Su Jiaojiao and Shen Qingyu arrived at a jewelry store.
This was a purely handmade jewelry shop, filled with various novel designs all created by the shop owner himself.
As soon as the two young ladies entered, the young male owner’s eyes immediately lit up, especially when he saw Su Jiaojiao’s exquisite and fashionable attire, his gaze growing even brighter.
“Young ladies, welcome! What kind of jewelry are you looking for? We have everything here,” Chen Heng said, pointing to the jewelry in the display case.
Su Jiaojiao asked, “Boss, today is my eighteenth birthday—my coming-of-age celebration. Do you have any suitable jewelry?”
Chen Heng glanced at her and then pointed to a jade lotus hairpin, saying, “Miss, with your pure and beautiful appearance, untainted like a lotus rising from the mud, this hairpin suits you best. Would you like to try it on?”
Su Jiaojiao nodded and said, “Yes, please take it out for me to try.”
Chen Heng took it out and helped Su Jiaojiao try it on. As he inserted it into her hair, he exclaimed excitedly, “It’s so beautiful! This hairpin is truly perfect for you.”
Su Jiaojiao had simply tied her hair into a high ponytail that day, yet even so, the hairpin added a unique and exquisite touch to her look.
Seeing this, Su Jiaojiao nodded with great satisfaction and said, “Well, boss, I’ll take it. How much is this hairpin?”
Chen Heng replied, “I designed this hairpin three years ago, but I never found the right owner for it. I never expected to meet you today. Since fate has brought us together, I’ll give it to you as a gift.”
“That won’t do,” Su Jiaojiao shook her head. “I can’t accept such a generous gift without reason. Please just name a price.”
Chen Heng nodded and said, “Alright then. Just pay the cost price of one hundred and twenty yuan. The jade itself is quite expensive, so I’ll waive the processing fee. If this were for sale, it would cost at least three hundred yuan.”
Su Jiaojiao nodded, then turned to Shen Qingyu with wide eyes and said,
“Sister, today is my birthday. Didn’t you say you were going to give me a birthday gift? I’ve already picked out the gift. What do you think?”
Shen Qingyu’s pupils contracted. She hadn’t expected that Su Jiaojiao had dragged her to the jewelry store just to make her pay the bill. Anger surged within her.
How could Su Jiaojiao expect her to pay for such an expensive item costing one hundred and twenty yuan?
What gave Su Jiaojiao the right?
At this time, Shen Qingyu was only eighteen years old—young, impulsive, and still simmering with the frustrations of the past few days. For a moment, she couldn’t control her temper.
She said angrily, “Su Jiaojiao, you’re the one who wants to buy jewelry. Why should I pay for it?”
“Si… Sister, what did you say?”
Su Jiaojiao immediately showed an expression of surprise, hurt, and grievance on her face, saying,
“Sister, are you angry? Why? We’re good sisters. Even if you don’t want to give me a gift, you… shouldn’t scold me like this.”
Chen Heng, listening nearby, asked with some confusion, “You’re sisters? Biological sisters?”
He glanced at Su Jiaojiao, then examined Shen Qingyu, and added, “You do look somewhat alike—about two or three parts similar, especially your noses and ears. Even if you’re not biological sisters, you must be related by blood.”
Similar noses and ears?
Su Jiaojiao sneered inwardly.
Because both their noses and ears resembled Shen Jianguo’s.
“Oh, boss, you say my sister and I look somewhat alike?” Su Jiaojiao asked with some surprise. “But my sister came with my stepmother when she married my father. We’re sisters, but we share no blood relation at all—how could we possibly look alike?”
Hearing this, Shen Qingyu grew quite angry and said, “Who says we share no blood relation? I am—”
Su Jiaojiao clenched her fists at her sides. Yes, I’ll make you expose yourself.
“Xiao Yu, what are you doing here?”
Just then, Shen Qingyu’s close friend Yang Huihui walked over arm-in-arm with a young man. Spotting Shen Qingyu, she said cheerfully, “You’re at the jewelry store too—are you here to buy jewelry?”
The truth was interrupted by this unexpected intruder. Su Jiaojiao shot a sharp glance at Yang Huihui.
She knew this Yang Huihui—she was Shen Qingyu’s best friend. Back when she and Shen Qingyu were together, Yang had never missed a chance to mock her, while Shen Qingyu played the good person.
Shen Qingyu felt as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped over her head, jolting her back to her senses.
She shook her head at Yang Huihui and said, “It’s my sister who wanted to come buy jewelry. She’s taken a liking to a lotus jade hairpin that costs a hundred and twenty yuan, and she wants me to pay for it. I—”
“What?”
Yang Huihui immediately turned to Su Jiaojiao, launching into a tirade against her, scolding and rebuking her: “Su Jiaojiao, how dare you have the nerve to make Xiao Yu pay for you? You’re just a foster daughter living under someone else’s roof. Uncle Shen and Aunt Liu treat you better than their own daughter, but you should know your place—don’t actually think of yourself as their biological daughter and overstep Xiao Yu.”
Unexpectedly, this turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Su Jiaojiao looked stunned. “Huh? I’m a foster daughter?”
She turned her gaze to Shen Qingyu and asked doubtfully, “Sister, why would your friend say I’m a foster daughter? Clearly, I—”
Beside them, Boss Chen Heng wore the expression of someone watching a drama unfold.
Well, well—so this is quite the scene.
Afraid that Su Jiaojiao would reveal her status as a stepdaughter to her good friend like she had yesterday, Shen Qingyu quickly interjected, “Jiaojiao, don’t you like this gift? I’ll give it to you, alright? Please don’t make things difficult for my friend.”
Su Jiaojiao pointed at her own nose, utterly astonished. “I’m making things difficult for your friend?”
As far as she could recall, she hadn’t said anything to Yang Huihui.
It was Yang Huihui who had started scolding her the moment she showed up.
Just as Shen Qingyu was about to say more, Su Jiaojiao’s expression turned cold, and she said angrily,
“Sister, it seems like you’re the one making things difficult for me! You spreading rumors outside that I’m a foster daughter is one thing, but I never expected your friend to show such disrespect toward me, your sister—scolding me without even asking for the facts, and you still side with your friend and make things hard for me?
It seems that all those times you told Dad and Stepmother you treated me like a real sister were just lies, weren’t they?
Otherwise, why is it that every time these so-called friends of yours see me, their sister, they act as if I owe them a fortune, looking down on me with contempt?”
She deliberately emphasized the words “stepmother.”
Yang Huihui, as expected, noticed.
“What? Stepmother?” Yang Huihui turned to Shen Qingyu and demanded, “Xiao Yu, what does your sister mean by that? What stepmother?”
Su Jiaojiao asked with feigned confusion, “Miss, do you really not know that my sister’s biological mother is my stepmother?
Ten years ago, my stepmother brought my sister along when she married my father—my biological father, Shen Jianguo.”
“I just find it strange why you would tell them I’m an adopted daughter? Sister, yesterday you told your partner I’m an adopted daughter, you told your friends I’m an adopted daughter too—just how many people have you told that I’m an adopted daughter?”
“Sister, it turns out while you call me sister to my face, behind my back you’ve been spreading such stories. This hurts and saddens me deeply.”
Su Jiaojiao’s eyes reddened, tears welling in their corners.
Having said this, Su Jiaojiao wiped her tears as she ran… ran away.
Shen Qingyu, the gates of hell have opened—are you ready?