Chapter 43
Despite the distance, the sound of laughter and conversation drifted from the house.
Was there some sort of happy occasion?
Xiao Yun’s heart tightened. Whenever something unexpected occurred—or something that deviated from the original novel—she grew anxious. In such a state, her muscles would suddenly tense up.
Jiang Cha seemed to sense something. She looked over and asked, “What’s wrong?”
She slid her fingers down, interlacing them with Xiao Yun’s. The cool sensation helped Xiao Yun feel a bit better.
“It’s nothing.” She let out a quick breath, her muscles gradually relaxing. It was strange; previously, the rose-scented pheromones were just a scent to her, but after today, they seemed to have a soothing, calming effect. It felt like walking into a traditional Chinese medicine pharmacy as a child—the smell of herbs making the whole body feel healed.
Her beautiful “wife” actually had this effect on her. Xiao Yun couldn’t help but tighten her grip on her hand.
The other woman seemed to feel her warmth and squeezed back with the gentle strength of a kitten.
Sometimes Xiao Yun wondered how hands could be so small; she could practically wrap hers around them twice. Jiang Cha’s exterior was so fragile, yet she had managed to survive the original host’s wanton violence. Without a calculating, “black-bellied” inner nature, how could she have managed?
Being weak, she could only rely on one outsider after another, begging for help. People like Liu Yingteng, the big shots at Beike Pharmaceuticals, and… her third sister.
Why was she thinking of this? Xiao Yun shook her head and stole a glance at Jiang Cha. A sense of pity welled up inside her. She both feared her and felt sorry for her. If it weren’t for the original host, Jiang Cha wouldn’t have met the tragic end described in the book; she would have lived a simple, happy life with her ex-wife.
But after a few steps, she realized her logic was flawed. Her ex-wife had committed a crime. Even without the original host, that would have come to light sooner or later.
Of course, the second trial was coming up soon. Jiang Cha and her Alpha would likely be able to fly off together then.
Before she knew it, she was at the villa’s front door. Even before entering, the sound of laughter grew louder.
Xiao Jingliang was saying, “Now that you’re back, you won’t be leaving again, right?”
A low, raspy female voice replied, “I won’t. Nowhere abroad is as good as home.”
Xiao Yun was puzzled. Who was back? She, Jiang Cha, and Xia He exchanged looks and then gently pushed open the door.
The door creaked, and the laughter inside stopped for a moment as everyone looked over.
The eldest sister, her wife, their father, the stepmother, and… the person standing in the center, surrounded by everyone.
She was tall, wearing a full indigo suit, with shoulder-length wavy hair. Her features resembled Xiao Jingliang’s, but she was clearly female, with a strikingly heroic face.
The moment her eyes met Xiao Yun’s, they flickered. “Second Sister, long time no see.”
At the same time, Xiao Jingliang looked over. “Xiao Yun, your third sister is back.”
Xia He exclaimed, “Xiao Yu, you’re home!”
Xiao Yun was stunned. Why was Xiao Yu back? Her part in the story wasn’t supposed to start yet.
Without time to overthink, she led Jiang Cha toward her sister.
Xiao Yu walked toward them as well, but her gaze wasn’t on them; it was on Xia He.
“Miss Xia.” Xiao Yu didn’t know what to call her—”Sister” didn’t fit, nor did “Aunt.” She had always called her Miss Xia.
Xiao Yu took Xia He’s hand, her eyes twinkling as she looked at her.
Xia He was moved. “Turn around and let me see you. My goodness, you’ve grown so much.”
Xiao Yu obediently spun around, then returned to her spot and took Xia He’s hand again.
Xia He’s eyes grew moist, her voice trembling. “I have to look up at you now. A few years ago, you were just my height. And a few years before that, you were only this big.” She gestured to her chest.
Xiao Yu grinned, her eyes lingering on Xia He’s face. “You haven’t changed at all. You’re just like you used to be.”
“Nonsense, I’m old now. I’m over thirty.” Xia He cupped her face.
“You’re not old at all. You’re still just as beautiful.”
“My god, you studied law and really learned how to talk.”
When Xiao Yu was first brought to the Xiao family as a child, it was Xia He who took care of her. As an illegitimate daughter, the first wife disliked her, the second wife detested her, and Xiao Jingliang couldn’t be bothered. The only person who cared for her was Xia He.
Back then, Xia He saw that Xiao Yun and Xiao Yu had both lost their mothers, so she decided to raise them together. One or two made no difference.
She didn’t expect that the original host wouldn’t share that love. She bullied Xiao Yu in every way—tearing her notebooks, stealing her Barbie dolls. Only Xia He would secretly comfort her, saying the older sister was just in a bad mood because she also lost her mother, and then secretly give her identical toys.
Over time, the person Xiao Yu relied on most in this house was Xia He, and the person she liked least was likely the original host.
Xiao Yun’s heart thudded.
“My dear third sister, I wasn’t the one who lost your Barbie, and I didn’t throw away your notebook. The sister who hurt you is already gone. Please spare me,” Xiao Yun thought.
Xiao Yu and Xia He chatted for about ten minutes before Xiao Yu took Xia He’s hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. “A greeting kiss. Common abroad.”
Xia He laughed and pulled her hand back. “Going abroad has made you naughty.”
Only then did her third sister acknowledge her. Her gaze shifted from Xia He to Jiang Cha.
“This must be my second sister-in-law.” Xiao Yu smiled and reached out her hand.
“Hello, Third Sister.” Jiang Cha nodded and shook her hand.
While shaking hands, Xiao Yu looked at Xiao Yun. “Second Sister is so lucky. When did you marry such a beautiful Omega?”
Just as Xiao Yun was about to answer, Xiao Yu took Jiang Cha’s hand and began to lean down—intending, clearly, to give Jiang Cha a greeting kiss as well.
Xiao Yun gasped. Although the two were supposed to have an affair later, this was their first meeting, and she was already going for a kiss on the hand?
Would it be a kiss on the lips the second time? Marking her the third? Permanent marking after that? That wasn’t impossible.
She quickly reached out and placed her hand over the back of Jiang Cha’s. In that instant, she felt the “kitten’s” hand tremble slightly and saw her stolen glance. Xiao Yun didn’t have the mind to guess what that look meant; she was focused entirely on blocking their first intimate contact.
Xiao Yu didn’t seem to react. She kept her head down, merely furrowing her brows. “Sister-in-law looks so delicate; how are her fingers so thick?”
“Third Sister, that’s my hand.” Xiao Yun gripped her little wife’s hand tightly, pulled it away from Xiao Yu, and held it firmly in her own.
“Since Third Sister is back home, there’s no need for such grand gestures. Otherwise, as an Alpha, it would look strange for you to be kissing another Alpha’s… family.”
Xiao Yu finally looked up to meet her gaze. Because her kiss had landed on thin air, although she appeared to be smiling, the dissatisfaction hidden deep in her eyes was the real emotion.
Xiao Yun stared back into that deep darkness.
The atmosphere grew awkwardly tense. For about ten seconds, no one spoke. It felt like crows were flying overhead—caw, caw, caw.
Xiao Jingliang cleared his throat. These two sisters… after all these years, were they still going to fight for Xia He’s favor?
“Alright, it’s almost two. Everyone go to rest. We’ll talk about everything tomorrow.”
The old man’s words carried authority. She and Xiao Yu looked away from each other and prepared to head to their rooms.
Xiao Jingliang added, “By the way, Xiao Yu, since you’ve just returned, stay on the fourth floor for now. The room next to your sisters—across from Miss Xia’s room.”
Xiao Yu nodded. “Okay.”
Xia He said, “I’ll take you there.”
Since Xiao Yun hadn’t moved back to the master bedroom, she and Jiang Cha stood at the stairs for a short while.
Jiang Cha spoke first, a hint of concern in her eyes. “You have work tomorrow. Go rest.”
Was she refusing to invite her back to the room because she was afraid of disturbing her work?
It was strange. Usually, after an exam, Jiang Cha would have clung to her and asked her to come back. Now that she had no “way out,” she suspected that because the third sister was back, Jiang Cha was starting to move on to other plans.
She returned to the study, dejected, and couldn’t sleep. She kept recalling how her “dear third sister” would use her silver tongue to win Jiang Cha over, and then use that same tongue to get her sentenced to life in prison. The thought was terrifying.
In the dead of winter, she pulled the small quilt tight and hid under it, turning on a flashlight for comfort. But the light only made it harder to sleep.
In her blurred vision, scenes from the original book seemed to play out.
In the book, Jiang Cha leaned into Xiao Yu’s embrace, stroking the Alpha’s beautiful face with slender fingers and rubbing her thumb against the Alpha’s red lips.
She would praise her with the sweetest voice: “Your sister is just a Beta. She seems to have done something to me, yet nothing at all. She never once let me experience what a real marking feels like. Xiao Yu is the best.”
The delicate kitten’s cheeks were flushed as she leaned softly into the Alpha’s arm.
Of course, that was just a scene she had imagined based on the book’s fragments. The book only briefly mentioned that because Jiang Cha hadn’t been marked for a long time, she took advantage of the proximity to find an Alpha to solve her physiological needs.
A mature, beautiful Omega needs an Alpha’s comfort; everyone knows that.
Xiao Yu seemed very willing to help. Their relationship was a clean break, and Xiao Yu was one of the few lovers Jiang Cha seduced who had a perfect ending.
These were just fragments from the book, but Xiao Yun thought about it carefully. Something felt wrong. For example, the book said Jiang Cha seduced Liu Yingteng, but the reality was that Liu Yingteng had forced himself on her.
She made a bold guess: every time the book mentioned Jiang Cha seducing someone, it was from Li Rang’s perspective. Could this be a way of slandering Jiang Cha? Perhaps Jiang Cha was simply helpless—moving from resistance to compromise, and finally to self-abandonment.
Regardless of which version was the real Jiang Cha, one thing was certain: she had already slightly changed the course of events, and this time, she absolutely wouldn’t let history repeat itself.
Having made up her mind, she sat up, grabbed her quilt, put on her slippers, and scurried toward the master bedroom like a little hamster moving house.
In the bedroom, Jiang Cha lay on the bed, scenes of her treating Xue Ning as a rival playing in her head. She gripped the quilt, her brow furrowed, rolling around the bed in self-reproach. “So embarrassing. How could I treat an innocent person as a rival?”
Lying there, she thought of her childish behavior—something she hadn’t done in years. It was like competing with classmates for a teacher’s gold star, wanting Xiao Yun to notice her more.
After all, the only people who had treated her like Xiao Yun did were her mother and… Xiao Yun herself.
It was so good that it made her want to monopolize it. She interpreted this feeling as Xiao Yun being a very good friend; she cherished her and grew jealous when too many other friends appeared to take away Xiao Yun’s kindness.
I can’t allow that.
As she was thinking, there was a knock on the door. It was two in the morning; Jiang Cha didn’t know who would be looking for her. She got up and draped a shawl over her shoulders to hide the fact that she wasn’t wearing a bra.
She walked barefoot across the cashmere rug, her snowy feet sinking halfway into the fibers. She opened the door slightly and saw a woman in royal blue silk pajamas through the gap. Because the pajamas didn’t fit perfectly, there were some wrinkles at the waist. Just looking at the silhouette, Jiang Cha thought Xiao Yun had come to find her.
She looked up, meeting a pair of smiling eyes and hearing Xiao Yu’s low voice.
“Sister-in-law, sorry to disturb you.”
Xiao Yu? Why was she here in the middle of the night?
Jiang Cha looked around warily and pulled the door closer. “Sister Xiao Yu, what’s wrong?”
Xiao Yu’s gaze drifted into the bedroom. “I’m looking for Second Sister. She left a Barbie doll in her room before, and I was hoping she could find it.”
As she spoke, Xiao Yu’s gaze settled on Jiang Cha. Jiang Cha was wearing a snow-white silk nightgown with a red shawl, one white shoulder exposed, her collarbones delicate and sharp. She was breathtakingly beautiful.
Xiao Yu smiled and thought to herself, “Second Sister is truly wasting a treasure.”
This beautiful Omega would probably soon be sent by her second sister to be defiled by her friends, to be abused and insulted. She knew her sister’s personality; she went through girlfriends like water, and it was always the same.
What a pity.
Xiao Yu stared at her with a look of mock pity, but she quickly withdrew her gaze. She wasn’t here to pity anyone; she wanted her second sister to know that since she was back, she was going to take back everything that belonged to her—including the doll stolen from her years ago.
Xiao Yu smirked. If she could steal something her sister cherished, that would be even better. Anything her sister refused to let her have, she would take by force.
Her thoughts took only three seconds to cycle back to Jiang Cha.
Jiang Cha shivered slightly. “Yunyun is resting in the study. As for the Barbie, I don’t know where it is.” Feeling cold, she pulled the shawl tight to cover her exposed shoulder.
“I’m so sorry. I can’t sleep without it. Could you let me in to look?” Xiao Yu asked, reaching out to push the door.
Jiang Cha felt uncomfortable and gripped the door tight, her eyes wary. “Xiao Yu, let me ask your sister. Wait a moment.”
In the middle of the night, an Alpha in pajamas trying to enter an Omega sister-in-law’s room wouldn’t look good if word got out. Furthermore, Jiang Cha could smell the citrus scent of the Alpha’s pheromones. Though it was a sweet, soft scent, the feeling it gave off made her skin crawl.
Even with a scent-blocking patch, the Alpha hadn’t hidden her ill intent well. It was clear this sister, Xiao Yu, either had an ulterior motive or a grudge against Xiao Yun.
She recalled the awkward tension between the two sisters during their first meeting. She took a deep breath, hoping she was overthinking.
Closing the door, Jiang Cha was about to call Xiao Yun.
The door was suddenly pushed open.
Jiang Cha gasped, pulling her shawl tight and turning around defensively.
Xiao Yun, holding her quilt, had seen Xiao Yu and Jiang Cha talking from a distance. Her heart tightened, and she hurried over to eavesdrop. It seemed Xiao Yu was using the doll as an excuse to enter the bedroom. Jiang Cha hadn’t let her in, telling her to wait outside.
Xiao Yun’s heart gradually calmed. Everything seemed to confirm her suspicion: in the original book, Jiang Cha might not have been as “promiscuous” as described. Perhaps she was truly dragged into a helpless abyss by one villain after another.
That would explain why she became calculating and “evil,” why she would give people the sweetest smiles while holding scissors behind her back, using the most ruthless methods for revenge. She could understand it then; Jiang Cha wasn’t “turning bad,” she was simply protecting herself.
Feeling a lump in her chest, Xiao Yun strode forward, hugging her quilt as she stood at the door. “Third Sister, up so late? What are you doing with your sister-in-law?”
Xiao Yun maintained the original host’s tone to avoid suspicion, but she wanted to subtly convey that she wouldn’t steal her things—that everything in the Xiao family could be hers.
Xiao Yu chuckled, seemingly unsatisfied with the question. “Sister, you’re joking. I wasn’t looking for her. I didn’t know you two were sleeping in separate rooms; I came looking for you.”
Looking for her?
Xiao Yun’s eyebrows arched. Is Xiao Yu so impatient that she’s challenging me already? She stood up straight. They were both in cotton slippers, and Xiao Yun was naturally two centimeters taller than Xiao Yu, giving her a natural sense of looking down at her.
“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?”
“I can’t sleep. I wanted to find that Barbie doll you…” Xiao Yu hesitated, leaning slightly toward her. “…stole from me.”
Xiao Yun didn’t remember any Barbie, but Xiao Yu’s reminder triggered a flash of a crying child in her mind. The original host wanted Xiao Yu to play with her instead of studying; when Xiao Yu refused, the host tore up her books and hid her doll.
They were just children then, neither willing to back down. Xiao Yu had cried her eyes out; it was the only companion her mother had left her. For many years, Xiao Yu had never found it.
The memory flooded back without warning. Xiao Yun cursed the original host in her head. She really was a piece of work.
The target doll was on top of the wardrobe; she remembered now. She decided to find it immediately and return it to this “big shot.”
She cleared her throat. “Mhm. I’ve kept that doll safe for you. I’ll get it right now.”
Without thinking, she used her fingerprint to unlock and open the door.
Pushing the door open, she saw Jiang Cha looking at her warily, though she relaxed upon seeing who it was. “Yunyun?”
Xiao Yun tossed the quilt onto the bed. “The AC in the study is broken. I’m sleeping here.”
That was a lie. Now that her sister Xiao Yu was back, she had to stay by Jiang Cha’s side at all times. She couldn’t let the sister-in-law and wife get together; that would be a total moral disaster!
Jiang Cha didn’t show much of a reaction, only walking over. “Your third sister was just here asking for a doll.”
Xiao Yun pulled a chair over. “I just happened to come back to get it for her. Give me a hand.”
She placed the chair by the wardrobe, but it was still a bit too short to reach the top. She placed a smaller stool on top of the chair. “Hold the chair for me,” she told Jiang Cha.
Jiang Cha nodded. “Is this okay? It looks dangerous.” She gripped the small stool with both hands.
Xiao Yun nimbly jumped up. The chair creaked and swayed. Jiang Cha held it tight, trying to keep it steady. She looked up slightly; Xiao Yun seemed fearless, her body quickly mastering the balance of the swaying chair as she searched.
When Xiao Yun reached up, her short pajama top slid up, revealing her slender waist and toned abs. Looking further up, Jiang Cha saw things she probably shouldn’t have. She let out a sharp breath and looked down, her face growing hot.
The Beta nimbly hopped down, holding an open box. As she landed, she wobbled slightly and leaned against Jiang Cha. She braced herself against Jiang Cha’s shoulder for a second, their bodies briefly pressing together before the Beta stood back up. The lingering warmth remained on Jiang Cha’s shoulder.
“Thanks.”
Xiao Yun finally had the doll. She looked down, about to celebrate, only to see the Barbie had no clothes on—she was completely naked. Because there was no lid, years of dust had accumulated on her body. Her hair was a matted mess, looking as if she had been violated. It was clear that from a young age, Xiao Yun was a bastard who couldn’t stand others having nice things.
As she tried to pick up the doll, she accidentally detached an arm. Xiao Yun’s heart went cold.
Oh no. If she returned it like this, she felt she’d be killed on the spot.
If her memory served her right, this beautiful, broken Barbie was the last memento Xiao Yu’s mother gave her. Xiao Yu had grown up in poverty, her mother raising her alone while being insulted by neighbors and teachers. Her mother had loved her dearly, saving up to buy her favorite Barbie. Only before her death did the mother reveal Xiao Yu’s identity as the third daughter of the famous Xiao family.
From that point on, Xiao Yu had risen from the bottom to become a high-class lady, getting revenge on everyone who had bullied her. She once even released rats into a neighbor’s house, causing total chaos.
Clearly, offending Xiao Yu was a death sentence. Like Jiang Cha, she was a “smiling tiger” with a knife hidden behind her back. The fact that the two were supposed to get together was probably due to their mutual recognition of their own kind.
What should she do? She was now the person about to be “done in.”
Xiao Yun recovered from the terrifying memories. It was strange; the memories were fragmented and incomplete, always jumping out to scare her.
She looked at the Barbie doll and swallowed hard, her eyes nearly bugging out.
Jiang Cha looked her up and down, her voice hesitant. “This… was all you?”
The Omega’s voice betrayed her fear. Xiao Yun immediately admitted her fault. “Immature youth, haha.”
She forced a smile, wondering what to do, when Xiao Yu called out from outside. She didn’t sound impatient; in fact, her voice was quite patient. “Second Sister, I’m waiting for you.”
If she couldn’t find the doll, she wouldn’t let her sleep!
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