Chapter 269: Cursed by Kin
Liu Xiangyi kept refusing, making Xu Youyou feel increasingly uneasy.
Although Xu Fang still spoke gently, she couldn’t help but think Liu Xiangyi was being ungrateful. “Xiao Liu, once you miss an opportunity like this, it’s hard to come across another. Do you really think someone like Miss Xu would deceive you?”
Liu Xiangyi shook her head vigorously. “Miss Xu just saved me, and she’s also Teacher Song’s boss. Of course I trust her. It’s just… it’s just…”
Seeing Liu Xiangyi looking so conflicted and distressed, Xu Youyou wasn’t angry. Instead, she asked, “Xiao Liu, do you have some difficulty you can’t talk about? Would you be willing to tell me?”
Liu Xiangyi nodded lightly, then explained with a bitter face, “Miss Xu, I have terrible luck. I’m a company jinx.”
“Company jinx?” Xu Youyou had never heard of such a thing before.
“Wherever I work, that company goes bankrupt. The longest one lasted only three months. I’ve only been out of university for two years, and my resume is already filled with job experiences. If I could find a job back home, I wouldn’t have rushed over here just because a roommate suggested it.”
Xu Youyou was dumbfounded. “That accurate?”
Liu Xiangyi frowned miserably and nodded pitifully.
After hearing the whole story, Xu Fang quickly said to Xu Youyou, “Boss, there are some things we really shouldn’t go against. It’s better to believe in them than not.”
Xu Fang said this because her current high salary completely depended on Xu Youyou. If anything happened to Xu Youyou’s company, she would genuinely panic!
Xu Youyou also understood the importance of not challenging the supernatural. Even if she hadn’t seen direct attacks, the protective shield she relied on last time had really been broken, and the system wouldn’t lie to her.
Even Liu Xiangyi said, “Miss Xu, I’m truly grateful you think so highly of me, but I can’t bring harm to Teacher Song. You’re so good to him, and I hope he stays successful forever.”
Xu Youyou didn’t expect that Liu Xiangyi’s reason for refusing also involved Song Zhibai.
She looked at the system interface — the task was still marked as incomplete.
There’s a difference between a task being incomplete and being unsettled. The Paris mission last time was technically completed but remained unsettled because she hadn’t fully cleaned up the trouble.
Now Xu Youyou guessed that because Liu Xiangyi hadn’t agreed to join, the system still considered the “picking up the scraps” task incomplete.
“Can you tell me about any strange things you’ve experienced growing up?” Xu Youyou asked.
Liu Xiangyi said, “There’s nothing particularly strange.”
“Something like companies collapsing around you?” Xu Youyou pressed.
Liu Xiangyi looked around guiltily but seeing Xu Youyou’s serious gaze, she hesitated for a moment before speaking:
“Miss Xu, I come from a mountainous area. My dad and grandma both strongly favored boys over girls. I’m the third daughter in the family. My mom said when I was born, my grandma thought I was unlucky and would hinder the birth of a grandson. She even wanted to throw me into the river.”
Every time Xu Youyou heard such stories, she couldn’t help but get angry. Xu Fang, who had just been blaming Liu Xiangyi for being a company jinx, now immediately felt sorry for her.
“What’s wrong with having a daughter? Why do people hate girls so much? Your grandma’s heart was too vicious to try and kill her own granddaughter! Now that you’re grown, you shouldn’t acknowledge her at all!” Xu Fang said angrily.
Liu Xiangyi shook her head. “I… I don’t really blame her…”
Xu Fang was furious. “Don’t listen to outsiders saying family must forgive everything. When you face things like this, you should hold a grudge forever! Never talk to her again!”
Liu Xiangyi smiled awkwardly. “I can’t talk to her anymore. She’s been dead for over twenty years.”
Xu Fang was stunned.
Xu Youyou sensed there was more to the story, and sure enough, Liu Xiangyi continued:
“I don’t blame her. When she tried to throw me into the river, she accidentally tripped over her own feet and fell in herself. My swaddling cloth got caught on a tree by the riverbank, and she drowned while I survived.”
Xu Youyou and Xu Fang: …
Their eyes instantly filled with a bit of admiration.
In a way, Liu Xiangyi seemed like a girl of destiny, surviving even in such circumstances.
“My dad saw my grandma die with his own eyes. Though he still thought I was unlucky, he didn’t dare throw me into the river anymore. Later, my mom gave birth to a son, and my dad didn’t look at me with such hatred anymore.”
“My grades were always average. In my third year of middle school, I suddenly improved and barely got into the key high school. But my dad thought the tuition was too expensive and wanted me to quit and work instead.”
Xu Youyou asked, “How did you convince him?”
Liu Xiangyi shook her head. “My dad was very stubborn — he never changed his mind once he decided something. He even picked out a factory for me to work in. His plan was for me to work there for a few years, then marry some guy for a dowry to help my brother get a wife.”
Xu Fang asked, “Was it the factory boss who saw your potential and decided to sponsor you?”
Liu Xiangyi’s expression became strange. “I didn’t get into the factory. That same day, after he made his decision, he went to work at a construction site, and a brick fell from the building and killed him. There were reporters at the scene that day, and the incident made the news. The site boss compensated our family with 300,000 yuan, so I had money to continue my education.”
Xu Youyou felt like she was hearing a dark comedy. Ten years ago, 300,000 yuan would’ve been a fortune for a rural family.
“I don’t know why either. It feels like I really bring bad luck. People around me keep dying,” Liu Xiangyi said sadly.
Xu Youyou now really wondered about her roommate’s survival chances, since the roommate had, after all, tried to harm Liu Xiangyi.
“Have other people died too?” Xu Fang asked.
Liu Xiangyi said, “After graduating high school, I barely got into a key university. In my junior year, my brother dropped out after middle school, started running around with bad crowds, and got into a lot of trouble. He racked up a bunch of debt. My mom wanted me to quit university and marry someone for money to pay off his debts.”
Xu Youyou couldn’t help asking, “And who died this time?”
Liu Xiangyi sighed. “They all died together.”
Xu Youyou: “Huh?”
Xu Youyou felt like Liu Xiangyi was some kind of super-powerful jinx — wherever she pointed, people died.
Liu Xiangyi explained, “One night, they went out — not sure what they were doing — and were hit by a drunk driver. They were thrown dozens of meters and died on the spot…”
