After making the purchase, Sheng Xiao went straight home.
The moment Yang Xixi saw what he was carrying, her eyes lit up. She greeted him with a bright smile, her gaze repeatedly drifting toward the bags in his hands.
Faced with a man as nearly perfect as Sheng Xiao, not to mention his exceptional family background, Yang Xixi had been full of nerves when she first showed up at his door. She had acted exceedingly gentle, terrified that he might see through her deception. But after some time passed, she realized that Sheng Xiao had never suspected a thing.
Only then did she finally relax and begin to let her true nature show.
She was incredibly glad she had listened to her parents and come in place of Su Man. Otherwise, wouldn’t this wonderful life have been snatched away by that little wretch Su Man?
Whenever she thought of Su Man, Yang Xixi’s anger boiled over.
They were cousins, yet Su Man was as beautiful as a water-lily, and even when she wore the old clothes Yang Xixi no longer wanted, they still couldn’t hide her striking looks.
And what about herself? She had spent so much time and money on her face, yet at best, people could only call her pretty in a plain, delicate sort of way.
Su Man had neither father nor mother and lived under their roof, yet the respectable families in the village seemed to have eyes only for her. They were always asking around, openly or secretly, about Su Man’s marriage prospects.
It made Yang Xixi grind her teeth with jealousy. She had badmouthed Su Man plenty of times behind her back, ruining the girl’s reputation in the village.
But it was as if Heaven deliberately favored Su Man. Somehow, it had even sent her such a good marriage prospect.
That day, when Yang Xixi saw Su Man running home with her clothes disheveled and her little face deathly pale, she had assumed that someone had taken advantage of her. She had been so excited that she could barely wait to spread the news.
Fortunately, her father stopped her and told her they should find out exactly what had happened first. After all, they had raised Su Man for so many years. This might be their chance to make a hefty sum.
Just as the family was eagerly preparing to catch the man who had slept with her, they found the letter Sheng Xiao had left behind.
Yang Xixi had been consumed by rage and resentment. She wanted to snatch the letter away and burn it.
But her father had a different idea. He came up with the scheme of switching one bride for another.
After all, Sheng Xiao hadn’t been fully conscious at the time. It was perfectly reasonable that he hadn’t gotten a good look at the person. If everything worked out, the Yang family would truly turn their fortunes around. And Yang Xixi herself would finally get to live a life of luxury!
Su Man had even thought about calling the police, but her father had quickly talked her out of it with a few smooth words.
Fortunately, everything had gone according to plan.
When they heard that Su Man was pregnant, Yang Xixi was terrified that she would come and steal away her good life. After seeing what kind of family the Shengs were and what an outstanding man Sheng Xiao was, Yang Xixi couldn’t bear the thought of returning to that backward, remote mountain village and living a life whose end she could see from the beginning.
So she and her parents had discussed giving Su Man an abortion-inducing medicine, then selling her off cheaply to Wang Yong, the mentally impaired old bachelor who lived at the western end of the village!
Just thinking about how she would soon be living a life of food, clothing, and comfort in the Sheng household, respected by everyone, while Su Man would spend the rest of her life in the village with a fool—
Yang Xixi felt an immense sense of satisfaction.
So what if Su Man was lucky? In the end, she was only good enough to pave the way for Yang Xixi!
At the thought, Yang Xixi’s smile deepened.
The handsome, graceful man standing before her was hers, and everything belonging to the Sheng family would be hers in the future as well!
As soon as Sheng Xiao stepped inside, he saw Yang Xixi repeatedly glancing at the things he had bought.
He didn’t say much, though he still felt somewhat uncomfortable inside. But he was a man, and he had to take responsibility for his own actions. No matter what kind of person she was, he had to accept the consequences.
Sheng Xiao handed the things over. Yang Xixi happily took them and opened them right in front of him.
The moment she saw the glittering gold necklace and ring, Yang Xixi’s eyes shone.
Back in their village, there wasn’t a single family that could afford to buy gold for a wedding. Once, her family had gone into the city to attend the wedding of a distant relative.
The bride had been wearing a thin gold necklace, and everyone had gathered around her, looking at it again and again. Yang Xixi had wanted to reach out and touch it, but someone had slapped her hand away.
They said her hands were too rough and might damage it.
Her face had flushed with embarrassment. She had understood perfectly well that they looked down on her, but she had been powerless to argue.
But now, she had not only a gold necklace but a gold ring as well. She wanted to put them on immediately and狠狠地打 those people’s faces.
Yet outwardly, she still put on an affected show of reluctance.
“I was only mentioning it in passing. I didn’t expect you to actually buy them. But since you’ve already bought them, I can’t let them go to waste. I’ll take good care of them!”
Sheng Xiao merely gave a noncommittal hum.
Then he went upstairs to change his clothes.
Watching his somewhat cold and indifferent attitude, Yang Xixi felt a knot form in her chest.
Ever since she had come looking for him, Sheng Xiao had always maintained this distant, neither-close-nor-cold attitude toward her. It made her feel deeply uneasy. So she had tried all sorts of opportunities to act spoiled and cause a scene twice, but Sheng Xiao had remained as indifferent as ever.
She could only comfort herself by thinking that this was simply the kind of person Sheng Xiao was. Even if Su Man had come, he would surely have treated her the same way. As long as the two of them got married and he became hers, that was all that mattered.
Once they had been together for a long time, once he got to know her, he would surely fall in love with her.
Meanwhile, Su Man dragged her weary feet along, following the address she remembered until she finally found the residential compound.
A young soldier standing guard at the entrance stopped her.
But she had lost contact with her uncle, Xu Jianguo, many years ago and didn’t have any way to reach him. Su Man could only wait outside the gate.
Night fell. One car after another drove through the entrance. Su Man was hungry and exhausted, and a faint pain had begun to stir in her abdomen.
She carefully stroked her belly, silently praying.
“Baby, be good. Once Mommy finds your great-uncle, everything will be all right. In this lifetime, Mommy will definitely protect you!”
In her previous life, never having the chance to have a lively, adorable child had always been one of Su Man’s deepest pains.
During the times after she had lost her child, she would occasionally think about that baby.
When she had first learned she was pregnant, she had been filled with humiliation. A strange man had forcibly taken her virginity, then abandoned her irresponsibly, leaving her pregnant with his child. Deep down, she had hated that child.
But sometimes, she would wonder: What had the child ever done wrong? Had she been too cruel to that baby? Was that why Heaven had punished her? Punished her by making sure she would never have a child of her own for the rest of her life.
Later, when the truth was finally revealed, the first thing she thought of was still the child who had been aborted.
She had no lingering attachment to the man with whom she had shared that brief encounter. She had simply let go of her hatred toward him.
The people she hated were the entire Yang family—for stepping on her back and sucking the blood from her bones to climb upward, while still forcing her face-down into the mud.
In this life, whether or not that man would take responsibility after learning the truth, she would protect the child in her belly with everything she had!
And she would make the Yang family pay for everything they had done!
She didn’t know how much time had passed when, at last, a car drove by and then stopped.
A tall, broad-shouldered middle-aged man stepped out of the car. With a voice tinged with uncertainty, he called out,
“You’re… Manman?”