Lin Ruochu didn’t even care to look at Lu Yichen’s impatient expression; her eyes were fixed entirely on the bracelet he had brought back.
She snatched the bracelet right back. “I’m telling you, this was mine to begin with. And let me make it clear one last time: I’m not throwing a tantrum—I have broken off our engagement.”
“From now on, our paths in marriage and romance have nothing to do with each other. Did you hear that?”
Ruochu’s expression was dead serious, and every word she said was true. Unfortunately, Lu Yichen simply refused to believe it. How could Ruochu, who had liked him so much, ever truly break off the engagement? She was just throwing a fit.
“Enough. You don’t need to say things like that to piss me off. My marriage leave is only for a month; do you really have to pick a fight with me right now?”
Ruochu rolled her eyes. Why hadn’t she realized before that Lu Yichen was such a narcissistic man? Hadn’t she made herself clear enough?
Unwilling to waste breath explaining further, Ruochu said, “Fine. You’ve returned my property, now step aside.”
“I returned the bracelet, but you need to clear this matter up. Our family doesn’t hold onto other people’s things without returning them.”
“How is that returning everything? What about the five hundred yuan?”
Lu Yichen felt that money was Ruochu’s dowry anyway, and since she was destined to marry him, why should it be returned?
“Ruochu, you weren’t like this before. The five hundred yuan is your dowry; you’re going to marry me eventually.”
“Bah! We are already broken up.” Fed up with Lu Yichen’s attitude and realizing how utterly blind she had been in the past, Ruochu slammed her foot down hard onto the top of Lu Yichen’s shoe.
Since Lu Yichen couldn’t understand human speech, she would use her own method to make him clear the path.
Ruochu put a lot of weight into it, landing squarely on Lu Yichen’s toes. Lu Yichen winced, hopping on one foot and crying out in pain.
Ruochu didn’t even spare him a glance, feeling only that she hadn’t stepped down hard enough.
Watching Ruochu’s departing figure, Lu Yichen felt a sharp lingering pain in his toes. “This time, I’m not going to forgive you so easily.”
Perhaps because Lu Yichen himself felt it was humiliating to come looking for Ruochu, not many people were passing through this area. Ruochu slipped the bracelet back onto her wrist and headed home.
She just hadn’t expected that today truly wasn’t a good day for going out. First she ran into the shameless Lu Yichen, and now she bumped into Xia Lin.
She had heard that Xia Lin fell into a sewage pit earlier today. Just thinking about it made Ruochu imagine the stench, so the moment Xia Lin drew near, Ruochu instinctively took several steps back, covering her nose. “What is that smell? It’s so foul. Stay away from me.”
Xia Lin was from the city. Because her family was required to send someone down to the countryside, she ended up being the one to go.
Yet whether she was in the city or the countryside, Xia Lin loved to groom and dress herself up above all else. To have Ruochu so blatantly show disgust at her odor left Xia Lin furious and deeply annoyed.
If Ruochu hadn’t suddenly targeted her, would she have suffered such a humiliating incident this afternoon? Thinking of how many people had gathered around laughing at her expense when she was fished out made Xia Lin boiling mad.
She had never suffered such humiliation in all her life, and it was all Lin Ruochu’s fault! And here she had thought of granting Ruochu the position of Lu Yichen’s wife purely out of consideration for how well Ruochu used to treat her.
Looking at it now, Lin Ruochu truly had no sense of gratitude.
Because she had a favor to ask of Ruochu, Xia Lin forced out a rather strained smile despite the deep aversion she felt inside. “Ruochu, I came to explain what happened yesterday.”
With every step Xia Lin took forward, Ruochu stepped back. “Save it. If you don’t want to smile, don’t force it—it looks hideous.”
“There was no misunderstanding about yesterday. I saw everything with my own eyes.”
Xia Lin was indeed quite attractive, with an oval face, willow-leaf eyebrows, and a cherry mouth. Because she hadn’t suffered too much hardship, her skin was far better than most people in the village.
With looks like hers, the villagers always praised her beauty, and plenty of aunties had previously tried to introduce suitors to her, though she had turned them all down.
Now, for Ruochu to call her hideous made her blood boil. Ruochu was simply jealous of her good looks and jealous that Lu Yichen liked her!
Damn it, why hadn’t Ruochu been caught in the act?
Xia Lin couldn’t understand why her foolproof plan had failed. As long as Lu Yichen caught Ruochu engaging in illicit affairs, even if he ended up marrying her, he wouldn’t truly love her.
That had been Xia Lin’s goal—to tip Lu Yichen’s heart even further in her own direction. Yet all of it had fallen through.
Now that Ruochu was angry with her, she was still forced to come seeking reconciliation. Just thinking about it made her furious.
“Ruochu, how can you say that to me? I know yesterday’s events caused a deep misunderstanding, and I’m here to clear things up.”
Whether due to her rebirth or not, Ruochu could now clearly see the scheming written all over Xia Lin’s face; it seemed Xia Lin had been plotting against her from the very beginning.
Ruochu crossed her arms over her chest, standing five paces away from Xia Lin. “Fine, go ahead and explain then.”
Seeing that Ruochu was willing to listen, Xia Lin felt sure there was still hope. “Yesterday, because you suddenly fainted, and it was your big day, I couldn’t bear to watch Lu Yichen stand alone and embarrassed at the wedding ceremony, which is why I stepped in to perform the ceremony in your place.”
Xia Lin felt her explanation was airtight; surely Ruochu would be touched.
But Ruochu was no longer the person Xia Lin thought she was. “Oh? So as my good friend, seeing me collapse unconscious, you didn’t think to take me to the health station, but instead took my place as the bride?”
“May I take that to mean that if I hadn’t woken up by nightfall, you would have used the excuse of worrying about Lu Yichen being lonely in the bridal chamber to consummate the marriage in my place?”
Every single word from Ruochu caught Xia Lin completely off guard, causing a sudden flutter of panic in her heart. “Wh-how could that be? Why wouldn’t you have woken up by nightfall?”
So Xia Lin was this easy to rattle after all. A smile curved the corners of Ruochu’s lips. “How did you know I was going to wake up? Could it be that you’re the one who caused me to faint?”
After a brief flash of panic, Xia Lin quickly recovered. Ruochu was probably just bluffing; she couldn’t afford to lose her composure.
“How could that be possible? I’m your best friend!”
“I mean, once the wedding concluded, if you still hadn’t woken up, I would have taken you to the health station.”
“I know how thrilled you were to be able to marry Lu Yichen. Didn’t you look forward to this wedding for so long? I just didn’t want the ceremony to be cut short halfway; I knew you’d be heartbroken if you found out.”
The more Xia Lin explained, the more she convinced herself of her own story. Her confidence grew, and she straightened her posture considerably.
She expected Ruochu to accept her explanation and perhaps even apologize to her, but instead, Ruochu replied: “So you disregarded my safety to take my place in a wedding I had looked forward to for so long? And this is what you call being my good friend?”