Qin Yu and Qin Mei, the siblings, stood at the door.
The moment they saw Rong Yan come out, their eyes peered into the room.
Clearly, they wanted to go in to see their elder brother.
"Sister-in-law, someone outside is looking for..." In truth, what Qin Yu wanted to ask the most was how his elder brother was doing.
Rong Yan raised an eyebrow upon hearing the address 'sister-in-law'.
It seemed that in just one night, this kid's attitude towards her had changed dramatically!
"You can go in and take a look."
No sooner had she said that than the siblings rushed into the room eagerly.
"Big brother, are you awake?"
Rong Yan couldn't help but curve her lips into a smile, listening to the excitement in Qin Yu's voice.
She then lifted her foot to open the main gate of the courtyard.
Seeing the delicate-looking Xu Ke, laughter welled up in her heart. So the female lead of the other group had come to her doorstep?
Yo! Was she here to probe for real?
Snort!
"Oh, it's you! What do you want with me?"
The casual tone of her voice made Xu Ke's heart skip a beat, filling her with even more regret over going out the day before.
If she had been around, how could Rong Yan have possibly managed to avoid trouble?
Forcing a smile, she said, "Rong Yan, I wasn't here yesterday, and when I came back last night, I heard you nearly had an accident, so I came over to check on you. Are you alright?"
Rong Yan raised her eyebrows and looked at her, "So, what are you hoping for? That something happened to me, or that I'm fine?"
Due to her sarcastic words, Xu Ke finally realized something was off with her.
"...Rong Yan, why do you ask that? Of course, I hope you're fine..."
Rong Yan scoffed coldly, "Whether I'm fine or not, shouldn't you be the one who knows best, with all that goes on in the intellectual youth dormitory?"
If Gu Lan was hateful, then the woman in front of her was not only hateful but also terrifying—a venomous scorpion.
This woman had been dining on the blood of the original host and her close ones in order to live a good life within the contrast group.
After the original host died, Qin Ye and his siblings met with no good end, and the original host's biological parents also died tragic deaths.
This woman had sucked away all the good fortune from the people closest to the original host.
Only then did she achieve what she had.
And she was considered the favored one with good fortune... Bah!
Calling her a thief—it would be a compliment for this woman.
Xu Ke wore an injured expression, voicing her grievance:
"Rong Yan, I was just kindly asking, what's wrong with you today? Why are you being so harsh?"
Could it be that something happened to Qin Ye?
Logically, in her dream… Qin Ye should have been gored to death by a wild boar the night before. If Qin Ye were dead, how could Rong Yan still have a good life?
Suppressing the excitement in her heart.
Her eyes were too bright, and Rong Yan was no blind person—how could she fail to see?
With an inward snort of derision, she wasn't in the mood to waste time in idle chitchat with this woman here.
"Who needs your kindness? Get lost now. Whatever happens at the intellectual youth dormitory from now on, don't come to me. I'm no intellectual youth anymore."
Xu Ke was astonished, "You..."
Rong Yan scoffed coldly and directly closed the main gate. Who the hell wanted to spend more time babbling with a person with a black heart? Stick around for a moment longer, and who knew, she might get her luck sucked away.
Blocked outside, Xu Ke's face immediately darkened, and her eyes turned a frightening black.
She hadn't expected that in just a day, Rong Yan's attitude towards her would change so much.
Could it be that the events of yesterday led Rong Yan to change?
Thinking of this, she couldn't help but curse Gu Lan, the idiot, for not managing such a small matter properly.
What to do now?
Leaving like this gave her a sense of reluctance, but staying on would be of no help.
She had no choice but to leave first.
***
When Rong Yan returned to the room, she saw the two youngest were wiping tears from their eyes.
She couldn't help but be surprised, "What's the matter?"
Qin Yu saw her, immediately wiped his face with the back of his hand, his expression somewhat stubborn, "I'm fine."
In reality, it was a very serious matter. Their family didn't have much grain left, and in ten days, it would be the New Year. Now that their eldest brother was injured and the grain was running out, what were they to do?
Their entire family would be going hungry.
Moreover, they couldn't go without buying medicine for their little sister.
These worries were enough to overwhelm him.
Qin Mei was timid and easily frightened. When she saw Rong Yan, she hid behind her second brother.
Perhaps feeling some affection for her, she poked out her little head and called out in a low voice, "...Sister-in-law."
Rong Yan looked at her shining little eyes, which she quite liked, and from her pocket—or rather from the "space" she had—she pulled out two White Rabbit Creamy Candies.
"Here, for you."
She couldn't let someone call her sister-in-law for nothing.
Qin Mei's gaze fell on that fair palm holding...candy?
She licked her somewhat dry lips involuntarily.
Her little eyes stayed transfixed on them.
Qin Yu, on the other hand, was wary of Rong Yan, although his impression had already improved since last night.
Rong Yan looked at the two, "What are you standing there for? Take it, or else... I might get upset."
The siblings still didn't move.
In all their years, not only had they never eaten such candy, but they had also never accepted kindness from others. This sudden offer of candy left them both hesitant and confused.
Rong Yan, seeing the expression on their faces, sighed, stepped forward, and placed a candy in each of their hands.
"Eat it!"
Both siblings instinctively gripped the candies tightly, then turned their heads uncertainly to look at their eldest brother lying in bed.
Qin Ye met their gaze, then spoke up, "Since it's from your sister-in-law, go ahead and eat."
He was a man, and even if he had money, he wouldn't be so meticulous as to buy them such things, let alone the fact that their family had no money.
Qin Mei's eyes suddenly brightened, clearly delighted.
"Thank you, Sister-in-law..." she said softly, yet her hand clutched the candy tightly.
Rong Yan smiled warmly; polite children were always especially endearing, "We're family, no need for thanks!"
Her casual mention of "family" touched the hearts of the Qin siblings like a warm glow they had never felt before.
Qin Yu met his sister-in-law's eyes, felt a warmth in his face, and quickly averted his gaze, "Here, I don't like candy."
He pushed the candy in his hand into his sister's.
Qin Mei, of course, would not accept it. As twins, how could she not know that her second brother meant to give it specifically to her?
"Second Brother, I don't want it…" she insisted, trying to give it back.
Rong Yan couldn't stand by, "It's just two candies, eat your own, there will be more tomorrow."
If she weren't worried about scaring them, she could show them what it meant to have the freedom to eat candy.
"Right, what do you want for breakfast?"
As the topic shifted, the siblings' attention was pulled away from the candy.
"We, we didn't make breakfast..." Qin Mei fidgeted anxiously, twisting the hem of her clothes, "I, I'll go make it now..."
"Then let's cook some plain rice porridge! Your big brother needs to eat too." The main point being... she wanted to eat as well.
Qin Mei became even more anxious, stammering as she opened her mouth, "We, we have no more rice..."
Her last word was barely audible.
Rong Yan: ...
No rice either? Are they really this poor?