Yu Lingyi’s gaze at Yu Xiaxing could no longer be described as doting. It was practically benevolent.
She took the initiative to ask, “Xingxing, you used to dislike me because you thought I was a useless mess. What about now? Are you satisfied with how I’ve been doing?”
Yu Xiaxing really hadn’t expected this.
She had thought Yu Lingyi was weak, but it turned out she had this kind of edge to her.
Still, she clicked her tongue and nitpicked, “It took you that long just to break up with him.”
Yu Zheng also looked at his fourth sister. “I don’t get it either. A scumbag like that wasn’t worth wasting your time on in the first place. Why not just slap the evidence in his face from the beginning and be done with it?”
Yu Lingyi looked at her younger brother and sister and smiled faintly, somewhat helplessly. “Because I’m not the kind of person you two are.”
“Actually, on the very first day you had that detective send me the information, I cried alone in the conference room all night.”
“The more I thought about it, the more I admired you. I really wished I could be like you—so direct, no matter what you did.”
“But after thinking it over, I realized I couldn’t do it. I’m not like you… I care too much about my dignity. I felt that putting my humiliation on display would be so embarrassing.”
“I just felt that putting my private life online, publicly presenting the evidence, exposing them, cutting ties with them, and letting netizens curse the scumbag… then watching the scumbag and the other woman slink away in disgrace… wouldn’t actually make me feel satisfied.”
“What kind of memory does the internet have these days?”
“You like dramatic highs and lows, with blood drawn in a head-on clash.”
“But I prefer to cut someone with a dull knife.”
“So in the end, I came up with a solution. I didn’t have to change my personality, and I wouldn’t have to keep letting myself be bullied.”
“I would turn my gentleness and dignity into weapons.”
“So from that moment on, I began making plans and planting an emotional anchor in him… After someone has just paid an enormous price, they find it hardest to accept having nothing to show for it.”
“Right after his surgery, he was physically weak and his psychological defenses were down. At that time, what he needed most was comfort and a sense of meaning.”
“Because after the surgery, he had already made a tremendous sacrifice. He had to find an explanation for that sacrifice.”
“It’s the same reason countless people can’t escape terrible marriages. They can’t bear to give up the enormous sunk costs they’ve paid, whether physical or financial, so they have to brainwash themselves into believing that their spouse still loves them.”
“This morning, when he broke things off with Qiao Tang, that emotional anchor I planted became even more firmly rooted.”
“He’ll suffer forever, because he didn’t simply fail to obtain something. He came within a hair’s breadth of getting it—only to ruin it himself.”
Yu Xiaxing looked at Yu Lingyi and seriously considered her words.
“Coming within a hair’s breadth of getting it” really was the most heartbreaking and painful thing.
It was just like fishing. If a fish never took the bait, then so be it.
The worst was when the fish bit, and you even managed to reel it in—only for it to wriggle free and slip from your hands while you were removing the hook.
That could truly become a lifelong regret. You could be eighty years old and lying in a hospital bed, still slapping your thigh in frustration and saying, “If only I’d used a landing net to scoop it up first…”
This kind of revenge did indeed seem more satisfying than beating up the scumbag and the other woman, then exposing them online and having everyone curse them all over again.
Especially in the entertainment industry… To this day, not a single male director had ever been punished for cheating. Their works would not be boycotted either. Cursing them would only give them more publicity.
Yu Xiaxing had once thought she could only appreciate people whose personalities resembled her own.
But now she was beginning to feel that every personality had its strengths and weaknesses.
It wasn’t necessarily correct to turn an introverted, socially anxious person into someone lively and outgoing.
Nor did a gentle person have to become as unhinged as her to find satisfaction.
Every kind of personality had its own suitable blade.
Yu Xiaxing thought for a long time. Only after a while did she say, “Fine, you’ve convinced me. I can learn a few things from you in the future…”
Planting an emotional anchor. Cutting someone with a dull knife.
Turning a single explosive confrontation into something dark, damp, and long-lasting.
The first cut might not hurt quite so badly, but later, the wound would slowly fester and rot.
Yu Lingyi looked pleasantly surprised. This was the first time she had received her sister’s approval. “Thank you.”
Yu Xiaxing: “…”
Yu Lingyi said earnestly, “Actually, I know that you deserve seventy percent of the credit for this whole thing succeeding. I only deserve thirty percent.”
Yu Xiaxing instantly became wary. “Hey, don’t start with that!”
Yu Lingyi ignored her resistance and continued, “It’s true that, in the beginning, I really was pathetic. I seriously thought about how our relatives and friends all knew about us, the wedding invitations had been sent out, and even the Yu family knew…”
“What would I do if I made a scene at that point? Everyone would laugh at me. I’d become the subject of everyone’s gossip. Back then, I genuinely couldn’t see any way out.”
“So, little sister, thank you for never giving up on me. You kept laying the evidence out in front of me so bluntly. You dug into my heroine and forced me to face reality. You did so much for me. I know all of it…”
Yu Xiaxing: “???”
Could it be that I only dug into your heroine because I happened to need someone famous who didn’t know how to teach?
Yu Lingyi continued, “It was your directness and honesty, along with the detective you found, that pushed me into a position where I had no choice but to face everything.”
Yu Xiaxing: “Six.”
Yu Lingyi: “You don’t have to deny it. I know. You’re always saying that you’re a bad person. But whether someone is good or bad depends on what they do, not what they think.”
Alarms began ringing in Yu Xiaxing’s mind.
This was bad. She had just lost another enemy. That meant one less person who might cause trouble for her in the future.
She lowered her head and began racking her brain for schemes.
How could she squeeze another round of money out of her fourth sister?
Yu Xiaxing was so absorbed in her thoughts that, by the time she came back to herself, she realized she had already followed Yu Zheng, Yu Lingyi, and Yu Zhining into the elevator.
The elevator doors slowly closed.
In the cramped space, the four members of the Yu family stood in two rows.
The two younger sisters stood normally at the front.
The two brothers stood behind them. One leaned lazily against the elevator wall, while the other stood ramrod straight, his brows and eyes cool and distant.
Yu Lingyi was the first to speak. She turned her head slightly and asked her sister, “It’s almost noon. Why don’t we go have lunch together? It’s on me.”
As she spoke, she naturally reached out to link arms with Yu Xiaxing.
Yu Xiaxing had been worrying about not having a chance to extort money from her. The instant Yu Lingyi hooked her arm, she hissed in pain.
Yu Lingyi was startled and immediately let go. “What’s wrong?”
Yu Xiaxing clutched the back of her hand, her expression pained. “Fourth Sister, you hurt the injury on my hand.”
Guilt immediately surfaced between Yu Lingyi’s brows. “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice.”
Yu Xiaxing was just about to take advantage of the opportunity to demand medical compensation.
She had barely opened her mouth when a long, pale hand suddenly reached over from behind and clasped around her wrist.
Yu Xiaxing turned her head. “?”
Yu Zhining lowered his eyes. Holding the hand that had been slightly scalded red, he pressed a fingertip around the edge of the reddened mark and carefully examined the injury.
“You’re faking it,” he pronounced. “An injury this minor wouldn’t hurt at all. It’ll disappear in two hours, as long as you don’t deliberately keep aggravating it.”
