“But that sounds so dangerous. What if something goes wrong?”
Xu Siyao immediately reassured her from the side, “Sis, don’t worry. Mom, Dad, and I will all be here. We won’t let anything happen to you. You’re only pretending to scare Cui Wenzhou a little.”
In truth, she almost wished something would happen to Xu Shuning.
How could an idiot like her possibly deserve someone as wonderful as Brother Wenzhou?
The person who should have married Brother Wenzhou was Xu Siyao.
Xu Shuning knew exactly what was going through Xu Siyao’s mind. She quietly glanced at her before shaking her head firmly.
“Forget it. I’m afraid of pain.”
“I guess this divorce just isn’t going to happen, so I won’t get a divorce after all. Now that I think about it, Cui Wenzhou isn’t actually that bad.”
The moment those words left her mouth, Xu Siyao couldn’t take it anymore.
She shot to her feet and stared at Xu Shuning.
“No! How can you not get divorced?”
Xu Shuning was startled by her sudden reaction. She patted her chest as though frightened and stared at her in surprise.
“Why do I feel like you’re even more eager for me to get divorced than I am?”
“What good would my divorce do for you?”
Xu Shuning asked innocently, seemingly without thinking much of it, yet her question had unknowingly exposed the truth.
Xu Siyao panicked.
She hadn’t expected to get so worked up that she’d blurted out what she was really thinking. What if Xu Shuning figured everything out?
She hurriedly looked toward Xu Hongtao for help.
Seeing the look his daughter gave him, Xu Hongtao, who had remained silent until then, finally spoke up to defend her.
“Shuning, your sister is only doing this for your own good.”
“She just wants you to be happy. Didn’t you want to be with Zhao Yang? The only way you two can be together is if you divorce Wenzhou. Then you’ll be happy, won’t you?”
“We’re all thinking about you and your happiness.”
“Oh, really?” Xu Shuning asked.
The three of them nodded together.
“Then let me think about it.”
Leaving them with that deliberately vague response, Xu Shuning turned around and went back to her room.
She didn’t stop rolling her eyes until she had entered her room and closed the door behind her.
The three of them made everything sound so righteous, but in reality, each one was more vicious and calculating than the last.
Once again, Xu Shuning couldn’t help marveling at how unbelievably stupid the original owner had been.
How could she have been manipulated so completely by a family like this?
After she returned to her room, however, one of the three people outside could no longer remain calm.
Zhong Yan sat beside Xu Hongtao and lowered her voice.
“Old Xu, do you think she figured something out? I feel like something’s different about her today.”
“Usually, she agrees with everything we say without question. Why did she suddenly start arguing with us today?”
In Zhong Yan’s eyes, Xu Shuning was supposed to be nothing more than a fool they could manipulate however they pleased.
Xu Hongtao, however, didn’t think there was anything particularly strange about it.
“I think you’re overthinking it. You were all too impatient today. Especially Siyao. You were far too eager. Anyone would have found that suspicious.”
“Be more careful with your words and actions from now on. Don’t say everything that comes to mind. Understand?”
Xu Siyao lowered her head with a wronged expression.
“I understand, Dad.”
Xu Hongtao couldn’t bear to see his daughter looking so upset, so his tone softened.
“Dad isn’t trying to scold you. You really shouldn’t have said what you were thinking out loud. How could you just blurt it out?”
“Dad knows what you want, and I’ll do everything I can to help you get it. But don’t bring up the suicide plan again. We’ll have to think of another way.”
Xu Shuning couldn’t hear their conversation from inside the room, but she knew perfectly well that the three of them were probably outside plotting against her.
As soon as she returned to her room, she began rummaging through everything.
Her room was surprisingly bare.
Before her death, the original owner’s mother had left her quite a few things. Her scumbag father had taken most of them, while a small portion had been taken away by her maternal grandfather when he came to bring her home.
Later, when the original owner got married, her grandfather had added many more things to her belongings and handed everything over to her.
But because the original owner was unhappy with her marriage to Cui Wenzhou, and because her scumbag father and stepmother kept deceiving and coaxing her, she had foolishly handed everything over to Xu Hongtao.
That included the things Cui Wenzhou had bought for her.
She hadn’t kept a single thing for herself.
Her father claimed that he was only keeping them for her temporarily.
After that, the original owner never saw any of them again.
The only thing Xu Shuning still had on her was a jade bracelet—a smooth, lustrous bracelet made of white mutton-fat jade.
According to the family, the bracelet had been passed down through the generations. Her grandmother’s mother had given it to her grandmother, her grandmother had passed it down to the original owner’s mother, and her mother had eventually passed it on to her.
In the original story, the original owner had carefully treasured the bracelet until the day she severed ties with her grandfather.
After she completely fell out with him, she tossed the bracelet aside.
Xu Siyao had coveted the jade bracelet for a long time. Later, she asked for it again, and the original owner actually gave it to her.
From that point on, the bracelet became the cheat that allowed her stepsister to turn her life around.
Xu Shuning really couldn’t understand what the original owner had been thinking.
She gave away everything as though nothing belonged to her.
It was almost as if the Xu family had put some kind of spell on her.
She really must have had something seriously wrong with her.
Fortunately, the jade bracelet was still in Xu Shuning’s possession.
This time, there was no way Xu Siyao was going to get to activate that cheat.
Xu Shuning picked up the fruit knife from the table.
Xu Siyao had brought it in earlier so she could use it to cut her wrists.
Now, it was going to come in handy for something else.
Xu Shuning remembered that in the original story, Xu Siyao had accidentally cut her finger while cooking. Her blood had landed on the jade bracelet, and she had suddenly found herself inside a mysterious space.
Xu Shuning lightly nicked the finger of her left hand.
Blood immediately welled from the tiny wound.
She let a single drop fall onto the jade bracelet.
The blood quickly seeped into the jade.
A flash of white light suddenly filled her vision.
When Xu Shuning opened her eyes again, she was standing in front of a small courtyard nestled among the mountains.
This must be the space inside the jade bracelet.
Experiencing it firsthand was far more incredible than reading about it in a book.
The little courtyard inside the space looked like a traditional rural farmhouse.
Why call it a farmhouse courtyard?
Because the place was enormous.
A large open area occupied the center of the courtyard.
Fruit trees grew around the perimeter, their branches heavy with fruit that gave off a sweet, fragrant aroma.
In the middle of the courtyard was a pool of crystal-clear spring water, gently flowing and rippling.
This should be the spiritual spring described in the novel.
According to the book, the spiritual spring had miraculous effects.
Drinking it regularly could strengthen and improve the body. Using it to bathe could even beautify the skin and preserve one’s youthful appearance.
There was also a large stretch of empty land surrounding the spring.
Xu Shuning thought she could cultivate it and grow things there.
In the original story, Xu Siyao had planted all kinds of vegetables in the courtyard.
With the spiritual spring water nourishing them, the vegetables grew exceptionally well. They were more nutritious than ordinary vegetables and could even help strengthen the body.
Xu Siyao had made quite a lot of money selling them.
Xu Shuning decided to divide the entire plot of land into two sections.
One would be used for growing vegetables, while the other would be used for various medicinal herbs.
If even the vegetables grown here could strengthen the body, then the effects of the medicinal herbs naturally went without saying.
She had studied medicine herself.
With such an incredible advantage right in front of her, there was no way she was going to waste it.