The Jiang family home.
Xu Shichu hadn’t even entered the house when she heard cheerful conversation coming from inside.
It seemed the Song family had arrived before them. Xu Jingheng instinctively glanced at Xu Shichu, worry in his eyes.
Xu Shichu gave him a reassuring look, then strode inside in her high heels, the sharp click of each step ringing out.
Her presence was commanding, her gaze fierce. She looked every bit like someone who’d come looking for a fight.
The moment Old Madam Jiang saw her, she stood up, about to speak. But when she caught Xu Shichu’s icy gaze, she stopped short and managed only a few awkward words. “Chuchu, you really came back?”
Xu Shichu’s gaze swept over He Wan, Song Miaomiao, and Song Ruoruo on the sofa, then turned to the mother-in-law she hadn’t seen in years. Her words showed no regard for anyone’s feelings.
“Mom, I just got back, and already I’ve found someone bullying my son.”
“Is this…” Xu Shichu paused, “you standing up for your grandson?”
She was furious. She hadn’t expected Old Madam Jiang to secretly have Song Ruoruo released from the police station behind her back.
Her words plunged the living room into awkward silence.
Old Madam Jiang glanced at her eldest grandson, his face cold, and looked uneasy, unsure what to say.
He Wan’s expression darkened. She hadn’t expected Xu Shichu to be so unyielding. If Xu Man hadn’t tipped her off, Song Ruoruo might never have gotten out.
She composed herself and stepped forward. “Chuchu, I know you have a problem with Ruoruo, but she’s already spent the whole night in custody. She’s a young woman—who knows how much she must have suffered? She’s learned her lesson. Please let her go.”
Old Madam Jiang immediately chimed in. “That’s right. Jingheng is fine now, so don’t hold it against that girl. After all, our families are still bound by a marriage agreement. It wouldn’t look good if word got out.”
Xu Jingheng wasn’t surprised to hear that. He pressed his lips together and said nothing.
Xu Shichu gave a cold laugh. Her mother-in-law’s character really hadn’t changed in all these years.
“The Qing dynasty fell ages ago, and you’re still pushing arranged marriages? What, did no one tell you when the country was founded?”
Song Miaomiao and Song Ruoruo’s expressions changed at once.
Song Miaomiao looked at Xu Jingheng with tear-filled eyes, her voice wounded and fragile. “Big Brother Jingheng, my Older Sister knows she was wrong. Please, just for my sake, let her go!”
“For your sake…” Xu Shichu stepped in front of her son and snapped back on his behalf, “How much is your sake worth?”
Song Miaomiao choked on her words, her hand frozen as she wiped away her tears.
Xu Shichu turned to Old Madam Jiang, her tone cutting. “This family drugged your grandson yesterday, and today you’re pleading on behalf of the people who did it?”
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m starting to wonder whether the Jiang family has been mistreating my son all these years!”
Grandma clutched her chest and staggered half a step backward. “You…”
He Wan hadn’t expected Xu Shichu to show no respect even to her own mother-in-law. “Chuchu, how can you speak to an elder like that?”
Xu Shichu was only getting started. “I’ve only been talking about her. I haven’t even gotten to you yet!”
He Wan didn’t want to antagonize her completely, so she softened her tone.
“Chuchu, let’s talk calmly about the children. There’s no need to fall out. Everyone in our circle knows how Ruoruo feels about Jingheng. She only did something so foolish because she likes him!”
“Everyone in our circle knows?” Xu Shichu cut her off. “What exactly does everyone know? That your daughter spent two years pestering my son, or that my son rejected her for two years?”
He Wan was left with no answer, her face burning with embarrassment. Song Ruoruo, meanwhile, wept with humiliation.
“Aunt Xu, I know you don’t like me, but my feelings for Big Brother Jingheng are real. I pursued him for two years. Every day for those two years, I—”
“You pursued him for two years?” Xu Shichu had no interest in hearing all that nonsense. She went straight to the point. “Did he ever say yes?”
Song Ruoruo’s sobs stopped.
Xu Shichu fixed her with a hawk-like stare. “Over those two years, he clearly rejected you countless times and told you to stop pestering him. But you didn’t listen. You kept doing whatever you wanted.”
Xu Shichu had read this part in the book. Every time the male lead rejected the female lead, she acted as if she were deaf and couldn’t hear him.
At school, she never missed a morning of waiting outside his dorm to bring him breakfast. Later, she showed up outside his company with all kinds of cheap little gifts, making a spectacle of herself until the whole company was talking about it.
She also called and messaged him constantly. No matter how coldly he treated her, she pretended not to notice and kept throwing herself at him.
Perhaps her feelings were sincere, but they were not what the male lead wanted.
On the contrary, she had caused Xu Jingheng’s peaceful life enormous distress.
Xu Shichu could barely keep her temper in check. “Everyone in our circle knows you’re pursuing my son. They look down on you, yet they also urge him, ‘Just say yes. The girl’s gone this far for you.’ Song Ruoruo, do you know what that means?”
“It’s blatant emotional blackmail—and outright sexual harassment.”
Outsiders only saw it as a joke. They looked down on Song Ruoruo’s pathetic devotion and had mocked her countless times behind her back.
But to Xu Jingheng’s face, they still urged him not to disappoint a girl who had given him her whole heart.
In the end, since they weren’t the ones being stabbed, these people were just enjoying the spectacle and making matters worse.
Song Ruoruo’s face flushed scarlet. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.
He Wan looked deeply embarrassed, too. It wasn’t as if they hadn’t known what Song Ruoruo was doing. They had simply let it go, hoping to secure one more guarantee.
If Xu Jingheng didn’t want Miaomiao, they would still have Ruoruo. As long as one of their daughters married him, the Song family could rise to even greater heights.
Song Ruoruo wiped at her tears and choked out, “But…but I really do like Big Brother Jingheng…”
Xu Shichu didn’t soften toward her in the slightest. “You’re using your devotion as a weapon to force someone who doesn’t like you to give in. If he says no, he’s the one who doesn’t know what’s good for him. You’ve even made plenty of people who don’t know the truth think he’s a jerk.”
She took two steps forward and looked Song Ruoruo straight in the eye.
“You pursued him for two years, then put yourself in the victim’s position until everyone thought he owed you something.”
“But he rejected you for two years. He never promised you anything, never gave you the slightest hope. Even the engagement was something your Song family made up yourselves. What, exactly, does he owe you?”
Song Ruoruo’s lips trembled, her face drenched in tears.
“There’s no such thing as fairness in love. You loved him for two years, and he didn’t love you back. You feel wronged, and you think that because you put in the effort, you deserve something in return. But that’s not how the world works. Suffering doesn’t make you right, and crying louder doesn’t make you right either.”
“It’s a fact that you drugged my son yesterday. There’s no denying it. Starting today, the Xu and Jiang families will cut off their business dealings with the Song family. And I hope you don’t make the mistake of failing to appreciate what’s good for you!”
Xu Shichu’s face was cold. “Housekeeper, show them out!”