Chapter 53: Junior Brother, Hurry Up and Lick

Jiang Ruxue had never heard of such an absurd and bizarre request. "But..."

"There are no buts. If the onion fails to make you cry, I don't mind using my own methods to make you do so."

With that, Lin Ziyu cracked her knuckles, looking at Jiang Ruxue with a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "We'll just have to see if you can take a beating."

Lu Fan helplessly interjected, "Eldest Senior Sister, don't scare her. She's timid."

Having spent years together, Lu Fan was accustomed to looking after Jiang Ruxue. Even after the divorce, he hadn't burned bridges; he still cared for her out of lingering affection and gratitude.

He always felt that even if their paths were no longer intertwined, there was no need to become bitter enemies who wished never to see each other again.

"Fine, fine, I won't touch your precious sweetheart. You're just too much of a saint!"

Lin Ziyu turned back to Jiang Ruxue. "You saw it yourself. This man has poured his heart and soul out for you and the Jiang family all this time. Don't you want to help him?"

"I'll help."

Jiang Ruxue peeled the onion, and as she peeled, her tears began to flow uncontrollably.

Lin Ziyu wasn't afraid of the pungent fumes stinging her eyes; she held out a bowl and began to catch them. "Come on, keep going, cry more!"

Jiang Ruxue's eyes were so stung she could barely open them. Seeing this, Lu Fan said, "Alright, Eldest Senior Sister, just one drop is enough."

He took the bowl, the bottom of which was thoroughly dampened by tears.

Lu Fan raised the bowl and drank it down in one gulp. A strange feeling washed over Jiang Ruxue.

After all, having one's tears drunk by someone else was a first for her.

"How is it? Do you feel anything?" Lin Ziyu asked anxiously.

Lu Fan lowered the bowl and shook his head. "Nothing."

"They're tears shed by the same person, how could they be useless?"

"Even tears are different. There are tears of bitterness, tears of sorrow, and also tears shed in moments of joy," Lu Fan explained.

Lin Ziyu pouted. "What's with all these distinctions? To me, tears are just a colorless, weak acid solution. Though, what you're saying might be right. Miss Jiang, what kind of tears were you shedding just now?"

What kind could they possibly be?

Tears of remorse.

The mere thought that Lu Fan was about to vanish from her world and her life forever filled Jiang Ruxue with fear and regret, tinged with a desperate plea for forgiveness.

Yet how could she ever voice such words aloud?

"I just... seeing him lying on the bed looking so weak, I regretted not stopping my father back then, which is what led to Lu Fan ending up like this. I truly regret it."

"Very well. Gather your emotions and cry once more."

"This... emotions only come when they overwhelm you. I can't just cry on command."

Lin Ziyu crossed her arms over her chest. "No emotions, is it? Then I'll manufacture them for you. Miss Jiang, I know you actually hold very little status in the Jiang family. Despite your exceptional business talent, you only own three percent of the shares in Jiang Industries. On the other hand, your precious younger brother, who went abroad to get a gilded education... he doesn't have to lift a finger, yet he holds ten percent."

"Don't try to sow discord between us," Jiang Ruxue's expression changed.

"As it happens, it's quite a coincidence. Just a few nights ago, I ran into your brother at a nightclub. While he was drunk, he was boasting proudly in front of a group of his sycophantic friends about how all the money you work so hard to earn ultimately ends up in his pocket."

"Shut up, stop talking!" Jiang Ruxue knew in her heart that every word was the truth. In the past, she used to put on the airs of a privileged young lady in front of Lu Fan, but in reality, her status in the Jiang family was only slightly higher than his.

"Back then, if your father hadn't listened to someone's nonsense about needing a live-in son-in-law to ward off bad luck, he was actually planning to marry you off to the second uncle of the Lei family. You know the one—the Second Uncle Lei who has buried eight wives and whose son is older than you? Just for a bridal gift of twenty million, he was ready to sell you off."

Lu Fan furrowed his brows slightly. "Eldest Senior Sister."

"Little Junior Brother, don't look at me like that. Every single word I've said is the truth. As for you and her getting a divorce, it's just because the Jiang family's fortunes have turned around over the past two years, and they wanted to kick you to the curb so she could enter a marriage of convenience with the Shen family, allowing them to sell their daughter all over again."

Realizing that all her fig leaves had been ruthlessly torn away, Jiang Ruxue's face turned pale with humiliation, yet she found herself completely unable to refute a single word.

Because every single syllable was true—that was the very family she was born into!

"And for such a rotten family, you gave up a good man who was devoted and attentive to you. Jiang Ruxue, don't you regret it?"

"You and Lu Fan even have a pitiful daughter. In the future, Lu Fan will remarry, start a happy and harmonious life with someone else, and transfer all the care and affection he once gave you to another woman. And what about you? If you can't marry Shen Qianye, won't there just be some Zhang Qianye or Li Qianye waiting in the wings?"

"Was your life truly worth all of this?"

Lin Ziyu's relentless questioning pierced straight to the heart. Jiang Ruxue felt a sharp ache in the bridge of her nose, and at the mere mental image of Lu Fan with another woman, hot tears welled up and streamed down her face.

At that exact moment, Lin Ziyu moved with lightning speed, shoving Jiang Ruxue straight into Lu Fan's arms.

With utter disregard for the romantic mood, she blurted out, "Little Junior Brother, hurry up and lick them away!"