Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Slapping Myself Even in an Argument
"You’re not to be trifled with? What, you’re going to hit me now?" Ren Cuiping asked brazenly.
"Aunt Ren, you raised hell to get a divorce, but you mostly left me out of it, so I couldn’t be bothered to say anything.
You’d better remember this. How you choose to act is your business, but if you ever point a finger in my face and curse me out like you did today...
Hitting you would be the least of it. Piss me off, and I’ll kill you," Gu Jiaojiao warned mercilessly.
"Oh, heavens! Are you asleep up there? What sins have I committed to deserve this!
I worked my fingers to the bone to raise an ungrateful wretch! Forcing me into a divorce wasn’t enough, and now she wants to kill me! Heavens, send down a bolt of lightning and strike this monster dead!"
Ren Cuiping had so much pent-up resentment that she just had to let it out. She never imagined she would end up in such a state.
"You’re blaming me for your divorce? Have you looked in a mirror lately? In my memory, you were always gentle, elegant, and composed.
Tsk, tsk... look what you’ve become. You’re no different from a common shrew. It’s a wonder Mr. Sheng didn’t divorce you sooner!
In life, knowing your limits is crucial. Unprincipled favoritism and doting will only land you in trouble.
If you don’t know when to stop, you’ll end up divorced, just like you are now. If you don’t change, you’ll end up completely alone, abandoned by everyone.
Ren Cuiping, from now on, remember to live with principles. There may not be any gods in this world, but there is definitely karma."
After saying her piece, Gu Jiaojiao stood and began to push Su Shuochi’s wheelchair away.
She left Ren Cuiping behind, face pale with rage, utterly flustered. After a long moment, Ren Cuiping clutched her chest, ran after them, and started screaming curses.
"Gu Jiaojiao, you damn jinx! Who gave you the nerve to lecture me? You just wait! I’m not done with you...!"
Ren Cuiping had never been treated this way before. She stumbled after them for a few steps before falling to the ground, screaming hysterically in pain.
The sound of the argument at the Ren family’s home had long attracted a crowd of passersby, who now gathered at the gate, their ears perked.
No one had dared to speak up when they saw Su Shuochi was there, but now that Gu Jiaojiao was pushing his wheelchair away, they all started chattering at once.
"Cui Ping, what happened? Why are you sitting on the ground? Did you fall? Are you hurt?"
A woman spoke kindly as she went to help her up, but a furious Ren Cuiping slapped her hand away.
"Oh my, what’s all this about? How did a perfectly fine person end up on the ground?"
"What else could it be? That mother-daughter pair just loves to cause trouble. Look at her daughter, she married so well but still raises hell every day!"
"Exactly. Some people end up divorced no matter how well they marry."
A woman who had never gotten along with Ren Cuiping seized the opportunity to mock her viciously.
"Everyone, come and see! The once high-and-mighty troupe leader is no different from the rest of us now that she’s divorced!"
"The untouchable leader has become a mere mortal like us after her divorce!"
The women’s chattering infuriated Ren Cuiping so much she almost fell over backward. She wanted nothing more than to beat these meddlers to death.
But after she’d slapped away the woman’s hand, no one else came forward to help. She had to struggle to her feet on her own.
"Haha, look at her! What a piece of work. The Li Family’s Sister-in-law tried to help her and got shoved away, and now she has to get up by herself anyway."
"Hmph. Ren Cuiping, was it something awful Gu Jiaojiao said that got you this angry?"
The gossiping women, never ones to shy away from drama, deliberately fanned the flames with their insinuations.
"It was that ungrateful wretch who disowned her own family! I won’t let her get away with this," Ren Cuiping cursed, pointing breathlessly in Gu Jiaojiao’s direction.
Normally, she wouldn’t have fallen for it, but she was so consumed by rage that all reason had flown out the window.
"Oh, please! Disowned her family? Does Gu Jiaojiao even have any ties to the Sheng Family anymore? That’s news to me!"
"Exactly! Didn’t the Sheng family already disown her?"
"Forget the Sheng Family, Ren Cuiping isn’t even part of the Sheng family anymore. What’s this nonsense about disowning family?"
"If you want to talk about disowning family, you should be talking about your dear Yueyue! Has she acknowledged you? Did she invite you to live with her at the Song Family’s place?"
"Exactly! Jiaojiao even had the entire Gu Family stay with her at the Su family home for over a month."
"Hmph, when the Gu Family first came to our compound, they were a mess of sick and injured people."
"That’s right. The Su family must have treated them to good food and drink for them to leave so hale and hearty."
Seeing the crowd praise Gu Jiaojiao while belittling her and her daughter, Ren Cuiping was so furious she slapped her thighs, making a loud SMACK.
She rocked back and forth, looking as if she had suffered the greatest injustice. "Oh, this is unbelievable! What has the world come to?"
"I raised an ungrateful wretch! I fed her, clothed her, and sent her to school, and now I’m the one being treated like a villain!"
"Ren Cuiping, so you know you’re not human? The way I see it, you really aren’t. You married your adopted daughter off to a disabled man and then disowned her."
"Have you all noticed? Gu Jiaojiao married a disabled man, yet they’re a loving couple, and the Su family eats meat every day."
"That’s right, I noticed that long ago. There’s no other reason for it, Jiaojiao is just blessed with good fortune. That lame man who never used to leave the house started working hard to better himself after he married her."
"Well, that’s a credit to her. She smiles at everyone she meets and just radiates good fortune. That’s why her life is so good. The heavens are truly just."
After speaking, the man even pressed his palms together and bowed to the sky, as if hoping the heavens would see his sincerity.
"She’s perceptive, kind, diligent, open-minded, persistent, and hardworking. It would be a crime against nature if Jiaojiao’s family didn’t eat meat every day."
"Hah! If I’d married Jiaojiao, I’d be waking up from my dreams laughing every night."
"Waking up laughing is nothing. If I married her, I’d slap myself if we ever argued."
"Hah! You’d argue with an Immortal wife like her? Did you get kicked in the head by a donkey?"
"Heh heh, if I married a woman like that, I’d have her read me stories every day."
"Haha, you lunatic! Haha... You think listening to stories will get you meat to eat?"
"..."
"Get out! All of you, get out! Stop spouting nonsense here!" Ren Cuiping shrieked hysterically.
A more timid woman was frightened by Ren Cuiping’s ferocious expression. "Oh my, I... I have to go home and feed my chickens."
"Fine, we’ll leave. I need to get home and cook for my husband and kids anyway."
The crowd, having had their fill of gossip, dispersed without a second thought. How could they not feel a little pleased seeing someone who once lived so well now brought lower than themselves?
Ren Cuiping was left behind, a bitter expression on her face, utterly flustered. She wasn’t Sheng Yueyue, after all; she couldn’t just ignore what people said.
She had lost her composure so completely because she kept hitting roadblocks at every turn, stripping away her former grace and refinement.
When Elder Ren noticed the commotion outside had died down, he had a bodyguard help his daughter back into the house. Then, he began to speak to her, his tone grave and earnest.
"Their words were mocking and harsh, but they weren’t entirely wrong, Cui Ping. Go wash up. Then, I want you to think long and hard about why you’ve become like this."
