Chapter 514: Chapter 514: Stop Me Again, and I’ll Beat You Senseless
"Hello, Granny Bo. Hello, Aunt Bo." Xiao Jiyan habitually greeted the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law from the Bo family.
Even though she and Bao Tingting had been at odds since childhood, she had always respected Granny Bo.
That was because Granny Bo wouldn’t show favoritism just because Bao Tingting was her granddaughter; she’d side with what was right over her own family.
Aunt Bo, however, was different. Whenever she saw the two of them fighting, she would immediately lay into Xiao Jiyan without ever asking what started it.
So, seeing the Lady of the Bo Family address her first now made her feel stunned by the unexpected courtesy. This had never happened before.
Just as she was trying to organize her thoughts to give a well-phrased reply, she heard Lin Sisi say angrily,
"Xiao Jiyan, don’t get so smug! That engagement only came to you because my cousin rejected it. And you have the nerve to be ungrateful and even hit her."
"Exactly, Mom! Why are you even asking her? WAHH... Can’t you see she beat your daughter black and blue?
How is a venomous woman like her worthy of Ziquan? Granny, please, go talk to Grandpa Mu for me! I’m willing to marry Ziquan, WAHH..."
Tears streamed from Bao Tingting’s eyes like pearls from a broken string, winding their way down her face, which was as swollen as a pig’s head.
But afraid of being ridiculed, she quickly turned and wiped them away with her arm, then continued to whimper softly. She was in genuine pain.
Lin Sisi hadn’t expected that Bao Tingting genuinely wanted to marry Ziquan. ’How could this be?’
’She had goaded Bao Tingting into confronting Xiao Jiyan, hoping it would be a mutually destructive fight. Ideally, neither of them would end up marrying Ziquan.’
"My cousin’s right. Xiao Jiyan, you’re truly vicious for beating her up like this.
If Ziquan knew you had such a malicious heart, he would never marry you, so stop dreaming.
A venomous woman like you still wants to marry Ziquan? Ptooey! But my cousin did reject Grandpa Mu before..."
Xiao Jiyan sneered. "That’s right. I should thank Bao Tingting for handing me such a wonderful engagement. A man as good as Ziquan...
...of course I’m going to cherish him. So I’m ’venomous’ just for hitting her? Why don’t you ask why I did it?"
"Yanzi, why did you beat Tingting this badly?" Mrs. Bo asked, suppressing her simmering rage with clear dissatisfaction.
’When she saw her daughter’s face, swollen like a pig’s head from afar, she wanted to grit her teeth and curse that girl from the Xiao family.’
’But on the way over, her mother-in-law had repeatedly emphasized that now that the Xiao girl was engaged to the Mu Family, things were different.’
’She could no longer fly off the handle and curse that wretched girl without getting the facts straight, not like before.’
’The Bo Family wasn’t afraid of the Xiao Family on its own. They weren’t afraid of the Mu Family on its own, either.
But with the Xiao Family and the Mu Family joined by marriage, the Bo Family wouldn’t dare to pick a fight.’
The Lady of the Bo Family had always doted on her daughter, which was made possible because her sons were accomplished and didn’t need her to worry about them.
But for the sake of her sons’ futures and to keep the family from being squeezed out, her daughter had to take a backseat.
Every time Xiao Jiyan tried to explain, Bao Tingting cut her off with a shriek. "Mom, why are you asking her? She’s just going to say she was in the right..."
Having finally lost her temper, Xiao Jiyan interrupted Bao Tingting and unleashed a torrent of words.
"I was in the right to begin with! Growing up, when have you ever *not* been the one to start trouble with me? I had just gotten out of Ziquan’s car and was heading home.
You and Lin Sisi were the ones who dragged me into this corner, saying you had something important to discuss. Who knew it was just because you regret not agreeing to marry Ziquan?
But we got engaged to him *today*! For you to even suggest such a thing is completely shameless.
Besides, Ziquan never even agreed to marry you back then. Grandpa Mu just put out a feeler to your family, that’s all.
After you refused, Grandpa Mu asked my grandpa, and both he and I agreed immediately. But Ziquan didn’t agree to the marriage back then, either.
Grandpa Mu was inquiring with lots of families, okay? Go ask around! What other girl would reject an engagement just because she heard Ziquan was injured and bedridden?
Now that you see Ziquan is back on his feet, you come trying to steal this marriage from me? Dream on!"
After saying all that, Xiao Jiyan finally felt a little better. ’When Grandpa Mu had asked her grandpa, she hadn’t refused; on the contrary, she’d been overjoyed.
But Ziquan had adamantly refused to marry her. She didn’t even get a chance to see him after his injury.
They hadn’t seen each other for two long years. What right did Bao Tingting have to say this engagement was her cast-off?
’I’ve met shameless people, but I’ve never met anyone as shameless as Bao Tingting.’
Even if Bao Tingting had accepted back then, Ziquan definitely wouldn’t have agreed to marry her.
After all, she herself had immediately agreed when Grandpa Mu asked, but Ziquan still hadn’t consented and wouldn’t even let her see him!
She’d been heartbroken about it for a long time. She only got to see him once, and that was only after it looked like he would be able to walk again.
It turned out Ziquan had only been willing to get engaged to her once he could stand on his own two feet again.
At this thought, Xiao Jiyan’s mood lifted and she continued, "Ziquan has liked me since we were kids. So what if he finds out I hit you?
The biggest difference between you and me is that you looked down on him for being disabled. You were afraid of having to endure hardships with him.
But I’m different. I have always been willing to marry him, for richer or for poorer."
"You—the Xiao Family owns a pharmaceutical company! Of course you knew Ziquan’s leg could be cured! Would you have married him if it really couldn’t be fixed?"
Lin Sisi demanded, practically jumping in anger. Her cousin, Bao Tingting, was still wailing in her mother’s arms and was clearly useless at this point.
"I would have married him even if it couldn’t be cured! When Grandpa Mu asked my grandpa, I was right there. I agreed without the slightest hesitation.
It was Ziquan who wasn’t willing to marry me. Otherwise, we would’ve been married two years ago.
My life’s goal is to marry him and be his wife. How could a common sparrow possibly understand the ambitions of a great swan?"
Lin Sisi roared, her anger flaring, "You’re shameless! To be so desperate to get married... you’re utterly shameless!"
"All of you, go home! Stop making a scene and embarrassing us all," Granny Bo snapped at her granddaughter and grandniece.
’From the trio’s conversation, she now understood the whole story.
It really was her two troublesome girls who had started this and provoked Yan.
She’d thought on the way over that her two good-for-nothing girls must have been green with envy over the Xiao girl’s good fortune.
Just as Xiao Ji said, even if Tingting had agreed back then, it wasn’t certain Ziquan would have.
However... if Tingting *had* agreed back then, Ziquan would have had to marry her whether he wanted to or not, because the Mu Family owed the Bo Family a favor.
A pity her Tingting just didn’t have the good fortune. Spoiled rotten by her mother, she was arrogant, naive, and incredibly willful.
Back then, before she’d even had a chance to speak, the girl had rushed right up to Old Mu and refused him to his face.
She had seen it with her own eyes: when Tingting refused, Old Mu let out a huge sigh of relief.
In truth, she hadn’t favored Tingting for the match, but her second son had a daughter, too!
What a pity. The debt between their families was nullified just like that!
Growing angrier the more she thought about it, Granny Bo grabbed her granddaughter with one hand and her grandniece with the other and stalked off without looking back.
Xiao Jiyan watched Bao Tingting’s retreating back with a beaming smile and snorted in contempt. "Hmph. Try to stop me again next time, and see if I don’t beat you to a pulp."
