Chapter 28 Do you think I can always act good?

Song Yiyi’s delicate brows furrowed. She wasn’t the original “her,” and she had no special feelings for Gu Chengze. But being arranged and controlled by others was a feeling she deeply disliked.

In truth, Song Yiyi didn’t quite understand—Gu Chengze and the original host weren’t related by blood. If they truly liked each other, why couldn’t they be together? It wasn’t even against the law.

She didn’t speak, which only made Song Minghui more anxious. He lowered his voice and barked, “Song Yiyi, why are you being so disobedient? You’ve been good for five years, I thought—”

Song Yiyi snapped back to herself, folding her arms across her chest and smiling coldly. “Thought I could pretend to be good forever?”

Her heart began to ache faintly again. The emotions of the original host kept interfering with her own mood, and worst of all, she couldn’t get rid of them.

“You’re in such a rush for me to marry—aren’t you just afraid I’ll ruin your current life?” Song Yiyi’s eyes flickered slightly, and her words sped up. “Dad, have you ever thought about what I want? Do you know what it feels like to spend a lifetime with someone you don’t like?”

“I bet you’ve never thought about it—you just think I’m a nuisance, and you want to get rid of this problem as soon as possible so you can keep living your good life.”

“You just think I should leave this house. You don’t want to cover for me anymore, so you’re trying to drive me out this way, aren’t you?”

“You—!” Song Minghui roared, shaking all over with rage. He raised his hand, ready to slap her.

But Song Yiyi didn’t dodge—instead, she leaned her face closer. Her neck stiffened, and silent tears slid down her cheeks. “Go ahead—hit me. But if you do, from now on, you’ll have no right to interfere in my life.”

In the end, Song Minghui’s slap never landed.

Song Yiyi glanced at him coolly. “Don’t worry, I won’t need you to cover for me. No matter what happens in the future, I’ll handle it myself.”

After that, she turned and went back to her room.

---

The next day, when Song Yiyi got up, only Cai Mengjun was home.

“Yiyi, do you want dumplings or red bean porridge?” Cai Mengjun’s voice was as gentle as ever.

It was already eleven o’clock. Normally, if she slept in, Song Minghui would scold her, or at least nag her endlessly after she got up. But today, there was nothing—not a peep.

Song Yiyi smiled. “Dumplings, then.”

Cai Mengjun’s dumpling-making skills were unmatched. Since she was little, Song Yiyi had never liked meat dumplings, so Cai Mengjun always made a separate batch with zucchini and egg just for her. On this point, she was exactly the same as the original host.

As she ate, Song Yiyi gave her a thumbs up. “Mom, these are delicious.”

The military family canteen only offered vegetarian dumplings with chives and eggs—and in these days, people were still stingy with eggs. The dumplings there had a strong chive smell and a strange seasoning flavor. Before Gu Chengze came back, Song Yiyi had tried them once and never went back.

Cai Mengjun set a bowl of dumpling broth in front of her. “Eat slowly. If it’s not enough, I’ll cook more.”

While Song Yiyi was eating, Cai Mengjun finally asked, “Had a fight with your dad?”

“Mm.” Song Yiyi didn’t hide it at all. “He told me to choose—either get married or go back home.”

Cai Mengjun was silent for a moment before softly asking, “And what do you think?”

Without even thinking, Song Yiyi replied, “I’m not going back home. I want to stay here.”

Cai Mengjun hesitated, as if she wanted to say more.

Song Yiyi went on, “Mom, it’s not that I don’t want to get married. I just don’t have someone I like right now. You’re a woman—you should understand. At the very least, a person should marry someone they like, right?”

Cai Mengjun nodded in agreement. “Yes, that’s basic—but it’s best if the other person likes you, too.”

She understood all too well what it felt like to be unloved.

Song Yiyi sensed gossip. She carried her bowl over, sat right next to Cai Mengjun, and whispered, “Mom, as long as I like him, that’s fine, right? If he’s willing to marry me, how much could he really dislike me?”

Her eyes sparkled brightly.

Cai Mengjun’s heart softened. She reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind Song Yiyi’s ear, smiling as she said, “Yiyi, people’s feelings are limited. If you go too long without getting any response, even that little bit of affection will eventually be worn away. I hope you’ll never have to understand that.”

After saying this, she picked up her empty bowl and went to the kitchen.

Song Yiyi’s eyes darted around as she thought it over, then she gave up—there was no prying anything more out of Cai Mengjun.

She decided to go find Gu Chengze instead—mainly because Song Minghui had come back.

Rebellious to the core, she deliberately called toward the kitchen in front of him: “Mom, are there more dumplings? My brother said yesterday I should bring him some food—the meals at the base have made him so skinny.”

Song Minghui’s face darkened visibly, but with Cai Mengjun present, he couldn’t say anything.

Seeing him unhappy only made Song Yiyi more cheerful.

Cai Mengjun took out a cloth bag and packed several boxes of dumplings inside.

Song Yiyi looked surprised. “Mom, I don’t think my brother eats this much.”

Cai Mengjun smiled. “Your big brother works in the same office as Cen Yue—take some to your Brother Ayue as well.”

Song Yiyi’s mouth twitched. “Cen Yue?”

Cai Mengjun corrected her. “You should call him ‘Brother’—he’s eight years older than you. That child’s had a hard life. You know, I haven’t seen him in years. Back when your brother and I still lived in the city, we were neighbors. His mother was a very good woman.”

Song Yiyi blinked. “How’s his life hard? He seems pretty fortunate to me—eats three meat dishes all by himself.”

She remembered the last time she’d been in Cen Yue’s office—the kind of meal he had there was something plenty of people wished they could get.

It was said that the military canteen cooks’ skills were far superior to those of the dependents’ canteen—by who knows how many times. Even now, Song Yiyi still fondly remembered that bowl of corn and pork rib soup.

Cai Mengjun opened the cloth bag in front of Song Yiyi and reminded her, “Oh right, the bigger lunchbox is for your Ah Yue-ge.”

Song Yiyi pouted. “Mom, my brother’s still growing too.”

Cai Mengjun couldn’t help but laugh. “The portions are the same. It’s just that in the bigger lunchbox there’s celery with pork, and in your brother’s it’s pork with green onions—your Ah Yue-ge doesn’t eat onions.”

Song Yiyi took the cloth bag. “Alright, got it.”

Inwardly, she couldn’t help but complain—how could anyone still be a picky eater in this day and age?

It was Song Yiyi’s first time coming to the military district. After reporting her name to the sentry at the gate, she stood in place to wait. She only glanced up twice before she started kicking pebbles on the ground—there really wasn’t anything to look at here.

The pebble under her foot flew out, and Song Yiyi’s eyes followed its parabolic path—only to watch the poor little stone get stepped on, pressed deep into the mud.

When she looked up again, she unsurprisingly saw a familiar and detestable face.

Cen Bowen had been looking for Song Yiyi several times but hadn’t been able to find her. He hadn’t expected to run into her here.

He strode quickly toward her, his voice full of joy. “Yiyi, what are you doing here?”

Very soon, he thought of a possibility, and the smile on his face grew even brighter.

He was so excited that he even forgot where they were, and reached out to grab her arm.

“Yiyi, I knew it—you could never be that heartless.”