My Clingy Fiancée Is Forcing Me to Marry Her Again - Chapter 31.1

Hearing Guan Xiaoyu’s unexpected, yet logical, response—”Why did Sister Li suddenly bring her up?”—Li Fangge’s suddenly racing heart quickly calmed down. It was no surprise that the delicate flower knew the third named character in the novel.

In the plot, Zheng Lier didn’t officially appear until after Guan Xiaoyu was auctioned off. Judging by the current situation, their relationship could be traced back even earlier.

“Yesterday morning, her car hit mine—”

“Sister Li!”

That’s right, this is the reaction she should have when hearing about my car accident.

Li Fangge’s right ear was ringing from Guan Xiaoyu’s shriek.

“Is Sister Li okay? Why tell me only now—no, I have to go back to Luguard immediately! I need to see—”

“Sister is fine.” Li Fangge interrupted her.

The unusually calm tone and the natural soothing quality in her voice instantly quieted Guan Xiaoyu on the other end. She continued, “Zheng Lier is fine, too. You don’t need to rush back.”

“Really? Are you really okay?!”

The voice call abruptly disconnected with a beep.

Before Li Fangge could react, Guan Xiaoyu’s video call came through.

She didn’t particularly like video calls, but to reassure the other party, she answered.

The screen lagged for a moment due to network delay, but the interface soon became smooth and clear.

It was still early. Guan Xiaoyu on the other end must have just woken up, dressed in pink pajamas, her soft hair looking a little messy.

“I told you, I’m fine.”

Li Fangge moved the phone away, waved her left hand toward the clearly concerned Guan Xiaoyu, and then brought the phone closer again.

“You better be fine, or I’ll never forgive Zheng Lier!”

“No need to be so fierce. She didn’t hit me on purpose.”

“I don’t care if it was deliberate or not. Whoever hurts Sister Li, I’ll hurt them back!”

“Thank you.”

This undisguised and unprincipled favoritism was very much Guan Xiaoyu’s style.

Li Fangge smiled into the camera. Her smile was dazzling, like sunlight breaking through the clouds.

Guan Xiaoyu’s expression, framed in the large interface, paused visibly because of her smile.

“Sister Li, why did you think I would know Zheng Lier?”

Li Fangge was stumped for a moment. If she hadn’t read the novel, she truly had no reason to specifically ask the delicate flower this question just because Zheng Lier had hit her—a lapse in her otherwise careful planning.

“A feeling,” her answer sounded very dismissive.

“Did she perhaps hit and run?”

“No, not that.” Li Fangge was still not used to long video calls. The continuous scrutiny made her uncomfortable. “After confirming I was fine, Sister will switch back to a voice call.”

“Wait a moment—”

“What?”

“I want to look at Sister Li a little longer.”

“Go ahead.” Li Fangge moved the phone’s angle, generously displaying herself to her.

Guan Xiaoyu let out a chuckle, revealing the clean, exquisite white teeth inside her red lips. “Can I really look however I want?”

“Of course.” Li Fangge was very direct.

“Then I want to see—Sister Li’s heart.”

“Stop messing around.”

“Sister said herself I could look however I want.”

“Is a person’s heart something that can be seen?”

Even if she was upright, even if it were truly possible, Li Fangge lacked the confidence to let someone stare directly into her heart.

“Of course it can. If you want to see my heart, I can show you right now.”

How confident and open must one be for such words to just tumble out?

Setting aside whether it could be seen, Li Fangge was already deeply shocked just by her willingness to open herself up like this.

“Isn’t it better to hold something back?”

“For Sister Li, I don’t want to hold anything back. I want to—give you my all.”

Guan Xiaoyu’s passion made Li Fangge feel uneasy time and again, and she finally understood why the original character had turned to villainy.

Love and hate are never opposites; they are very, very close.

Afraid she couldn’t reciprocate her passion, Li Fangge said, “You should still hold something back.”

“Sister Li, didn’t I say I don’t like being rejected? Especially—”

“This isn’t a rejection.”

“Oh.”

That awkward silence Li Fangge disliked returned.

She subtly steered the conversation back to the original purpose of the call, “Can you tell me about Zheng Lier?”

“Tell you what? My connection with her is as shallow as paper. Besides her name and gender, I have nothing to say.”

“Is that so?”

“To be honest, Sister Li, I only met her the night before last. My father suddenly asked me to accompany my sister to a dinner party, specifically so my sister could introduce her to me. She’s my sister’s university classmate.”

“Don’t worry, Sister—”

“What do I have to worry about?”

Li Fangge realized she had interrupted Guan Xiaoyu too quickly, so quickly that it seemed like she was trying to hide something.

Guan Xiaoyu caught the embarrassed look on Li Fangge’s face and the urgency in her tone and laughed instead of getting angry.

This delicate flower must think I’m jealous of Zheng Lier to be smiling so playfully, Li Fangge thought.

“Don’t worry, Sister Li, the whole world knows about our engagement, and Zheng Lier naturally knows too.”

“It’s good that she knows.”

Li Fangge played along with Guan Xiaoyu’s mood, genuinely acting jealous of Zheng Lier.

She should have thought of it at the accident scene yesterday. When Zheng Lier looked at her like that, she must have already recognized her as Guan Xiaoyu’s fiancée.

Ultimately, it was because the novel provided too little information, and the scumbag Alpha was so utterly indifferent to her own engagement, that she failed to recall that her engagement with Guan Xiaoyu was, indeed, practically known to the whole world.

There was nothing strange about Zheng Lier narrowing her eyes at her; she was surely confirming something in her mind at that moment.

Knowing the novel’s trajectory, Li Fangge subconsciously felt vulnerable in front of her.

“If Sister Li is still worried, we can go get our marriage certificate as soon as I get back to Luguard.”

“Sister prefers to take things step by step.”

Li Fangge deliberately glossed over Guan Xiaoyu’s ‘worry’ statement, plainly confirming that she was indeed uneasy about Zheng Lier.

Even if Li Fangge wouldn’t go through with auctioning off Guan Xiaoyu, it didn’t mean Zheng Lier was a safe character.

The boundary between them and Zheng Lier should be clearer, and only Guan Xiaoyu could easily achieve this.

“Did Zheng Lier hit your car and have nothing to say?”

“Her assistant contacted me yesterday afternoon to confirm the compensation matters.”

“That’s all?”

“She apologized and insisted on double compensation.”

At the accident scene, Li Fangge accepting Zheng Lier’s compensation plan had an element of pique.

Later, when her assistant contacted her, she said she only needed the repair costs.

However, the other side insisted on double compensation. Li Fangge also insisted on only the repair costs, leading to a deadlock.

Finally, Zheng Lier called her personally.

“That’s good. That’s how it should be.”

“Mhm.” Li Fangge didn’t elaborate; ultimately, she still insisted on only accepting the necessary repair costs.

Li Fangge didn’t see Guan Xiaoyu again until three days later.

It had also rained for three straight days.

After the rain cleared, the air was clean and bright, the sun looked particularly dazzling, the sky was infinitely blue, and the clouds looked freshly washed, pure white without any blemishes, appearing fluffy and soft, making one want to reach out and touch them.

This time, before Guan Xiaoyu arrived, Li Fangge was already waiting outside the front gate. Dressed in a dress, she stood in the shade of a camphor tree, like a woman waiting for her lover. That face, as perfect as the sun, would occasionally show a gentle, infatuated smile.

Even she couldn’t clearly say whether the smile that kept appearing on her face was because Guan Xiaoyu said she couldn’t wait to see her.

But what was certain was that Guan Xiaoyu was not the first person who couldn’t wait to see her, but she was the first person whose impatience to see Li Fangge made her happy.

“Sister Li, I’ve just rushed off the plane! I’m coming over right now, immediately. I can’t wait to see you, I’ll go crazy if I wait another second! I’m going to hug you hard when I get there, okay!”

In the phone call about half an hour ago, Guan Xiaoyu was this direct and eager.

Unconcealed, direct, fiery love, Li Fangge thought, must be like this.

A hard hug—just thinking about it could easily make her body and heart warm up.

Without a clear beginning, as she waited for Guan Xiaoyu to arrive, and recalling the things she had said, Li Fangge already felt like she was in the midst of a passionate romance.

Yesterday, upon learning that Guan Xiaoyu was returning to Luguard today, a meeting was inevitable.

After hanging up the phone, Li Fangge invited Bai Shao out for a meal. After lunch, she bought a single-breasted, short-sleeved dress at a boutique on the pedestrian street.

“Why buy a dress suddenly?” Bai Shao was still listless, disinterested in everything, but she noticed Li Fangge’s unusual state; she looked blindingly happy today.

“I have a date.”

Li Fangge was surprised that she could say such a thing without feeling burdened. She was surprised by her natural tone; she was also surprised that, at some point, she had quietly accepted her relationship with Guan Xiaoyu; and even more surprised that, at some point, her idol persona had become imperceptible.

“You’re pulling my leg.” Bai Shao faced the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out at the incessant drizzle. The fluorescent light illuminated the fatigue on her face. She looked very quiet, as if remembering someone.

Or perhaps, remembering a sweet date.

“They’re returning to Luguard tomorrow.”