The staffer, an older woman, sized them up. The man was handsome and the woman beautiful—a very attractive young couple. The man's face was pale, and he clutched his lower back, needing the woman's support just to stand steady. He was tall and she was petite, struggling to hold him up.
Qin Mei sniffled and added, "Thankfully, our efforts paid off. We heard from a relative that there's an old traditional Chinese medicine doctor in Shijiu City who can treat his back injury. Ma'am, you can see what shape he's in. I'm so afraid he'll get jostled boarding the train and make it even worse."
Jie Jingchen's amber eyes flickered as he stared at Qin Mei spouting nonsense. He scoffed inwardly. 'Trying to win sympathy? How naive.'
A moment later, Jie Jingchen had to eat his words.
"I get what you mean, dear. Come with me." The staffer was a kind soul.
"Thank you, ma'am! You're a true lifesaver," Qin Mei said gratefully.
"Give me the luggage. I'll carry it for you; you just focus on supporting him." Seeing Qin Mei's small frame burdened with a backpack and another bag, all while holding up a man, the staffer offered to take her luggage.
"Ma'am, thank you so much." Qin Mei was moved to tears. She didn't refuse the woman's kindness. 'That Jie Jingchen is the worst, treating me like his personal pack mule.'
The staffer led the way, with Qin Mei supporting Jie Jingchen as she followed behind.
"I'm guessing she's going to let you board the train first. Jie Jingchen, you should be a little more charming. That way, she'll ask the train attendant to look out for you," Qin Mei reminded him in a low voice.
Jie Jingchen's gaze darkened. He could tell from her tone that she wasn't planning on getting on the train with him. "With you here, I don't need an attendant to look out for me."
"I'm not getting on the train," Qin Mei blurted out.
"What do you mean by that?" Jie Jingchen stopped in his tracks, his face turning grim as he glared coldly at Qin Mei.
Qin Mei stopped too, standing before him and looking up into his face. She took a deep breath. "I'm not going to Shijiu City."
"If you're not going to Shijiu City, where are you going?" Jie Jingchen demanded coldly.
"Where am I going? Where else can I go? Back to Dazhuang Village, of course," Qin Mei replied. She paused before continuing, "I'm going back to the Sun Family to be with your sister. From now on, if you want to keep paying for my living expenses there every month, I'll gladly accept it. If you stop, that's fine too. I'll earn my own money to cover them."
Her words made Jie Jingchen laugh out of sheer anger. She wasn't going back to Shijiu City with him, nor was she returning to her own family. She insisted on going back to the Sun Family to be with his sister.
Jie Jingchen's eyes bored into her, and he questioned, "Qin Mei, have you fallen for some man in Dazhuang Village?"
The original Qin Mei was fickle, falling for one man after another. Once she set her sights on someone, she'd stop at nothing to make him hers.
'He'd left her with his older sister for half a year. Knowing her personality, there was no way she would have just behaved herself. She might have lost her memory, but that flirtatious nature of hers wouldn't change.'
Qin Mei's body went rigid, her heart pounding—not from guilt, but from pure rage.
"Jie Jingchen, are you insane?" Qin Mei cursed, flames of anger igniting in her almond-shaped eyes.
A hint of mockery showed in Jie Jingchen's eyes. "Am I wrong?"
'He was pinning a completely baseless crime on her!' Qin Mei was furious. 'Transmigrating into this era by accident had been a huge blow. She'd spent half a year in a funk before finally convincing herself to accept reality and start planning for the future. Then he got injured, and his sister pushed her into coming to Shanghai to take care of him.'
'And now he dared to suspect her of being unfaithful and fooling around in Dazhuang Village? It was infuriating!'
'As her husband in name only, he'd dumped her on his sister while she was in a coma and completely ignored her. What right did he have to question her loyalty?'
'The only thing he did worth praising was sending ten yuan for living expenses to the Sun Family on time every month.'
Qin Mei laughed, so angry she started spouting nonsense. "Yes, yes, you're right! It's not just one man in Dazhuang Village I've taken a fancy to. I've built a whole harem there! I gather every remotely handsome man I can find into it. My three thousand consorts are waiting for me to return and bestow my favors equally. So, you go your high road, and I'll cross my rickety bridge. Let's part ways here. Don't contact me unless it's important. Goodbye."
Listening to her furious rant, Jie Jingchen's amber eyes remained locked on Qin Mei. When he saw her angrily trying to shrug off her backpack, he raised a hand and pressed it firmly onto her shoulder, stopping her.
"Jie Jingchen, take your hand off my shoulder, or I won't be so polite," Qin Mei threatened coldly.
'He could doubt her character, but he couldn't doubt her loyalty.'
'The original owner of this body was married. By accepting her body, she had naturally accepted everything that came with it, including the marriage and family. In the hospital, she had even mistaken someone else for her husband, yet she had been prepared to accept the plain-looking Xie Jingchen. When it came to marriage, her stance was one of absolute fidelity.'
Jie Jingchen's Adam's apple bobbed, his lips pressing into a thin line. He turned a deaf ear to her threat.
In such a public place, and with him being a "willful, injured patient," Qin Mei obviously wasn't going to get physical. She took a breath, suppressed her boiling rage, and flashed a coquettish smile to provoke him further. "Jie Jingchen, if you hadn't gotten hurt and forced me to come to Shanghai to care for you, you might have been a father by now—to someone else's child."
Jie Jingchen glared at Qin Mei, his eyes full of danger. A frosty air settled over his tense face. His thin lips parted and closed a few times before he finally managed to say, "The Sun Family doesn't welcome you. Don't go back and cause my sister more trouble."
He hadn't lost his cool at her provocation; instead, he'd changed the subject. Half the fire in Qin Mei's eyes died down. She raised an eyebrow, a lazy smile spreading across her face. "That's not true. You give the Sun Family ten yuan a month for my expenses. I feel quite welcome there."
'Sun's mother's care for her wasn't the least bit perfunctory; it felt genuine.'
"Is that so?" Jie Jingchen's thick brows furrowed, and a flicker of ridicule showed in his deep eyes. 'Do the Sun Family welcome *her*? No, they covet the ten yuan he gives them every month.'
"Yes," Qin Mei affirmed with a firm nod.
"An illusion," Jie Jingchen said, his face a mask of disdain and arrogance.
"Jie Jingchen," Qin Mei seethed, gritting her teeth. 'This man really deserves a punch.'
"Can you really say that everyone in the Sun Family is happy to have you there?" Jie Jingchen challenged, staring at her with an unreadable, half-smiling expression.
Qin Mei fell silent. The eldest sister-in-law in the Sun Family certainly didn't like her and was always looking down her nose at her, clearly disapproving.
"Come home with me." This time, Jie Jingchen said "home," not "to Shijiu City." He paused, then added, "The Sun parents favor sons over daughters, but my sister only had a daughter. Her life with them isn't easy, either."
Qin Mei fell silent again. Having lived with the Sun Family for half a year, she was well aware of Jie Jingling's predicament.
Jie Jingling had a difficult childbirth when she had Sun Tong, which took a toll on her body and made it extremely difficult for her to conceive again.
"If you give the Sun Family more money, your sister's in-laws will probably treat her better," Qin Mei said, though she sounded unsure. Sun's mother was greedy, the type whose eyes lit up at the sight of money. She had taken good care of Qin Mei for the money, but whether cash could change her deep-seated preference for boys was anyone's guess.