Chapter 1

"Still mad, my little queen?"

"If I don’t come to you, you won’t come to me. You’re really stubborn, aren’t you?"

"You're just taking advantage of my affection for you!"

Yuan Lingling sat by the stove, carefully peeling the ash-covered sweet potato, ensuring the soft, fragrant flesh stayed clean, ignoring the man chattering beside her.

As she peeled off a piece, she noticed a large hand reaching out from the corner of her eye. Yuan Lingling leaned to the side, barely avoiding the touch.

"You!" The man seemed to reconsider, his anger flaring but then quickly suppressed. "I was wrong to lose my temper last time..."

He kept talking, but Yuan Lingling ignored him. She leaned in to smell it, and as she took a bite, the soft, sweet flavour made her squint in satisfaction.

At last, she got to taste it!

After eating half the sweet potato, the burning in her stomach eased, and she finally had the mood to glance at the man still chattering beside her.

The man had peach blossom eyes, a slightly hooked nose, and wore the popular side-parted hairstyle from Hong Kong and Taiwan. He was somewhat handsome, but his thin lips reminded Yuan Lingling of the heartless, fickle men described in books.

Seeing her glance, the man’s peach blossom eyes curved, and he hunched slightly, flattering, "I’m just anxious. Look, Gou Dan and the others went to Yangcheng and became bosses overnight, but I’m still stuck. Don’t you think I’d have some thoughts about that?"

Yuan Lingling kept nibbling the sweet potato, lowering her head in silence.

Thoughts? What could someone like Xie Guanglian possibly be thinking? Yuan Lingling thought he’d rather be a useless man who just waits for food and clothes to be handed to him.

She stayed silent, and Xie Guanglian couldn’t tell if she was still angry or just unwilling to give him money.

It wasn’t like this before. Xie Guanglian felt a hint of impatience but still scooted his stool closer to Yuan Lingling.

"Lingling, come with me to Yangcheng," he said, his tone condescending, as if he were doing her a favor.

Xie Guanglian raised his eyebrows slightly, looking at her with disdain, the smugness at the corners of his mouth unmistakable, as if certain Yuan Lingling would be grateful.

"Shen Caisheng’s coming back today. Let me think about it," Yuan Lingling finally said, just before Xie Guanglian lost his patience.

At this, Xie Guanglian’s eager expression froze.

He tugged at his lips, stood up, and wrapped his coat around him. "Why didn’t you say so earlier? It wouldn’t be good if he saw me. I’ll leave now. Come find me when he’s not around." Panic was evident, but he still tried to sway Yuan Lingling, "I really want to work hard with you!"

As he spoke, he was already at the kitchen door, looking like he wished he had a motor on his legs.

"Tsk! Coward." With her ears finally clear, Yuan Lingling dug out another roasted sweet potato from the fire.

The sweet potato’s aroma lingered. As she took a bite, she sighed.

Where else would you find such authentic roasted sweet potatoes in the future?

After eating her fill, Yuan Lingling wiped her hands and touched her round belly, her hand sliding down unconsciously. Only then did she seriously consider the mess in her life.

If nothing unexpected happened, she already had two little ones in her belly, and their father was still who knows where, fooling around.

It was also because the original owner was too naive, thinking that by climbing into Shen Caisheng’s bed, she could get a good man who would focus on the family without parents to control him. After the fantasy was shattered, she threw herself into Xie Guanglian’s pit of fire.

She thought Xie Guanglian truly loved her, even willing to turn against his good friend for her.

Little did she know that the relationship between the two had already faded, and Xie Guanglian came to her for her money, or more accurately, for the Shen family’s money.

Yuan Lingling had a strained relationship with Shen Caisheng, but he never shortchanged her financially.

However, this couldn’t be entirely blamed on her. She had been raised with the belief that she should marry a good man to support her family. Yet, the suitors her family introduced were either much older men with stable government jobs or wealthy but physically impaired men.

To this day, her family still believes that marrying Shen Caisheng, who was never home, was a lucky break for her.

Unfortunately, this girl was too prideful and didn’t want to tell others outside that her relationship with Shen Caisheng was bad. In reality, except for that one attempt to seduce him, Shen Caisheng had never touched her.

Yuan Lingling furiously rubbed her face. Now, those things were not the main point; the main point was the mess she was in now!

In the original book, she became entangled with Xie Guanglian. Worried about what people would say, she initially didn’t agree to go to Yangcheng with him, which infuriated Xie Guanglian.

It was during this anger that she almost gave herself to Xie Guanglian. They were messing around when they discovered that she was pregnant, and that’s when they stopped.

With the child, both came to their senses. He didn’t want to raise another man’s child, and she hoped her child could have a healthy family. She also hoped that Shen Caisheng would change his mind for the sake of the child.

Unfortunately, things didn’t work out. Even with the child, the two of them still had no feelings for each other and quarrelled every day.

As it happened, Xie Guanglian wanted to go to Yangcheng to make a living but lacked the capital, so he came to find her again.

Xie Guanglian’s sudden reappearance became her spiritual salvation.

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