Chapter 9: She No Longer Wants Him

"Ranran, are you saying you won't marry me? Then what was our engagement party?"

He Hongwen rushed toward Ye Siran, his eyes bloodshot. *If you hadn't jumped out the window and run away, would I have ended up like that with your sister?* He was too proud, a refined intellectual, to voice that last thought aloud. Raised in comfort and protected by his father and brothers, he radiated the glow of a privileged life; he was a gentle, arrogant physician.

"He Hongwen, how dare you mention the engagement party? When you declared you wanted to marry my sister, did you ever stop to think that I would become a laughingstock?"

Had she not lived through a past life, Ye Siran would never have dared to speak to him this way. As for marrying him in this life? Dream on.

In her previous life, she had poured her heart and soul into tending to the needs of the He family. They were wealthy and never lacked for money. Later, He Hongwen developed several new antiviral drugs and made a fortune. Had it not been for Ye Ruyue living in her home all that time, she would have considered herself the happiest woman in the world. After spending half her life acting like a subservient fool, her greatest regret was ever letting Ye Ruyue and her child move in. She had never truly blamed He Hongwen, but in the moment she was angered to death, she realized she had been a joke. She had been too foolish, too naive, and too stubborn; once she set her heart on someone, she deemed him her entire world. She had thought herself noble, believing she could do anything for him, hoping to soften his heart through devotion. Only later did she realize she was nothing more than a spineless sycophant, a woman blinded by love.

"I’ve told you so many times—I was drunk that day! Why must you keep harping on a drunken remark?"

"Everyone knows that what is said in wine is the truth. He Hongwen, how dare you act aggressively toward me? Weren't you shouting about wanting to marry my sister? I am granting your wish right now."

Ye Siran’s voice was like a sharp blade, piercing He Hongwen’s heart. Her gaze, cold as a frozen lake, shimmered with a piercing resolve. Facing this version of Ye Siran, a wave of bitterness surged within him; the beauty he once took for granted shattered in an instant. She had loved him silently in corners he never bothered to look, yet he had treated her sincerity like worthless trash. He had even used the most venomous words imaginable to hurt her, yet she acted as if she were deaf, screening out the cruelties and remaining as gentle as ever. Though he had always looked down on his fiancée, he knew her—she was not a calculating person, nor was she capable of such pretense.

Everything she did today sent him a clear message: she didn't want him anymore.

As a child, he had actually liked her. While she had grown up fair and clean, she had become introverted and reticent, hardly daring to speak a word. Ye Ruyue, on the other hand, was lively, alluring, and bold, growing more feminine by the day. She loved wearing tight dresses, pressing herself against him, and hinting that she wanted to marry him. Since she was so shameless, he had used the excuse of marrying her just to irritate his father. But she had framed him and Siran just to secure a university admission letter. How could he willingly marry a woman of such poor character? Today, he had kissed and touched her—he had consummated the relationship—yet his heart had not been captured. In truth, Ye Ruyue’s features were inferior to his Siran’s; she was merely more provocative and daring.

At this thought, He Hongwen’s eyes reddened, and he stepped forward quickly. "Siran, I..."

His words were cut off by his father’s forceful interruption. "Get out! Are you still trying to force Siran?"

"Siran, don't be afraid. If you don't want to marry Hongwen, Uncle He will never force you. Your Aunt He and I have loved you since you were little; if you cannot be our daughter-in-law, you will be our daughter."

Ye Siran looked into his sincere eyes. She had expected Uncle He to be the hardest to convince, yet he was the one who respected her wishes the most. This was the true attitude of someone who cared for another. Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at Mrs. He and saw her frown, her eyes shifting restlessly, a flicker of contemptuous mockery at the corner of her mouth. Though it vanished in an instant, Ye Siran caught the intense disgust beneath it. In her past life, she had been married for a long time before she realized Mrs. He disliked her. By the time the woman wore her disdain on her face, Ye Siran had assumed it was because she had failed to provide a grandson, constantly blaming herself for not being good enough. She had never been favored by her own mother, and after marrying into the He family, she had avoided conflict for the sake of He Hongwen. She had been timid and self-conscious, feeling inferior to them, never daring to argue. She would tell herself it was just a war of words, that patience was a virtue and she would lose nothing by enduring. Looking back now, her skin crawled; she couldn't understand why she had been so naive. The He family’s two other daughters-in-law and the sister-in-law had belittled and excluded her, while her mother-in-law looked down on her for being small-minded and embarrassing. She had known it all along, but she hadn't known how to change. In the face of the confident and flamboyant Ye Ruyue, who possessed both education and a respectable job, Ye Siran had felt inadequate and insecure, reduced to nursing her resentment in secret. Back then, she felt like a blade of weeds that had wandered into a field of flowers—not only out of place but an eyesore.

Reflecting on this, Ye Siran suddenly looked at Mrs. He, who was already wearing a gentle, performative smile.

"Siran," Mrs. He said with forced warmth, "your Uncle He wants to adopt you as his goddaughter. Hurry and call him 'Dad'."

"Haha! If Siran calls me Dad, I’ll send you to university, and in the future, I’ll help you find a husband even better than Hongwen!" He Yongchang laughed heartily. He didn't care about the formality; if that scoundrel Ye Jianping could be her father, he certainly could.

"Uncle He, you have been very good to me. Since I cannot be your daughter-in-law, I will not call you Dad in this life. I will continue to call you Uncle."

"Very well, 'Uncle' is fine too. Then, are you willing to go to university?"

"Uncle He, I don't want to go to university. I want to go to the countryside to find my grandparents. I hope you can help me." Ye Siran looked He Yongchang directly in the eyes. The "worker-peasant-soldier" universities did not hold the same prestige as the ones she could test into herself. Besides, even if she had nothing, she did not want to have any more entanglements with these people. Her stepfather was unreliable; if Uncle He were willing to help, her chances of finding her grandparents would be much higher. Even if she couldn't find them, she wanted to get as far away as possible from the people who had hurt her.

"Very well. Tomorrow, I will make inquiries for you," He Yongchang said solemnly. He was stunned by the absolute resolve in her eyes. In his memory, she had been a wallflower, terrified of him. If her father hadn't saved his life years ago, he would have been dead. That was why he wanted to give her the best; his second son had been outstanding since childhood, and he had arranged the betrothal. Only now did he realize he had been wrong. She was not the fragile, weeping little flower he had assumed she was—the one he had thought was being bullied to death by Ye Jianping and her mother, the one who could only find happiness by marrying into his family.