Chapter 3: A Heart? Not Needed

Su Qinghan stood up, looking down at Yan Yu sitting in the wheelchair.

“From today onward, we have no relationship.”

“I’ll pay your tuition through the end of this semester. The house lease is up at the end of this month. After that, please don’t appear in front of me again.”

After saying this, she took Jiang Muyun’s hand and turned to leave.

“Qinghan!”

Yan Yu suddenly propped herself up on the table with her hands. The moment she tried to stand, she immediately felt a sharp, piercing pain and weakness in her legs.

Her vision darkened, and her body uncontrollably tilted to one side, but she still reached out and desperately grabbed Su Qinghan’s sleeve.

This was the action written in the story.

She had to do it.

Su Qinghan stopped and looked back at her.

That gaze was as cold as if looking at something filthy, even carrying a trace of disgust for her current wretched state.

“Let go.”

She said.

“Please, I don’t want to…”

Yan Yu cried, her whole body trembling, tears streaming down her face. She looked utterly wretched and pitiful, maintaining that awkward and painful posture. “Please, don’t go…”

“I don’t mind being a substitute, I really don’t…”

“I can keep being Miss Jiang’s substitute, stay by your side when she’s not around, just don’t abandon me…”

She spoke the original Yan Yu’s lines from the novel.

Every single word was humbled into the dirt.

The gazes of everyone in the coffee shop turned their way. The hushed discussions pricked her back like needles.

Yan Yu could feel the sympathy, mockery, and voyeuristic excitement in those looks.

But she didn’t care.

She just needed to finish this scene.

Su Qinghan’s frown deepened.

She forcefully shook off Yan Yu’s hand, with such strength that Yan Yu completely lost her balance. She let out a startled cry and fell back into the wheelchair. The wheelchair was knocked back a short distance, bumping into the table.

The coffee cup was knocked over. The dark brown liquid spilled all over the floor, also splashing onto Yan Yu’s beige dress.

The stain slowly spread, like an ugly flower.

“Yan Yu, listen well.”

Su Qinghan’s voice was cold as ice. “The person I love is Muyun. It has always been Muyun. You were just a substitute, someone I was with out of pity. Now that the real person has returned, do you think I would still need you?”

Every word was like a knife.

Yan Yu sat slumped in the wheelchair, her whole body stiff, tears flowing continuously. A dull ache came from her legs, reminding her of her disability and helplessness.

Jiang Muyun gently tugged Su Qinghan’s hand, saying in a soft voice, “Qinghan, don’t be like this. This classmate doesn’t seem well…”

“Whether she’s well or not, what does it have to do with me?”

Su Qinghan said, putting her arm around Jiang Muyun’s shoulder, her voice finally softening. “Let’s go. Didn’t you say you wanted to see the new art exhibition?”

The two of them left, holding each other.

As they reached the door, Jiang Muyun looked back at Yan Yu.

Yan Yu understood that look.

It was the smile of a victor, sympathy from above, a declaration of “you can never beat me.”

Perhaps there was also a trace of pity for her being confined to a wheelchair, and that pity was even more humiliating than mockery.

The coffee shop door opened and closed, the little bell ringing again.

Yan Yu still sat slumped in the wheelchair, the coffee stain on her dress slowly expanding.

The surrounding gazes pricked her like needles. The hushed discussions grew louder:

“That’s Yan Yu?”

“The substitute Su Qinghan used to keep?”

“Poor thing. Thrown away the moment the real one came back.”

“Poor? She was just after the money from the start. Now that the rich person doesn’t want her, serves her right.”

“She does look quite like Senior Jiang. Too bad she’s a cripple. Feels worlds apart…”

Yan Yu slowly lowered her head and wiped the tears from her face.

No one saw it—the moment she lowered her head, the corner of her mouth curved upward slightly.

[Ding!]

[Plot “Coffee Shop Separation” performance completed.]

[Restoration Degree Evaluation: 95 points]

[Current Acting Progress: 2%]

[Rewards Distributed: Luck Value slightly increased. Physical Pain temporarily reduced.]

A cold, emotionless voice rang in her mind.

Almost simultaneously, the severe pain in her chest actually lessened a bit. Her breathing became easier. Even the sharp pain in her legs eased somewhat. Though still weak, it was at least no longer as unbearable as before.

Yan Yu slowly straightened up, adjusted her breathing with effort, and waved over a server.

“Could you help clean this up, please? Thank you.”

Her voice was still hoarse from crying, but much calmer now.

The server gave her a sympathetic look and quickly cleared the table.

Yan Yu ordered another American coffee, this time adding two packets of sugar.

Bitter with a touch of sweet.

She picked up the cup, looking out the window at the two figures already far away.

Su Qinghan was lowering her head, saying something to Jiang Muyun, the lines of her profile showing a gentleness never seen before.

How touching.

Yan Yu took a sip of coffee. She had added too much sugar; it was sickeningly sweet.

But it didn’t matter.

The show had just begun.

She, this substitute supporting character, still had to keep acting.

Act until the two main characters are happily together. Act until she gets that one hundred million yuan. Act until she can leave this story healthy and on her own two feet.

As for a heart?

Yan Yu touched her chest.

It was very calm, without any pain.

Good.

The emotions left in this body should have been vented enough during that last scene.

From now on, she is Yan Yu.

A professional substitute who, for money, for survival, for standing up again, can act out any scene.

—