NOVPUBZhu Yulan's eyes twinkled; in fact, those thoughts... she had briefly considered them at one moment.
But she knew that what she wanted was not these things.
"This little scumbag, even though he's so terrible, why doesn't he go and be a scumbag to my sister? My sister is so pretty and is a wealthy woman, yet this guy can't even be a proper scumbag!"
Zhu Xianglan ranted in discontent, but somehow her words sounded very odd.
Actually, her idea was simple: let the little scumbag fall into her sister's hands first, slowly train him, and if that didn't work, she'd step in and coach personally. She didn't believe she couldn't win over a young man.
"Actually, it's always been me who isn't staunch, and it's me who's the true scumbag..."
Zhu Yulan suddenly laughed, her gaze filled with memories of Xu Musen's previous words.
"Actually, those three people seem as if they were always meant to be entangled with one another. An Nuannuan and Yao Mingyue, though seemingly completely different, are actually quite alike at heart. One lacks courage, the other is too domineering; one loves but can't have, the other has but doesn't know how to love...
If those two could blend together, that would be the perfect person in Xu Musen's eyes.
So, the three of them were indeed meant to be together, and Xu Musen has always had a firm liking for the same kind of person from the very beginning.
He also made a firm decision to choose both and has not wavered the slightest bit.
It was me who was insensitive, insisting on making him like me, accept me.
Moreover, I can't be as steadfast as him, to be willing to forsake everything for each other like he does.
So, compared to their feelings, mine really isn't much. If anyone's the scumbag, it's actually me."
"Sis, you..."
Zhu Xianglan listened to all this, her mind somewhat dazed, wondering what kind of logic this was, yet she couldn't think of any words to refute it in the moment.
"Actually,"
Seeing her sister's eyes turning red, tears shimmering in the corner of her eyes, she sighed, "So... have you decided to stop liking him?"
"No, who said I stopped liking him?" Zhu Yulan's response was as crisp and clear-cut as Xu Musen's had been before. 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝑝𝑢𝘣.𝑐𝑜𝑚
"Then why..." Zhu Xianglan didn't understand.
Zhu Yulan casually picked up some snacks that Xu Musen had left behind: "To like is to like; it has nothing to do with whether he likes me or not. If I don't even have that much resolve, then I would have to call myself fickle and easily swayed by attraction, a scumbag."
"Why do you torment yourself like this?"
Zhu Xianglan looked at her sister with heartache: "You're in the prime of your life; there's no need to hang onto just him."
"I didn't say I would hang onto just him. I've already thought it through; liking someone doesn't necessarily mean you have to be with them to be happy.
Look at his fiancee and his childhood sweetheart; they are together, but they still have to face all these troubles every day, have to be jealous of each other, wondering if Xu Musen is being fair.
But what about me? I can like him if I want to, and if I don't want to, I can ignore him. Every time he comes to see me, he still has to bring me tea and pastries, and I don't have to mind his feelings or compete and be jealous with anyone. Thinking about it, who's happier, who's more fortunate?"
Zhu Yulan laughed, chewing on the snacks in her mouth, seemingly as happy as Ah Q, but the tears in the corner of her eyes blurred her vision.
Zhu Xianglan silently watched her sister, feeling very sorry for her, but also at a loss for words.
The affections between young people are an eternal riddle, throughout the past and present, in every culture, where love always occupies a large part of literature.
No one has ever truly been able to define love in a standardized way.
Some people may marry and live together for a lifetime, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's love.
Yet two people separated by a thousand miles, as long as their hearts connect, cannot be said to be unhappy.
But it's precisely within these affectations, pretenses, and twists that you truly prove you are a living, breathing person.
Zhu Xianglan thought of her own life, seemingly splendid and wealthy.
But she never had her own life, her own hobbies; even her marriage was a transaction...
In this lifetime, she seems to have never really had her own emotions, her own life.
This version of herself, is she truly happier than those ordinary people, truly more fortunate than her sister who can now freely laugh and cry?
"Second sis,"
Zhu Yulan came before her sister and gently wiped the tears from her eyes: "Let's go home."
Zhu Xianglan had not even realized that she herself had cried, she wiped her eyes: "Go... home?"
This was the first time she had ever heard her sister utter the words "go home" of her own accord.
"Aren't you afraid of going back home only to be nagged by relatives, by all the aunts and uncles again?"
"That's my home; I have no reason to be afraid of them."
Zhu Yulan spoke with a smile: "I always used to think about running away. At least this scumbag has taught me one thing: since reality is already like this, running away will only make things worse. Only by letting go and giving it your all can you reclaim more of what rightfully belongs to us."
Zhu Xianglan's eyes brightened, looking at her sister who was now bathed in sunlight: "You, are you finally ready to take over the family business?"
Zhu Yulan nodded, gazing out the window, her eyes following the crowded streets, the sunlight falling on her fair cheeks.
"Right now, I have no mood for some damn romantic love story. This lady here only wants to make money!"
"When I've made a lot of money, he'll have to look up when he greets me, let that scumbag regret it!"
She took a deep breath, dispelling the gloom, as if the proud rich heiress had returned once again.
So dazzling, she was back to her usual self.
