QTIMP -Chapter 206 Character Persona – Fool (Part 2)

“Keep screaming, and I’ll throw you out to feed the fish right now.”

Song Xiaxia knew they were absolutely capable of doing it, so she forcefully swallowed her scream back down.

She begged in panic, “Don’t… don’t take me away, please, don’t take me away…”

The two men remained unmoved and dragged her toward the exit.

All of Song Xiaxia’s calculations were thrown into chaos by fear. In her panic, she saw Si Qiu curled up into a ball and quickly pointed at her.

“Take her! Take her instead! She’s much prettier than me. Really, really, I’m not lying!”

The two men who were about to leave stopped in their tracks.

The flashlight beam landed on Si Qiu, whose body trembled violently like a sieve.

Then the man holding the flashlight stepped forward, grabbed Si Qiu by her clothes, and hauled her up.

The light shone directly on Si Qiu’s face, forcing her to close her eyes unconsciously. Her messy hair covered a face stained with rust from the ship’s cabin.

Under the light, it looked almost blood-streaked and somewhat terrifying.

The man frowned. Just as he was about to throw her back, his fingers felt a faintly cool, delicate texture.

“Alright then, take this one up too. If the boss doesn’t want her, maybe he’ll be in a good mood and reward us instead.”

So he dragged Si Qiu out of the cabin as well.

The cabin door closed, and darkness returned inside—but the people left behind finally let out a long breath of relief.

While trembling, Si Qiu also sighed inwardly. Her mother had been right—she had been thoroughly ruined by Song Xiaxia.

They had been trapped in the lower cargo hold for several days. Being suddenly pulled out into the light made her eyes water uncontrollably, and she didn’t dare open them.

When she finally adjusted, she had already been thrown to the ground.

Next, someone turned a hose on them.

The icy, forceful water made the two of them scream and crawl around in terror. Soon after, the water stopped, and the surroundings fell into an eerie silence.

Song Xiaxia couldn’t help but look around. She saw two unremarkable-looking men standing nearby, both staring blankly in her direction—or rather, at the person beside her.

She followed their gaze and turned her head, only to see the young girl with jet-black hair cascading down like ink jade to her waist.

Her brows were like distant mountains brushed with faint ink—not meticulously drawn, but naturally soft and hazy. Her eyelashes were long and dense, fluttering like butterfly wings when lowered.

It made people want to meet her gaze, to see what kind of eyes she had—surely they would be as clear as water.

Her nose was straight but delicate, her lips naturally pink, lightly pressed in a way that inspired pity.

Her skin was as white as snow, yet not a lifeless pallor—instead, it carried a faint jade-like glow, almost translucent under the light.

She wore a torn T-shirt and shorts. Now soaked by water, she carried a kind of fragmented beauty that made people afraid even to breathe too heavily, lest it shatter.

Anyone who saw her felt as if their heart had been gently struck, leaving a lingering tremor.

Si Qiu’s current extreme beauty was entirely the result of the medicinal pills she had stored in her spatial space.

Back then, when she was lying on her mother’s back, she had heard that mistress mock their downfall with cruel laughter.

“I say, sister, you should have some self-awareness, shouldn’t you? Isn’t it normal that Jian Ming chose me and abandoned you?”

“Look at you—yellowed skin, getting fat, spots all over your face. Standing next to me, people would think you’re my mother and no one would even argue. What right do you have to be so aggressive here? In love, the one who isn’t loved is the third party. Got it?”

Jian Ming echoed from the side, “Exactly. Look at what you’ve become—I don’t even feel comfortable introducing you to others. Wearing cheap street-market clothes, your hair cut all messy, not even a proper manicure. You look like a village girl. And you still have the nerve to blame me for abandoning you?”

In this life, she was mentally a bit slow and stubborn in her thinking. When she thought about using pills to regulate her body, she remembered what those two had said.

What lingered in her mind was: people still need to be beautiful—otherwise, even criticizing others would be unreasonable.

So she directly used medicinal pills, along with previously prepared ointments and skincare products, carefully nurturing every inch of her skin and every strand of her hair.

She began taking care of herself from the age of eleven, and even found a cultivation method for beauty preservation recorded in her spatial storage.

She practiced it daily like yoga.

In this life, Su Qiu was simply slow-witted and sluggish in reaction, so she rarely revisited memories from past lives. Otherwise, just by seeing the name of that technique, she would have recognized it.

It was a technique given by people from the Hehuan Sect whom she had once helped with her master. She had copied it into a blank jade slip from her space back then, simply thinking she might not learn it for now.

But if she didn’t record it and forgot it later, wouldn’t that be a waste?

Everyone understood—techniques from the Hehuan Sect might not be strong in combat, but they had noticeable effects in certain aspects.

Even in this modern world where Su Qiu’s cultivation was limited, it did not affect its effectiveness. Her current face and figure were proof enough.

When her mother was still alive, she often sighed while looking at her face. But knowing her daughter was a bit slow mentally, she never lectured her harshly.

Instead, she repeatedly reminded her to be careful, asked her to watch case studies to improve her awareness, and always made her wear an empty-frame pair of glasses. Her clothing was also chosen to be as concealing as possible.

If Su Qiu had not strongly objected, even her long hair might have been styled into something “ugly” by her mother.

Su Qiu also knew she was not very smart. Her mother was intelligent and strong, so most of the time she was a very obedient child.

She remembered every word her mother said clearly, because her mother once told her: if you don’t understand something now, you can remember it—one day you will understand.

Su Qiu felt the water stop pouring over her and couldn’t help coughing a few times.

This immediately brought the three people present back to their senses.

The man called Da Hei also coughed and said, “Um… should we report this to the boss? This girl is, is, is really…”

He couldn’t help swallowing hard.

The other man cleared his throat as well. “I think… you go report it. I’ll stay here.”

Even he didn’t seem to know what he was saying, his eyes fixed straight on Su Qiu.

Snapped back to reality by the noise, Song Xiaxia frowned, an inexplicable sourness surging at the tip of her tongue.

She had always believed she was pretty and cute, lively and righteous.

Whether back in school or later at work, she had never lacked friends, and boys who admired her had never stopped appearing.

In her previous life, she had even relied on her warm, sun-like charm to attract Elias. Although later she felt he didn’t care that much about her, she was still the only stranger who could approach him.

That uniqueness allowed her to look down on anyone.

But if two people appeared in front of Elias at the same time… would Elias still choose her this time?