“Xia Yuan, the mung bean soup is here, hurry up and force it down the child’s throat.” Auntie Tian said and without paying any more attention to her, turned her head towards Xia Yuan. They no longer bothered with Chen Juxiang and her party.
Chen Juxiang staggered from the bump and after being scolded twice, her face instantly turned a mix of green and white. She thought bitterly with resentment, once my granddaughter wakes up, I’ll show you how I slap Xia Yuan’s face to get even.
Su Huahua quickly supported her and was about to rush over again when she looked up and saw a burly man with a scar on his face, wearing a brand-new shirt with a red flower pinned on his chest, standing next to Xia Yuan, staring menacingly at their Su Family group.
Su Huahua was startled, suddenly remembering that Xia Yuan’s new husband, Lu Aiguo, was not someone to mess with. He had been the best fighter in the village since he was young, and her older and younger brothers had often been beaten up by him.
…
Lu Yun woke up crying.
The dream she had just had was too vivid; she could clearly see the faces of her mother and Uncle Lu.
Actually, as she grew older, she often dreamed of the past. Especially when she was six years old, on the day of her mother’s wedding, she drank rat poison, forcing her mother to divorce Uncle Lu that same day. It was as if it were engraved into her soul with a carving knife, each etching bloody and raw. Every time she dreamed of it, she would wake up crying, then lie awake the entire night.
The gripping, heart-wrenching pain tormented her so much that she resisted entering into marriage for her whole life and also refused to attend any weddings ever again.
But, what use was regret when the deceased are gone?
Even if she later changed her surname to Lu and tried to make amends, what could she possibly make up for? The two people in the world who loved her the most and had made the greatest sacrifices for her had already passed away prematurely and from overwork due to her foolishness.
When she thought of her mother, who left her forever when she was only eight due to extreme depression, Lu Yun’s tears flowed even more. Her mother must have been disappointed in her back then! So afterwards, she never saw a trace of a smile on her face again. But even amidst that disappointment, her mother still cherished her without ever reprimanding her.
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Feeling someone prying open her mouth and forcing water in, Lu Yun couldn’t help but start coughing, and for some reason, she also felt a burning pain in her stomach.
She opened her eyes and was stunned by the people and the scene in front of her.
Why was she still in a dream? She quickly looked around and immediately recognized that this was the village clinic, where she had received injections as a child.
Her eyes were fixed on her mother’s face, unwilling to blink even once. This was the face she felt too guilty to look at even in her memories, and now it was appearing so clearly in front of her.
Unable to resist, she trembled as she reached out to touch her mother’s sleeve. Her mother was still wearing the same red dress she had seen in the dream…
“Mother.”
Lu Yun blinked in confusion; how could this hoarse voice be coming from her own mouth?
There were quite a few people around, and the noise was somewhat jumbled, but it didn’t affect her at all because at that moment, her entire attention was focused solely on her mother.
Mom brought the bowl to her lips, her face seeming very anxious, urging her to drink the water in the bowl. She opened her mouth without thinking and drained the bowl in one gulp.
Mom appeared very surprised, holding the empty bowl—someone filled it up again, and she continued drinking with mom’s help… until no more bowls were brought to her and she stopped.
“Xiaoyun, you scared mom to death, wuwu…” Xia Yuan only hugged her daughter tightly and began to cry again after feeding her the water. Her daughter had just woken up and seemed different, became very obedient, “Xiaoyun, mom will take you to the hospital in the town soon, and afterward, mom will… divorce. From now on, mom will stay with you. Don’t give up hope, what meaning would there be to mom’s life without you?”
Lu Yun felt it all to be so real it was unbelievable. She could feel mom’s hot tears dropping on her body, and involuntarily, she rubbed her face against the fabric on mom’s chest, smelling her fragrance, and wrapped her arms lovingly around her waist—she could be in her mom’s embrace again, how happy she was. If this was a dream, she wished to be trapped in this dreamland forever and never wake up.
As she basked in the moment, mom’s next words struck her like a thunderbolt.
Mom was going to divorce Uncle Lu?
How could that be? She had finally managed to talk and touch things in the dream, she couldn’t possibly tolerate the plot unfolding as it had before.
Before she could speak up, she heard a familiar and sharp cry. She furrowed her brows in disgust, how dare this person who had yet to learn her lesson from the past come swaggering before her?
“My dear granddaughter, grandma’s precious little heart, you’re awake. You’ve worried grandma sick.”
In an instant, Lu Yun sensitively felt her mom’s hands shaking as she held her, and even her body stiffened.
Indeed, she was still in “the dream” at this moment. Back then, this self-proclaimed “closest grandma” would often use her to humiliate and slap her mom’s face. Unfortunately, her younger self would always comply, granting her wishes.
There had been such a scene in the past too. Thinking about her behavior back then, Lu Yun wished she could drown her past self a thousand times over.
This old witch still wanted to use her that way, in your dreams!
This time, she would help her mom firmly slap that face back.
It was just acting, right? They say life is like a play. Lu Yun took a deep breath and buried her head in mom’s chest, concealing the intense hatred on her face.
She clutched mom’s clothes and began to control her body to shake, the trembling growing larger to the point where anyone with sight could see it.
Then, she adjusted her facial expression.
The voices continued in her ear.
“It should have been like this from the start, you shouldn’t have entertained thoughts of remarrying, making my sweet granddaughter suffer like this, you star of disaster,” came Chen Juxiang’s triumphant and wild voice.
“Grandma’s sweet granddaughter, come to grandma. From now on, ignore that shameless wretch. Unless she kneels and kowtows to us, from now on you are not allowed to speak a single word to her.”
Chen Juxiang lifted her chin in contempt and glanced at Xia Yuan, speaking poisonous words in a tone of condescension. What does it matter if she is an educated lady from the city? She still had to obediently stay within her grasp, unable to turn over.
At this moment, Chen Juxiang was full of smug satisfaction. She looked down on Xia Yuan from her lofty position, the pride was indescribable: If you don’t kowtow this time, then I am not a Chen.