Chapter 450 – Could There Be Another Female Protagonist?
Could there really be a master thief on the loose? Xu Jinning thought back to the few books she had read that Xu Jinwen had written, and none of them mentioned anything about a master thief.
With so many missing and stolen items, it shouldn’t be something that just disappeared into thin air. But if it really had vanished like that…
Xu Jinning couldn’t help but wonder if there was another female protagonist she hadn’t encountered yet.
After all, in the books Xu Jinwen had written, some characters did possess special powers, like Xu Ru.
She had the ability to foresee the future through dreams.
Then there was Murong Jing. She didn’t have any supernatural abilities related to time travel, but she came from the world of cultivation. She crossed over with her memories intact and could still practice the dark arts of her original world.
As for Jiang Xiao, she didn’t have a special power either, but she was a regressor. Regression, in itself, could be considered a form of “golden finger” ability.
If she hadn’t appeared and changed the fate of those destined to be cannon fodder, awakening them, regression could still be seen as a type of special power—after all, she had foreknowledge of future events.
Could there really be another female protagonist?
No, that seemed unlikely.
Even Lin Wangshu, the main female lead, had lost her protagonist halo.
The world should have returned to normal by now.
But just to be sure, Xu Jinning decided to ask.
“Father Changzheng, have you met any unusual women in the provincial capital?”
“Unusual women?” Zhang Changzheng repeated, a little puzzled.
“What do you mean by unusual?”
“I mean, unusual to an unreasonable degree,” Xu Jinning clarified.
Zhang Changzheng thought for a moment and then answered, “No.”
His response was firm.
The most unusual person he had ever met was Xu Jinning herself.
In the provincial capital, he hadn’t encountered anyone else like that.
Xu Jinning thought, ‘Alright, then it probably wasn’t some new female protagonist I didn’t know about.’
In the end, Zhang Changzheng didn’t manage to get any answers from Xu Jinning.
Xu Jinning truly had no leads.
However, Zhang Changzheng had only asked her casually; he didn’t seriously expect to get answers from her. After all, if she could solve the case, what would the police be needed for?
“Big brother, do you remember the educated youth from our village, Fu Zhixu?” Xu Jinning asked her elder brother after Zhang Changzheng left, recalling something.
“Of course, I remember. Didn’t that Educated Youth Fu marry Xu Ci from our village?” Xu Xiangdong was playing with Xiao Yu’er, and he looked up to respond.
When Xiao Yu’er saw that her father and aunt were talking, she quieted down and blinked her big eyes, seemingly listening.
“They both got into university later. After they left, have we heard any news about them?” Xu Jinning asked.
“Yes, right before Qingming Festival. It was the anniversary of Xu Ci’s father’s death, and she brought Educated Youth Fu back with her. Oh, and Xu Ci’s belly was showing, so she must be pregnant,” Xu Xiangdong replied.
Xu Jinning was thoughtful.
Several years had passed.
Xu Ci and Fu Zhixu were still together. Did that mean their relationship had withstood the test of time and hadn’t been destroyed by Xu Ru or Fu Zhixu’s mother?
Xu Jinning remembered the plot, where Fu Zhixu’s mother and Xu Ru’s interference eventually led to the loss of one of Xu Ci’s babies, while the surviving one was raised to mistakenly think of someone else as its mother.
She recalled the wedding of Fu Zhixu and Xu Ci as well.
At the time, it seemed like she was reflecting on their storyline and silently thinking about their future according to the plot.
If, from the start, she had been mind-read by one of the “cannon fodder” characters…
Did that mean that at the wedding, Xu Ci—or perhaps Fu Zhixu—no, it could only have been Xu Ci who read her mind?
After all, in the original plot, Fu Zhixu eventually turned into a scumbag.
So, it must have been Xu Ci who read her thoughts.
Therefore, she made changes to the future.
She might have chosen to delay having children, opting to attend university and focus on her career first.
As for Fu Zhixu…
Xu Ci might still have been reluctant to part with her feelings for Fu Zhixu, or perhaps the events of the plot hadn’t unfolded yet, so she gave Fu Zhixu another chance.
By now, several years had passed since their marriage.
They should have graduated from university long ago.
And they were still together.
This suggested that Fu Zhixu’s love had withstood Xu Ci’s test?
Xu Jinning thought it must be the case.
Then…
“Big Brother, what about Xu Ru from our village? Why haven’t we heard anything about her?”
In recent years, since she had gone away to university and rarely returned to Qinghe Village, Xu Jinning had paid less attention to people in the village.
However, Xu Ru was the female protagonist in one of the books.
Moreover, she was a protagonist who could foresee the future.
Logically, she should have made some waves in the past few years, but there had been no news about her.
Xu Xiangdong looked at Xu Jinning in surprise, not expecting his younger sister to be interested in her.
But he did know about her.
“It’s normal that you haven’t heard anything about Xu Ru,” Xu Xiangdong paused, lowering his voice, “Xu Ru went mad two years ago.”
Xu Jinning: !!!
“What? She went mad?!”
Xu Jinning had imagined many possibilities but had never considered that Xu Ru could have gone mad.
“Yes, she went mad and was subsequently confined at home by her family.”
Through Xu Xiangdong’s explanation, Xu Jinning finally understood the situation.
Combining what Xu Jinning knew with the situation:
It turned out that Xu Ru, who originally believed she had the ability to foresee the future, intended to use this gift to disrupt the relationship between Fu Zhixu and Xu Ci.
She had used her foresight to manipulate many things.
Xu Ru’s premonitions predicted events that matched the original plot of the book.
But…
Since Xu Ci had heard Xu Ru’s thoughts and made changes, things had likely shifted as well.
This caused Xu Ru’s premonitions to diverge from reality, resulting in repeated failures that didn’t match her visions.
This discrepancy made Xu Ru question her own sanity and her abilities.
Moreover, as the halos of the protagonists faded, Xu Ru lost her own protagonist halo.
She became an ordinary person.
At not yet twenty years old, Xu Ru couldn’t cope with the stark contrast between reality and her visions.
She wished reality would align with her dreams, but instead, it veered in the opposite direction.
So…
Xu Ru, unable to handle the psychological strain, went mad.
She started speaking in a delirious manner, with her reality and dreams becoming mixed up.
Consequently, Xu Ru’s family confined her at home.
Originally, Xu Ru’s family had treated her poorly. They valued sons over daughters, keeping Xu Ru around only to assist the family before marriage, to exchange for a bride price, and to support her family’s brothers after marriage.
Now that Xu Ru had gone mad…
A mad person was unlikely to fetch a high bride price.
Moreover, her family feared that others would learn about Xu Ru’s condition and be reluctant to marry into their family or to marry Xu Ru’s brothers.
Naturally, they had no intention of taking Xu Ru to a hospital for treatment.
They considered it a waste of money.
