Liu Jingyi was talking with Sister Lan beside the counter. There were originally not many people in the State-run Department Store.
But as fate would have it, Chen Biyu’s daughter, who was Liu Jingyi’s nominal older sister, Liu Yunyun, happened to bring her fiancé to shop.
She happened to spot Liu Jingyi, hid behind a pillar, and overheard their entire conversation.
How could Liu Yunyun not know what kind of person Liu Jingyi was!
Spoiled rotten by her mother into being useless, and now she dared to boast that she could do embroidery—it was truly laughable.
A couple of days ago, her mother said Liu Jingyi seemed a bit different, and she had thought it impossible. Now it seemed she was getting stupider, actually spouting nonsense in broad daylight.
It seemed just as her mother said: Leng Yunting wasn't treating her well, or perhaps the Leng Family had indeed run into major trouble, forcing Liu Jingyi to come out and look for work.
When she goes Home, she must tell her mother to keep a close watch on Old Comrade Liu, preventing Liu Jingyi from coming home to cry poverty and ask for money—that wouldn't do.
Seeing that the two were nearly finished talking, Liu Yunyun pulled her fiancé out, feigning great surprise: "Jingyi!"
Liu Jingyi was definitely not the Original Body, but she didn't want Liu Yunyun to notice anything unusual, so she acted as usual.
"I was actually just about to come look for you. Uncle Liu has been mentioning you every day these past two days?"
Liu Jingyi glanced at the man beside her and immediately understood the reason for her visit.
Liu Yunyun was here to show off that she had found a good Husband.
Liu Jingyi truly didn't understand what she had to show off about, considering the man beside her had run off on their engagement day.
Moreover, the man standing here wasn't even worth a pinky finger of Leng Yunting.
Where did Liu Yunyun get the confidence to think that finding the son of a steel mill director would allow her to look down on her?
Liu Jingyi scoffed internally, but her expression remained unchanged outwardly.
She maintained the Original Body's slightly spoiled yet slightly impatient demeanor.
"Oh, it's Older Sister," Liu Jingyi said flatly, with a hint of distance in her tone.
She held no good feelings for this so-called stepsister; in the Original Body's memories, this "good sister" had caused her no end of trouble.
Liu Yunyun seemed not to notice Liu Jingyi's coldness and approached affectionately, glancing over the Fabric and Embroidery thread she was holding: "Jingyi, are you also here shopping? Let me introduce you, this is Comrade Zhang from the steel mill, my fiancé."
"Comrade Zhang, this is my Younger Sister, Liu Jingyi, whom I often mention to you."
The man called Comrade Zhang looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, wearing a brand-new broadcloth shirt and sporting a slicked-back side part. His gaze upon Liu Jingyi held both admiration and a trace of greed.
He smiled and greeted Liu Jingyi: "Comrade Liu Jingyi, hello."
Liu Jingyi merely spared him a glance, too lazy even to twitch the corner of her mouth, considering it a response.
Liu Jingyi's attitude caused the smile on Zhang Yuwei's face to stiffen momentarily. The dissatisfaction was immediately evident, but since they were in the State-run Department Store, he couldn't lash out and had to suppress it.
Seeing this, Liu Yunyun knew instantly that the man was angry. A flash of ruthlessness crossed her eyes, but she quickly plastered on a concerned smile: "Well, Jingyi, why did you buy so much Fabric? Could it be that Brother-in-law... isn't..."
Liu Yunyun deliberately drew out the end of her sentence, implying that Leng Yunting didn't have enough money to support her.
Sister Lan, listening nearby, frowned almost imperceptibly.
She had interacted with Liu Jingyi quite a bit before. She used to think the girl was a bit spoiled, but she was fundamentally decent and knew how to handle people!
Seeing this today, she realized that her whole family were troublemakers, and it was perhaps unavoidable that the Young girl was a bit spoiled.
Especially this so-called "Older Sister," whose every word was barbed, making one extremely uncomfortable.
Liu Jingyi knew perfectly well what Liu Yunyun was trying to achieve—nothing more than provoking her into losing her composure in public to solidify her reputation as "senseless."
If it had been the Original Body, she might have fallen for the trap.
Unfortunately, the core had changed now.
Not only did Liu Jingyi fail to get angry, but she instead curved the corners of her lips into a smile sweeter and more innocent than Liu Yunyun's, her voice softening to be sweet and gentle: "Older Sister, how could that be?"
"Yunting is incredibly good to me. But I can't be too senseless, right? Like Older Sister, always busy dating and shopping?"
"After all, we have our own little life to lead; I shouldn't let Yunting support the entire household alone, should I?"
Though her words sounded light, they struck back like a small, precise knife.
Liu Jingyi was petite, and her speech was so Delicate and Weak that even when saying such things, it didn't sound inappropriate.
The smile on Liu Yunyun's face instantly vanished. Ignoring her fiancé, she pointed at Liu Jingyi and burst out cursing: "You! Liu Jingyi, stop being so passive-aggressive! You still need to find a job, I think you're just..."
"Just what?" Liu Jingyi interrupted before she could finish, dropping the smile and changing her expression, no longer looking Delicate and Weak.
"Older Sister, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't speak nonsense. Be careful of trouble coming out of your mouth. Or do you think the State-run Department Store is a place where you can throw a tantrum?"
Once Liu Jingyi said this, Liu Yunyun dared not throw a fit anymore, especially since quite a few people had gathered around.
Liu Yunyun's face was indescribably ugly now, flushing red and white. She had truly underestimated her; marriage had only made her sharper-tongued.
Zhang Yuwei also felt extremely embarrassed. He tugged Liu Yunyun's arm and said, "Say less, let's go. Do you want to stand here being stared at like a monkey along with me?"
"You!"
Liu Yunyun glared hatefully at Liu Jingyi, her eyes seeming poisoned. "Liu Jingyi, you just wait! Given Leng Yunting's current situation, I wonder how long you can be smug. Even your father won't deal with you, so what are you proud of in front of me? Comrade Zhang, let's go."
Liu Yunyun spat out her threat and angrily dragged Zhang Yuwei away, forgetting what they had originally come to do.
Liu Jingyi watched Liu Yunyun's retreating, miserable figure without the slightest ripple in her heart.
Provocations of this level weren't even an appetizer for her. Liu Yunyun truly was hopeless; she hadn't inherited any of Chen Biyu's cunning or intelligence.
However, Liu Yunyun would certainly go back and embellish the story to Chen Biyu, and that shrewd old woman naturally wouldn't intervene herself, but she could incite Old Comrade Liu.