Chapter 33: A Fresh Start

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

As she laughed and hugged her friend, Yan Susu dropped the bomb. “I’ve left him.”

“Aw, come on, you’re kidding, right? The day you can get yourself to leave that loser will be the day I marry into the royal family!”

Running out of words to convince her, Yan Susu simply insisted, “I have really left him. Today, I plan to make a clean break with my past and start fresh.”

He Xiaoyu stared at her best friend in shock. Noticing that Yan Susu did not seem to be joking, she let out a shrill shriek. “Aaaahhhhh, Yan Susu, you big dummy! But seriously, who are you and what have you done with my friend? Are you finally going to leave that loser? Oh my goodness!”

“Stop exaggerating and help me move out, quick.”

“Move out, move out immediately. I’ll call An Ran to help us.” As long as it meant Yan Susu would be leaving that loser, she would give up anything, even her life!

Just as they were talking about her, An Ran appeared on the scene. Without waiting for her to speak, He Xiaoyu ran towards her, pulling at her and shouting.

“An Ran, let me tell you. This big dummy, Yan Susu, has come to her senses and is finally leaving that loser, Ling Xiusi. We should hit the bars tonight and drink till we drop to celebrate Yan Susu’s return to the land of the living!”

Shocked, An Ran looked at Yan Susu and asked, “Susu, is it for real?”

Yan Susu nodded.

“Fantastic. Susu, you are finally leaving that loser. All these years, he has tormented you beyond recognition. I was really worried that one day you would decide that you had had enough of the torment and…commit suicide…”

With that, An Ran broke down and stooped on the road, bawling her eyes out.

Seeing her cry, He Xiaoyu could not hold back her tears anymore and began bawling too.

“Yan Susu, you jerk. Did you know how worried we were these past six years? I had this recurring dream of you, drenched in blood, standing before me saying that you had had enough, that you no longer wanted to go on living…”

The pair continued to cry, sobbing louder and louder.

Hugging them tightly, Yan Susu began to cry too.

Six whole years of injustice, terror, helplessness, and meaningless wandering were purged in one fell swoop.

Her best friends had always openly criticized Ling Xiusi, calling him names like loser and jerk, they had berated her for being sick in the head, and they’d introduced her to other men to motivate her to leave Ling Xiusi. However, they had never once told her how terrified they had been for her.

For her part, she had always kept up an appearance of calm, hiding herself away to cry in secret when she was scared. She did not want to confide in her friends because she knew that they would be worried for her.

Truth be told, she too used to have a recurring dream of herself committing suicide…

The three girls huddled together and had a good long cry, attracting an inquisitive crowd of passers-by.

After a very, very long time, the trio finally calmed down. Seeing one another’s swollen eyes looking like plump peaches, they spluttered and burst into uncontrollable laughter.

He Xiaoyu even expelled a lump of snot during their uncontrollable fits of laughter.

“He Xiaoyu, you’re disgusting!” Yan Susu jumped aside quickly, looking at Xiaoyu with disdain.

An Ran went even further and took out her phone to photograph He Xiaoyu, intending to blackmail her when the opportunity arose.

“You are both so heartless. Your sister here is so beautiful that, even with snot on my face, I would still look uniquely alluring.” He Xiaoyu then nonchalantly took out a piece of tissue and began to wipe off the snot, completely ignoring the disdain of her friends, not taking any of it to heart.

“Pooh, He Xiaoyu. You could be more brazen, you know.” Yan Susu said sarcastically.

“Hey, that would be terrorizing the public!” proclaimed An Ran, relentlessly tearing apart her best friend’s self-deception.

The three girls looked at one another and collapsed uncontrollably into laughter.

“Aww, it feels like we are back in our student days.” He Xiaoyu reached out and caressed Yan Susu’s head, sighing loudly.

The Yan Susu that she had known so long ago had returned!

“Yes, if only Xiao Wan was here too, then we’d be whole again.”

He Xiaoyu’s face turned hostile suddenly. “Don’t even mention that rotten woman. If I ever get my hands on her, I’ll tear her apart. Six years ago, when Susu had that incident, she just disappeared without a trace, and married into the Gu family without telling anyone. She is now the young mistress of a wealthy family. Why would she even bother to remember peasants like us?”