Chapter 530: 247 Essence (One More)_3
Just like Ming Jing had said, the situation was too deep for a sixteen-year-old girl to handle. If Ming Jing hadn’t reminded her to back out in time, Han Yue’s outcome would have been her fate as well.
Zhu Xiangxiang felt grateful for her narrow escape.
Ming Jing had no reaction to Liang Xiaohong’s suicide and continued reading quietly.
Zhu Xiangxiang wasn’t sure if Ming Jing had heard the news and didn’t dare to disturb her.
Time passed quietly in this way.
Ming Jing closed the book.
With a “snap”, Zhu Xiangxiang’s heart jumped unconsciously.
“Did you quit the idol show?”
Zhu Xiangxiang replied, “After Liang Xiaohong’s incident, the production team removed me from the show immediately. They didn’t want to be associated with Liang Xiaohong at all.”
She, a relative who was brought in through Liang Xiaohong’s connections, was naturally a prime target for the production team’s elimination.
Ming Jing nodded, “Go back and study well. Life’s wisdom can be found in books. Be modest and prudent, down-to-earth, and time will give you what you want.”
Zhu Xiangxiang looked at Ming Jing, “Don’t you hate me?” She asked the question that had been buried in her heart for a long time.
Ming Jing asked indifferently, “Do you hate me?”
Zhu Xiangxiang choked, hate?
The word “hate” was too heavy for their young lives to bear. There was no hatred that would cause them to be enemies, so why should they hate each other?
From the very beginning, they had opposing positions, which seemed to destine them to not be able to get along peacefully.
But that was only her one-sided thought. From the start, she had been wrong.
People are selfish creatures. Everything starts from their own interests. The reasons for her hatred towards Ming Jing stemmed from Ming Jing being a threat to her interests.
She used to like an animated show in which a classical line said that prejudice in people’s hearts is a huge mountain that cannot be moved no matter how hard you try.
Her prejudice against Ming Jing was no different. If she could let go of her prejudice, Ming Jing would be a great person.
And if it weren’t for their current position, she might not even have the qualification to stand beside Ming Jing.
Prejudice is just a beautified adjective; ultimately, it’s only jealousy.
For the past few days, she stood in front of the mirror and looked at her face in the mirror, feeling hideous and ugly.
Ming Jing’s excellence made her jealousy seem so pale and ridiculous.
She thought back to when Ming Jing hadn’t returned to the Zhus. Although she was a bit aloof, she was basically a normal person. However, ever since Ming Jing returned, Zhu Xiangxiang felt as if she was under a spell…
Living like this, she was tired too.
Zhu Xiangxiang had thought a lot in these past few days. When she thought that Ming Jing wasn’t the real daughter of the Zhus, she once cursed Ming Jing as a bastard. Now, with a change of perspective, the Zhu family wasn’t a big shot in Jiangzhou, so their upbringing and education paled in comparison with other affluent families, let alone the powerful and influential ones. Ming Jing’s true identity might be even more formidable than the real daughter of the Zhus.
With her looks and temperament, it wasn’t impossible.
Thinking this way, she felt much more relaxed and at ease.
“I apologize to you for my previous ignorance and shallowness,” Zhu Xiangxiang said sincerely.
“The person you should apologize to is not me, but your mother.”
Neither Zhu Xiangxiang nor Ming Jing spoke of which mother Ming Jing was referring to, but Zhu Xiangxiang knew that she had let down Lin Qing.
“I’m going back to Jiangzhou tomorrow morning. Congratulations on being accepted into the national team. I hope you can continue to pass the IMO. I believe you will make it,” Zhu Xiangxiang finished and left.
Ming Jing sat quietly on the sofa, overlooking the bustling city from the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Ye Zhen came out of the bedroom and draped a coat over Ming Jing’s shoulders.
“I knew you were kind-hearted, but I didn’t expect you to forgive her so easily,” Ye Zhen said.
Ye Zhen didn’t appreciate the things Zhu Xiangxiang had done. Now, Zhu Xiangxiang said she had repented. Who knew if she was just planning something evil behind the scenes? As the old saying goes, a dog can’t change its eating habits.”
Ming Jing shook her head, “When a person does something wrong, the one they owe isn’t someone else, but themselves. What she needs isn’t my forgiveness.”
It’s her own forgiveness.
“Anyway, you let her off so easily. She got away too easily,” Ye Zhen said, rolling up her sleeves with indignation.
“She shouldn’t have gotten far. You can still catch up with her if you go after her now,” Ming Jing said casually.
“Hmph, I’m afraid of getting my hands dirty. Let her be. As long as she doesn’t target you, I won’t even bother with her.”
Ye Zhen sat down next to Ming Jing and looked at the book in her hands, “Wind on the Clouds? I’ve heard online that you like martial arts novels, but I didn’t believe it. So it’s true.”
Ming Jing smiled. For some reason, the smile seemed particularly cold under the light.
Ye Zhen frowned, “I’ve read this Wind on the Clouds before. The author is definitely a pervert. He had to kill the protagonist for no reason. I don’t know how many tears I shed during the finale.”
Ming Jing raised an eyebrow, “Birth, aging, sickness, and death are the natural course of life. He was not just the protagonist but also a person. There was an unresolvable deep hatred between the two characters. Only through death could they both be liberated.”
“What? He chose to die?”
Ye Zhen carefully recalled the details of the book, which was published ten years ago. It was very popular, dominating the market. Everyone had a copy during that time. She was still in college back then, reading under the blankets with a flashlight every night. The intricate details and plot of the story were still fresh in her mind.
In the book, during a palace banquet, the female antagonist, in alliance with the second male lead, planned a coup to overthrow the dynasty of the male lead Zhu Che. At that time, the female lead Yun Cheng, who was already the queen, previously was the martial arts supreme with unparalleled martial arts skills. The female antagonist, fearing that Yun Cheng would take action, bribed a servant to spike Yun Cheng’s wine with a colorless, tasteless poison. However, Zhu Che accidentally drank it instead, and consequently, died in Yun Cheng’s arms.
In the plot, Yun Cheng and Zhu Che had a deep, irreconcilable enmity. Yun Cheng married Zhu Che only to exact her revenge. Although the two loved each other deeply, the internal struggle between them caused them great pain and suffering. After Zhu Che’s death, it was revealed that the female antagonist was just a pawn. The actual mastermind behind the coup was Yun Cheng herself. But after Zhu Che’s death, Yun Cheng was filled with regret and fell into the dark side, suffering from mental and physical pain…
The book was agonizingly heartbreaking, and the more tragic it got, the more popular it became, creating a martial arts myth of that era.
But now Ming Jing was saying that Zhu Che chose to die?
As an avid reader who had read the book several times, Ye Zhen didn’t see this point.
Ming Jing smiled and shook her head, “Some people can’t even grasp the essence when they plagiarize.”