The Counterattack of a Wealthy Family's Substitute

After Yao Yingxi finished speaking, a rare smile appeared on Xi Yuanchen's face.

Yao Yingxi received a call from Yao Yingyue around noon on the third day. Yao Yingyue asked her to meet at a coffee shop outside. Yao Yingxi didn't think much of it and went directly there.

The sun was warm on a late winter afternoon.

Yao Yingyue sat at an outdoor table in the coffee shop, looking ahead, her usually gentle and serene face showing a hint of sadness.

Due to traffic, Yao Yingxi was more than ten minutes late. Seeing Yao Yingyue, she smiled and sat down opposite her: "Yueyue, I'm so sorry, there was traffic, I'm late. How are you feeling today?"

Yao Yingyue watched from afar as Yao Yingxi walked towards her. Her gaze fell on Yao Yingxi's face, which was much prettier than her own. She tightened her grip on her coffee cup and, after Yao Yingxi sat down, went straight to the point: "Sister, why did you arrange to meet Liang Yu yesterday? And why did you do it behind my back?"

Yao Yingxi paused as she flipped through the menu, then looked up at Yao Yingyue.

"Do you think that because you're prettier than me, any man will obediently come back to you just by snapping your fingers?" Yao Yingyue asked calmly, but her eyes gradually filled with anger.

Yao Yingxi never imagined that Yao Yingyue would say such a thing to her, and the smile on her face vanished instantly.

"Say something!" Yao Yingxi's silence shattered Yao Yingyue's last shred of reason. She suddenly stood up, leaned forward, and placed her hands on the table, glaring fiercely at Yao Yingxi.

Yao Yingxi stared straight at Yao Yingyue for a long while before finally speaking: "Yueyue, don't be angry. Can you listen to my explanation?"

"Fine, I'll listen to your explanation." Yao Yingyue sneered, a tear falling onto the table. "I'll listen to how you explain it!"

Looking at her, Yao Yingxi felt a lump in her throat, as if something was stuck: "I met with Liang Yu yesterday to discuss the matter of you two going abroad."

"I don't know what he said to you, but Yueyue..." Yao Yingxi looked at her, her face showing deep hurt: "Do you think I would hurt you?"

“You won’t hurt me.” Yao Yingyue looked at Yao Yingxi and smiled, a smile that contained many emotions that Yao Yingxi had never seen before: “You’re just as self-righteous as ever.”

"Sis, I've always felt this is really unfair, you know?"

"Why did Mom choose to take you instead of me when Mom and Dad divorced?"

"Why was I abused when I did nothing wrong?"

“Do you know? There have been many times when I hated you, but I kept telling myself that you... it was you, Yao Yingxi, my own sister who sacrificed her future to raise me so that I could have the life I have today.”

“I tell myself to be content and to remember how good you are to me.” Yao Yingyue smiled, raised her hand and grasped Yao Yingxi’s hand on the table, gradually tightening her grip, her eyes filled with jealousy: “But sister, fate is just unfair to me.”

"I was the one who met Liang Yu first, and I was the one who liked him first! But he only likes you! He only treats me like a little sister!"

“Even now, even though I almost ruined myself because of loving him, you still have a place in his heart.” Yao Yingyue’s eyes turned red, and tears fell drop by drop onto the table: “So, sister, how can I not be jealous of you, how can I not hate you?”

Yao Yingxi felt as if a stone was pressing on her chest, both stuffy and painful.

Why would she think that?

Yao Yingxi opened her mouth, looked at Yao Yingyue, and had many things she wanted to say to refute her, but she seemed unable to say them.

She never knew that Yao Yingyue harbored so much resentment. She was even less aware that Yao Yingyue had liked Liang Yu from the very beginning.

Yao Yingxi lowered her head, a tear falling from her eye. She clenched her fist, looked at Yao Yingyue, and choked out, "I'm sorry, I..."

"I agree to go abroad with you." Before Yao Yingxi could finish speaking, Yao Yingyue interrupted her: "Sister, Liang Yu and I are going abroad. I hope this will be a new beginning."

Yao Yingxi was taken aback by what she heard and looked up at her directly.

Yao Yingyue looked at her and smiled, but it was no longer the carefree, purely dependent smile of the past: "Sister, I've grown up."

In that instant, Yao Yingxi felt something suddenly change.

Yao Yingyue lifted her foot to leave, but after taking two steps, she suddenly turned back to look at Yao Yingxi: "By the way, Brother Liang Yu told me that you have a boyfriend? Can I bring him to see him before I leave?"

Yao Yingxi looked at her and nodded, "Mm."

After she finished speaking, Yao Yingyue left without looking back.

After Yao Yingyue left, Yao Yingxi stayed in the coffee shop for a long time before getting up and leaving.

It was already 5:30 pm when I got back to the apartment.

Yao Yingxi was in a bad mood and didn't want to cook or move. She sat on the sofa in the living room, pressing her hands to her forehead, her mind filled with images of her and Yao Yingyue's interactions over the years, from childhood to adulthood.

Whether she wants to admit it or not, things have changed between Yao Yingyue and her starting today.

Yao Yingxi suddenly remembered that Xi Yuanchen had asked her before, and she was certain that Yao Yingyue needed her one-sided care.

At the time, she didn't take Xi Yuanchen's words to heart at all, and even thought his unpredictable moods were simply insane. But now it seems that she was the one who was too presumptuous and insane.

Yao Yingxi gave a self-deprecating laugh, then suddenly heard Xi Yuanchen's voice beside her: "Yao Yingxi, what are you doing?"

"Mr. Xi?" Yao Yingxi was startled by his sudden appearance and subconsciously stood up, looking at the man in front of her dressed in pajamas: "You...I..."

Yao Yingxi glanced at the time: "Sorry, I didn't know you were here. I'll cook right away."

After saying that, he went to the kitchen.

Xi Yuanchen glanced at her a few times, then turned and went back to his study.

Yao Yingxi quickly prepared dinner, and the two sat facing each other in silence.

Yao Yingxi had little appetite and ate the meal absentmindedly. Xi Yuanchen glanced at her a few times, and his two sword-like eyebrows slowly furrowed.

After dinner, Xi Yuanchen returned to his study to continue working, while Yao Yingxi washed the dishes in the kitchen.

After clearing away the dishes, she stood motionless in the kitchen.

She didn't know if she was a bit slow on the uptake when it came to relationships. It had been so long since she had talked to Yao Yingyue, and only now was she starting to feel the pain, the intense pain.

Xi Yuanchen came to the kitchen to make coffee and saw Yao Yingxi squatting on the ground, hugging him and sobbing softly.

He frowned, walked over, and stood beside her: "Are you crying?"

Yao Yingxi was so engrossed in crying that she hadn't noticed when Xi Yuanchen had arrived. Startled by his words, she instinctively looked up and said, "Mr. Xi..."