Volume One, Chapter 13: How Did You End Up Limping?

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“I just happened to run into Zetaotao by chance. Besides, even if we had planned it beforehand, so what? You two are getting divorced anyway, and you still want to tie Zetaotao down for life?” Jin Sitian stood with hands on her hips, eyes wide with disdain and challenge, her tone sharp as she snapped back.

It had been a long time since she encountered such a scheming woman.

Suwan Yue's lips curled into a faint, mocking smile, her eyes laced with contempt. “What’s the matter? Always calling him Zetaotao—so you want to be both the temptress and the paragon of virtue?”

Lu Zetaotao’s gaze darkened slightly, a flicker of displeasure crossing his eyes. As expected, this woman couldn’t say anything good.

He frowned, inwardly annoyed at being dragged into such a pointless quarrel again.

“Do whatever you want, just don’t interfere with my business. Move aside!” Suwan Yue waved her hand impatiently, her face filled with irritation.

“Who’s the temptress here? It’s you! If you hadn’t clung to Zetaotao so shamelessly, with your little schemes, he wouldn’t have married you!” Jin Sitian’s face flushed red with anger, eyes blazing. As she spoke, she lifted her foot and deliberately crushed Suwan Yue’s glutinous rice dumpling.

This action thoroughly enraged Suwan Yue.

Her expression instantly darkened. She sprang up and grabbed Jin Sitian’s collar fiercely, her eyes wide with fury. “Compensate me!”

Jin Sitian was momentarily stunned, not fully realizing what she had done. She instinctively looked down at the crushed mess underfoot, her face freezing as panic flickered in her eyes. Stammering, she said, “I... I didn’t do it on purpose...”

“I don’t care whether it was on purpose or not. Pay up now!” Suwan Yue trembled with anger, shouting loudly.

She was just trying to earn a little money, but her capital hadn’t even returned yet, and this white lotus had ruined it.

Seeing Jin Sitian standing there, face red with embarrassment and awkwardly at a loss, Lu Zetaotao felt a pang of sympathy and quickly stepped forward to mediate.

He furrowed his brows, looking at Suwan Yue with a pleading tone, “Suwan Yue, let’s talk this through calmly. So many people are watching—let her go first.”

Ha! The heartless man!

Suwan Yue’s anger surged again. She glared at Lu Zetaotao with hatred and dissatisfaction. “Are you going to help her pay for this?”

With the situation already this tense and his first love present, Lu Zetaotao pressed his lips together and sighed helplessly, pulling out his wallet. “How much?”

Hearing this, Suwan Yue released Jin Sitian and counted the money. “Four yuan and twenty cents.”

Without a word, Lu Zetaotao took out five yuan and handed it to Suwan Yue.

She took the money without a word.

Jin Sitian’s face twisted into an expression as if wanting to scold her for shamelessly begging, her lips trembling slightly as she struggled to restrain her emotions. But bound by decorum, the words never came out.

Quickly regaining her composure, she coquettishly thanked Lu Zetaotao and put on a fake apology to Suwan Yue.

“I still have things to do at the hospital. I’m leaving first.” Saying that, she tried to link her arm with Lu Zetaotao’s, but he shrugged her off.

“Zetaotao, wait for me!”

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After they left, Suwan Yue took a deep breath, suppressing the rage within her, and resolutely sold all the remaining glutinous rice dumplings.

Counting the money, it was exactly ten yuan.

At this rate and speed, earning twenty yuan a day wouldn’t be a problem.

Thinking this, a satisfied smile appeared on Suwan Yue’s face as she packed up and happily headed home, planning to make another hundred dumplings to sell at a different elementary school in the afternoon.

On the way home, needing to relieve herself, she stopped by the village public restroom. Before entering, she overheard a group of women whispering.

“Hey, have you heard? Doctor Lu accidentally fell down the hillside during his rounds and hurt his leg!” one woman said with surprise.

“Ah? It’s nothing serious, right? Doctor Lu is like a living saint in our village,” another voice replied, full of concern.

“Seems like it’s a fracture. Jin Sitian just helped him back home.”

“Back home? Inside the house?”

At this point, another woman cut in with a hint of innuendo, “You can tell they’ve rekindled their old flame. A man and a woman alone in a room—how could there not be sparks?”

“Tsk tsk, they’re quite a match. It’s only natural for them to be together. Not like Suwan Yue, just a pretty face, nowhere near Jin Sitian.”

“Exactly, I bet it won’t be long before we’re celebrating their wedding.”

“Enough, stop gossiping.”

Suwan Yue recognized the last voice—it was Wang Hui.

Originally, Suwan Yue didn’t care. After all, the marriage was ending. He would have his sunny path, she hers—each going their separate ways.

Whether it was Jin Sitian, Li Wantian, or Wang Mengtian, they could be as cozy as they liked.

“Ah...” Suwan Yue sighed softly, a dull ache in her heart.

Perhaps it was the original owner's emotions stirring, but she just couldn’t stand how easily other women were stealing Lu Zetaotao away.

Biting her lip, she silently resolved to vent some anger on the original owner’s behalf.

So, after finishing her business, she headed straight to Lu Zetaotao’s house.

Arriving at the door, she purposely peered inside and saw the door wide open.

She frowned slightly, thinking that at least this man knew to avoid suspicion.

Feeling a little relieved, she stepped inside.

At that moment, Lu Zetaotao was sitting in a chair, brow furrowed and face contorted in pain. Jin Sitian was crouched on the floor, holding a medicine bottle and seemingly talking to him.

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It looked like they were having some kind of argument.

“Oh? What’s going on here?” Suwan Yue cleared her throat and deliberately raised her voice.

Hearing the sound, Jin Sitian jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Upon seeing Suwan Yue, her eyes darkened instantly, flashing disdain and caution. “Zetaotao is hurt; I was just about to apply his medicine. What are you doing here?”

Suwan Yue glanced at the medicine bottle in Jin Sitian’s hand, her lips curling slightly in disdain. Ignoring her, she said coldly, “Men and women should keep their distance. You’re a grown woman; better put the medicine on the table to avoid gossip.”

Hearing this, Jin Sitian cursed inwardly, “Mind your own business!”

But Lu Zetaotao lived in employee housing where neighbors could hear everything.

If Suwan Yue started shouting loudly, she’d draw everyone’s attention and become a laughingstock.

Her expression shifted slightly, her lips moved, but in the end, she restrained herself and placed the bottle on the table.

“What do you want?” Lu Zetaotao, who had been silent, finally asked Suwan Yue.

Suwan Yue could find no excuse. She pursed her lips, a flicker of nervousness in her eyes. “I need to talk to you privately.”

Lu Zetaotao seemed reluctant to send Jin Sitian away but feared Suwan Yue might make a scene and embarrass her. He hesitated a moment, then looked at Jin Sitian. “Thanks for today. I’ll treat you to a meal sometime.”

Jin Sitian was smart enough to take the hint.

She nodded slightly, smiling faintly. “Alright. I have other things to do. I’ll leave now. Contact you later.”

Before leaving, she gave Suwan Yue a sharp glare filled with warning.

Before Lu Zetaotao could say anything, Suwan Yue inexplicably picked up the medicine bottle and crouched down to examine his sprained ankle.

Frowning, she muttered to herself, “Rumors can’t be trusted.”

It was just a simple sprain, yet they had spread it as a fracture.

Lu Zetaotao instinctively pulled his leg back, his eyes showing resistance. “You don’t need to apply the medicine.”