~Between the Pages and the Coffee Pot: Translated Novels~

  Chapter 04: Scheming   Ying Sisi couldn't bring herself to call out, nor did she want to, so she silently gripped the hem of her clothes.   Song Hanmei's facade cracked as she scolded, “Other people's children are just ungrateful. They are provided with good food and drink, yet they won't even greet anyone.”   “Mom, my sister is new here and feels shy about calling out. I'll take her around to help her get familiar with the environment and ease her nerves,” Li Yuwei said, pulling Ying Sisi along as they headed outside.   Fuming, Song Hanmei thought to herself, that little brat is turning against me, ruining my plans.   She had already devised a plan — to take Ying Sisi to Feng Er's place and lock them in a room together, then call people to catch them in the act. This way, Ying Sisi would have her reputation ruined and would have no choice but to marry Feng Er.   After walking for a bit, Li Yuwei said, “Sister, I just remembered I have an appointment...

Chapter 03: Disdain “It's almost New Year's, and your grandmother has been wanting to see you. I'm going to take you to visit her. Change into some nicer clothes, and I'll take Yanci with me,” Song Hanmei said, already determined to prevent Ying Sisi from marrying Qin Yanci. Without waiting for Qin Yanci to speak, she arranged everything with a false smile.   As they leave the house, Song Hanmei whispers to Qin Yanci: “Sisi is the child of my husband's affair. She's never been to school, and she's completely clueless about city life. Unlike Yuwei, who graduated high school and has a good job. We were supposed to arrange the marriage for Yuwei, but she insisted on giving you to her sister. What do you think about all this?”   Qin Yanci is unimpressed. He scoffs: “Are your daughters all desperate to marry me? If so, then Sisi gets the top spot, and your manipulative daughter gets the scraps.” Qin Yanci is clearly not a fan of Song Hanmei. He's g...

Chapter 16: A Calculated Move     Fu Guanxian walked ahead in silence, and Xiang Yang simply followed behind him.   After walking for a while, Xiang Yang didn't know where they had ended up. She saw Fu Guanxian stop, turn around to look at her, and let out a heavy sigh.   Xiang Yang knew he was in a bad mood. So she lowered her head and said softly, “I'm sorry…”   “What's the point of apologizing?” Fu Guanxian let out another heavy sigh, exasperated, “Xiang Yang, are you really that foolish! In situations like this, can't you just come up with an excuse to fool the teacher?”   “I… I didn't dare!”   “Didn't dare, my foot! You were pretty capable when you were fooling me, weren't you?”   Xiang Yang didn't dare to speak anymore. When had she ever fooled him? Except for that one time when she didn't help him write the reflection letter.   “Here's your phone! If anything happens again in the future, I might not be able to protect you,” he said, th...

Chapter 15: The Phone   The essay competition put a lot of pressure on Xiang Yang, so much so that whenever she had free time, all she could think about was how to write her essay better.   Therefore, she completely forgot that she had brought her phone to school.   But after calling Fu Guanxian in the morning, she turned off her phone just in case.   What she didn't understand was why, after school, as she was preparing to pack her bag and go to the essay tutoring class, a classmate told her, “Xiang Yang, the teacher wants you to go to the teacher's office now. Remember to bring your backpack.”   The girl had a slight smile on her face, and Xiang Yang didn't think much of it. It wasn't until she reached the office that she realized the situation was not optimistic.   One of the mischievous boys in the class was standing in front of the homeroom teacher with his hands behind his back, looking down.   The homeroom teacher, on the other hand, had a serio...

Chapter 14: The Essay and the Lie   Xiang Yang hung up the phone feeling a bit guilty. She knew Fu Guanxian was angry. The rare seriousness in his tone for that last sentence made her feel that when they met later, he would surely show her a long face.   She wanted to leave quickly.   She didn't want to see him.   However, she went through the consequences in her mind again and again.   If she just left like this, how would she hand the essay to him? If she didn't give it to him, he certainly wouldn't have written it, and naturally, he would be criticized by the teacher. If he got criticized harshly, would that debt also fall on her head?   The answer was undoubtedly yes.   Xiang Yang compared the two different outcomes of leaving and not leaving. In the end, she thought, it's better to die early and be reborn early.   While waiting for him, Xiang Yang took out a small English flashcard and started memorizing vocabulary. After a few minutes, she f...

Chapter 02: Stunning   “Ah Ci, this is my sister Yuwei that I mentioned to you,” Ying Sisi said.   Qin Yanci nodded slightly. “Hello.”   Li Yuwei stammered, “Uh, hello.”   Ying Sisi's stepmother, Song Hanmei, heard the noise and stepped out of the main room. The moment she saw Qin Yanci, her eyes widened in astonishment, utterly captivated.   His sharp brows and bright eyes, with defined features.   With looks and stature like his, there was probably no one else like him in all of South and East City, right?   Yuwei had said he had spent ten years in the countryside and had been assimilated by the lowly rural people, thus not wanting to get engaged.   But how could he possibly be lowly with such looks?   Just by standing there, she could tell he was of high quality.   Ying Sisi observed Song Hanmei's greedy and regretful expression quietly.   Inside, she felt quite uneasy, but she masked it well, obediently saying, “Auntie, this is ...

Chapter 13: The Tyrant's Demands Xiang Yang saw that playful, malicious smile on his face and knew he was going to try to mess with her again.   She subconsciously looked around, knowing that as long as there were other people around, Fu Guanxian wouldn't dare to be so reckless.   Fu Guanxian saw that she seemed to be looking for an escape route, so he held his backpack, took a step forward, and got closer to her, “Long time no see, you despicable villain.”   Despicable villain? Xiang Yang filtered that word in her mind, unwilling to admit it.   When did I become despicable? When did I become a villain?   Fu Guanxian was the despicable one, and he was the villain.   But Xiang Yang didn't want to argue with him about this. She retracted her gaze, as if she hadn't seen him, as if she hadn't heard him say those words, and continued walking forward without looking back.   Fu Guanxian saw this and reached out to grab her backpack from behind.   Her bac...