Li Shaohua’s face immediately lit up with a gratified smile. “I knew it—my daughter is the best. If you can marry into the Gu family, your father won’t have to worry about becoming the factory director, and you won’t need to search for jobs everywhere. Come, tonight I’ll make your favorite braised pork.”
As she spoke, she affectionately took Lu Qing’s hand and led her into the house.
Li Yue observed everything with a cold, mocking smile curling her lips. What a touching mother-daughter bond.
Gu Huaichuan? The Gu family? If she remembered correctly, the county magistrate’s surname was Gu. Could it be that Li Shaohua wanted to marry Lu Qing into the magistrate’s family?
Tsk, tsk. Such grand ambitions.
That evening, surprisingly, Li Yue was allowed out of confinement.
She was even invited to join them at the dinner table.
The sight of the richly sauced dishes spread across the table was undeniably tempting. The original host of this body had starved to death, and Li Yue herself had also died hungry. Though she had eaten some bread in the afternoon, it was nothing compared to a steaming hot meal.
While the entire family’s attention was fixed on Li Yue, she herself was completely absorbed by the food on the table.
Lu Jianguo exchanged a glance with his wife, Li Shaohua, who finally broke the silence.
“Xiao Li, you haven’t eaten properly these past few days. You must be hungry. Go ahead, eat your fill. I was wrong this afternoon—I apologize as your mother.”
Li Yue nodded calmly and picked up her bowl and chopsticks to eat.
“Xiao Li… about that money, could we reduce the amount? We’re just ordinary workers. Your elder brother was hospitalized for years, and it cost us a fortune. We really can’t afford that much.”
Under the table, Zhang Shaohua’s hands were clenched so tightly her knuckles turned white. She struggled to maintain her composure, speaking through gritted teeth.
Lu Xiao, who had been eating quietly, frowned slightly at her words.
“What money?”
Seizing the opportunity, Li Shaohua immediately complained, “This afternoon, when I tried to reason with Xiao Li again, she said she agreed—but demanded five thousand yuan. Your father and I thought, since your elder brother is already gone, we can’t let Xiao Jing follow him. We wanted to discuss with Xiao Li if she could lower the amount.”
She deliberately shed tears in front of her son, pretending to be victimized.
The atmosphere at the table instantly froze.
Lu Xiao’s sharp gaze swept toward Li Yue, his eyes filled with suspicion.
Feng Jing, on the verge of tears, poked listlessly at the rice in her bowl.
Just as Lu Xiao was about to speak, Feng Jing sobbed, “Dad, Mom, Second Brother, please don’t trouble Xiao Li anymore. She probably just wants you to back down. Since I’m already like this, just let me wither away and follow Lu Nan.”
Smack!
Lu Xiao slammed his bowl and chopsticks on the table, his voice as cold as arctic ice. “Li Yue, have you lost your mind? I already told you—if you agree to donate a kidney to Sister-in-Law, we’ll move out and live separately. And now you have the audacity to demand money? Five thousand yuan? Do you think money grows on trees for our Lu family?”
Lu Jianguo, who had been eating quietly, glanced away uneasily.
Throughout their chattering, Li Yue hadn’t paid any attention. It felt like several crows were cawing incessantly in her ears.
She picked up a piece of braised pork, placed it in her bowl, and chewed elegantly. Then, raising her peach-blossom-like dark eyes, she looked at Lu Xiao and said:
“You’re so noisy. I’ve changed my mind about moving out with you. This Western-style house is quite comfortable to live in. I want the money—no money, no deal.”
With a cold snort, she shot Lu Xiao a huge glare and continued eating by herself.
Is the braised pork not delicious? All you do is talk, talk, talk.
Lu Xiao’s stern face immediately frosted over, his eyes swirling with the fury of an impending storm.
Seeing this, Feng Jing looked disapprovingly at Li Yue:
“Xiao Li, how can you speak to Second Brother like that? Second Brother is your husband…”
Li Yue raised an eyebrow: “Exactly, he’s my husband, not yours. Why are you chirping away here?”
Feng Jing: “…”
Seeing her eldest daughter-in-law silenced, Li Shaohua was furious—mainly because Li Yue’s attitude was like a tough piece of meat that suddenly learned to be clever.
This left her momentarily uncertain.
Lu Xiao watched the woman whose temperament had abruptly changed, his deep eyes filled with scrutiny.
Lu Jianguo was also observing her.
Li Yue let them stare as she continued eating until the braised pork was nearly gone.
Only then did Lu Qing, who had been watching the drama, exclaim in shock: “Li Yue—you actually ate all the meat! Were you a starving ghost in your past life?”
Her chopsticks were still suspended mid-air, but the plate of braised pork was completely empty.
Only a little sauce remained.
This was specially made for her by her mother.
Lu Qing didn’t like Li Yue, but she disliked Feng Jing even more.
The year after Feng Jing married into the family, she had charmed Lu Qing’s mother into forgetting about her.
So she was happy to see Feng Jing silenced, and deep down, she even wished Li Yue wouldn’t give her a kidney, letting her wait for death.
Li Yue leisurely set down her chopsticks, leisurely pulled out a small white handkerchief, and wiped her mouth.
With a mocking smile, she said: “So, have you all decided? Will you give the money or not?”
Lu Xiao was thoroughly enraged—more precisely, humiliated and angry. He never expected Li Yue, whom he had always easily controlled, to suddenly ignore his words, or even to have not listened at all.
She didn’t care whether he would take her to live elsewhere, nor did she care about him…
This realization made him clench his fists tightly under the table.
“No one has money to give you, so don’t even think about it.” He believed Li Yue was definitely doing this on purpose to get his attention, hence the outrageous demand.
Thinking this, Lu Xiao felt slightly relieved.
But this Li Yue was not the same as before.
She nodded: “Fine, then don’t expect the kidney.”
“You…”
“What do you mean, ‘you’? Are you stuttering? Can’t you even form a sentence?” Li Yue’s words came out like popping beans, giving Lu Xiao no chance to speak.
Lu Xiao’s face turned ashen, his fists clenched so tightly they cracked. He secretly glanced at Feng Jing across the table and saw her with lowered eyes, tears silently falling. His heart ached with pain.
He forcibly suppressed the rage rising to his head: “Exactly how much money do you want?”
Lu Xiao’s words were squeezed out through gritted teeth.
Listening to him, Li Yue found it grating.
She laughed mockingly: “Five thousand. Will you give it or not? You all keep saying you want to save her life, but it seems it’s not worth much—you won’t even part with five thousand.”
Lu Jianguo was infuriated by Li Yue’s arrogant attitude: “Do you think five thousand is some dog’s name? You just open your mouth and snap your fingers, and it comes running? We don’t just have that much money lying around!”
“That’s your problem, what does it have to do with me?” Li Yue was still smiling in the first half of her sentence, but her face turned cold in the second half, her dark eyes fixed intently on Lu Jianguo.
It gave him the creeps.
Later, Li Shaohua tried to bargain with Li Yue, but Li Yue simply stood up to leave.
In the end, they agreed to give her five thousand.
Of course, Li Shaohua didn’t think she would lose out on this five thousand. She calculated that once Li Yue had her kidney removed and couldn’t move, she would take it back.
By then, Li Yue would be completely at her mercy.
The meal ended on a sour note, though Li Yue ate her fill—so much so that she felt a bit stuffed.
Lu Qing was fine too; though she didn’t get any meat, she polished off all the ribs and didn’t go hungry.
As for the remaining three, each and every one of them was so angry they lost their appetite. They ate very little, and whoever went to bed hungry that night was the only one who knew it.
But that was no longer Li Yue’s concern.
Since the matter was temporarily settled, Li Yue returned to the room she shared with Lu Xiao.
Looking at the spacious room, she noticed the floor was covered in dust, and the bed was exactly as it had been before she was locked in the attic. She couldn’t help but feel sorry for the original owner. In her absence, Lu Xiao hadn’t even returned to sleep here, yet the original owner had held such a deep obsession for him.
Yes, when she was let out that evening and saw Lu Xiao, her heart had pounded as if a rabbit were trapped inside.
Shaking her head to clear away the chaotic thoughts, she locked all three bolts on the door, slid the latch into place, drew the curtains, and entered her Dimension.
When she saw the scrolling text on the television, she was startled.