The Destiny Villainess Wants Me To Work!-Chapter 109: Chu Jing’s Past - Part II

"Grandpa didn’t hate him back then. In fact... he was also proud of him."

She paused.

"But there was one thing he never accepted."

Her fingers tightened slightly around the hairpin.

"That my dad chose to marry the one he loved... my mom."

"Not the woman Grandpa had arranged for him."

A faint, bitter smile appeared on her lips.

"For that reason, Grandpa always disliked my mom and was dissatisfied with Dad."

"Even if he didn’t show it openly... it was always there."

She took a slow breath.

"Grandma was different. She loved my mom and treated her like her own daughter."

Her thumb gently traced the surface of the hairpin.

"This... was given to my mom by grandma."

Her lips trembled slightly.

"I still remember how jealous my aunt was that day."

For a brief moment, a faint warmth flickered in her eyes, which soon disappeared.

"I thought... we were a happy family."

Her voice softened.

"I thought it would stay that way forever."

The wind brushed past her, lifting a few strands of her hair.

"I was wrong... very wrong."

The words fell quietly.

"One day... I came home."

Her grip on the railing tightened slightly.

"I didn’t see my mom waiting for me like usual."

Her voice began to waver, just a little.

"She was sitting on the floor... holding the phone... crying."

Chu Jing swallowed.

"My dad... died."

The words came out flat.

"On his way back from work... a truck hit his car."

"Crushed it."

Silence followed.

"...I didn’t understand it at first," she continued after a moment. "How could someone... just disappear like that? I had seen him just that morning, and even ate breakfast together."

Her breathing grew uneven.

"I knew I couldn’t break down. I had to be strong."

"For my mom."

Her fingers trembled slightly.

"But that wasn’t the end."

Her voice dropped, growing quieter.

"That night..."

Her shoulders stiffened.

"Everything collapsed."

Leng Shuang’s gaze flickered slightly.

"Grandpa... saw my mom entering my uncle’s room."

Chu Jing’s voice grew hoarse.

"When he went in..." she paused. "...he saw her on the bed."

"Half-dressed."

Her grip tightened so much that her knuckles turned pale.

"My uncle said... she tried to seduce him."

The words felt heavy even as she spoke them.

"My mom said... he tried to force her."

"No one believed her."

Her voice cracked slightly this time.

"Grandpa didn’t believe her."

"Even Grandma... didn’t believe her."

She laughed softly, but it sounded broken.

"I was there."

"I saw everything."

"I tried to say something..."

Her voice faltered.

"But no one listened."

The wind howled softly past them.

"She was thrown out that same night."

"No explanation."

"Without dignity."

"Nothing."

Silence stretched.

"Grandma..." her voice softened again, "she couldn’t take it."

"She passed away not long after."

Chu Jing lowered her head slightly.

"After that... everything changed."

"Grandpa stopped looking at me the same way."

"I became... something he didn’t want to see."

Her fingers tightened around the hairpin again.

"I gave up everything."

"The company. The shares. Everything my dad left me."

"I thought..."

Her lips trembled.

"...maybe he would stop hating me."

She let out a soft breath.

"I was wrong."

Finally, she turned around.

Her eyes were red but dry. There were no tears left to fall.

"Xiao Mu..."

"If I lose everything..." Chu Jing looked straight into his eyes, her gaze steady despite the faint tremor hidden beneath it. "Will you still love me?"

Leng Shuang froze for a moment.

On the surface, her expression didn’t change, but something deep within her stirred violently. It was sudden, intrusive, like a memory that refused to stay buried. For an instant, she heard those voices—cold, distant, yet terrifyingly clear.

"Is she dead yet?"

"Was killing them the only option?"

"Who knows? But they are better off dead."

The next moment, her vision blurred slightly as a scene flashed across her mind. A once grand residence reduced to ruins, its walls torn apart as if struck by an overwhelming force.

Flames spread uncontrollably, devouring everything in their path. The heat was suffocating, the air thick with smoke.

And in the middle of that destruction—a girl.

Crying, screaming, her voice hoarse as she begged for help.

The memory didn’t linger. It shifted abruptly, replaced by something even colder.

A confined underground space, metallic walls, and dim lighting that barely illuminated the surroundings. The air there carried no warmth, only the faint scent of blood.

What followed was pain. Not once, but countless times.

Her body was treated like something disposable, used without restraint. Voices echoed around her were indifferent, mocking... while her own screams gradually lost meaning.

Then everything stopped.

Leng Shuang suppressed it instantly, cutting off the memory before it could go any further. Her breathing remained steady, her eyes returning to their usual calm, as if nothing had happened.

She could answer Chu Jing.

She could lie. Say yes.

It would be simple. Words had never meant much to her anyway.

But she didn’t speak.

And that silence, in that moment, carried more weight than any answer.

Chu Jing’s lips pressed together tightly. The faint hope in her eyes dimmed, slowly, like something fragile being worn down over each passing second.

It hurts.

More than she had expected.

Yet she didn’t look away. She continued to look at him, waiting, even though she started feeling that there might not be the answer she wanted to hear.

Inside Leng Shuang’s mind, a familiar line of thought surfaced.

Why does it matter?

She’s just a tool.

You’ve used countless people like her before.

When the mission ends, she disappears from your world.

So what if she gets hurt?

The logic was clear. It had always been clear. It was how she survived—how she climbed out of that past and ensured she would never be that powerless again.

Money, power, control—those were the only things that mattered.

She had been born into a wealthy family once. But that life had been destroyed in a single night, and everything that followed had taught her one thing—kindness was weakness, and weakness was something the world crushed without hesitation.