Chapter 290: Chapter 290: You Think I’m Easy to Bully?
When Ren Cuiping returned to Qingcheng Mansion, the first thing she did was go to Mr. Sheng’s office to look for him. She learned he was on a business trip and didn’t know when he would be back.
She didn’t want to go back to the Sheng family home, either. Her second son was the only one there, and since she was in a bad mood, she didn’t want to face him.
Her only option was to go to the Ren family home, but to her surprise, they wouldn’t let her in. So she stood outside the gate, shouting that she was thirsty.
The first few days after she arrived in Yun City were actually quite comfortable. Her two brothers shared her outrage, cursing Sheng Liangyuan for being a complete bastard.
The two brothers both called to curse Sheng Liangyuan out. Listening in by the phone, she felt deeply uncomfortable.
Perhaps she really was the one in the wrong. Ren Cuiping believed that if she just stopped making a scene, her husband would remarry her.
She was utterly convinced that her husband still loved her deeply. He was just temporarily angry; once his anger subsided, he would come take her home.
She had moved to a new city and started a new job, beginning everything from scratch. But with no prior experience, her work life was anything but smooth.
Her eldest brother suggested she quit her job for the time being. But being unemployed and idle all day only gave her more time to stew in her thoughts.
’What’s so wrong with favoring my own daughter a little?’ The more she dwelled on it, the angrier she became, making every single day a misery.
An agonizing week went by. Her husband hadn’t called her once, and neither her eldest son nor her precious daughter had made any attempt to contact her.
Her second son, on the other hand, did call her every other day, but it was always to complain, telling her she had spoiled her daughter rotten.
Ren Cuiping hated listening to Sheng Shiwen’s lectures; they only made her more irritable. However, he was the only one left who would even speak to her.
So she had no choice but to begrudgingly listen to his grumbling. Then, one day, her second son told her with great concern that Dong Laoer was getting remarried.
Dong Laoer’s new bride was eleven years his junior and stunningly beautiful. Compared to his ex-wife, it was like the difference between heaven and earth.
A sense of crisis welled up in Ren Cuiping, and with it, her anger flared. She loved her husband dearly, but he just didn’t understand her.
She loved her daughter dearly, but her daughter had turned on her and refused to acknowledge her. All of this caused her extreme heartache.
She spent her days like a bitter, complaining wife, grabbing hold of her two brothers to cry and lament her fate. Her two sisters-in-law pointed out that their husbands were exhausted after a long day’s work.
And then they had to come home only to listen to her woes. As a result, her sisters-in-law, as well as her nieces and nephews, couldn’t stand her.
She couldn’t eat, she couldn’t sleep, and her mood grew increasingly foul. Whenever she felt irritated, she had the urge to curse at someone.
Her eldest brother said he’d find some time in a day or two to take her back to Qing City. But after hearing that Dong Laoer was remarrying, she couldn’t bear to wait another minute.
So she snuck back on her own. But to her dismay, the family’s housekeeper only opened the courtyard gate, handed her a glass of water, and told her to drink it out there.
The housekeeper flatly refused to let her into the living room. It was then that Ren Cuiping realized with a pang of sorrow that since her divorce, she truly had nowhere to go.
’I have to scream my head off for ages just to get a sip of water!’ Seizing a moment when the housekeeper wasn’t looking, she tried to force her way into the living room.
A middle-aged bodyguard immediately came forward, grabbed her, and started dragging her out. Both bodyguards had been Mr. Ren’s security detail since they were young men.
After Mr. Ren retired, they became his personal bodyguards. In their minds, nothing was more important than Mr. Ren’s health. He had even considered refusing the surgery earlier.
One of the bodyguards grabbed Ren Cuiping, but he didn’t dare use too much force.
Ren Cuiping grabbed the doorframe with one hand, refusing to let go, and plopped down on the ground, wailing, "Dad! Dad! How can you be so cruel and not let your own daughter in?! And who the hell do you two think you are, daring to stop me from coming home?"
Gu Jiaojiao paid no mind to Ren Cuiping’s furious tirade, simply continuing with her task.
Amid Ren Cuiping’s wails and curses, Gu Jiaojiao finished tidying everything up. "Grandpa, please get some rest. We’ll be going now."
Mr. Ren’s surgery had been on his leg, and it was under local anesthesia, so his mind was perfectly clear.
"Jiaojiao, why don’t you go hide upstairs for a little while? I’ll calm that lunatic Ren Cuiping down, and then you can leave. That way she won’t run into you and start laying into you."
"That’s not necessary. As it happens, there are a few things I need to make clear to her," Gu Jiaojiao said, her voice calm.
’Grandpa means well, but I haven’t done anything wrong. Why should I have to hide from Ren Cuiping?’
’What if Ren Cuiping charges straight upstairs? Wouldn’t that just make it look like I have a guilty conscience!’
Gu Jiaojiao washed her hands and went into the living room to wait. Su Shuochi wheeled himself over, placed a cup of tea in her hand, and sat down beside her.
Mr. Ren had the bodyguards move his lounge chair into the living room. Once everything was set, he had them let his daughter in.
As soon as Ren Cuiping entered the living room, she saw Gu Jiaojiao sitting there drinking tea, while her father lay on the lounge chair.
Her rage boiling over, she demanded, "I knew it! So this is why you wouldn’t let me in, Dad. Because the ungrateful wretch is in the house! Dad, do you really prefer this ungrateful wretch to your own daughter?"
"Cui Ping, what on earth are you talking about? We were busy. We just asked you to wait in the courtyard for a moment. What was all that racket about?"
"You asked me to sit in the courtyard? I have to wait for that ungrateful wretch to finish her tea before I’m allowed into my own home?
Dad, have you lost your mind? How can you twist right and wrong like this? Does your own biological daughter need your granddaughter’s permission to enter the house?
Gu Jiaojiao, you ungrateful wretch! I changed your diapers, I raised you from a baby, and now that you’re grown and your wings are strong, you disown your own adoptive mother the moment you’re displeased!"
Gu Jiaojiao gently set down her teacup. "Aunt Ren, I believe we no longer have any relationship, do we?
Ever since your biological daughter forced the adopted one to get married, there has been nothing between us. So don’t even talk about a ’debt of gratitude’ for raising me. Do you understand?"
"We may have announced the end of our relationship in the papers, but you should still be grateful! After all, I’m the one who changed your diapers and raised you!"
"The person you raised is dead. She is dead. She was the one you raised, and you also taught her to be far too kind.
But people who are overly kind are only ever taken advantage of. She was bullied to death by your biological daughter.
This world doesn’t treat people well just for being kind. The people around her only saw her kindness as a license to bully her without a second thought.
They used her. Even her closest family would become cruel and mistreat her because of that kindness."
Ren Cuiping: ...’Jiaojiao... is dead? But she’s sitting right here, perfectly fine!’
A dull ache spread through her heart. The word "mistreat" was like a dagger to her conscience. Yes, she had constantly berated Jiaojiao precisely because she thought the girl was kind and an easy target.
"You’re not wrong, you did raise me. But your daughter was raised by my parents.
Even under such difficult conditions, Sheng Yueyue was able to stay in school. Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu sacrificed just as much as you, if not more.
By calling me an ungrateful wretch, you’re not only embarrassing yourself, you’re also slandering my name.
Aunt Ren, from this day forward, do not ever again speak of some ’debt of gratitude’ or call me an ’ungrateful wretch.’ Don’t push me to the point where I have to use my hands..."
Ren Cuiping was left utterly speechless. "’An ungrateful wretch’... no, ’adopted daughter’ isn’t right either... We don’t have a relationship anymore.
And saying it again would be ’slandering your name’?!
I really didn’t think about it that deeply! I just favor my own biological daughter a little bit.
For all these years, it’s been a struggle for my precious daughter just to survive. What’s so wrong with me wanting to treat her a little better?"
"There’s nothing wrong with being good to her. But does that give you the right to curse me out every time you see me? Did you really think I was such a pushover?"
