In the room, Jiang Chengxu saw Xu Manman covering her head, tears streaming down from the pain. The irritation in his heart was instantly replaced by worry, and he hurriedly pulled her hand away, only to see blood seeping through the gauze.
No wonder she was crying out in pain.
"What's wrong with you? Don't you know you shouldn't touch the wound? Do you want it to heal or not? Didn't the doctor say it's easy to leave a scar?" Jiang Chengxu felt a nameless anger flare up within him.
Couldn't she be as sensible as Qinghuan and cause fewer problems?
Xu Manman's heart was filled with joy; she knew he wouldn't ignore her. He always had a sort of tenderness for her—the more trouble she caused, the harder it was for him to let go of her.
"Brother Chengxu, if I'm left with a scar, will I look very ugly?" Xu Manman asked pitifully.
Jiang Chengxu averted his gaze. "No... it won't leave a scar! Let me help you re-bandage it."
"Okay, thank you, Brother Chengxu. But will this delay you?" Xu Manman took hold of his wrist. "Brother Chengxu, what are you planning to say to Sister? Can you tell her not to misunderstand us? I'm afraid it will affect the relationship between you two."
Jiang Chengxu still remembered his promise to Xu Qinghuan. However, this time, it wasn't just him and Xu Manman going out alone; Qinghuan herself had been present at the time and had seen Xu Manman's injury. Although Qinghuan could be a little petty, it was only because she cared about him so much.
As long as he explained clearly, Qinghuan shouldn't hold it against him. If she reacted like last time and failed to understand, arguing with him, he would simply have to reason with her and teach her how to be a virtuous wife.
Jiang Chengxu didn't intend to tell Xu Manman these thoughts. He unraveled the gauze, saw blood seeping from the wound—probably from an accidental bump—applied a bit more medicine, and re-bandaged it.
"No, I'll make things clear to her." Jiang Chengxu stood up.
Xu Manman smiled gracefully and gave him a playful, coquettish push. "Go on then, don't keep my sister waiting too long, or she'll get angry with you again. My sister doesn't have a temper as good as mine."
This wait lasted half an hour. Xu Qinghuan wasn't impatient at all; she felt nothing toward Jiang Chengxu. As a character in this drama, whether he couldn't break free from the plot or simply didn't want to, it was all understandable.
"Qinghuan!"
Xu Qinghuan turned around, saw Jiang Chengxu, and nodded. "Say whatever you have to say."
"Qinghuan, let's get married!" Jiang Chengxu said, looking at her nervously, his eyes full of anticipation.
Having been reborn, this was his obsession. Divorcing Qinghuan in his past life was a pain he could never let go of for as long as he lived.
Xu Qinghuan was so startled she took two steps back, her lower back pressing against the edge of the billiards table. She smiled. "Get married?"
"Yes, Qinghuan, let's get married. We'll hold the wedding first, and when we reach the legal age, we'll get the marriage certificate." Jiang Chengxu stepped forward, his dark eyes fixed on Xu Qinghuan, burning with what looked like flames.
Xu Qinghuan averted her gaze. "Jiang Chengxu, this engagement was arranged by my mother and your grandmother. It never had my consent. Originally, I didn't want to go to the countryside, so I planned to accept my fate. But now I've thought it through—I won't sacrifice my lifelong freedom and dignity just to avoid going to the countryside. Therefore, I have no intention of honoring this engagement."
She wasn't someone who liked to drag things out; having made her decision, she had no intention of stringing anyone along.
Jiang Chengxu was extremely shocked. Yet, thinking back to his past life, Xu Qinghuan had held deep grievances against her mother. Back then, he had tried to comfort her by saying there were no bad parents in the world, and now he could understand.
"Qinghuan, leaving aside who arranged this engagement and just looking at me as a person, do you want to marry me?" Jiang Chengxu asked sincerely.
Xu Qinghuan shook her head. "No!"
She raised her head and caught a glimpse of Xu Manman's figure through the hallway window, the corners of her lips curling into a smile. "Jiang Chengxu, marriage is no child's play. I hope you think it through before making a decision."
Jiang Chengxu's face instantly darkened. He cursed himself for not waking up sooner; if he had, he would have found her before the Jiang family of Yanshi did and had his mother step forward to arrange this match for him.
In his past life, he could never understand why she insisted on divorcing him and refused to give him a chance, especially since he had never once planned to marry Xu Manman—he had only wanted a child carrying the blood of both the Jiang and Xu families, someone who could care for her in her old age.
Now he understood: her resentment toward this marriage had simply been a case of hating the dog and beating its master.
Upon hearing this, Xu Manman shuddered all over. She bit her lower lip, trembling slightly. She hadn't expected Brother Chengxu to talk to Xu Qinghuan about marriage.
Were they going to get married that soon?
Seeing that Xu Qinghuan was about to go upstairs, Xu Manman hurriedly trotted back on tiptoe and threw herself back onto the bed just before the door opened.
No, she couldn't just sit here and wait to lose. If Brother Chengxu felt absolutely nothing for her, that would be one thing, but clearly he didn't repulse her either. Why should she give up such a wonderful opportunity?
Such an exceptional man, and a man with such a prominent family background—the Jiang family even held a place of their own in Yanshi. This was something she had only discovered after pestering him for the past half year.
When Xu Qinghuan returned, Xu Manman asked her, "Are you and Brother Chengxu going to get married?"
Xu Qinghuan glanced at her. "I have no intention of marrying him. As for whether he marries you or not, that's none of my business—don't ask me."
Her goals right now were twofold: first, break off the engagement; second, go to the countryside.
Tomorrow, once she sold her job, she would have money to buy supplies, register for departure, and call off the engagement before leaving.
Wang Mingxia returned and announced she had scheduled a meeting with Mother Jiang for the next day. That night, she and Xu Liqun discussed how to bring the matter up with Mother Jiang.
In truth, Wang Mingxia didn't even need to worry about how to bring it up. The moment Mother Jiang returned home and saw her son's dejected expression, she asked what was wrong, only to find out that he wanted to get married, but Xu Qinghuan had refused.
This engagement had been arranged between the Jiang family of Yanshi and Song Wanlin, with only Father Jiang being informed. Father Jiang had always been filial and relied heavily on the Jiang family's support; moreover, since his son and Xu Qinghuan had been classmates since childhood, he hadn't opposed it.
But Mother Jiang was furious. To think she had given birth to a son and raised him this big, yet when it came to the major event of his marriage, not a single person had even consulted her! They had bypassed her, the mother, and settled it directly?
She had already made up her mind: once Xu Qinghuan crossed their threshold, she would make sure this daughter-in-law had a miserable time.
She had already disliked Xu Qinghuan, and now, hearing that her son's marriage proposal had been rejected, she held even more grievances against the girl. An orphan girl dependent on the charity of others, she was already punching above her weight to aim for the Jiang family, yet now she dared to play hardball with her son?
The next day, Mother Jiang met with Wang Mingxia and went straight to the point. "I hear your niece doesn't want to get married. Could it be she has some objections to this match?"
Although Wang Mingxia wanted to ruin the engagement, she didn't dare offend the Jiang family. "Oh, she has no objections at all. How could a young girl like Qinghuan have any objections?"
"We want to hold the wedding as soon as possible. What are your thoughts on this? If you have no objections, you can state your demands regarding the bride price and the like right now." Mother Jiang crossed one leg over the other and looked away. "However, let's get the ugly talk out of the way first. I know you are her uncle and aunt, not her birth parents. You've raised her this big, and if there's no birth grace, there's at least the grace of upbringing. But that has precious little to do with our family. We certainly won't indulge any exorbitant demands for a massive bride price."
She never intended for them to get married in the first place, and she didn't plan on spending a single penny on the bride price.