Li Jianyong felt a surge of gratitude. “You’re the one who’s truly good, Xixi. Not like some ungrateful wretch who turns her nose up at the poor and fawns over the rich.”
Li Jianhan also thought his youngest sister was being far too cold-blooded. Now was not the time to scold her. He needed to make Li Chuxin willing to donate her kidney to kind, innocent Xixi of her own accord.
Sweet, innocent Xixi deserved all their protection.
“Enough, second brother. Don’t speak of Chuxin that way,” Li Jianhan said. “Everyone makes their own choices. I only hope she won’t come to regret the path she’s chosen.”
Li Jianyong: “Xixi, don’t you worry. Your second brother will make his mark and build a fine career in the army. I’ll never let you down.”
Li Xixi basked in her brothers’ overwhelming fondness for her, filled with deep satisfaction. “Big brother, second brother. It’s so wonderful having you both.” She cast a triumphant glance at Li Chuxin.
In her past life, after she’d gone to the family compound in Sijiu City, her stepbrothers had looked down on her, scorned her rural background. She’d walked on eggshells every day at the Huo family’s.
Then later, she’d watched the Li brothers rise to prominence in every field. Eldest brother a writer and professor, second brother a decorated military officer, third brother the richest man in the land. They’d all circled around Li Chuxin, spoiling her with fine food and lavish gifts. The clothes and jewelry Li Chuxin wore were worth more than she could earn in ten lifetimes.
Why should Li Chuxin have it all so much better?
She wouldn’t accept it. In this new life, she’d take back everything that should have been hers.
That was why she’d never go to Sijiu City again. There was nothing there but hollow, glittering lies.
Li Chuxin had always known. Wherever Li Xixi was, her brothers were no longer truly hers. They became weapons Li Xixi could wield to hurt her whenever she pleased.
Li Jianhan could sense the shift in Li Chuxin’s feelings clearly. “Chuxin, focus on resting and getting well. I’m grateful you’re willing to give me a kidney. And know this. Whether you’re in Sijiu City or anywhere else, you’re still my sister. I’ll never forget what you’re doing for me.”
Xixi’s health was failing. Her weak constitution really needed Jiang Shu’s kidney.
Li Jianhan wondered if he was imagining things. Chuxin gave no reply, no flicker of emotion at all. He looked at his thin, quiet sister. He’d never wanted to ask this of her, but Xixi needed that kidney, and Chuxin’s own complexion had paled by the day. There was no more time to wait.
Whether she responded or not, she was already here in the hospital, and she’d agreed. There was nothing more to dwell on.
Li Chuxin arched an eyebrow. “Oh, big brother. Aren’t you just so wonderful?” she said, mimicking Li Xixi’s saccharine tone.
The sarcasm was sharp enough to make Li Xixi’s skin crawl.
Is she trying to make me look bad? Li Xixi thought. Just wait. Once Chuxin’s had her kidney taken out, she’ll be good for nothing. She couldn’t beat me in our last life, and she won’t beat me now.
She bit her lip. “Big brother. I don’t feel well. My head’s spinning.”
At once, both brothers’ faces filled with alarm. Could Xixi’s condition be getting worse?
Li Jianhan swept Li Xixi up in his arms and hurried away with her. Li Jianyong followed, glancing back once at Li Chuxin.
Li Chuxin met his gaze. She knew exactly what that look meant. Rage, the urge to strike her down. It was the same fierce, burning fury he’d turned on her in her past life. If they weren’t in a hospital, Li Jianyong would have beaten her then and there.
She stood her ground. You never showed weakness to someone who wanted to hurt you. Cowardice only made them bolder.
Watching them go, her eyes hardened. “You want my kidney? Over my dead body.”
Later, she went to the dispensary and bought a supply of sleeping pills. It was 1973. Hospital oversight was lax, and it was easy enough to do.
Li Jianhan came back alone later, bringing congee.
Chuxin asked him to run an errand for her, and while he was gone, she slipped a heavy dose of sleeping pills into his cup and stirred it well.
She would not be the one giving up a kidney.
Alone in the room, she pricked her fingertip and let a drop of blood fall onto the chili-shaped jade pendant tucked in her pocket. She’d found it up in the mountains years ago. In her past life, Li Xixi had gone mad trying to take it from her.
If Xixi had woken up with her past-life memories, did that mean she knew what the pendant was?
A faint glow spread across the stone.
Suddenly, Chuxin saw it. A quiet house, with dark fertile soil out front, and a clear spring of water nearby. She cupped a handful of the glowing blue water and drank it. Warmth spread through her, and every ache faded.
“A space,” she breathed, hardly daring to believe it.
She tested it, drawing objects in and out with just a thought. It worked.
“It’s a storage realm, bound by will,” her heart raced. “No wonder she wanted it so badly in our last life.” Xixi must have known all along.
She pressed the pendant into the space, safe and hidden where no one could ever take it.
She remembered, too. The treasure buried back in the hills, the one she’d found first and told her family about. That was what had paid for everything. Third brother’s business ventures, big brother’s books and studies when he didn’t have to work. It had kept the Li family afloat.
Li Jianhan, meanwhile, worried that Chuxin might be eating something she shouldn’t. He returned to Xixi’s room with fresh congee.
“Big brother, is it ready?” Li Xixi asked.
“All set,” he said, setting the thermos down. “How are you feeling?” He saw how pale she was and his heart ached for her.
Xixi bit her lip. “Big brother. Why does Chuxin hate me so? That pendant she’s wearing. The chili one. I found it on the mountain. I only lent it to her to look at. Now she’s claiming it’s hers.”
She twisted the hem of her shirt, eyes glistening with feigned hurt. “It was mine. If she liked it that much, she could have just asked. She didn’t have to steal it.”