Chapter 10

Back then, Yang Bufan brought Jiang Qishen to meet her and Feizai. Feizai wasn’t feeling well that day, so only she went.
Didn’t expect the first meeting—Jiang Qishen had a sour face the whole time. After eating, he walked ahead. Yang Bufan jogged after him, sweating, kept looking back at her, explaining.
Cui Tingxi rolled her eyes at Jiang Qishen’s back the whole way.
People always rejected warmth, chased coldness. Especially in relationships.
If you knelt and licked, accommodated everything, you’d never get his respect. He might think you had no backbone. If you were slightly disrespectful, that was treason.
On the other hand, if you usually ordered him around, he might think you had personality. Occasionally be nice, he’d think you were friendly, easy to get along with.
People were just that cheap.
Cui Tingxi grabbed Yang Bufan, said don’t chase him, let him go.
Yang Bufan explained he wasn’t usually like this. They went back and forth a lot. Cui Tingxi couldn’t persuade her, got angry too. Asked: Why are you dating someone like this? Are you uncomfortable not being a simp?
Usually joking was fine. But that day she was serious. Yang Bufan clearly knew.
The setting sun hit Yang Bufan’s face. Her expression went from awkward smile to embarrassment to slightly hurt. Every detail caught by Cui Tingxi.
Cui Tingxi softened a little. Said: Where’s your self‑respect? Do you have to chase like this? That dead face—I couldn’t stand it from the start. Find someone better. There are as many toads as men in the world.
Yang Bufan came over to pull her. Said today was special, he wasn’t usually like this.
Here we go again.
Cui Tingxi shook off her hand. They were a family. She was the outsider. No point saying more. Turned and walked the other way.
“Fine. Then date him and don’t bother me. I don’t want to waste time on this bullshit. Thanks.”
She remembered Yang Bufan talking about Jiang Qishen’s good points. Couldn’t help a cold laugh. Women were good at making gods to drown themselves.
She thought her expression must’ve been ugly. That’s why Yang Bufan cried looking at her.
She couldn’t learn Yang Bufan’s forgiveness and mercy. She was high‑self‑esteem, sanguine. Hated evil, spoke directly.
She was afraid she couldn’t manage the urge to correct, fix Yang Bufan. That emotion would keep making them torture each other.
So she chose to cut ties without looking back. Avoided fighting because of completely different positions and values.
After that, she didn’t try to fix things.
But one day saw a post: sisters cut ties over fighting for a man…
So cliché. She scornfully scrolled past.
But a string in her brain moved. Connected two things. She suddenly realized: hadn’t she also cut ties with a sister over a man?
Jiang Qishen, that asshole, hurt two women in one day.
Later, she realized: what she thought was clarity was actually leaving her best friend alone in that awkward situation. Her friend’s original wish was so simple—just hoped the person she loved and her best friend could accept each other, coexist peacefully, with her as the axis.
Just one day.
What was the difference between her and Jiang Qishen?
They were both people with egos too big to accommodate others.
What abandoned Yang Bufan wasn’t Cui Tingxi’s supposed correctness. It was just her arrogance, wanting to force her values, failing, then retaliating in shame and anger.
In Yang Bufan’s eyes, the answer was just: the man she liked looked down on her. Her friend did too. She didn’t go find Cui Tingxi because she knew everything she said was right.
Now things were different. Yang Bufan had broken up. Cui Tingxi had learned to rein in her sharpness. The three of them had circled back here.
After eating, Mom and Dad went upstairs to nap. The young people cleaned up and did dishes.
The three exchanged a look. Just one look. They all knew: the misery competition had begun.
Loser does dishes.
Yang Bufan rolled up her sleeves, dipped a chopstick in water, started drawing. “I’m unemployed. All accounts together, 100,000. Mortgage 6,192 a month. No more housing fund, have to pay it all myself. Plus phone, insurance, utilities. Set aside a bit for medical, milk tea, groceries. 1,500 a month, not high, right? In this situation, spending over 90,000 a year, I can last a year max.”
Her eyebrows rose. “And now, I need to build a barn. 80,000. You know, my parents just built a vegetable greenhouse for herbs this year, cost tens of thousands. Still have to manage sheep expenses, living costs, this and that. So this 80,000 is on me.”
Yang Bufan set a stop‑loss point. If sheep farming didn’t make money in six months, she’d look for work.
Before, work paid well, but she’d put all savings into the house. Luckily got a bonus. Together that made 100,000. Otherwise she’d be poorer.
The other two listened. Expressions went from eager to serious, grave. Because it really didn’t sound comfortable.
Cui Tingxi rolled her pants to her knees. Said: “Traditional Chinese medicine apprenticeship is long. After graduation, I shadowed at a clinic in Guangzhou for three or four years. 5,000 a month. Finally got my license. Came back to inherit Dad’s clinic. But now, Dad doesn’t see patients. Business is terrible. The place next door gossips everywhere, stole all our customers. Now they’re eyeing our new decoction machine, powder machine. I’m scrambling. But guess what Mom said?”
“She said, ‘If you don’t get married, are you waiting for someone from heaven? Your uncle owes hundreds of thousands, still feeds me. What about you? Look at your aunt’s A‑Zhu. So successful. If you’re really capable, either make me big money, or honestly go get married. Don’t be all over the place, embarrassing, like your dad!’ Worse things too.”
Yang Bufan frowned. “What did you say?”
“I bought three boxes of condoms at A‑Bing’s shop. Told her to use them before she had me.”
Wen Junjie asked: “So how successful is Aunt’s A‑Zhu?”
A‑Zhu had married a rich man from the next village early. Lived with in‑laws after marriage. Big house. Endless pocket money. Didn’t need to work. Comfortable life.
Unfortunately, this story had a sunny B‑side.
After A‑Zhu had her third child, Cui Tingxi visited. Her milk was so abundant the baby couldn’t finish. Always pumped and put in the fridge. Nothing wrong with that. Until her mother‑in‑law said to her father‑in‑law: “Drink the milk. It’s nutritious.”
Cui Tingxi’s pupils shook. Before she could react, A‑Zhu hurriedly explained: “My mother‑in‑law likes to joke.”
But those weird in‑laws didn’t appreciate it. Communicated in dialect, ignoring others, very fast. That foul breath, like a dry latrine, kept wafting over. Made Cui Tingxi’s eyes water.
A‑Zhu gently, carefully asked her in‑laws not to scare the unmarried girl. In response, her father‑in‑law tilted his head back and drank the milk she’d just pumped.
The two girls looked at each other in that foul air. Each other’s expressions were indigestible.
Cui Tingxi was only in her early twenties then. But she’d already faced the bleak reality marriage brought women. So later, her interference with Yang Bufan came from that day’s physical fear. Fear that such reality would enter Yang Bufan’s life.
A‑Zhu clearly cared what others thought. Cui Tingxi didn’t want to gossip about her. Just said: “Married. Three kids. Found a rich husband.”
Wen Junjie pursed his lips. “Rich Chaoshan men’s rice isn’t easy to eat. That kind of success can stay with others. We’ll pass.”
Every time the three competed in misery, if Cui Tingxi brought out her divorced parents, Yaozu, those were killer moves. But she wasn’t the type to accept oppression. She’d suddenly go crazy, smear shit on everyone’s faces. No one could laugh when she was unhappy.
In school, teachers said: this kid walks 15 seconds, elbows 500 people.
Even the clinic—her dad had clearly said Yaozu would inherit. Until one day Cui Tingxi suddenly decided to study TCM. What happened after, others didn’t know. But it must’ve been gold‑level.
“Anyway, most urgent is the clinic’s business. You know how good it used to be. This place absolutely can’t go under on my watch. It’s life or death now.”
Both sighed.
Wen Junjie’s turn. He rubbed his hands on his jeans. Very grave: “I confess. I’ve never successfully cashed out on Pinduoduo once.”
The other two “tch”‑ed, then smiled knowingly.
“Also, I want to lose weight. 20 kg this year. Really hard. You get it?” He slapped his big belly hard.
Yang Bufan said: “I get it. Looks like everyone’s miserable. Actually every kind of pain is pain. Pain has no size, can’t compare. So Feizai, you do dishes.”
Looking at the table full of plates, Wen Junjie sighed: “Insecure Pinduoduo fat boy, can only smile by manually shaping expression. After I wash dishes, help me click Pinduoduo, okay? Okay, thanks.”
Five minutes later, Wen Junjie washed dishes in the kitchen. The two girls wiped the table.
“Pass me the rag.”
“Okay.”
Silence.
“That…”
“Before…”
They spoke at the same time. Laughed at the same time.
“Before, I shouldn’t have said those things.” This was Cui Tingxi’s apology.
“Actually you weren’t wrong.” This was Yang Bufan’s forgiveness.
“Before I was too obsessed with love. Wanted someone to love me unconditionally. Love ordinary me, love the me that couldn’t be helped, love the not‑pretty me. Because I hoped to be loved like that, I loved others unreservedly. Now saying this feels a bit shameful. Begging for others’ love always falls through. Pretty pathetic. People should be worthy of themselves.”
Cui Tingxi didn’t think so. Dinner was delicious. Plum wine went to her head. Plus the old knot was untied. Her restless anxiety found a place to rest. So her coldness and harshness melted in this tipsy moment. She finally admitted: hidden under reality, her envy of Yang Bufan.
“Loving others and failing doesn’t prove love is wrong. Love is never wrong. Hoping to have love isn’t shameful. Isn’t pathetic.”
Cui Tingxi didn’t envy the love. She envied Yang Bufan’s courage. Courage to do what she wanted without regard, even if it was just rushing into a boring, stupid love.
Also envied how well she could love others. And she had lots of others’ love. Even someone as selfish and cold as her often thought of her.
Looking around, the world already had enough selfish, cold people. Why turn the soft ones into them too?
If because her personality had timid, kind parts, people applied malice—that was the world being broken, not her being wrong. Yang Bufan wasn’t wrong. The wrong one was definitely someone else.
Yang Bufan didn’t say anything else. Went over and hugged her best friend. Hugged the years they’d missed between them.
Wen Junjie leaned in the kitchen doorway, watched them, smiled silently.
After that, the three were like before. No grudges. Whenever they had time, they were together.
Just then, the local news was broadcasting: the town government and Xinyun successfully signed a financial services strategic cooperation agreement. Whole‑town credit 1.5 billion yuan. Interest‑free loans 22%.
Jiang Qishen, well‑dressed under media flashbulbs, gave the camera a generous, composed smile.