Chapter 11
"Let him go." The hoarse, dry voice sounded completely out of character for someone his age. Jiang Minghua frowned as she stared at the villain in front of her, but her eyes involuntarily drifted to his pinkish-gray hair.
"He's the villain, don't mess with him just because he has pink hair!" the system nagged in her ear.
Upon hearing the system's words, Jiang Minghua was immediately stunned. How did the system know that she liked pink? Her love for pink had always been a secret deep within her heart, known only to Jiang Mingjia.
"How did you know I like pink?" Jiang Minghua asked it. Actually, she also wanted to ask why it had the same verbal tic as Jiang Mingjia. Could it be Jiang Mingjia?
But Jiang Minghua immediately rejected her idea. After Jiang Mingjia died, she went to the temple to pray, hoping that Jiang Mingjia could be reborn into a better life. Besides, in her knowledge, she had never heard of anyone being reincarnated as a system.
Jiang Minghua's question silenced the system once again. Right, how did it know Jiang Minghua had a morbid obsession with pink? The host manual didn't mention this. The system couldn't understand it. And strangely, its memory was being periodically cleaned up. While every system has a timed memory cleanup, this was happening far too frequently lately, causing its memory to become fragmented. Were the higher-ups idiots? How was it supposed to guide the host like this?
It had barely finished complaining when it was summoned back by higher-ups.
System: ...It remembers turning off the monitoring, so why was it recalled right after it finished scolding?
Jiang Minghua waited for a long time, but instead of an explanation, she received 00X.
00X: [Sorry, my colleague had some issues again and had to be recalled for repairs. As you know, there have been a lot of transmigrated hosts lately, so we could only arrange this defective product for you. Although it may have various malfunctions, we will actively try to resolve them for you. As for your questions, each of our systems has a detailed host manual, which contains very detailed records about you.]
It's not a defective product; in my eyes, you're all the same.
Upon hearing it say that her system was defective, Jiang Minghua immediately and coldly denied it.
00X's personal computer flashed once, then politely said goodbye.
After the system left, Jiang Minghua turned her attention back to Xie Yan. The name Xie Yan sounded like a villain. What normal parent would name their child with the character "Yan"? However, the pink color of his hair was quite unique. If she wanted to ask him for some of his hair, would he agree?
Xie Yan's right hand was always in the pocket of his large coat. When he realized that Jiang Minghua had not let go of his younger brother, he slowly pulled his hand out of the pocket. His pale, slender fingers held a utility knife, which reflected a cold gold in the setting sun.
"Let go of my brother." He held the knife directly at Jiang Minghua.
Jiang Minghua was completely numb. She had just been held at gunpoint, and now she was being held at knifepoint. There was no point in her calling the parents of these children.
"No, classmate, if you don't put the knife away, I didn't mean to hurt your brother."
At this moment, Jiang Minghua believed that Xie Yan was indeed the villain. To prevent him from doing anything rash, Jiang Minghua slowly released the little mute's hand and gently raised it.
"You see I won't hurt your brother, so put the knife away."
However, the little mute boy was frightened by his brother's appearance, and when Jiang Minghua let go of him, he hugged him again.
Jiang Minghua: ......
Upon seeing this, Xie Yan's pupils constricted sharply, and he almost roared in a hoarse voice, "Let go of my brother, or I'll... I'll..."
Jiang Minghua stood still, afraid of provoking him, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed, thinking that if he suddenly pounced on her at this moment, she could kick him away.
However, the expected scene did not occur. Instead, Xie Yan, holding the utility knife, pressed it down swiftly and ruthlessly onto his pale left wrist. Under the setting sun, countless scars on his wrist were clearly visible, but Xie Yan ignored them and continued to press the knife down slightly. A glaring line of blood instantly seeped out, and the tiny blood droplets looked extremely alarming on the cold white skin. The blade was pressed down deeper and deeper, and more blood droplets rushed out and fell down his unusually slender arm.
Jiang Minghua was so shocked by his actions that she couldn't speak. It was the first time she had ever seen someone threaten another person by hurting themselves. This villain was a bit mentally unstable.
Seeing her brother injured, the little mute girl was no longer afraid and ran silently to Xie Yan's side.
Seeing his younger brother approach, Xie Yan's tense body relaxed a little. He wanted to pat his brother's head as usual, but after looking at his own hands, he could only smile at his brother. His pale face regained color because of his smile.
But the tender moment didn't last long. Xie Yan looked up again, his stagnant eyes clearly reflecting Jiang Minghua's face. His right hand didn't stop moving; instead, it prepared to slide deeper.
Jiang Minghua moved, stepping forward and precisely grabbing Xie Yan's right wrist. However, when she grabbed him, she noticed how incredibly thin Xie Yan was. Xie Yan, like a young animal being forcibly restrained, let out a suppressed, almost whimpering growl, his other hand instinctively trying to struggle and resist.
"Don't move!" Jiang Minghua whispered to stop him, her sharp gaze fixed on Xie Yan: "No one wants to hurt your brother." She then gestured to the mute boy beside him, who nodded repeatedly.
Seeing that her younger brother was indeed unharmed, Xie Yan slowly loosened his grip on the utility knife. The knife fell to the ground with a soft thud. Without hesitation, Jiang Minghua immediately tore off her tie and quickly wrapped it tightly around his bleeding wound. However, she soon realized this wasn't very effective, so she decisively grabbed his uninjured arm and pulled him towards her car.
Xie Yan's body was stiff as a piece of wood because Jiang Minghua's actions were beyond his comprehension. So he did not resist, but was passively pulled along. The little mute girl clung tightly to the hem of her brother's clothes and stumbled along.
The hospital emergency room was filled with the smell of disinfectant. The doctor skillfully cleaned Xie Yan's wounds, applied medicine, and bandaged them. Meanwhile, Jiang Minghua crossed her arms and coldly looked at the old scars of varying depths and colors on the boy's wrists. Xie Yan was incredibly obedient at this moment, like a doll, letting the doctor do as he pleased, as if the person who had just been frantic was not him.
After being bandaged up and leaving the hospital, a cool evening breeze blew by. Jiang Minghua glanced at the two silent figures beside her, one tall and one short. Xie Yan's bandaged left hand hung stiffly at his side, his pale face appearing even more gloomy in the twilight, his pink hair as lifeless as its owner's, and the little mute boy clung tightly to him.
Jiang Minghua didn't want to ask how he got the scars on his arm, nor did she want to be like the heroines in those redemption novels who would become overly compassionate and meddle in the affairs of villains like him. To her, bringing Xie Yan to get bandaged up was already more than enough. However, when her gaze fell on Xie Yan's hair again, the thought of wanting his hair resurfaced.
"Are you hungry? It's so late. Let me treat you to dinner."
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