At that moment, blood beads slowly oozed from the wound on her arm, trickling down.
Lin Tingxue, who had been watching Jiang Yuntan, saw this. Her pupils dilated, and a heart-shattering panic flooded her mind.
Reacting, she lunged forward, grabbed Jiang Yuntan's wrist, and smashed it hard against the kitchen counter.
With the sound of the jade bracelet shattering, a greenish-white light burst from Lin Tingxue's palm, instantly healing the wound on Jiang Yuntan's arm.
It all happened in an instant.
A sharp slap sound snapped everyone back to reality.
The next second, they heard Jiang Yuntan's accusing voice: "Lin Tingxue, are you crazy? Why did you just lunge at me out of nowhere?
"And even if you did, why did you press my hand down and smash it against the counter? You've broken my bracelet!" Jiang Yuntan looked at the three pieces of the shattered bracelet in her palm with heartbreak.
Her voice was displeased, but a choked sob was audible. "This was a heirloom jade bracelet from Uncle Shen, and you've broken it.
"I see it now—since you can't have it, you deliberately broke it, didn't you?"
Lin Tingxue's eyes held a secret delight. Just a few more seconds, and Jiang Yuntan would have bound the treasure to herself. She had narrowly avoided repeating the same mistake. She didn't want to live through the days of being crushed by that orphan Jiang Yuntan in her previous life again.
Jiang Yuntan was right. If she couldn't have it, neither would Jiang Yuntan.
But outwardly, she said with feigned panic, "No, no! I just saw your arm was hurt and used my ability to heal you.
"Look at your arm—isn't the wound already healed?"
Jiang Yuntan sneered inwardly. Let Lin Tingxue heal her? She wouldn't dare. What if Lin Tingxue did something sneaky while healing, inserting something into her wound through it?
But she wouldn't give Lin Tingxue that idea.
Jiang Yuntan said coldly, "Are we that close? Why would you be so anxious when I'm injured, even healing me immediately?
"Even if you were helping me, there was no need to be so frantic. Besides, you could have just grabbed my hand to heal me—why did you smash it against the counter?
"I think you took this chance to break my bracelet. You wanted it before, and now that you know I won't give it to you, you don't want me to have it either. How vicious of you!"
With her deliberate emphasis, everyone remembered how Xia Chujing had suggested she use that bracelet to make amends to Lin Tingxue earlier.
Even Qiao Chengming, who joined later, knew that Lin Tingxue seemed to really want that bracelet.
Lin Tingxue suddenly felt she couldn't defend herself. She could only wave her hands and say, "I really didn't mean it! I just wanted to heal the wound on your hand. Is that wrong?"
"Whether you meant it or not, you know in your heart." Jiang Yuntan said with red-rimmed eyes, looking extremely wronged.
She pursed her lips and clutched the three shattered pieces of the bracelet tightly in her palm.
"No wonder I've always found you so annoying—there's a reason." After throwing out this remark, she turned and left.
Watching Jiang Yuntan's furious retreating figure, everyone felt she wasn't being capricious but rather deeply wronged.
Accusing glances fell on Lin Tingxue.
Yu Ke clicked his tongue ambiguously and said sarcastically, "I never knew Miss Lin cared so much for our little sister Yuntan."
Hearing this, Lin Tingxue's face instantly turned pale.
She instinctively looked toward Shen Hegui and found him staring at her with a cold, icy gaze, as if looking at someone who had offended him.
A chill ran down her spine, but thinking of all the help she had given Shen Hegui lately, she couldn't help clenching her fists.
Her help to him was far greater than Jiang Yuntan's, wasn't it?
Lin Tingxue explained to Shen Hegui, "I really didn't mean it. I didn't expect this to happen. I'll make it up to her—I'll give her an even more precious bracelet later."
She wasn't stupid; she knew this explanation wouldn't make everyone fully believe her. But even if they didn't believe her, she had to explain, otherwise she'd seem too guilty.
Although her actions today seemed rash and might worsen everyone's impression of her, compared to letting Jiang Yuntan claim the treasure, she'd rather be misunderstood.
After all, in the apocalypse, everyone respected the strong. Once she became powerful, no one would criticize her for today; they would just explain it away as an accident.
Shen Hegui said coldly, "Our Yuntan doesn't like Miss Lin being too close to her. Please stay farther away from her in the future.
"As for whether you were healing her, Miss Lin has already seen Yuntan's attitude—she doesn't need it, and she probably won't need you to do such things for her in the future.
"We don't know if you meant it or not. But Yuntan's bracelet is broken—that's a fact. Since you said you'd compensate her with a better one, I hope you keep your word."
They had all seen what happened; their eyes weren't blind. Who would believe Lin Tingxue had no agenda?
But he wouldn't give up on helping Yuntan claim what was rightfully hers. Since Lin Tingxue broke it, making her compensate was only fair.
Lin Tingxue's eyes reddened at Shen Hegui's words. She choked out a nod, "I understand. I'll stay away from her from now on."
Anyone watching would think she was the one being bullied.
Shen Hegui didn't say anything more. He washed his hands and said, "I'll go see Yuntan."
Soon, he stood outside the small room, knocked on the door, and said, "Yuntan, you in there?"
After a moment, Jiang Yuntan opened the door, her tear-filled eyes unusually red.
Shen Hegui got straight to the point: "Take out some of the gold you collected earlier. Let me see if I can fix the bracelet."
Jiang Yuntan was taken aback, then took out a gold bracelet. Although she had exchanged most of her gold for dimensional coins, she had kept many intricately crafted and beautifully designed pieces.
After all, who doesn't like beautiful jewelry?
Shen Hegui held the bracelet in his hand and asked, "What pattern do you like?"
She thought for a moment and said, "A peony window lattice." Then she described it in detail to Shen Hegui.
Soon, Shen Hegui used his Metal Element Ability to melt a section of the gold bracelet. The molten gold flowed into the cracks of the broken jade, forming a peony window lattice pattern—very unique.
The broken jade bracelet, in Shen Hegui's hands, became a gold-inlaid jade bracelet, vivid and lifelike. The gold and red jade were set together, making the bracelet look even more luxurious and precious than before, with no sign of it ever being broken.