"Wh-what did you say?"
Guan Jixing exclaimed in disbelief. At this moment, his feelings strangely overlapped with Mu Wan's from not long ago—that is, how could this be possible?
However, he wasn't quite so certain.
Therefore.
At this moment, his heart was full of doubt and apprehension. Could it be... could it be that the secret was useless, and Su Ning had nothing to do with the former royal family? But all the logic was so clear...
"I said you're dreaming."
Su Ning remained expressionless, but deep down, her patience had reached its absolute limit—
Dawdling, this was just too much dawdling.
Things have already reached this point, just expose it directly! Then she could teach him a harsh lesson and threaten these onlookers, making it look like a guilty attempt to cover things up.
Once the news quietly spread out.
With this "rumor," her golden reputation for selling grain at low prices would crack. The thoughts of ordinary NPCs were secondary; what mattered was making those plot-important characters and powerful figures suspicious.
She really didn't want to play the good guy anymore!
There were too many obstacles.
The people around also sensed her displeasure, each calculating in their own minds. The atmosphere froze to the extreme. The only outsider, the nurse, lowered her head and wisely chose to keep her mouth shut.
But she still had a doubt in her heart.
This was a delivery room, right?
Why was no one caring about the baby and the mother, instead getting tangled up in some secret or whatever... Even that bruised and swollen man, who seemed to be the mother's husband, hadn't thought to take a single look at the baby.
Pfft—
Su Ning laughed disdainfully. Under the dim light overhead, half of her face was cast in shadow. She crossed her arms and walked toward Guan Jixing.
One step.
"Truly ridiculous."
Two steps.
"Threatening me? I don't accept threats from anyone. 'To realize one's mistakes and correct them is the greatest of virtues'... That's quite a nice saying, but unfortunately, I am never wrong. Even if I'm wrong, I'm right!"
Su Ning had a slender figure, and her voice wasn't loud.
She walked forward.
Behind her, Lin Sen and her subordinates followed silently. Step by step, at first glance, it seemed as if Su Ning was followed by darkness and shadows, reminiscent of a slithering python opening its jaws to swallow people whole.
So there was no third step.
Guan Jixing's face turned deathly pale. Thump, thump, thump, he stumbled back several steps, fierce in appearance but cowardly at heart:
"Don't push me!"
............
"Ding, detected that the host is heartless and rich..."
Su Ning was extremely irritated; she didn't even want to count the zeros behind her reward.
Damn it, I am pushing you!
So just say it already, okay? End this early so she could still make it back for afternoon tea. Su Ning waited for another two seconds, and seeing Guan Jixing still sprouting nonsense, she felt this trip today might be a waste.
Disappointed time and time again.
She would have to put in extra effort again.
"He's the male lead after all, how can he be such a coward?"
System: "..."
Before you complain, do you have a clear understanding of yourself? Look at the others around you, acting like they want to bury their heads in their crotches. Guan Jixing and Mu Wan's courage is already outstanding, okay?
To actually dare to harbor thoughts of threatening you.
In the midst of the stalemate.
A sudden change occurred inside the delivery room. A commotion could be heard from within, "You can't... your body is very weak... don't."
"I want to go out!"
Accompanied by this female voice, Mu Wan appeared, pale and extremely weak. Ignoring everyone, she accurately located the bruised and swollen Guan Jixing and threw herself at him, crying out sorrowfully:
"Jixing, I knew you would come. I was waiting for you inside... It hurt so much, I lost so much blood, I thought I was going to die, but before I died, I wanted to see you one last time."
"It's alright, I'm here."
Guan Jixing hugged Mu Wan with heartache. "If you died, my heart would surely die of pain too. Then, by the Yellow Springs and on the Bridge of Helplessness, we would continue to be together."
The two of them just started exchanging sweet nothings as if no one else was there, and when their emotions peaked, they even started kissing.
The onlookers were dumbfounded.
They had never seen such a scene before! Was the Republic of China era this open? Even if they were a real married couple, they wouldn't just start kissing in broad daylight!
It was truly a breach of public morals.
They couldn't help but look at the Guan family... why weren't they doing anything about it?
The Guan family members lowered their heads in shame.
Only Second Uncle Guan crossed his arms and rolled his eyes hard at the ceiling.
Hugging, whispering sweet nothings, and kissing were actually the better scenarios. There were even more exaggerated ones: crying, arguing—Guan Jixing and Mu Wan could treat any place as a venue for their romance, treating everyone else as mere background props.
Do something? It wasn't like they hadn't tried.
Then they would just be accused of not understanding their love, of not comprehending the sweetness and pain of romance.
"Love cannot be helped."
This was what Mu Wan had shouted with tears in her eyes, adding that because they had never experienced true love, they wouldn't understand.
As for the others, they didn't know.
Anyway, Second Uncle Guan had a dream that very night. In the dream, as if his brain was flooded with water, he also crazily threw the word "love" around... until he was slapped awake by his wife, who said he was screaming nonsense like a hysteric.
After that, he never tried to interfere again.
He was truly terrified.
Su Ning was relatively calm. After all, this was exactly how it was in the original novel. But she didn't expect that when words turned into reality, it would be this dramatic.
She asked the System to record it so she could appreciate it later.
Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Indeed, art comes from life. The outburst of true feelings was something no acting skills could ever beat.
The System proudly stated.
Needless to say, it had already started recording and hadn't missed a single second!
Su Ning gave it a thumbs up.
But she didn't expect that in the next second, the flames of "love" would burn onto her—
"Wait, Jixing, your face!" After finishing their heartfelt confessions, Mu Wan finally noticed Guan Jixing's injuries. Her fingertips trembled with heartache:
"Who hit you? How could they be so vicious? No wonder, no wonder you didn't come in to accompany me. And to think I even blamed you for not caring about me. I was wrong, so incredibly wrong. I didn't realize you were suffering so much outside."
Tears kept streaming down Mu Wan's face.
Ah, this.
Let's not even comment on the dangers of accompanying someone during labor... Everyone thought about it. Did Guan Jixing even try to force his way into the delivery room just now?
It seemed not.
He was too busy going crazy at Su Ning, then his own family proved he had a mental problem, and then that so-called secret came up. Right when the confrontation reached its critical moment, she came out.
Sigh, what a pity.
"It's fine, it doesn't hurt."
Guan Jixing unnaturally looked away, not wanting to dive deeper into this topic. After his greed was scared away, his brain finally returned a little.
Setting aside whether this secret was true or false.
From the looks of it, Su Ning truly wasn't threatened... which meant there was no benefit. Even if he exposed it and made her enemies happy, he didn't know how she would retaliate against him.
It would be better to bide his time.
"How could it not hurt? Your face is completely ruined."
Mu Wan, who loved him deeply, shook her head with tears in her eyes. Yet, a kind of sweetness grew within her. When she was giving birth, it hurt so much, and at the same time, Jixing was also in pain... It was as if heaven deliberately arranged it this way.
Even so, her heart still ached for him.
"Who exactly hit you?"
As Mu Wan spoke, she looked around, her gaze locking onto Su Ning, who exuded a strong villainous aura. Old hatred and new grudges all surged up—
No need to look further, it definitely was her.
Su Ning!
Being glared at with such resentment, Su Ning naturally felt it. Her heart stirred. Instead of explaining herself, she shot Mu Wan a disdainful smile, as if to say, what can you do about it?
Sure enough, Mu Wan erupted.
"Why did you do this? I was the one who offended you. If you have a problem, you should come at me... I get it now, you knew that hurting Ji Xing would bring me more pain, so that is why you did it."
She came to a sudden realization.
Then, she stood in front of Guan Jixing, glaring at Su Ning with protective vigilance and anger.
"That is not how it is..."
Guan Jixing, truly the person who understood her best, realized things were going south and hastily spoke up to stop her.
Su Ning mentally jotted down another mark against him.
Coward.
It was one thing for him to be too scared, but he was actually stopping his wife.
Fortunately, Mu Wan did not disappoint her. "Ji Xing, do not be afraid of her." Biting her lower lip, she turned a hateful gaze to Su Ning and said, "You should learn to let things go! I originally did not want to say anything, but you actually went too far and hurt an innocent person like Ji Xing!"
"I absolutely cannot let you keep pretending to be a good person."
"I am going to expose your true colors."
Su Ning: ......
Great, hurry up and expose it.
To the onlookers, it just looked like Su Ning was completely dismissive. Having their curiosity teased time and time again, the bystanders did not even believe there was a real secret anymore.
Even if there was, it would not be enough to ruin Su Ning's reputation.
And then...
"Su Ning, your biological mother is connected to the royal family of the previous dynasty! Your wealth is not your father's inheritance at all, but rather tied to your biological mother! Moreover, you are not a good person at all; selling grain at low prices was merely a ploy to buy people's loyalty!"
It was an earth-shattering revelation.
