Chapter 10: The Hot-Tempered Best Friend

"I won't refuse it; I'll accept. I'm already poor enough as it is, and my show of modesty just now was purely for appearances." Xu Qinghuan's eyes grew a little warm.

Lin Xialan was amused by her, tears trembling on her lashes. Lin Xialan was not a conventionally beautiful girl, but she had refined features and spirited eyes. Her only flaws were her slightly dark, rough skin, which made her deeply insecure. In the book, she eventually married Du Jiakang, the second son of the Du family in Yan City. However, he had a childhood sweetheart—his foster sister, Wu Kexin—and due to social conventions, they could only carry on a secret affair. This made life miserable for Lin Xialan; after they married, Du Jiakang never touched her. Lin Xialan always believed it was because she was ugly, dark, and coarse. After her sister-in-law met with an accident and her own family fell into ruin, she suffered from severe depression and eventually leaped to her death.

"Open up!" Xu Qinghuan held a beauty pill she had crafted using a recipe from the medical texts in her space, made entirely with ingredients and spiritual water from that same realm.

Without asking what she was being fed, Lin Xialan obediently opened her mouth. The pill was flicked in; before she could even taste it, it melted instantly and slid down her throat.

"What was that?" Lin Xialan felt a hint of sweetness followed by a slight bitterness. She wasn't sick, so why take medicine?

"Poison!" Xu Qinghuan teased.

"Oh, so you dare feed me poison? Admit it, you're just jealous of my beauty and talent, aren't you?" She lunged to tickle Xu Qinghuan, and the two began to romp around in the small grove by the hospital entrance.

"Sister!"

Xu Qinghuan straightened up and looked toward the voice. It was Xu Manman, her head wrapped in gauze, her pale face looking as delicate as a white flower in a storm, easily stirring a man's protective instincts.

Lin Xialan glanced at Xu Qinghuan. Unlike Xu Manman, Huanhuan was vibrant and magnificent, like the scorching sun of the nine heavens; a man's "protective instinct" was an insult to her. She truly didn't know what kind of man would be worthy of standing beside such a woman—at the very least, it shouldn't be someone like Jiang Chengxu. Therefore, Lin Xialan supported Huanhuan's decision to call off the engagement with both hands and feet.

As expected, Jiang Chengxu was walking beside Xu Manman. As they approached, Lin Xialan suddenly jumped out and blocked their path. "What do you want?"

Xu Manman's gaze drifted over Lin Xialan's head to look at Xu Qinghuan behind her. "Sister, don't misunderstand. Brother Chengxu is just here to accompany me to change my dressing."

Xu Qinghuan shook her head with a smile. "I'm not misunderstanding anything." After all, they were going to break off the engagement soon anyway.

Lin Xialan scolded, "You are truly shameless and devoid of self-respect. Jiang Chengxu, a man like you is beneath contempt. You're engaged to the elder sister and yet you're flirting with the younger one. The Qing Dynasty fell over a hundred years ago—are you trying to restore the monarchy? Do you believe I’ll go report you?"

Jiang Chengxu’s face turned a shade of livid. "Lin Xialan, if you don't know how to speak, keep your mouth shut. When have I ever been 'flirting' with Manman? Didn't she just make it clear? I am only here to help her change her dressing."

Lin Xialan retorted, "Ha! Changing a dressing? What, has she become a triple amputee, unable to move her own hands or feet? Or is there no one left at home, so you have to be the one to do it? As far as I know, she has three brothers and a sister. Two of them work, and isn't there one who is a layabout? Even her own flesh and blood don't care, yet you, a future brother-in-law, are tripping over yourself to serve her. If you say there’s nothing filthy going on in your heart, who would believe you?"

She tugged at Xu Qinghuan. "Huanhuan, three-legged toads are hard to find, but two-legged men? Look around, they're all over the street. Leave this scum to whoever wants him; we don't want him!"

Xu Qinghuan felt a headache coming on, but Lin Xialan had always been this hot-tempered. She didn't know what had triggered her today, but her shouting had drawn a crowd of onlookers from the hospital entrance. Lin Xialan was actually agitated by the news that Xu Qinghuan was being sent to the countryside. Everyone knew how hard that life was—facing the yellow earth with one's back to the sky. How could Huanhuan endure such suffering?

Xu Manman was secretly delighted and decided to push further. She grabbed Xu Qinghuan’s sleeve and cried, "Sister, is it because of me that you misunderstand Brother Chengxu? Brother Chengxu and I are perfectly innocent. Please, don't misunderstand, okay? I'm begging you, Brother Chengxu is sincere about you!"

Xu Qinghuan frowned. Before she could speak, Lin Xialan kicked Xu Manman aside. "Shameless! I’ve never seen anyone so shameless. You seduce your sister's fiancé while trying to maintain your own reputation? Are all the men in the world dead? You have to keep clinging to your brother-in-law? Bah! If it weren't for Huanhuan's sake, I would report you two for adultery right now and have you dragged through the streets!"

The crowd grew larger. Jiang Chengxu had never been so humiliated, and his face turned ashen. "Qinghuan, Manman has already said our friendship is pure and revolutionary. Why don't you believe us? Her forehead is injured like this, yet you’ve never shown any concern, and instead, you slander our relationship. Is this how you act as a sister?"

Xu Qinghuan laughed in disbelief. "Jiang Chengxu, what your relationship is with anyone, pure or otherwise, what does it have to do with me? Do you not understand plain language? I am breaking off our engagement. From today on, even if you sleep with someone else, it has nothing to do with me! Also, regarding the injury on her forehead—have you not asked the doctor about it? You should hurry up and change the dressing; if you wait any longer, it might actually heal!"

"Pfft!" someone laughed out loud.

Xu Manman closed her eyes, preparing to feign a faint, and leaned into Jiang Chengxu. Lin Xialan suddenly stepped forward and ripped the gauze off Xu Manman's forehead. Beneath it was a shallow scratch—it had barely broken the skin. It had bled a little at the time, but after two days, just as Xu Qinghuan had said, it was already nearly healed.

Xu Manman quickly covered her forehead with her hand, "woke up," and raged, "Lin Xialan, don't think that just because you're my sister's friend, I won't do anything to you!"

"What will you do? What do you dare do to me?" Lin Xialan sneered. "Shameless!"

Xu Manman turned to Jiang Chengxu and sobbed, "Brother Chengxu, wuwuwu, I never imagined my sister would misunderstand us so deeply!"

Jiang Chengxu hadn't expected Xu Qinghuan to bring up breaking the engagement again. He thought she had just been talking last time and hadn't taken it to heart. For some reason, seeing Xu Qinghuan speak of ending their engagement so easily made him feel a flicker of irritation.

"Qinghuan, I can overlook you bringing up the engagement again today, but this is the only time. Don't be so reckless with your words in the future. Marriage is not a child's game; how can you keep throwing such words around?"

Someone nearby chimed in, "That's right. Engaging and breaking engagements isn't a game, and it’s not that big of a deal. You’re sisters—looking after each other is normal. Why be so petty?"

In the eyes of the bystanders, Xu Qinghuan was being unreasonable. Wasn't it just her fiancé taking her sister to the hospital once?