Yan Shuli had returned home this time intending to stay for a while.  

The school summer break had begun, and unlike previous years when he would go out with friends, he chose to remain at home—a decision even Liu Ye found unusual.  

As for the annulment of the engagement, only Xu Xiaoyue, Liu Ye, and Yan Jianguo were aware of it so far.  

According to Liu Ye, the matter could not be made public for the time being, so even Yan Shuli himself still believed everything remained unchanged.  

On the surface, she and Yan Shuli maintained the relationship of fiancée and fiancé.  

Except that her fiancé now had his heart and eyes entirely fixed on Zheng Jiaojiao.  

Just as Zheng Jiaojiao was about to badmouth Xu Xiaoyue to Yan Shuli, the sound of hurried footsteps echoed from the staircase.  

Looking up, she saw Xu Xiaoyue descending.  

Her eyes flickered, and she deliberately shrank into Yan Shuli’s arms.  

With the warmth and softness of a woman pressing against him, Yan Shuli instinctively raised his hand but stopped mid-air, restraining himself.  

He glanced up at Xu Xiaoyue coming downstairs, frowned slightly, but said nothing.  

Right before her eyes, the two were locked in an embrace, yet Xu Xiaoyue acted as if she saw nothing and walked straight past them to the kitchen for a drink of water.  

Meanwhile, Yan Shuli lowered his gaze to Zheng Jiaojiao in his arms. A sense of unease gnawed at him, though he couldn’t quite articulate why.  

Zheng Jiaojiao stole a glance at Xu Xiaoyue. The scene before her was nothing like what she had anticipated.  

Given Xu Xiaoyue’s impulsive nature, she should have rushed forward to separate them upon seeing her fiancé so intimate with another woman, then erupted into a furious tirade.  

Yet, strangely, Xu Xiaoyue remained eerily calm, as if she hadn’t noticed them at all.  

From the kitchen, Xu Xiaoyue peered through the door crack, her vision slightly blurred as she observed the pair outside. Zheng Jiaojiao’s intentions were all too transparent—her deliberate actions were meant to provoke her.  

A faint smile curled at the corner of Xu Xiaoyue’s lips. She already had a plan in mind.  

She turned on the light, then took out a cup from the cabinet. Deliberately letting her grip slip, she watched as the cup fell from mid-air.  

**Crash!** The sound of shattering glass rang out.  

Hearing the commotion in the kitchen, Auntie Wang hurried out of her room. Within a few steps, her gaze landed on the two entwined figures on the sofa.  

Staring more closely at the woman in Yan Shuli’s arms, she was so shocked she could barely speak.  

“Oh my—Jiaojiao… you and Shuli, you two…!”  

Auntie Wang covered her eyes with one hand while exclaiming loudly.  

Zheng Jiaojiao’s eyelids twitched. She *was* flirting with Yan Shuli, but she wasn’t foolish enough to expose their clandestine affair to the entire Yan family—especially while Xu Xiaoyue and Yan Shuli were still officially engaged.  

Flustered, she tried to scramble off Yan Shuli, only to slip and fall to the ground, twisting her ankle in the process.  

Late that night, Yan Shuli took Zheng Jiaojiao to the hospital.  

The ruckus had drawn Liu Ye out as well, who had already learned the whole story from Auntie Wang.  

Liu Ye’s brows were tightly knit, her chest heaving with barely suppressed anger.  

It wasn’t that she couldn’t accept Yan Shuli being with Zheng Jiaojiao—it was the fact that the two had carried on ambiguously despite knowing full well about the existing engagement.  

Thankfully, it was only Auntie Wang who had witnessed it. Had the neighbors in the compound caught wind of it, the Yan family’s reputation would have been even harder to salvage.  

The more Liu Ye thought about it, the angrier she became, her frown deepening as if she could crush a fly between her brows.  

The child she had raised with her own hands had gone behind her back to do something like this.  

At the hospital, Zheng Jiaojiao’s face alternated between shades of pale and green, her mind consumed by a single thought: her little scheme had been exposed.  

She didn’t dare imagine what Auntie Liu, standing outside in the hallway, must think of her and Yan Shuli’s relationship. All she knew was that, at this moment, she had to avoid any further suspicion.  

Watching the man crouched before her carefully applying medicine to her ankle, Zheng Jiaojiao withdrew her foot, her voice tinged with urgency.  

“You should go check on Aunt Liu first. I’ll be fine.”  

“The doctor said you sprained your ankle and need this ointment to heal. As for my mother, I’ll explain everything to her later,” Yan Shuli replied without looking up, his hands moving with gentle precision as he applied the medicine.  

Outside in the hallway, Liu Ye glanced at Xu Xiaoyue’s expression. The young woman’s face was calm, as if nothing had happened.  

“Xiaoyue, it’s so late. Why don’t you head back first? You have work tomorrow,” Liu Ye said, her voice laced with guilt.  

At this moment, she didn’t know whether to be relieved that Xu Xiaoyue seemed completely indifferent to Yan Shuli or to admit that the girl simply hadn’t taken a liking to him in the first place.  

Xu Xiaoyue shook her head. Sensing the apology in Liu Ye’s eyes, she considered Zhang Qianqian’s words.  

Moving out was, without a doubt, the best option for her.  

Clearly, now—while Liu Ye was feeling remorseful—was the perfect opportunity to bring it up.  

“Aunt Liu, it seems Comrade Yan and Jiaojiao are in a relationship. Perhaps it would be best if I moved out of the Yan household.”  

“Otherwise, seeing each other every day under the same roof would just be… awkward.”  

“What? No, absolutely not!” Liu Ye refused without hesitation.  

“You’re a young woman who’s left her hometown to come all this way. If I let you rent a place on your own, what kind of person would that make me? What would that say about the Yan family?”  

Liu Ye rubbed her temples, feeling a headache coming on. She scrambled to reassure Xu Xiaoyue.  

Her gaze drifted to the pair inside the room, and she sighed, recalling Auntie Wang’s account of what had happened. What a mess.  

Xu Xiaoyue was about to press further when she noticed Liu Ye’s displeased expression and swallowed her words.  

*Take it slow. This incident might be for the best—now Yan Shuli won’t have to worry about me trying to seduce him. Those two can stay tangled up together.*  

With Zheng Jiaojiao’s sprained ankle, she had no choice but to put work on hold.  

At the state-run supermarket, Gao Yuan’s scrutinizing gaze repeatedly flicked toward Xu Xiaoyue, who was quietly organizing the counter beside her.  

Tilting her chin up, Gao Yuan spoke in a mocking tone, “Hey, where’s that Zheng Jiaojiao who came with you? Why isn’t she here today?”  

Xu Xiaoyue frowned slightly and looked up at the haughty woman. “I have a name.”  

“Oh, of course I know you have a name,” Gao Yuan sneered, shrugging dismissively.  

“But I just don’t feel like using it. I’m doing this to annoy you—what are you gonna do about it? I’m asking you, where’s Zheng Jiaojiao?”  

Xu Xiaoyue ignored her and turned away, focusing on her work.  

“Hey! I’m talking to you! Are you deaf?”  

Seeing that Xu Xiaoyue completely disregarded her, Gao Yuan felt her anger surge uncontrollably.  

She raised her voice, her shrill tone echoing through the supermarket and drawing curious glances from other staff members.  

Yet no one stepped in to intervene—they all wore expressions of amused anticipation.  

Gao Yuan felt completely ignored, and the dissatisfaction in her heart grew stronger.

Fuming, she took a few angry steps forward and blocked Xu Xiaoyue’s path.

“If you don’t answer my question today, don’t even think about leaving.”

“Move,” Xu Xiaoyue said, frowning.

Gao Yuan crossed her arms over her chest and said arrogantly,

“You want to get past me? Sure—crawl under my legs.”

After speaking, she looked at Xu Xiaoyue smugly, clearly waiting to see her humiliated.