Volume 1 Chapter 5: You Are Just an Extra
For her own grandmother's birthday, she stingily gave only three hundred yuan as a red envelope, yet she bought a ceramic rarity to flatter distant wealthy relatives.
Is Ji Ya really such a person?
Truly unexpected.
The girl raised by Mrs. Zhou herself is nothing more than this.
For a moment, both Mrs. Zhou and Ji Ya flushed red with embarrassment.
Shen Guanghui felt ashamed and quickly found an excuse to bring Shen He and Mrs. Zhou to the third floor.
This floor was the office area, quiet and with few people.
Once inside the study, Shen Guanghui scolded Shen He: "Shen He, have you eaten fireworks today? How dare you speak to your mother like that?"
"If you take money, you must do the job, Shen He. Today, behave yourself."
Upon hearing this, Shen He flicked her fingers with a refined rogue expression and calmly pointed out: "Dad, you only asked me to come to celebrate the old lady's birthday. Being humiliated by Mrs. Zhou is an additional price. You didn't pay, so naturally I had to retaliate."
"If you want me to obediently cooperate, fine, add another million yuan, and I'll quietly let Mrs. Zhou scold me for three minutes, absolutely without retorting."
Shen Guanghui choked with anger.
Mrs. Zhou heard these words and couldn't help sneering, "Shen He, you are indeed insatiably greedy!"
Mrs. Zhou turned and walked to her husband's side, pointing a finger at Shen He, disdainfully cursing: "Have you not yet seen this girl's true face? She's just like your rural mother, both fallen into the money pit, rotten women…"
Slap!
Mrs. Zhou's head tilted, and her right cheek suddenly bore a bright red slap mark.
"…"
Mrs. Zhou covered her face, looking incredulously at Shen He. "You dare hit me? Shen He! I am your mother!"
Shen Guanghui was also stunned, angrily rebuking Shen He: "Shen He, you're insane, how could you hit your mother!"
Shaking her burning, fiery right hand, Shen He spoke grimly: "You should be grateful you're the one who gave birth to me, otherwise, today I would smash your mouth!"
Mrs. Zhou was shocked speechless by the bloodthirsty glare emanating from Shen He's eyes.
She suspected that if she dared to speak again, Shen He would truly dare to wield a knife against her!
This is a rural female ruffian!
Shen Guanghui also pursed his lips tightly, not uttering a word.
Finally, silence fell around them.
Shen He casually rubbed the hand that had struck, telling Mrs. Zhou: "That rotten woman you speak of, who fell into the money pit, she carried me for ten months and nearly died on the delivery bed to give birth to your husband."
"She raised me by selling herbs and farming crops. In this world, anyone has the right to call my grandmother greedy, but you two have no such right."
"If I hear you slander her again, I can give you a hundred ways to die."
After saying this, Shen He passed by them and headed toward the study exit.
Mrs. Zhou's rationality was completely shattered by Shen He's slap, and she couldn't resist shouting at Shen He's back: "Shen He, you are just an extra!"
"If your sister hadn't been suffering from leukemia and needed umbilical cord blood for treatment, why would I have given birth to you!"
Hearing his wife bring up these old matters again, Shen Guanghui immediately raised his voice to scold Mrs. Zhou: "Shut up! What's the point of mentioning this over and over?"
"Shen Guanghui, you're still scolding me!" Mrs. Zhou glared tearfully at her husband, saying: "Our Ruzhu was so clever. If she were still alive, Shen Jinyan wouldn't deserve to be called a genius!"
"Look at Shen He, she's mediocre at best, raised by your mother into what she is now! She exposed my shortcomings in front of so many people, and now she even dares to lay hands on me. What use is she to me!"
"If Ruzhu were still alive, would I have to suffer this humiliation?" Mentioning her deceased eldest daughter, Mrs. Zhou was heartbroken with grief.
Shen Guanghui also couldn't help but show a look of regret and sorrow.
Shen He was not the true eldest daughter of the Shen family; Shen Ruzhu was.
Shen Ruzhu was exceptionally intelligent, a true prodigy.
At just 12 years old, while other children were still in sixth grade, she had already skipped to her senior year of high school.
As Mrs. Zhou said, if Shen Ruzhu were alive, even Shen Jinyan wouldn't be considered a genius.
But Shen Ruzhu was unlucky. At 13, she was suddenly diagnosed with acute leukemia.
To save Shen Ruzhu, Mrs. Zhou and Shen Guanghui thought of having a second child, using the newborn's umbilical cord blood to save Shen Ruzhu.
Just as Mrs. Zhou said, Shen He existed solely to save Shen Ruzhu.
Eight months later, Shen Ruzhu's condition became critical.
To save Shen Ruzhu, Mrs. Zhou ignored the doctors' advice and insisted on undergoing a cesarean section.
But the second child, Shen He, happened to inherit Shen Guanghui's rare blood type. Her umbilical cord blood was not a match for Shen Ruzhu!
Shen He was born in the early hours of February 18th, and Shen Ruzhu died late that same night.
Shen He's birthday became Shen Ruzhu's death anniversary.
Shen He was merely a tool for saving someone. When this tool failed, Mrs. Zhou naturally despised her in every way.
Later, the psychologically twisted Mrs. Zhou even blamed her eldest daughter's death on her younger daughter, believing she was a jinx, a bringer of misfortune.
Driven by hatred and pain, Mrs. Zhou heartlessly abandoned Shen He in a small stream in the suburbs of Qingshi, leaving her to fend for herself.
At the critical moment, it was Grandma who rushed to the scene, jumped into the stream, and saved Shen He.
From then on, Shen He was taken by Grandma to the countryside to be raised.
At that time, Shen He didn't even have a name.
It happened to be the Awakening of Insects season, when rural families were busy with spring plowing and sowing. Seeing the rice seedlings planted in the paddies, Grandma named her Shen He.
For farmers, rice seedlings symbolize the hope of abundance.
Grandma gave Shen He this name, hoping her future would be filled with boundless hope.
Shen He suddenly turned around.
She questioned Mrs. Zhou expressionlessly, "Just because I wasn't a match for Shen Ruzhu, and I, as a tool, lost my usefulness, I deserved to be abandoned in a stream to fend for myself?"
Mrs. Zhou retorted defiantly, "Yes! Your birthday is your sister's death anniversary. Every time I see you, I feel pain and sorrow. You shouldn't even exist in this world!"
"If it weren't for your sister's illness, you wouldn't even have the right to be born!"
"Your life is as worthless as grass. You're lucky you didn't die!"
"Even if I could do it all over again, I would still do the same! I only regret not being ruthless enough—I should have strangled you to death instead of abandoning you in the stream, only for that old woman to save you!"
Knowing full well that such words were like rubbing salt into Shen He's bleeding wounds, Mrs. Zhou said them anyway.
It was simply because she felt no love.
In her previous life, a similar conversation had taken place. What had Shen He done then?
She had rushed forward and fought with Mrs. Zhou. After the fight, everyone attending the banquet knew she was an unfilial daughter.
Her reputation began to deteriorate from that day onward.
But in this lifetime…
Shen He suddenly sneered, pulling out her phone from her bag and waving it at them. She said, "Your words just admitted to the crime you committed against me."
"I have recorded evidence."