quite a while to finally manage to pull the unconscious Azhi out of the bed.
The pillow was already mostly wet, and the stray hairs on her forehead were soaked with tears and stuck to the sides of her face, but her eyes were open.
Staring blankly at the ceiling in vain.
The cries were not like those of someone being frightened by a nightmare, but rather closer to the fragmented, indistinct moans that instinctively escape from the throat when someone is injured or repeatedly tortured.
He had only ever heard such desperate cries in the dungeons of the Dali Temple.
His heart clenched suddenly, and all he could do was hold her and gently coax and soothe her, trying his best to calm her down as quickly as possible.
What exactly did he dream about? What bad thing happened? If he could, he would rather be the one to bear it all himself, even if the pain would be a thousand times greater.
The feeling of watching her cry helplessly was tantamount to being slowly tortured for Shen Suqing.
I was in unbearable pain and utterly despondent.
"Master Xiao Shen..."
Sobbing intermittently, Zhan Xinjia wiped her face and tried her best to stop the tears. She leaned down and hugged his waist tightly, burying her face in his chest, trying to seek a sense of security from him.
Shen Suqing embraced her, brushing away the stray hairs clinging to her cheeks with his knuckles, his voice as gentle as could be.
"Okay, it's alright, I'm here."
"it hurts…"
As soon as she let out a sob, Shen Suqing immediately pulled her away and examined her carefully.
His brows were furrowed, and his eyes were full of worry.
Where does it hurt?
Zhan Xinjia buried herself in his arms again, her muffled voice coming from his chest, tinged with sobs.
"It hurts all over."
Upon hearing this answer, Shen Suqing's heart clenched even more, his vision blurred, and he could barely breathe.
After a moment, he forced himself to calm down, gently stroking her hair and slowly combing it downwards to soothe her.
"Sweetie, I'll go get the doctor after you wash up. Now I'll get some hot water to wash your face, okay?"
Although Zhan Xinjia felt very insecure and dependent on others, the sticky and wet feeling on her face and neck was indeed very uncomfortable. She bit her lower lip, hesitated for a moment, and nodded with teary eyes.
The young man breathed a sigh of relief, then leaned down and gently kissed her eyelashes, a light, fleeting touch.
He forced a smile at the corners of his lips.
"I'll play with Jide for a while, I'll be right back."
As soon as he finished speaking, the orange cat, who had been anxiously watching her from beside her pillow, immediately jumped into her arms, nuzzling her neck with its fluffy face and meowing affectionately.
Holding the warm, virtuous gift, Zhan Xinjia's heart was temporarily at peace.
She couldn't even remember what she dreamed about, only that it hurt terribly, that something very important had left, and that she was stumbling and crying out in pain, but she couldn't catch up no matter what she did.
It wasn't until Master Shen washed her face and she had breakfast that Zhan Xinjia's spirits improved a bit, although she was still a little sickly.
She felt she was back to normal and didn't need to see a doctor anymore, but Lord Shen still summoned an imperial physician for her. The physician took her pulse, stroked his beard, and looked extremely solemn and complicated.
He came to an unbelievable conclusion.
"...This young lady seems to have suffered multiple serious and fatal injuries. Theoretically, she should have...cough cough, but now there is no sign of anything abnormal about her. She is even healthier than a normal person."
That's really strange.
Although the imperial physician was unable to provide a useful diagnosis, Shen Suqing still treated him with courtesy and politely saw him all the way to the door.
When he returned, he was frowning, his pale face showing worry and exhaustion, and even his lips were a pale gray.
"Let's have another doctor take a closer look. I'm still not at ease... Oh, right."
Suddenly remembering something, Shen Suqing looked up.
"Didn't that old doctor I met in Yaozhou City also come to the capital? Does Azhi know where he is now?"
When asked about this, Zhan Xinjia was startled, and immediately remembered something she had forgotten about for almost two months.
She gave an awkward, dry laugh, clearly feeling guilty.
"I think I do know where he should be right now..."
Sorry, old man! Your tonic will kill you in jail!!
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