A figure rushed over quickly and forced them apart. He shouted again, “Li Jiyue, I already made it clear to you long ago—there is only Yuzhu in my heart. Please stop clinging to me in the future.”
This woman, relying on the fact that she was a young miss of the Li family, bullied Yuzhu every day—vicious to the extreme.
Fu Chengyu pulled Li Jiyue behind him, his phoenix eyes casting an unhappy glance at the newcomer, his tone cold and hard. “You’re already grown, yet still so rash.”
Li Jiyue’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re his uncle?”
No wonder they shared the same surname, Fu. She remembered now—this Fu family uncle was mentioned in the book. While on a mission, he encountered a bomb and was blown up, barely surviving but left disabled and disfigured. He retired from the army, and not long after, he died. Everything of the Fu family was inherited by the adopted eldest son—Fu Chunsheng’s father. Just like the original owner, he was cannon fodder who existed only to give the protagonist golden advantages.
A sudden sense of sympathy arose in Li Jiyue—fellow souls fallen from grace.
Fu Chunsheng pointed at her and complained, “Uncle, she’s the Li Jiyue I told you about before—the one who kept pestering me relentlessly. She must have known I was bringing Yuzhu to meet elders today and deliberately came to sabotage us.”
Several times before, when he secretly met Yuzhu, Li Jiyue would suddenly appear, accusing Yuzhu of being a mistress who seduced him, and even threatening him with the engagement between the Fu and Li families to force him to marry her. He had been endlessly grateful that his grandparents were still in the capital—otherwise Li Jiyue would definitely have gone to the Fu family. However, his grandparents would return to Yangcheng in two months. Taking advantage of his uncle’s hospital checkup, he arranged this meal so his uncle could meet Yuzhu and hopefully put in a good word for her before his grandparents.
Li Jiyue looked at him as if he were mentally challenged. “Do I have nothing better to do than stare at you two? I didn’t know you were meeting elders here, and I didn’t know Regiment Commander Fu was your uncle. Get over yourself. If your brain is sick, go get it treated—idiot.”
“Who are you calling an idiot?” Fu Chunsheng snapped.
Li Jiyue shot back, “Whoever answers is the one.”
Fu Chunsheng was a scholar type who rarely argued with people. He was so angry his face flushed red. “You’re a girl—your mouth is so vicious. Be careful you won’t be able to get married.”
Out of respect for the Li family, he had already endured enough. If Li Jiyue refused to behave, he would no longer be polite.
“No need for your concern. I won’t marry you anyway. I, Li Jiyue, don’t look bad—there are plenty of people who want me.” She shrugged with relaxed ease.
These days, whenever people scolded a woman, it was always “you won’t be able to get married.” Damn, it was infuriating. Was getting married really that hard? You could grab any single man off the street and marry him—but after marriage, it’d just be a mess. In her previous life, the classic insult was, “If all else fails, just go home and find a man to marry.” It sounded pretty satisfying as an insult back then.
Watching Fu Chunsheng and Li Jiyue argue, people thought they oddly matched—handsome man and beautiful woman, compatible personalities, like a married couple bickering. If they married, life wouldn’t be boring.
Lin Yuzhu thought the same, a strong sense of crisis surging in her heart. This bitch had gotten smarter. When clinging relentlessly didn’t work, she switched tactics to attract Chunsheng’s attention. What a schemer. As long as she lived, she wouldn’t let her steal Chunsheng.
In her previous life, she couldn’t have children and was forced to divorce Fu Chunsheng peacefully. She didn’t blame him—because until death, the person in his heart was always her. After the divorce, she married the richest man in Yangcheng—Li Jiyue’s husband. Her charm was simply unmatched. In this life, she wouldn’t let Li Jiyue kick away her child again. The Fu family heir and future richest man of Yangcheng could only be her, Lin Yuzhu’s. That bitch wasn’t allowed to touch a single bit of it. The one who should die was Li Jiyue.
Afraid the two might argue themselves into feelings, she hurriedly jumped out to make herself seen and interjected, “Chunsheng ge, you misunderstood. I didn’t tell Xiaoyue that we were meeting elders at the state-run restaurant today. She knew nothing—this must be a coincidence. Yes, just a coincidence. Don’t blame Xiaoyue. It’s all my fault.”
Every time Li Jiyue made a mistake, she took the blame onto herself, and Chunsheng ge would feel sorry for her.
Li Jiyue lifted her gaze, the corners of her eyes slightly raised, smiling warmly without reaching her eyes. “Wow, thanks so much. With your green-tea routine, you just made things darker for me. Are you doing it on purpose or intentionally?”
Such fake composure.
Fu Chunsheng seemed momentarily enlightened. Thinking it through, it actually made some sense. He frowned slightly, then felt something was off again. Yuzhu was so kind—how could she be that kind of person? He had to trust Yuzhu. He couldn’t let a few words from a bad woman affect his judgment.
Lin Yuzhu bit her lip. “I didn’t mean to…”
Li Jiyue cut her off sharply. “Then you did mean it.”
“I didn’t.” Lin Yuzhu shook her head in panic, eyes reddening as she looked at Fu Chunsheng, her voice trembling. “Chunsheng ge, I’m sorry. I didn’t come today to meet your family. I came to make things clear—Xiaoyue is your fiancée. I’ll withdraw from your world from now on. Let’s not see each other again.”
Fu Chunsheng’s heart ached. “Li Jiyue, did you threaten Yuzhu?”
“Are you pig-brained? Brain-dead stupid!” Li Jiyue snapped. “If I threatened her, would she even listen to me? Be led around by my nose? If I had that ability, I’d have tossed one of you to the Northeast and the other to the Northwest long ago—out of sight, out of mind. I’m not a part of your little game. Don’t drag me into your mess again.”
From now on, she would stay completely out of the love entanglements of the male and female leads and the second male lead. She would only take the revenge she was meant to take.
Fu Chunsheng stubbornly insisted, “You’re just jealous of Yuzhu—jealous that I chose her instead of you.”
Li Jiyue sneered. “Oh, look at you ‘choosing.’ Who do you think you are—the emperor of ancient times? Choosing this one and that one. The Li family did the Fu family a favor. If anyone gets to choose, it’s me. I’d choose your uncle before I’d choose you. Don’t worry at all, dear nephew!”
“My uncle wouldn’t take a fancy to someone as scheming as you.”
“Whether he would or not is not for you to decide.”
Seeing the two about to clash again, Lin Yuzhu quickly jumped out, looking pitiful and weak as she said, “Chunsheng ge, Xiao Yue, please stop arguing. You’re both the people closest to me. I don’t want to see you fight. I’ll withdraw and make things easy for you.”
Her voice was choked with sobs, her eyes glistening with tears, as if she were reluctant yet forced to let go. She shot a wary glance at Li Jiyue, then covered her face and ran off crying.
Fu Chunsheng called after her a few times, “Yuzhu, Yuzhu…”
With his uncle still present, and since he was the one who had invited everyone, it would have been impolite for him to chase after her immediately without a word, so he didn’t go right away.
Li Jiyue raised her brows slightly, a cold smile curling at the corner of her lips. “Calling, calling, calling—she won’t stop no matter how much you shout. She ran off just so you’d chase her. Hurry up and go. You’re an eyesore here. Just looking at you like this fills me up.”
Fu Chunsheng’s expression turned cold, anger faintly surfacing in his voice. “You—you judge a gentleman by a petty mind. Yuzhu isn’t as scheming as you.”
Li Jiyue said confidently, “Don’t be so sure. You’ll be slapped in the face soon enough—I’m afraid you won’t even know where to hide. I bet that within three seconds, she’ll definitely fall. Three, two…”
Lin Yuzhu was just about to run out of sight.
A hint of smugness appeared on Fu Chunsheng’s tense, handsome face as he was about to mock Li Jiyue for her supposed scheming.
“One—”
Before she even finished counting, Lin Yuzhu fell.
“Ah—”
She accidentally stepped on a stone by the roadside, twisted her ankle, and pitched forward. She fell flat on her face, her knee slamming hard onto the gravel. The stones embedded into her knee, leaving a large red patch.
“Wuwu… it hurts so much…”
Fu Chunsheng hurried after her. “Yuzhu…”
The onlookers, very obliging, exclaimed, “Damn, that was spot on—she really called it.”
“Hmph~”
Li Jiyue put her hands on her hips, lifted her chin, her toes hooking slightly as she proudly raised her brows, looking utterly smug. She won.
In her previous life, whenever she had free time, she liked to read feel-good novels on Tomato to decompress—over ten years, if not tens of thousands, then at least thousands of novels. She’d seen plenty of green-tea types. One look and she could tell. She was awesome—haha!!
Fu Chengyu watched the girl’s radiant smile, the corners of his thin lips lifting slightly. He stared, momentarily lost in thought, his heart pounding violently. That familiar flutter returned, impossible to ignore.
His gaze swept over his injured legs. He might very well become a cripple who would never stand again, unable to give anyone happiness. She deserved someone better. A trace of loss flashed through his eyes.
At that moment, a young soldier in uniform stepped forward to ask Fu Chengyu.
Cheng Yang said, “Regimental Commander, shall we head back now?” He was Fu Chengyu’s orderly.
“Mmm, let’s go back,” he replied.
Since his injury, he rarely appeared in public. Fu Chunsheng had requested many times that he meet his beloved. Only then had he reluctantly agreed to come.
Fu Chengyu said, “Comrade Li, would you like me to give you a ride back?”
Li Jiyue readily agreed. “Sure.”
She happened to have something she wanted to discuss with him as well.
Cheng Yang was a tall, burly, rough-looking man. As usual, he was about to lift Fu Chengyu from the wheelchair into the car.
But Fu Chengyu refused. “No need. I’ll slowly move myself up.”
Watching the man struggle to shift himself, Li Jiyue felt uncomfortable inside. Men loved their pride, especially in front of pretty girls. She understood.
Fu Chengyu had been crippled and disfigured protecting the country and its people—he was a hero. She had grown up under the red flag, with values even more upright than looks. Toward heroes, she felt only respect and admiration. How could she ever look down on him?
“I’ll do it.”
She stepped forward to help, slipping one arm behind his back and the other under his knees, and with a firm effort, lifted him onto the seat.