Imperfect Desires

Ying's expression didn't even change when she saw Qiu Meihui. She wasn't guilty of anything, why would she feel scared. 

Qiu Meihui rushed up to Liu Nuan's side and looking at her, she frowned. She turned her eyes to Ying with an accusing look, "Why did you make her cry?"

"I have no reasons to make her cry," answered Ying in an artless manner.

"Exactly! You have no reason because you have nothing to do with Nuannuan. Your anger and hatred are justified when it's for me. Why are you trying to hurt Nuannuan?"

"I'm trying to hurt her?" repeated Ying as she pointed at herself. With a snort, she added, "Don't flatter yourself. I didn't do anything. I merely repeated some truths of her life and she is already a sobbing mess. It's all because of her own guilty conscious. It has nothing to do with me."

Qiu Meihui rubbed Liu Nuan's back who was trying to hold back her tears. "Mei, you tell her that I didn't mean to kill Chen Xiu. That was never my intention."

Qiu Meihui wiped her tears and hugged her while trying to soothe her. "You don't have to prove anything to anyone."

Liu Nuan sniffled as she said in a pitiful voice, "Ying also thinks I snatched Jinhai from Chen Xiu."

Qiu Meihui glared at Ying who was still sitting unperturbed from this act of friendly support. She really wondered how these two best friends were so similar in nature? Why was it that they always thought the others are wrong but would never reflect on their own actions? What? Did they receive a 'forever right' cheat pass from God or something?

Leaving Qiu Meihui to accompany her best friend, Ying walked out of the living room and went upstairs to find Zhao Wei after learning from the maid that Zhao Wei went to her room after coming back. Ying wanted to leave this place as soon as possible. That's why she only delivered what she had to and made a beeline for the exit.

However, just as she was about to open the door of her car, another hand held her wrist and stopped her. Ying looked up at Qiu Meihui's face and furrowed her brows. 

"Anything I can help you with?" 

Qiu Meihui took a deep breath as she said, "Yesterday, I called to bury the hatchet between us. Today, you showed up here and hurt my best friend. Are you trying to provoke me?"

Ying rolled her eyes and leaned against the side of her car. "I didn't provoke anyone."

"You insulting my best friend is indirectly slapping my face. You are trying to offend me."

"The world doesn't revolve around you. Certainly, not mine!" said Ying with simple directness. "I was sitting silently. It was your best friend who provoked me to say everything I did."

"Ying, Nuannuan is a very sensitive girl. You hurt her feelings. Do you have any idea how much she is suffering right now? It was just a simple mistake on her part and you all want to condemn her for life?"

Ying gaped at Qiu Meihui in disbelief. "A simple mistake?" She really had no words for this one. "Bloody hell! That simple mistake of your friend actually took someone's life. And even if it didn't take someone's life, I'd still blame her for hurting someone for her own happiness. Stolen things are always stolen, they can't become ours. Love is the same!"

"You'd say that. After all, you were never able to steal Xiao Li's love. If you had been successful in doing so, you wouldn't be preaching here to me."

Ying's face darkened at that remark of hers. "I couldn't steal his love? How naive of you! I, Yan Ying never tried stealing his love from you. I was very happy being secretly in love with him. It was you who two years ago told him that I had always been in love with him. Otherwise, he wouldn't know that fact even till my deathbed. Because I never intended on stealing him from you."

 Qiu Meihui was startled by the intense fury in Ying's eyes. But she still went on, "Why is it that you all think Nuannuan stole Jinhai from Chen Xiu and not the other way around? Don't forget that Nuannuan was engaged to Jinhai from a young age, it was Chen Xiu who stole Jinhai from Nuannuan. She just tried to get back what originally belonged to her."

"It was just a verbal engagement," reminded Ying. "And let's not forget that such kind of verbal engagement also existed between me and Xiao Li as well. In fact, my godmother's last wish was also to make me her daughter-in-law." Qiu Meihui's eyes shifted. She never thought Ying would bring this up in their argument. She always thought Ying had an upper hand over her because of this one thing; She had the approval of Xiao Li's dead mother. But in all these years, Ying had never brought this up. Everyone knew there was a verbal engagement but she never let anyone talk about it.

However, today she really said it. She said it so outrightly at her face. 

"The reason why I never tried to steal Xiao Li from you had been only one; He loved you from the bottom of his heart! I never had a chance, to begin with. I knew that." Ying took a brief pause before saying, "Your best friend knew very well that Jinhai was in love with Chen Xiu. He really loved her. But she still overlooked that fact just to satisfy her own ego. In a way, you both aren't that different."

"I can't believe that you're trying to speak up for Chen Xiu right now. That actress who has no place in our circle. An actress's love is just like their roles, it changes overnight. Who knew just how many beds she climbed before catching Jinhai's attention. These actresses know very well how to use their beautiful faces to seduce men like Jinhai. But Nuannuan's love for Jinhai had always been real!"

"PA!"

Qiu Meihui held the side of her face and looked at Ying with a baffled look. She never expected Ying to slap her. She had slapped Ying plenty of times but the latter had never tried to attack back. But now?

"You! You actually slapped me?"

Ying clenched her hand that she had used to hit Qiu Meihui's face as she said, "You really know the art of belittling someone's feelings. As long as it's your or your best friend's feelings, anything is justified. And every feeling is real. But when it comes to people like me and Chen Xiu, our feelings are meant to be trampled on. I'm a hypocrite, I knew that. But you both are really putting me to shame now."

With that, she got in her car and drove away without so much as sparing Qiu Meihui a single glance.