When Gu Jiaojiao returned to her room, she saw that many of her belongings were with Li Hongmei. It looked like Li Hongmei had been making plenty of use of her things while she was away.
The original owner had used high-quality items, making it seem like she was wealthy, but in reality, she was just keeping up appearances.
The original owner's family had been well-off, but ever since her father remarried, he started acting like a stepfather to her. It was supposed to be her stepsister who was sent down to the countryside, but her stepmother doted on her own daughter. She forced the original owner to go instead, threatening to otherwise marry her off to a widower to become a stepmother herself.
Gu Jiaojiao had no choice but to get a sum of money out of them before heading to the countryside.
However, the original owner was a spendthrift. She insisted on eating and using the best even after being sent to the countryside. She originally had over sixty yuan, but in just over half a month, she had already spent half of it.
She counted the money she had left. There were thirty-three yuan. Adding the five yuan Li Hongmei had returned, she had a total of thirty-eight.
This was all she had to her name.
The rest were daily necessities. Gu Jiaojiao packed up everything that belonged to her, not leaving a single thing behind for Li Hongmei.
Li Hongmei was furious. She hadn't expected Gu Jiaojiao to be so ruthless. She knew perfectly well that she loved that tin of vanishing cream—she had already used it several times—yet Gu Jiaojiao was taking it anyway. 'What am I supposed to use now?'
"Jiaojiao, I really like this vanishing cream."
Gu Jiaojiao nodded. "I like it a lot too. You can only get this at the department store in the city. They don't even have it at the County Town's supply co-op!"
With that, she slipped it into her pocket.
She didn't forget to smile and remind Li Hongmei, "Hong Mei, if you like it, you can just go to the city and buy a jar for yourself someday."
Li Hongmei clenched her fists. Never mind that she didn't have the money; even if she did, she couldn't bear to spend two yuan on a single tin of vanishing cream.
There were several kinds of vanishing cream. The ordinary ones cost between eighty cents and one yuan, a better one was one-fifty, and the most expensive was two yuan. The one in Gu Jiaojiao's hand was the two-yuan kind, and it was exceptionally good.
Gu Jiaojiao pretended not to see Li Hongmei's practically contorted face. After gathering her things, she walked out and happened to run into Yun Hao, who was just coming inside.
They came face to face, neither of them expecting it.
Yun Hao paused. He felt that as the man, he should be the bigger person and not hold a grudge against Gu Jiaojiao. Besides, she was married now; he ought to offer his congratulations.
He had just opened his mouth to greet her when he saw Gu Jiaojiao walk straight past him without so much as a glance.
Yun Hao froze.
The old Gu Jiaojiao had always looked at him with undisguised adoration. But just now, when those brilliant, star-like eyes had turned his way, they held nothing but cold indifference. It was completely alien.
Hu Ziqiang, who was a few steps behind, saw Gu Jiaojiao leaving with her suitcase as soon as he walked in.
He came up from behind, hurried over to Yun Hao's side, and leaned in close. "Leng Yuan is outside. I just saw Gu Jiaojiao leave with her luggage. She's not really going home with Leng Yuan, is she?"
Hearing this, the tension in Yun Hao's face eased.
'So that's it. Leng Yuan was there, so it wasn't convenient for her to talk to me.'
"They're married now, so of course they're going to live together. What's not normal about that?"
With that, Yun Hao went to wash his hands.
Hu Ziqiang scratched his head in confusion. He knew Gu Jiaojiao got married, but wasn't that just to make Yun Hao angry? 'Who would actually take it seriously?'
'Did the pretense just become real?'
'Even if it was to make Yun Hao jealous, hadn't she taken things a bit too far?'
Just as Hu Ziqiang was about to leave, he heard a girl's playfully complaining voice from outside.
"Leng Yuan, this suitcase is so heavy! I can barely carry it."
Leng Yuan looked at her delicate, frail appearance and reached out to take the suitcase. He immediately noticed a red mark on her fair, tender palm.
The suitcase was certainly heavy, but not so heavy it should have left such a deep mark. When it came down to it, her skin was just too delicate.
He instinctively took her hand, his voice softening. "Why didn't you call me to help you carry it?"