The Fake and Real Heiresses Fell in Love (GL) - Chapter 10

After the words were spoken, an awkward silence enveloped the two.

Yao Yanyan couldn’t stand the atmosphere and looked at her.

Cheng Xuan was clearly untouched. Her thick eyelashes drooped, casting a fan-shaped shadow: “Mhm.”

Yao Yanyan frowned, instinctively feeling there was a misunderstanding: “You don’t believe me?”

Cheng Xuan shook her head, raised her eyes, which were pitch-black: “No, I do believe you.”

Of course, she believed her.

It could only be this one reason that this young lady would suddenly take a fancy to her and bestow kindness upon her.

Of course, this “privilege” could be transferred to someone else at any time. After all, Cheng Xuan believed there were plenty of people who were more cheerful and docile than her, yet lived a harder life.

Yao Yanyan had no idea what she was thinking. Hearing her say she believed her, she was quite happy: “Then hurry up and eat!”

The power of delicious food was immense.

Ultimately, a favor received makes it hard to refuse a request. After hearing the suggestion to go out again tomorrow, Cheng Xuan hesitated for two seconds, then nodded in agreement.

“But I have to drop off my brother tomorrow.”

“It’s fine,” Yao Yanyan gave her a somewhat smug smile. “From now on, as long as you’re going out with me, your mother will be responsible for dropping off and picking up your brother. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

Cheng Xuan was left dizzy by the phrase “You don’t have to worry about anything.” She vaguely recalled the story of the “kept man” she’d overheard the neighbors talking about and quickly shook her head to dismiss the bizarre fantasy.

The other girl added another sentence: “You just need to accompany me to eat, drink, and play.”

Cheng Xuan: “…”

Cheng Xuan was somewhat speechless. When she went downstairs, returned to her room, and lay in bed staring at the ceiling, she was uncharacteristically agitated.

Cheng Xuan squinted, belatedly realizing that she hadn’t woken up in the middle of the night in a long time.

Because since the young lady moved in, no more annoying noise had come from upstairs.

She rolled over, catching a glimpse of the book with the bizarrely beautiful cover on her bedside table.

Her fingers curled slightly. After a long moment, Cheng Xuan got up, picked up the book, and started reading it.

“Where’s Cheng Xuan?” Yao Yanyan asked.

Chen Huishu had just returned after dropping off her children. The KFC meal last night had made her completely compliant with the young lady: “I don’t know, I haven’t seen her.”

“She couldn’t still be asleep, could she?” Yao Yanyan muttered.

Chen Huishu heard her and laughed, waving her hands: “Of course not. She wakes up earlier than anyone else every day. She probably went out…”

Mid-sentence, the door to the inner room opened.

Cheng Xuan’s hair was slightly messy. She pushed the door open, expressionless. Seeing the exquisitely made-up Yao Yanyan by the door and Chen Huishu, who had already returned after dropping off the children, she froze.

Her gaze shifted to the clock in the living room.

It was ten forty.

Yao Yanyan saw Cheng Xuan staring motionless at the clock and called out: “Cheng Xuan?”

The sound brought her back to reality. Cheng Xuan walked toward her with a cold face, pinching her excessively hot ear: “…I’m sorry, I… I woke up late.”

Yao Yanyan looked at Cheng Xuan, paused for a few seconds, then broke into a wide smile: “It’s fine.”

She liked seeing Cheng Xuan flustered.

This girl had endured too much hardship. She was accustomed to forbearance, accustomed to self-reliance. Growing up too fast had caused her to lose the willfulness appropriate for her age long ago.

She should have been the girl who was loved and grew up carefree.

With this thought, Yao Yanyan lowered her eyelashes, concealing the flickering emotions in her eyes.

She had to complete the task quickly.

She hoped Cheng Xuan could find happiness sooner.

Hong Xiaonuan was already waiting early at the door.

There were three of them. Yao Yanyan wore a white T-shirt and jeans, Cheng Xuan was dressed all in black, and Hong Xiaonuan wore the brightest clothes: a white T-shirt with a sunflower print and an orange skirt below, perfectly matching her lively appearance.

“Sister Yanyan, good morning!” Hong Xiaonuan glanced at Cheng Xuan and greeted Yao Yanyan.

“Mhm.” Yao Yanyan smiled slightly and nodded.

Hong Xiaonuan had done a lot of homework last night. Fengkang Town was small with little to do, and even if there were attractions, the young lady likely wouldn’t be impressed. However, the Flower and Bird Market was relatively well-known. Many people from nearby cities came here to buy flowers on their days off.

She wasn’t sure if the young lady had the leisure for that, so she asked cautiously: “Sister Yanyan, how about we go to the Flower and Bird Market in the town center today? It’s quite pretty there.”

“Sounds good.” The young lady nodded, surprisingly agreeable and incredibly friendly.

Hong Xiaonuan felt relieved and developed a more genuine fondness for the young lady: “Then let’s go.”

As she spoke, she glanced again at Cheng Xuan behind Yao Yanyan.

Dressed all in black, she hadn’t said a word, let alone smiled, the entire time. Following the radiant young lady, she was like a faintly present ghost.

Noticing the stare, Cheng Xuan silently looked up. Perhaps due to lack of sleep, her eyes had some bloodshot streaks, and her pupils were so black that no light seemed to enter, making Hong Xiaonuan’s heart skip a beat.

Fortunately, Cheng Xuan quickly looked away. Hong Xiaonuan felt slightly uncomfortable and clung to Yao Yanyan: “Sister Yanyan, are you hot?”

“Mhm, a little.” Yao Yanyan took sunglasses from her bag and put them on, then pulled out a parasol (sun umbrella).

Hong Xiaonuan had never seen anyone use a parasol in the village. If a village woman walked out on a sunny day with one, she’d be laughed at. But when the young lady did it, it was different.

Because all the beautiful things in the world that belong to a girl applied to her, and she never cared about what others thought or said.

Hong Xiaonuan was lucky enough to benefit from the shade. The umbrella was large. Hong Xiaonuan moved closer to Yao Yanyan. After taking a couple of steps forward, she noticed the young lady hadn’t followed.

She turned back and saw the young lady talking to Cheng Xuan.

“Here, take the umbrella. I’m a bit tired.” Yao Yanyan rotated her arm. She was delicate, and after holding the umbrella all afternoon yesterday, her arm was a little sore today.

Cheng Xuan nodded, took the umbrella, and walked to stand between Yao Yanyan and Hong Xiaonuan.

Hong Xiaonuan didn’t dare to share the umbrella anymore: “Don’t mind me, don’t mind me. You two take it.”

The young lady’s slightly lazy voice drifted out from under the umbrella: “It’s fine, come over.”

Hong Xiaonuan was afraid of Cheng Xuan and shook her head in refusal: “I really don’t need it, Miss. I brought a straw hat.”

“Alright then.” The young lady didn’t insist.

The Flower and Bird Market wasn’t far from the Cheng family’s home. After the rain yesterday, it was particularly lively today now that the sun was out. Yao Yanyan looked around and whispered to Cheng Xuan: “Do you like flowers?”

They were close, and her scent wafted over. Cheng Xuan subtly shifted her body backward: “Kind of.”

“Kind of”—it was hard to tell if she liked them or not. Yao Yanyan decided she did. She mentally planned to buy Cheng Xuan a beautiful, easy-to-care-for potted plant to take home.

The Flower and Bird Market was bustling. The local dialect of Fengkang Town mixed with Mandarin was incomprehensible to Yao Yanyan. Fortunately, she had the responsible “translator,” Hong Xiaonuan, by her side. When a vendor spoke a convoluted dialect phrase, Hong Xiaonuan would translate it.

After listening for a while, Yao Yanyan suddenly thought of the first time she met Cheng Xuan.

At that time, Cheng Xuan seemed to be speaking the local Fengkang Town dialect, though not as heavily accented. Only after they got acquainted did Cheng Xuan start speaking proper Mandarin.

Thinking of this, Yao Yanyan looked up at Cheng Xuan beside her. Cheng Xuan’s eyelashes fluttered slightly, and after a long moment, she turned her head to look back.

“What is it?” Cheng Xuan asked.

Yao Yanyan smiled at her: “Nothing, I just suddenly remembered something.”

“You speak the local dialect too, right?” she asked.

Cheng Xuan nodded: “Mhm.”

Yao Yanyan said: “Then say a few phrases for me? I want to hear it.”

Cheng Xuan frowned, looking slightly reluctant to speak. Hong Xiaonuan, hearing their conversation, excitedly moved closer to Yao Yanyan: “Sister Yanyan! I can! I speak it super authentically!”

Yao Yanyan was interested: “Then say something for me to hear.”

“Cough, cough,” Hong Xiaonuan cleared her throat twice. “Nóng cì fàn méi dé?”

“Have you eaten yet?” Yao Yanyan translated. Hong Xiaonuan’s speaking speed wasn’t too fast, so Yao Yanyan could still understand.

The two huddled together, one speaking a phrase and the other translating, quickly bonding over the game. Yao Yanyan laughed and lightly nudged Cheng Xuan with her elbow: “You say a phrase too.”

Cheng Xuan looked down at the ground: “Mine doesn’t sound as good as hers.”

“Oh.” Yao Yanyan didn’t think much of it and didn’t insist. She continued chatting happily with Hong Xiaonuan. It wasn’t until the three of them had bought a few pots of flowers and were heading back that Yao Yanyan noticed Cheng Xuan’s mood seemed off.

Although her expression hadn’t changed all day, Yao Yanyan just felt that she was unhappy.

There was silence on the way back. Hong Xiaonuan, walking beside them, couldn’t stand it. She shot Cheng Xuan many glances, truly baffled as to why the young lady brought her out.

She was quiet, had an unappealing personality, was never seen playing with anyone at school, and her family was notoriously poor—she was practically worlds apart from the young lady.

Hong Xiaonuan concluded that Yao Yanyan must have been pitying Cheng Xuan to spend time with her and secretly felt sympathy for the beautiful and kind-hearted young lady.

Yao Yanyan had no idea what she was thinking. She glimpsed a group of high school students crouching and smoking up ahead and was about to quietly complain when Hong Xiaonuan’s face instantly went pale. She grabbed Yao Yanyan’s hand: “Sister Yanyan, let’s take a different route.”

But it was too late. The students saw the striking parasol at the intersection and Cheng Xuan beneath it. They immediately got excited and yelled toward them: “Damn! Is that Sister Cheng Xuan! Come here quick!”

The jeering and shouting were unpleasant to hear. Yao Yanyan frowned. Just as she muttered, “Where did those bad kids come from…” she was pulled with great force by Hong Xiaonuan into a different alleyway entrance.

Yao Yanyan: “What?!”

Everything happened so fast, Yao Yanyan was completely caught off guard. When she finally reacted, she exploded: “What are you doing!”

Hong Xiaonuan’s face was pale: “Miss, don’t go out there.”

“Why?” Yao Yanyan was worried about Cheng Xuan and ignored her.

Hong Xiaonuan tightly hugged Yao Yanyan’s arm: “You can’t!” Her greatest duty was to protect Yao Yanyan. If anything happened to her, she would be finished.

“Who are those people out there?” Yao Yanyan asked anxiously.

“They are… they are…” Hong Xiaonuan stammered. “They’re the troublemakers from our school.”

“I don’t know the details, but they really don’t like Cheng Xuan and are always looking for trouble with her.”