Chapter 829 - 825: Admiration for the Strong

Once inside the door, Chen Yu took off her jacket and the large red rosette, even washing off her meticulously applied makeup.

After meeting Gu Jiaojiao just once, she was thoroughly convinced. In this lifetime, she would never measure up to a woman like her.

"A single look from her is enough to scare someone half to death! How can she be so fierce?"

A hint of longing flashed in Chen Yu’s eyes. She would be completely satisfied if she could possess even a tenth of Gu Jiaojiao’s imposing aura.

"No, I have to go ask her tomorrow how she cultivated such a presence," she decided.

Right now, Chen Yu was far more interested in Gu Jiaojiao than in Leng Yuan. She didn’t harbor any ulterior motives; she simply admired the strong.

Meanwhile, Chen Yan, who had lost face after being terrified by Gu Jiaojiao, couldn’t stop cursing. "What the hell does she think she is? She’s only throwing her weight around because she knows some big shot leader! Does she really think I’m scared of her?"

Chen Yan was dragging along her younger cousin from her second uncle’s side. The girl had come visiting over the last couple of days, and Chen Yan had kept her around to stay for a bit. She was eighteen this year, right at the age for matchmaking.

The Wang Family and Leng Yuan’s house used to have a good relationship. It was only after Leng Yuan’s father passed away that the ties between the two families had faded. Assuming Gu Jiaojiao was in trouble and Leng Yuan would be single again, Chen Yan thought it would be the perfect opportunity to mend those ties. That was why she had hurriedly dragged her cousin out here—only to unexpectedly find Gu Jiaojiao returning completely unharmed.

Chen Yan was both furious and terrified, cursing the entire way back.

Walking the same route home, Chen Shulan heard her rants and couldn’t help but scoff mockingly. "You keep saying you aren’t scared, but who was it that just fell flat on her ass in terror?"

Chen Shulan didn’t have any suitable girls in her own circle to introduce to Leng Yuan. Watching others be so proactive about it earlier had driven her insane with jealousy, but today, she felt utterly vindicated.

For the first time, she felt that Gu Jiaojiao’s return was actually a good thing. At the very least, it allowed her to watch certain people make utter fools of themselves.

Chen Yan sneered coldly, "Now you’re taking cheap shots! Who was it whose eyes were practically bugging out with jealousy when they saw I brought my cousin along?"

Chen Shulan’s smile remained radiant. "I admit I was jealous. But now that I see you having such rotten luck, I feel like laughing. Is that a crime?"

Chen Yan threw off her cousin’s hand and marched right up to Chen Shulan.

Chen Shulan dropped her smile. "What do you want?"

"To kick your ass," she snarled.

The two were frenemies to begin with. Now that they were coming to blows, neither held back in the slightest. Chen Yan grabbed a handful of Chen Shulan’s hair and yanked backward.

Chen Shulan clutched her scalp. "Chen Yan, you dare lay a hand on me? Let go!"

"Not a chance! I’m going to rip it right out of your head!"

Chen Shulan was no pushover either. She reached back and grabbed a handful of Chen Yan’s hair in retaliation. The two women tugged at each other’s hair, both screaming for the other to let go.

Standing sidelined nearby, the younger girl had red eyes. She had already suffered enough humiliation at the village entrance, and unable to handle the emotional toll, she had been crying the entire way back.

Now, seeing Chen Yan getting beaten up, she didn’t bother stepping in to help. Instead, she marched straight back to the house, packed her bags, and left.

"It’s humiliating, completely humiliating! I will never set foot in the Qingshan Team again," she thought bitterly. "And to think I actually believed this distant cousin of mine was going to help me find a good marriage prospect. It was all a deliberate scam!"

Chen Yan didn’t even notice the girl had left. She was too busy brawling with Chen Shulan. Finally, a passerby intervened and pried the two apart.

There was no need to involve the village head to mediate this kind of petty private squabble. If he were called over for every trivial matter, the poor man would probably die of exhaustion.

Gu Jiaojiao had no idea that Chen Yan and Chen Shulan had gotten into a catfight. She followed the driver to the village office, only to hear the village’s loudspeakers suddenly crackle to life.