Chapter 24: Campus Mary Sue 22

Mother Ke, carrying a thermal lunch box, didn’t notice anything unusual between the two of them. When she saw Le Yixian, she was overjoyed. “Muxue, you’ve come to visit Xiaodao?”

Le Yixian stood up and greeted her. “Dr. Ke, school’s over and I had nothing else planned, so I thought I’d drop by.”

“Thank you,” Mother Ke said, glancing at the young woman before her. In her heart, she found Le Yixian’s looks and demeanor both impeccable—what a pity, she thought.

She motioned for the girl to sit, then turned to her son, whose ears were red and whose face was tinged with gloom. Her brows knitted. “Xiaodao, are you feeling unwell?”

“No,” Ke Yuandao replied, glancing at his mother, then at Le Yixian behind her, who was covering her mouth to stifle a laugh. Her eyes had curved into two slender crescents. At this, he couldn’t help but let the corners of his mouth turn up as well.

“If you’re alright, that’s good. Your second uncle said you’ve got a mild concussion, so you need to be more careful. If you feel unwell, be sure to say so. He specifically told Aunt He to make you some fish head soup,” Mother Ke said, setting the thermal lunch box on the table beside the hospital bed and opening the lid. The enticing aroma quickly filled the air.

“I don’t want any,” Ke Yuandao’s brows drew together at her words.

“You have to,” Mother Ke insisted. “As the saying goes, eat what you need to heal what’s ailing you. Fish head soup is also highly nutritious.” She poured out a steaming, creamy-white bowl of soup from the thermos. Seeing her son’s resistant expression, she added, “If you really won’t drink it, Miss Muxue is here too.”

Ke Yuandao’s expression faltered. He hesitated, then finally took the soup from his mother. With his senior here, he didn’t want to seem picky—after all, being fussy about food was for children.

He took the fish head soup from Mother Ke and downed it in one gulp.

“Don’t drink so fast, be careful not to choke,” Mother Ke cautioned.

Ke Yuandao swallowed the last mouthful of soup, meeting Le Yixian’s amused gaze. Even the fishy taste in his mouth suddenly seemed bearable.

When Le Yixian caught Ke Yuandao’s bright, sparkling eyes, he looked just like a child waiting to be praised. She fished around in her pocket, but all she found were a few flower petals.

So she reached out and gently patted Ke Yuandao’s head, still wrapped up like a zongzi. “Good boy!”

Ke Yuandao broke into a wide grin, revealing two rows of gleaming white teeth.

Mother Ke, watching from the side, felt something was off. She looked at one, then the other, and finally noticed the pink bubbles practically floating around them.

She opened her mouth, hesitated to speak, when a nurse hurried in looking for her. Mother Ke had no choice but to go tend to her patient.

Le Yixian didn’t stay much longer either; she had to go home and do some work on her original host’s family—after all, breaking off an engagement with another family was no small matter.

After she left, Ke Yuandao lay on his bed, hugging his long, rainbow caterpillar toy and humming a little tune.

The caterpillar’s head was adorably vacant, and Ke Yuandao couldn’t help but laugh to himself as he stared at it.

Just then, Father Ke passed by after his rounds and caught sight of the scene, and was startled. He quickly asked his wife, a neurologist, whether their son had been knocked silly.

Mother Ke glanced at her husband and shared her own suspicions.

Ke Aiguo fell silent for a long time after hearing this. Then, hesitantly and with some anxiety, he asked his wife, “Xiaodao wants to marry Muxue in the future? Do we have enough money for that?”

Mother Ke was speechless.

“But then, Muxue’s eating habits aren’t really an issue. That garden Xiaodao has should be enough for her,” Ke Aiguo went on.

Mother Ke was taken aback. That’s right—her son had been growing roses since he was a child. When had he started liking Muxue?

Back at home, Le Yixian asked Butler Li to help contact her original host’s parents. As soon as they found out, they started a video call with her.

Her parents were an attractive couple themselves; otherwise, how could they have had the original host and her four handsome brothers?

“Baby, you’ve lost weight,” the beautiful woman said, gazing at her well-behaved daughter on the screen.

“No, I weighed myself just yesterday—I’ve gained two pounds,” Le Yixian replied.

“Make sure you eat your flowers and drink plenty of water, don’t starve yourself,” Mother Li continued.

Le Yixian was at a loss. Clearly, her mother wasn’t even listening.

Mother Li chattered on, reminding her to dress warmly since it was getting cold—forget about looking good, just keep warm. In a few days, the temperature would drop, and she’d already had Butler Li prepare some gaudy gold thermal leggings for her to wear.

Le Yixian thought that such leggings seemed completely out of place in this Mary Sue world. She called out to her parents, drawing their attention, took a deep breath, and said, “Dad, Mom, I want to break off my engagement with Li Xiansi.”

Her parents on the screen were silent.

Seeing their faces darken, Le Yixian thought to herself, as expected—even though they doted on her, breaking off the engagement wasn’t a trivial matter.

Her main goal this time was to test her original host parents’ bottom line, to prepare for her next steps.

After all, in the novel, the original host’s parents had been unscrupulous in their efforts to marry An Xiansi to their daughter. In the end, the company went bankrupt, and they both died in a car accident.

The original host and her brothers ended up living in a small house.

“What happened?” Father Li slammed the table, looking furious. “Baby, tell Daddy, did that brat bully you? I’ll go teach him a lesson!”

Le Yixian was taken aback. That wasn’t the reaction she expected—shouldn’t they be scolding her?

“It’s An Xiansi, isn’t it? Don’t be afraid, Daddy will go beat him up for you right now.” As he spoke, Father Li rolled up his sleeves.

“Stop it, you’re scaring her,” Mother Li said, pushing away her husband, who seemed ready for a fight. Sitting in front of the camera, her gaze softened. “Baby, what’s going on? Didn’t you like An Xiansi very much? Why do you suddenly want to break off the engagement? Can you tell Mom?”

“I don’t like An Xiansi. I like someone else,” Le Yixian admitted after a moment’s thought, deciding not to hide it.

Mother Li paused, then broke into a smile. “It’s a good thing to have someone you like. Perfect! Your dad and I—no, actually, our vacation starts today. We’ll fly home to talk to you.”

Before Le Yixian could react, they ended the call.

Le Yixian was dumbfounded.

“Who? What brat dares to steal my precious girl?” On the other side of the world, Father Li was already in a rage.

“Someone, prepare the plane! I’m flying home!” he shouted.

The next evening, after visiting Ke Yuandao and returning home, Le Yixian found her parents and brothers already sitting in the living room.

She was speechless.

So, as soon as the Li family learned that their little princess had someone she liked, they all rushed home.

No one in charge was at work anymore. No wonder, as one of the four major families, they later went bankrupt so easily.

The reason was right here, Le Yixian thought to herself, looking at all the people gathered in the hall.