“Your mouth is tougher than your bones, Xiang Yu, oh Xiang Yu.”
—
Xiang Yu’s physical condition was good, so after staying in the hospital for a week, she was able to be discharged.
But she couldn’t report back to the police station just yet. After all, it was a gunshot wound, and the doctor said she needed to rest at home for another month. Otherwise, if the injury didn’t heal properly, she might end up walking with a limp later on.
On the day of her discharge, Qin Yuan happened to have something come up, so Wei Zhi came to pick her up.
As she was packing her things, footsteps sounded at the ward’s door. When Xiang Yu turned her head to look, it turned out to be Ren Sanliu.
During the days Xiang Yu had been hospitalized, Ren Sanliu had come every day to keep her company. But given the unpleasant conversation they’d had that one day, Xiang Yu hadn’t shown her a good face from beginning to end—
“Why are you here again? Didn’t I tell you not to come anymore?”
With a sour face and such an abrasive tone, anyone who heard it would feel upset.
But Ren Sanliu felt that these words were awfully familiar. In the past, she had said exactly the same thing to this person.
Wei Zhi reached out and nudged Xiang Yu—
“Can’t you speak nicely?”
“Have you forgotten what your aunt told you?”
During the time Ren Sanliu had been coming, she had run into Qin Yuan quite a few times.
Ever since Xiang Yu’s parents had passed away, she had been living with Qin Yuan. Qin Yuan knew her niece inside and out. She could tell that Xiang Yu was all talk—no matter how much she said to chase people away, when they actually showed up, she’d just spout a couple of harsh words but never really kicked them out.
Qin Yuan had warned Xiang Yu repeatedly, both directly and indirectly: if she didn’t cherish someone who came, and ended up driving them away for real, there’d be no one to cry to.
No one knew if Xiang Yu had taken it to heart or not—her attitude remained as stubborn as ever.
There was no counting on Xiang Yu with her stubborn streak, so Wei Zhi stepped in to smooth things over. She turned to Ren Sanliu with an enthusiastic greeting—
“Wait a moment, we’re almost done packing here.”
“Wait for what? Are you deaf or something?”
Xiang Yu glared with bull-like eyes toward the door, making it clear she wasn’t having it.
“Get out of here.”
Wei Zhi instantly broke out in a cold sweat. The relationship between these two was still unclear, and with Ren Sanliu’s aloof personality, it was already impressive that she kept coming over. If Xiang Yu actually drove her off, even the king of heaven couldn’t fix it.
She was racking her brain for a way to defuse the situation.
Then she heard Ren Sanliu speak—
“I’m here to take you home. We’re just starting out together now, so I need to take care of you.”
As soon as the words landed, Wei Zhi’s jaw nearly hit the floor. She froze in place, her brain rebooting several times.
“You two take your time packing, no rush. I drove here—I’ll wait for you outside.”
With that, Ren Sanliu turned and left.
She turned a deaf ear to both Xiang Yu’s words and her nasty attitude.
As straightforward and composed as ever.
Only after the person had walked far away did Wei Zhi snap out of it. She rushed up to Xiang Yu and elbowed her shoulder—
“You sneaky thing! You’re together already? When did this happen? Your mouth is sealed tight!”
Xiang Yu winced in pain from the nudge, her brows furrowing deeply—
“She’s lost her mind, and now you’re losing yours too?”
“You actually believe that kind of talk?”
“Of course I believe it. Why wouldn’t I? Who is Ren Sanliu? Have you ever seen her back down in all these years you’ve known her?”
Wei Zhi was genuinely thrilled. She’d thought these two would drag things out, but nope—they were set in stone now.
Sure enough… sometimes it took the elders to step in. She’d worn her lips thin talking, but one word from Qin Yuan had done the trick.
Great, just great!
“Don’t give me that. If you hadn’t told my aunt that she stayed with me all night, this wouldn’t have happened!”
Xiang Yu’s nose wrinkled, her eyes flashing.
“What are you saying, like I made it up? Didn’t Ren Sanliu stay with you all night? Isn’t that a fact? By your logic, should I have let your aunt think it was me who stayed? What would I be if she found out tomorrow?”
Wei Zhi burst out laughing again, completely unfazed by Xiang Yu’s glare—
“Anyway, she’s agreed now, so just go with it~”
“Go with what? What does what she says have to do with me?”
“If you keep spouting nonsense, you get out too!”
Xiang Yu turned her face away, breathing heavily a few times.
Wei Zhi glanced at her but wasn’t annoyed. Though her tone was clearly less indulgent than before—
“Old habits die hard? Bones that tough?”
“What do you mean, what does what she says have to do with you? It has everything to do with you~”
“Weren’t you the one who provoked her first? What, now you’ve forgotten? Need me to remind you?”
“We broke up… you…”
“So what if you broke up? Plenty of people get back together.”
Wei Zhi didn’t think it was complicated at all. These days, people divorced three times and remarried their original spouse—let alone exes like them who were each other’s first loves, with no one else in between. The foundation was all there; getting back together was only natural.
“You don’t get it, Wei Zhi. You don’t understand me and her. Even if you force us together, it won’t work.”
Xiang Yu’s brows knit tight, stubborn as a rock in a latrine—stinky and immovable.
“Don’t feed me that roundabout nonsense. I don’t get it? We grew up together—how could I not get you? So I should just watch you suffer? Ignore everything? Fine, let me lay it out for you today—you’re dreaming!”
“I’m absolutely forcing you two together, and we’ll see if it works!”
Wei Zhi kept packing as she spoke, glancing back at her—
“Don’t glare at me; it won’t work. Even if I can’t handle you, your aunt can. Believe me or not—if you keep acting up, I’ll call her right now.”
With that, she pulled out her phone to dial.
“Hey, hey… come on, what’s the point? We’re adults now… still acting like a three-year-old, running to tattle at the drop of a hat?”
“I thought you weren’t afraid of anything. Turns out you are afraid of something.”
“That’s not fear. I just don’t want to hear her nagging.”
Xiang Yu lowered her eyes, mumbling—
“In the end… it’s all my fault. I’ve figured it out—you’re all in cahoots, elbows out, not one of you on my side.”
“You’re the hard-headed stinker—who’s gonna side with you?”
Seeing her attitude soften a bit, Wei Zhi pocketed her phone—
“Be grateful. Finding a girlfriend these days is tough, especially at our age. Once you have one, cherish her.”
“It’s ridiculous—what era is this? Forcing people into relationships?”
Xiang Yu’s face stayed taut as she grumbled—
“Outrageous.”
“Outrageous? Don’t tell me—tell your girlfriend.”
Wei Zhi laughed heartily.
Facts proved some people needed a firm push.
Once everything was packed, Wei Zhi helped Xiang Yu into the wheelchair and pushed her out of the inpatient building.
These days, though Xiang Yu had lain in bed eating and sleeping, she hadn’t gained a single ounce. If anything, she’d lost more weight. A gunshot wound plus surgery had depleted her vitality badly. Even with her strong constitution, she’d need time to recover.
Ren Sanliu’s car was parked right at the inpatient entrance. She leaned against the door, arms dangling, her 5’5″ frame not particularly tall but stunningly beautiful. That face of hers was one in ten thousand—no, one in a hundred thousand.
The morning sun shone brightly and gently, enveloping her. At a glance… the air around her seemed filled with a delicate, graceful allure.
“Honestly, no wonder you’ve been single all these years. With a gem like that as your first love, I’d pass on others too.”
Wei Zhi nudged Xiang Yu’s back. “Take my advice—stop being so pigheaded. Lighten up about everything.”
As soon as Ren Sanliu saw them come out, she immediately opened her car door and strode over quickly to take over from Wei Zhi.
Wei Zhi had the smarts to let go of the wheelchair right away, handing Xiang Yu over to Ren Sanliu. She grabbed the two bags and dashed to her own car in quick steps, opening the doors front and back to toss one bag in the back seat and the other on the passenger side.
Meanwhile, Xiang Yu was still being stubborn, twisting her head to glare at Ren Sanliu.
But who was Ren Sanliu? If she could be intimidated, the sun would rise in the west.
She didn’t even glance at Xiang Yu’s bull eyes, gripping the wheelchair handles firmly and pushing forward.
“Will you quit it?” Xiang Yu snapped at her.
“Your hair’s grown out,” Ren Sanliu shot back coolly.
Xiang Yu was baffled.
In that moment of distraction, Ren Sanliu pushed her right up to the black SUV.
Xiang Yu’s eyes fixed on the two cars parked side by side, one left, one right.
She stared straight at Wei Zhi—
“I’ll ride with you.”
“Afraid not…” With Ren Sanliu there, Wei Zhi wasn’t worried about Xiang Yu’s stubbornness. She pointed to the front and back seats. “It’s full of stuff—no room.”
Lying through her teeth in broad daylight. Were her seats made of ant eggs? Two bags filled it up?
“Put it in the trunk.”
“What? You want to sit in the trunk?” Wei Zhi feigned hearing impairment, waving her hands frantically. “No way… you can’t sit in the trunk.”
Then, eyes narrowing, she pointed at Ren Sanliu’s car—
“Look how spacious that one is. Door’s open for you—get in that one.”
Infected by Ren Sanliu’s decisiveness, Wei Zhi was efficient too. The words barely left her mouth before she slipped into her driver’s seat. To prevent Xiang Yu from blowing up, she even locked the door.
Ren Sanliu stood in the sunlight, her skin glowing like fine white porcelain, coolly saying—
“Get in by yourself, or shall I carry you?”
