Jiang Siyuan waited until late at night with great difficulty. She took a deep breath, aimed a needle at her finger, and poked it in hard. She squeezed, and blood flowed out.
She smeared the blood onto the bracelet, but the bracelet didn't react. Jiang Siyuan frowned, squeezed out some more blood, and smeared it again, but there was still no reaction.
Could it be that every peach pit needed to be coated in blood?
Jiang Siyuan muttered to herself. The book didn't describe in detail how Jiang Hanyan had bound the space; it only said that blood had accidentally dripped onto the bracelet, and then the binding was successful.
She used the needle to poke holes in her fingers again, coating every peach pit on the bracelet with blood. All ten of her fingers were pricked, and the pain made them go numb.
The bracelet lay motionless on the table. A significant amount of blood had been applied, and the air was thick with the smell of iron, yet there was still no change.
Jiang Siyuan grew anxious, constantly recalling the plot of the book. Where exactly had she gone wrong?
An hour passed. Jiang Siyuan’s face was deathly pale as she stared angrily at the bracelet sitting in a basin. The basin was filled with her blood, and a fruit knife stained with blood lay to the side.
Jiang Siyuan’s wrist was wrapped in a cloth, through which blood was faintly seeping. She had slit her wrist to fill half a basin with blood and submerged the bracelet in it, but there was still no movement.
"Bitch!"
By now, how could Jiang Siyuan not understand? This bracelet was fake; it wasn't the Jiang family heirloom at all.
That bitch Jiang Hanyan had scammed her out of a hundred yuan with a fake bracelet and caused her to lose so much blood.
The real one must still be in that bitch's hands.
Jiang Siyuan felt a wave of dizziness. She held her forehead, her eyes filled with hatred, yet she felt a flicker of worry: did Jiang Hanyan know something?
But that should be impossible. She only knew the bracelet was a treasure because she had been reborn. Jiang Hanyan was as stupid as before; it was impossible for her to have been reborn too.
Early the next morning, while Jiang Hanyan was still lazing in bed, Jiang Siyuan showed up at her door. Her face was as white as a corpse, and her left wrist was wrapped in a handkerchief. Lu Chen had just returned from buying rice noodles.
"I'm looking for Hanyan for something," Jiang Siyuan said with a faint smile.
"She's sleeping."
Lu Chen’s voice was cold. He put the rice noodles in the kitchen and went to the courtyard to practice his boxing.
After sleeping with that woman for one night, the energy within his body had grown a bit stronger, though the progress wasn't as obvious as it had been at the start. However, Lu Chen was certain that sleeping more with Jiang Hanyan was definitely beneficial to his cultivation.
If he could sleep with her for a few years, he might be able to master his great technique.
Lu Chen’s face grew hot, and he dared not think any further, focusing instead on his boxing. His breathing became longer and more rhythmic, and every punch carried a gust of wind. If an expert were to see this, they would surely be shocked.
Because Lu Chen had developed internal energy at such a young age—he was a martial arts prodigy rarely seen in a century.
Jiang Siyuan sat in the living room for a while, her wrist throbbing with pain. She couldn't wait any longer, so she went to the room where Jiang Hanyan was sleeping, pushed the door open, and woke her up.
"Are you sick? Entering my room without knocking!"
Jiang Hanyan glared at her furiously. She had been having a good dream, and she hated people who walked into others' rooms without permission.
"This bracelet is fake. Give me back my hundred yuan!"
Jiang Siyuan pulled the bracelet from her pocket and threw it onto the quilt, her expression ugly.
Jiang Hanyan picked up the bracelet. Although it had been washed, there was still a faint scent of blood. She glanced at Jiang Siyuan’s bandaged left wrist and almost laughed out loud. Did this woman really drain a basin of blood last night?
"How is it fake? This is the peach pit bracelet Grandma gave me. Don't tell me you were expecting a gold one?"
Jiang Hanyan rolled her eyes, put on her clothes, and got up. She definitely wasn't returning the hundred yuan; once money entered her pocket, no one was taking it back.
"It is fake! Give me the real one, or refund the money!"
Jiang Siyuan insisted the bracelet was fake, trying to force Jiang Hanyan to produce the real one.
"This is the only one. Take it or leave it!"
Jiang Hanyan didn't give her a pleasant look. She finished dressing, combed her hair, and went out to wash up.
Jiang Siyuan bit her lip hard, her eyes full of hatred. She was determined to get her hands on the space that was within her reach. Damn bitch, since she refused a toast only to drink a forfeit, she shouldn't blame her for being ruthless!
"Hanyan, you should go home and see your aunt. She thinks of you every day!"
Jiang Siyuan regained her composure, speaking in a soft, gentle voice, playing the part of a caring older sister.
"A wife follows her husband. I'm a member of the Lu family now. Tell my mother to stop thinking about me!"
Jiang Hanyan gave her a mocking look and went to the kitchen to cook the rice noodles. That woman, who only knew how to cry and ask the original owner for money, didn't deserve to be a mother. She didn't even want to look at her.
"Are you really going to spend your whole life with Lu Chen? He’s a thug who’s been in prison twice. You won't have a good life with him!"
Jiang Siyuan followed her into the kitchen and urged, "Lu Chen even has an illegitimate child. Who knows how many women he has on the side? Hanyan, you need to think clearly. Tang Xuehai has actually been waiting for you."
"Tang Xuehai told you that?"
Jiang Hanyan looked at her with a cold sneer. Just how stupid was the original owner to have considered this two-faced green tea bitch a caring sister?
"He didn't say it explicitly, but I can tell. Ever since you got together with Lu Chen, Tang Xuehai has been in a bad mood. He is deeply devoted to you. Even if you... even if you have Lu Chen’s child, he won't change his feelings."
Jiang Siyuan clenched her palms. This was indeed what Tang Xuehai had told her personally, and he had even asked her to tell Jiang Hanyan that he wouldn't mind that this bitch was no longer pure.
She looked at Jiang Hanyan’s slender, firm waist. She didn't look like a pregnant woman at all; her waist was much thinner than her own. Furthermore, she noticed that Jiang Hanyan seemed even more beautiful than she had been before the new year. Her skin was like a peeled egg—white, tender, and flawless.
If Tang Xuehai saw the current Jiang Hanyan, he would surely be even more obsessed.
Jiang Siyuan’s heart tightened. She absolutely could not let Tang Xuehai and Jiang Hanyan meet.
Jiang Hanyan dropped the rice noodles into the pot and gave her a sarcastic look. Suddenly, she shouted out the window: "Lu Chen! My cousin is trying to convince me to cheat on you and is acting as a pimp for me!"
"Hanyan, what are you saying? That’s not what I meant at all!"
Jiang Siyuan panicked. She hadn't expected such a reaction from Jiang Hanyan. She was also terrified of Lu Chen, that star of misfortune. What if he hit her?
Lu Chen appeared at the kitchen door. His cold, icy gaze made Jiang Siyuan tremble uncontrollably. She forced a smile and explained, "I was just urging Hanyan to go home and visit, she misunderstood."
"I... I'm leaving!"
Jiang Siyuan didn't dare to linger and hurried away.
Lu Chen looked at the woman who was beaming with joy and said coldly, "Add more chili to my noodles!"
In truth, he had only come to the kitchen to mention the chili. As for the cheating or whatever else, he didn't care at all.
They were just living together temporarily!
"Oh!"
Jiang Hanyan scooped another spoonful of chili powder into Lu Chen’s bowl, fished out the cooked noodles, and divided them into three bowls.
Breakfast was still hot noodle soup. The three of them ate until their whole bodies were warm. Jiang Hanyan sniffled and said, "I'm going to set up a stall later!"
She had just thought of a good way to make money: setting up a fortune-telling stall.