Chapter 2: Scoundrel!!!

Foolishly Kind:
In short, it's the act of mistaking one's own stupidity for kindness.

Reborn Female Protagonist:
This refers to stories in online literature where a woman is the main character, and, for various reasons, she returns to the past or finds herself in a parallel world. She uses memories and experiences from her previous life to change her destiny...

As these entries appeared in Tian Xiang's mind, she understood, yet was bewildered, sitting at the edge of the bed for a long time, unable to recover.

Hu Honglian saw her daughter sitting there, as if struck dumb, and tears streamed down her face. Grabbing a feather duster, she swung it at Tian Chuying.

"Out! You and your stench—get out of here!"

Everyone in the room fled.

Hu Honglian rushed to her daughter. "Xiangxiang, my child, where are you? Don’t scare your mother. It’s just a worthless man! Don’t worry, Mama can find you someone even better."

Hu Honglian sobbed and wailed.

After a while, Tian Xiang pushed her mother gently and pointed at her own forehead. "Mom, can you really not see the words on my head?"

Hu Honglian, tears gushing, gripped her daughter’s shoulders, torn between anger and pity.

"Xiangxiang, come on, Mama will take you to the hospital."

Tian Xiang: "..."

Fine, it seemed only she could see it.

"Mom, it's nothing. I'm fine now."

She truly hadn't expected this world to be a novel, with Tian Chuying reborn as the heroine.

Apparently, her previous life was less than satisfactory, so she returned to change her fate, with the first step being to steal Tian Xiang’s engagement.

Now Tian Xiang finally understood what Tian Chuying meant by "the two of them have liked each other for a long time."

So, in her last life, those two had already betrayed her.

She wasn't sure if she ever found out, or if she exposed those two and brought them down.

If she remained clueless, then she really was the foolishly kind one!

Damn it!!!

Tian Xiang was terribly frustrated. After a moment, she said, "Mom, let's forget about the Lu family. Lu Feng's mother prefers Tian Chuying, and Lu Feng himself has no objection. Their family has made their choice—if I now go there for a match, and Lu Feng turns to me, wouldn’t that be fickleness? Such a man isn’t worth having!

But if he’s a good man and stays firm, our family would become a laughingstock in the whole alley! That’s even worse."

Hu Honglian nodded; she had already thought of all that.

---

But...

"Just let it go like this?"

It felt like such a loss. She'd spent two years making clothes for Liu Granny at the convenience store to curry favor.

After so much effort to secure an introduction, was it all for nothing?

Hu Honglian was unwilling to accept it.

Tian Xiang said, "This matter has already caused such a stir here, and the Lu family will find out sooner or later. If they really like Tian Chuying, they'll grit their teeth and settle the engagement, though their reputation will suffer behind closed doors.

But if we swallow this loss, it feels so unfair! Mom, here's what I'll do. Tomorrow, I'll go to the neighborhood office and make a scene, have them take me to Lu Feng’s workplace, and explain everything in front of all the leaders. Lu Feng is an office worker at the factory, even an advanced worker—a man who cares about his reputation. If everyone knows, his engagement to Tian Chuying won’t go through."

No matter what, she would first make sure the scumbag and the shameless woman couldn’t live in peace.

Hu Honglian hesitated.

"It’s not your fault; your reputation won’t really be ruined. But you’ll still be the butt of jokes if it gets too big, and it might affect your future marriage prospects."

Hu Honglian was deeply troubled.

The ones who made mistakes were others, yet her own family was now facing hardship.

Tian Xiang didn’t care. "Mom, I’ve already been bullied like this—what does it matter if people laugh at me? Let’s do it. Tian Xiang doesn’t want trash, and if Tian Chuying wants to pick it up, it won’t be that easy!"

The moment she realized Tian Chuying deliberately stole her engagement, she no longer considered her a sister.

Hu Honglian gritted her teeth. "Fine. But you shouldn’t be the one to show up. Tomorrow, I’ll handle it, and make sure everyone knows."

Tian Xiang glanced at the bold characters on her forehead—Ultimate Villain—and sighed. "Mom, you have to work. I’ll go myself."

Ultimate Villain:
Used to mock someone whose behavior or attitude is outrageous or immoral. Such characters usually stand in opposition to the protagonist, selfish and unscrupulous, serve as important plot drivers, mere tools for the protagonist to humiliate, and end up miserable.

This was her mother, not some villain or tool of the world.

Now Tian Xiang not only wanted revenge on those two but also to change her family’s fate.

Hu Honglian didn’t want her daughter to show herself in public.

"I’ll take the morning off. You stay home and rest, don’t worry about it."

Tian Xiang thought for a moment. "Let’s go together at noon, then."

That would work.

Hu Honglian told her daughter to lie down obediently, then marched out with her feather duster, full of fury.

---

In the cramped parlor, Director Wu, a supporting character, was seeking ways to mediate this scandal.

Director Wu, now over fifty, was quite experienced. In just a short while, he came up with a compensation plan for the Tian family’s main branch.

If they still wanted the Lu family match, Tian Chuying’s job at the health clinic could be transferred to Tian Xiang.

Both Tian Xiang and Tian Chuying were high school graduates.

Hu Honglian was determined to have her daughter marry into Hongwu Street, not considering work for the moment, thinking she could pull some strings to get her daughter into the factory there and settle things once and for all.

On Tian Chuying’s side, her family had arranged for her to be a cashier at the neighborhood health clinic. Though she was only a temp now, she was already placed, and once someone retired, she’d get the spot.

The Tian Weijun couple had worked hard and spent a lot of money for this job.

Now, their daughter had caught Lu Feng’s eye, and she would surely work at Hongwu Street in the future. Giving the health clinic job to Tian Xiang as compensation seemed possible.

But...

Tian Chuying’s mother, He Cuifen, said, "Give them a hundred yuan, and the job goes to Tian Xiang."

Hu Honglian, wielding her feather duster, happened to hear this.

A temp job at the health clinic, and they still wanted her family to pay a hundred yuan—that was compensation?

That was rubbing salt in their wounds!

Hu Honglian brandished her feather duster. "Get out! All of you, get out! Tian Chuying, you shameless thing, just wait—if you think you can steal Xiangxiang’s marriage, you’re dreaming!"

The little courtyard was soon in an uproar again, drawing crowds inside and out, gossiping by the dozens.

Director Wu saw that the Tian family’s main branch wouldn’t even give up a temp job after taking someone else’s engagement, and left in anger.

In the end, it was Tian Xiang who came out and asked Hu Honglian to stop, saying her mouth was dry and warning her not to hurt herself—and only then did the chaos slowly subside.

That night, Tian Chuying scrubbed herself with five buckets of water before getting rid of the stench.

Once she was dressed and came out of her room, Tian Weijun and his wife rushed over.

"Chuying, are you really together with Lu Feng? Does he know who you are? If the fact that you took someone else's place gets out, will their family refuse the match?"

"Hu Honglian won’t let this go—she’ll probably go to the matchmaker tonight and ask Lu Feng to meet Tian Xiang again..."

Everyone in Sanli Alley dreamed of marrying their daughters into Hongwu Street. He Cuifen was terrified that her hard-won son-in-law might be snatched away.

Tian Chuying smiled slightly. "Don’t worry, he won’t be snatched away. Dad, Mom, you two rest. I’m heading out for a bit."