The Burden of Beauty and the Sting of Jealousy

“Miss Yixiya?”

Yu Lian struggled to turn her head towards the doorway. There stood Yixiya, clad in a black skirt, her face a mask of shock, as if questioning reality itself.

“What are you doing here? And what did you just say? ‘Entertainment’? I’m exercising, exercising, understand?”

She had just completed ten push-ups, only to be accused of playing around. How could she possibly tolerate such an insult?

The innocent Yu Lian failed to grasp the deeper meaning of ‘entertainment’ in Yixiya’s words. She merely assumed her efforts and sweat were being trivialized, and it infuriated her.

“Exercising?”

Yixiya’s mouth gaped even wider. Clearly, her misunderstanding of Yu Lian had deepened. She retreated behind the door, only half her face visible.

Her mother had always told her that one gradually becomes like the people they associate with. That’s why she only spent time with her beloved Ya’er; she aspired to become a great person like Ya’er.

Yu Lian pushed up with her hands, attempting to sit upright, but failed. She cast a mournful glance at her flattened chest. ‘This burden is simply too heavy,’ she thought. ‘I almost managed to sit up just now.’

“Come here and lend a hand.”

“No!”

“Hm?”

“You’re too uninhibited. I won’t come near you. Don’t even think about influencing me or changing my ingrained beliefs.”

“?”

Yu Lian had been slandered without cause. To judge her so definitively after seeing her true appearance just once was utterly disrespectful.

‘Did she not want to wear clothes?’ ‘No, it was because she had none!’

The two were on completely different wavelengths, perfectly missing each other. Yixiya believed Yu Lian was indulging in self-degradation when no one was around, while Yu Lian thought Yixiya was still dwelling on the events from a few days prior.

****

A long while later.

Yu Lian had recovered some strength. Though her arms still ached and tingled, she could now manage to sit up on her own.

Yixiya’s guard slowly began to drop. She shuffled forward, and though her steps weren’t large, she eventually reached the side of the bed.

“Weren’t you not coming over? Why are you here now?” Yu Lian scoffed, teasingly looking at Yixiya.

Yixiya sat on the edge of the bed, a safe distance from Yu Lian, and huffed, “As long as my thoughts remain firm, what is there to fear from you?”

“Oh, Miss Yixiya, so great and mighty, what brings you here this time? There’s no Ya’er here for you, only the hateful vixen you despise.”

Upon hearing ‘vixen,’ Yixiya’s fingers audibly clenched, and her face darkened, becoming as gloomy as an overcast sky.

“Do you think I want to find you? It’s only because of a promise I made earlier. Otherwise, if Ya’er weren’t here, I wouldn’t come at all… Wait, you said Ya’er isn’t here? She went out again?”

Yixiya froze for a moment, then excitedly grabbed Yu Lian’s shoulders and shook her. Yu Lian felt herself growing dizzy from the motion.

“Wait, wait, stop shaking! I’m going to pass out. My brains are getting scrambled! Please stop!”

“Ah… oh, right, I’ll stop.”

Yu Lian clutched her chest, feeling as though she had just escaped the gates of hell. Her face was devoid of color. This girl truly transformed when the Second Miss was mentioned, becoming far too agitated.

“Now that you’ve recovered, hurry up and tell me!”

Seeing the other girl reaching into her pocket again, Yu Lian’s nerves tightened. ‘You couldn’t have brought another new pair of scissors, could you?’

“She… she left early this morning. She mentioned something about finding me some sisters. As for any other motives she might have, I’m completely unaware.”

Yu Lian divulged everything she knew.

It was for no other reason than fear that the other girl might get angry and ‘snip-snip’ her again. Her life was far more important, after all.

However, after she finished speaking, what Yixiya pulled from her pocket was not a pair of scissors, but a very exquisite hairpin and a pair of sparkling earrings.

‘Damn it, she pulled a feint!’

‘And I spilled everything.’

‘What a clown I am now.’

Yu Lian annoyedly scratched her head.

“Finding sisters… always finding sisters…” Yixiya lowered her head, biting her lower lip. “Time and again… she never spares me a second glance. I care for her so much, yet she’d rather seek out strangers than accept me…”

Her voice held an indescribable sadness and loneliness.

Yu Lian’s hand, which had been scratching her head, slowly stilled.

‘Hm?’

‘Hmmmm!’

‘This is—a sad Miss Yixiya?’

‘How rare!’ Though Yu Lian had witnessed Yixiya in this state twice before, she still found something uniquely poignant about such a heroic and beautiful woman being sad. The contrast was striking.

“Miss Yixiya, you truly seem to like the Second Miss. Even I, who barely knows you, can clearly feel it. The Second Miss is truly inhuman.”

Kicking someone while they’re down? Yu Lian excelled at it.

If she could completely diminish Yixiya’s interest in the Second Miss, wouldn’t she profit immensely? After all, a decrease in the number of people who liked the Second Miss was a unique form of attack. And if that person happened to be the Second Miss’s childhood friend, wouldn’t the blow be multiplied?

“I forbid you to speak ill of her!”

Yixiya lifted her head, glaring fiercely at Yu Lian. She bared her sharp, adorable little canine teeth, poised as if to pounce at any moment.

Yu Lian recoiled in fear. ‘No, I’m trying to help you escape the sea of love’s bitterness, young lady! Why are you so fierce?’

She dared not speak another word, terrified that she might suddenly be bitten.

Seeing Yu Lian close her mouth, covering it tightly with both hands in a gesture of silence, Yixiya ultimately didn’t pounce. She lowered her gaze, continuing to stare intently at the hairpin and earrings in her hand.

“Yu Lian, tell me, why does she like you and not me?”

‘How would I know?’

Yu Lian thought for a moment, then released her hands. She pointed to herself, narcissistically stating, “Perhaps I’m more attractive than you?”

Yixiya looked up, then immediately lowered her head again, saying, “Your looks are far inferior to even half of mine. My Ya’er is not such a vulgar woman.”

‘Not vulgar, yet she’s constantly searching for beautiful women?’ Yu Lian scoffed inwardly. ‘Just keep spoiling her. Don’t I know what kind of person she is? Only someone whose eyes are blinded by love like you would think she’s perfect in every way.’

Despite her thoughts, Yu Lian obediently nodded in agreement: “I truly am not as beautiful, generous, or elegant as Miss Yixiya, with her noble young lady’s demeanor. Compared to Miss Yixiya, I am as dim and unremarkable as a tiny firefly.”

Complimenting others was exhausting. She had strung together every vocabulary word she knew into sentences, but the result was clear: Yixiya listened to her words, then lightly nodded, saying, “It seems you have some self-awareness, understanding the difference between us.”

It sounded as if she was no longer as sad.

Yu Lian wasn’t sure if this was good or bad. Her goal wasn’t to comfort Yixiya; she was delighted by the other’s emotional downturn, as it might allow her plan to proceed smoothly. But… human calculations never quite matched fate. How could she have predicted that just a sentence or two would brighten the other’s mood?

“Miss Yixiya, you should focus more on the positive side. There’s no need to cling to a crooked tree all day. Look, since the Second Miss’s heart isn’t with you, why must you…”

Swish—

Suddenly, a bright gleam pierced her eyes.

‘This… this is a new pair of scissors?’

Yu Lian fell backward, pressed onto the bed.

‘Oh, crap!’