The Aloof Beta Transmigrated as the Pretty Wife [Transmigration] - Chapter 13

[December 28, Real World]

The harsh chill of midwinter settled over the cemetery at dusk, stretching two slanted shadows across the ground.

A radiant Alpha woman leaned against a tree, a cigarette dangling from her lips. Beside her, a tall, handsome man placed a food container in front of a grave, his brow furrowed in irritation.

“Put the cigarette out.”

Xie Chengxia leaned back against the trunk, exhaling a long breath with a scoff. “What for? Is this private cemetery suddenly enforcing a fire ban?”

Xie Chouqiu crouched down, methodically arranging the dishes one by one: red bean rice cakes, blueberry-coated Chinese yams, fresh shrimp potato chips, boba ginger milk curd, steamed fatty intestines with pine duck, an ice cream sundae, and Nanjing soup dumplings.

“Mudong didn’t like you smoking,” he said.

Xie Chengxia took one last sharp drag before stubbing the cigarette out.

The siblings fell silent. In the oppressive winter night, the only sound was the harsh cawing of crows.

As the sun dipped behind the western mountains, Xie Chouqiu’s voice broke the quiet again. “Su Ren couldn’t make it to see you this year. I’ll bring him with me next year.”

Xie Chengxia looked at him in surprise, but Xie Chouqiu simply picked up the empty food container. His deep gaze lingered for a moment on Xie Mudong’s tombstone before he turned away. “Let’s go.”

They walked in silence for a while before Xie Chengxia spoke up. “Su Ren still hasn’t woken up?”

“No.”

Xie Chengxia pondered for a long time, then asked, “So, are you and Su Ren still… like that?”

Xie Chouqiu let out a mocking laugh, playing dumb. “Like what?”

“Arch-enemies?”

“Hmph. What else would we be?”

“I thought that with his accident, you might find you couldn’t bear to let him go,” Xie Chengxia said, lighting another cigarette.

“There is no ‘possibility’ left between him and me,” Xie Chouqiu replied.

“Don’t be so absolute about things in this life. Back in high school, weren’t you head over heels for him? You swore you’d never marry anyone else. And now? You can’t even stand the sight of each other.”

Xie Chouqiu stopped in his tracks, his eyes shadowed and mocking. “What, do you take me for the type of person who offers his right cheek after being slapped on the left?”

“You aren’t,” Xie Chengxia said, her bright smile revealing perfect white teeth. “But there’s a catch, that ‘other person’ can’t be Su Ren.”

Xie Chouqiu’s expression remained cold and gloomy, a trace of cynicism hanging at the corner of his mouth. “If I remember correctly, you’re only thirty this year?”

“I am,” she replied.

Xie Chouqiu sneered. “Then give your matchmaking heart a rest.”

“You brat!” Xie Chengxia looked ready to grind her cigarette out on him.

Xie Chouqiu turned his gaze toward the distant mountains, his face darkening with melancholy. “A missed chance is a missed chance. I stopped thinking about Su Ren a long time ago.”

Yet, despite his words, on the anniversary of Xie Mudong’s death, Xie Chouqiu once again dreamed of…

Su Ren.

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