Free Web NovelChapter 63: Chapter 63: Nosebleed
Qin Shanshan had no idea how she’d made it home. Dazed, she sat motionless on the edge of her bed.
She sat there, stunned, for a full two hours before the distant clamor from the sun-drying ground finally broke through her stupor.
She slowly turned toward the sun-drying ground, a bone-deep hatred simmering in her eyes.
She’d seen it. She’d seen it all.
Hiding behind Tang Yuanxiao and Su Li, she had watched the villagers tease them, watched Tang Yuanxiao gaze at Su Li with utter infatuation...
As a young woman who had already tasted the stirrings of love, how could Qin Shanshan not understand the meaning behind Tang Yuanxiao’s captivated gaze?
It was like a knife to the heart.
"Su Li, you can’t be allowed to stay..." she hissed through clenched teeth.
She had previously tricked Su Li into letting her read every single letter Tang Yuanxiao sent home, which had convinced her that he didn’t have deep feelings for Su Li.
This certainty had allowed her to plot at her own unhurried pace. But not anymore.
’Su Li couldn’t be allowed to stay. She had to get rid of Su Li!’
In the flickering light of the kerosene lamp, Qin Shanshan’s face was twisted into a horrifying expression, like a venomous snake waking from hibernation.
Meanwhile, Su Li, Tang Yuanxiao, and an incredibly excited Little Tang Mo, who was roaring with laughter the whole way, hurried home.
Little Tang Mo was too excited from the movie to even feel sleepy, remaining giddy all the way home.
Mrs. Tang was already asleep, so he sensibly quieted down and obediently went to bed.
"I have to talk to you," Tang Yuanxiao said in a low voice, glancing toward the wing.
Thinking Tang Yuanxiao had finally come around about the divorce, Su Li’s eyes lit up. "Alright," she said with a nod.
She went into the wing and lit the kerosene lamp. "Have you decided—"
Before Su Li could get the word "divorce" out, she heard Tang Yuanxiao say, "Su Li, today I was thinking..."
They both started speaking at almost the exact same moment. Su Li stopped when she heard his voice, but Tang Yuanxiao forged ahead.
"I’ve thought things through today. I know I’ve wronged you in the past. Rest assured, from now on, I’ll be sure to keep my distance from all other women, and I’ll make it up to you..." freeweɓnøvel.com
Su Li cut him off. "Wait. Tang Yuanxiao, what are you talking about now?"
Tang Yuanxiao stared at Su Li. "The reason you want a divorce is Qin Caihua, isn’t it?"
He phrased it as a question, but his tone was completely certain.
"I figured it out today. The way you acted toward Caihua... it was because of me."
Tang Yuanxiao’s subtext was clear: ’Su Li, I see right through you. When all is said and done, you still have feelings for me. That’s why you’re jealous!’
Su Li had to take three deep breaths to calm herself down.
"You know, Tang Yuanxiao, I honestly wish I could crack open your skull and shove my own brain in there."
She spelled it out for him, her voice tight with anger. "Let me say it again, Tang Yuanxiao. I don’t like you. I have no feelings for you."
Tang Yuanxiao just let Su Li explain, his expression smug and unshakeable no matter what she said. He even had the audacity to boast,
"When it comes to matters of the heart, I know a thing or two."
’He might not be an expert, but he’d been around the block. A man his age had seen his fair share of how these things worked, right?’
Seeing this preening peacock of a man so utterly convinced she was jealous, Su Li nearly coughed up blood from sheer frustration.
’She desperately wanted to tell him she wasn’t jealous. If it weren’t for Little Tang Mo, she wouldn’t care if he and that woman got intimate right in front of her—she’d just be disgusted, not jealous.’
’But the words died on her lips. At the thought of Little Tang Mo, Su Li forced herself to stay silent.’
She had fought a war of three hundred rounds with Qin Shanshan during the day and had come out completely victorious, leaving Shanshan unable to retaliate. Su Li never imagined that after a full day of winning, she would meet her defeat here, at the hands of Tang Yuanxiao.
’This time, she was truly suffering in silence, unable to voice her frustrations!’
"Forget it. I’m not going to argue with you." Su Li waved her hand, defeated. "I have something for you."
Su Li pulled a small pickled vegetable jar out from under the bed, opened it, and rummaged inside.
She first pulled out two walnuts. Just as she was about to set them aside, she thought for a moment and then handed them to Tang Yuanxiao. "Here, for you."
Tang Yuanxiao had just taken them, pleasantly surprised, when Su Li added, "To help your brain."
As she spoke, Su Li shot a glance at Tang Yuanxiao.
The glance was fleeting but incredibly complex—fleeting in duration, complex in emotion.
It was the kind of complex look that clearly conveyed: ’Tang Yuanxiao, are you stupid? You keep coming up to me and spouting all this nonsense. There must be something wrong with your brain, so you’d better eat up...’
And Tang Yuanxiao, confound it, understood her perfectly.
He started to say something, but Su Li was already looking away, pulling a thick wad of cash from the jar.
The money was neatly stacked and wrapped in a handkerchief. Su Li unfolded it and held it out to Tang Yuanxiao.
"This is the money you sent back over the past year. I used some of it, so there’s two hundred seventy-eight yuan and fifty cents left. Count it. I’m handing it over to you now. It’s your property."
Tang Yuanxiao didn’t take it. His expression grew cold.
Su Li paid him no mind and continued, "If you don’t want to take it today, that’s fine. I’ll put it back in the usual spot. You can get it yourself later."
"It’s been three days since you got back, and you’re leaving in two more. We’ve made no progress on the divorce. You need to think about it carefully over the next two days. If you keep refusing and just drag this out..."
She gave Tang Yuanxiao a long, hard look. "I will consider using other means to get this divorce. If it comes to that, the outcome might not be favorable for either of us."
Su Li had given her ultimatum. She set the money aside.
Her expression told Tang Yuanxiao that she meant every word.
It was becoming difficult for Tang Yuanxiao to keep convincing himself that Su Li had any feelings for him.
His face stiffened, and he delivered an ultimatum of his own.
"I believe you’re capable. But, Su Li, what if I decide that I won’t agree to a divorce, no matter the circumstances?"
Tang Yuanxiao’s expression told Su Li that he, too, meant every word.
The atmosphere instantly tensed. The two faced each other in a silent standoff.
The tense, sword-drawn atmosphere was broken when Su Li looked away.
Su Li didn’t follow up with a harsh "just you wait and see" or anything of the sort. Instead, she said something that caught Tang Yuanxiao completely by surprise.
"Tang Yuanxiao, I only have one life. I can’t just generously give it away to someone I don’t love."
The wing fell silent once more, leaving only the soft hiss of the burning kerosene lamp.
Tang Yuanxiao watched Su Li quietly, his fists clenching and unclenching, over and over.
In the short three days since he’d returned home, he had been thrown from one extreme to the other, time and time again. Each time, he would fall from the high ground of ’Su Li has feelings for me’ into the abyss of ’divorce’.
After a moment, Tang Yuanxiao turned and walked out of the wing without a word.
Su Li stood where she was for a moment, then slowly let out a breath. She hoped that this time, Tang Yuanxiao would finally understand.
She put the money back in its usual spot and slowly took off her outer coat. Just as she was about to bolt the door, blow out the lamp, and go to bed, the door was suddenly thrown open.
"What if I said I—" Tang Yuanxiao’s words died in his throat when he saw the scene inside the room.
He looked down at Su Li, who was only a step away, and froze completely.
"You could at least knock." Su Li straightened up, frowning. "Is there something else?"
His only answer was the two streams of blood that began to trickle slowly from his nostrils.
Su Li: "..."
’For a second, she wondered if she had unconsciously stripped herself naked, but a glance down confirmed that she had not.’
’So, Tang Yuanxiao, what in the world is that nosebleed for?’
