What's going on here?
Just now, that difficult Great-Aunt, upon seeing Chen Liuyue, said in a polite tone:
"Liuyue has grown more and more beautiful. I always said you didn't look like your parents at all. Turns out you're the golden phoenix who was switched at birth in the big city."
Chen Liuyue remembered what she used to say to her:
"You don't look like your dad or your mom. Could it be you're a bastard child who was switched?"
That very night, she opened the door to her chicken coop, and the next day all the chickens were gone.
Later, Great-Aunt said to Jin Minjia:
"When you were little, I gave you ten yuan pocket money, and you couldn't even spend it all in a week."
"Now you give Liuyue ten yuan every day. You're really spoiling that child."
Liuyue smashed the light bulb on her porch and later deliberately scattered several uneven little stones on the ground.
When Great-Aunt got up at night, she stumbled, fell, and chipped a tooth.
After that,
whenever Great-Aunt said anything to Jin Minjia about Liuyue,
she would have a streak of bad luck.
Old folks are superstitious; she thought the girl was possessed by an evil spirit, that they clashed.
Gradually, she didn't dare say anything anymore, nor meddle.
Looking at the old woman before her with her front tooth gap now showing,
Chen Liuyue said with a smile, "Yes, Great-Aunt has good eyes. Have you been well lately?"
Great-Aunt shrank back slightly, nodding repeatedly.
"Good, good, good, no need to worry about me, child. You stay in the big city, don't come back to our poor little village."
Her look was as if the other person was some kind of plague, to be avoided at all costs.
Chen Ruanruan was dumbfounded.
She couldn't help saying, "Great-Aunt, you're so good to Liuyue."
Chen Liuyue curved the corners of her lips.
"Great-Aunt, did you hear that? Sister Ruanruan means you haven't been good enough to her."
"You should 'care for and concern' her more!"
Chen Ruanruan grew anxious, waving her hands repeatedly, saying, "No, no, no! That's not what I meant."
She wanted to drag me down with her.
She should consider if she even has the capability.
The relatives noisily gathered all afternoon.
They planned to have dinner together at the Tao family home.
Before evening even arrived, Chen Liuyue found Tao Tian and Jin Minjia, saying she had something to attend to and needed to leave first.
"You're leaving already?" Jin Minjia couldn't believe it.
Chen Liuyue nodded and said:
"Yes, I was never the Tao family's daughter to begin with. Staying here might make Sister Ruanruan uncomfortable."
"It'll be better for you to get acquainted once I'm gone. Besides, I see all the relatives really like Sister Ruanruan."
It did sound somewhat reasonable.
Chen Liuyue added:
"And besides, Brother is here keeping Sister Ruanruan company now, so I'm not worried at all."
"Auntie Jin, Father Tao, I'm off. No need to see me out. We'll meet again if fate allows!"
She waved her hand, her movements carefree.
Chen Ruanruan, who had just managed to extricate herself from the crowd of relatives and heard the last few sentences, rushed forward to grab her.
Chen Liuyue nimbly dodged.
"You can't leave!" Chen Ruanruan said with grief and indignation.
Chen Liuyue waved at her and strode out.
"This is the Tao family home. I'm not surnamed Tao, so I should leave."
"Sister, I'll be waiting for you back at the Chen family."
Seeing this, Chen Ruanruan tried to chase after her but was grabbed by Jin Minjia, who said:
"What are you doing?! Her surname is Chen, she's not really your blood sister."
Chen Ruanruan very much wanted to say, My surname is Chen now too.
But she was afraid saying that would earn her a scornful look from Tao Tian and Jin Minjia.
So she said with a sob in her voice, "I just can't bear to part with Liuyue."
Tao Tian also expressed surprise, "You, child?! I thought you being nice to Liuyue was an act. Could it be genuine?!"
Jin Minjia added:
"Stop crying, you'll cry all your good fortune away."
"It's only a week in the hometown. You'll see Liuyue as soon as you go back."
"These few days, stay properly with your dad and mom. We won't treat you poorly!!!"
Chen Ruanruan felt like crying but had no tears.
She could only silently comfort herself: At least, even if Chen Liuyue left, Brother is still here with me.
...
Wei Miao opened the passenger door, asking curiously, "Leaving just like that?"
Chen Liuyue nodded.
"I came to watch the show, not to really suffer alongside Chen Ruanruan."
"Now that it's about over, let's go back."
"Anyway, I won't be coming back to this place ever again!"
She said decisively, nodding, and got into the passenger seat.
Wei Miao nodded, started the ignition, and set the car in motion.
The sky gradually darkened. As he drove out of the village, his car passed a low-key Rolls-Royce coming the other way.
He thought with surprise, "This Tao Village has hidden dragons and crouching tigers. A luxury car driving in so late."
But a moment later, another thought struck him.
That's not right!
The driver just now looked like a chauffeur. Could the person in the back seat be Qin Xuanye?
At this thought, he pressed down harder on the accelerator.
Let's go, let's go quickly. Must not let that ill-omened man catch up to my Yueyue.
Chen Liuyue, who had been resting with her eyes closed in the passenger seat, slowly opened her eyes and tilted her head slightly.
She asked puzzledly, "Why are we speeding up?"
Wei Miao said without changing his expression, "There are no good hotels in the town. I want to drive to the county town so you can stay somewhere more comfortable."
Chen Liuyue nodded in satisfaction. "Good."
Pretending she hadn't seen through his lie.
When they passed that car moments ago, she had glimpsed the man in the rear window.
Her ex-boyfriend.
...
Night fell.
Qin Xuanye, sitting in the back seat, woke from his sleep, rubbing his drowsy eyes.
A whole day in the car had left him sore and stiff.
He leaned forward and asked the driver, "Aren't we there yet?"
The driver quickly replied, "Almost there, just five more minutes, young master."
After saying this, he paused.
The driver thought to himself, when we entered the village just now, we seemed to pass a Cullinan going the other way. The driver looked a lot like the young master of the Wei family.
"What is it?" Qin Xuanye asked.
Forget it, less trouble is better than more.
The driver shook his head repeatedly. "It's nothing, young master. Would you like the window opened a bit? It's a little stuffy in here."
Qin Xuanye nodded. "Sure."
The window rolled down halfway, and the night breeze blew in through the gap.
It also helped Qin Xuanye wake up a bit more.
He was planning to lay his cards on the table with Chen Ruanruan. He wanted to tell her about his past relationship with Liuyue.
Of course, the most important thing was,
he wanted to win Liuyue back.
Full of confidence, Qin Xuanye got out of the car, asked a passerby for directions, and found the gate of the Tao family home.
He knocked.
The door opened.
It was Chen Haotian who answered.
Qin Xuanye was shocked: "..."
Although somewhat displeased to see him, Chen Haotian still stepped aside half a body's width and said,
"At least you have some conscience as a fiancé. You heard Ruanruan was being bullied and rushed over too, right?"
Qin Xuanye: "Huh? What?"
At that moment, Chen Ruanruan's voice came from behind.
"Brother, who is it? Did Liuyue come back?" Her tone was full of hope.
Who would have thought there'd be a day when Chen Ruanruan would so eagerly await Chen Liuyue's return.
Chen Haotian shook his head. "No, it's Qin..."
Before he could finish,
Chen Ruanruan caught sight of Qin Xuanye, travel-worn and standing outside the door. Seeing his tired expression, she was deeply moved.
Her voice full of pleasant surprise:
"Xuanye, you came to find me?"
"I knew it, you were still worried about me in your heart."
As she spoke, she spread her arms wide and stepped forward to embrace him.
