Cannon Fodder in an Era Drama — I Survive with Acting-Chapter 185: Teach Her a Lesson

Old Liu squinted, straining to see, and suddenly smiled.

"Wen Kang? What’re you doing here, kid?"

He had once again mistaken Fei Jin for a young Father Song.

Fei Jin paused. A complicated look flashed in his eyes, but he quickly pushed it down.

"I’ve come to see you, Uncle Liu."

He pulled the door curtain shut and spoke softly.

"It’s getting late, and the wind is cold. You should rest."

Old Liu’s eyelids grew heavier and heavier. He struggled for a bit, his head lolled to the side, and soon he was snoring.

Fei Jin tucked him in, then stood up and quietly left the room with Song Qingya.

He stopped and turned to look back toward the room, his brow slightly furrowed.

"That hospital... if you run into any troublemakers, don’t waste your breath on them."

Song Qingya understood what he meant.

The office politics at the hospital were complicated. Song Chenglu wasn’t the only thorn in her side.

When Dean Yuan was around, he could keep things under control with his prestige.

But now that Dean Yuan was leaving, people were getting restless. Those beneath him were bound to stir up trouble.

Seeing her standing silently by the door without a word, Fei Jin’s brow furrowed even more tightly.

He took a half step forward, lowered his voice, a note of anxiety creeping into his tone.

"How about I go with you tomorrow?"

Song Qingya looked up into his worried eyes, and her heart warmed.

She shook her head gently, a faint smile gracing her lips.

"There’s no need."

"Ajin, stop treating me like a delicate flower."

"I know my way around the hospital. I can handle it."

Fei Jin’s throat bobbed, but in the end, he didn’t say anything more.

"Alright. Just be careful."

’But he had already made up his mind.’

’Tomorrow, I’ll send someone reliable to keep an eye on the hospital from a distance. I won’t let her get taken advantage of.’

Back inside, Fei Jin poured a glass of warm water and handed it to her.p>

He watched her finish it in small sips before sitting down beside her.

The soft light in the room illuminated the gentle, clear lines of her profile.

"Qingya, this time... thank you."

Song Qingya looked up at him.

"We’re husband and wife, aren’t we?"

"If something happened to you, did you expect me to just sit at home peacefully?"

Her tone was light, but her eyes were glistening with unshed tears.

"Honestly, I’d already considered the worst-case scenario."

"If you... if I really wasn’t going to see you again, I had to at least see you one last time."

"Thankfully, you’re alright."

She spoke lightly, but her words landed in Fei Jin’s heart like a boulder dropped into a deep pool, sending shockwaves through him.

He squeezed her hand, his voice heavy.

"It won’t happen again."

"Qingya, I’ve put you through a lot."

The moment he thought of those faces at the hospital, waiting to laugh at her expense and wanting to crush her underfoot, he couldn’t hide the worry in his eyes.

Song Qingya felt the tremor in his palm.

"Don’t worry yourself sick. I’ll be fine."

Meanwhile, Song Chenglu was curled up on the concrete floor.

Her hair was a tangled mess. A few strands, matted with blood and tears, were plastered to her face, a picture of utter misery.

Her face was a mass of purple and blue bruises. Her right eye was almost swollen shut, and the corner of her mouth was split, crusted with dark red blood.

A stocky woman walked over, a cigarette butt dangling from her lips, her cold eyes sizing Song Chenglu up.

She was Jiang Hui, a veteran of this place.

She’d been locked up for over three years, specializing in preying on newcomers and building a reputation inside through intimidation and violence.

Suddenly, she lifted her foot and kicked Song Chenglu hard.

Song Chenglu rolled halfway across the floor, crashing into the corner of the wall with a muffled groan.

Jiang Hui spat, her voice dripping with contempt.

"Pah! And here I thought you were some rich young miss!"

Then, she lifted her foot again and prodded Song Chenglu with the toe of her shoe.

"Heard you threw away your dignity for a man?"

"Did a lot of disgraceful things, huh? Secret meetings, stealing letters, climbing walls in the middle of the night... TSK TSK TSK, truly despicable."

Song Chenglu clenched her jaw, her hands gripping the seams of her pants.

’She would never bow her head to someone like this!’

Seeing her like this, yet with such a stubborn look in her eyes, Jiang Hui was a little surprised.

This little girl really had some backbone.

Much stronger than the spineless ones who came in crying for their mommy and daddy, begging for mercy on their knees.

She slowly drew back her foot and stood up straight, staring at Song Chenglu.p>

"Oh? Got a temper, do you?"

"Think you’re safe just because you’re not talking?"

Her voice suddenly rose.

"In here, whether you’re a dragon or a tiger, you lie down for me! Don’t think you can walk all over the place just because you have some connections!"

The anger Song Chenglu had been suppressing for so long finally exploded in that instant.

She snapped her head up, her bloodshot eyes glaring daggers at Jiang Hui.

"Who the hell do you think you are?!"

She snarled through gritted teeth.

"You think you’re worthy of putting on airs in front of me? You’re nothing but a watchdog, bullying me just because someone gave you a little power? When I get out of here, I’ll make your life a living hell!"

"And that bitch Song Qingya! If she hadn’t schemed against me, how could I have ended up in this state! Sooner or later, I’ll make her pay! I want her to taste what a living hell is like too!"

Jiang Hui was taken aback by her outburst, her pupils shrinking slightly.

But it was only for a moment. She quickly regained her composure.

Her eyes turned cold, and she shot a look at the thugs watching from the side.

The burly men understood immediately, closing in with sinister smiles.

Jiang Hui ordered sharply.

"Beat her! Teach her a lesson!"

"Make her understand who’s the boss in this territory! Who calls the shots!"

Several men immediately rushed forward, slapping Song Chenglu across the face one after another.

The crisp sound of slaps echoed in the narrow cell.

The force of the blows snapped Song Chenglu’s head to the side. The corner of her mouth split open instantly, and blood dripped down her chin.

Her originally defiant gaze was gradually drowned in pain and dizziness under the barrage of blows.

She stopped cursing, stopped looking up, and just stared fixedly at the gray wall in front of her.

Seeing her finally quiet down, Jiang Hui nodded in satisfaction.

She waved her hand, her tone indifferent.

"That’s enough."

The group of men backed away at her command.

The iron door slammed shut with a CLANG, leaving Song Chenglu alone, collapsed on the floor, gasping for air.

「Near noon the next day」

Song Qingya followed a middle-aged woman into the visitation room.

The room was narrow, with gray-white walls. A set of cold iron bars divided the space in two.

Behind the bars, Song Chenglu sat on a rickety wooden chair, her head bowed.

Her hair, dry and disheveled, hid half of her face.

It had only been a few days, but she looked like a completely different person.

She had lost weight, and her eye sockets were deeply sunken, the skin underneath a bluish-black.

Her face was covered in shocking bruises, layer upon layer of purple and blue marks.

The corners of her mouth still bore the marks of dried blood.

The most glaring were the clear imprints of hands slapped across her face, crisscrossing each other, every one a deep, purplish-red.

Song Qingya’s gaze slowly fell on her face, lingering for a few seconds.

Sensing the stare, Song Chenglu snapped her head up, the veins in her neck taut.

"What are you doing here? To laugh at me?"

"You must be happy now that I’ve fallen this low, right?"

She sneered. The movement pulled at the still-swollen cuts on her lips, and she winced in pain.

"Song Qingya, you had someone beat me, and now you’re pretending to be virtuous and coming to see me."

Song Qingya raised an eyebrow slightly, but the corners of her mouth didn’t twitch.

"I had someone beat you?"

"Song Chenglu, you think too highly of yourself. If I wanted to deal with you, would I need to stoop to such low-life methods?"