Transmigrating As The Scummy Ex-Wife Of The Cold And Aloof Tycoon - Chapter 28

Not just a high-class lady who stays away from mundane chores.

Sewage, blood, tears none of these should touch her. Someone carved from ice and snow should sit enthroned in the Royal Palace of Caserta; why must she descend into the mortal realm and mingle with the black and gray?

Lin Weilan arrived quickly. Ye Yichi led her to the table and pressed her into the seat she had previously occupied. “You’ve come at just the right time. Xin Ning made this milk tea herself; hurry and try it.”

Xin Ning’s brows furrowed slightly as she looked up at Ye Yichi. Her cold, clear gaze darkened, looking like medlar fruit that hadn’t yet been fully fermented.

It was an obscure berry light brown skin, tiny and belonged to the same genus as hawthorns, didn’t it? Ye Yichi remembered a brewery guide saying so. Unlike the cute, bright red hawthorns, medlars were hard and astringent, they couldn’t even be eaten raw. They had to undergo frost and storage to transform into something rich and sweet.

They had visited that European brewery during their honeymoon three years ago, and she still remembered it. Ye Yichi silently praised herself for her excellent memory.

“Is this… really okay?” Lin Weilan looked from the bowl of milk tea to Xin Ning, then leaned cautiously toward Ye Yichi. “Wasn’t this made specifically for you? Don’t set me up. I can practically see daggers flying out of Xiao Ning’s eyes.”

Are there?

Ye Yichi followed her gaze to look at Xin Ning. She saw the coldness, the hardness, and the sourness, but no sharpness. Lin Weilan must lead too peaceful a life if she hadn’t seen what “real daggers” looked like.

“You eat, you eat.” Lin Weilan tugged at Ye Yichi’s arm and pushed her back into the seat. “I already ate before coming over.”

“Why are you here?” Xin Ning’s gaze landed on Ye Yichi’s arm where she was being held.

“Ah, I just had nothing to do, so I came to visit.” Lin Weilan let go and blinked at Ye Yichi.

Ye Yichi looked away.

To be honest, it was quite awkward. As a friend, Lin Weilan could only offer advice. If only an elder were here, they could forcibly take the Eldest Miss Xin away. But the Xin family elders… had all been eliminated by Xin Ning’s “cheap” aunt.

The villain’s sins had left her, an innocent transmigrator, in a predicament. Ye Yichi took a bite of a steamed bun in silence and nearly choked.

After finishing the awkward breakfast, she used the excuse of needing a nap to see the two of them out of her courtyard, Huawan.

“Was the milk tea not sweet enough? I noticed you only took one sip,” Xin Ning asked softly, standing by the courtyard gate with the food box. “Do you need me to add more sugar next time?”

“Let’s not have a ‘next time,'” Ye Yichi waved her off. “You’ve made cake, you’ve made milk tea, is that enough fussing? Can you just go back to being normal?”

“What counts as normal?”

“Like before. Too lazy to care about me, too lazy to even look at me.”

“Is that so?” Xin Ning thought for a moment. “Is that how Xiaoxiao treats you lazy to care or look at you? Your first love is quite unique.”

Ye Yichi: …

See? This is what they call shooting yourself in the foot.

No, that’s not right. She hadn’t even picked up the stone; Su Fanxing had picked it up. She just hadn’t moved out of the way, and thud she got hit. Did a side character really have to be this unlucky?

After seeing them off, Ye Yichi curled up in her rocking chair and sent a WeChat message to Lin Weilan:

Keep an eye on Xin Ning. Better yet, take her away. Please don’t let her come bother me anymore.

Lin Weilan didn’t reply. A moment later, the sound of a door closing came from next door. Through the open gate, Ye Yichi saw the silhouettes of Xin Ning and Lin Weilan hurrying away.

Is it that effective? They left just like that? Ye Yichi closed her eyes, satisfied.

When she woke up from her nap, there was an unread message from Lin Weilan saying there was an emergency and she was on her way to the hospital with Xin Ning.

An emergency for the two leads at this point in the plot? Ye Yichi searched the original book in her memory but couldn’t recall anything.

If it wasn’t in the book, it wasn’t a big deal. Xin Ning would probably be back soon.

She still needed to put finding a film crew on her schedule. Ye Yichi yawned, mourning the fact that she was being forced to be productive.

The person next door didn’t return all afternoon.

After dinner, while watching the day’s updates as usual, Su Fanxing’s gaze drifted toward the fridge. “Sis, did I see a piece of cake in the fridge earlier?”

“Want to eat it?” Ye Yichi asked.

“No, no, no,” Su Fanxing waved her hands frantically. “I just wanted to say, based on my years of cake-eating experience, that cake looks a bit… problematic? The base is too short, it might be underbaked.”

Ye Yichi looked at Su Fanxing and silently gave her a thumbs-up.

That cake had been delivered by Xin Ning the night before, and she had tossed it into the fridge. It was perfectly normal for it to be underbaked, how could one expect fingers that “never touched mundane chores” to bake a chiffon cake perfectly after one or two tries?

“Sis, take my advice. Even if it isn’t poisonous, don’t eat that cake. You’ll get diarrhea if it’s raw.”

“Don’t worry, I never planned on eating it.”

Even a horse won’t go back to eat old grass; a “returned” cake is only for puppies to gnaw on.

The next day, the person next door still hadn’t returned.

Ye Yichi contacted a few directors but didn’t find a script she liked. The road to self-improvement was long and arduous. Forget it, she’d feed the chickens first.

After feeding them, her phone rang while she was squinting in the sun. It was a message from Xin Ning:

Guo Guo is in emergency resuscitation.

Guo Guo? The image of an orange house flashed in Ye Yichi’s mind. In a room full of graffiti on the third floor, a little girl had sat side by side with her. The director had said Guo Guo had congenital heart disease. Such a talented little artist… she hoped the little one would make it through.

At dinner, Xin Ning sent another message:

The doctor says the outlook isn’t optimistic.

Ye Yichi’s fingertip hovered over the screen for a few seconds before she dialed the voice call.

“Ye Yichi, do you think Guo Guo can pull through?” Xin Ning answered almost instantly.

Her cool voice sounded as if it were mixed with autumn rain damp and heavy.

Ye Yichi pursed her lips and said softly, “Don’t worry too much. Guo Guo is so cute; Heaven won’t have the heart to take her away.”

“Is that something you calculated?” Xin Ning asked.

If only I actually knew how to divine the future. Ye Yichi poked at the glistening rice in her bowl. “No.”

“I see. You’re just comforting me.” On the other end of the line, Xin Ning went silent for a long time. Her soft breathing came through the screen, occasionally punctuated by the sound of hurried footsteps.

Probably doctors entering and leaving the resuscitation room, Ye Yichi guessed.

“Are you comforting me because I remind you of Xiaoxiao?” After the footsteps faded completely, Xin Ning suddenly spoke in a low voice. “The kindness you showed me these past three years… was it only because I look like her, and for no other reason? You weren’t ‘acting’ out of love for me, you just treated me as a stand-in, didn’t you?”

Where is this coming from? How can she bring up the ‘stand-in’ topic at the door of a resuscitation room?

Ye Yichi sighed silently, feeling deeply unable to keep up with the protagonist’s labyrinthine thought process.

“Ye Yichi, can you tell me the truth? I’ll accept being a stand-in,” Xin Ning’s voice hinted at a sob. “It’s been three years over a thousand days. Every day I told myself I couldn’t, that I just had to endure a little longer and it would pass, but… do you have any idea? My endurance isn’t nearly as good as I imagined.”

What does she mean?

Before the question could leave her mouth, the call was disconnected. Ye Yichi hurriedly dialed back, but it rang for a long time with no answer.

Ye Yichi poked her rice aggressively.

“Sis, did something happen?” Su Fanxing studied Ye Yichi’s expression. “Whatever it is, don’t get so worried that you stop eating.”

It wasn’t quite that. Though she hoped the little girl she’d met once would be okay, she wasn’t anxious enough to lose her appetite over it. It was just… she had never heard Xin Ning cry.

After finishing her meal in silence, Ye Yichi sent a WeChat to Lin Weilan:

What’s going on with Xin Ning?

Lin Weilan sent back a photo.

Xin Ning was sitting outside the resuscitation room, head bowed. Her dark gray shadow fell perfectly across the cold silver metal bench, as if an invisible wall had enclosed her and her shadow together silent, lonely, and desolate. The cries and clamor of the surroundings didn’t seem to touch her.

I suspect Xiao Ning is thinking about her mother. Do you know about what happened to her mother?

It was something the book had glossed over, Ye Yichi only knew that her “cheap” aunt was responsible.

Lin Weilan soon sent a long paragraph of text:

I don’t know the specifics either. I didn’t know Xiao Ning back when her aunt [mother] had the accident. But I’ve heard several doctors mention that Xiao Ning was the one who found her. She had just finished her college entrance exams. She waited outside the resuscitation room covered in blood. Unfortunately, her mother didn’t make it.

Ye Yichi looked down, reading the message several times. Her brow furrowed bit by bit.

The events glossed over in the book began to form a blurry outline. Her father had passed away, and her mother had done her best to keep the Xin Corporation afloat until Xin Ning reached adulthood. Just when it seemed everything was finally getting better…

Back then, Xin Ning had been all alone.

Lin Weilan’s third message arrived:

Do you have time tomorrow? Can you come accompany Xiao Ning? The Director and I need to go back and pack Guo Guo’s things for the hospital stay. As the sponsor, Xiao Ning has to stay to sign papers, but she’s not doing well being at the hospital alone, and she refuses to call her assistant.

Ye Yichi thought for a moment and replied with a single word: “Okay.”

The next day, Ye Yichi took the earliest bus into the city.

At the hospital, Guo Guo had been moved to the ICU. Xin Ning was sitting on a bench outside the unit, her posture much the same as in the photo. Her complexion was slightly duller, and there were faint dark circles under her eyes.

“Hey, how is she?” Ye Yichi sat down next to Xin Ning.

Xin Ning looked up abruptly, her dull eyes reflecting Ye Yichi’s figure. “Why are you at the hospital?”

“Lin Weilan didn’t tell you?” Ye Yichi looked around for Lin Weilan and spotted her and the Director talking to a doctor. “They’re going back to pack things for Guo Guo in a bit. I was worried about her, so I came to see, and to keep you company for a while.”

Xin Ning nodded. “Thank you.”

Her voice was husky beneath its coldness, making Ye Yichi’s ears ache just listening to it. “Did you eat breakfast? Why don’t I go down and buy you something while they’re still here?”

“Don’t go.” Xin Ning grabbed Ye Yichi’s wrist.

The coldness pierced her skin, accompanied by a slight tremor. Ye Yichi looked at Xin Ning and didn’t move.

“That question from yesterday… can you give me an honest answer?” After clutching Ye Yichi’s wrist for a moment, Xin Ning spoke in a low voice.

“You’re a very good actor. Everyone in the Ye family is a great actor. I’ve always known that. Your aunt acted for so many years, performed so well that there wasn’t a single flaw… What about you? Are you acting too? Or did you only treat me well because you truly saw me as Xiaoxiao’s stand-in?”

“I’d rather be a stand-in than find out it was all an act. Pretty pathetic, right?” Xin Ning’s lips curved slightly, her eyes brimming with rolling waves of tears. “I didn’t want it to be like this, but I couldn’t help it. For three years, even though I knew better, I couldn’t stop myself… Ye Yichi, even if it’s a death sentence, just give it to me straight.”

“You…” Ye Yichi looked at Xin Ning silently for a while. “Why do you think I’m acting?”