Chapter 98
◎Self-Destruction◎
Lu Youxin had been isolating everyone since she had thrown a tantrum and overturned the table that day. Her heart was filled with grievances and resentment. She couldn’t understand. She had been her parents’ only daughter for so many years. Wasn’t it good enough to just let the mistake be? Why did they have to expose the truth to everyone? She ignored everyone, didn’t go downstairs to eat, left early every day, and came back very late.
Lu Youxin changed her shoes. Seeing the people in the living room, she quickly realized that this country couple was Su Xintang’s adoptive parents. Then she saw Su Xintang sitting next to her mother, eating the apple that Sheng Ruiru had personally peeled for her.
Her face instantly turned cold, but she quickly put on a pure and innocent smile again. However, the words she said were extremely unpleasant. “I was wondering why the house smells so poor and sour. Which poor relatives have come to our house to beg for food? Remember to wipe the soles of your shoes when you leave. Don’t dirty our floor!”
Lu Youxin usually acted sweet and well-behaved in front of the Lu family. Lu Junshan and Sheng Ruiru hadn’t expected her to say such harsh and sarcastic words.
It was Old Mr. Lu who couldn’t help but slam the table first. “You brat! These are Tangtang’s parents, our whole family’s benefactors. What nonsense are you talking about? Is this how your parents taught you to treat people?”
Lu Junshan also clenched his fists and said angrily, “Lu Youxin, apologize to Uncle and Auntie!”
“Why should I apologize to them?! What did I say wrong?! They are from a poor and remote place. If it weren’t for Su Xintang, how would our family have become so chaotic?!” Lu Youxin hadn’t expected them to side with outsiders and not her. Her eyes quickly turned red with grievance. “Look at what they’re wearing! Who’s responsible if they dirty the floor?! What if they take away our family’s good fortune?”
“A bunch of unpresentable country bumpkins. They probably don’t even know how to use a flush toilet. Don’t let them make the house stink!”
She suddenly raised her voice. She was about to continue her accusation, but Lu Junshan’s slap had already landed on her face.
“Dad, you hit me?! You actually hit me for outsiders?” Lu Youxin covered her face, in disbelief.
Lu Junshan’s face was full of disappointment. “Don’t call me Dad. I don’t have a daughter like you. Is it because we didn’t discipline you enough and let you become like this, or is it that a leopard can’t change its spots?”
Su Huimin and Yu Juanfang were almost certain at first glance that the child had been swapped. Lu Youxin was indeed the biological daughter of Wang Shijin and Su Yandi. She was too similar, simply too similar. The triangular eyes, the flat nose, the protruding cheekbones, and the squeezed-together features were simply a carbon copy of Wang Shijin.
Su Huimin was also shocked by these harsh remarks, but he was a guest and wouldn’t stoop to arguing with a junior.
Yu Juanfang’s expression was indifferent. “Speaking of which, you should also call us uncle and aunt. Don’t you have any respect for your elders?”
Hearing her insult his parents like this, Su Juesheng couldn’t help but clench his fists and sneer. “If it weren’t for your biological mother swapping you into the Lu family, you might be growing up in a poor mountain gully now and would have to call me cousin.”
“You guys…” Lu Youxin was about to blurt out “Are you worthy?”, but as soon as she looked up, she saw the veins on Lu Junshan’s neck bulging, and he was glaring at her. She could only force the words back.
“Since you’re back today, I also have something to tell you. I’ve already had the auntie tidy up the room on the third floor. You can find some time to move into the bedroom on the third floor. As for your original room, I plan to find some time to redecorate it. Although Tangtang is still living in the school dormitory, she will have to come home to live sooner or later.” Sheng Ruiru was now too lazy to care about Lu Youxin. The look in her eyes was no longer as warm as before, as if she were facing a distant and ordinary relative.
The room that Lu Youxin lived in was the best in the entire Lu family except for Old Mr. Lu’s room. Not only did it have a good orientation, but it also had a private bathroom and a large balcony.
As she had said just now, if it were just a simple case of two families’ children being swapped, she could have let it go and still treated Lu Youxin as her own daughter as before.
But the truth was that her twenty-plus years of mother-daughter relationship with Lu Youxin were all built on an ugly conspiracy.
And in recent days, everything that Lu Youxin had shown made her understand that not only did she not have a single bit of gratitude for the Lu family in her heart, but she was also full of spoiled arrogance and resentment.
Her hostility towards Tangtang, her contempt for the Su family, and even her indifference to her and Old Lu were like blunt knives, cutting away the last bit of affection in Sheng Ruiru’s heart.
“The third floor? Isn’t that the guest room? Mom, you’re making me move into the guest room?!” Lu Youxin was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, her eyes filled with a mixture of shock and humiliation. “I’ve lived in that room for twenty years. What right does Su Xintang have to take my place? Is she worthy of living in my room?!”
Sheng Ruiru picked up her teacup, blew on the tea leaves floating on the surface, and her calm gaze fell on Lu Youxin. “That room should have been Tangtang’s in the first place.”
“I’m not moving!” Lu Youxin fiercely threw the handbag in her hand to the ground. The miscellaneous things inside fell out with a clatter and scattered all over the floor. “Don’t even think of kicking me out of my room. This is my home, and you are my parents. Su Xintang is clearly the outsider! Why did you all change as soon as she appeared?”
“Outsider? The daughter I carried for ten months and risked my life to give birth to, how is she an outsider?” Sheng Ruiru looked at her. “Youxin, there are some things I don’t want to say too harshly. Some things can’t be changed just by throwing a tantrum.”
Lu Youxin was so choked that her face flushed red, and tears welled up in her eyes, but she stubbornly refused to let them fall. “You’re just biased! You’ve wanted to get rid of me for a long time!”
“Whether you move or not is up to you. Anyway, the room has been tidied up. As for Tangtang’s room, the renovation workers will start next week.”
“I hate you. I don’t have a mother like you!” Seeing Sheng Ruiru’s unyielding attitude, Lu Youxin couldn’t help but cry. “You just can’t stand me… I know, you’ve been waiting for me to leave for a long time!”
She squatted down and fumbled with the things on the floor. Face cream, handkerchiefs, and lipstick rolled everywhere, like her shattered heart at this moment. “Alright, then I’ll do as you wish. Even if you kneel down and beg me, I won’t forgive you. I’m leaving now! Don’t you regret it!”
She covered her face and ran out of the house, the sound of the door slamming shut echoing in the living room.
The Lu family’s attitude undoubtedly gave Su Huimin and Yu Juanfang a sense of reassurance.
At least they didn’t have to worry that Tangtang would be wronged after acknowledging her relationship.
Tangtang watched all of this and said calmly, “Lu Youxin has looked for me before. She suspected that I was trying to get close to Grandpa for some ulterior motive. She also insulted me with the same words she used to insult my parents today and told me not to get close to you anymore.”
Sheng Ruiru was surprised. “Tangtang, when did this happen? Why have you never told us?”
“Around the time of Grandpa’s birthday.” Tangtang lowered her eyes. If it weren’t for Sheng Ruiru coming to the dormitory to find her later, she would have planned to just fade out of the Lu family’s life.
“No wonder…” Sheng Ruiru suddenly understood. “No wonder you didn’t come to our house at that time and always said you were busy with your schoolwork and had no time. If I hadn’t gone to the dormitory to find you, were you planning to never see your grandfather, your father, and me again?”
As Sheng Ruiru spoke, she hadn’t expected Tangtang to be carrying these grievances alone behind her back. She couldn’t help but pull Tangtang into her arms, her eyes filled with guilt and heartache.
A trace of pity flashed in Zhou Shunian’s eyes. She hadn’t mentioned these things to him either.
…
After dinner, the Su Huimin couple were about to get up and go back to the guest house.
Sheng Ruiru quickly stopped them. “Big Brother Su, Big Sister Yu, why go to all that trouble? After Junshan and I received the news that you were coming to the capital, we started to tidy up the house. There are plenty of rooms in the house. You can just stay here. Our family can also talk at night.”
Lu Junshan also warmly urged them to stay. “That’s right. There are so many empty rooms in the house. Since we’ve all said that our two families are one family from now on, how can we let our family members stay in a guest house outside?”
“Uncle Su, Auntie Yu, you can just stay at our house,” Lu Mingbai said. “It’s summer vacation now. If you stay at home, we can all go out for a walk together tomorrow.”
Old Mr. Lu stood up with his cane. “Just stay at home!”
“This…” It was difficult to refuse such a warm invitation. The Su Huimin couple looked at each other in a dilemma, their gaze falling on their daughter.
Although staying at the Lu family’s house for one night could save a few yuan on the guest house fee, they were from the countryside and were inevitably not used to city life. They were afraid that they would cause trouble for the Lu family and make them feel uncomfortable.
Tangtang thought for a moment. “Dad, Mom, you can just stay at home. Dad and Mom are very kind people. I’ll go back to school at night, and I’ll come over tomorrow morning to go out with you.”
Hearing Tangtang say this, the couple had to agree.
Sheng Ruiru had arranged for them a bedroom on the second floor with a private bathroom. Inside were towels, toothbrushes, washbasins, enamel mugs, and thermoses, all of which were clearly prepared with care in advance.
After settling her parents, Tangtang, Su Juesheng, and Zhou Shunian were about to set off back to school.
“Little Zhou.” Yu Juanfang’s gaze fell on Zhou Shunian. “Auntie has something to say to you.”
Hearing this, Tangtang looked at Zhou Shunian nervously. The latter gently patted the back of her hand, reassuring her not to worry.
Yu Juanfang sat down in a chair, and Zhou Shunian stood in front of her. The dim yellow light from above cast a faint warm shadow on his shoulder.
“Sit down. What are you standing for?” Yu Juanfang moved to the side, her voice carrying the unique gentleness of a country woman, but her expression was filled with the solemnity of an elder.
“Tangtang told me that you two are in a relationship.”
Zhou Shunian lowered his eyes. “Yes, Auntie. I was the one who pursued Tangtang.”
After a long while, Yu Juanfang finally said with a sob, “Little Zhou, you are a good child with an excellent character. Auntie trusts you. I don’t object to you two being in a relationship. I can see that she trusts you very much. It’s just that, Tangtang has suffered a lot since she was a child. You have to promise me that you will, you will treat my daughter well.”
Zhou Shunian looked up at Yu Juanfang’s slightly red eyes and said with great solemnity, “Auntie, I promise you that I will treat Tangtang well for the rest of my life. Once I have spoken, a thousand mountains cannot stand in my way.”