227: Chapter 227 Looking forward to your next performance

"Originally, your performance was not bad."

"If no one had disturbed us, I might have considered your request."

"But now..."

"...The mood is gone."

"And the opportunity is gone too."

"If you want to blame someone, blame her."

Su Qingxue looked at Xu Zhixia.

The opportunity... was gone?

Just because of this woman who suddenly barged in?

In order to get Lin Fan to relent, she had laid down all her dignity, actively catering and pleasing him like the cheapest of beings.

She had endured the humiliation and the torment in her heart, and success was right around the corner...

It was all ruined by this self-righteous woman!

Shame and anger surged into her heart.

In Su Qingxue's pretty eyes, there was not a trace of her usual arrogance and detachment. "Xu Zhixia...!"

She let out a sharp, shrill roar, her voice completely distorted out of tune.

"What did you come in for! Who let you come in! Get out! Get the hell out of here!"

Xu Zhixia froze.

She had anticipated Lin Fan's fury and her own danger, but she had never imagined that the victim she was trying to save would look at her with such a murderous gaze.

"Su Qingxue, you... snap out of it!"

"He is forcing you, how can you..."

"Forcing?"

"Do I look like someone who is being forced?!"

Lin Fan sneered. In the mind of Su Qingxue's friend, he had turned into a beast.

"General Manager Su, if you want to make requests, I look forward to your next performance!"

After saying that, he bypassed Xu Zhixia, lifted the tattered cloth curtain, and walked out.

Only the two women were left in the partition.

Su Qingxue knelt on the crude wooden plank bed, her hair mostly scattered, and one shoulder strap still hanging down.

She did not tidy her appearance immediately, but stared fixedly at the swaying curtain.

She was angry.

She wasn't angry about Lin Fan saying the opportunity was gone, nor was she angry about this opportunity itself.

She was angry that she had been interrupted.

A woman mustered all her courage, let go of everything, and finally managed to put herself on the stage, only for a sudden interloper to pull her down from the stage and pin her under the public gaze.

And now that process would have to be done all over again.

The feeling of that shame and suppressed fury mixed together was ten times worse than being rejected by Lin Fan.

Xu Zhixia stood in place, not knowing whether to advance or retreat for a moment.

By the firelight of the curtain, she looked at the several red marks pressed onto Su Qingxue's back; some were old and had faded to light pink.

This showed that it wasn't the first time. This woman definitely couldn't handle the blow and had a breakdown.

Xu Zhixia's heart twitched. Come to think of it, how could an intern who suddenly wielded the power of life and death let go of his former boss?

When she first came to the island, she thought Su Qingxue was not doing too badly, but now it seemed she had gotten the chance to survive by selling her body.

"Qingxue."

Xu Zhixia stepped forward, squatted down, her eyes full of heartache. Her fingertips touched a bruised mark, and Su Qingxue's shoulder trembled as she gasped.

"Does it hurt?"

Su Qingxue didn't look back.

Xu Zhixia's fingers rubbed against that mark; there was subcutaneous blood stasis with yellowish edges, from a few days ago.

There was another newer bite mark on the side of her neck, bitten quite hard. "You didn't have to do this."

Xu Zhixia's voice was very soft. "No matter what he promised you, you don't need to use this kind of method..."

Su Qingxue turned her head.

On that face, there were no tears, no grievances, only anger.

"Xu Zhixia, how old are you?"

Xu Zhixia was stunned for a moment.

"I am almost thirty." Su Qingxue stood up, looking down at Xu Zhixia, "Do I, Su Qingxue, need to report to you to sleep with a man? Do I need your approval? Do I need you to rush in and check my body to confirm whether it's voluntary?"

Xu Zhixia's face suddenly stiffened.

She opened her mouth, and the theory of post-traumatic stress disorder from just now became laughable at this moment.

She was stunned for a long time before speaking, "You really weren't... being forced?"

Su Qingxue sneered, "Did I look like I was being forced from how I was just now?"

She pointed at the mattress, "Would someone who is being forced actively wrap around him? Would someone who is being forced kiss him first?"

Xu Zhixia was speechless.

Su Qingxue reached out to tidy her scattered hair, gathering them messily behind her head.

"Xu Zhixia, I am a human being."

Su Qingxue stared at her.

"I am not a nun."

"I have seven emotions and six desires. I get hungry, thirsty, tired, and want a man to hold me."

"Trapped on this ghost island for over two months, do you think I'm made of iron? Do you think all I need every day is to drink water, eat, and bask in the sun?"

Xu Zhixia squatted on the ground, the professional analysis framework in her mind collapsing.

She spent a full thirty seconds digesting this fact.

Then she stood up and took a step back.

"So... you really aren't sick."

This sentence popped out subconsciously.

Su Qingxue's temple twitched.

"What did you say?"

"I said..." Xu Zhixia's expression was very complicated, "You don't have Stockholm syndrome, no emotional dissociation, no post-traumatic stress... You really just... purely... wanted a man..."

She didn't finish the last word.

But Su Qingxue understood.

Su Qingxue's face darkened.

"Xu Zhixia!"

"You're the sick one! Your whole family is sick!"

Su Qingxue picked up a flattened, broken slipper on the bed board and threw it straight at Xu Zhixia.

Xu Zhixia dodged to the side, and the slipper hit the curtain behind her.

"You're an emergency department doctor who hasn't even rotated through gynecology, yet you run over to give me a psychological evaluation?"

Su Qingxue's voice was raised high, completely losing her usual reserved demeanor, "Are you a virgin, so you want me to never taste a man's flavor for the rest of my life?"

Xu Zhixia was choked into momentary speechlessness.

"I..." Xu Zhixia's lips moved, "I was out of concern."

"Concern?" Su Qingxue wrapped her coat tighter around herself, her chest still heaving, "If you care about me, couldn't you knock on the door?"

"There is no door here."

"Then couldn't you cough twice?!"

Xu Zhixia was silent for two seconds.

Well, this was indeed her mistake.

In a normal environment, an adult female doing... with a man in her own bedroom, and another person barging in without knocking, regardless of the reason, was an extremely offensive act.

"I apologize," Xu Zhixia said.

Su Qingxue snorted and turned her face away.

The heavy rain outside the cave was still falling, and the sound of the wind roared as it poured in.

The light of the campfire passed through the cracks of the curtain, casting the outlines of the two people in flickering light and shadow.

The atmosphere was deadlocked for about ten seconds.

Xu Zhixia didn't leave, and Su Qingxue didn't chase her away.

"However..." Xu Zhixia spoke up again suddenly.