"That's true." Guan Liya's worries were eased.

…

…

Sun Shaoyun was waiting at the door when Cheng Dongge came back from sending Qi Chengyue home.

"I will marry her," said Cheng Dongge after closing the door.

"Let's talk about it," Sun Shaoyun replied. She walked to the living room and sat down, then told Cheng Dongge to join her by patting on the space beside her.

"Dongge, I have no objections to her character. Leaving aside her divorce and her family background, I actually do like her a lot. But marriage isn't just about liking someone. Have you thought about what will happen after the marriage? I'm worried that you won't be treated right. Our family's only a normal family, after all. At best, our family can be considered a literary family. Your dad is a professor at Li City University, and before I was promoted to head of educational administration in Li City Senior High School, I was a literature and language teacher. Our family is a cultured one, but we're still miles apart when compared to the Qi family," Sun Shaoyun explained.

"Dongge, you work for the Qi family. Things might happen. Something not too serious—for example, an argument between husband and wife—is definitely a normal occurrence in a marriage. If that does happen, you wouldn't have a say if you take into account her position in the family as compared to your position in the family. Won't you be required to follow through with whatever the Qi family says? If the woman occupies a much stronger position in the marriage, it will likely not end well."

"Mom, you don't need to be worried about these things. Chengyue isn't that kind of person, and the Qi family are very reasonable people as well. In our relationship, she always puts me first. In most cases, she's considerate of me and listens to what I say. Of course, she's the precious daughter and there are still times where she displays her short temper, but all women will have bouts of tantrums time and again. It has nothing to do with her status. Women are all pampered and spoiled by their families from a young age, and their upbringing is vastly different from men. It's inevitable that they'd be spoiled just a bit more, but in this respect, Chengyue is much better than most other women. She does throw a tantrum once in a while, but I just need to coax her a bit and she'll be fine. It's she who's really afraid of me getting angry, and most of the time, she's the one who has to persuade me. She also makes a point to always respect me in public.

"Like yesterday, she saw some woman from another family trying to flirt with me. That woman tried straightening my tie and Chengyue was jealous, but she didn't show her jealousy out in public and remained considerate. She knew I wouldn't do anything that will disappoint her, and even after everything happened, she didn't throw a fit and hold that against me. You say that her family background is too strong, but she did all these things that even a girl from a normal family couldn't do. Mom, can you be sure that an ordinary girl will do the same things she did?"

Sun Shaoyun kept quiet for a brief moment, then said, "The other day, when you left home and went after her, I did a search on her and her ex-husband. I was surprised to see the whole fiasco make headlines online. That was when I found out that her ex-husband lost his job at Qilin after the divorce, and was kicked out of the family empty-handed. That alone is a perfect illustration of her power and influence within the marriage. Do you think you'll be on equal footing with her after the marriage?"

Cheng Dongge looked at her and said, "Since you did an online search about it, then you should be fully aware that it was the ex-husband who cheated. He even impregnated the girl he cheated with. From those points alone, is it logical to let him stay in Qilin and make everyone feel uncomfortable? It is reasonable to divide a portion of Qilin's assets to him? Mom, if it were you, would you be willing to do that?"

"…" Sun Shaoyun could not answer his question.

"Mom, I want to marry her, and whether it's before or after the marriage, I will never do anything that will let her down. Naturally, she won't use the Qi family to do the same to me. If I did something unworthy of her, then it's only right that the Qi family kicked me out of their home. I'm marrying her for her, not because of her past or her familial background. In fact, even before I got together with her, Young Master Cheng told me that Qilin Technology's general manager will retire some time from now, and he has to go back there to assume that position. When he does, he'll appoint me to the position of Qilin Property's general manager. This has nothing to do with my relationship with Chengyue," Cheng Dongge explained.

Sun Shaoyun looked at him in shock, but within her expression was a faint glimmer of elation.

"I'm the one who's going to marry her, not you, not Dad. If I like her, you won't force us to break up and interfere with our relationship, right? Even if your fears and worries do come true, it's simply the consequence of my current decision. I can bear the responsibility myself. But if those fears never come to fruition, then my decision today will be the reason for my happiness in the future. Every marriage is a gamble, and the outcome is anyone's guess. No couple gets into a marriage knowing that they would surely be happy forever. Why can't you ease your worries and open your heart to accept her? Treat her as an ordinary girl and give us the chance to see if our relationship can continue.

"You saw it yourself today. She's usually pampered at home, but in front of you she's careful and considerate. Most of the time, if something needs to be done, the housekeeper will do it, but with you, she's showing her best side by carrying out the bowl and handing you the chopsticks. She may be from a prestigious background, but from her gesture, you can see that she's willing to do away with her status in front of my parents simply because she loves me. You saw that she didn't have any clothes to wear this morning and she just took my clothes and wore them. After you left, there was no way she could go after you dressed like that, so she waited nervously at the elevator for me. Even the neighbors saw how miserable she looked. She was like that because she was genuinely worried. If it wasn't because she really cared about you, she wouldn't have done that, would she? If she was putting on her princess-like attitude, why would she try to compromise and get on your good books for my sake? Why should you care about her status as the Qi family's daughter if you like her?"

Sun Shaoyun kept quiet for a moment, then sighed and said, "You… Let me think about this."

…

…

The second day, Qi Chengyue drove to Cheng Dongge's house in the early morning to join him in sending Sun Shaoyun to the airport.

They stood in line with Sun Shaoyun as the latter waited to pass through the security checks. When it was almost her turn, she told them, "My turn is coming up. You guys should go back."

She still felt a bit foreign with Sun Shaoyun, but because they talked considerably more than the day before, it was still considered an improvement.

When Sun Shaoyun went in, Cheng Dongge and Qi Chengyue waited outside, leaving only when she disappeared from view.

"Follow me home next weekend," said Cheng Dongge, holding Qi Chengyue's hand.

"Okay."

…

…

On Monday, Mu Sisi went to work. Her fever had subsided, so she was discharged from the hospital. Her long bangs were cut into a short, neat one, that covered the gauze on her forehead.

She went into the office, sat on her chair, then fished out a small mirror—roughly the size of an Ipad Mini—from her drawer. She parted her bangs and looked at approximately seven square centimeters of gauze on her forehead.

Mu Sisi sighed and opened up the gauze from below, revealing the entirety of her wound.

Even though she was looking at her reflection, Mu Sisi's expression was that of disgust.

It seemed as though the size of her wound had increased. The surrounding area was red due to inflammation and the entire wound was severely swollen. Once the pus was drained out, left behind was a coffee-colored scar, as well as the feces-like yellow from the pus-filled skin remnants. The neat little stitches were nearly undetectable as they were buried inside the red, swollen, pus-filled wound. All that could be seen was a slab of red and a crooked wound.

Mu Sisi felt nauseated at herself and clenched her teeth. In his distorted expression, her wound—which was so big that it nearly reached the size of a silver dollar used during the Republic of China era1 —looked even uglier.

She did her best to hold everything in. From her bag, she fished out the disinfectant and ointment given by the hospital. After disinfecting the wound, she used sterilized cotton to apply the ointment. She wanted it to heal as fast as possible, so she made sure to put an extra thick layer of ointment over her wound.

There was a knock on her door just as she was done with it. She placed the gauze back on and smoothened her bangs to cover it. Only then did she say, "Come in."

Placing the ointment back into her bag, the receptionist came forward and placed a letter on top of her table. "Miss Mu, an express delivery for you."

Mu Sisi found it odd. She did not order anything and the express delivery was very thin.

She sent away the receptionist and opened the envelope. When she took out its contents, she was surprised to find a subpoena along with a list of the charges against her.

The lawsuit was for incrimination on false evidence. Ruan Danchen was the plaintiff, and her legal counsel was Song Dafu.

Mu Sisi remembered that Song Dafu was Qilin's lawyer.

She could hardly believe her eyes that Ruan Danchen had the guts to sue her, and with the aid of Qilin's lawyer, no less. He was the most acclaimed lawyer in the jurisdiction, and Ruan Danchen surely did not have such financial power.

The only possibility was that Song Yu lent the lawyer's services to Ruan Danchen just to get revenge on Mu Sisi.

"Screw you, Song Yu!" Mu Sisi stood up immediately and brought the documents over to Mu Huaisheng's office.

…

…

Mu Huaisheng looked at the subpoena and charges laid out. His expression was very cold.

He made a call immediately. "Lawyer Gu, sorry to trouble you, but you'll have to come over. There's a case that requires a discussion with you."

After he hung up, Mu Sisi stared at him incredulously. "You've decided to go to court? Don't you think you should bring it up with Big Brother Chengzhi?"

"Bring it up with him?" Mu Huaisheng looked at her frigidly. "It's Song Dafu's case. Do you really think he doesn't know about it?"

Mu Sisi clenched her jaw. Her spiritedness was waning. "Still, you should call him and ask. Maybe this can be settled in private…"

"Ask? Ask what? If this could be settled privately, you wouldn't receive this subpoena today and he would've reached out to me personally. Mu Sisi, after all this time, you still don't know how to reflect on yourself? If it wasn't for you provoking him and pushing him to his limit, why would the subpoena come without him even informing me about it? How many times to I have to save your a*s and clean up your mess? How many times did I settle things privately with Qi Chengzhi? Time after time it has eroded our friendship, and now that you received his subpoena, I'm guessing that he doesn't treat me as a friend anymore. Are you happy now?" Mu Huaisheng exploded, throwing his pen.

At that point, his secretary knocked on the door and pushed it open, saying, "Director Mu, Lawyer Gu is here."

Mu Huaisheng nodded. Lawyer Gu walked in, while Mu Sisi dashed out in a fury.

Lawyer Gu stared curiously at Mu Sisi's figure, then looked back at Mu Huaisheng, who was quelling his anger. Mu Huaisheng said stiffly, "Don't care about her. This is the subpoena and charges we received today. Please have a look."

…

…

Mu Sisi drove her Jaguar and went to Chengshi.

She parked the car and the roadside and intended to go down looking for Song Yu when suddenly, in the distance up ahead, a woman wanted to enter too. Alas, a man came out of nowhere and stopped her.

"Why are you here again? No matter when you come here or how many times, it's all no use. You won't get to meet the madam," the bodyguard told her off impatiently. He had lost count of how many times Yu Keyao came that week.

Rather than coming over trying to ask for Song Yu's help, she might as well find a job to support her family.

Having felt regretful then, why did she do what she did in the past?

"I won't bother Song Yu, I mean…Mrs. Qi, too long. How about you follow me up? You can keep watch on me while I talk to her, is that okay? I promise I won't do anything overboard, and I won't even lay a finger on any of her hair strands. I just want to talk to her. No matter what you say, she's still my elder cousin sister. We're family, and we can't be prevented from meeting each other forever, right? Song Yu doesn't have many relatives. Surely our relationship can't be severed just like that?" Yu Keyao pleaded.

"The madam doesn't want to meet you. I don't care if she still wants you as a relative, but my duty is to prevent you from bothering her. If you so much as appear in her line of sight, she'll be very unhappy, and that'll make me lose my job. Stop being unreasonable here. It's still best for you to leave," the bodyguard deadpanned. Yu Keyao's pitiful look did not melt his heart in the slightest.

Mu Sisi halted her footsteps and did not continue moving forward. She turned, and back to her car she went.

She lowered her car mirror and watched as Yu Keyao got into a lengthy tangle with the bodyguard. Yu Keyao eventually gave up and turned around, but she had no destination in mind.

Mu Sisi started the car and followed suit. When she looked for Song Yu the other day, she did not run into the bodyguard, or perhaps the bodyguard—by some stroke of luck—was coincidentally not there when she came. Another possibility was that Qi Chengzhi did not manage to instruct the bodyguard in time, so the bodyguard might not have been able to recognize her.

She drove the car slowly, up until Yu Keyao made a turn. Mu Sisi honked, causing Yu Keyao to freeze and look back. Mu Sisi then flashed her a friendly smile and got down the car.

"Miss Yu, right?" Mu Sisi asked.

"You know me?" Yu Keyao stared in stupefaction at the woman in front of her. Feeling that Mu Sisi's energy was very positive, she wondered which family the latter came from.

"I'm a bit too bold, I see. Nice to meet you, my name is Mu Sisi. You should know MU, right?"

"Mm." Yu Keyao nodded. She knew it was a famous luxury clothing line, and as of late, was launching the first-ever Asian store in B City. It was big news, and the reactions online were equally as strong.

MU's products were fashionable and not too expensive. New designs came out with relative frequency, earning the patronization of many youngsters.

Traveling youngsters go to MU if they want to buy nice clothes but were not willing to spend too much money. Their designs were in vogue and stylishly versatile. In the past, those who wanted to buy them would have to ask their traveling friends to buy on their behalf, but with the first flagship store opening soon in B City, everyone looked forward to it and were on the edge of their seats.

Yu Keyao had a sudden realization. "You're the girl from the Mu family."

Mu Sisi felt embarrassed when she realized the probable source of Yu Keyao's knowledge of her.

"I'm sorry, I heard you speaking with that man just now. You're Song Yu's younger cousin sister?" Mu Sisi asked. Her politeness was unparalleled as she put on a magnanimous attitude befitting of a wealthy family.

Yu Keyao sighed. Mu Sisi looked down and added, "How about we find a place to sit down and talk? I can help you if you have a problem."

Noticing Yu Keyao's hesitance, Mu Sisi deliberately exhibited a very pitiful expression. "I know Song Yu's a shrewd person. She's selfish but knows how to act as if she's not. I never thought that she would ignore her younger cousin. Now that her life has changed for the better, she regards everyone else as beneath her. It's sad that everyone else can't see her true nature. They don't know how terrifying and sly she really is. It's like we're the bad people."

Yu Keyao displayed a bleak expression and felt as though there was finally someone who understood her. She regretted that her meeting was Mu Sisi was later rather than sooner, and just like Lin Daiyu1, she lowered her gaze and hung her head low. "Yes. Were you also caught in her nasty tricks, Miss Mu?"

Mu Sisi laughed dryly. "In fact, I know how you came to know about me. It's from that news report some time ago, right?"

Yu Keyao looked down awkwardly.

Mu Sisi then said, "You don't need to feel awkward. It's all because of Song Yu, who framed me at that time."

Yu Keyao lifted her head and looked at Mu Sisi as though she was looking at a close confidante. "I think it's best if we find a place to sit and talk."

A nod from Mu Sisi and she let Yu Keyao into the car. They did not dare to go to any of the nearby cafés for fear that Qi Chengzhi might catch wind of their conversation, so she drove past a few more streets and chose a random café.

After taking their seats, Mu Sisi said, "From your conversation with the bodyguard, it seems you're in some kind of trouble. You wanted to ask for Song Yu's help?"

Yu Keyao sighed as her eyes began to redden. Tears were beginning to well up and she took a tissue to immediately wipe her eyes. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, she said, "I'm sorry, I made a fool of myself in front of you. To tell you the truth, it was all a misunderstanding. When the Song family went bankrupt, our family didn't help them. It's not that we did that on purpose. The Yu family's greatest authority lies with my eldest uncle. My family managed to run a small business by ourselves, and it's only enough to support us. We didn't have enough extra funds to help the Song family, and because of that Song Yu held a grudge against us. After that, Qi Chengzhi's mother introduced me to Qi Chengzhi in the hopes of setting us up."

Mu Sisi suppressed the anger in her head. She did not expect that Yu Keyao had been paired with Qi Chengzhi. 'Yu Keyao's a dreamer, isn't she? What makes her think that she's compatible with Qi Chengzhi?'

"But Song Yu found out about it from somewhere. She stubbornly wanted to step between us and seduce Qi Chengzhi. All my mom did was fight for me when I suffered all that injustice, but I have no idea what kind of potion she gave him to make him so determined to bankrupt our family, and even force my parents to get a divorce. Now my mom's alone and the company's bankrupt. My dad doesn't have any money left and with the divorce, my mom won't get any assets. The only option left for her is to stay at her other brother's place, spending her days looking at the unpleasant looks my uncle and aunt put on every day. She had to sell off all her branded clothes, branded goods, and jewelry in order to barely get by. Even then my aunt has always been giving her nasty looks. She's also been trying to take advantage of my mom and cheat her of the money made from selling off all those belongings.

"I can't do anything except worry helplessly. There's nothing I can do to help her. I'm going to graduate this year, and I can't find a job now. What can I do to help my mom? My dad's always running here and there for the sake of a dying company. He wants to save it, but he's getting older as the days go by and his mental state is becoming weak, too. I can see that he's going to crumble at any moment.

"I can't help with the family company, so the least I want to do is rent a house for my mother. A small one is fine, so at least she doesn't need to live her life relying on someone else's charity. But my mom, she…she's too used to the good life. She's too used to having people serve her and help her. I'll get really worried about her if she lives alone." Yu Keyao sniffled and wiped away her tears.

"I went looking for Song Yu because I wanted her spare our family and stop piling the pressure on us. Our family isn't a family anymore—we're broken. Even though the company is failing, at least we're staying at a villa. But still, my mother's afraid to go back there because she's worried that Qi Chengzhi might want to target our company again. My mom is staying all by herself under someone else's roof. I'm heartbroken to see her in such a sorry state. I want Song Yu to understand that we're still family—I want her to help us a bit. I'm not saying that I want to take advantage of her or anything, but at least help our family by giving us some business. One is enough, as long as the company's able to survive. I didn't expect, however, that after so long I still haven't been able to even see Song Yu."

民國 – the Republic of China (ROC) was a sovereign country that existed between 1912 and 1949. It was the predecessor to the People's Republic of China. The coins were probably rather big, hence the allusion.林黛玉 - Lin Daiyu, a female character in The Dream of Red Mansions, cousin and thwarted lover of Jia Baoyu. The character is known to be prone to melancholy, which is probably why our author chose her to describe Yu Keyao's actions.