Why Did My Ex-Wife’S Aunt Treat Me Like That? Chapter 3
byChapter 3 Peng Cheng, Safe and Sound.
Seriously, what is wrong with you, just kissing me right off the bat?
The countless looks of disgust He Xun had given her late in her previous life were etched deep into Yuan Yi’s memory. Feeling utterly nauseated, she shoved He Xun away.
The enormous backpack on her back created a massive inertia with her movement. He Xun stumbled back two steps, momentarily unsure if she had been hit by a person or a bag.
He Xun felt surprise and a hint of annoyance. Yuan Yi had never treated her like this before.
She glanced at the large blue tarp nearby, masking the disdain in her eyes, and said with a wronged tone, “Fine, is it my fault for coming back early without telling you? I just wanted to surprise you too… The rain is heavy outside, come under the umbrella quickly. Hmm, what surprise did you want to give me? What is this big tarp for?”
For your grandpa.
Although He Xun moved closer to her and brought the umbrella over, her tone completely absolved herself of blame. Asking Yuan Yi to come under the umbrella wasn’t out of concern, but because she was accustomed to Yuan Yi holding the umbrella for her.
Yuan Yi took half a step closer, and He Xun, thinking Yuan Yi was easily placated, contentedly prepared to put an arm around Yuan Yi’s shoulder, only to grasp empty air.
“He Xun, starting now, we’re breaking up.”
With that, Yuan Yi walked away, holding her own umbrella, without giving He Xun a single glance.
He Xun was thoroughly drenched by the rain and laughed in disbelief. “?”
Break up? A new tactic? No, this wasn’t what she expected. He Xun was used to Yuan Yi’s minor theatrics and didn’t even bother to ask why, walking toward the house instead.
Yuan Yi would eventually cave and contact her anyway.
Yuan Yi informed the security guard about the tarp as she exited the villa area, and once she hailed a taxi, she tossed the umbrella away.
Bad luck, absolutely disgusting.
She thought for a moment. She could be the villain to anyone, but not to her benefactor.
She had to find a way to save Peng Cheng’s legs.
Back then, she had fluttered around He Xun like a social butterfly, using clumsy excuses, but when everyone around them called her motives sinister, Peng Cheng never uttered a single word of judgment.
The year she was accepted into university, she had visited Peng Cheng’s home and had seen He Xun then.
Yuan Yi hadn’t experienced the “love at first sight” mentioned in her love letters to He Xun.
In her junior year, her family situation became complicated again. She needed money, a lot of money.
Using the excuse of thanking Peng Cheng, she knocked on the door of that magnificent villa again. The person who opened the door that time was He Xun.
The subsequent development was logical; her contact with He Xun gradually became closer.
It was all fake affection, an act she played so long that she eventually became lost herself.
After the way He Xun tormented her for those five years, there was no way Yuan Yi would let her off so easily, but this required a gradual approach.
Today, she hadn’t forced the marriage issue, and finally, the incident where she was coaxed by He Xun into going to Peng Cheng’s room would not happen.
He Xun appeared respectful and affectionate toward Peng Cheng, but the reality was different, so Yuan Yi didn’t know if He Xun had any connection to Peng Cheng’s leg injury.
She also couldn’t gauge whether Peng Cheng prioritized family and was overly indulgent toward this niece who was only three years younger than her.
She needed to figure things out herself, and she also needed to disclose this matter to Peng Cheng. This wouldn’t be easy, because she knew that her current image in Peng Cheng’s eyes must be terrible, and anything she said would lack credibility.
She had many things to do, and she couldn’t afford to delay any of them.
At nine o’clock, the last wave of commuters hurried out of the subway. Yuan Yi peeled off her raincoat; the rain had stopped.
She found a trash can and threw away everything in her backpack. She meticulously wiped her face clean with a wet wipe and entered the company with the empty bag.
Inside the company, there were many surprised and scrutinizing glances. As she approached, all eyes were glued to her until she knocked on the Director’s office door.
Li Yujun had been bombarded with messages all morning and was tearing her hair out. She hung up one call only to receive a voice message: “She wants to quit midway and take the demo? Impossible. Do you know how much we spent when we signed the contract? She either finishes the work here, or she doesn’t take anything away. The investor has already stated that they will only invest if it’s the Cat Companion demo.”
Since Yuan Yi had once been her capable subordinate, even though she was currently driving her half-mad, Li Yujun was still fighting for her. “Director Zhou, this is too much. She can pay compensation, but she is still an intern; the compensation amount shouldn’t be this high. The demo itself is her work…”
“Yujun, are you still a child? Can’t you see the potential of this game? If she takes the demo, our New Games Department won’t get the investment. The demo must stay. Let Bella be the project manager.”
The voice on the other end was firm, the decision already made. Li Yujun gritted her teeth in anger. Zhong Beili was her arch-rival; this was a direct project theft.
Knock, knock, knock.
When Yuan Yi entered, Li Yujun put down her phone, angrily grabbed the resignation letter from her desk, crumpled it up, and skillfully tossed it into the trash can.
Seeing Yuan Yi, her accumulated frustration instantly found an outlet. “What are you doing here? I tolerated you being absent for so long, and I even agreed to let you work from school! Yuan Yi, tell me yourself, how ridiculous is this? Are you really going to give up your entire future for one person?”
“Yuan Yi! Yuan Yi, do you know what a girl should truly hold in her hands? You really want to resign, don’t you? Sign this, give up your demo.” Li Yujun pulled a document from the cabinet and slapped it onto the desk. “Then you can leave.”
Li Yujun had asked her this question in her previous life. At the time, Yuan Yi had confidently replied, “Sister Yu, I just want to be with the person who truly loves me. You wouldn’t understand.”
Now, she understood completely.
Li Yujun was trying to awaken her sense of regret as a game developer for abandoning her own work, using aggression to provoke her not to resign.
Her immediate superior truly valued talent. Even this angry, she hadn’t thrown the paper ball at her.
Yuan Yi said, “Calm down, Sister Yu. I’m not resigning.”
“Do you know how promising your future is if you stay with the company? If your demo can be developed, wait two more years, and you’ll be sitting in this office… What? What did you say?” Li Yujun’s scolding words came to an abrupt halt.
“I’m here to work,” Yuan Yi said. “I just clocked in. Two hours of the morning have passed, and I’m requesting leave to go out.”
Li Yujun looked her up and down suspiciously, noticing that Yuan Yi’s hair was half-damp, and her delicate face, though clean, was as pale as paper. “What happened to you?”
“I broke up with him. I understand what you mean; I have to earn my own future.” Yuan Yi smiled brightly, her eyes shining like pearls, making her plain face radiantly beautiful. “I will definitely finish this project.”
She looked disheveled, yet she seemed reborn.
Li Yujun decisively motioned for her to come closer. “Have you talked to your teacher, Wu? She’s furious. Today, you must optimize and adjust the calico cat model that’s been stuck for so long. Where are you going on leave?”
“I’ll go apologize to Teacher Wu today,” Yuan Yi said. “I need to go to the hospital.” Seeing Li Yujun’s probing gaze, she curved her eyes. “Just for a physical exam.”
After leaving, Yuan Yi went to her workstation, immediately turned on her computer, entered the game, and started working on the modeling.
Cat Companion was a simple cat-petting community game she developed during her sophomore year to relieve stress under high pressure. The initial version took six months, and Yuan Yi herself wasn’t very satisfied.
To independently develop a game, there were many things she needed to learn. Although her major was 3D modeling, she had only focused on lightweight design at the time, making it a 2D game.
She was appreciated when she unintentionally sought advice from her mentor, Wu Ting. Wu Ting directly brought her and her work to intern at Singularity Games, with Li Yujun personally supervising her.
Who would have thought she would ruin a perfectly good hand of cards herself?
The workstations weren’t enclosed, and the whispers of her colleagues easily reached her ears.
“Oh, she actually came back? Didn’t resign? What’s the deal?”
“She probably saw that the project could get new investment and couldn’t bear to leave. Is she trying to extort one last sum before quitting midway?” Wei Xu tapped Yuan Yi’s desk with a finger wearing a Bvlgari ring, sneering, “What, you’re about to marry into wealth and become a phoenix, and you still care about this money?”
Yuan Yi kept her eyes straight ahead, her right hand rapidly dragging the mouse.
After a long moment, she looked up and said to Wei Xu, “I just finished adjusting the modeling for the calico cat Beibei’s right leg. I advise you to start rendering the fur on the hind leg now. Maybe you can still submit it before clocking out.”
Is she a demon!
That hind leg had been stuck for ages. She fixed it just by tinkering with it? Wei Xu’s work group chat vibrated, and it was the repaired model sent by Yuan Yi.
The two hours of work time ended. Yuan Yi didn’t delay for a moment, leaving amidst the hateful and jealous stares of her other colleagues. She immediately took a taxi to the hospital; her scheduled check-up time was fast approaching.
The series of checks were quick. While waiting for the results, Yuan Yi sat by the window in the hospital’s public coffee shop, casually spread out a check-up slip, and wrote down a few phrases on the back to clear her thoughts.
In the autumn of her previous life, in September, besides the forced marriage, her mother had done something earth-shattering during a prison visit.
A month later, under He Xun’s instruction, she had drunkenly entered Peng Cheng’s room.
Peng Cheng’s legs were still fine then.
Yuan Yi crossed that out and continued writing.
Later, in early winter, He Xun invited her and her family to travel to Shuyuan City for an outdoor trip. Shuyuan was already covered in ice and snow in November. Peng Cheng’s legs couldn’t tolerate the cold, and she didn’t know how Peng Cheng had time to go that time.
It was there that an accident occurred.
Yuan Yi frowned, the bone-chilling cold of being buried in the snow rushing back from memory, along with that faint, weak heartbeat.
The events seemed unrelated, but Yuan Yi felt this was a crucial point.
Yes!
She remembered that it was after this incident that she saw Peng Cheng remove her prosthetic leg again and fled in panic.
Regardless, even if she guessed wrong… to ensure Peng Cheng’s safety, she had to avoid that family gathering.
If she had broken up with He Xun, what opportunity could she use to stop Peng Cheng from going?
Yuan Yi’s heart pounded. She felt she was close to the answer but was missing the final piece.
She drank half a cup of the iced Americano in one gulp, sticking out her tongue from the cold, and frustratingly tore the paper into shreds.
She didn’t get the check-up results, but she received a call from her mother, Sun Xueyu.
“How is it, daughter? Did everything go smoothly? Did He Xun agree?” Judging by Sun Xueyu’s tone, she hadn’t received the news that Yuan Yi hadn’t gone through with the ceremony at all.
Yuan Yi gave a perfunctory “Mhm” twice, and Sun Xueyu started talking about her own plans. “I’m going to visit your father this afternoon. Well… same as always, I need to put a thousand yuan of living expenses in his account. I know you won’t go, so just transfer it to me.”
Yuan Yi asked, “What time are you going?”
“2:30 PM,” Sun Xueyu answered subconsciously, then her voice suddenly rose. “What is it? Are you going with your mother?”
“How could I? I have to go to He Xun’s house this afternoon.” Yuan Yi’s expression was cold, but her voice was gentle.
Sun Xueyu immediately believed her, clearly relieved, and then rattled off a bunch of nonsense, telling her to treat He Xun well. Just then, a notification popped up on Yuan Yi’s phone that her check-up results were ready.
Her lungs were healthy, with one nodule, but it wasn’t a major issue; she just needed to pay attention to her health and routine.
She quickly hung up the phone, scanned the report line by line, confirmed she was fine, and finished the remaining iced Americano.
In her previous life, on this very day, when Sun Xueyu returned, she brought back Yuan Xiao and Yuan Chen, those two little bloodsuckers.
It was not even one o’clock yet. She decided to go to the prison early. Some things had to be clarified.
Yuan Yi moved quickly, printing the report in the lobby and leaving. She knew she stood out, a five-foot-five woman carrying such a large outdoor backpack, but she didn’t care about the stares.
When Peng Cheng came downstairs, the first thing she saw was Yuan Yi’s bag, which looked like she was ready to move house at any moment.
She hadn’t expected to run into Yuan Yi here.
She happened to see Yuan Yi’s frustrated action of tearing up the paper. Peng Cheng recalled He Xun’s dismissive explanation when she came in this morning: “She’s throwing a tantrum and using a breakup to get her way. Aunt, did she act like this in high school too?”
In Peng Cheng’s memory, Yuan Yi’s high school appearance was already vague.
She was the one who initiated the breakup, so how could she be so heartbroken?
Peng Cheng watched her scribbling and guessed that the young woman was probably writing things like “He Xun is a big bad guy.”
When Yuan Yi left, she opened the side door. The early autumn wind scattered the shredded paper on the ground, leaving only one piece pressed under the empty cup on the side table.
Assistant Nian, standing nearby, kept his eyes down and immediately rushed over, retrieving the piece of paper without looking directly at it and bringing it to his boss.
Peng Cheng unfolded it, her gaze slightly stunned. She hadn’t expected it to read:
Peng Cheng, safe and sound.
These four characters were individually circled many times and heavily underlined underneath, especially her name, which was pressed deep into the paper.
Author’s Note:
Come see what a self-disciplined 22-year-old reborn girl does in a day:
6-8 AM: Carrying an 80L backpack to clean up the mess from stupid decisions, a quick meeting with the ex and future wife.
9-11 AM: Work.
11 AM – 12 PM: Physical examination, seen by the future wife.
1-2 PM: Prison.
3-4 PM: Has an itinerary, but I can’t say what it is yet.
Our little Yuan even has plans at 4 AM. Just know she has incredible execution power. [Prayer hands]