Once she got the candy, Su Mian immediately took the two kids and turned to leave.
The clothes and bedsheet she had bought were all thin fabrics and had already dried, so she gathered them up, intent on heading straight home.
If she couldn’t afford to pick a fight with him, she could at least stay out of his way, couldn’t she? The male lead was like a haunting spirit that just wouldn’t go away.
Fortunately, Lu Zheng didn’t follow her all the way back to her house.
Had he actually recognized her or not?
If he hadn’t, why would he come all the way from the bustling streets of Xiangcheng to this impoverished shantytown? Could it really just be a coincidence?
Su Mian didn’t believe in that many coincidences. But she wasn’t clinging to him anymore, was she?
So naturally, shouldn’t he be even more eager than her to keep his distance after running into each other?
Could it be… Lu Zheng wanted revenge?
If that was truly the case, Su Mian thought Lu Zheng was a total bastard.
Granted, to push the plot forward later on, the transmigrator had used her body to commit plenty of outrageous deeds. But in Su Mian’s memories, Lu Zheng had definitely sent out ambiguous signals to her back then.
So when it came down to it, Lu Zheng was the one who wanted to keep his options open, double-dipping between two women. And now he wanted revenge on her?
Regardless of what he was planning, Su Mian knew she needed to pack up and get the kids out of here as quickly as possible.
The lead couple possessed narrative luck, after all. How could a villainous side character like her ever win against that?
Setting everything else aside, she was still carrying a lot of extra weight. Gaining it had been easy; shedding it was going to be the hard part.
After spreading the freshly washed sheet over the bed and slipping the duvet cover into place, Su Mian looked at the clean bed and finally felt like the room was fit for human living.
Cradling the filthy old bedding in her arms, Su Mian couldn’t wait a second longer to throw it away.
The two kids were still licking their malt sugar candies, loath to finish them too fast. They took tiny, measured licks so the sweetness would last as long as possible.
Su Mian glanced at them and said, “Dabao, Xiaobao, Mommy is going out to throw some things away. Stay inside and wait for me to come back.”
“Okay, Mommy,” Dabao replied.
After securing the door, Su Mian went out to toss the bedding.
Tossing out the bedding she had slept on for years made Su Mian feel as though a heavy weight had lifted from her shoulders as if she were discarding a sense of guilt that had never truly belonged to her in the first place.
On her way back, right at the corner of the alley, Su Mian’s eyes met those of a man leaning against the wall.
She pretended not to notice him and tried to walk right past, but the man spoke up.
“Su Mian.”
Even though those five years hadn’t been her own lived experience, hearing Lu Zheng call her name still sent a sharp sting through her chest.
What kind of bad joke was this? Was this even logical?
She had already reclaimed her body—why was she still having this reaction around Lu Zheng?
So, Lu Zheng had recognized her all along and was just playing dumb earlier?
It was probably because Chen Zhiyi had been there, and he didn’t want her to overthink things.
Tsk, tsk. What an affectionate, devoted male lead.
Su Mian was still torn on whether to admit her identity, given how drastically her appearance had changed.
Before she could make up her mind, Lu Zheng spoke again. “All these years… it seems you’ve been living a pretty miserable life.”
That single sentence set Su Mian’s temper ablaze in an instant.
She whirled around to face Lu Zheng, letting out a bitterly sarcastic laugh before firing back, “Well, of course! After all, I fell out with my family back then and followed you all the way to a completely unfamiliar place with no acquaintances, with only you to rely on. Once I got booted out of the picture, how could I not end up living a miserable life?”
Su Mian had to admit that her words were fueled by raw emotion.
Over the past two days, memories from the five years she hadn’t personally experienced had been gradually merging into her mind. It made her feel as though she had truly lived through those events, causing her to lose her composure slightly in front of Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng’s voice suddenly turned cold. “I couldn’t bring myself to overlook a woman who bore another man’s children.”
His words made it sound as if Su Mian had deliberately betrayed him and taken a lover on the side.
If Lu Zheng hadn’t been stringing Chen Zhiyi along in the first place—wanting to have his cake and eat it too—would Su Mian ever have resorted to extreme measures like drugging someone?
Still, those events belonged to the original plotline and were driven by forces beyond her control; Su Mian had no desire to dwell in the past.
She was resilient by nature. Since she had regained control over her own life, it was time to make a clean break from her past.
Waving her hand in dismissal, she said, “Forget it, it’s all in the past now. You’re legally married to Chen Zhiyi now, and as for me… as you can see, I’ve hit rock bottom. That ought to satisfy your anger, right? You bought that pocket watch for fifteen hundred this morning, so let’s consider us square from here on out—neither of us owes the other a thing. After all, you gave that pocket watch to me of your own free will back then. Once it was given to me, it became mine, and what I choose to sell is none of your concern. Right now, I’m so broke I can barely afford meals, let alone raise two children. So there’s no way I’m refunding you the money for the pocket watch.”
Su Mian felt it was crucial to state her position clearly first: if he wanted her life, he could try, but the money that had entered her pocket was never going back to Lu Zheng.
To her surprise, Lu Zheng’s expression darkened even further upon hearing her words.
“That’s all?” Lu Zheng asked coldly.
Su Mian froze, uttering an utterly bewildered, “Huh?” before asking back, “Otherwise? What else am I supposed to say?”
“After being apart for so long, don’t you have anything else to say to me?” Lu Zheng pressed again.
For some reason, Su Mian thought she caught a faint trace of expectation in his tone.
After a moment’s thought, Su Mian emphasized once more, “Regardless of what you say today, I am not giving back that fifteen hundred.”
This woman couldn’t open her mouth without talking about money.
By all logic, having reached this point in the conversation, they should have gone their separate ways.
Yet for reasons he couldn’t explain, Lu Zheng simply didn’t want to leave.
“After being separated for so many years, do you really have nothing else to say to me?” Lu Zheng asked yet again.
Su Mian shook her head. As if suddenly realizing something, she asked tentatively, “I wish you and Chen Zhiyi… a long, happy marriage and a house full of children?”
Su Mian speculated that Lu Zheng had come looking for her out of fear that bumping into them today would lead to her making trouble for Chen Zhiyi.
In her current state—penniless and without the encouragement or backing of Lu Zheng’s mother—how could she possibly have the means to do anything to Chen Zhiyi?
Seeing that Lu Zheng showed no sign of leaving, Su Mian just wanted him out of her sight as quickly as possible.
After all, nothing good ever came from crossing paths with the main leads.
Now that she had offered her blessings to him and Chen Zhiyi, would Lu Zheng please stop bothering her?