Having come to terms with all of this, the anger that Qin Yuji had harbored in her heart gradually faded.
After sitting upstairs for a while, she heard the sound of a car engine shutting off in the courtyard, signaling her father’s return; Qin Yuji quickly got up and went downstairs.
“Daddy…”
Qin Yuji smiled warmly, but upon seeing the couple that followed Qin Zhongsong in, her smile stiffened, and her heart became uncontrollably blunt for a moment.
Eighteen-year-old Qin Yuyan, with her bright eyes and pearly teeth, was laughing as she clung to her boyfriend Han Yifan’s arm; together, they seemed like a match made in heaven.
The Han family was a prominent and wealthy family in M City, and had been family friends with the Qin family for generations; Han Yifan and the three Qin siblings had been childhood playmates and grew up together.
Han Yifan liked Qin Yuji, while Qin Yuyan had affectionately called him “Brother Yifan” since they were young.
The elders of both families were fully aware of the affections between the children, so six years ago, after Han Yifan fell ill and was hospitalized, the Han family proposed an engagement between him and Qin Yuji, which Qin Zhongsong and Liu Huiru agreed to without hesitation.
That year, when fifteen-year-old Qin Yuji held the report card with her top grades from the middle school examination, looking forward to three wonderful years of high school, she was once again brutally confronted with the harsh reality.
In the three years that followed, the girl in bloom transformed into a lab rat nanny.
Han Yifan’s illness was unprecedented, and the experts from abroad hired by the Han family suggested hormone therapy; therefore, to ensure the correct dosage, Qin Yuji became the test subject.
During the day, Qin Yuji had to feed Han Yifan, read to him, and take him out to bask in the sun.
At night, after Han Yifan had fallen asleep, she had to endure physical discomfort and record her body’s reaction to the hormonal injections in her pathological journal.
For three whole years, Qin Yuji went from a delicate girl of a little over 80 pounds to a 150-pound “Dead Fatty,” as the children mockingly called her.
Hard work pays off, and in the fourth year, Han Yifan was cured and discharged from the hospital.
Qin Yuji, who thought her suffering had finally ended, soon realized how naive she was.
The Han family called off the engagement, citing her poor physical appearance as the reason.
Han Yifan’s mother, Su Xiu’ao, said disdainfully and rudely, “Our Young Lady of the Han family, even if not stunningly beautiful, can’t possibly be a fat woman with absolutely no image like you.”
Han Yifan, who had once made heartfelt vows and showed daily tenderness in the hospital, chose to remain silent at that moment.
Qin Zhongsong and Liu Huiru were deeply disappointed, not standing up for her but instead blaming her both openly and covertly.
In that moment, Qin Yuji felt utterly disheartened.
She really wanted to throw the medical reports in their faces and ask them if they didn’t have an ounce of medical common sense, didn’t they know that hormones could cause weight gain?
Was it really because she was gluttonous and lazy that she had ended up like this?
But Qin Yuji soon gave up on this idea.
How could they not understand?
It was only her they didn’t understand.
After her engagement to Han Yifan, her father was promoted one level and became the Secretary-General; without the financial assistance of the Han family, how could that have been possible?
All that had happened was so painful, yet when she thought back on it now, it seemed like a long-forgotten memory, giving Qin Yuji a breath of relief.
It’s over, it’s all over, and that’s good…
Concealing her inner emotions, Qin Yuji greeted him politely yet distantly, “Mr.
Han…”
Han Yifan was taken aback for a moment.
His gaze towards Qin Yuji, while filled with astonishment, was also mixed with many complicated feelings.
Memories, longing, and also, guilt and regret.
After a while, Han Yifan came to his senses and said with self-mockery to Qin Zhongsong, “Uncle, you see, it’s been a while, and Rainy and I have grown apart.”
Qin Zhongsong smiled and looked at Qin Yuji with a hint of satisfaction.
Whatever had happened in the past was in the past, and now, with the Han family interested in pushing forward the marriage between Han Yifan and Qin Yuyan, it was good that Qin Yuji could act this way.