Huo Yaochuan simply couldn't bear to watch any longer.
"Feng Xiaoman, stop making a scene! Otherwise, I'll use my own methods to make you understand who you can afford to offend and who you cannot."
Feng Xiaoman's body trembled slightly. She muttered to herself, as if trying to brainwash her own mind.
"It's not true. You still like me. You're just temporarily bewitched by Jiang Liuyue right now."
"When you come to your senses, you'll realize the person you love the most is actually me."
Huo Yaochuan unleashed his full sarcastic prowess.
"Like you for what?"
"For being ugly, fat, or for being a liar?"
"Feng Xiaoman, you are utterly worthless in my eyes."
Feng Xiaoman took half a step back in disbelief, her gaze filled with hatred shifting towards Jiang Liuyue instead.
"It must be you. You're the one who bewitched Yaochuan."
"Tell me I'm right."
Jiang Liuyue looked at her with cool indifference.
"Feng Xiaoman, why can't you just admit your own faults?"
"No one forced you to send your roommate's photos to your online boyfriend."
"No one forced you to lie."
"Or to rack your brains trying to maintain a falsehood."
"A relationship that starts with a lie... was never real to begin with."
Feng Xiaoman shook her head vigorously.
It wasn't like this.
Ever since breaking up with Yaochuan, she had dreams every night.
In those dreams, she had also deceived Yaochuan with fake photos, but he forgave her anyway, and later they lived happily together.
As for Jiang Liuyue?
She was forcibly dragged back to the small town by her sexist grandmother and never returned to the big city.
Their futures no longer intersected.
In a daze, Feng Xiaoman clutched her head tightly.
Jiang Liuyue paid her no further mind.
Turning to Huo Yaochuan, she said, "Let's go."
Grandma Jiang started cursing loudly, "You wretched girl, are you just going to run off with this man now?"
Just then, Mother Jiang returned home from grocery shopping.
Seeing the tall, handsome man beside her daughter and her mother-in-law's cursing demeanor, she let out a sorrowful sigh.
"Enough, Mom. This is a matter for the young people."
Grandma Jiang turned to berate her, "It's all your fault! Not only could you not bear a son, but this wretched girl has such a big head, going off to university and not coming back to be filial to her parents after studying."
"Who knows what kind of disgraceful things she's doing out there!!!"
Huo Yaochuan couldn't help but retort,
"Grandma Jiang, Xiao Yue works very hard."
Grandma Jiang pursed her lips and said, "Xiaoman told me all about it. Singing for money on the phone, how shameful."
Huo Yaochuan's icy gaze swept over Feng Xiaoman, who was crouched on the ground.
She couldn't help but shiver from head to toe.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
Why was Yaochuan looking at her like that?
Jiang Liuyue let out a cold laugh.
"Yes, I do sing for money!"
"The money I earn is for my mother to spend. If you find it shameful, old woman, you'd better not use a single cent of it."
As she spoke, she pulled out a thick stack of cash wrapped in a large red envelope from her pocket and handed it to Mother Jiang.
"Mom, take this."
Mother Jiang instinctively refused, "Child, you're struggling to make a living in the big city, often not knowing where your next meal is coming from. Keep whatever money you have for yourself."
"Don't worry, I have money," Jiang Liuyue pushed the money back.
Just as Mother Jiang was about to refuse again, a gleam appeared in Grandma Jiang's eyes, the previous image of the venomous, cursing old woman completely gone.
The wrinkles on her face gathered into a smile as she said to Mother Jiang,
"The girl is being sensible and giving it to you. Why refuse? You'll push your good fortune away."
"Take it, take it quickly!"
Jiang Liuyue directly stuffed the red envelope into Mother Jiang's pocket.
Without even a glance at Grandma Jiang, she said decisively,
"Keep this money safe, and remember to spend it on yourself."
"Some people look down on this money I earned from singing. We mustn't let her feel ashamed in her old age, so not a single cent of this is for her to spend."
Grandma Jiang looked embarrassed.
Her attitude did a complete one-eighty.
Her eyes gleamed.
The red envelope this wretched girl gave her mother was much thicker than the few hundred yuan Feng Xiaoman had given her.
It seemed her own granddaughter was the promising one after all.
Jiang Liuyue didn't care about her change of heart. This was, after all, the last time she would be returning to her hometown.
Before parting, Mother Jiang saw her off to the car.
"Don't come back anymore. That friend of yours, Feng Xiaoman, is no good."
"The whole town is saying you stole her boyfriend."
Jiang Liuyue nodded and said, "Alright. Call me if anything happens. I'll send money back for holidays."
Mother Jiang agreed.
The mountain road was rugged, and the car jolted on the return journey, but Jiang Liuyue remained silent the whole way.
A trace of heartache flickered in Huo Yaochuan's eyes.
He couldn't help but ask,
"Have they always treated you like this since you were little?"
Jiang Liuyue was taken aback for a moment, then curled the corner of her mouth into a smile.
She asked, "Who are you talking about?"
"My grandmother or my mother?"
"One has always favored boys over girls, resented me for not being a grandson, and treated me like an enemy."
"A materialistic old woman with a sharp tongue. She always used filial piety to pressure me, but now, it's useless!"
"As for my mother, she's a pitiful person too."
"When I was little, the family was poor. In the first few years after she married into the family, Grandma Jiang tormented her relentlessly. She had to work and manage the household."
"She took many folk remedies trying to have a son, but unfortunately, she never had another child."
"With her husband blaming her and her mother-in-law scolding her, bearing so much pressure, it was inevitable she would take some of her frustration out on me, her daughter."
"You can't say she treated me well, but she wasn't bad either. It's just like this... maintaining a faint mother-daughter bond is enough."
Her tone was flat, as if she were talking about the nice weather.
But how much bitterness was contained within, only she herself knew.
Huo Yaochuan finally understood her.
"So you worked desperately to get into the music department of S University, but after graduation, you didn't choose to teach or pursue a professional path. Instead, you became a singing streamer."
"You want a lot, a lot of money."
Jiang Liuyue made no attempt to hide the ambition and desire for money in her eyes.
"That's right! I like a lot, a lot of money."
"To put it bluntly, I became a streamer on Douyin to find a rich 'big brother'."
"I don't want to live that kind of hard life from my childhood ever again."
"You must look down on me a lot, right?" As she said this, a hint of vulnerability inevitably surfaced in her eyes.
But it was gone in an instant.
Immediately, she curled her lips into a bright, dazzling smile and said,
"It doesn't matter. I don't like you either, anyway."
Huo Yaochuan suddenly stopped the car.
His dark eyes fixed on her intently.
Jiang Liuyue shrank back fearfully and whispered,
"Why did you stop the car?"
"I just said I don't like you. You're not going to kill me to silence me, are you?"
"That's a bit much..."
Listening to her bizarre train of thought, Huo Yaochuan helplessly tapped her forehead lightly with his fingertip.
He cupped her face in his hands.
His tone serious, he said,
"Who said I look down on you?"
"Listen carefully."
"Every version of Xiao Yue makes up the one and only Jiang Liuyue."
"And I like you."
At the same moment, the system's voice sounded in her ear.
"Congratulations, host. Huo Yaochuan's favorability has reached 100%. Mission accomplished."
