Leaving, a Lesson

Ji Chuxing walked straight out the door with a black backpack on her back. The girl's face was still pale, but the timidity of the past was gone, and her peach-blossom eyes were clear and cool.

She had barely stepped outside when she saw a boy skulking by the door.

Ten-year-old Wen Liyang was Zhou Ru and Wen Huaming's youngest son. Zhou Ru had spoiled him since childhood, making him overbearing and arrogant.

When he saw Ji Chuxing, the girl's expressionless face startled him for a moment. Then he realized she was the pitiful little wretch he had always bullied, and his fear vanished at once. He pulled a face at her and mocked her as usual. "Bleh, bleh, bleh! You little wretch, you're not allowed to steal my mom! Don't even think about taking the Wen Family's property!"

Ji Chuxing glanced at him. For a ten-year-old boy to say something like that, plenty of servants had clearly been talking about the original owner that way in private, and Zhou Ru had been teaching her son the same thing.

The old Ji Chuxing might have swallowed her anger, but the current Ji Chuxing would not.

The words "swallow your anger" simply weren't in her dictionary.

Nor did she have a precedent of not hitting children.

She immediately snatched the toy gun from his hand and pressed it against Wen Liyang's forehead.

It was a child's toy gun, but it did contain steel pellets. A shot wouldn't kill anyone, but if someone wasn't careful, it could still leave a person disabled.

In the original owner's memories, after the college entrance exam in her previous life, Wen Liyang had shot her in the eye with his toy gun. Her vision had become blurry, leaving her with an eye disability. But in Zhou Ru's eyes, it had merely been a child playing around and having an accident.

The original owner hadn't received so much as an apology.

Wen Liyang was, after all, a ten-year-old child who had been spoiled since he was little. He knew it hurt to be shot with the pellets in his toy gun, or he wouldn't have used it to shoot Ji Chuxing before.

But Ji Chuxing had never dared tell anyone before, and he hadn't expected her to dare snatch his toy away.

"Let go! Give it back!" Wen Liyang threw a tantrum.

"Shut up!" Ji Chuxing said coldly, looking at him without expression. "Getting shot with this thing hurts quite a bit. You've never been shot, have you? Shall I try it on you?"

Wen Liyang was truly frightened now, but he put on a brave front. "Y-you wouldn't dare!"

Hearing the commotion outside, Zhou Ru hurried out and saw Ji Chuxing holding Wen Liyang's toy gun against his forehead.

Wen Liyang might not understand, but how could Zhou Ru not know the thing could injure him?

She simply couldn't believe Ji Chuxing would dare do such a thing.

Who had given her the nerve? Was she fearless because she was ignorant?

"Ji Chuxing! Stop that this instant!" Zhou Ru shouted.

As she spoke, she moved to snatch the gun from Ji Chuxing's hand. Ji Chuxing gave it a slight twirl. "Don't move!"

Her movement was smooth and deft. Zhou Ru didn't know that only someone accustomed to handling guns could move like that.

Zhou Ru froze, terrified that she would actually fire. Wen Liyang was trembling too, reduced to crying. "Mom, I want her gone! I want her gone!"

"She's a lunatic!"

"I want her dead!"

"You want me dead?" Ji Chuxing tilted her head and stared at Wen Liyang.

Zhou Ru's heart was almost breaking for him. Forcing down her anger, she said, "Xiaoxing, Xiaoyang is still a child. As his older sister, how can you hold it against him? Did he offend you by accident? Put that thing down quickly. If you accidentally hurt Xiaoyang—he's your little brother. Wouldn't your heart ache for him?"

"A child?"

Ji Chuxing found it laughable.

Thirteen years ago, when Zhou Ru had abandoned the original owner and left her to fend for herself, hadn't she thought about how she was a child?

After the original owner came to the Wen Family and was bullied by Wen Liyang, hadn't Zhou Ru thought about how she was her child too?

"Your son doesn't know any better. How about I, as his older sister, help you teach him a lesson?"

As she spoke, she moved to pull the toy gun's trigger.

"Bang!"

"No!"

"Wah!"

A woman's scream and a child's cries rang out in the villa at the same time.

Wen Liyang clutched his head and bawled in fright.

The steel pellet struck the top of Wen Liyang's foot. It hurt, but not enough to injure him.

"Tch!"

Ji Chuxing curled her lip and tossed the toy gun away.

"I only scared you a little. Are you that afraid?"

She raised a hand and patted Wen Liyang's chubby cheek. "If you're that afraid, remember to put this thing away. If you use it to shoot someone again, I'll cripple your hand."

Wen Liyang had yet to recover from the fright. He trembled as he cried.

It was too terrifying. He felt as though he had seen a demon.

Zhou Ru came to her senses and charged over. "Ji Chuxing! Haven't you made enough of a scene?"

She held her son tightly and glared at Ji Chuxing. "What more do you want? You just woke up, and you're already throwing the whole house into chaos!"

Ji Chuxing couldn't be bothered with her. Zhou Ru wasn't her mother, so she went straight downstairs.

Just then, Wen Huaming came home. Perhaps he had heard the commotion inside, and when he saw Ji Chuxing coming down the stairs, he frowned. "What happened? Why is it so noisy?"

He didn't know if it was his imagination, but Ji Chuxing seemed a little strange.

Whenever the girl saw him before, she had always been timid, lowering her head and not daring to speak.

Now she stood on the stairs like a proud peacock.

With just one casual glance from her, Wen Huaming had the illusion that he was facing a crushing pressure.

Wen Huaming steadied himself and assumed he was overthinking it. He also knew Ji Chuxing had been unwell for the past two days. He had heard that she had accidentally fallen into the pool and developed a high fever.

He actually had no strong objections to his wife's daughter by her ex-husband. The Wen Family had a vast fortune and could afford to support her.

As long as she didn't stir up any trouble that affected the Wen Family's reputation in South City, that was enough.

When Wen Liyang saw Wen Huaming come home, it was as if he had seen his savior. Standing by the railing on the second floor, he loudly complained, "Dad! She shot me with a gun!"

Wen Huayang frowned.

"Dad! Help me drive her out! I never want to see him again! I-I want her dead!"

Wen Huaming frowned and said angrily, "Who taught you to talk like that?"

Mrs. Wen appeared from who knew where and gave Ji Chuxing a cold, contemptuous glance. "Sir, you can't blame the young master. Miss Ji has really gone too far. She's so grown up already, yet how can she still bully the young master? He only asked after her health. It would have been one thing if she didn't appreciate it, but she even shot him with a gun."

Mrs. Wen was a servant in the household and had been with the Wen Family for a long time. She had always commanded a fair amount of respect.

But she had always looked down on Ji Chuxing, the girl from the countryside. Whenever Wen Liyang bullied her in the past, Mrs. Wen had covered for him and cleaned up after him who knew how many times.

In front of Wen Huaming, Zhou Ru resumed her image as a gentle, virtuous lady. "Xiaoxing, really, you need to work on that temper of yours. Hurry over and apologize to your little brother!"

"I want her to kneel down and apologize to me!" Wen Liyang shouted fiercely.

After hearing Mrs. Wen's account, Wen Huaming frowned at Ji Chuxing. "You've only just recovered from a serious illness. Give Xiaoyang a proper apology, and we'll let this matter go."

Ji Chuxing looked utterly unconcerned. "He says I bullied him, so I bullied him?"

"Are you still going to argue, Miss Ji? I heard it clearly! I saw it too!" Mrs. Wen said indignantly.

Ji Chuxing gave a soft snort. "Then I say he pushed me into the swimming pool and nearly drowned me. Why don't you believe that?"

"How could that be?" Zhou Ru's expression changed slightly, and she immediately said, "Xiaoyang is such a well-behaved child. How could he do such a thing? He's your little brother. How can you slander him like that? Besides, aren't you perfectly fine now?"

Ji Chuxing had known this would happen. Some people would never see or hear what others said; they believed only what they wanted to believe.

She had nothing to say. With her backpack on, she went downstairs.

Wen Liyang couldn't swallow his anger. He grabbed the toy gun from the floor and fired twice at Ji Chuxing's back.

"Smack-"

A muffled grunt sounded in the air, along with...

The sound of something breaking.