“Mrs. Shen, I’ve thought it through. I’m going back to my birth family, and I won’t trouble you again.”
Lin Muyan said it with iron finality. Mrs. Shen and Director Shen exchanged a glance and let out a great breath of relief in the very same moment.
Truthfully, nothing could have been better than Lin Muyan choosing to leave of her own accord. Otherwise they honestly wouldn’t have known what to do with her, someone so extreme she’d threaten to slit her wrists at the drop of a hat was not a person they dared keep around.
Mrs. Shen sighed and sighed. This was a child she’d watched grow up, after all, one she’d taught so much, and yet a single upheaval had made her show her true colors. They’d thought they were raising a heaven-favored daughter, who’d have guessed she was nothing but a useless straw bag who knew no way to handle a problem except by flying to extremes.
Sure enough, no amount of cultivation could turn cheap genes into a true daughter of a great house.
Shen Shiqiu gave his wife a slight nod, and Mrs. Shen caught his meaning at once.
“All right, Muyan, come upstairs with me and pack your things. Get home before dark, if it’s too late, the buses to the urban village stop running.”
Now that she knew Lin Muyan was leaving, Mrs. Shen’s expression eased, and even her tone turned gentler.
But her words stabbed deep into Lin Muyan all over again. Her adoptive parents were practically counting the seconds until she left, not even willing to see her off one last time, leaving her to ride the bus back on her own.
Shen Jiaojiao went upstairs with them, and the sheer opulence of the room rewrote her sense of the possible all over again.
Lin Muyan’s “wrist-slitting” the night before had so frightened the Shen couple that they didn’t dare provoke her, for the time being they’d had to let her keep the second-floor master bedroom, while Shen Jiaojiao was the one packed off to a guest room.
The Shens had once doted on Lin Muyan to no end. In their Half-Mountain villa, prime feng-shui land in S City, where every inch was worth its weight in gold, they’d given her the grandest master bedroom of all.
That presidential-suite of a bedroom flaunted luxury at every turn, even the most ordinary drinking glass started at tens of thousands.
The moment Shen Jiaojiao stepped inside, she froze on the spot, dumbstruck.
“Mommy, this is going to be my home from now on? Is it really true?”
Her eyes glistened, as though something deep within them were quietly crumbling. So a life this extravagant truly existed in the world, a life fit for an immortal, and those twenty years of hers had been lived for nothing.
Seeing Jiaojiao so meek and careful, Mrs. Shen’s eyes brimmed with tears in an instant.
“My child, my poor child, how you’ve suffered. From now on this is your home, and this master bedroom is your own private room. We’ll redo it however you like. Whatever you want, Mommy will buy it for you.”
Her poor child, twenty years old, and a perfectly ordinary bedroom could still shake her like this. And this was the young miss of the great Shen house.
In that moment Mrs. Shen felt not a trace of distaste at Shen Jiaojiao’s narrow horizons, if anything, Jiaojiao’s reaction only made her heart ache more, and made her hate the Lin family all the more, hate that vicious birth mother of Lin Muyan’s all the more.
Shen Jiaojiao composed herself, and now, taking in the luxury around her, her eyes were full of anticipation.
Seeing that Lin Muyan still hadn’t moved, she stepped forward and asked, carefully:
“Sister Muyan—” At the word “Sister,” Shen Jiaojiao caught the awkward look on her face and hurried to explain. “Sister Muyan, you don’t mind me calling you that, do you? You actually are a month older than me.”
When Lin Muyan didn’t answer, a hurt look crossed Shen Jiaojiao’s eyes. Then, as if struck by a thought, she reached out and held Lin Muyan’s arm, her voice soft and deliberately low so Mrs. Shen wouldn’t hear.
“Sister Muyan, your birth family has a lot of problems, your mother especially. You have to be careful of her. But your father and the other siblings are all good people, you can grow close to your father.”
At that, Lin Muyan finally raised her head to look at Shen Jiaojiao. Her face was full of goodwill, full of concern, and Lin Muyan’s grieving heart found at last a little comfort.
“Thank you. My birth mother surely didn’t treat you kindly, let me apologize to you on her behalf.”
Shen Jiaojiao shook her head quickly, consoling her. “Sister Muyan, it’s not your fault. None of us gets to choose our parents. Just be good to yourself and do right by others, that’s enough. Don’t shortchange yourself or think less of yourself over your parents’ faults. We did nothing wrong.”
Comforted once again, Lin Muyan felt a little more hope for the unknown road ahead.
\*\*
Lin Muyan had meant to pack up a few things from the room, after all, these were things she’d once worn and used. Given the Shens’ wealth and the couple’s loathing for her, she’d assumed they’d never keep any of it, they’d throw it all out, just as they’d thrown her out, without a flicker of regret.
But the way Mrs. Shen’s eyes bored into her was anything but kind. Every time Lin Muyan picked up a garment or a handbag, Mrs. Shen would glare, as if to say: not one thing belonging to the Shen family leaves with you.
In the end Lin Muyan packed away none of the clothes or bags, taking only a few old outfits from years back, out of style, but not yet thrown out.
Packing those, at least, spared her another glare.
“Hurry it up. Jiaojiao and I are still waiting to go down to eat,” Mrs. Shen pressed.
Lin Muyan clenched her teeth, pressed her lips together, heartbroken.
Just let her look a little longer at this home so full of memories. She’d never have the chance to come back again…
【Why am I suddenly feeling a bit sorry for her? Mrs. Shen’s whole “I don’t love you” act is way too obvious. They’re definitely going to toss all this stuff anyway, might as well let Green Tea Girl take it.】
【What kind of outrageous talk is that? What gives Lin Muyan the right? Twenty years of wealth and comfort isn’t enough for her? She has to eat her fill and pocket the leftovers on her way out, too?】
【Right? I can’t believe anyone pities this wretched green tea, well, a knife to the backside, now I’ve truly seen it all. Hasn’t she taken enough already? Don’t forget, she got more than a decade of the finest education. With her credentials she could thrive even after leaving the Shens.】
【What’s the point of any of this? The apocalypse is almost here. Are money and credentials going to matter anymore? What matters is the ability to survive!】
The comments, quiet for a while, were back, and Lin Muyan noticed they’d brought up “the apocalypse” again. Could the end of the world really be coming?
【Our Jiaojiao’s survival skills are off the charts, she can endure any hardship. She’s an absolute apocalypse champion. This wretched green tea was raised soft and spoiled, if she really leaves the Shens, she’ll be in the very first batch to die.】
【Hahaha, can’t wait to watch, I’m already counting down the days…】
Lin Muyan brooded for a moment, and just like that her sorrow lifted.
If everything the comments said was true, if the world really was going to end, then all these designer clothes, bags, and jewels, all these luxuries, really would be worthless.
“Are you done yet? Why are you dawdling so?” Mrs. Shen spoke up again, her tone far harsher this time.
Shen Jiaojiao quickly gave Mrs. Shen’s arm a gentle shake and soothed her, softly:
“Mommy, give Sister Muyan a little more time. She has lived here so long, after all, of course it’s hard to let go.”
At those words, something in Mrs. Shen’s chest lurched.
She wouldn’t really be unable to part with it all, wouldn’t change her mind about leaving again, would she? This wretched girl really was prone to flip-flopping.