Chapter 147: Playing the Green Tea Card, I Can Do That Too

"Cousin, are you truly being this ruthless?" Lin Wanwan cried out in a piercing, desolate voice. Every single word from Xiao Jingxuan mapped out a bright and beautiful future between him and Su Jingluo, while reducing her to a mere burden. Each of his words felt like a steel blade piercing straight into her heart. The dreams and reliance of her youth had shattered into dust. Lin Wanwan wanted desperately to pick up the pieces, but it was all in vain.

"If you truly refuse to return to the estate, you can find a separate courtyard to live in outside. In truth, you don't have to endure that grievance," Xiao Jingxuan said. He had previously believed that all women were delicate and entirely incapable of fending for themselves, right up until the moment Su Jingluo demonstrated her independence and her vision for her own future. Only then did Xiao Jingxuan understand that in this world, no one was truly unable to live without another, and there was nothing one could not bear—it was merely an excuse people used for their own cowardice.

"Pfft!" A mouthful of fresh blood gushed from Lin Wanwan's lips. With a dazed and vacant gaze, she stared at Xiao Jingxuan before her. She had always imagined herself drowning in freezing, pitch-black water, while Xiao Jingxuan was the light upon the shore—so warm, so dazzling. All he had to do, all he had to do was reach out a hand to pull her from that bone-chilling pool. Yet he merely stood watching coldly, bidding her to abandon her foolish delusions.

"Wanwan! Are you alright?" Xiao Jingxuan cried out in shock, never expecting that merely asking her to return home would be more than she could bear.

"Save your fake concern. Since you've chosen to give me up, spare me your hypocritical sympathy." The gentle and charming Lin Wanwan was completely gone now, every word she uttered laced with a biting, bone-deep frost. Struggling to her feet from the ground, she walked step by step toward the exit, every stride heavy with despair. How she wished, how desperately she wished that Xiao Jingxuan might feel just a tiny shred of pity for her right now, that he would ask her to stay. But behind her, there was only dead silence.

Xiao Jingxuan did not feel well either; standing rooted to the spot, his heart ached with an indescribable reluctance.

Peeking through the crack of the door, Su Jingluo had watched the entire scene unfold, and she was thoroughly startled. To witness someone cough up blood on cue—either she had been hiding blood in her mouth all along, or her grief was genuine. Su Jingluo simply could not comprehend it. My dear sister, when you pin your entire life onto someone else, the power to abandon you will forever rest in their hands. What is the point of that? Is it worth it at all?

Xiao Jingxuan looked so deeply sorrowful. Su Jingluo rolled her eyes; according to the tropes of typical novels and television dramas, this was the exact moment when the male lead's heart was at its most vulnerable and ripe for the picking. If she didn't do something now, the duck cooked and ready at her lips would fly away.

"Jingxuan, I..." Su Jingluo pushed open the door and stepped to his side, cautiously tugging at his sleeve. Looking deeply apologetic, she said with a hint of remorse, "Was I too harsh? I know that unless one has walked in another's shoes, one should never judge their struggles. But... but I care about you, and it angers me when other women covet you."

Su Jingluo was far from incapable of playing the cunning, manipulative card; it was simply a matter of whether the person was worth the effort. There were so many people in this world worthy of being cherished and loved; why lock horns in an endless feud with a scumbag? But right now, in Su Jingluo's eyes, Xiao Jingxuan was worth it.

"It's alright. Wanwan is simply too fragile. If going through this ordeal helps her become strong and independent, it might be a blessing in disguise. I only hope she finds a good match eventually," Xiao Jingxuan said, struggling to suppress his wretched mood. He had been secretly worried that Su Jingluo might hold a grudge against him because of Lin Wanwan. Hearing Su Jingluo say that she cared about him made him feel practically dizzy with joy.

"Were you terribly angered just now?" Xiao Jingxuan lowered his gaze with some concern, looking down at Su Jingluo as she stood there with lowered brows, looking utterly submissive and guilt-ridden. A man was never truly incapable of seeing through a woman's calculated sweetness; he simply found even her scolding endearing when he was smitten.