“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to marry him?” Inside the room, Jiang Chi took a step forward, pressing Xu Changxia aggressively.
Xu Changxia retreated another step, her back already pressed against the sofa behind her, with nowhere left to go.
“You’re drunk,” she replied expressionlessly.
The day before the engagement party, Xu Changxia had indeed sought out Jiang Chi on her own.
However, what she said were words to break things off and draw a clear line, roughly along the lines of: she would become his sister-in-law in the future, and from then on, they should pretend not to know each other and act as if they had never met.
She and Jiang Chi had met as early as last year.
She had gone swimming at the reservoir with her classmates, but after only a short while, her leg suddenly cramped, nearly drowning her. Fortunately, Jiang Chi, who was skilled in swimming, happened to pass by and saved her.
Jiang Chi was tall and handsome, and with the movie-like rescue, along with the large Jeep parked by the roadside—clearly indicating he was the child of a high-ranking official—Xu Changxia almost fell in love with him at first sight.
“Is that so? I’m drunk?” Jiang Chi sneered, pointing toward the door with his thumb. “Then why did you chase my brother out? Isn’t it because you still have feelings for me?”
As he spoke, he took another step closer to Xu Changxia. “Xiaxia, we still have a chance. In the past, I wasn’t good enough to you, I…”
While saying this, he reached out, seemingly wanting to pull Xu Changxia into his embrace.
Outside the door, Jiang Yao’s hand instinctively tightened.
He hesitated for a moment, about to barge in, when he suddenly heard Jiang Chi roar from inside, “Xu Changxia, have you gone mad?!”
Inside the room, Xu Changxia, who had been forced into a corner, was now gripping a blood-stained pair of scissors with both hands, the tip aimed at Jiang Chi’s neck. “If you dare touch me again, I’ll kill you!”
As she spoke, her eyes were filled with a fierce, bloodthirsty madness.
Jiang Chi clutched his stabbed thigh, staring at Xu Changxia in disbelief.
Just a little more, and Xu Changxia’s scissors would have left him unable to have children!
Now, he was completely sober.
How could this be? Hadn’t Xu Changxia always been infatuated and devoted to him? How could she seem like a completely different person overnight?
“I’m your sister-in-law now! Behave yourself! If there’s a next time, watch out for your third leg!” Xu Changxia glared fiercely at Jiang Chi.
It wasn’t until many years after marrying Jiang Chi in her previous life that Xu Changxia realized he had married her only for the green card to the United States, to settle there permanently.
She was nothing more than a stepping stone for Jiang Chi.
He had only ever used her, with no genuine feelings.
Even on the day their son, A Su, whom she had conceived at an advanced age, was kidnapped and had his limbs severed, Jiang Chi was by that woman’s side, celebrating another child’s birthday as a happy family of three!
Due to delayed treatment leading to severe infection, A Su’s organs failed one after another. The doctors had long issued their final warning.
She held on for three years, until the doctors told her that one of A Su’s lungs had necrotized, and with the help of a ventilator, he could only live for a few more months at most. For the child, living on meant nothing but endless suffering and pain.
So, before A Su’s tenth birthday, she killed the remaining kidnappers who had escaped justice, and then, together with A Su, quietly left this world.
When she opened her eyes again, she had returned to today!
When A Su was dying, the flesh on his body had even begun to rot. When she held him, he was still crying out in pain, those weak cries of “Mom” still echoing incessantly in her mind to this day.
She wished she had never given birth to A Su.
And now, heaven had given her a chance to make amends!
Unless she was insane! She would never continue to entangle herself with Jiang Chi!
“Get out!” The scissors in her hand moved a few centimeters closer to Jiang Chi’s neck.
The sharp, cold blade forced Jiang Chi to shrink back: “Alright! Don’t get worked up! I’ll leave!”
Jiang Chi took a few steps toward the door, then turned back unwillingly to look at Xu Changxia.
But that glance sent an inexplicable chill down his spine.
The look in Xu Changxia’s eyes as she stared at him was filled with hatred and loathing, as if… he had done something terribly wrong to her.
Originally, Jiang Chi had pursued her with ulterior motives. Under her piercing gaze, he felt a twinge of guilt.
He didn’t dare utter another word and turned to leave.
Only when Jiang Chi’s figure disappeared down the hallway did Xu Changxia finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Worried he might return, she hurried to the door to lock it. Just as she reached the doorway, she seemed to catch a glimpse of a figure darting past the corner.
Jiang Yao stood in the shadows. After Jiang Chi left, he was about to turn and go downstairs when a clear, crisp voice suddenly called out from behind him: “Jiang Yao!”
Jiang Yao paused, waited a couple of seconds, then turned to look at Xu Changxia.
Actually, during the engagement banquet tonight, he had already sensed something off between Jiang Chi and Xu Changxia.
Originally, he had planned to turn a blind eye to whatever was going on between Jiang Chi and her.
However, Xu Changxia acted as if nothing had just happened and walked straight up to him, asking, “Why did you come back?”
She looked at him, her eyes full of light and surprise.
Jiang Yao lowered his gaze to stare at her, his expression complicated. He wanted to read some other emotion in her eyes.
Because just half an hour ago, she had defended her chastity for Jiang Chi, even going so far as to threaten to bite her tongue and kill herself.
Yet now, right under his nose, she had stabbed Jiang Chi with a pair of scissors.
He had seen how resolute and swift that stab was.
He even suspected that she might have noticed him standing outside the door earlier and put on an act for his benefit.
What exactly did she want? What was she after?
“You came back to give me medicine, didn’t you?” Xu Changxia lowered her head and, noticing the hemostatic medicine in Jiang Yao’s hand, asked with some surprise.
It seemed Jiang Yao wasn’t as cold-blooded as the rumors said.
Jiang Yao’s expression turned somewhat awkward as he stiffly replied, “Apply some hemostatic medicine yourself first. The driver will take you to the hospital later.”
With that, he turned to leave.
“Hey! Wait…” Xu Changxia instinctively called out to stop him.
She had just been thinking of going to find him, and here he was, coming on his own!
“What?” Jiang Yao paused and turned back to look at Xu Changxia.
In her haste, Xu Changxia’s loosely fastened collar slipped open again. As Jiang Yao turned back, his gaze inadvertently followed the collar, catching a glimpse of what lay beneath.