“Sis, you’re finally back.”
Lin Xiaoman came running over, panting heavily, with both hands braced on her knees. “It wasn’t a dog chasing me. It was Auntie! Ye Xiaochen took me home, and Auntie saw him. She asked me who he was and whether he was my boyfriend.”
“That’s simple. Just tell her yes.”
“I don’t dare.” Lin Xiaoman shrank back timidly. “Auntie even told me that if you and Ye Xiaochen hit it off, she wouldn’t have anything to worry about. If she finds out you didn’t like him and I went for him instead, she really might chop me to pieces.”
“It’s fine. I’ll explain it to my mom when we get home.”
“Sis, you have to explain it properly.”
Lin Xiaoman suddenly felt that she was being a little shameless.
“I’ll explain it properly, of course. But how did things go with Ye Xiaochen?
Is it settled between you two?”
This silly girl had practically thrown herself at him and said she wanted to marry him. How could that man possibly refuse?
“No…”
Whenever she thought about it, Lin Xiaoman felt a little frustrated.
“I told him I could wash clothes, cook, do housework, and take care of the elderly. He said he was looking for a wife, not hiring a maid.”
“You silly girl, how could you start by telling him you can do this and that?
Once you tell him you can do everything, you’ll end up doing everything.
You…” Li Xianrong was so frustrated that she felt like she was failing to teach her anything. “You’ve already lived one life over again. How have you still not learned anything?”
“Sis, I figured he’s rich. He has money and I have nothing, so shouldn’t I show him that I have some useful qualities?”
“You…” Li Xianrong sighed. “Xiaoman, let me tell you something. No man is going to fall in love with you just because you’re capable and virtuous.”
“Then what do they look at?”
Lin Xiaoman asked in confusion.
“They look at your face and your figure. Fair skin, beauty, long legs, and looking eighteen forever. That’s what men like.”
Lin Xiaoman froze.
That actually sounded true.
“I’m telling you, men are very consistent when it comes to love. From eighteen to eighty, men only love one kind of woman: young and beautiful.”
“Sis, but you said you wanted to marry the man you love.”
“I’m different from you.” Li Xianrong said, “He and I had feelings for each other back in middle school in our previous life. We were both too timid to confess, so we ended up missing our chance. When we met again, he was already someone’s husband, and I was someone else’s wife…”
Wait, could it be that her cousin had done something with him in her previous life?
“I only realized I had been reborn when you rode your bicycle into that ditch and passed out for a while. After I sorted everything out and realized I was supposed to go on a blind date, I made up my mind to find him. In this life, no matter what happens, I won’t miss him again…”
Lin Xiaoman looked at her cousin’s determined expression and felt that she was half clear headed and half completely lost.
It really was like the saying, you can be Zhuge Liang when it comes to other people’s affairs, but a fool when it comes to your own.
She was telling herself to hold on to Ye Xiaochen and hold on to his money, yet her cousin wanted to chase after the unfulfilled love of her previous life.
Oh, heaven!
Wasn’t there a saying that you shouldn’t romanticize the road you never took? Once daily life gets filled with food, clothing, household necessities, and all the mundane details of marriage, all that poetry, romance, and longing for distant horizons will eventually fall apart.
“Sis, why don’t you just date Ye Xiaochen?”
Lin Xiaoman tried to persuade her. “Ye Xiaochen originally came here to meet you. He’s already rich now, and he’ll be even richer in the future. If you marry him, you’ll never have to worry about money. You know how poor I was in my previous life. I’ve had enough of being poor. When you don’t have money, you have to stretch every penny as far as it can go. You have to tighten your belt whenever you buy anything. I couldn’t afford to buy a house, so I had to rent, and I moved eight times. I worked in the city, but I couldn’t afford a house for my child to go to school, so I could only bring her back to the village…”
In short, she could live without anything else, but she absolutely could not live without money.
A poor couple suffered in every aspect of life. She had suffered enough.
“Sis, if you marry him, just take care of me a little afterward.” Lin Xiaoman said, “I’ll cling to you and enjoy the good life with you. Even just a little bit of what you let slip through your fingers would be enough for someone like me to live on for the rest of my life…”
“Get lost.” Li Xianrong glared at her. “If I really marry him, his money will be mine. Why would I be willing to spend my money on you? You idiot. Why don’t you marry him yourself? You only care about his money anyway, and you don’t care at all how many women or families he’ll have in the future…”
“Exactly. I only care about his money. I told him that too.”
Li Xianrong was speechless.
Had her cousin really lived two lifetimes without figuring anything out?
On the very first day of a blind date, she had openly told the man, I’m interested in your money?
What man would be foolish enough to marry her?
“You could at least have said you liked him as a person, that you thought he was handsome, hardworking, ambitious, and successful. Anything would have been better than bluntly telling him you liked him because he was rich.”
“I was desperate at the time, so I just said it.”
Lin Xiaoman was starting to regret it too. “Sis, I think I’m probably out of the running. You can still try to save the situation. Ask your cousin to put some pressure on him. One of us sisters has to marry him. We shouldn’t let the benefits go to outsiders.”
After all, the two cousins were very close.
“You give me some money to spend when you have money, and I’ll give you some when I have money. Wouldn’t that be perfect?”
“You really are dreaming.”
Li Xianrong said, “I don’t want this man. If you want him, you go for it.”
“I’m afraid of Auntie.”
“I’ll protect you.”
“Then… Can it really work?”
“Of course it can.”
The two cousins made up their minds to do it this way.
One would pursue money, while the other would pursue love. In this life, neither of them was willing to lose.
“Let’s go home.”
“No, Sis, I’m not going home.”
“Why not this time?”
“My mom said that a man from San Ceng Yan has come. No matter what, I refuse to marry him in this life. I hate him so much that I can’t even stand the thought of seeing him…”
In her previous life, she had suffered everything other people suffered, and even the hardships other people had never experienced.
Some people said that husband and wife were connected by fate from their previous lives, either because of an old bond or an old debt.
She had spent her entire previous life repaying that debt. In this life, she would be better off never seeing him again.
“Then come to my house.”
“I’m afraid of Auntie.”
“You coward. Come on, come home with me. Otherwise, I won’t help you explain things.”
Was this really a good idea?
Whatever. She would just follow her cousin to her aunt’s house.
“Rongrong, you’re back. How did things go between you two?”
The moment Huang Hongxia saw her daughter return, she hurried over to ask.
“I heard from your cousin that the man is handsome and rich. You two hit it off, didn’t you?”
“No.”
“What? Why? He didn’t like you?” Huang Hongxia said. “That doesn’t make sense. I gave your cousin your photo and had him show it to Ye Xiaochen. He only agreed to meet you after seeing it…”
How could they possibly not have hit it off?
“Mom, I was the one who didn’t like him.” Li Xianrong parked the bicycle in the courtyard. “That man looks too fake. He’s not my type.”
“You silly child, can someone like someone put food on the table?” Huang Hongxia grew anxious. “Your father and I didn’t like each other back then either, but your father had a skill. I thought that as long as he could earn work points and make money to support the family, we could build a home together.
Your cousin said Ye Xiaochen is the richest young man in our commune.
He’s a construction contractor, and he even drives a car…”
“By the way, Xiaoman, was that Ye Xiaochen’s car that brought you home today?”
Lin Xiaoman turned to her cousin with a pleading look.
“It was his. I asked him to take my cousin home first.”
“What?” Huang Hongxia was confused. “You didn’t like him, yet you asked him to take Xiaoman home? Rongrong, what exactly do you mean?”