Chapter 4: Blessings never come in pairs but misfortunes never come singly

"Ouyang Xiasha!" Just as Ouyang Xiasha reached the elevator entrance, she heard a familiar shouting beside her ear. Involuntarily, she turned her head and saw Mu Qingchi, who was still her only best friend and confidant yesterday. She turned back to her parents, her grandaunt, her little aunt, and told them to go downstairs to get the car first, and she would come down immediately!

After watching her parents and relatives enter the elevator, Ouyang Xiasha turned around and indifferently looked at Mu Qingchi, asking, "Is there something else?"

"Ouyang Xiasha, do you know? Since the first time I saw you putting on that high and mighty act, I've felt disgusted. The reason why I became friends with you was to destroy everything you have!" Mu Qingchi said venomously.

"Just because of that, ruining yourself as well, was it worth it?" Ouyang Xiasha said, somewhat surprised.

"Of course, it's not just because I find you disagreeable. If that were all, I wouldn't hate you so much. Do you know? The first time I fell in love with a boy, I mustered my courage to confess to him, but he said he already liked someone else. I thought it was just a crush, what's there to be afraid of? So I started to chase after him, carried his books for him, wrote him love letters. At first, he ignored me, but then, one time, doing the same thing in your presence, he avoided me like the plague. Afterwards, I asked him why, why he ignored such actions before but reacted like this now. I even joked, saying maybe he liked you instead. When he heard my words, he immediately admitted it. I asked him in what ways I didn't measure up to you. He looked at me with contempt and said I couldn't even compare to a single hair on your head. After that, I never sought him out again. I started to secretly compete with you. I wasn't as good as you in the campus beauty contest, or in school competitions... no matter what, I always lost to you. I considered myself the proud daughter of Heaven, yet I lost to you in everything. I couldn't accept it! So, I decided to befriend you. Knowing your enemy is the only way to be victorious in every battle! After getting to know you, I found out you've had a boyfriend for many years and that you greatly respect your parents. So, I started targeting your boyfriend. Who says I'm inferior to you, haha, just one night in bed, and you've lost to me. There's no cat that doesn't steal a taste!" Mu Qingchi looked at Ouyang Xiasha with scorn as she said this.

"Alright, now you've won. Can I go now?" Ouyang Xiasha said, utterly speechless. Was this considered being shot even while lying down? She didn't even know who that boy she liked was! She never knew a woman could be so psychologically twisted to this extent. Oh my heavens!

"Heh, Ouyang Xiasha, are you scared? We're not done yet! Just you wait!" Having said that, Mu Qingchi turned and walked back into Fu Xinyu's room.

"..." Ouyang Xiasha, very speechless, watched Mu Qingchi's retreating figure. Even the bit of sorrow she had just felt was gone, and she reflected on encountering a crazy woman—in more direct terms, a lunatic. Hence, she didn't take Mu Qingchi's words seriously at all! She turned and walked into the elevator!

Upon reaching the ground floor, her relatives had already left. Her parents' car was still at the stairway entrance, waiting for her. Looking at her parents at the doorway, everything that had happened just seemed like fleeting clouds, and she let it go! With parents who loved her, what else could she be dissatisfied with? A man, for whom her parents worried, was it worth it? Of course not. Thinking this, she also let go!

She walked forward, arm in arm with her mother, and got into the back seat. Her mother insisted she get in first. Alright then! In her parents' eyes, she was now a creature in need of utmost protection, so if she had to get in first, so be it!

The car slowly drove along the road. Her father, somewhat worried, kept an eye on his daughter in the rearview mirror. When Ouyang Xiasha saw this, she smiled at her father, assuring him she was fine, and only then did her father relax.

At an intersection, a truck ran a red light and barreled toward their car. Father Ouyang saw this and hurriedly tried to turn aside, but the truck was too fast, leaving no time for Father Ouyang. Instinctively focusing only on protecting his daughter and wife, just as he veered the car, Mother Ouyang instinctively shielded Ouyang Xiasha tightly, and then they heard a "bang!" After that, Ouyang Xiasha lost consciousness.

Before slipping into unconsciousness, Ouyang Xiasha thought of Mu Qingchi's words, and then of her father's actions just now. It was evident that there was also something wrong with their car. Could it have been her?

If it was her, as long as she lived, she would not let her go! Now, she could only hope that her parents were unharmed…

When Ouyang Xiasha regained consciousness, she found herself in the hospital, surrounded by countless caring eyes—her aunts, uncles, cousins, and elder relatives were all there, yet the two pairs of eyes she was most familiar with were missing. She sat up, looking in vain, and then turned her questioning gaze towards her eldest aunt. Seeing her aunt's evasive eyes, Xiasha had an ominous premonition. She grabbed her nearest uncle excitedly and said, "Uncle, where are my mom and dad? What happened to them?"

"Child, brace yourself! Your parents... they're gone!" Uncle Ouyang said with a tinge of heartache. He felt pain for his sister, his brother-in-law, and even more for Ouyang Xiasha lying in the hospital bed. She had just endured the betrayal of a friend and her lover on the same day. Now her parents had left her too. How could she bear it!

"Gone, gone where? Uncle, please don't joke with me, this joke isn't funny at all!" Ouyang Xiasha, looking at the relatives' pained eyes around her, knew they weren't joking. But she just couldn't bring herself to believe it. Her parents, who loved her so much, had left her just like that!

Was Heaven playing with her? She refused to believe it. Wasn't it said that "heaven never seals off all the exits"? Then why was Heaven cutting off her path? Tears had unknowingly covered her entire face.

"Sasha, don't be like this. Your uncle and aunt fought to turn the steering wheel with their last breath, protecting you with their bodies to save you. Don't let down their hope; they just wanted you to live well!" her cousin, trying to be firm, had no choice but to reveal the harsh reality.

"Sasha, if you want to cry, cry out! If you want to lash out, you can hit your second cousin!" The second cousin stepped forward and hugged Ouyang Xiasha with a pained heart.

"Who asked them to save me! Do they think I'm happy about this? I'm so sad! Aren't they afraid I'll feel guilty? How could they do this, leaving me alone!" Ouyang Xiasha cried bitterly, hitting her second cousin's chest. He, seeming unfazed, just felt more heartache for his cousin.

Seeing Sasha willing to vent, the Ouyang family breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't worried about her lashing out; they were worried about her keeping it all inside, bottled up in her heart.

With pained hearts, they watched over their only niece. Thinking of their own relatives' deaths, and now their little niece, injured and alone, devastated by the events of the day, they too began to cry.

In the hospital room, there was nothing but the sound of crying...