Chapter Sixty-Two: Not as Imagined

Sang Yijia responded with a puzzled look, "Otherwise?"
"But this tastes terrible," Yan Ningsi's face was all scrunched up. "I saw your Weibo trending post earlier, happened to be at the supermarket, and bought it on a whim."
"When I got home, I took a bite!" Yan Ningsi's brows knitted tightly, her index finger raised as she emphasized, "Just one bite!"
"I spat it right out."
Sang Yijia fell silent for a moment, recalling her days at the orphanage. The director would buy green hawthorn, and all the children were delighted—at last, there was fruit.
Back then, Sang Yijia was the first to try the green hawthorn. Her brows had furrowed just as deeply, unable to fathom how the director could eat such a thing.
Later, Sang Yijia understood: it was the bitterness and difficulty of life. If you could swallow it, there was nothing you couldn't endure.
After graduating from university, whenever times were tough, Sang Yijia would buy some green hawthorn to take home, eat it bite by bite, and by the next day, she’d be back to her usual vigor.
Yan Ningsi was still trying to figure out how Sang Yijia could eat it, glancing at her expression. It seemed perfectly normal, as if she didn’t register the sourness and bitterness of the hawthorn. Yan Ningsi let out a soft sound, then frowned, asking, "Jiajia, you don’t happen to lack a sense of taste, do you?"
[????]
[What sort of unexpected development is this?]
The viewers in the livestream were all stunned, never imagining Yan Ningsi would come up with such a reason.
Sang Yijia shook her head lightly, finished packing her luggage, closed the suitcase, and set it by her feet. Seeing the leftover hawthorn, she picked it up and placed it on top of her suitcase.
"No, my sense of taste is just fine."
It's just that I like the sourness and bitterness of hawthorn.
Only then could she be constantly reminded of how she walked out of the orphanage and the journey she took to get here.
Sang Yijia curved her lips in a smile. "I’m ready."
"Alright." Yan Ningsi glanced at Sang Yijia, unwilling to let it go, and couldn’t help but ask again, "Jiajia, you’re really not lying to me?"
Sang Yijia was torn between laughter and tears. "What would I lie to you for?"
"True enough," Yan Ningsi nodded, pinching her chin in thought, almost forgetting why she had come to find Sang Yijia in the first place.
"Right, Jiajia."
"Yes?" Sang Yijia lifted her suitcase and effortlessly walked downstairs, turning to look at Yan Ningsi still on the second floor. "Is there anything else?"
"Uh..." Yan Ningsi had forgotten. "Nothing."
Sang Yijia suspected nothing and continued down the stairs.
Coincidentally, Lu Wenchuan came out of his room, and their eyes met.
Sang Yijia thought of something. "The green hawthorn was delicious, thank you."
"You're welcome." Lu Wenchuan hadn’t expected their first conversation of the day to be about this, and was stunned for a moment. "As long as you like it."
"Yes, I do." Sang Yijia replied.
Behind them, Yan Ningsi touched her nose, feeling like an unnecessary presence, and quietly went downstairs, hoping to leave unnoticed.
But someone always failed to read the room. Bian He entered and greeted her, "Didn’t you say your suitcase was too heavy to carry?"
"I came to help you."
The first day she arrived, Yan Ningsi had played the delicate card, claiming her suitcase was heavy, yet now she didn’t even mention it?
Bian He found it odd, so he asked as soon as he saw her.
Yan Ningsi: "..."
After watching Sang Yijia carry her suitcase downstairs with ease, Yan Ningsi suddenly realized the suitcase wasn’t actually that heavy after all.
"No, I’m fine, I don’t need help," Yan Ningsi replied, face stiff.
Bian He looked at her curiously, then noticed Sang Yijia was downstairs with her suitcase, and saw Lu Wenchuan come out. "Perfect, you’re both here."
"Leave your luggage outside; after breakfast, we’ll be ready to depart."
"Alright," Lu Wenchuan agreed, then looked at Sang Yijia’s suitcase. "Let me help."
"No need, I can manage," Sang Yijia shook her head, refusing. "It’s just a few steps."
"We can do it together." Sang Yijia took the lead, with Lu Wenchuan following.
The spacious living room was once again left with only Yan Ningsi and Bian He.
"Are you sure you don’t need help?" Bian He asked tentatively.
Yan Ningsi’s eyes widened, and she answered firmly, "No!" Then, she rushed upstairs in a huff, forgetting to ask Sang Yijia if her family doctor would continue to accompany her.

——
After breakfast, Sang Yijia and Lu Wenchuan set off together in the same car, both seated in the back. The cameraman in the front passenger seat occasionally adjusted his filming angle.
Sang Yijia, bored, glanced at the bag of green hawthorn hanging on the seat back. She blinked, reached in, and took one, nibbling it gently.
The sour bitterness immediately flooded her mouth, and Sang Yijia squinted her eyes.
Lu Wenchuan noticed, looking at the small green hawthorn, his gaze tightening. He couldn’t fathom why she liked this fruit that wasn’t really a fruit.
"You..." Lu Wenchuan furrowed his brows and asked, "When did you start liking it?"
"This?" Sang Yijia looked down at the fruit in her hand, hummed, and began to recall.
The original owner was a poor honor student in high school. She had brought a bag of hawthorn back, sharing it with classmates.
Some had never seen this fruit, took a curious bite, and spat it out immediately, even tossing it away.
Not only that, the person had insulted the poor honor student.
At the time, the original owner was her deskmate. She took a hawthorn, bit into it. The taste was truly hard to accept, but she finished it and even praised it.
After that, whenever the girl’s family had hawthorn, she’d bring some for the original owner.
Over time, the original owner genuinely grew to like it.
Sang Yijia finished reminiscing, looked at the hawthorn in her hand, and couldn’t help but marvel at how similar she was to the original owner.
No wonder the author had warned her to be careful, or she’d end up inside the novel.
She really was another version of herself in another world.
Then again, Sang Yijia felt something was wrong. If it were truly her, she would never live or die for a man.
There were so many trees in the world—why hang yourself on just one?
Sang Yijia couldn’t understand, shook her head, and answered Lu Wenchuan’s question, "A high school classmate brought it for me."
"Whenever her family had it, she’d bring some for me." Honestly, Sang Yijia thought the original owner was truly kind-hearted at times—not only with her high school deskmate, but later with taxi drivers she met. If she could help, she’d always try, never acting like a spoiled princess who saw herself as superior or invincible.