"What?"
Mu Wan felt her heart shatter. Covering her ears with her hands, she shook her head frantically and forced a smile at her lover:
"It's not what she said, right? There is no Chen Lingling, no one else. It's just that you and I are connected by our hearts, and you came to the hospital under heaven's guidance."
"Right?!"
The pitch of those last three words was extremely high.
Obviously, she was on the verge of a breakdown. Chen Lingling—of course Mu Wan knew this name. It had suddenly started appearing in Ji Xing's mouth...
At first, it was an indignant dislike.
Because of winning or losing a debate competition, or a dispute over articles published in the literature club, or friction generated when they co-hosted speeches...
Originally, she had been gentle, persuading and guiding him like a proper wife.
Using humorous language to ease her lover's unhappiness.
And then.
Then, it slowly changed.
The name Chen Lingling appeared more and more frequently from Ji Xing's lips. His rejection turned into admiration, sighs of emotion, and appreciation... even, even a trace of subtle affection.
Mu Wan, of course, noticed it.
She loved Ji Xing.
She loved him to the bone, so how could she not notice his changes?
She had cried and argued over this. She had even secretly gone to see that Miss Chen—very beautiful, very confident. Whether smiling or not, she resembled a lily, but one growing freely and brilliantly in the sunlight...
"Calm down first."
Guan Jixing unnaturally looked away, but his face was forcefully turned back by a pair of hands. A resentful, desolate female voice, tinged with a sob, rang out:
"No, I don't want to calm down. I have been calm for a very, very long time. Right now, I just want to go crazy. Tell me, is what Su Ning said true?"
After a stretch of dead silence.
"Yes."
Guan Jixing nodded with difficulty, his hands clenched tightly. "I came to the hospital to see Chen Lingling, but it's not as filthy as Su Ning implied at all. I was just acting out of camaraderie as classmates, I just couldn't bear it..."
Slap—
A familiar slapping sound.
The one who struck was actually Mu Wan. Her hand was trembling, tears were falling from her eyes, and her expression was filled with profound grief, but that slap landed solidly on Guan Jixing's face.
At this, everyone was stunned.
Even Su Ning was shocked, though only for a second before she regained her composure. It was true that Mu Wan loved Guan Jixing and thus didn't want him to suffer even a little bit.
But it was also precisely because "love" held a supreme, inviolable status in her heart.
That was why she delivered this slap.
"Ding..."
The System popped up using a reward notification as an excuse. It coughed twice to cover it up, then sought answers from its host—in the original novel, Guan Jixing and Chen Lingling had gone much further than this.
Strolling under the moon, hugging, mentioning each other in their published articles, being hailed by the outside world as a perfectly matched couple...
At that time, even though Mu Wan was heartbroken.
She still hadn't hit Guan Jixing!
"It's very simple."
Su Ning said softly, "You overlooked a few conditions. First, Mu Wan just gave birth. Her hormones are fluctuating violently, so her emotions are already unstable."
"Second, she just bravely stood up to me for the sake of love. Right when she was most moved by her own actions and believed in love the most, she suddenly found out her lover actually had someone else in his heart... Tsk, tsk, tsk, it's practically a world-shattering collapse."
"What else?"
She paused for a moment. The System waited, but couldn't hold back from pressing further.
"And then there's our presence, of course."
Su Ning smiled, casually looking not far away as the "Listen to me explain," "I won't listen, I won't listen," and "Believe me, the one I love is still you" drama began.
She tilted her head and clicked her tongue lightly.
"Can't you tell? The more people there are, the more outwardly expressive and agitated this pair of lovebirds becomes, easily leading them to perform even more exaggerated actions."
"Just like acting in a TV drama."
"I know, it's a histrionic personality!" the System happily rushed to answer.
"Not exactly accurate. They aren't performing all the time, they just have a particularly strong desire to express themselves when it comes to love, wanting the whole world to see it. Look closely, it's like this many times in the original story."
The grander the scene, the "thicker" their love becomes.
She and the System were sorting out the logic.
Over there, the situation had also reached its climax. Seeing that he couldn't convince Mu Wan, Guan Jixing's eyes turned bloodshot as he shouted, "Why won't you just believe me? You're hurting me so much. Since it's come to this..."
He raised his hand and gave himself a slap as well.
Hiss.
The crowd gasped again, unwilling to look away for even a second. This drama was better than the cinema, and it was free!
At the same time, regarding what Second Uncle Guan had said.
They believed even more in the claim that both of them had something wrong with their brains... Mainly because when people thought about it, normal people couldn't do such things; they'd die of embarrassment.
Second Uncle Guan: ...
He silently breathed a sigh of relief. Good thing he was quick-witted, otherwise outsiders would think their whole family was crazy for "love."
That would have been a huge loss of face.
"No!"
Seeing this, Mu Wan's body trembled, and she fiercely grabbed Guan Jixing's hand. "Don't hurt yourself like this. I believe you. I believe you now."
The two hugged each other again.
Seeing that this play was about to end, Su Ning got bored and prepared to leave. But heaven didn't grant her wish, as the little couple rushed towards her again—
"You must be very disappointed."
Mu Wan lifted her head from her lover's embrace. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying, yet they carried a sweet smugness. "Even if you try to drive a wedge between us, Ji Xing and I will break through everything because of love. You don't understand this kind of love."
She looked pitifully at her.
"I finally understand why you can't stand the sight of me and Ji Xing—because you're jealous."
"Even though you have a lot of money, Miss Su, so much that you can't count it, nobody truly loves you. The people around you are only after your money."
"You can only spend your whole life with cold money!"
Su Ning: "..."
Is she blessing me?
This confusion wasn't just Su Ning's; the others also looked at each other in dismay, not knowing what Mu Wan was so smug about. If they had to choose between this kind of "love" and Su Ning's money... they wouldn't need to hesitate for even a second.
They would gladly choose it.
They would gladly spend their whole lives accompanied by cold money!
After a long while, Su Ning finally spoke, though not in response to Mu Wan. Instead, she turned her head and sighed softly to the Guan family, "Before, I thought you were just making excuses to brush me off. I didn't expect them to actually be sick in the head, and it looks pretty serious too."
The onlookers also nodded.
Indeed.
They hadn't fully believed it before either. Now it seemed the Guan family had actually understated it!
The Guan family swallowed their pride and forced smiles, nodding incessantly. Yes, they had said it all along; Ji Xing and Mu Wan simply had something wrong with their brains.
"Sigh, Ji Xing, Mu Wan and the rest, sigh."
Second Uncle Guan sighed with a face full of sorrow.
Everything was understood without being said.
"I originally wanted to have you all kicked out of the fertilizer plant, but since that's the case, forget it." Su Ning spoke casually, and no one doubted whether she could actually do it.
The Guan family broke out in cold sweat.
"As for you two, since you love each other so much, then just keep on loving."
Su Ning's cold gaze finally landed on Mu Wan, receiving a stubborn glare in return. She marveled inwardly; this "female lead's" constitution was the best she had ever seen. She actually showed no signs of collapsing yet.
"Looking down on money?"
"Then I really want to see, without money and without your status as university students, just how deep this love of yours can go."
......
Having dropped those harsh words, Su Ning truly could not bear to stay a second longer. Afraid that she would be contaminated by their so-called love if she lingered, she led her subordinates away from the scene. She planned to head back, tally up the day's harvest, enjoy a delicious meal, and get a good night's sleep.
As she walked around a corner, she ran head-on into a group of foreigners. Su Ning actually recognized the only Chinese face among them. It was that man surnamed Kong. He still had not left Peiping?
"Miss Su..."
Young Master Kong flashed a smile in greeting.
And then—
He was completely ignored.
