Chapter 121: The Women’s War (Part One)

Chapter 121: The War Between Women (Part One)

Champagne’s remark about “another one” instantly left Ye Xiaonuo blushing scarlet. Although she did not know Champagne, it was obvious that both girls in the room had an unusually close relationship with Chen Xiao.

She thought of Cabbage, who had worked with her at the fast-food restaurant, and of that breathtaking little beauty, Yaya, whom she had seen at the zoo that day.

That damned Xiao Wu—just how many girls did he have around him?

For a moment, Ye Xiaonuo felt her teeth itch with irritation.

In truth, everyone at the fast-food restaurant had known that Ye Xiaonuo liked Chen Xiao. Chen Xiao himself had naturally sensed it as well. Otherwise, how could a boy fail to notice when a girl took such good care of him, acted so intimately with him, remembered his birthday, gave him the birthday present he wanted most, and even arrived late for work because she had gone home to retrieve it?

If a boy still failed to notice after all that, he could only be an idiot.

After Chen Xiao left the restaurant, Ye Xiaonuo had felt despondent for quite some time. She had vaguely understood that a boy like Chen Xiao probably did not belong with a girl like her.

Ye Xiaonuo was a girl with a strong sense of self-awareness. She knew she was somewhat pretty—but only somewhat.

She had her own ranking system for women’s looks, dividing them into five categories.

The first category consisted of women whose appearance was simply difficult to look at.

The second category comprised ordinary-looking women with common faces, the sort who vanished into a crowd without a trace.

The third category included girls who were a little pretty or somewhat cute. By the standard of “beauty,” they could barely cross the threshold. They were not great beauties, at most they could be called charming girls of modest elegance.

The fourth category consisted of true beauties—the kind who could appear on magazine covers. Naturally gifted and refined through cultivation of their bearing, they scored above eighty in every regard. Their figures and faces were both exceptional. Such girls usually entered the film and television industry, became fashion models, or placed near the top in beauty contests.

The fifth category was breathtaking beauty—the kind capable of overturning a kingdom.

Women like that were often called calamities or enchantresses.

In ancient times, they would have possessed the sort of beauty said to bring ruin upon a nation. A foolish ruler might set signal fires across the realm merely to amuse such a woman, while a man might rage against the world for her sake. There were even stories of an emperor’s favorite smiling as riders galloped through the capital carrying fresh lychees from afar.

Generally speaking, only a woman of truly overwhelming beauty could inspire such madness. Yet girls of that level were exceedingly rare in real life.

Even when one appeared, men would soon fight to claim her. And a woman that beautiful was not someone an ordinary man had any right to possess. Even if he somehow did, without the strength to protect her, he would only invite disaster upon himself.

That was the meaning behind the saying: an ordinary man is blameless until he possesses a treasured jade; then the jade becomes his crime.

By Ye Xiaonuo’s standards, although women were usually reluctant to admit that another woman was more beautiful than they were—

Women cared about their looks; men cared about how much alcohol they could hold.

Women cared about their weight; men cared about how long they could last in bed.

In either matter, neither men nor women were ordinarily willing to concede defeat.

But no matter how unwilling Ye Xiaonuo was to admit it, she had now seen four girls connected to Chen Xiao.

Cabbage, Yaya, and the two girls in the hospital room before her.

By the five-level system she had devised, Ye Xiaonuo herself was merely third-rate—a girl of modest, delicate beauty.

But among those four girls, Cabbage could barely be counted as fourth-rate. She was still slightly lacking, but that was because her family was poor and she had no money to dress herself up.

As the saying went, a Buddha needed golden robes, and a person needed fine clothes.

Cabbage always wore the most ordinary clothing. She could not afford cosmetics or skin-care products, and even her hair was cut casually at a cheap neighborhood salon. Naturally, that diminished her appearance somewhat. But given her innate qualities, a little careful styling would easily place her among the fourth category—the ranks of true beauties.

But what about the others?

Yaya, that exquisite little beauty in the making, was still quite young. Yet from what Ye Xiaonuo had seen that day, the child was already so beautiful that even another girl could not help marveling at her.

And men seemed to have a particular fondness for girls with that kind of youthful, almost Lolita-like appearance. Besides, Yaya’s features were merely a little immature at present. Given time, once her face and figure had fully developed, she would absolutely qualify for the fifth category—the kind of beauty capable of bringing ruin to kingdoms.

As for the two girls in the hospital room, the one sitting beside Chen Xiao’s bed, smiling as she said “another one,” was unquestionably a true fourth-category beauty.

But the other girl, the one with the strange expression—

Good heavens, she was even more astonishing.

If Yaya was merely a fifth-category beauty in the making, a potential calamity, then this girl was the genuine article: a living, breathing fifth-category beauty, an enchantress standing right before Ye Xiaonuo.

She seemed born to be adored by men, destined to make countless men fight until they bled for her. In ancient times, a woman like this might even have provoked wars between nations.

So, when it came to looks, Ye Xiaonuo was undeniably disheartened.

She had been utterly defeated.

Her rivals were one or even two levels above her. Chen Xiao might not be the sort of man who coveted beauty, but everyone loved beautiful things.

In fact, Ye Xiaonuo had already resigned herself to this somewhat at the zoo. But after returning home and thinking it over carefully, she found herself unable to accept it.

So what if she was only a delicate, modest beauty? She had lost to them in appearance, but that did not mean she had no chance at all.

Although she was a girl, she had grown up with a police officer as her stepfather, and that had given her a somewhat boyish streak. She was not the sort to give up or admit defeat easily.

Today, she had even enjoyed the advantage of being close at hand. After learning from Officer Xu that Chen Xiao had been injured and hospitalized, she had immediately taken action. She hurriedly prepared some things for a patient, personally made a nourishing soup, and rushed to the hospital, hoping to arrive before anyone else.

She had never expected that her imagined rivals, Cabbage and Yaya, would not be there—but two other beautiful girls would appear instead.

“May I ask who you are?”

Champagne’s attempt to stir up trouble did not bother Phoenix. She seemed to ignore the remark about “another one” entirely. Turning toward Ye Xiaonuo at the door, she maintained a polite smile, but the brightness and force in her eyes began to rise sharply.

Could eyes really spark fire?

Well—if the eyes belonged to two jealous women, perhaps they could.

“I’m a friend of Chen Xiao’s,” Ye Xiaonuo replied with considerable skill.

Friend.

That word could mean many things. It both distanced her from him and left room for possibility. An ordinary friend was a friend, after all; a boyfriend or girlfriend was also a kind of friend.

But Phoenix was hardly easy to fool. She was an exceptionally intelligent woman, and she immediately detected the guarded look in the newcomer’s eyes—the instinctive hostility that arose naturally between women.

Phoenix could not help feeling a little resentful toward Chen Xiao, but she did not let it show. Looking at Ye Xiaonuo, she smiled sweetly and said in a calm, courteous tone, “Oh. Since you’re Chen Xiao’s friend, please come in.”

She even took the initiative to move aside and bring over a chair, smiling warmly.

“Please sit. Chen Xiao has been injured, and we’re very grateful that you went to the trouble of coming to see him.”

Look at that.

This was what women were like.

She neither lost her temper nor made a scene. Instead, she immediately assumed the bearing of the lady of the house. And that one phrase—“our Chen Xiao”—was a stroke of genius.

She had not openly declared herself Chen Xiao’s legitimate girlfriend, but the meaning was obvious enough that even a fool could understand it.

Ye Xiaonuo’s eyes wavered for a moment, but she quickly steadied herself. She did not believe it for a second.

In Ye Xiaonuo’s mind, her greatest imagined rival was Yaya. As for this Phoenix, beautiful to the point of seeming unreal, Ye Xiaonuo had never met or even heard of her before.

Nearby, Champagne saw that her attempt to fan the flames had succeeded and could not help letting a foxlike smile curl across her lips.

Chen Xiao noticed and glared fiercely at her, his expression carrying a clear warning.

She loved joking around, but there were some jokes one simply could not make.

Phoenix’s words had left Ye Xiaonuo feeling stifled, but the clever girl quickly found a way to strike back. She deliberately looked at Champagne.

“Um, and what should I call you?”

Brilliant. Truly brilliant.

Champagne looked at Ye Xiaonuo and felt a sudden sense of kinship. This girl was no fool. Seeing that she could not defeat Phoenix alone, she had dragged Champagne into the battle as well.

Ye Xiaonuo’s meaning was perfectly clear. She deliberately put on an innocent, sincere expression and pretended to ask who Champagne was, when in fact she was openly challenging Phoenix.

The unspoken message was obvious:

You’re putting on the airs of the lady of the house, are you? But who is this girl beside you? Hmph! Who knows whether you’re really the lady of the house at all?

Clearly, the outcome had not yet been decided.

The one man and three women in the room were all highly intelligent. None of them was foolish, and everyone understood the hidden battle being waged back and forth.

Chen Xiao grew increasingly helpless. This misunderstanding was becoming enormous, yet he could not say a word. As for explaining himself, he could simply speak to Phoenix privately afterward. If he anxiously tried to clear himself in front of everyone, it would be unfair to Ye Xiaonuo and Champagne.

There was nothing wrong with liking someone. The only mistake lay in the way one handled it.

Besides, if he hurried to distance himself publicly, it would hurt an old friend like Ye Xiaonuo. Chen Xiao was kindhearted by nature; he could not bring himself to do such a thing.

As for Champagne—

Hmph. That wretched girl. He would certainly teach her a lesson later.

Fanning the flames, stirring up trouble, making mischief!

Although Phoenix was somewhat displeased, she was also a sensible girl. She would never openly tear off the mask and make a scene. Clever women understood that they should never put a man in an impossible position.

And so Ye Xiaonuo sat down. She even acted as though nothing had happened, generously ladling out a bowl of the nourishing soup she had made herself and watching Chen Xiao drink it one mouthful at a time.

Helpless, Chen Xiao forced down barely half a bowl before setting it aside.

Phoenix continued smiling sweetly beside him. Not the slightest trace of anger could be seen on her face. Yet between the three women, glances flew back and forth, each exchange a silent clash. No one knew how many rounds had already been fought.

Lying in his hospital bed, Chen Xiao felt as though he had been thrust into a world of flashing blades and crossing swords. Invisible sword auras seemed to shoot through the room in every direction.

All three women were secretly competing with one another.

This was not an open quarrel. It was a covert war.

If they had been fighting physically, ten or eight Champagnes or Ye Xiaonuos would not have posed the slightest challenge to Phoenix. She could have dealt with them with a mere flick of her finger.

But this was not something force could resolve.

The three women were competing in patience.

Yes. They had come to visit a patient, and the visit was over. Surely it was time to leave?

But who left first was a matter of great significance.

The first to leave was the guest.

The one who stayed behind was the hostess.

The implication was perfectly clear.

(To be continued shortly. There will be three chapters today.)