For a moment, Yang Xixi’s face turned deathly pale. There was only one thought in her mind.
It was over. It was over! Su Man was going to take away everything that should have belonged to her!
Yet she didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt. Instead, she was furious.
Why had Su Man come back?
Couldn’t she have just continued obeying them like she always had? Couldn’t she have listened to her parents and married Wang Yong? Wouldn’t that have made everyone happy?
Su Man and He Jinxiu walked in together. Everyone’s attention was focused on them, so hardly anyone noticed the change in Yang Xixi’s expression.
He Jinxiu, however, immediately noticed something was wrong.
Yang Xixi was staring at Su Man with undisguised resentment, which made He Jinxiu extremely uncomfortable and a little confused.
Manman had never said she knew Yang Xixi!
Seeing the murderous look on Yang Xixi’s face, she asked,
“Miss Yang, do you know my niece?”
Only then did Yang Xixi snap out of her emotions. Hearing He Jinxiu’s question, she immediately frowned.
She knew all of Su Man’s relatives. She had one uncle in Kyoto, but when had another aunt suddenly appeared?
“Director He, are you sure you haven’t been fooled by someone pretending to be her? Is she really your niece? There are plenty of scammers these days who like to impersonate other people!”
Yang Xixi couldn’t care about anything else at this point. She desperately wanted to expose Su Man’s identity, preferably getting her thrown out immediately. Then she could find someone to deal with her!
He Jinxiu immediately became displeased.
“How could I not recognize my own niece? It’s true that she lived back in our hometown and we didn’t see each other often, but we have photographs of her. What exactly are you trying to imply?”
Indeed, before coming here, Xu Jianguo had been afraid they might identify the wrong person, so he had specifically mailed a photograph of Su Man to Liao Wenchang and his wife.
Watching Yang Xixi desperately scramble for an explanation, Su Man sneered inwardly.
Yang Xixi was probably terrified right now, afraid that Su Man might reveal some “truth” she shouldn’t.
But if she exposed her now, Yang Xixi would probably turn the tables and accuse her of coveting her marriage and fabricating lies.
After all, Sheng Xiao himself had acknowledged Yang Xixi as his fiancée. Whatever she said would naturally be far more credible than the words of someone who had only just arrived.
After all, who would ever imagine that Sheng Xiao could mistake his own woman for someone else?
Su Man had no intention of exposing her.
She understood that the most important thing was to make Sheng Xiao believe her. Everyone else was secondary.
Because whoever Sheng Xiao believed, everyone else would believe as well.
Yang Xixi, however, would never understand that.
She had gotten so used to taking things away from Su Man that she had come to believe good things—and even good people—were things Su Man ought to willingly give up for her. And if Su Man refused, then she deserved whatever happened to her.
So when Yang Xixi saw Su Man here, she was no longer capable of thinking rationally. Anger and fear had completely taken over her mind.
Su Man reacted first.
Putting on a look of complete surprise, she asked,
“Cousin, didn’t everyone back home say you were going to Kyoto to visit relatives? How did you end up here?”
That single form of address left everyone present stunned.
No one had expected these two women, who seemed to have absolutely nothing to do with each other, to actually know one another.
And Su Man’s reaction was strange too.
This was supposed to be a happy occasion. How could her own cousin have gotten engaged without her knowing? Perhaps she was a distant relative who simply hadn’t heard the news yet.
When Yang Xixi heard her tone, delight immediately filled her heart.
She thought Su Man might simply have stumbled upon this place by accident.
Perhaps she didn’t even know who the man who had slept with her was!
Perhaps she had no idea that Yang Xixi had already used her identity to acknowledge the man as her own.
That made things much easier!
She immediately began explaining.
“Yes. I originally went to Kyoto to visit relatives. I never expected to meet Sheng Xiao by chance. After spending some time together, we both felt that we’d make good revolutionary comrades, and things naturally developed from there. We had originally planned to hold our engagement banquet in Kyoto, but he suddenly received a mission. Before leaving, he said he couldn’t bear to be separated from me, so we decided to hold the engagement banquet here instead.”
“My parents both know about it. They understand the special circumstances of military life and know how difficult it is for soldiers to build and protect our country. They both support me coming here. Maybe they just haven’t had the chance to tell you yet!”
Her explanation sounded perfectly plausible.
Some people even secretly gave her parents a thumbs-up after hearing how understanding they were of military personnel.
Seeing everyone’s reaction, Yang Xixi secretly congratulated herself on her quick thinking.
Then her eyes shifted, and she put on a concerned, almost solemn expression.
“Su Man, I was actually just about to ask you the same thing. You’re old enough to know better, so how can you still be so thoughtless? My parents already told me everything about what happened to you. They raised you all these years without asking for anything in return and even found you a good family to marry into. Not only did you fail to appreciate it, you drugged them and ran away!”
“Do you know how heartbroken and worried my parents are? That family has been causing a scene at their house every day, and my parents don’t even know how to explain things to them!”
“If you have even a little conscience, stop pretending to be someone else’s niece here. We know exactly how many relatives you have. Just go home obediently. Do you really think your own aunt and uncle would hurt you?”
What Yang Xixi really wanted was to reveal that Su Man had become pregnant before marriage and had lost the baby.
But she was afraid that saying too much would expose something and make people suspicious.
The moment she finished speaking, everyone stared at the beautiful girl in shock and began whispering among themselves.
“Oh my God! She looks so decent. Who would’ve thought she’d actually drug her own family? How could someone be so heartless?”
“Exactly! Could she really be pretending to be Director He’s niece? Does Director He even know what she’s really like?”
“Her aunt and uncle raised her and even found her a good husband, and instead of being grateful, she did something like this. If you ask me, someone this ungrateful needs to be taught a lesson, or she’ll become a danger to society!”
The thin, dark-skinned older woman who had badmouthed Su Man earlier was the most enthusiastic in voicing her opinion.
She couldn’t stand pretty, flirtatious-looking women. In her mind, any woman who was too beautiful or coquettish was bound to be trouble.
Someone even boldly called out to He Jinxiu.
“Director He, you’d better keep your eyes open. Are you really sure she’s your niece? What if you’ve brought some troublemaker into the compound? None of us military families would feel safe!”
“Exactly! She even dared to harm the aunt and uncle who raised her. What if she decides she doesn’t like one of us someday and drugs us too? How are we supposed to defend ourselves?”
“I say we should throw her out. This is a military district, after all. If something goes wrong, who’s going to take responsibility?”
As more and more people joined in, Yang Xixi was practically gloating.
Su Man, so what if you showed up right in front of me?
Didn’t I still manage to shut you down with just a few words?
At a time like this, public opinion was extremely important.
Even if He Jinxiu wanted to deliberately protect Su Man, she would still have to see whether everyone else agreed!