Chapter 22: A Bloody Mess

"Xuehua, Xuehua," the young man chased after her, even trying to grab Yang Xuehua's hand.

Xia Xiao stepped in front of Yang Xuehua and glared, "What are you doing? If you want to talk, then talk. Why are you trying to grab her hand? We can sue you for harassment."

The young man, polite and refined, addressed Xia Xiao: "Comrade, Yang Xuehua and I are classmates, please..."

Yang Xuehua cut off the young man, "Luo Mingzhe, what are you trying to say?"

"This..." The young man looked towards Xia Xiao, obviously hoping she would leave, but Yang Xuehua was holding on to Xia Xiao tightly, and she could even feel Yang Xuehua's agitated emotions.

Suddenly, another delicate voice sounded, "Brother Mingzhe, why didn't you wait for me?"

Xia Xiao saw a cute and lovely girl appear before her eyes. As soon as the girl saw Yang Xuehua, she immediately said with caution, "Yang Xuehua, what are you doing here?"

Xia Xiao immediately felt as if she was drenched in a bucket of dramatic revelation, and Shitou had an even bigger reaction, "Hey, isn't this the couple from the apartment fight this morning that resulted in a flowerpot falling on you? Although they still look young, I am absolutely certain, Xiaoxiao, they are the ones I told you about yesterday."

Xia Xiao paused, involuntarily looking at Luo Mingzhe and the beautiful girl, a handsome man and beautiful woman pairing, the man genteel and scholarly, and the woman cute yet gorgeous with a somewhat arrogant demeanor, clearly from a well-off and possibly official family.

Xia Xiao then heard Yang Xuehua huff, "I thought you'd be enjoying yourselves in the Capital, never expected to see you here too."

Once Yang Xuehua finished speaking, Luo Mingzhe appeared somewhat unnatural.

"Why are you here?" the girl repeated with dissatisfaction, once again glared at Luo Mingzhe.

Yang Xuehua smiled faintly, "Where I am is none of your business, and please keep your distance from me. He and I have already dissolved our marriage. If you are so worried about him, you should keep an eye on him."

"I am already betrothed to Brother Mingzhe, and he would never bother with you," the girl said, eyeing Yang Xuehua triumphantly, posing haughtily like a victorious rooster.

Yang Xuehua tightened her grip on Xia Xiao's hand and pulled at the corner of her mouth, "Then congratulations to you both, I wish you a long and lasting relationship."

"Aren't you going to wish us happiness?" the girl pressed.

Yang Xuehua raised an eyebrow, "Oh, if I don't wish you happiness, does that mean you can't be happy?"

"Of course not, but perhaps you still have feelings for Brother Mingzhe, otherwise, why wouldn't you wish us happiness?" the girl's words were quite presumptuous.

Xia Xiao gritted her teeth inwardly. Even mistresses are this brazen, she couldn't stand it as a bystander, but Yang Xuehua had already started to speak.

"So, you steal someone else's fiancé, and then you want the former fiancée's blessing to feel justified?"

Yang Xuehua's face remained calm, even Xia Xiao couldn't help but admire her. Xia Xiao had browsed forums, read novels, and followed the news before; she knew there were plenty of outrageous people out there.

Especially in the shameless cases of unscrupulous men and mistresses, and what was unfolding right before her eyes was yet another typical scenario.

"You..." the girl glared at Yang Xuehua, face filled with anger, her chest heaving with indignation.

Luo Mingzhe had been watching Yang Xuehua all along, his eyes filled with regret, "Xuehua, don't bother with Xiao Yue, she's still young and doesn't understand."

Okay, Xia Xiao concluded that this Xiao Yue had a pretty good figure, indeed a rare beauty.

Yang Xuehua said, "He is indeed one year younger than me, so I'll be the bigger person and let this slide. From now on, pretend you don't know me when you see me; I wouldn't want to acknowledge townsfolk and classmates like you. It's embarrassing."

After that, Yang Xuehua took Xia Xiao by the hand and walked away, their backs straight as arrows.

"Xuehua..." The man called out from behind, but didn't chase after them, and Xia Xiao could hear the woman's dissatisfied, petulant anger.

Yang Xuehua didn't turn back, and the two of them walked a good distance before stopping. Looking at Yang Xuehua like this, Xia Xiao felt that, even though Yang Xuehua wasn't as pretty as that Xiao Yue, her presence absolutely eclipsed Xiao Yue's.

"Xiaoxiao, let me tell you, those two who are always fighting, the last fight was because the man didn't come home at night and had another woman outside, which is why the fighting was even more violent. You should tell your friend to stay away from that couple," Shitou added.

Xia Xiao couldn't speak to Shitou at the moment, but she agreed with what Shitou said. However, according to Yang Xuehua, those two were from the Capital; why would they move to S City? Xia Xiao could hardly imagine the heated confrontations between the two, let alone know whether, after she died in her last life, her mother had settled the matter publicly or privately with them.

Thinking about her mother's personality, if those two had money, it would be more likely to have been settled privately.

At this moment, Dong Meihua and the others approached. Dong Meihua asked with concern, "Who did you just run into?"

Yang Xuehua remained silent, while Xia Xiao shook her head and said, "It's nothing, we just mistook them for someone else."

"The young men said they were going to Nanhua Mountain for hunting," Wang Aihua said.

Xia Xiao's eyes lit up, and she eagerly said, "There are wild fruits on the mountain, right?"

Dong Meihua nodded, "Yes, we're planning to pick some wild fruits. Are you coming with us?"

"Will it be dangerous?" Yang Xuehua asked.

"Not at all, the young men are with us, and besides, we're only going to pick wild fruits, we won't venture deep into the mountains," Dong Meihua replied.

Xia Xiao only thought to herself that if something really happened, those young men would only be concerned with saving their own lives.

"Sister Aihua, where are Sister Yuhua and Sister Feng Ying?" Xia Xiao didn't see Sun Yuhua and Feng Ying, so she asked.

"Oh, they didn't want to go up the mountain and have already gone back," Wang Aihua said, then added, "Are you coming? If so, let's go together."

Before Xia Xiao could respond, Shitou already exclaimed, "Great idea! Xiaoxiao, you should go, you might find something good in the mountains."

"Alright." Xia Xiao asked Yang Xuehua, "Sister Xuehua, are you going?"

Yang Xuehua nodded, "Let's go and have a look."

The city was quite boring now, desolate and quiet, with fewer people selling things on the streets, and wandering around didn't seem appealing.

So the two of them followed Wang Aihua and Dong Meihua, gradually falling to the back of the group.

"Sister Xuehua, don't be upset by that jerk and that nasty girl; they're not worth it," Xia Xiao said to Yang Xuehua, who seemed glum, trying to console her, knowing that Yang Xuehua wasn't as strong inside as she had appeared to be.

Yang Xuehua chuckled, "You have a way with words." Indeed, what else could describe them but a jerk and a nasty girl.

Even though she already had no fondness for Luo Mingzhe, Yang Xuehua still cared somewhat, and she confided in Xia Xiao, "He and I were childhood sweethearts. His father worked in the education sector, and his mother was a university professor. His mom and my mom were close friends, and our families were quite close. We got engaged when I was sixteen, but it wasn't made public, and nobody at school knew. After high school graduation, we were both supposed to go to the countryside; we even arranged to go to the same production team. He has two older sisters, one who's working and one in college; he had to go to the countryside, but his family didn't want him to and tried to find a way out."