Rebirth: After Becoming the Villainess-Chapter 216: You Are Immune to All Poisons, Not Made of Bronze Skin and Iron Bones
Sensing she had captured his attention, she saw him looking at her with a hint of astonishment.
’As expected,’ Song Lianhe mused. ’People’s love for gossip and juicy stories knows no bounds.’
Yet, there was something inexplicably familiar about his gaze...
"Miss Song, you... already had someone you loved in Ling’an City?"
His voice was somewhat strained as he asked.
Song Lianhe replied cheerfully, "That’s right. I fell for him before I was married."
Before she was married...
’Such a clear hint.’ The answer in Zhou Junlin’s mind was all but certain. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
’She really does still have feelings for me.’
The discovery sparked a secret thrill within him. He knew he shouldn’t feel this way about her, and when he thought of Song Xilan waiting for him back in the Capital City, a pang of guilt followed.
So, he forced himself to look away. "Don’t you feel you’ve wronged your husband, Miss Song?"
’I knew it! He loves hearing stories about unfaithful wives!!’
"Why should I?" Song Lianhe said calmly. "The heart is the most difficult thing to control. It’s not up to me who it falls for. I’m only keeping someone secretly in my heart; I haven’t hurt anyone. It’s one thing to wear a mask for others, but to deceive yourself on top of that? Wouldn’t that be just too pitiful?"
She was just spouting nonsense, but the man across from her had clearly taken her seriously.
His brow furrowed, and the look he gave her grew even more complex.
Song Lianhe froze. ’He doesn’t think I’m deliberately trying to seduce him, does he?’
She quickly changed the subject. "Young Master Shen Wu, since you’ve started a business in Sui Ning, you must be planning to stay for a while?"
The man watched her for a long moment before replying, "As you said earlier, I’ll just see where things go."
"That’s good too."
They chatted idly for a while longer. Song Lianhe noticed he seemed distracted, as if something was weighing heavily on his mind.
’It’s probably because he can’t buy any horses.’
Song Lianhe had no intention of getting involved. ’My own villainous husband needs them! How could I just give them away to someone else?’
She didn’t stay much longer. After offering her congratulations, she prepared to leave.
"Miss Song, I have one more question for you."
Just as she reached the doorway, the man called out to her.
Song Lianhe turned back to him. "Go ahead."
"If you could go back to the time before you were married, would you... choose the one you loved? Or your current husband?"
’I really didn’t expect a grown man like him to be such a complete gossip!’
’Well, since he’s so earnest about it, I might as well give him the perfect ending he’s looking for.’
She gave a bittersweet smile, her gaze drifting toward the direction of Ling’an. "I’ve asked myself that question countless times, and every time, I arrive at the same answer. And that is..."
WHOOSH—
A silver gleam streaked through the air, heading straight for Song Lianhe’s face!
Zhou Junlin’s eyes narrowed. He pulled her into his arms, simultaneously flicking open his folding fan. With a casual flip, he deflected the next few hidden projectiles!
Song Lianhe’s face went pale with fright. She knew Kong Yu was here.
"How dare you plot against me! You damn wench, today you die!!"
With a furious roar, a figure vaulted through the window. The shop immediately erupted in screams as everyone scrambled to escape.
The intruder was a young man in tight-fitting black clothes. His features were striking, but his face held the look of a ruffian.
Wielding a curved knife, he charged straight for Song Lianhe!
"You wench, I’m going to slaughter you and get justice for my brothers!"
Song Lianhe was so frightened her legs went weak. Without a word, Zhou Junlin stepped in front of her. "Friend," he said, "if there’s a problem, perhaps we can sit down and discuss it."
"You dare meddle in my business? Then you can die too!"
Kong Yu swung his knife, slashing down—
Zhou Junlin stood his ground, his expression unchanged. He didn’t even need to make a move before Gu Ha burst through the door.
Seeing how capable Shen Wu’s subordinate was, Song Lianhe finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Shen—"
She froze.
A faint halo was materializing above the head of the young master before her...
It was the protagonist’s halo.
Song Lianhe gasped. Looking again at the man before her, she realized—he was... Zhou Junlin?!
’No wonder I thought he looked so familiar, but couldn’t place him! So it was this scoundrel all along!’
’He kept prying for information about the Prince Mansion and even tried to trick me into buying horses for him?’
’How could he be so devious!!’
’If he hadn’t just saved me, making his image suddenly heroic and triggering the halo’s appearance, I would have remained completely in the dark, played for a fool by this guy!’
Zhou Junlin gave her a suspicious look. ’A moment ago she was looking at me with tearful gratitude, and now she’s furious?’
But before he could ponder it, Gu Ha was struck by a hidden projectile. He staggered back, shouting, "Master, go!"
Zhou Junlin made a split-second decision. He grabbed Song Lianhe’s wrist, but just as he was about to pull her away, an oncoming wave of sword energy forced him to let go.
"Aah, what took you so long?"
Seeing Zhong Shimin, Song Lianhe was suddenly full of life again. With her hands on her hips, she stomped her foot in exasperation. "If you’d been any later, you could’ve just come to collect my corpse!"
"I thought they could handle it." As Zhong Shimin charged forward with his sword, he still found a moment to jeer, "Who knew they were all for show and no substance."
"You—"
Gu Ha was furious. ’This man was obviously here for Song Lianhe. We stepped in to help, and not only do we not get a word of thanks, we get a load of complaints?!’
He retreated, leaning on his injured leg.
’You’re so great, are you?’
’Then you handle it.’
Zhong Shimin didn’t hesitate to take over. His attacks were sharp and ruthless, his sword moving in an impenetrable flurry!
’This is the first time I’ve ever seen him get serious,’ Song Lianhe thought. ’As expected of Old Man Luo’s top guard. He really is incredible.’
"Haha... with a pathetic bit of skill like that, you dream of laying a perfect trap to catch me? Kid, you’ve still got a long way to go!"
In terms of pure Martial Arts, Kong Yu was inferior, but he was a master of hidden projectiles, making him incredibly difficult to defend against!
Meanwhile, Zhong Shimin’s men had surrounded the candy shop, and a few rushed in to help. But the shop was too small; there was no room for them to fight effectively, and they would only get in their leader’s way.
So, they retreated to the door and windows to guard the exits.
Song Lianhe watched from the side, seeing everything clearly. Kong Yu seemed to have an endless supply of hidden projectiles. He would throw one out every so often, forcing Zhong Shimin to stay constantly on guard, which was why he couldn’t gain the upper hand.
She narrowed her eyes, then bent down and rummaged through her clothes, finally producing a small vial of liquid.
Song Lianhe turned and shouted to Zhong Shimin, "Get back!"
Zhong Shimin heard her and reacted instantly, leaping aside.
At the same time, a porcelain vial came flying through the air!
Kong Yu saw it coming and let out a wild laugh. "Don’t you know I’m immune to all poisons?!"
As he spoke, he casually flicked his curved knife to deflect the vial...
HSSS—
A searing pain instantly shot through his skin.
Kong Yu cried out in shock. He looked down and saw that the few drops of liquid from the vial that had splashed onto the back of his hand were corroding his flesh, drawing blood.
Seeing her plan had worked, Song Lianhe laughed, both delighted and smug. "Hey, grand-nephew, this is a special gift from your dear great-auntie! You may be immune to all poisons, but you don’t have skin of bronze and bones of iron! How does that feel?"
