Chapter 3: I Don’t Expect Her to Love Me Part 2

Ming Xi clenched her fists, her voice trembling with a sob. “What if she comes back and asks Gu Qingshuang to get back together? Sister, can you really endure that?”

Ming Li’s body seemed to freeze instantly. She was stunned for a long time before saying, “What is there that I couldn’t endure?”

She answered lightheartedly, but the corner of her mouth twitched.

Ming Xi said, “Even I hear stories about Gu Qingshuang and Shen Lideng at school. Their feelings are truly deep… they went through life and death together and spent so much time as a couple. Sister, can you even compare?”

Ming Xi attended Jing’an No. 4 High School, which was Gu Qingshuang and Shen Lideng’s alma mater. To be precise, it was Ming Li’s alma mater as well.

As it happened, Ming Li was the same age as Shen Lideng and had been in the same grade.

However, the two of them had only ever “met” on the academic rankings.

During her school days, Ming Li didn’t make many friends. She was always picked up by a driver after school, and her days were filled with dance practice, piano, and studying. She never had a spare moment.

Occasionally, she would hear rumors about a bold and unconventional couple at school.

Back then, the same-sex marriage laws hadn’t passed yet, and same-sex couples were a rare sight.

Few were as public as they were, and what was even more shocking was that the teachers didn’t even try to stop them.

It was only after Ming Li married Gu Qingshuang that she realized Gu Qingshuang was one half of that legendary, rebellious couple.

Looking at her now, Gu Qingshuang didn’t seem like such an unconventional person at all.

But occasionally, one could still see traces of it.

Listening to Ming Xi’s words, Ming Li suddenly didn’t know how to respond.

After a long silence, she whispered, “Why do I have to compare myself to her?”

Ming Xi said petulantly, “Because Sister-in-law likes her.”

“Little Xi,” Ming Li called her name.

Ming Xi pursed her lips and remained silent, but she wasn’t just being an alarmist.

Even Lu Shuang, upon meeting Ming Li for the first time, had accurately described her as a “counterfeit.”

When Ming Xi had heard Lu Shuang say that outside the restaurant today, she had wanted nothing more than to go out and slap her.

But she couldn’t.

This was the hospital where Gu Qingshuang worked, and her sister was still standing there, standing beside Gu Qingshuang.

The more Ming Xi thought about it, the more she feared for her sister. Everyone knew that Gu Qingshuang had a deep, indelible past—one that was still brought up even three years after Ming Li married her.

Ming Li was Ming Li. She was the one and only Ming Li.

She wasn’t anyone’s substitute.

Ming Xi was afraid Ming Li would be spoken of that way again, which was why she had summoned the courage to say so much.

However, seeing Ming Li’s pale face, Ming Xi knew she had gone too far.

Before Ming Li married Gu Qingshuang, she had asked for Ming Xi’s opinion.

What had the fourteen-year-old Ming Xi said back then?

Ming Xi had said, “Sis, you have to take this chance. If you leave her, no one can help us pay our debts, and those people will drive us to our deaths.”

The young Ming Xi had viewed Ming Li as her only lifeline, not realizing that Ming Li herself had been even more alone and helpless.

The hospital was noisy and bustling. The sound of people coming and going blended together like a pot of boiling water.

Ming Li and Ming Xi stood together, but the atmosphere between them was terrifyingly quiet.

Finally, Ming Xi lowered her head. “I’m sorry, Sister.”

–

By the time Ming Li left the hospital, heavy snow had already weighed down the branches, covering the trees that hadn’t yet sprouted new buds in a thick layer of white.

The wind was stronger than it had been in the morning, and the sky was overcast, not allowing even a sliver of light to peek through.

She checked her watch; it was only two in the afternoon.

Ming Li had a floral arrangement class at four, and in the evening, she had to attend a birthday banquet with the Elder Madam Gu.

This two-hour window was almost all the rest she had left for the day.

She had originally intended to drive home and rest, but after getting into the car and seeing the stuffed doll in the passenger seat, she thought of her best friend, Zhu Hanxing.

At the next intersection, she turned the steering wheel and changed her destination.

Ming Li disliked social functions. When her father was alive, she didn’t need to curry favor with anyone.

But those who approached her back then weren’t sincere, so she didn’t have many friends.

Except for Zhu Hanxing.

In high school, Ming Li and Zhu Hanxing had been in the same class. One was a princess who sat high above everyone wherever she went, and the other was an impoverished student whose school uniform had been washed until it was faded.

On the surface, they were people who would never have crossed paths.

But unexpectedly, after many twists and turns, the two had become inseparable friends.

When Ming Li’s family collapsed, Zhu Hanxing was participating in a closed-set music competition show. By the time the competition ended and she had triumphantly won first place, she found out that Ming Li had already moved out of her mansion and changed her phone number.

At that time, Ming Li was being mocked and kicked while she was down by many. She hadn’t intended to associate with Zhu Hanxing, whose life was about to change forever.

To her surprise, shortly after the show ended, Zhu Hanxing tracked her down at the dance studio where she was working.

In the brightly lit dance studio, she had handed Ming Li a bank card. The first thing she said was, “You must have had such a hard time. If I had known, I wouldn’t have entered that competition.”