Hailee stayed silent. If she were acting according to her own personality, she would've clapped and praised Cohen, and maybe even said she'd go with him to teach Mike a lesson.
But now, she was the original Hailee, a soft-hearted girl madly in love with Mike. According to a girl deeply in love, she should've gotten mad at her second brother and told him not to go against Mike.
Even though she had to act like the original Hailee, facing her honest second brother, she couldn't bring herself to argue with him. So she just lowered her head in silence, making herself look like she was still heartbroken over being dumped by Mike.
Cohen lightly slapped his own mouth and stammered, "Sis, Second Brother, Second Brother was just joking just now. We're not planning to get revenge on Mike, really, we're not going to find Mike."
Callan said angrily, "Enough. I really was planning to go with Second Brother to teach Mike a lesson. Hailee, wake up. That Mike doesn't even like you. He's just using you. He's already married to Yara. Why are you still acting like this?"
"If he really cared about you, why didn't he come see you after you jumped into the river? Do you know that today, Yara even went to our dad and said they're going to hold a wedding banquet?"
To get married now, you have to register for a marriage certificate. That was part of a newly issued official red-tag document. Only those with a certificate are officially recognized as a couple.
But in the countryside, people didn't take the certificate so seriously. In farming villages, once a couple held a wedding banquet, they were considered husband and wife, whether they had the certificate or not.
No one knew if Yara was trying to blend in with local customs or if she was just trying to disgust their family, but she actually decided to copy the villagers and throw a wedding banquet too. She could have her own banquet, that was fine, but she knew about the history between Hailee and Mike, yet she still invited their whole family.
How could Callan not be angry?
If Grandpa Su hadn't taught him never to hit women since he was a child, he would've already slapped Yara across the face.
Truly a rotten match. He had never seen anyone so shameless.
Callan talked harshly, but he was only heartbroken for his sister. He hoped she would wake up, see Mike's true colors, and stop foolishly being good to him.
Hailee still had a face full of sadness and silence, but deep inside, she was nodding nonstop.
Yes yes yes, you're absolutely right. They're both trash. Not worth all the love the original Hailee gave him.
But since she had to play the role of a girl madly in love, it wouldn't make sense if she was suddenly convinced after just a few words.
Ugh, just thinking about having to keep acting like she was obsessed with that jerk made Hailee want to puke.
Wait a minute, the original Hailee had jumped into the river for that scumbag. If she slightly changed things, it shouldn't be too much, right?
At that thought, Hailee's eyes lit up. Imitating the original Hailee's demeanor, she slowly raised her head with a face full of sadness and despair.
Tears fell before she even spoke. "Callan, stop talking. I—I… since he's already married to Yara, I'll cut off all contact with him."
She sniffled hard and continued, choking up, "He's someone's husband now. How could I keep being tangled up with him? I can't bring shame to our family."
As she said that, her tears fell like rain.
Hailee had never known she could act like this. She usually hated girls who cried over everything. But today, she played the part perfectly.
And this body was something else. The tears came so easily. She really did look delicate and fragile.
She felt that with her acting today, even the Oscars owed her a little golden man.
Their younger sister was crying like a mess, and the Su brothers felt terrible. Callan clenched his back teeth tightly and cursed Mike over and over in his heart.
He had to beat him up hard, or he wouldn't be able to swallow his anger.
Even though he was heartbroken, he still said, "It's good if you can think it through. It's not like Mike is the only man left in the world. There are so many others who look better and come from better families than him. One day, we'll find someone a thousand or ten thousand times better just to spite him."
Find a man?
Thinking of those men in her past life who were all about male dominance and treated women like accessories, Hailee shook her head like crazy.
No, no, no. Even if she's in a new world and a new body, she, Hailee, would never depend on a man or live by pleasing one.
Instead of living by a man's mood, she preferred to have control in her own hands and become strong herself.
Besides, this body was only nineteen years old, just a young girl who had just come of age and wasn't even old enough to register a marriage yet. How desperate must she have been to push herself into a pit of fire?
Their third brother was getting more ridiculous by the minute.
Suddenly she thought, although there were legal age limits for marriage now, people in the countryside didn't really care about that. In rural areas, an eighteen or nineteen-year-old girl was already considered ready for marriage.
Otherwise, when the Su family found out the original Hailee was getting close to Mike, they would have stopped it right away.
Hailee quietly let out a breath of relief. Thankfully, the original Hailee was just a love-obsessed girl who had just gone through a breakup. If someone tried to introduce her to another man in the future, she could always use Mike as an excuse.
When their younger sister lowered her head again, full of sadness, Cohen quickly tried to smooth things over. "Callan, stop talking so much. And little sis, don't feel bad about what your third brother said. He really does care about you."
"Once he found out you fell into the water and might be lacking nutrients, he went straight up the mountain after work to find you some bird eggs."
Listening to her two brothers talking back and forth, Hailee actually felt a bit jealous of the original girl.
So this is what it feels like to be loved and cared for by family?
In her previous life, Hailee came from a wealthy family, but temptation was everywhere in that world. When she was eight, her parents divorced and built their own separate families. Even though they never shorted her financially, she never really felt loved.
Even the rare moments of care she got from them always had strings attached.
But she could truly feel it now—whether it was these two brothers or the three elders she met earlier in the day—they all treated the original Hailee sincerely. Their love was pure and unconditional.
Hailee said in her heart, "Hailee, oh Hailee (the original), with such a good family, why did you have to do something so foolish like jumping into the river? Look at what you got in return."
All you got from giving your life was your family's sorrow and pain, while the scumbag is still happily off to become a groom.
But don't worry. Now that I've become you, as long as I'm alive, I'll take care of your family for you.