After Flirting with the Wrong Stand-in, I Overturned (GL) - Chapter 52

To be blunt, Ye Jia shook her head and looked silently in Jian Hua’s direction; the latter, as expected, averted her gaze.

Jian Hua, Ye Jia sighed inwardly, you don’t even have the courage to speak to her yourself, yet do you truly want this innocent girl to know the truth?

“I have a friend…” Ye Jia mused, wondering how to phrase the words.

“Miss Ye.” Lin Shuyan blinked helplessly. “If you have something to say, you can just say it directly.” There was no need to take such a detour.

Realizing she had been seen through, Ye Jia said with a sigh, “Miss Lin, you might not believe it, but I really do have a friend.” And that friend wasn’t herself.

“Mhm.” Lin Shuyan adopted an attentive posture, ready to listen.

“I,” Ye Jia paused, deciding to drop the “friend” label and just tell it straight. “Her father was once married to a woman he loved very much. But as the world is unpredictable, his first wife passed away in an accident. Later,” Ye Jia continued slowly, “her father married her mother.”

“Her mother fell in love with her father at first sight at a banquet and won the favor of her grandparents. Added to the fact that her father felt he truly ought to have a wife, they got married.”

“After the wedding, her mother gradually discovered that her husband had a specific set of standards for many things. The young wife didn’t understand and simply followed them obediently, until one day she found out what kind of woman her husband’s ex-wife had been.”

“She suddenly realized that her husband’s requirements for every dress she wore and every lipstick he picked for her were all because of another woman.”

It wasn’t quite the right setting to discuss such things, but Ye Jia narrated it bit by bit, then asked directly, “Miss Lin, if you were that mother, would you want to know the truth?”

“Or would you rather not know, and peacefully accept every dress or every meal your husband chose for you?”

“Did the mother love the father very much?” Lin Shuyan asked softly.

“Yes,” Ye Jia nodded.

“That truly is a sad story.”

“Sad?” Ye Jia was surprised.

“Is it not?” Shuyan asked back with a shake of her head. “Fate toys with people. So, how did the mother choose after finding out the truth?”

“The mother…” Ye Jia’s words came to an abrupt halt. “Miss Lin hasn’t answered my question yet.”

“Me?” Shuyan raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Miss Ye, although I’m not quite sure who you’re telling this story for,” Shuyan looked back toward where Ye Jia had been looking earlier, but no one was there.

“It’s a good story,” Shuyan laughed. “I’ve heard it. Miss Ye, if you’ll excuse me, A-Xuan must be looking for me.”

She walked away from Ye Jia as if nothing had happened, but her mind was a complete blank. Ye Jia was A-Xuan’s friend; for her to go through the trouble of speaking up, it must be for another friend. Who was the protagonist of this story, and why on earth was Ye Jia telling it to her?

Was it a provocation, or…

Impossible. Shuyan instinctively cut off that train of thought.

“A-Xuan!” Shuyan’s eyes suddenly lit up as she spotted Ren Xuan.

“What were you doing just now?” After parting with Ning Yinman, Ren Xuan had taken a turn around the backyard. She asked softly as she approached.

“I chatted with Miss Ye for a while,” Shuyan said. “Miss Ye Jia told me a story.”

“A story?” Ren Xuan frowned. She had never heard that Ye Jia was the type of person to tell stories to others.

“Does A-Xuan want to hear it?” Shuyan gripped Ren Xuan’s hand, asking nervously. As for what she was nervous about, she wasn’t quite sure herself.

“I’d love to,” Ren Xuan gripped her hand back and smiled. “I have to know what secrets my girlfriend is whispering about with others.”

“However,” Ren Xuan thought of the person Yinman had just mentioned; it was best to leave this banquet early. Digging through “Ren Xuan’s” memories for anything regarding An Ruo resulted in almost nothing but unpleasantness.

“Let’s head back first…” Ren Xuan pulled Shuyan toward a pillar and whispered a few words into her ear. Shuyan nodded obediently. “A-Xuan, let’s go.”

In a corner on the second floor, the person taking in this scene said, “Jian Hua, you have to admit, she looks very happy right now, doesn’t she?”

“A false happiness?” Jian Hua sneered.

“Hua,” Ye Jia faced Jian Hua’s family issues directly for the first time. “You should know your mother best. If given the chance to do it all over again, do you think she would regret hearing that conversation or seeing that photo?”

If you can’t see it, you can live in the lie forever. In that lie, her husband was gentle and considerate, having the patience to wait for her to finish her makeup, picking out exquisite looks for her, cooking dinner with her, and going on trips together.

Jian Hua was suddenly speechless. As the daughter of the Zhou family, her mother was a match for any man in Yecheng, yet she had chosen her father, a man on his second marriage.

“And,” Ye Jia said with a bitter smile, “even if she truly found out the truth one day, it shouldn’t be you who tells her.”

Regardless of anything else, it was simply because they were Ren Xuan’s friends.

Before Jian Hua could finish, she saw Ren Xuan and Lin Shuyan holding hands intimately, turning to leave. Her peripheral vision suddenly caught someone. “Perhaps. Someone’s coming.”

Ye Jia looked down, a flicker of grim satisfaction on her face. An Ruo. This woman was the type who simply wouldn’t go away. Then again, after five whole years, Ye Jia admired the patience of these people.

Isn’t it better to love someone new every time? Why be so dead-set on one person? If this one doesn’t work, move on to the next. An Ruo was like this, Ren Xuan was the same, and it seemed even Ning Yinman was heading that way, getting hopelessly entangled with that popular star of hers. Was it contagious?

Love is a terrifying thing.

Before Ye Jia’s lament could settle, An Ruo had already dashed in front of the couple. “Miss Ren, who is this?”

“This is my girlfriend.” Ren Xuan quietly pulled Shuyan behind her. Shuyan, meanwhile, was curiously observing the woman who clearly came with ill intent.

“Eldest Miss Ren,” An Ruo, wearing bold red lipstick, tossed her slightly curled hair. “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t find a girlfriend?”

‘Ren Xuan’ had indeed said that; Ren Xuan dug through the memories and actually found the quote. “Miss An,” Ren Xuan said indifferently, “this is my private matter.” Whether she had a girlfriend or not required no one’s permission.

“My girlfriend and I should be heading back.” With many gazes fixed on them, Ren Xuan nodded politely, took Shuyan’s hand, and prepared to walk out.

“Stop right there!” Almost instantly, An Ruo’s eyes welled with tears. she looked incredibly aggrieved. “On what basis?”

Fearing An Ruo would actually cause a scene at Uncle Zhang’s banquet, Ren Xuan interrupted her and whispered, “Miss An, you’ve just returned to the country. I imagine your brother is waiting for you to go home for the holidays.”

Looking back, the man rushing over was none other than the eldest son of the An family, An Fei.

“An Ruo.” An Fei walked over, struggling to suppress his anger. He nodded with a smile to Ren Xuan and Lin Shuyan, then grabbed An Ruo, who was unwilling to leave.

“Are you planning to go back abroad tomorrow?” An Fei threatened. The An family was very strict. They absolutely did not allow their children’s partners to be anyone other than those they had chosen. If discovered, they could forget about receiving a single cent of their inheritance.

As for Ren Xuan, if she were a man, the An family would have approved unanimously. A woman? No.

An Ruo stamped her foot and walked away helplessly. An Fei soothed those nearby and then went to Old Mr. Zhang to explain. Fortunately, the old man didn’t mind, simply commenting: “Young people. We were all young once, we understand. But it has to be mutual consent, right?”

“Yes, yes,” An Fei nodded repeatedly.

Having successfully exited, Ren Xuan raised an eyebrow at Ning Yinman. If Yinman hadn’t dragged the “Great Buddha” An Fei down from the second floor in time, she didn’t know how long she would have been entangled with An Ruo. It wasn’t that she feared trouble, but Ren Xuan didn’t want Shuyan to know about these messy affairs. However, given the situation, that was clearly impossible now.

“A-Xuan,” sure enough, as soon as they got into the car, Shuyan couldn’t wait to ask, “What was that about? She’s an old acquaintance of yours.” The last sentence was almost an affirmation.

“Yes,” Ren Xuan nodded.

“Then,” Shuyan tilted her head, looking at Ren Xuan from a slant, her finger lightly hooking into Ren Xuan’s sleeve, “is A-Xuan going to tell me exactly who she is?”

“Her name is An Ruo.” Ren Xuan sighed, rescuing her sleeve from Shuyan’s hand before helping her sit up straight. The girl’s soft body leaned back toward her the next second, her words betraying her impatience to know.

“So, it’s like this?” Ren Xuan chuckled. Jealous? Surely not—she and An Ruo were truly as clean as a whistle.

“A-Xuan is mine.” Shuyan hugged Ren Xuan’s arm tightly, declaring her ownership. “I only just found out that people are chasing A-Xuan.”

“She went abroad.” Ren Xuan didn’t pull her hand away this time. “If Yinman hadn’t mentioned it today, I might not have even recognized her upon meeting.” After a year or two apart, An Ruo had changed a lot; she was no longer the person in ‘Ren Xuan’s’ memory. However, her feelings for Ren Xuan clearly hadn’t changed.

“That’s roughly the gist of it.” Ren Xuan detailed every bit she could remember concerning An Ruo.

“Satisfied now?” Ren Xuan lightly touched Shuyan’s nose.

“Mhm.” Shuyan leaned contentedly against Ren Xuan, having understood what kind of person An Ruo was. A moment later, she sat up straight again. “Does A-Xuan think I talk too much?”

“What does Shuyan think?”

“A-Xuan shouldn’t find me annoying,” Shuyan demanded bossily.

“Lin Shuyan.” Ren Xuan leaned forward and placed a kiss on her forehead. “I can’t like you enough as it is.” Shuyan snuggled back into Ren Xuan’s arms with even more satisfaction.

Meanwhile, in the garden, An Ruo was taking her anger out on a flower bush, stripping off several leaves. “Miss An,” someone called out from behind.

“Come out!” An Ruo snapped, her mood foul.

The person who walked out was a smiling stranger An Ruo had never met. Before An Ruo could speak, she offered: “Miss An, I have an audio recording here. Would you like to buy it?”

An Ruo ignored her.

“Doesn’t Miss An want to know why the Eldest Miss Ren hasn’t dated for so many years? Don’t you want to know why she suddenly found a girlfriend now?”

An Ruo still gave no reaction.

“Miss An surely wants to know where exactly she lost?”

Lost? An Ruo’s eyes were full of determination. It was impossible for her to lose.

“How much? I want it all!”

Around the Lantern Festival, a piece of gossip spread rapidly among the wealthy families of Yecheng.