Chapter 100: Looking for a Friend

Translated by Eve

Song Xuanhe gave Song Jiani a sign with his eyes as he dodged Zhou Rong. However, Song Jiani was put into a state of shock after hearing Song Xuanhe's words. For a moment, she was in no frame of mind to pay any attention to his gaze. It wasn't just her, either. Even Song Jiabao, who had her bound, had a look of incredulity on his face.

"You're angry, but not the least bit surprised. It's because you already knew, right?" Song Xuanhe continued to provoke Zhou Rong as he evaded the other's attacks that were blinded by rage. "You knew who the people behind Lu Chao's death were but you were unwilling to accept the truth. That's why you came to me and tried to use me as a scapegoat. You tricked yourself into thinking that you would be able to get your revenge and vent your hatred onto me."

Song Xuanhe dodged to the side, avoiding a punch Zhou Rong had thrown at him. His eyes were curved into a smile and his voice was mellow. "Do you think Lu Chao, who's down in the underworld, would want you to take revenge for him? Another question— is what you feel for him even love?"

"Shut up!" Zhou Rong threw the syringe out of his hand. He then grabbed a bottle of wine and swung it towards Song Xuanhe.

Song Xuanhe subconsciously moved backwards upon seeing this. However, although Zhou Rong was furious, his anger had not clouded his thoughts. Soon after, he realized what Song Xuanhe was trying to do. As soon as he realized it, he went to pick up the syringe. As expected, Song Xuanhe's expression changed slightly.

Zhou Rong spoke in a tone that dripped with hatred, "It doesn't matter who was involved in facilitating Lu Chao's death. You are the real perpetrator behind this. If it wasn't because you had embarrassed him publicly, if it wasn't because you had asked for Lu Yue to be brought back, Chao zi would never have died. Therefore, as long as you die, I know that Chao zi will thank me."

Song Xuanhe stood before him, face-to-face. There was a bit of a distance between them. They were both looking for an opportunity to put an end to the deadlock they were in.

Zhou Rong watched every flicker of emotion on Song Xuanhe's face. The hatred in his eyes nearly spilled out of his eye sockets. Then, he suddenly smiled. He said, "I almost forgot. You're not the only one I can take revenge on. It's the same if I were to take revenge on Song Jiani. If we really think about it, Song Jiani is the one to blame."

"If it wasn't because Chao zi liked her, none of this would have ever happened. If she didn't like you, none of this would have ever happened. I used to think that you didn't care about her. But now it looks like she's somewhat useful. It does make sense. When you were young, you didn't pay attention to anyone but Song Jiani. Why did I think she wasn't important to you?

"Tell me, Song Xuanhe. If Song Jiani were to end up with a life-long addiction because of you, would you blame yourself and regret your actions? How long would you feel this regret? Would you regret it for the rest of your life?"

Zhou Rong's smile grew as he said this. He walked over to Song Jiani. He ignored her flailing arms, eyes glowing as he looked at Song Xuanhe. "Time will tell."

"You're a man. What's the point of doing this to a girl?" Song Xuanhe took a step forward but stopped when he saw Zhou Rong bring the needle closer to Song Jiani's arm. "I was the person who caused Lu Chao's death. If you want revenge, come at me. Why take it out on outsiders?"

"Song Jiani isn't an outsider." Zhou Rong remained unmoved. He even patted Song Jiani's arm. He carefully looked for her vein as he said in a casual tone, "A femme fatale. I get it now. Hey, Song Xuanhe, maybe you'll thank me for not injecting this into you when you're enjoying life with the eldest young master of the Xiao Family in the future."

As he said this, he stabbed the needle into Song Jiani's arm with no hesitation. Song Jiabao restrained Song Jiani and the liquid inside the syringe gradually entered her veins.

Song Xuanhe had wanted to stop this but Song Jiani's gaze made him pause. Her eyes were red as she said, "I'm fine."

When Zhou Rong saw that the liquid in the syringe had disappeared, the smile on his face grew even brighter. He looked at Song Xuanhe. "How about it? Are you happy that someone took your place?"

Song Xuanhe looked at the person who had suddenly appeared at the door and smiled. "Yeah, I'm ecstatic. Because I know that you're going to be really unhappy really soon."

Zhou Rong was taken aback. Before he could react, he heard Song Jiabao scream in pain. Before he could turn to see what was going on, he was restrained, the syringe in his hand tumbling onto the ground. Because the floor was carpeted, it didn't make a sound as it fell.

Song Jiani's body slumped over. She covered the area of injection with a hand, frozen in shock. Her face was deathly pale.

"What's going on?" Guan Zhi walked in, kicking Zhou Rong, who had turned to look at him. He then said to Song Xuanhe, "Instead of eating with me, you came to fight with these guys?"

"You followed me?" Song Xuanhe glanced at Guan Zhi and then looked at Wei Chen, who was directing the bodyguards. "When did you meet up with him?"

Wei Chen was leaning against the wall, a cigarette between his lips. When he heard Song Xuanhe speak, his lips curled into a smile. "And here I thought Er shao would pretend like he didn't see me."

"When I saw someone bring a box in, I had thought that you were doing some kind of illegal deal. Although I'm not a Chinese citizen, I couldn't sit back and watch this happen. Besides, you owe me a meal. That's why I called Wei Chen over." Guan Zhi pouted. He didn't really want to talk about Wei Chen.

Song Xuanhe ignored Wei Chen's words. He replied to Guan Zhi: "In other words, you've been following me since we split."

Guan Zhi blinked, his tender face appearing extremely innocent. "You said that you had something important to do so I wanted to see if it was really more important than eating with me.

"Now that I've seen what you've been up to, I think that you might as well have stayed with me."

Song Xuanhe glanced at him before walking over to Song Jiani. He squatted down. He had been about to reach out to help her up when he paused. "Are you okay?"

Song Jiani shook her head and sobbed. "I don't know. I...don't feel any different right now. I heard that people would hallucinate or experience a high when taking drugs. But I don't feel anything right now. Is it because the new drug is just that impressive?"

After taking in Song Jiani's tear-streaked face that was filled with despair, Song Xuanhe fell silent. Just as he was about to speak up, he heard Zhou Rong say, "This drug is extremely slow-acting but it's really effective. Trust me, you'll fall in love with it in a bit."

Song Jiani's despair deepened. She hugged her legs and started to cry.

Song Xuanhe turned around and punched Zhou Rong in the face. When he saw the proud look in the other's eyes after spitting out a mouthful of blood, Song Xuanhe's lips twitched. He then turned to look at Song Jiabao.

"Except for the fact that I beat you up once, it's not like there's a particular deep grudge between us," Song Xuanhe said, "Why do you keep making trouble for me? You even risked going to prison to team up with Zhou Rong."

Song Jiabao had already given up all hope upon seeing Guan Zhi and Wei Chen. When he heard Song Xuanhe's words and Song Jiani's sobs, a sense of accomplishment from having gotten revenge emerged in his chest. His tumultuous mind regained some semblance of calm. "We won't end up in prison. You're wrong to think we will. Let me tell you, even if the police come, it's useless. This syringe is special. The syringe will clean itself if there's less than 0.5 ml of liquid inside of it. You won't find any traces of it in the syringe. Even if you send it to a lab, nothing will be discovered. You have no way of sending us to prison."

"You said that we have no grudge between us?" Song Jiabao sneered, "Since you were born, everyone around you has adored you and praised you. Everything good has always been taken by you. I want to know why. If you were as outstanding as Xuanlin ge, I wouldn't care, but the only thing you have going for you is that you were lucky enough to be born into a good family. You can't do anything. So why must I be beneath you? Why is it that even the person I like likes you?"

"I orchestrated the Sun Jinren thing because Mr. Song has promised that he would set-up Song Jiani and me if I was able to successfully complete my task." Song Jiabao looked at Song Jiani who was curled up, crying. He grit his teeth, "But she's never looked at me, not even once. She's always revolved around you. Even if you disdain her, she won't give up. When we were young, I gave her a piece of candy. She had smiled at me, so I had thought that she liked me. But a second later, she turned around and gave it to you. It's the same even after we've grown up. Tell me, why do you think I hate you?"

Song Xuanhe didn't know how to describe what he felt upon meeting Song Jiabao's expression that was filled with hatred.

Based on what Zhou Rong and Song Jiabao had just said, Song Xuanhe summarized the following: Except for Xiao Yuanmu's influence, everything that had happened to the original host near the end of the book had been because of Song Jiani.

Even the System was shocked for a second:[So Song Jiabao also likes Song Jiani! Just how good-looking is Song Jiani in human standards?]

Song Xuanhe was quiet for a moment. He then turned back around to face Song Jiani. He patted her on the shoulder, doing a pretty awful job at comforting her.

When Song Jiani looked up at him with a face full of tears, he frowned. He couldn't help but admit that Song Jiani's appearance and temperament was indeed top-class. Even after crying so hard, she didn't look ugly at all.

"Are you okay?"

Song Jiani sobbed but didn't speak.

Guan Zhi had watched this the whole time. He asked, "What's wrong with her? What's that thing on the ground?"

Song Jiani's sobs grew louder and her body began to shake.

Song Xuanhe parted his lips, about to reply. However, before he could speak, the door was once again pushed open. Zhou Nan walked in with a bunch of people. When he saw Guan Zhi, Wei Chen and the room full of bodyguards, he was startled. "Did I come too late or too early?"

When Song Xuanhe saw the other's sweaty forehead and nervous expression, he swallowed down the words he was about to say. Instead, he said, "The situation has been dealt with."

Zhou Nan sighed in relief. "What about the drug? Where did you put it? I brought the major crime unit. They'll take it back and look into it."

Zhou Rong sneered when he heard this. He was about to speak when he heard Song Xuanhe say: "It's in the box by the door."

Everyone in the room was taken aback. Even Song Jiani stopped crying. She looked up at Song Xuanhe, stunned.

Song Xuanhe picked up the box that had been haphazardly thrown to one side. He pressed down on the seemingly empty box and a small compartment suddenly appeared. A syringe emerged before everyone's eyes.

Zhou Rong's sneer froze on his face. A second later, he seemed to realize what had happened. His eyeballs nearly popped out of his sockets. "Impossible!"

Song Jiani's expression was blank. She wiped her tears and asked in a hoarse voice, "Isn't there only one syringe?"

Song Xuanhe nodded and handed the box over to the police officers behind Zhou Nan. He smiled at her, "That's right."

Song Jiani was filled with hope. In a tone of disbelief she said, "Then the one from earlier...."

Song Xuanhe spat out two words: "Was fake."

Eve: Finally the Zhou Rong plot line is wrapping up. Phew~ But SXH, regardless of everything, not very nice of you to put SJN through this emotional turmoil. But then again, he did try to get her out of it so it is kind of still her own fault. But she was also trying to help him...ah dilemmas.