8 love rivals
He wanted to see what kind of stunningly handsome young man he was.
Song Qinggui woke up first.
Daylight had broken, and the morning sun shone through the gap in the curtains, falling directly on Xue Lu's face.
His brow bone is prominent, and when the sunlight shines down, it is just right to be blocked by the brow bone, casting a thin layer of shadow in his eye socket. Yet, a few rays of light still gently jump onto his eyelashes, creating a unique kind of beauty with their scattered and fragmented light spots.
Song Qinggui couldn't help but reach out and tentatively touch his eyes.
Just as she withdrew her hand, Xue Lu opened his eyes and stared straight at her.
Song Qinggui's heart skipped a beat. Just then, her phone rang. She felt like she had been granted a pardon and took the phone to the balcony.
Song Qinggui half-closed the balcony door and looked at the caller ID on his phone screen—"Xingxing".
She answered the phone: "What's wrong?"
A weak female voice came from the other end of the phone: "Nothing, I just miss you a little."
Song Qinggui sighed: "I told you, you can come to Lancheng anytime, and I'll take care of you."
"Heh..." Xingxing chuckled bitterly, "You talk as if you're a millionaire. Song Qinggui, do you think I don't know what kind of lowlife you are?"
Song Qinggui was not angry when he heard this, but he also did not let the other party insult him: "If I am a worthless person, then what are you? Didn't you teach me to be a worthless person?"
“Yes,” Xingxing smiled, “We’re both shameless, so shameless, we can’t live without men…”
Song Qinggui lowered his eyes, pain in them: "Have you been listening to me properly? You haven't missed a single week, have you?"
There was a moment of silence on the other end.
Song Qinggui's voice suddenly softened: "Xingxing...you promised me."
“The rules…” Xingxing’s voice trembled with tears: “I don’t want to be treated anymore.”
"Meng Yuxing!" Song Qinggui choked up as well, all the gentleness in his voice vanishing, replaced by hatred: "You don't have to treat me! Just pay me back the money you owe me!"
“I can’t pay it back…you know perfectly well I can’t pay it back…” Xingxing finally burst into tears: “I don’t want to be treated anymore, it hurts too much, it really hurts too much…”
Song Qinggui closed his eyes, forcing himself to calm down: "Wait for me, I'm going back to Cangcheng."
Song Qinggui hung up the phone and turned around to find Xue Lu leaning against the door with his arms crossed, watching her.
She instinctively lowered her head, avoiding his gaze.
Looking at Song Qinggui's reddened eyes, Xue Lu couldn't help but frown. He had vaguely heard parts of the phone call, such as "Come to Lancheng, I'll take care of you," "Isn't this worthless body of mine a product of your teaching?" and "Have you been listening to me properly?"...
Xue Lu didn't know that the person on the other end of the phone was a woman. He only felt that Song Qinggui's words were too ambiguous, and she had always been a master at stirring up feelings between men and women.
In just a moment, Xue Lu's jealousy ignited.
"Who is he?" Xue Lu's voice was low and restrained.
Song Qinggui did not answer: "I'm asking for three days off to go back to Cangcheng."
After saying that, she was about to walk past Xue Lu to pack her luggage.
Xue Lu grabbed her wrist, forcing her to face him.
"Who is he?" Xue Lu's eyes turned cold.
Looking into his devoid of warmth, Song Qinggui considered her and Xingxing's situation and could only soften her tone, replying, "A relative of mine."
"Relatives?" Xue Lu sneered, "Before we got our marriage certificate, the Xue family did a background check on you. You became a left-behind child when you were three years old. Your parents worked in big cities, and you stayed in Cangcheng to grow up with your grandparents. Your grandparents passed away when you were in your second year of high school and your first year of college, respectively. Your parents are also divorced and have remarried. They no longer contact you. Where do you have any other relatives?"
Song Qinggui stared at Xue Lu. Xue Lu's words had completely awakened her. How could a wealthy family like the Xue family allow a woman from a humble background who had emotional entanglements with other second-generation rich kids to marry into the family?
They had thoroughly investigated her long ago, knowing that she was all alone and had no relatives or friends, so she wouldn't cause any trouble and would be easy to deal with in the future. That's why they agreed to let Lawyer Xue register their marriage with her.
When she woke up this morning, she actually felt attracted to Xue Lu. It was ridiculous that she developed feelings for the knife instead of the fish on the cutting board.
Anger, resentment, and unwillingness...
A mix of emotions welled up in Song Qinggui's heart, and her eyes reddened once again.
However, the reality is that she needs Lawyer Xue, she needs Lawyer Xue's money, she needs a lot of money.
She swallowed the bitterness in her throat and repeated in a trembling voice, "Law Xue, she is my family. My only family in this world."
Xue Lu looked at Song Qinggui in front of him. This was the first time he had seen her so vulnerable, as if she would shatter if touched too hard.
Xue Lu instantly regretted it... He shouldn't have spoken so harshly...
Thinking of this, he no longer held her hand as tightly as before.
Song Qinggui withdrew his hand at the opportune moment, walked to the wardrobe, took out his suitcase, and began to organize his clothes.
"How are you getting back to Cangcheng?" Xue Lu's voice sounded behind her.
"High-speed rail, I'll buy the ticket later," Song Qinggui replied in a low voice.
Xue Lu picked up his phone and called his assistant: "Chen An, book me two plane tickets to Cangcheng, business class only."
Song Qinggui turned around.
Lawyer Xue: "There is no direct high-speed rail from Lancheng to Cangcheng. It takes more than ten hours to get there by transfer. If you take three days off, you will waste two days on the road, excluding sleep."
Song Qinggui didn't understand why Xue Lu's attitude had suddenly changed: "Why are there two?"
Xue Lu: "I'll go with you."
"No……"
"Song Qinggui!"
Before Song Qinggui could even utter the word "use" in "not use," he was forcefully interrupted by Xue Lu.
Xue Lu looked deeply into Song Qinggui's eyes and said, "I am your legal husband. If your family members are in trouble, I have an obligation to help you deal with it."
Lawyer Xue was sincere when he said that.
He had just imagined a melodramatic soap opera in his mind, such as a small-town beauty seducing a rich second-generation heir to support her good-for-nothing, blond-haired first love who does everything from eating and drinking to gambling and whoring.
But when Song Qinggui said, "He is my only family in this world," Xue Lu felt that even if she was really using his money to support another man, he would accept it!
He wanted to see for himself what kind of stunningly handsome young man could make Song Qinggui so infatuated! He was abandoning his handsome, wealthy, and respectable husband to rush off to Cangcheng to rekindle their old flame.
However, when the plane actually arrived in Cangcheng and he met the legendary rival in love, Xue Lu wished he could slap himself twice.
...
Cangcheng is a small coastal county located in the south.
After getting off the plane, it took nearly two hours by taxi to reach Song Qinggui's "home" in Cangcheng.
It's still early spring in the north, but Cangcheng already feels like summer, with the hot wind carrying the fishy smell of the ocean.
Standing in front of the four-story tenement building with its walls in a state of disrepair, Xue Lu was stunned.
Many windows on this building are broken, and some are even missing their panes. The air conditioner units are covered in a thick layer of dust, and ivy has invaded the walls, its branches reaching up to the second floor, growing vigorously as if it wouldn't be long before it devours the entire building.
A few scattered households had clothes hanging out to dry visible through their screen windows, swaying in the hot wind.
Only these traces prove that the building is not completely abandoned and that people still live there.
Song Qinggui opened the iron gate of the corridor with practiced ease. Due to years of rust, the iron gate made a grating "creaking" sound.
Arriving at the east-facing unit on the third floor, Song Qinggui knocked on the door, and a few minutes later, the door was opened.
Xue Lu saw his "love rival"—an unusually thin woman with a sallow complexion and dry, yellow hair.
Upon seeing Song Qinggui, the woman's cloudy eyes lit up: "You're back?"
Song Qinggui led the way, guiding Xue Lu through the door.
Xue Lu looked at everything in the room and frowned.
The room was a mess, with piles of dirty clothes, including both men's and women's clothing.
The coffee table was piled with many things: a half-eaten cup of instant noodles, with a fly hovering over it; a half-eaten cucumber, its cross-section a yellowish-white color that had lost its moisture; an ashtray that hadn't been cleaned in a long time, full of cigarette butts; TV and air conditioner remotes, a lighter, a sewing kit, and scissors... countless small items were scattered across the empty space on the coffee table.
This is just a coffee table; the sofa, floor, and TV cabinet are even worse.
The air in the room was filled with the smell of smoke and mold, and Xue Lu's stomach was already churning.
The woman who owned the house was very welcoming. She moved her hands across the old, coarse cloth sofa, trying to create a space where she could entertain guests.
"Where is Feng Zhe?" Song Qinggui asked.
The woman answered while busy with her hands, "Him... he... he hasn't gotten off work yet."
"What kind of proper class does he ever attend?" Song Qinggui said sarcastically. "Is he gambling again?!"
The woman chuckled and said, "Oh, he gambles a little, but he doesn't always lose. Sometimes he even wins some back. Last time I went to the hospital, he paid for it."
"Heh." Song Qinggui sneered, "You wouldn't break up with him when I told you to, he'll just rot in your hands sooner or later!"
The woman said casually, "We've been rotten for a long time. I rotted in his hands, and he rotted in mine. We two rotten things are a perfect match..."
"Meng Yuxing!" Song Qinggui called out the woman's name and scolded her.
"Sit down." The woman ignored Song Qinggui and said warmly to Xue Lu, "I'll go get you some drinks."
Xue Lu, of course, couldn't sit down.
Song Qinggui grabbed the woman who was about to walk into the kitchen: "Why aren't you getting treatment?"
Only when he got closer did Xue Lu observe some details about the woman.
She was wearing a fitted short-sleeved T-shirt. She hadn't noticed anything unusual until Song Qinggui pulled her around, and a bulge appeared around her abdomen, as if she had something hidden inside her clothes.
The woman noticed Xue Lu's gaze and smiled. She probably wanted to smile openly and naturally, but there was a sickly pain on her face. This contrast between the smile and the pain made her face look strange and grotesque, revealing her suffering.
The woman's face was unnatural, but her hand movements were unrestrained. She lifted her shirt, and Xue Lu finally saw the bulge—a plastic tube coiled around her abdomen, with the end of the tube inserted into the woman's stomach.
"Never seen this before, have you?" The woman spoke like a tour guide, introducing a novel attraction to tourists: "A peritoneal dialysis catheter."
Xue Lu was speechless, stunned by what he saw. This was the first time he had faced the other side of the world so directly—poverty, disease, hunchback, disorder…
Song Qinggui was not surprised by this scene. She gripped the woman's hand tightly and glared at her fiercely: "Answer me, why don't you want to get treatment anymore!"
The woman's eyes darted away: "Oh dear, there's no cure for my illness... It's useless if I can't get a kidney transplant, and even if I do, I can't afford it."
"I told you I'd get you a replacement!" Song Qinggui exclaimed excitedly. "I have money! You just need to wait patiently for the kidney!"
The woman seemed provoked; she laughed again, this time with an even more twisted smile: "Just wait for a kidney? I've been waiting! But I've been waiting for nine years! I can't wait any longer! And even if I did, what then? What if I don't make it off the operating table?! What if my body rejects the transplanted kidney?!"
At this point, the woman almost screamed, tears welling in her eyes: "Why won't you give me a quick death?! Why are you torturing me like this! I don't want treatment anymore! I've had enough of this life!"
Xue Lu was at a loss in such a chaotic scene.
But the next moment, Song Qinggui pulled the woman into his arms, his voice filled with hatred but also with regret: "Meng Yuxing, I told you when we were little that you could never throw me away."
After a long while, the woman began to sob on Song Qinggui's shoulder.
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