Having met with coldness from Lu Yunzheng, Zhang Xiuju habitually took her frustration out on Xu Wantang, her mouth working up and down as she spewed saliva and complaints at her.
"Son, look at the wife you've married—lazy as can be!" She pointed at the shards scattered across the floor. "Breaking several bowls is one thing, but she won't even clean them up. What a sin!"
Lu Yunzheng's eyes were lowered as he gave Xu Wantang a careless glance, just as cold as Xu Wantang remembered. There was no warmth in his gaze when he looked at her—it was no different from looking at a stranger.
Xu Wantang sneered inwardly. She had known for a long time that Lu Yunzheng didn't like her.
She and Lu Yunzheng had met through a blind date. After the date, they had somehow tumbled into bed together, and when they came to their senses and realized everything had already been done, they settled on marriage.
At the time, Xu Wantang had believed the two of them had fallen for each other under the influence of alcohol. She felt both shy and delighted about it, looking forward immensely to a sweet married life.
But after the wedding, Lu Yunzheng completely changed from that passionate night, treating her with utter coldness. They didn't even have a proper wedding ceremony. After they registered their marriage, Lu Yunzheng rushed straight back to his military unit.
Lu Yunzheng rejected her request to accompany him as a military wife, leaving her behind in City B. The two of them didn't even see each other once a year.
After adopting Zhao Youyou, Lu Yunzheng only ever spoke with Zhao Youyou on the phone. The moment Xu Wantang picked up the phone, Lu Yunzheng would hang up after just a few words.
Over time, Xu Wantang came to sense his coldness.
In her previous life, she had thought about divorce, but her natal family always talked her out of it. They said a man who could earn money was a good man, and as long as Xu Wantang took good care of the home and the child, one day Lu Yunzheng would see her worth.
Xu Wantang never lived to see that day, and she didn't want to wait any longer.
Now, Xu Wantang had no expectation of hearing anything pleasant from Lu Yunzheng's mouth.
If Lu Yunzheng dared to blame her, she would curse right back!
She would never let herself be wronged again!
At Zhang Xiuju's accusations against Xu Wantang, Lu Yunzheng's handsome brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "Didn't the family hire a housekeeper?"
Hearing this, Zhang Xiuju's momentum instantly deflated by more than half. Her lips mumbled, and she said nothing for a long while.
Xu Wantang knew that Zhang Xiuju felt guilty and didn't dare tell Lu Yunzheng the truth.
Zhang Xiuju had dismissed the housekeeper Lu Yunzheng hired, pocketed the housekeeper's wages to use for playing mahjong, and made Xu Wantang do all the housework herself.
Lu Yunzheng looked at Zhang Xiuju, his lashes lowering slightly, probably guessing what had happened. His unfathomably calm eyes turned to Xu Wantang. "From now on, you manage the housekeeper's wages."
Hah, what a piece of work—not even a form of address.
That tone, that manner—like an emperor ordering around a little eunuch.
If she were her past-life self, she probably would have been heartbroken for a long time over Lu Yunzheng's distant tone.
But the current Xu Wantang couldn't be bothered to argue with him. She only said mockingly, "Oh no, I couldn't possibly. I have something to tell you. We—"
Before Xu Wantang could finish saying she wanted a divorce, a wave of sobbing rose louder and louder.
Following the sound, they saw Zhao Youyou standing pitifully at the bedroom door, her eyes swollen like walnuts, whimpering, "Waaah… Papa Lu, you're finally back. Youyou missed you so much."
The child's crying was piercing. Xu Wantang took a deep breath, forcefully suppressing the urge to gag Zhao Youyou.
"Daddy Lu, please take Youyou away from here. Nobody here likes Youyou. Mommy is mean to Youyou too… Boo-hoo-hoo, Youyou wants to find her own mommy…"
Crying as she spoke, Zhao Youyou pumped her little short legs and stretched out her lotus-root-like arms, running toward Lu Yunzheng. She looked utterly pitiful, as if she had suffered some enormous grievance.
Earlier, when she and Zhao Youyou had been alone together, Zhao Youyou had rarely called her "Mommy," yet now she was calling it out with such enthusiasm.
In her previous life, during the few times Xu Wantang and Lu Yunzheng had met, Zhao Youyou had often badmouthed her in front of him. Whenever that happened, Lu Yunzheng would crouch down, comfortingly pat Zhao Youyou's head, and look at Xu Wantang with reproach in his eyes.
Though he never said a single word of blame, Xu Wantang felt worse than if she'd been scolded.
She had tried to explain herself, but Lu Yunzheng clearly didn't believe her, always saying, "Youyou is just a child. Why do you hold things against her?"
Over time, Xu Wantang simply stopped saying anything.
Sure enough, Lu Yunzheng crouched down and, somewhat awkwardly, patted Zhao Youyou's head. His phoenix eyes narrowed slightly as he shot Xu Wantang a mildly displeased glance.
But Xu Wantang was no longer the soft pushover she'd been in the early days of her marriage. After Lu Yunzheng's death, she had raised her stepdaughter alone and suffered plenty of losses because of her gentle, yielding nature. Gradually, she had become sharp-tongued—only that way could she keep herself and her daughter from being bullied.
She had endured enough grievances in her last life at the Lu family. Having been given a second chance, she certainly wasn't going to swallow them this time.
Xu Wantang glared fiercely at Lu Yunzheng and immediately fired back, "What's with that look? I haven't mistreated her—she's a little liar! And if you're so unhappy about it, come back and take care of her yourself. I'm not your hired nanny. Even nannies get paid! I don't get a single cent, slaving away for your Lu family without a word of thanks. Let me tell you, Lu Yunzheng—I don't owe you anything!"
Having vented, Xu Wantang let out a long, deep breath.
So satisfying!
In her previous life, while Lu Yunzheng was alive, she had only ever gritted her teeth and swallowed everything. She had been holding these words in for so long, and she had finally said them.
Lu Yunzheng stared at Xu Wantang in astonishment, as if he'd never expected her to say such things.
She had this much resentment toward him…
Not just Lu Yunzheng—Zhang Xiuju and Zhao Youyou were also frozen in place by Xu Wantang's outburst, unable to recover for a long while.
"Aiyo! What sin did our Lu family commit to bring home an ancestor like this…" Zhang Xiuju sat on the floor, slapping the ground with her palms as she wailed.
"Boo-hoo-hoo, Mommy is being mean again. Youyou is so scared…"
Zhao Youyou's little fingers clutched the hem of Lu Yunzheng's clothes as she timidly hid behind him.
Xu Wantang gave a soft laugh. In her previous life, she had truly underestimated Zhao Youyou. How had she never noticed back then just how scheming the girl was?
With just one little word—"again"—she had pinned the label of a habitual temper on her.
And to think she had once dismissed it, thinking Zhao Youyou was just a child who didn't choose her words carefully.
Lu Yunzheng clearly didn't believe Xu Wantang's accusation against Zhao Youyou. He frowned, patted Zhao Youyou's shoulder in comfort, sighed, and said to Xu Wantang, "Youyou is still young. You…"
Xu Wantang knew exactly what he was going to say, and she cut in first: "Why do you hold things against her?"
She and Lu Yunzheng had spoken in unison, uttering the exact same words, without a single syllable of difference.
Xu Wantang ignored Lu Yunzheng's astonished gaze. With her arms crossed, she looked him straight in the eye and asked, "Lu Yunzheng, your whole family is pretty dissatisfied with me, aren't they?"
Her gaze swept over Zhang Xiuju, who was still throwing a tantrum, and Zhao Youyou, the lying little schemer, before settling back on Lu Yunzheng's face. Before he could answer, Xu Wantang broke into a radiant smile and continued, "I suppose they must be. Well, it just so happens I'm pretty dissatisfied with your family too. Let's get divorced."