Reincarnated as the Villain's Sister
Chapter 78: Hate and Loathing

Chapter 78: Hate and Loathing

Haizi watched as the two people dawdled and chirped at one another.

After a long time, they still couldn’t resolve the issue.

It was estimated that if they continued to grind at each other like this, it would be dawn until they finished with their nonsense.

As a result, Haizi called over the rest of the group to use up the Boss’ energy before they were finally able to separate Gao Jing and Lu Mingxuan.

Gao Jing returned home in silence while Lu Mingxuan stayed at the booth.

He held onto the alcohol bottle as he chugged the drink down.

The more he drank, the gloomier he got.

His willpower allowed him to still have a trace of clear-headedness remaining as he started to ponder about the way he talked just now, and whether it was excessive or not.

Even he himself didn’t dare to admit that he unexpectedly felt a trace of guilt and regret in his heart.

Towards both Lu Qingyan and Gao Jing.

He shook his head to get rid of the messy thoughts before gazing at the nightclub’s complex and confusing lights, his entire body slumped on the soft leather of the booth.

He stared at the dazzling light until the lights hurt his eyes.

And then he stared longer.

Something knotted in his chest. He clenched the bottle so tightly that his knuckles turned white. His arm twitched—he wanted to throw it, to hear it shatter into a thousand jagged pieces across the floor.

But he didn’t.

He just drank again, letting the bitterness flood his mouth, fill the emptiness inside.

He watched the happily laughing men and women on the dance floor, and the longer he looked at them, the more dazzling their loud laughter and close intimacy became.

It made him all the more aware of how alone he was.

He squeezed the bottle tightly as he resisted the urge to fling it across the ground.

He drank another large mouthful.

A sharp and bitter taste permeated the surface of his tongue.

Lu Mingxuan glanced at the emptiness beside him and suddenly felt that there was a feeling of suffocation spreading from the tip of his heart.

The amount he drank couldn’t be measured and when he was being sent home by Haizi and the others, he was already fading out of consciousness.

After Haizi and the others sent him back to his condominium building, they were still a little worried.

They wanted to personally send him back to his condo, but he frowned and shook them off.

He staggered his way into the elevator before arriving at his door.

He went inside and took off his shoes before stumbling into the hallway.

It was already the middle of the night and the nightscape of the city could be seen through the large floor-to-ceiling window in the living room of the apartment.

The city lights spilled in through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, painting the white walls in lonely streaks of blue and gold.

Normally, he appreciated the quiet.

But tonight, it pressed on his chest like a weight.

This apartment was considered to be his own, and he usually found it quite peaceful as there was no one to disturb him. But at this moment, it only felt lonely and desolate.

As he slowly entered, Gao Jing’s screams echoed in his mind at this moment for some reason.

"Lu Mingxuan, let’s see how many people end up staying by your side!"

His mind was incredibly dizzy as if gods and demons were at work.

He closed his eyes.

The words burrowed into his skull, sharp and true.

How many people had stayed?

He tried to think of names. Faces.

All he saw were shadows.

He frowned as he remembered back to the days when Ivy and Lu Jing would quarrel

When he was a child, he seemed to have been hailed by others as intelligent and eager to study.

He even started elementary school early, but later, due to his constant involvement in fights, he had to repeat a year, which was how he ended up in the same year as Lu Qingyan.

During that period of time, Ivy and Lu Jing quarreled everyday over trivial matters.

Lu Qingyan was enrolled in a kindergarten with a daycare-like system at the time, so she only knew how to chase after others and play everyday, with no clue of what was happening at home.

It seemed as if, from the moment he became old enough to remember things, all that he heard and saw were the dirty and dark side of his family.

He went from being anxious and worried that the family would fall apart, to becoming desensitized and hoping that everything would end faster.

Later, when they decided to separate, Ivy had expressively glanced at him once before she led away the young and obedient Lu Qingyan without looking back.

Lu Mingxuan remembered that single glance for more than ten years of his life.

It even appeared in all his nightmares causing him to wake up in cold sweat.

That look had said, "You were never the one I wanted."

He remembered that look better than any birthday or holiday. It haunted him. Returned in his dreams. Made him bolt upright in the middle of the night, gasping for air, drenched in sweat.

What Ivy wanted was a bright and obedient child who will follow her orders, a rebellious and disobedient child like him will only make her lose face.

What Ivy wanted was Lu Qingyan.

And somewhere along the line, the anger toward Ivy warped—twisted into a quiet resentment aimed at the one she took with her.

At Lu Qingyan.

She had Ivy’s eyes. Her softness. Her smile.

She had everything that wasn’t offered to him.

He hated how perfect she was. Hated how loved she was. Hated how she had a place in a world that spat him out the moment he stopped being convenient.

He didn’t know if what he said earlier to Gao Jing, to Lu Qingyan—if any of it had crossed the line.

He didn’t know when his hatred stopped making sense.