Seemingly taking her words to heart, Qiu Lingyan calmed down. Her hand still gripped the handkerchief tightly, but she was no longer like a red-eyed rabbit.
Her voice was low, as if she felt ashamed, or perhaps something else. There was another reason.
Soon, Zhu Jiayu learned the details.
"The one who's entangled with Song Jiangmei is called Liu Yasheng. I've known him for over two years. Although we haven't made a lifelong commitment, he has said that he will soon go to the Qiu family to propose to my mother."
"But later, Song Jiangmei came to Heling. He then changed his tune and stopped mentioning the marriage proposal, telling me to pretend that nothing had happened."
He said I was not as good as Song Jiangmei, and that he hoped I could sincerely wish them well and that I would not blame Song Jiangmei, saying it was all his fault.
"How can there be such a ridiculous person?" She stared intently at the man downstairs, and once she had spoken her mind, the resentment in her eyes became undisguised.
But ultimately, out of consideration for her pride, after saying that, she turned to Zhu Jiayu and threatened her: "If you let this slip and others find out, don't blame me for disowning you as my cousin!"
Zhu Jiayu coaxed her, "No one else will know." Holding an exquisitely crafted white porcelain cup, she watched the two downstairs with interest, her beautiful eyes showing a hint of nonchalance. She said, "Cousin, there's no need to get angry over people like that. It's not worth it. Do you want to see a good show?"
Perhaps it was because her voice was too alluring, Qiu Lingyan didn't have time to think about what kind of show it was before she nodded and said she wanted to.
Then she watched as the white porcelain cup slipped from Zhu Jiayu's hand and landed at Song Jiangmei's feet with lightning speed.
Song Jiangmei was caught off guard and fainted immediately, while Liu Yasheng, on the other hand, jumped away and hid to the side.
"How is it? Is it pretty?" Zhu Jiayu turned to Qiu Lingyan and asked, then sighed, "Even husbands and wives are like birds in the forest that fly away when disaster strikes. How many men and women in this world can truly have genuine feelings for each other?"
"You...you almost killed Song Jiangmei just now." Qiu Lingyan looked at Zhu Jiayu with lingering fear, as if she was only meeting her for the first time today.
She never expected Zhu Jiayu to be so bold.
If Song Jiangmei dies here, they will be implicated, and even the Qiu family will be dragged down by them!
Zhu Jiayu dismissed it as nothing: "No. I've calculated it."
"But what if we fail!" Qiu Lingyan clutched her chest and asked angrily in a low voice.
“I never miss.” Zhu Jiayu frowned. “I never miss.”
Qiu Lingyan broke down.
All right.
fine.
Indeed, she did not make a mistake.
But she didn't understand the meaning behind Zhu Jiayu's actions.
Zhu Jiayu analyzed it for her: "If Liu Yasheng had wanted to make a good impression when the cup fell, he would have protected Song Jiangmei. As for himself, well, he would have been in pain for ten or fifteen days, right? But he didn't protect Song Jiangmei, and as you saw, Song Jiangmei fainted. Besides, Liu Yasheng clearly saw the cup fall from upstairs, but his first reaction was to dodge it himself. Do you think there's any chance for the two of them to be together?"
"You've gotten revenge on both Song Jiangmei and Liu Yasheng—a double kill! Isn't that a good show, cousin?"
Qiu Lingyan belatedly realized that her cousin had done this to avenge her. She sobbed, hugged Zhu Jiayu tightly, and rubbed against her shoulder, her voice muffled, "Waaah, cousin, how can you be so good to me!"
Zhu Jiayu tried to push her away, but found he couldn't move her.
She said quietly, "Are you sure you want to keep hugging her? If we don't run now, we won't be able to escape when Liu Yasheng comes looking for us."
Qiu Lingyan abruptly let go of her, grabbed her hand, and ran downstairs, not even bothering to listen to what the waiter was saying. Once inside the carriage, Qiu Lingyan finally relaxed, panting heavily.
After catching her breath, she couldn't help but laugh again when she remembered Liu Yasheng's panicked and bewildered expression.
After laughing, she leaned forward, hugged Zhu Jiayu, and quickly let go of her, saying in a barely audible voice, "Thank you."
It was indeed a good show.
She was so happy.
My cousin is really amazing.
She decided she would never get angry with her cousin again!
"Is your cousin still upset that she abandoned you for Song Jiangmei because of that weakling?"
Qiu Lingyan shook her head violently. What was there to be sad about! She was practically thanking her lucky stars!
After watching the maid help Song Jiangmei into the carriage and drive away, Liu Yasheng realized what he had done. He turned around, annoyed and sad, and rushed into the jewelry store to question the waiter about who had thrown the teacup from upstairs.
But the waiter chased him out like a dog.
He left the jewelry store dejectedly, unable to understand how things had turned out this way. Mei'er had clearly been swayed by his words; if he had just tried a little harder, he could have persuaded her to agree to propose marriage at the Song residence.
But now, let alone proposing marriage, he has no face to even appear in front of her again.
But he didn't do it on purpose, it was just an instinct... he's just a coward...
Sitting in the slowly moving carriage, Qiu Lingyan lifted the curtain and took one last look at the man who looked like a drowned rat. She pouted and said, "I was really blinded by greed before, to be sad for so long because of someone like him."
Zhu Jiayu glanced at her: "It's alright. It's commendable that she has turned back from her wrong path. What's gone cannot be changed, but what's to come can still be pursued."
Qiu Lingyan nodded, looking thoughtful, and then asked, "What do you mean?"
Zhu Jiayu: "..."
Green Kite: "..."
Finally, her personal maid, unable to bear seeing her mistress lose face in front of her cousin, tugged at her sleeve and whispered, "What the cousin means is that the past cannot be undone, but we can still try to make progress in the future."
Qiu Lingyan stuck out her tongue and laughed awkwardly, "Haha, my cousin looks like she's read a lot of books."
Unlike her.
She was too busy sleeping during class.
“But you can’t blame me for not studying hard,” she thought for a moment and felt she should defend herself, saying, “Cousin, you don’t know, the tutor my father hired for us sisters… Let me put it this way, when he’s lecturing, I feel like I’d be letting him down if I didn’t fall into a deep sleep.”
She wasn't the only one sleeping in class back then, so she wasn't ashamed to say it.
Zhu Jiayu nodded slightly, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
The carriage moved slowly along Qingping Street. Qiu Lingyan looked out and asked Zhu Jiayu if there was anywhere she wanted to go.
Heling City is such a small place, and she grew up here, so she didn't find anything particularly interesting to go anywhere. She'd rather ask her cousin for her opinion.
Zhu Jiayu lifted the brocade curtain and looked out the window. Suddenly, she saw a wonton stall by the roadside and pointed to the steaming iron pot: "I want to eat wontons, cousin."
Qiu Lingyan was somewhat embarrassed.
She never eats in places like this.
Firstly, she felt it was unclean; secondly, she felt it didn't suit her status.
Seeing her expression, Zhu Jiayu smiled and said, "It's alright, cousin, wait for me in the carriage. I'll go eat a bowl and be right back."
She hadn't eaten it in a long time. There were few wonton stalls in Suiping before, so she hadn't thought about it. But now that she saw it, she felt it would be a pity not to have a bowl.
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