Chapter 143: Are You There?

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Her maternal aunt still wanted to carry away everything she had brought, but Shi Weifang pulled her away.

Even after they had gone some distance, the aunt was still muttering, “Those things are worth several thousand. We could take them home for Pengyu or Old Madam to restore their health…”

“Be quiet. Third Sister has suffered enough all these years. I really did fail to look after her properly as her elder brother. Let’s leave these things for them and go!”

…

Shi Qingqing let out a cold laugh. Their acting was truly first-rate.

With a bang, she shut the door.

Shi Yufen was left standing there in a daze, unable to come back to herself.

***

After taking a shower, Shi Qingqing had just turned on her computer when her phone rang.

“Cousin, don’t worry! I’m fine. Uncle and the others brought Mom lots of things. Yes, they even drove us home…”

…

“Exactly. They were practically fawning over me. Huh? Who’s that young heir? I don’t know him well! I’ve only seen him once at school. He just happened to stand up for me when he saw something unfair?”

…

“A kindhearted stranger? Thank him? Uh, yes, he was very kind, and I’ve already thanked him. You’ll thank him too when you come back? No, no, there’s no need! I’ve already thanked him. Cousin, I’m really fine…”

…

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“You transferred some money to me? No, you don’t have to. You’re working and studying overseas, and that must be hard enough. I can make money now, so don’t send me any. You’re having an even tougher time out there. Just finish your studies and come home soon. You can get a good job and support me then; it won’t be too late…”

…

“Mm-hmm, I’ll be good and do as I’m told. I know! I’m hanging up now. Don’t waste money on the call. I’ve been doing really well lately.”

…

The call lasted more than ten minutes. Somehow, Shi Zimo had learned what had happened that evening and had been worried sick about her. It had taken Shi Qingqing considerable effort to reassure her cousin.

Her cousin was still the one who cared about her most. Shi Qingqing felt a warm ache in her heart.

In the Shi family, all those who were truly related to her by blood despised her.

They were not even as good as a cousin with whom she shared no blood ties.

She had applied the ointment for external injuries that the waitress from the Magnificent Grand Hotel had given her to the bump on her head. It worked astonishingly well.

Within a short while, the swelling and bruising had disappeared.

Shi Qingqing’s game was still open. She had just logged in when her cousin called, and after talking for more than ten minutes, her top-tier character, “Easy to Know, Hard to Do,” was now marked as temporarily away.

Several private messages from her friends were flashing.

A few invitations to join parties had already timed out.

When she opened the messages, she saw that they were from the elite player Bleak Slaughter.

[Private] Bleak Slaughter: Are you there?

[Private] Bleak Slaughter: Spacing out?

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[Private] Bleak Slaughter: What’s wrong?

…

Shi Qingqing felt that this was no small matter. For a top player to lower himself enough to send her three messages in a row, there had to be something important.

[Private] Easy to Know, Hard to Do: Is something wrong, boss?

[Private] Bleak Slaughter: We were fighting a boss. We’ve already finished. What were you doing just now?

So it had been about fighting a boss, and they had already finished.

In that case, never mind. She did not have any Lucky Candy anyway, so she would not have been able to loot anything particularly good.

[Private] Easy to Know, Hard to Do: I’m unhappy today.

[Private] Bleak Slaughter: Tell me about it.

Huh? Was the boss free today? Usually, whenever he had nothing to do, he would simply log off, wouldn’t he?

He actually had time to chat with her?

She was merely a power-leveling service worker. It was already asking a lot that the boss treated her as a friend and was willing to listen to her.

She was waiting for a quest monster to respawn, so she had time. And since she was feeling depressed, venting a little would do no harm. Besides, the boss did not even know who she really was.

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