Transmigrating As The Scummy Ex-Wife Of The Cold And Aloof Tycoon - Chapter 24

“You and I only met through a collaboration…” Ye Yichi sneered disdainfully.

“That’s different.” Xin Ning turned her face away, her dark eyes narrowing slightly. The sunlight hit her thick, upturned eyelashes, casting flickering shadows. “Back then, I was just…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ye Yichi interrupted.

Before the divorce, Ye Yichi might have been interested in hearing these explanations. Now? Forget it. Why should she care how a stranger introduced her?

“Are you finished? Please leave. Don’t block my sun.”

“Ye Yichi.” Xin Ning’s voice dropped, carrying a slight tremor beneath its coldness. “Have you given up?”

What on earth? Given up on what?

Ye Yichi looked up, scanning Xin Ning. The eyes, the cheeks, the ring hanging between her collarbones nothing had changed. It was definitely the same person, not an imposter. Could it be… the protagonist’s bizarre brain had crossed a wire?

If a wire is crossed, go home and fix it. Why come here to seek attention?

Ye Yichi withdrew her gaze.

Under the tree, Xiao Huang (Little Yellow) found a green grub and clucked triumphantly. The other three chickens flapped their wings, chirping and pecking to snatch it away.

They were actually quite rhythmic about it, like performers taking turns on a stage. Ye Yichi cheered for Xiao Huang with a smile, but unfortunately, Xiao Huang was outnumbered. Within seconds, the grub was stolen, and the chick was sent tumbling back several times.

Granny Su came out carrying a bowl of egg custard, nearly stepping on the rolling Xiao Huang.

“Goodness gracious!” Amidst the shout, the bowl slipped from her hand, smashed against the cold stone table, and shattered. Shards of porcelain wrapped in scalding egg custard flew toward the rocking chair.

It all happened too fast.

Ye Yichi only had time to raise her hand to shield her face.

The expected pain never came. Instead, she felt a warm embrace. Slowly lowering her arm, she smelled a faint scent of roses. Xin Ning was kneeling on one leg in front of her. The porcelain fragments and the boiling custard had all splattered onto Xin Ning’s cold-grey coat.

True to the reflexes of someone who could perform magic, Xin Ning had shielded her perfectly. Ye Yichi looked down at herself; she was completely clean.

“I’m so sorry, so sorry! It’s all the fault of Xiao Huang and me!” Granny Su rushed over to check the situation. “Yueyue is fine, and San Cun Xue (Three Inches of Snow) is fine. Thank heavens, thank heavens!”

“Who is ‘San Cun Xue’?” Xin Ning stood up.

The egg custard soaked into the wool, creating a larger wet stain as she moved.

Ye Yichi shifted her gaze to Xin Ning’s coat.

This is bad.

Unlike the protagonist’s willingness to eat plain boiled vegetables as a “feast,” she was extremely particular about her clothes. There was no obvious logo on this piece, but the texture was top-tier. It was likely from Loro Piana. She hadn’t seen Xin Ning wear it last year, which meant it was this year’s new arrival. The material, at a glance, was almost certainly vicuña.

A new Loro Piana vicuña coat the “diamond of fibers.” It could easily cost over a hundred thousand yuan.

“Are you okay?” Xin Ning looked down at Ye Yichi. “Why are you looking at me like that? What? Didn’t expect me to protect you?”

“I am not paying for this coat,” Ye Yichi said.

“What?”

“I. Will not. Pay. For this coat.” Ye Yichi curled her lip. A single coat cost more than her salary for her last drama. She didn’t have a garage full of cars to sell anymore. “You chose to block it yourself. It has nothing to do with me.”

“You aren’t worried about me being hurt, you’re only thinking about how not to pay for the clothes?” Xin Ning’s voice sank. “Am I worth less than a coat to you?”

“Oh dear, Yueyue didn’t mean it like that,” Granny Su tried to smooth things over. “Yueyue, really, even if you don’t like her anymore, you shouldn’t be so cold. Look, her hand was cut while saving you.”

Ye Yichi followed the direction of Granny Su’s finger and saw a string of blood droplets.

On skin as white as ice and snow, a string of round, tiny red beads seeped from a shallow wound. Perhaps it was because Xin Ning was so pale? Ye Yichi thought the color contrast was too intense, it made her eyes uncomfortable.

“Quick, quick, go get the medical kit,” Granny Su urged.

“Oh.” Ye Yichi stood up, avoiding the shards and scattered egg custard as she headed into the house. By the time she returned with the kit, Granny Su had led Xin Ning to the stone table. The stained coat was spread out on the table, and Granny Su was muttering over it.

Ye Yichi glanced at the back of Xin Ning’s hand and pulled out a Band-Aid.

“Don’t you need to disinfect it first?” Xin Ning asked.

“What’s there to disinfect? For a wound this small, it’ll heal itself if I wait any longer.” Ye Yichi briskly peeled the Band-Aid and slapped it on.

To be honest, she wasn’t entirely heartless.

On the way to get the kit, Ye Yichi’s heart had started pounding in hindsight. If that scalding custard had actually hit her face, she’d likely be disfigured and disfigurement meant no more acting. She’d be quite reluctant to say goodbye to a profession where “working a few weeks pays for a year.”

“Thanks. You saved my career with a coat.” Licking her canine tooth, Ye Yichi handed Xin Ning a pack of Band-Aids. “I can’t afford the coat, so have a few more of these.”

“Do you have nothing else to say to me?” Xin Ning looked down at the Band-Aids, her gaze obscured by the shadows of the tree canopy.

“They aren’t waterproof,” Ye Yichi said. “Remember to change them after you wash your hands.”

The two episodes of the TV drama aired that evening covered the past.

After watching, Su Fanxing was at times scratching her head and cursing the “unfaithful one,” and at other times thumping her chest over the “star-crossed fate.” “So your two families have a blood feud? A bloody version of Romeo and Juliet. No wonder the unfaithful one was so awful before. Now that things are out in the open, are you two going to reconcile?”

“It’s not that fast. Just keep watching.” Ye Yichi yawned, preparing to head to her room.

“Yueyue, remember to take San Cun Xue’s coat to be cleaned tomorrow,” Granny Su called out. “Make sure you do it. We must return kindness with kindness.”

Few shops dared to accept a new season Loro Piana vicuña coat.

The next day, Ye Yichi visited at least six dry cleaners before finding an owner who agreed to try. It wasn’t that the owner was particularly brave, he was currently following Ye Yichi’s new drama and recognized her. He figured that since she was on TV, she must be rich and wouldn’t make trouble for him if the coat was ruined.

After wandering out of the cleaner’s, Ye Yichi stopped by a car show.

Everything she liked was too expensive. She couldn’t afford them.

It wasn’t worth taking on another acting gig just for a car. She’d stick to the original plan: buy a second-hand one to get by. No big deal.

Often, Ye Yichi couldn’t help but feel that old man Ye’s assessment of her was spot on: she was a “salted fish” with no great ambitions.

Humming a distorted tune. “The immortal touched my head and gave me the scroll of longevity, but I thought longevity was too much work and preferred listening to the flute”. Ye Yichi boarded the bus back to the ancient town.

She arrived at Huawan around 3:00 PM, the perfect time for a late nap.

She had only been asleep for a short while when there was a knock on the courtyard gate.

“Who is it?” Ye Yichi opened one eye. “The B&B is closed. If you want to stay, please go elsewhere.”

“Could you please open the door?” A very warm voice replied, carrying the brightness of sunshine.

Sounds familiar? Ye Yichi opened her eyes fully, thought for a moment, and opened the gate.

Standing outside was Lin Weilan.

The sunlight spilled across her slightly curved eyes, quiet and warm, like an Eclectus parrot with its bright red feathers spread beautiful, vivid, and gentle, making people instinctively want to be near her.

One protagonist finally stops coming, and now this one shows up? Do both protagonists have a vendetta against naps? Ye Yichi sighed inwardly and let Lin Weilan into Hua Wan. “Are you looking for a room? Our B&B is closed, we probably won’t be taking guests for a while.”

“I came to find you.” Lin Weilan blinked. “Xiao Ning said you misunderstood our relationship. She insisted I come to explain.”

Is this never going to end?

“She explained yesterday,” Ye Yichi said.

Lin Weilan: “She said you didn’t believe her.”

“Does it matter if I believe her?” Ye Yichi yawned. “I have nothing to do with her anymore.”

Lin Weilan tilted her head slightly, studying Ye Yichi seriously for a long time. Her bright eyes were filled with confusion. “You’re not quite what I imagined.”

That was normal. Ye Yichi looked back at Lin Weilan.

Lin Weilan had only met her five times in total. She had lived with Xin Ning for three years over a thousand days and still hadn’t fully understood her.

“You look like a lazy cat, without much of an edge, but actually… I don’t know how to describe it.”

Actually has claws?

Ye Yichi followed Lin Weilan’s train of thought. Aside from “having claws,” what else could follow?

“Actually, you aren’t lazy. You just haven’t let many things into your sight. In that way, you and Xiao Ning are quite similar,” Lin Weilan thought for a moment. “It’s just that she’s afraid to look, and you don’t deign to look.”

See? What a linguistic artist. Forcing a connection just to lump her and Xin Ning into the same category. Was Lin Weilan also some sort of misunderstood writer? Ye Yichi smiled.

“Don’t disbelieve me. I grew up in an orphanage; I’m a good judge of character,” Lin Weilan said, then paused and fumbled through her handbag.

“I almost forgot the main point! I’ve been following your drama lately. You’re such a great actress! Many people at the research institute and I have become your fans. Could you give me an autograph? Please? I only agreed to do this favor for Xiao Ning because I thought I might get an autograph.”

This development… is quite creative.

Ye Yichi looked at the notebook shoved into her arms, then at the smiling Lin Weilan. How surreal. One second she’s acting as a mediator, the next she’s a fan girl?

After signing and seeing Lin Weilan out, Ye Yichi sat back in her rocking chair.

The warm sun was drifting west. Su Fanxing would be out of school soon. Lin Weilan had said she didn’t let things into her sight slander! Pure slander! She clearly saw Su Fanxing, she saw Granny Su, she saw the garden full of flowers and trees, and she saw the chubby chickens running around under the tree.

Wait? Why do the chickens look so anxious today? Oh no, I forgot to feed them…

Ye Yichi rushed to the kitchen to get some millet.

She scattered two handfuls. Xiao Huang, Xiao Hei, Xiao Bai, and Xiao Luhua flapped their wings and swarmed over. In the gaps between pecking at the grain, they looked up at her with their round little eyes.

“Sorry, sorry,” Ye Yichi apologized with a grin. “If you’re going to blame someone, blame Xin Ning. I only forgot to feed you because I was busy washing her coat.”