She had only just taken a step when she saw Shen Yingying, who had been running toward Xie Fangzhu, suddenly stumble and fall to the ground.
Wu Xiaoxia froze for a moment and instinctively stopped in her tracks. Then a surge of satisfaction welled up in her heart as she viciously cursed inwardly: You tripped on flat ground, Shen Yingying, you deserved it! Serves you right for being so smug. Even Heaven can’t stand you anymore. It would be best if you fell to your death!
As for Xie Fangzhu, when he looked at the woman clutching her ankle, her eyes red and her face full of grievance as she looked at him, his expression became somewhat complicated.
When he had first arrived at the Shen Family, he had only been six years old, and Shen Yingying had not yet been born. It was fair to say that he had watched Shen Yingying grow up.
After she turned three years old, she had hardly ever fallen again. The only exception had been when she stepped on a banana peel and slipped. The contorted expression on her face as she fell had remained unforgettable to him even now.
Now, as he looked at this woman who had suddenly fallen on a road she had walked countless times before, and who had even managed to maintain an ethereal, graceful pose while falling…
Xie Fangzhu’s first reaction was that she was pretending, but he still stopped beside her.
“Can you still walk?”
Shen Yingying had not expected him to catch on so quickly. Looking pitiful, she reached a hand toward him. “I don’t know. My ankle hurts, my whole body hurts. Xie Fangzhu, pull me up…”
Xie Fangzhu pursed his lips, a helpless expression appearing on his face. He lowered the bicycle’s kickstand, bent down, and scooped her up into a bridal carry in one swift motion.
Shen Yingying: “!!!” She was stunned.
She had only wanted him to extend a hand and pull her up. Then she had planned to lean against him and act spoiled, saying that her ankle hurt and that she needed his support to walk. She had never expected this man to be so… effective…
Holding her steadily in his arms, Xie Fangzhu walked straight past Wu Xiaoxia, carried her to the doorway, set her down there, then turned around and entered the wooden house.
Shen Yingying leaned lightly against the wooden house behind her, twisted her “injured” ankle at Wu Xiaoxia, raised an eyebrow, curled her lips upward, and gave her a provocative smile.
Her expression seemed to say: Go on then. Let’s see who is better at pretending.
Wu Xiaoxia was dumbfounded. She had thought that Heaven had been punishing Shen Yingying, which was why she had fallen.
Now it seemed that it was no punishment at all. Shen Yingying had clearly pretended to fall on purpose, all to make Brother Xie feel sorry for her.
Thinking about how pleased she herself had been over it just moments ago, she felt as stupid as a pig!
Wu Xiaoxia was almost driven mad with anger. Her eyes turned crimson, and she clenched her fists tightly. But with Xie Fangzhu inside the house, she did not dare let her temper show.
At that moment, Xie Fangzhu came back out of the wooden house carrying a wooden stool.
He set the stool by the doorway and reached for Shen Yingying’s arm, intending to help her sit down on it.
But the moment his hand touched her, Shen Yingying seemed to lose all her strength and leaned her entire body against him.
Seeing her like this, Xie Fangzhu could not help frowning. “Is it that serious?”
Shen Yingying knitted her brows delicately, and her voice became exceedingly soft and sweet. “Mm, it hurts so much. I can’t even walk anymore.”
Wu Xiaoxia: “???”
Who had just been twisting her ankle at her as if nothing had happened?
Xie Fangzhu could not hear Wu Xiaoxia’s silent outburst. In the end, he changed from merely supporting Shen Yingying to wrapping an arm around her, helping her over to the stool and settling her onto it.
He crouched down, rolled up Shen Yingying’s trouser leg, supported her ankle, and examined it carefully.
Her fair ankle was slender and well-defined, without the slightest sign of injury.
Holding it gently, he twisted it slightly. “Does it hurt?”
“It hurts so much…”
Her voice was soft and gentle, even carrying the sound of a sharp intake of breath from pain, making it seem as though she truly was in agony.
But the ankle in Xie Fangzhu’s hand felt soft, without any of the stiffness that usually accompanied a sprain.
Unable to resist, he looked up at her.
He saw that Shen Yingying’s eyes seemed to hold a pool of spring water, shimmering with gentle ripples.
When she noticed him looking at her, her eyes curved into crescents. It was as though a spring breeze had swept past and flowers had instantly burst into bloom.
Xie Fangzhu’s heart involuntarily skipped a beat, and he hurriedly lowered his eyes.
Releasing her ankle, his voice unconsciously became lower and hoarser. “I’ll go find some medicine for you later.”
Wu Xiaoxia, who had been standing beside them the entire time, could not bear to watch any longer. Today she had finally witnessed Shen Yingying’s true methods.
No wonder Shen Yingying had always treated Brother Xie so terribly, yet Brother Xie had still treated her so well. So this was because she knew such shameless, despicable tricks!
Disgusting! Absolutely disgusting!
She wanted so badly to expose Shen Yingying’s shameless act. But seeing Brother Xie’s current reaction, she knew very well that exposing her now would only backfire. Brother Xie would never believe her.
Just as she was thinking that, Xie Fangzhu spoke again. “Sit here for a while. I’ll push the bicycle up, then we’ll eat together.”
Immediately afterward, Shen Yingying’s sweet, syrupy voice followed. “Okay.”
Listening to their conversation, Wu Xiaoxia bit down hard on her teeth until her eyes turned red. She wished her gaze could become knives so that she could cut that wretched Shen Yingying into a thousand pieces!
Seeing that Xie Fangzhu was about to turn around, Wu Xiaoxia hurriedly calmed her emotions. She could not let Brother Xie see her in such a state.
Looking at his incomparably handsome face as he turned around, much of her anger instantly faded. Unconsciously clutching the corner of her clothes, she called softly: “Brother Xie…”
Hearing her, Xie Fangzhu casually turned his head and glanced at her. “Oh, it’s Xiao Wu. You came to see Yingying, didn’t you?”
His tone and expression were as though he had only just noticed she was there, even though she had been standing there for a very long time.
Recalling the passionate look he had given Shen Yingying just now, Shen Yingying’s vicious words once again surfaced in her mind:
“It’s simply because you’re not pretty enough. He just doesn’t fancy you.”
Immediately, she became so furious that she nearly coughed up blood.
Suppressing her tears, she lowered her head. “Mm… I was a little worried about her, so I came to see her… Now that I’ve seen she’s fine, I’ll be heading back…”
“Mm, it’s getting late. You’d better hurry home, or your mother will start worrying.”
His voice remained as calm and emotionless as usual. Not only that, whether it was merely her imagination or not, Wu Xiaoxia even thought she detected a trace of impatience in it.
It was as though he found her annoying and wished she would leave as soon as possible.
It was completely different from the way he treated Shen Yingying.
If Shen Yingying’s words had only made her furious enough to lose control, then Xie Fangzhu’s treatment of her now truly broke her heart.
“Alright…” She lowered her head in defeat. The moment she turned around, tears streamed down her face in utter embarrassment.
Seated on the wooden stool with her chin resting on one hand, Shen Yingying thoughtfully watched Wu Xiaoxia’s retreating figure walking beneath the setting sun.
Although she could not see her face, Shen Yingying could imagine exactly how she looked at that moment. She was surely filled with grievance and heartbreak, perhaps even on the verge of tears.
Just imagining it made her seem rather pitiful.
But Shen Yingying’s heart remained completely unmoved. She did not feel the slightest bit of sympathy.
She had never liked competing with other women over a man.
Just now, treating Xie Fangzhu like some precious Baby while “competing” with Wu Xiaoxia had nearly made her sick.
In her opinion, there were so many men in the world. Why fight and tear each other apart over a single man, ruining the friendship between women?
But when it came to Wu Xiaoxia, Shen Yingying deliberately wanted to make her miserable.