Chen Jiao was so restless that even his eyelids twitched incessantly for the entire drive. He didn’t even answer the call from Ling Shuang when it came through.
When the car pulled up outside an old alley in the suburbs, he pulled on a mask, framed glasses and tugged up the hood of his jacket. Then he got out of the car and walked briskly to an ordinary looking noodle shop.
When he entered, he saw Yu Xinjie sitting in the corner. Compared to the last time he had seen her, her energy and spirit seemed very down. When he had first met her, he hadn’t thought her beautiful, but she had at least worn delicate makeup. She’d had the vigor of a young girl and had been wearing expertly paired fashion brands. But today, even her heavy makeup couldn’t cover the dark circles under her eyes and her acne prone, greasy skin. She was also wearing an ill-fitting, unflattering long black mink coat. The dark color made her skin appear even more dull than it already was.
“These are my mom’s clothes. They look big on me,” Yu Xinjie said with a grin, as if she noticed the surprise in his eyes.
Chen Jiao was taken aback.He had blacklisted Yu Xinjie in his contact as soon as he had heard the news about the mother and daughter duo blood-sucking Shen Yichong. He had only met with her today because of the incident. He never could have expected that she would have fallen into a total pit of despair.
“Don’t look at me with that pitiful gaze. What do you want?” Yu Xinjie’s voice was a little cold, and her eyes seemed dead.
Chen Jiao did not have much time, let alone the time to help her. The waiter brought him a glass of water. After thanking him, he spoke, “Back then, about your sister…”
Before he could finish speaking, he heard a sarcastically dry laugh from the other side of the table. The laughter was so course that it almost numbed his scalp.
He raised his head and saw Yu Xinjie’s distorted, ugly smile.
“Did you finally find out? Brother… Jiao,” her tone was sarcastic and bitter. Even the way she had said “brother” was creepy.
Chen Jiao’s heart froze, and his hands clenched into fists. What could she mean? His expression under the mask became dark, but he took a deep breath to calm himself. Even though his heart had hammered out its frozen state, he forced himself to stay composed by controlling his breathing. He was an actor after all. It only took him a moment or two to adjust his attitude.He looked coldly up at Yu Xinjie and said, “Why… Why did you do that?” His back was already wet with sweat by this stage.
He didn’t know what she was hiding, but his intuition told him it was something bad.
As expected, Yu Xinjie lifted her lifeless face, and laughed hoarsely. As she laughed, her whole body trembled, and two lines of tears streaked down her cheeks. “Why?” she suddenly said with a trace of sarcasm on her face, “Chen Jiao, are you a fool? Why did I do what I did? Didn’t you watch the news? When I was born to my mistress mother, I was an illegitimate daughter. Of course I wanted to take everything from Yu Yaoyao!” Yu Xinjie sneered as she spoke. Her words were enough to send him to hell. “When she came home that day, she was smiling so happily, saying that she had met a genuinely nice, gentle big brother. That beautiful smile made me jealous… I was so jealous that I wanted to destroy it.”
Chen Jiao’s eyes pricked with tears. “Yu Xinjie, are you sick?” he asked softly.
“Yeah, I’m sick. You figured it out. Look at me laughing… I am even crying from laughter,” Yu Xinjie wiped her tears away with a tissue. Her expression suddenly changed, “But what can you do? You’ve only found this out now? Brother Jiao, you found out too late! I told all of this to my best friend back then,” Yu Xinjie said his name aggressively, with a nasty sneer. “I told her I was jealous and angry, and I felt that God was unfair. My friend said that I was a fool. Why didn’t I just take it all if I wanted it? What’s the use of complaining about God and others! Oh, and by the way, I think you’ll recognize my friend’s name.”
Chen Jiao’s fists clenched tightly again. His chest ached from the way his heart was racing, and he felt as though he couldn’t breathe. “Ling Shuang?” he said in disbelief.
“You’re right!” Yu Xinjie cackled with a dismal smile.
Chen Jiao’s eyes suddenly darkened.
“Back then, Ling Shuang advised me to pretend to be my sister. But I was young, and my puberty was late. I also looked more like my mother. I was not as beautiful as Yu Yaoyao. I was thinking about telling the truth, but Ling Shuang volunteered to take advantage of Yu Yaoyao going to the boarding school to deceive you.”
Chen Jiao’s breath suddenly became heavy, “What did she benefit from that? Is she crazy too?” For a moment his chest pulled so tight he felt as though he could vomit blood.
He had been taking care of an impersonator in every way possible so many years…
“I gave her dozens of dollars as pocket money,” Yu Xinjie grinned mockingly, “Who knows? I only wanted to ruin Yu Yaoyao at that time, and Ling Shuang was very willing to cooperate with me. So, I agreed.”
Chen Jiao’s sweat soaked back straightened as though he had been hit with a bat between his shoulders.
Yu Xinjie raised her face, but her expression was distorted by some terrible emotion. She had completely ruined herself. But if there was retribution for doing evil, how could she be the only one to rot in hell?
