After Marrying the Aloof Beauty, I Totally Fell for Her - Chapter 49

Chapter 49: I’m Just Jealous

Early in the morning on the second day of the Lunar New Year, An Ning’s two aunts brought their kids over to visit.

“Happy New Year, Ning Ning jie!” cried her second aunt’s daughter, Lü Xiaomeng, who was eighteen and had just gotten into college. Her looks bore a five or six-point resemblance to An Ning’s, and at the energetic and passionate age she was, she had always been close to An Ning. As soon as she walked in the door, she threw herself into a big bear hug.

The eldest aunt’s son, Wen Lele, was seventeen and still in his final year of high school. He was quite delicate-looking, with two large dark circles under his eyes. Standing shyly behind his cousin, he smiled at An Ning and greeted her.

“Happy New Year, Auntie, Auntie, Xiaomeng, Lele. Come on in and sit down,” An Ning greeted them warmly, though her cousin Lü Xiaomeng, who knew her too well, quickly noticed something off.

“Ning Ning jie, you don’t look too energetic today. Didn’t sleep well last night?” the girl asked innocently with her big, wide eyes.

An Ning replied, “…Just a bit. I stayed up too late reading novels.”

She couldn’t possibly say that she hadn’t slept well because Teacher Mu, knowing there would be relatives visiting today, had rejected her kisses and cuddles last night so they wouldn’t be caught in bed again — leaving her dejected and unable to fall asleep.

As the group entered the house with gift bags in hand, they quickly noticed someone else was already inside.

Mu Yan had actually wanted to retreat to the bedroom when she heard the knock at the door, but worried An Ning might overthink it, she resisted the urge and stayed.

“Hey, whose daughter is this young lady? She looks kind of familiar,” asked the eldest aunt curiously, kindly eyeing the silent Mu Yan.

“I know! It’s Mu jiejie!” Lü Xiaomeng cried out excitedly before An Ning could even introduce her.

Her excitement was like someone who had been walking down the street and got smacked in the head by a wad of hundred-yuan bills.

Everyone turned to look at her, surprised by how confident she sounded.

Even An Ning was puzzled. Did her cousin meet Teacher Mu as a kid?

Realizing she might’ve said too much, Lü Xiaomeng gave an awkward smile and said, “I—I guessed.”

An Ning: “……”

She had a hunch where her cousin recognized Teacher Mu from — maybe she should even be grateful that Xiaomeng didn’t just outright say she was her girlfriend.

Still, that one sentence clued the others in. Her second aunt looked Mu Yan up and down and suddenly said, “Isn’t this the little girl from the Mu family? She’s grown so tall!”

Now that she’d been recognized, Mu Yan gave a polite smile and said, “Hello, Auntie.”

“Aiya, if you hadn’t said it, I wouldn’t have remembered!” exclaimed the eldest aunt, slapping her own forehead. “It’s been so many years since we’ve seen you.”

Perhaps it was a family trait, but the women in the An family were generally warm and lively. The two aunts immediately pulled Mu Yan over with endless concern.

“This child has always been beautiful. Tsk, and now she’s grown into such a fine young lady!”

“Why haven’t you come back all these years? We almost didn’t recognize you!”

An Ning wanted to step in and rescue Mu Yan, but then noticed her cousin Wen Lele staring dazedly at Mu Yan, who was being surrounded by two grown women and struggling to cope.

A faint blush crept onto the boy’s pale face — the look of someone lovestruck.

An Ning felt a sudden discomfort in her chest. She slammed the gift box in her hands onto the floor and called out, “Lele, have you not been sleeping well lately? Those dark circles are serious.”

Startled, the boy snapped out of his daze and quickly looked away, giving a bitter smile, “You don’t say. We get eight days off for New Year’s and the teachers gave us sixteen days’ worth of homework. Might as well not have a break.”

Seeing him act so normally toward her, An Ning felt a little guilty. Of course her cousin didn’t know about her relationship with Mu Yan — and it was only natural that someone as pretty as her would be admired. Why was she even mad?

Mr. and Mrs. An noticed Mu Yan was getting overwhelmed by the compliments and quickly pulled the aunts aside to chat, finally giving her some relief. She let out a soft sigh, looking utterly drained. Just as An Ning wanted to go comfort her, she was dragged away by her cousin.

“Jie, let’s go wash some of the cherries we brought to share with everyone!” The girl’s round eyes sparkled with gossip. Before An Ning could protest, she was pulled into the kitchen.

“Jie, between you and Mu jiejie… who’s the top and who’s the bottom?”

An Ning had been bracing herself for some prying, but didn’t expect her cousin to open with such a bomb of a question.

Her hand slipped and crushed a cherry, its red juice dripping down her fingers, and her face flushed hot instantly.

Her mind involuntarily recalled Mu Yan’s trembling pleas the other night…

Going by that, she was probably the top?

Wait, why was she seriously considering this question?

She turned to face her cousin’s sly grin and scolded sternly, “Is this the kind of thing you think about every day?”

Lü Xiaomeng, seeing her reaction, stuck out her tongue and said, “I was just curious… So, is Mu jiejie actually Tieshu (Iron Tree)?”

An Ning: “…Why would you ask that?”

She almost blurted out, How do you know that? Her aunts definitely didn’t know Mu Yan’s true identity, and the videos online about her and Mu Yan never revealed anything about it either.

She knew Mu Yan must have her reasons for keeping it private. Now that her cousin brought it up, she started to worry.

“Oh, it’s this.” Lü Xiaomeng wiped her hands, pulled out her phone, and showed An Ning something.

It was a video of the incident at the art gallery when An Ning got splashed with paint — filmed up close, showing everyone’s faces clearly.

No one knew what Tieshu really looked like, but almost every Yun University student recognized Vice Dean Chen Feng.

Seeing such a respected figure being so courteous to a young, beautiful woman naturally raised suspicions.

Netizens did what they did best and started digging. Someone boldly guessed: Could this Mu jiejie be the Tieshu?

Initially, everyone laughed the idea off. After all, the image of the bearded middle-aged man said to be Tieshu was burned into people’s minds, and most assumed such solemn, pained artwork couldn’t possibly come from someone so young and pretty.

But as more netizens began to investigate Mu Yan, things started to line up.

People knew Tieshu was from Yun City, and Mu Yan’s social media always listed Yun as her location — except for a brief period in January when she was in Snow City.

A supposed employee at Snow City claimed to have seen Mu Yan and An Ning there, and even got an autograph.

Everywhere Tieshu appeared, Mu Yan appeared too — an incredibly compelling clue.

As the theory caught fire online, another fierce fan war broke out.

Once again, it was Tieshu’s and Zhehua’s fans clashing, and as always, Zhehua’s fans struck first — Zhehua being the only one who could outshine Tieshu in beauty, now even that advantage was under threat.

Comment 1: “What proof do you even have that this woman is Tieshu? Stop pasting any pretty face onto your idol! If she really looked like this, why hide? She’s probably ugly in real life and scared of losing fans.”

Comment 2: “Didn’t y’all call our Huahua a flower vase before? Now you’re rushing to stan someone for her looks? Don’t love her too much now.”

Comment 3: “This is the real Tieshu (middle-aged man photo). I used to like Mu jiejie, but now your forced shipping has ruined it for me.”

This time, however, Tieshu’s normally chill fans won an overwhelming victory — mainly because Mu Yan’s face had attracted a whole army of appearance-driven fans with terrifying energy.

Comment 1: “I’m not saying anything. Just dropping this side-by-side pic. If you can’t see who’s prettier, you need your eyes checked.”

Comment 2: “Ah, the taste of someone breaking down. Y’all used to only have looks to show off. Now even that’s been crushed. What now?”

Comment 3: “Aren’t you the ones always cursing Tieshu for being dead? Doesn’t matter if it’s her or not — Zhehua isn’t all that anyway. Tieshu used to dominate on talent alone. If she looks like this? Then it’s that line: ‘She clearly could’ve relied on her looks, but chose to rely on talent.’”

Comment 4: “You say she’s hiding her face out of shame — ever consider not all artists want to slap a glamor shot on every painting? Maybe she’s just lowkey. That’s not allowed?”

An Ning stared at the comments helplessly. She hadn’t expected her and Mu Yan’s couple popularity to have such unintended side effects.

Would it affect Teacher Mu?

Facing Lü Xiaomeng’s curious face, she shrugged and said, “I don’t know if Teacher Mu is Tieshu. But I do think people who track others’ IP addresses have way too much free time.”

“Oh…” Lü Xiaomeng put her phone away, disappointed. An Ning didn’t dare linger in case she slipped up. She washed the cherries quickly and brought them to the living room.

And immediately spotted Wen Lele sitting beside Mu Yan on the sofa. There was a half-meter gap between them, but Mu Yan was clearly leaning away, fingers tapping impatiently on her knee. The boy’s face was red as a tomato, still racking his brain for things to talk about.

An Ning’s grip on the fruit platter tightened.

Don’t be mad. Don’t be mad. It’s New Year.

She repeated that to herself dozens of times as she crossed the room.

In the end, she still slammed the fruit plate onto the table with a sharp thud, drawing attention from the adults nearby.

Both Mu Yan and Wen Lele turned to her. Lele flinched; Mu Yan, on the other hand, looked relieved and beckoned her over.

Before Lele knew what was happening, he was yanked to his feet and dragged away.

He turned and saw that it was cousin Lü Xiaomeng pulling him aside, glaring as if to say, Are you seriously trying to get yourself killed on New Year’s Day?

Then he saw his other cousin, An Ning, shamelessly plop into his spot and practically nuzzle into the woman’s arms like a big dog reunited with its owner.

And the aloof flower goddess who had just been ignoring him? She barely resisted and even reached out to gently stroke the girl’s curls.

Are female friendships always this… exclusive?

He had just thought they were close friends — he just wanted to sit and chat. He really liked this woman. She was beautiful, refined, and so different from the silly girls at school. She was just… hard to approach.

Seeing he still hadn’t given up, Lü Xiaomeng hissed, “Quit drooling, will you? Ever heard the phrase, ‘Don’t mess with a buddy’s wife’? You’re literally hitting on your cousin-in-law.”

“Uh—huh?” Wen Lele blinked dumbly.

Lü Xiaomeng snorted. “What are you staring at? Never seen lesbians before?”

Wen Lele’s lips trembled. After a long pause, he managed to squeak, “Ning Ning jie… likes girls?”

Lü Xiaomeng: “Wow, really? Don’t you also like girls? Look at your red face — and you’re judging others?”

“I…” Wen Lele wanted to argue but couldn’t untangle his thoughts. His little heart shattered as he stole another glance at the two on the couch.

Now that he was seeing them through a different lens, all the details he’d missed before suddenly became obvious.

For example, An Ning’s hand was all over Mu Yan’s waist like it had ADHD, and the woman — despite her expressionless face — was pinching her back without holding back.

And even so, she kept gently stroking An Ning’s hair.

Wen Lele’s mind went blank. He was on the verge of tears.

Meanwhile, Lü Xiaomeng patted his shoulder like a wise mentor. “Focus on your studies. When you get into college, I’ll show you a fan forum and everything will make sense.”

At that moment, Mu Yan was holding An Ning’s restless hand, glancing nervously at the adults still chatting, and whispered, “What are you doing?”

The girl in her arms was just humming and rubbing her head against her shoulder. Her breath on her neck was more unsettling than the wandering hand.

Mu Yan barely held herself together, but part of her found this clingy An Ning a little amusing. Her lips curved into a teasing smile. “Jealous of a kid? Very mature.”

An Ning had almost calmed down thanks to the woman’s indulgence, but that jab sent her anger flaring again.

She glanced around — the adults were still chatting, and her cousins were off in their own world — then leaned up and brushed her lips against Mu Yan’s neck.

The woman shuddered, her hand that had been stroking her hair suddenly clenched tight.

“Ah…” An Ning gave a soft cry. Mu Yan quickly let go, her face flushed with a tinge of anger, reaching up to push her away.

But An Ning didn’t give her the chance — she tightened her grip and buried herself deeper in her embrace, laughing lowly, “Yeah, I’m immature. I’m just jealous. Bite me, then.”