"Dongdong, what are you looking at? Come on, you promised to teach me how to cook today."
The exquisitely dressed young woman next to Liu Dongdong, carrying groceries, walked over. Seeing her standing there dazed, she asked curiously.
Liu Dongdong snapped back to reality. She never expected to run into Si Nian here.
She had heard that Si Nian was moving back to the city.
But she didn't think they'd act so fast. She herself had only returned to the city not long ago, and they were already back.
Talk about a small world.
"Huh? Isn't that Si Nian? Am I seeing things?"
The woman rubbed her eyes.
"Jiajia, you know Si Nian?"
Li Jiajia curled her lip. "Of course I know her. We were in the same school when we were kids. But I must be mistaken just now. Didn't we hear she married some country bumpkin and moved to the countryside?"
As she said this, a hint of schadenfreude unconsciously crept into her tone.
Liu Dongdong's eyes flickered.
Right, Li Jiajia was always chasing after Fu Yang, his devoted admirer.
How could she not know Si Nian?
"Didn't you know? I heard she's back in the city."
Li Jiajia was shocked. "What? Back in the city? Why? Didn't she marry into the countryside?"
Liu Dongdong said with a complicated tone, "I'm not too sure either. But after she was kicked out of the Si family and married off to the countryside, she's been looking for chances to come back to the city. Now that Sisi is in trouble and jailed, Comrade Fu Yang is alone... I'm a bit worried...."
Hearing this, Li Jiajia's face immediately changed.
It wasn't just her; everyone in the military compound knew that Si Nian was definitely not the type to give up on Fu Yang easily.
Back then, her relentless pursuit of Fu Yang was notorious, known to all.
Now that Lin Sisi was out of the picture, she must be rushing back to curry favor with Fu Yang, right?
Don't ask why Li Jiajia would think this—because that's exactly what she herself was planning.
It was precisely for this reason that she had befriended Liu Dongdong, who shared similar thoughts.
Of course, Liu Dongdong's pretext was looking after Fu Yang on behalf of the Si family and Lin Sisi.
Fu Yang didn't seem to dislike her that much either. Li Jiajia had privately checked several times and found that Fu Yang would even accept things she sent over.
However, Liu Dongdong was just the Si family's maid, so everything was sent under the guise of the Si family's wishes or in Lin Sisi's name.
So Li Jiajia figured that since even Fu Yang would accept it, Liu Dongdong's cooking skills must be pretty good.
That's why she seized the chance to learn cooking from her.
Li Jiajia's family wasn't from the military compound, but her uncle was a regiment commander in the military.
So she often used this as an excuse to come and go from the compound.
Of course, her own family conditions were also excellent. Her father was a high-ranking official, and the family was quite wealthy.
She was the only daughter, the apple of everyone's eye, showered with affection.
Yet such a privileged young woman fell for Fu Yang at first sight and became fixated on him.
When they were kids and Si Nian was in their class, Li Jiajia always felt overshadowed by her.
Even when she went to the military compound, she always heard people praising Si Nian for being clever.
Even though Si Nian had a bad personality, people only focused on her looks.
Li Jiajia had always been deeply resentful.
Finally, Si Nian was out of the picture.
She thought her chance had come, but then Lin Sisi popped up.
Just when Lin Sisi got into trouble and Li Jiajia thought her opportunity had arrived, Si Nian came running back (gasping for air JPG).
Her expression was indescribably ugly.
Was her path to love really this fraught with obstacles?
At this moment, Li Jiajia felt she was like the tragic heroine from those romance novels she used to read.
Thinking of it that way, Si Nian was that most malicious female supporting character, already married yet still unable to forget Fu Yang.
It was truly despicable.
She absolutely would not allow Si Nian to get close to Fu Yang again.
Let her be the one to uphold justice!
Liu Dongdong, standing beside her, noticed her resentful gaze and lowered her eyes.
Actually, she wasn't sure about Si Nian's true purpose for returning to the city either.
But after learning about her past with Fu Yang during her time in the military compound, she realized that the former Si Nian had genuinely liked Fu Yang.
And Fu Yang's current behavior also seemed like someone who only learned to cherish something after losing it.
But he was held back by pride, plus the fact that Si Nian was already married, so he couldn't bring himself to make a move, which was why he kept everyone at arm's length.
Liu Dongdong wasn't a fool. She had tentatively made the kind of soup Si Nian used to send him once or twice, and he would always give it an extra glance.
So no one was more worried than her, worried about Si Nian's return.
No matter how much money Zhou Yueshen had, he was someone who didn't want children of his own.
Plus, he was so much older and had three adopted sons.
Perhaps Si Nian was just using Zhou Yueshen, that country fellow, to smoothly return to the city.
In these times, nothing was more important than power and status.
Zhou Yueshen might have some money, but compared to Fu Yang's family background, he fell far short.
Even a fool would know how to choose.
Not to mention that Si Nian was Fu Yang's childhood friend who grew up with him. How could she give up so easily?
No matter what, she wouldn't let Si Nian go back.
Of course, she couldn't be too obvious about it herself. As long as she hadn't won Fu Yang's affection, she couldn't reveal her own feelings.
Otherwise, she would definitely be kicked out of the Si family.
And then it would be difficult for her to have any contact with Fu Yang again.
She could only use the people around her.
And Li Jiajia, who had come to her of her own accord, happened to fit the bill perfectly.
"Quick, let's follow them! I want to see where she's living!"
Know your enemy and know yourself, and you can win every battle.
Li Jiajia pulled Liu Dongdong along, sneaking after them.
After turning a corner, they saw Si Nian leading three children into a residential area.
"Old East Street?" Li Jiajia stopped.
Liu Dongdong asked, puzzled, "You know this place?"
Li Jiajia nodded. "Of course I know. This is the old city district. Back in the day, all the important and influential people in our city lived here."
Liu Dongdong's eyes instantly gleamed. "Then the houses here must be very expensive, right?"
Liu Dongdong assumed the Zhou family must be renting a place here.
After all, it was the city. There was no way Zhou Yueshen could afford to buy a house, right?
But she hadn't expected it to be in a place like this.
"Nothing special about it," Li Jiajia snorted coldly. "Although everyone used to live here, now that people have money, they've all moved away. Who still lives in the old city district? We're all in the new district now! I heard it won't be long before the farmers' market and the department store here move over there too!"
"Nowadays, only those without money stick around in a place like this, unwilling to leave."
The new district was developing now. Both the government offices and schools were moving to the new district. This area might be bustling, but the houses were old and dilapidated, not to mention messy and disorganized, poorly managed.
If Liu Dongdong hadn't said the farmers' market here had fresh wild game, she would never have come to such a dirty, messy place.
Nothing impressive about it at all, living in this shabby neighborhood.
Thinking of Si Nian's glorious childhood, Li Jiajia suddenly felt a surge of superiority and lifted her chin triumphantly.
Si Nian, oh Si Nian, who would have thought you'd end up like this one day.
She withdrew her gaze, and in that momentary distraction, Si Nian and the others had already disappeared from sight.
