Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Kicking Away the Ex-Husband; The Charming Fruit Fails

Chi Yun didn’t know why he’d frantically shaken everyone off and run like a madman toward Jiang Qingli.

His head was splitting, as if a steel rod were churning inside his skull, shredding his nerves and stealing his breath. The pain was like a divine curse.

Instinct told him to find his female master.

Only his female master could save him...

But why was the first person he thought of not Bai Yiyi, with whom he was supposedly in love, but Jiang Qingli?

It was like an instinct coded into his very genes.

As he crawled toward that figure, Chi Yun heard the girl speaking in a clear, sweet voice.

He suddenly remembered that Jiang Qingli used to be like this with him.

The proud Miss Jiang had always trailed behind him like a little shadow, calling his name in a soft voice, accepting all of his revulsion and resistance without complaint.

He’d been utterly disgusted by it before, but now he found himself uncontrollably drawn to it.

An intense craving surged within Chi Yun.

’I want her to touch me, to soothe me...’

Along with this intense need, a sharp, stinging pain coiled around his heart. His stomach spasmed violently, as if something was about to burst out.

Chi Yun let out a weak, breathy sound, calling her name over and over.

"Jiang Qingli..."

In front of the elevators, Jiang Qingli was busy fending off Qin Muye’s absurd demands for a sweet dessert soup when she suddenly felt something grab her ankle.

Before she could even react, Qin Muye pulled her behind him.

"Don’t step on the trash," Qin Muye said, his voice turning cold.

’Trash?’

Jiang Qingli glanced down and saw someone in a hospital gown lying at her feet.

His untrimmed red hair covered most of his face, but she recognized him from the lower half.

"Chi Yun?"

Through the gaps in his disheveled hair, Chi Yun saw Jiang Qingli take a step toward him.

An immense joy exploded within him!

’Jiang Qingli responded to me! She’s not disgusted with me! She won’t reject me!’

’It might look like she’s moved on with someone new, but deep down, she can’t forget me!’

"Quickly, soothe me... I need you..." Chi Yun babbled, his eyes gleaming like a feral beast’s.

But the smile forming on his lips froze halfway—

Jiang Qingli raised her foot, and her clean, beautiful black leather shoe came down on his fingers.

The girl looked down at the beast, his face covered in pustules, as if she were staring at a disgusting insect.

Her crystal-clear voice was laced with an icy chill. "And why should I?"

Chi Yun froze.

Jiang Qingli ground his fingers under her heel and spoke slowly. "If I recall correctly, you were the one who couldn’t wait to break our engagement. You were the one who conspired with others to get me expelled from the academy. And you were the one who tried to have my face ruined."

"And now you’re telling me you want my comfort?"

"Can Bai Yiyi not satisfy you, or is it..."

Jiang Qingli’s lips curled into a smirk. Her voice was light and airy as she uttered the venomous words, "That you’re just naturally pathetic."

As if struck by lightning, Chi Yun froze completely, almost wondering if he’d gone deaf.

’What did Jiang Qingli just say?’

’Has she lost her mind, or was that a slip of the tongue?’

Chi Yun looked up in disbelief, trying to get a better look, but just as he tilted his head, the hard, studded sole of a shoe slammed into his face, kicking him away!

BAM—!

The kick was so forceful that Chi Yun slammed hard against the wall before crumpling to the ground, face-first.

The pustules on his face burst, erupting in a wave of sharp, stinging pain.

He forced his head up just in time to see that worthless trash he’d always looked down on pull the girl into his arms and whisper something to her.

Jiang Qingli shot him a glare and huffed.

The notoriously arrogant Prince was now slightly hunched over, his brow furrowed in a placating manner as he quietly explained, "...That doesn’t count as excessive force. If he’d lifted his head any higher, he would have seen up your skirt! The guy’s not just pathetic, he’s shameless!"

Jiang Qingli turned her face away, giving Qin Muye her back without a word.

’Is she upset on my behalf...?’

In his daze, a warmth spread through Chi Yun’s chest.

’She’s just angry on the surface. She still loves me, right...?’

Qin Muye grew even more anxious and leaned in to see her expression. "Don’t be angry... Or do you want to step on me instead?"

"I’m not going to reward you..."

Jiang Qingli turned back, her fair face showing no sign of displeasure. In fact, her crystalline eyes held a hint of amusement.

She reached out and gently tugged on Qin Muye’s ear, feigning a serious tone. "I wasn’t finished talking. How am I supposed to save face when you interrupt? Next time, you wait for my signal before you make a move. Got it?"

"Got it..." Qin Muye grumbled, his eyes irresistibly drawn back to Jiang Qingli’s face. He asked awkwardly, "You’re really not angry?"

He ground his teeth, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "After all, you used to make him dessert soup."

Jiang Qingli blinked. "So, should I go make him a bowl now?"

"No!!!"

As if someone had stepped on his tail, Qin Muye grabbed her wrist with one hand and frantically mashed the elevator button with the other. The second the doors opened, he hustled her inside.

Once inside, he deliberately stood in front of Jiang Qingli, completely shielding her from sight with his large frame.

Chi Yun’s eyes burned as he stared fixedly at the elevator, unable to make out what they were saying anymore.

It finally dawned on him.

Jiang Qingli’s attitude toward Qin Muye just now hadn’t been anger on his behalf at all!

She was just teasing Qin Muye!

What looked like a spat was actually just a little game between lovers... and he had become part of their play!

It also meant that Jiang Qingli truly didn’t care about him anymore. She didn’t even see him as a person worth noticing.

A couple of days ago, when she was feeding the stray cats at the academy, she’d seen one get hurt and had even bandaged its wounds.

Yet here he was, so gravely injured, and she hadn’t even spared him a backward glance.

Chi Yun began to cough violently, retching up a pool of blood.

Qin Muye’s kick had been aimed to kill. Chi Yun was sure at least three of his ribs were broken, and his entire body ached with a cold, draining weakness.

The sweet image of the couple flashed through his mind. Ignoring the pain, Chi Yun scrambled to his feet to give chase.

’I have to catch Jiang Qingli, drag her back! I’ll tell her Qin Muye is nothing but an animal, and that I’m the one she should care about!’

In a daze, Chi Yun heard frantic footsteps and a faint voice crying out his name.

Forcing his eyes open, Chi Yun saw Bai Yiyi hiding a short distance away, talking on the phone. "What do I do, Ling Qing? Chi Yun, he’s... he’s badly hurt, and his face is... *sob sob*... Chenglan is still in the reprimand room, and Helian Ying and Jin Li aren’t around... You’re the only one I have left. Please, come help me..."

She was sobbing, breathless and tear-streaked—a truly pitiful sight.

Chi Yun thought dazedly, ’In the past, whenever Bai Yiyi made that face, the five of them would have gone through hell and high water for her.’

’When Bai Yiyi’s face was covered in acne, he was the one who stayed by her side through her treatments, applying her medicine.’

’And he had always firmly believed that Bai Yiyi loved him.’

’So why was it that, even as she cried into the phone about how much her heart ached for him, she kept her distance, her eyes filled with unconcealable disgust?’

’Does she really love me?’

’Does she genuinely want to be my female master...?’

At the thought of the words "female master," the image of Jiang Qingli’s disdainful glance flashed through his mind. Chi Yun’s heart throbbed with an even more violent pain, his stomach burned, and he began to dry heave intensely.

A nurse hurried over to the corner and said to Bai Yiyi, "Miss Bai... could I trouble you to provide Young Master Chi with some mental soothing?"

Bai Yiyi looked at her pathetic Beast Husband, exchanged a few more tearful words with Ling Qing, then hung up. She shot a disgusted glance at Chi Yun’s form.

’Vomit, vomit, vomit. That’s all he knows how to do. It’s not like he’s pregnant.’

Just as she was concocting an excuse to leave, a thumb-sized, crystalline red fragment suddenly rolled to a stop at her feet.

Before she could get a good look at it, a series of alarms suddenly blared in her mind.

[Warning! Favorability with strategy target ’Chi Yun’ has decreased by 10!]

[Warning! Favorability with strategy target ’Chi Yun’ has decreased by 15!]

[Warning...]

[Warn...]

The alarms blared one after another as the favorability score plummeted, too loud for her to even process.

Inside Bai Yiyi’s head, the System shrieked in terror—

[The Charming Fruit!]

[The Charming Fruit’s effect has worn off!!!]