"Yep. You will never know just how much effort we put into chasing away those people who liked to gossip about you."
Li Caiyi never heard Li Chunhua and Meng Renshu mention this, even in her previous life. Although it resulted in her isolation, they did that to protect her. Li Caiyi knew that Meng Renshu always treated her like a little sister, but she never knew he did so much for her behind the scenes.
Li Caiyi felt complicated inside. Now she felt guilty for treating him so harshly. Although his distrust in her was what triggered it, Meng Renshu was still that kind older brother she looked up to in this life.
She recalled how hurt he looked when she rejected him last time. She felt like a bad guy.
Li Chunhua noticed the profound look on her sister's face. "Say, Brother Renshu recently told me you have been treating him coldly. Is that true?"
Li Caiyi averted her eyes. "No, I didn't. We are going to be adults soon, so I told him not to treat me like a child anymore, but that's it."
It was actually more than that. Li Caiyi even forbade him from touching her casually, but Li Chunhua did not need to know that.
"Xiaoyi, what you said was akin to cutting Brother Renshu's flesh. Don't you know how much he doted on you?"
"I know he cares about me, but he doted on you the most, so I don't think he would mind even if I keep my distance. It's different for you, though."
Li Chunhua stared at Li Caiyi incredulously. "How are you so sure he liked me more than you?"
Was that even a question? It was as clear as the bright sky how much Meng Renshu loved her. Only those who were blind could not see it.
"I saw you two kiss the other day. At the shoe locker." Li Caiyi said bluntly.
Li Chunhua blushed when she heard that. "Y-you saw that?"
"Well, if you guys do that in a public place, someone will be bound to see it."
Li Chunhua pressed her palm to her cheeks to cool it down. "It's not what you think. That day, I tripped and almost fell, and when Brother Renshu tried to catch me, we…. I mean, that just happened!"
If it were her in the past, she would drown in jealousy by now but could only swallow the bitterness and laugh drily when they openly showed their good relationship. But now, Li Caiyi felt nothing but happiness for them.
They were meant to be together, after all.
"But you like it, don't you?" Li Caiyi smirked when she saw how bashful her sister was.
Li Chunhua mulled over it for a while before she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Well, that accident was downright embarrassing, but I don't know if I feel happy about that or not."
"Huh? But I thought you like Brother Renshu?"
"When did I ever say that? Well, of course, I like him as an older brother, but I never saw him more than that."
That was strange. According to her memory, although Li Chunhua and Meng Renshu would not be dating until some time later, they should be pretty close by now. They became the dream couple of the school and made everyone around them green with envy.
Li Caiyi was not paying attention to them these days, so she naturally assumed that everything went well for them, just like in her previous life.
Did something go awry because of her again? She ever heard about the butterfly effect and wondered if her action indirectly affected those around her as well.
"Xiaohua, what if Brother Renshu liked you?"
Li Chunhua laughed at that. "Hey, just because we accidentally kissed does not mean we like each other. I'm sure Brother Renshu also thought little about that."
She was wrong. Li Caiyi remembered how Meng Renshu's face reddened when he told Li Caiyi about his first kiss with Li Chunhua. He never said it was an accident, meaning that he took it seriously.
Li Chunhua was not aware of that? Or did Meng Renshu only start to pursue her seriously after this?
Li Caiyi was confused. What happened in reality and her memory did not match up. However, she could not pinpoint when everything began to go in a different direction.
"Xiaoyi, rather than me, let's talk about you." Li Chunhua corrected her posture, so they were sitting face to face. She had a serious look on her face. "Who in the world is Shen Qiang?"
***
Li Caiyi somehow got away with it last night. Li Chunhua kept bugging her about Shen Qiang, and she also admitted she was investigating him secretly. However, Li Chunhua did not believe that Shen Qiang was one of their school's students, so she pressured Li Caiyi to tell his whereabouts.
The problem was Li Caiyi had yet to find Shen Qiang. She was not sure if the Shenqiang in the hospital was her Shen Qiang, so she could only divert the topic to something else instead.
Currently, Li Caiyi was standing in front of the hospital with a bouquet of flowers in hand. She was determined to confirm her suspicions today. Somehow, she had a good feeling about the boy she helped the other day. The heartache she felt when she looked at how much he hurt, she wondered if it meant something.
After getting the room's number from the front desk, Li Caiyi used the fastest route to reach it, which coincidentally passed the neurology department.
Li Caiyi was not there to meet Li Jirong, so she did not think much about it. However, she never thought she would bump into him almost immediately.
Li Jirong talked with a nurse, and he seemed like he was enjoying himself. Li Caiyi shifted her gaze to the young nurse beside him. And she was a beauty. The nurse would giggle or pinch his arm in a flirty way whenever her father talked about something. Li Jirong would also whisper something in the nurse's ears, which responded with a blushing face of the nurse.
Her father never smiled that happily whenever he was home.
Li Caiyi looked at them with an icy gaze, thinking that those two were really shameless. It was repulsive to look at them.
Li Jirong felt a hostile gaze and looked around to find the source when he spotted her daughter watching him.
It surprised him to find her there, but he quickly concealed it with a frosty look. Although he felt uneasy because his daughter caught him flirting with the nurse, he was confident she would suspect nothing. Li Caiyi was just that stupid.
So, with confident steps, he walked with the nurse on his side towards Li Caiyi. He did not stop to talk to her, though.
Without sparing Li Caiyi a glance, they walked past her as if she was not there while still chatting happily.
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