After rebirth, I rejected the rich yandere lady

Yao Mingyue walked over and sat down, stretching out her pallid hands to feel the warmth and glow of the fire from the stove, which helped her feel much more spirited and bath the entirety of her being in warmth.

"Thank you," Yao Mingyue whispered.

Zhao Lianmai looked sideways at her, and after a moment said, "Are you feeling unwell?"

Yao Mingyue's hands by the fire moved slightly, revealing a smile, "Not really, just feeling a bit cold."

Zhao Lianmai watched the smile on her cheeks and sighed lightly, "If you were really okay, you wouldn't have been willing to leave his side and come here to warm up by the fire."

Yao Mingyue was momentarily stunned, then laughed somewhat self-deprecatingly, "So I'm that easy to read, huh?"

Zhao Lianmai shook her head, "You're not easy to read, it's just that when it comes to matters concerning him, you've never thought about hiding your emotions."

"Didn't expect you to understand me so well," Yao Mingyue said, looking at her.

"The one who understands you better is him."

Zhao Lianmai spoke, "Just now, he gave me a look. He had already noticed that you weren't feeling well and asked me to bring you here to warm up by the fire."

Yao Mingyue's eyes trembled slightly, her fingers seemingly regaining some color under the firelight as she smiled, "Yeah, after all, we are childhood friends..."

"Is your health... very serious?"

Zhao Lianmai hesitated for a moment but still asked.

Yao Mingyue's eyelashes cast a warm yellow glow in the firelight, "I'm alright."

She didn't want to tell anyone about her own issues.

"I've noticed you've changed from before," Zhao Lianmai did not press further but suddenly said this statement.

"What's different?" Yao Mingyue asked.

Zhao Lianmai added another piece of wood to the stove.

"You're not as aggressive as before, not as unreasonable, and you no longer possess that crazed drive to do anything for him..."

Zhao Lianmai's words were always so blunt, seemingly leaving no room for face-saving.

Yao Mingyue couldn't help laughing upon hearing this, "Is that the kind of bad image I have in your eyes? Seems like you all prefer An Nuannuan's type of personality, right?"

"But this is who you are."

Zhao Lianmai spoke softly, "It's the 'you' that he likes the most. Nuannuan's personality is good, but he likes her for her personality, not you with her type of personality. And it's the same for you, he likes the unreasonable yet passionately loyal 'you.'"

Yao Mingyue was stunned for a long time, realizing that even an outsider could see the problem.

During this time, how could Xu Musen possibly have missed it?

But they were childhood friends, and had an unspoken understanding that neither would confront the other about this issue.

Zhao Lianmai saw she wasn't speaking, took out the fire tongs, and gently stirred the wood, making the fire burn brighter.

"I don't know what's wrong with your health, but it's a bit like my mother from before. When someone's body has issues, they become gentler, more timid. The things they wanted before suddenly seem to be let go...

It's like the person has become flawless overnight.

But the only thing is, she's no longer herself, because she's already prepared to leave..."

Zhao Lianmai's voice carried a hint of sadness, remembering the time her mother was first diagnosed and they had no money for treatment.

Her mother never showed any signs of discomfort or unhappiness, but became even more tender than before, yet Zhao Lianmai couldn't feel happy at all.

Because she knew clearly that when a person shows no 'negative' emotions, it means they're already prepared for the worst.

Yao Mingyue was silent, feeling her heartbeat lose its rhythm, she took several deep breaths of warm air to try to calm herself down a bit.

After a long time, she laughed and shook her head, "I never thought that after so many years, it would be you to say these things to me, thank you for your concern, I... might not be that terrible, with the New Year coming, he has so many happy things this year... I just don't want my issues to make him unhappy."

After all, this year he was going to get engaged to the most important girl in his life, it wasn't necessary to worry them when everyone was so cheerful...

But although she said this, the dimness and sourness in her eyes were still uncontrollable.

Zhao Lianmai watched the flickering flames, "Actually, I don't like you, ever since I got to know An Nuannuan, I even disliked you a bit."

"I know, from your perspective, I'm rotten to the core... stealing someone's beloved, yet acting so self-righteous and shamelessly unreasonable."

Yao Mingyue didn't retort anything. She could understand; Zhao Lianmai had always been on An Nuannuan's side.

"But then, what happened later made me realize that the matters between you guys may not be so clear in terms of who came first or what's right or wrong…or rather, as an outsider, I don't have the right to judge anything."

Zhao Lianmai said, pausing for a brief moment, then turned her gaze towards Yao Mingyue, whose complexion was sickly pale, and began to speak.

"After my mother fell ill, my so-called father just disappeared all of a sudden. My mother always said he might have his own difficulties. After all, he is our father, and if she's really gone, he'd be the only family left for us. Without her as a burden, he might want us, his two daughters back...

But I don't know what kind of difficulty could make a man abandon his seriously ill wife, and leave his two children who are still in school. I know my mother says this, only hoping that if she really passes away, it could still leave a hope of survival for me and my sister.