The Fake and Real Heiresses Fell in Love (GL) - Chapter 14

“You think I’m lying to you or something?”

Yao Yanyan snapped irritably.

Sensing the impatience in her tone, Cheng Xianshun’s heart fluttered: “Then… then I’ll go order.”

“Hurry up,” Yao Yanyan waved her hand.

Cheng Xianshun clenched her fists, her face flushed red as she walked into the shop. She said to the owner, who was sitting behind the counter smoking: “Um… I… I want one strawberry smoothie.”

“Oh, a strawberry smoothie, got it.” The owner stubbed out his cigarette, wiped his hands, and turned around to start making it.

Cheng Xianshun was elated, staring eagerly at the smoothie machine. When she finally got the beautiful smoothie in her hand, she couldn’t help but smile.

She was about to take a bite with the spoon when the owner pointed to the QR code: “WeChat or cash?”

“Eh?” Cheng Xianshun blinked.

“Eh what? I asked you, WeChat or cash.” The owner was typically grumpy towards younger-looking kids, and his tone was sharp—the classic bully.

Cheng Xianshun was mortified. She was about to stammer that the person outside would pay for her when a flat, calm female voice interjected from the doorway: “WeChat.”

Cheng Xianshun looked up. Yao Yanyan was slowly walking into the small shop. Because of the heat, she had casually pinned up her hair. Sunlight shone on her, giving her a faint, ethereal glow.

“Why did you only buy one smoothie?” she asked, her tone impatient, her brow slightly furrowed.

“Ah…” Cheng Xianshun was still somewhat dazed.

“Get some snacks too,” Yao Yanyan glanced around at the small snacks displayed in the store, asked the owner for two bags, and started filling them up as if the snacks were free.

Cheng Xianshun had never seen anyone grab snacks like this. Regardless of the price, she just stuffed them into the bags, quickly filling two large ones.

“Alright, check out.” Yao Yanyan lazily tossed the bags of snacks onto the counter, scanned the WeChat code, paid, and then left with Cheng Xianshun.

In the height of summer, Cheng Xianshun struggled to walk, carrying two large bags of snacks and a cup of smoothie that had melted into lukewarm sugar water. The young lady in front showed no intention of helping and even turned around to smile at her: “Walk faster.”

Yao Yanyan was always like this; she couldn’t help but want to be mischievous toward people she didn’t particularly like.

Cheng Xianshun’s eyes were shining brightly. She didn’t seem tired at all, nodded vigorously twice, and ran to catch up beside her.

Yao Yanyan found teasing her uninteresting and stopped talking.

But Cheng Xianshun spoke up.

The girl was joyful and looked at her with longing: “Sis… Sister.”

Yao Yanyan didn’t even look at her: “Mhm?”

Cheng Xianshun remembered her mother’s instructions and asked uncertainly: “Sister, are you buying things for me because you like me?”

Yao Yanyan’s amber eyes held a hint of indifference, but the corner of her lips slightly curved: “What do you think?”

Cheng Xianshun saw her smile and thought she liked her very much: “Then, Sister, do you like my sister more, or do you like me more?”

Yao Yanyan instinctively found her question odd and narrowed her eyes: “What? What are you trying to say?”

Her probing gaze swept over Cheng Xianshun, who immediately stammered and closed her mouth.

She felt nervous, vaguely sensing that what her mother had instructed her to say should absolutely not be told to Yao Yanyan.

Then, she heard Yao Yanyan speak again.

“I don’t like you more than your sister.”

Cheng Xianshun’s heart leaped with joy and she looked at her.

“I only like your sister.”

After the words, she smiled narrowly, looking at Cheng Xianshun as if she were an unrelated stranger.

Past four o’clock was the hottest time of the day.

Yao Yanyan was holding a parasol and an electric mini-fan, walking on the dirt path.

Cheng Xianshun was nearly exhausted from the heat. The smoothie in her hand had melted into a lukewarm sugar drink. She turned her head to look at the endless fields, searching everywhere for Cheng Xuan.

On such a hot day, how hot must Big Sister be working in the fields!

Cheng Xianshun couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. She had never worked in the fields and didn’t even know where their family’s plot was. It was Yao Yanyan who spotted a slender figure in the distance and tapped her shoulder: “I found her.”

Cheng Xianshun was incredibly relieved. Her skin felt scorching hot from the sun: “Really? Then I’m going now.”

“Go on, go on,” Yao Yanyan said without turning her head, walking along the bumpy field ridges deeper into the fields.

Cheng Xuan was sitting on the ridge taking a break.

Her face was sunburned and red, she was covered in sweat, and her throat felt bone-dry.

She only had one cup, so she had only brought one bottle of water. In the height of summer, the water had gotten warm. Worried about drinking it all, she could only take a big sip and then use several small sips to wet her throat.

A middle-aged woman working opposite her saw Cheng Xuan with her head buried in her arms, not moving, and feared she might have heatstroke: “Girl! Are you alright?”

Cheng Xuan vaguely heard someone calling her, looked up, and replied: “I’m fine, thank you.”

“How are you fine?” The woman stopped her hoe. Seeing how quiet Cheng Xuan was, she felt sorry for her: “Have you been working all day? You didn’t even bring a hat! What if you get heatstroke?”

“…I’m fine.” Cheng Xuan licked her cracked lips. The back of her neck ached from the sun. Just as she was about to turn, she glimpsed a figure walking toward her in the distance.

The person was holding a parasol, wearing a long-sleeved dress with a sheer sun-protection gauze draped over it. Her figure was slender. She met Cheng Xuan’s eyes from afar, playfully twirling the parasol like a child, then jogged over.

The woman was still urging Cheng Xuan to go home quickly when she saw an exquisitely dressed girl, clearly not a local, walk up to them.

“Cheng Xuan!” The girl’s voice held a note of anxiety. She ran over, crouched down, and held the parasol over Cheng Xuan’s head.

Cheng Xuan’s sun-aching body finally found relief. Sweat dripped from her hair. Cheng Xuan shifted her feet backward, afraid the girl would smell the sweat on her: “Why did you come here?”

Yao Yanyan frowned. Cheng Xuan was clearly exhausted and on the verge of collapsing. Today was a rare high-temperature day. Even someone with tougher skin would get a sunburn after a day in the sun, let alone Cheng Xuan, who was already thin and had no sun protection. She looked almost like a cooked shrimp.

“You’re coming back with me,” Yao Yanyan’s tone was undeniable. She tugged at Cheng Xuan, trying to make her stand up.

But Cheng Xuan remained still. Refusal was written on her face, as if she didn’t even have the energy to speak.

Yao Yanyan looked at her, her heart aching. She didn’t want to force her: “You don’t want to leave?”

Cheng Xuan nodded: “There’s still work to be done.”

Yao Yanyan suppressed her frustration: “What work needs to be done? I’ll hire someone to do it for you!”

With that, she gathered Cheng Xuan’s jacket and water cup and tried to lead her away.

Cheng Xuan wouldn’t budge, stubborn as a rock: “I’ll do it myself.”

The stuffiness and fatigue made her speak without thinking: “My affairs… have nothing to do with you.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Yao Yanyan glared at her.

Cheng Xuan looked up and met her gaze, unyielding: “…My affairs have nothing to do with you. I’ll do it myself. I don’t need you.”

Yao Yanyan was nearly driven mad by her stubbornness. She wanted to scold her but was afraid of the system’s warning. She finally threw down a single sentence: “Then do it yourself! Work yourself to death!” and stormed off.

The omnipresent scorching sun enveloped Cheng Xuan again. The woman opposite had heard the whole exchange. Watching the delicate girl leave the field, she said to Cheng Xuan: “You silly girl, she was trying to help you out of kindness! And you didn’t appreciate it! You’ll work yourself to death doing all this work yourself!”

Cheng Xuan pursed her lips, remaining silent.

She just didn’t want to accept the young lady’s kindness anymore.

Remembering what Chen Huishu had said yesterday, Cheng Xuan clenched her fists, picked up her hoe, and returned to work in the field.

The sun began to set in the west. Most of the people in the fields had gone home for dinner, but Cheng Xuan still worked with her head down.

The woman opposite finished her work, put down her hoe, and started to walk home. Seeing Cheng Xuan silently swinging the hoe like a robot, she worried: “Girl, aren’t you going home?”

Cheng Xuan wiped the sweat from her face and shook her head: “I’ll go back when I’m done.”

The woman sighed: “Well, you keep busy! I’ll bring you back a bowl of porridge, dear.”

“Thank you,” Cheng Xuan replied without lifting her head, continuing her work.

The woman walked far away but kept looking back, worried that Cheng Xuan might collapse. She was too thin. Her arms, like kindling, swung the hoe, making the woman fear her arms might snap.

She let out a sigh and turned to walk, only to see a person approaching her.

The person was walking fast, with an unhappy expression on her beautiful face, and carrying a large bag.

It was the girl who had been angrily chased away by the Cheng family girl.

Cheng Xuan honestly wondered if she was dreaming.

The young lady who had been angrily chased away was now back, standing on the field ridge in the twilight.

Her hair was damp with sweat, clinging to the side of her face. Her bright amber eyes looked as if they had suppressed a road-trip’s worth of anger, just waiting to vent it on her.

Cheng Xuan looked back at her, her mind fixated on only one thought:

Even the young lady sweats.

Yao Yanyan threw the bag onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. She glared at Cheng Xuan without speaking, waiting only for an apology.

Cheng Xuan stopped hoeing, looked up at her, and neither spoke for a moment.

Yao Yanyan couldn’t hold it in any longer. Her eyes were sharp, and her tone was overbearing: “Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

Cheng Xuan was silent for a moment: “…Why did you come back?”

When a woman is angry, everything the other person says sounds insulting. Yao Yanyan sneered: “What, you don’t want me back?! Does seeing me bother you?”

The words hit Cheng Xuan like cannonballs, stunning her. Cheng Xuan had never seen Yao Yanyan like this. Even when angry before, it had only been a small tantrum. She belatedly felt her heart being squeezed by a hand named unease: “I didn’t mean…”

Yao Yanyan glared at her, exhaled sharply, crouched down, unzipped the bag, and tossed a box of something at her.

Cheng Xuan barely caught it, looking down to see a box of Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid (traditional heatstroke remedy).

“…Thank you.”

Cheng Xuan thanked her honestly.

Yao Yanyan watched her.

Cheng Xuan’s face was full of unease. She was thin and tall. Her slender fingers held the medicine box. Her back was soaked with sweat. Seeing Yao Yanyan’s gaze, she looked up.

Perhaps from exhaustion, her dark eyes seemed even brighter. Even though she was still anxious, her gaze was neither humble nor arrogant, shining brightly like a black gem.

This was the look that belonged to Cheng Xuan.

No matter how tired she was, no matter what hardships she faced, she would never be lost or afraid.