Tang Hao couldn’t bear to let his daughter do any heavy lifting, so he carried the wooden trunk with both hands and followed Tang Youyou out.
As they stepped outside, they ran into Tang Zhen, who had just returned looking completely frazzled.
Tang Youyou called out, “Second Uncle.”
Tang Zhen nodded at her. Then, without even glancing at his elder brother Tang Hao, he walked past them and entered the room.
Not long afterward, Cai Jinhe’s concerned voice drifted out from inside.
“Zhen’er, you’re back. Are you tired? I had the servants stew some pigeon soup for you. Have a bowl.”
Tang Youyou glanced at Tang Hao, whose expression revealed nothing.
Wasn’t this treatment a little too different?
Could it be that her father had actually been adopted?
Very possible.
Otherwise, why would Cai Jinhe have gone to such lengths to sow discord between her and Tang Hao?
Grandpa Tang had died young at forty-eight, leaving behind two sons.
His eldest son was Tang Hao.
His second son was Tang Zhen.
Eighteen years ago, after Cai Jinhe handed over control of the family to Tang Zhen, she and the second branch of the family continued living in the Tang family’s ancestral residence.
Tang Hao’s family, meanwhile, moved into a small two-story house not far from the ancestral home.
From that point onward, perhaps because he had finally been relieved of the burden, or because he had realized that he simply wasn’t cut out for business, Tang Hao stopped involving himself in the Tang family’s affairs.
Every day, he raised birds, listened to music, played the qin, painted, and generally enjoyed an incredibly leisurely life.
Of course, that was assuming you ignored all the gossip circulating around the capital.
Ever since the original owner had been old enough to understand things, she’d constantly heard people saying things like:
“Tan Hao is hopeless. You can’t make anything out of him.”
“Tang Hao sure is lucky. He has such a good father and such a capable younger brother.”
“If it weren’t for Tang Zhen, the Tang family would have been reduced to beggars long ago.”
On top of that, Cai Jinhe would occasionally call the original owner over and tell her that her father was biased, that Zhou Ping was vicious, and that her stepsister Tang Jiaojiao had stolen her father’s affection and even wanted to steal her position as the Tang family’s eldest daughter.
The original owner had been manipulated by her.
After being subjected to repeated emotional manipulation, she looked down on Tang Hao even more.
The fact that she had obediently called him “Dad” like she had today was something that hadn’t happened in a very long time.
All the way home, Tang Hao seemed to be walking on air, as though he still hadn’t recovered from hearing his daughter call him “Dad.”
Following the original owner’s memories, Tang Youyou pushed open the familiar front door.
Although the elder branch’s two-story house couldn’t compare with the Tang family’s century-old courtyard residence, it was still considerably larger than an ordinary home.
The courtyard alone was nearly 400 square meters.
The first floor consisted of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and servants’ quarters.
Upstairs, Tang Hao, his wife, and Tang Jiaojiao occupied one side, while the master bedroom on the other side belonged to the original owner.
Judging solely from that room—which was a full 100 square meters and came complete with a two-meter-wide bed, study, balcony, dressing room, and washroom—it was obvious that Tang Hao wasn’t someone who favored his stepdaughter.
After all, the room he and his wife shared was only about 50 square meters.
Tang Jiaojiao’s room was even smaller, probably less than 20 square meters.
The servants cleaned the house every day.
When Zhou Ping had nothing else to do, she tended to numerous beautiful flowers and plants in the courtyard.
Come spring and summer, the entire yard would be lush and green, filled with a refreshing fragrance.
Bang!
Tang Hao placed the wooden trunk on the table, startling Zhou Ping, who was in the kitchen simmering soup.
“What happened?”
Tang Hao finally came back to his senses from the excitement of My daughter called me Dad!
He carefully thought over what Tang Youyou had just done.
The more he thought about it, the more aggrieved he felt—and the angrier he became.
“You, come here!”
He pointed toward the dark-brown leather sofa in the living room and shouted.
The sheer force of his voice made Tang Youyou instinctively shrink her neck.
Zhou Ping frowned as well.
“If you have something to say, say it properly. Why are you yelling at the child?”
Then she anxiously looked toward Tang Youyou, afraid that she would, as usual, respond with some sarcastic remark.
Tang Youyou mentally went through the original owner’s memories and realized that this really was how things had always been.
No matter what Tang Hao said to her in the past, Zhou Ping would always defend her.
But in the original owner’s eyes, Zhou Ping had been malicious.
She believed her stepmother secretly badmouthed her all the time.
Whenever things got serious, she would even shove Zhou Ping away and yell at her to stop meddling in her business.
Oh, original owner, you really were an idiot.
How did someone as clueless as you make it to twenty?
Now that Tang Youyou had taken over her body, she felt somewhat guilty.
Of course she wasn’t going to behave ungratefully like the original owner had.
While Tang Youyou was thinking about how to quietly change the impression her family had of her, Tang Hao assumed she was doing what she’d always done—making a mistake, refusing to admit it, and then turning around to blame them.
But those previous mistakes had all been minor.
How could something as important as marriage be treated like child’s play?
He took a deep breath, his chest heaving heavily.
Grinding his teeth, he looked around and actually pulled a rattan cane out from underneath the dining table.
Smack!
He slammed it down onto the table.
Tang Youyou’s heart nearly stopped.
Oh my God.
The original owner had caused trouble for twenty years and had never once been beaten.
Had she just transmigrated only to get a beating with the metaphorical bamboo shoots?
Zhou Ping was startled too.
She hurriedly stepped in front of Tang Youyou to protect her.
“What are you doing? Are you seriously going to hit her?
“Youyou is already twenty years old. Young girls are sensitive. If you push her too far, she’ll stop talking to you, and then she’ll spend the whole night sighing and unable to sleep.”
Tang Hao’s old face reddened.
He awkwardly said, “Why are you saying all that? I’m just teaching my daughter a lesson.
“Tang Youyou is getting worse and worse. Do you know what she just did?
“She actually agreed to swap marriages. She wants to marry Qin Yuchen.”
“What?”
Zhou Ping froze.
Tang Youyou, however, wasn’t convinced.
She poked her head out from behind Zhou Ping.
“Why can’t I marry Qin Yuchen? I can! I want to marry into the Qin family and live a good life.”
“You…” Tang Hao gritted his teeth.
“Is that really what you call a good life? The Qin family is a den of wolves and a lair of tigers!
“Do you think I went to all that trouble to arrange a marriage swap for you for no reason? Why won’t you listen?”
Tang Youyou’s eyes widened in shock.
“So it’s really like Grandma said? You’re biased against me and don’t want me to live a good life?”
Tang Hao stopped.
His old face flushed red.
This time, it was from anger.
Tang Youyou pouted, her eyes reddening.
“Waaah… I knew it. Dad doesn’t love me. I’m just a poor little cabbage that anyone can bully.
“Little cabbage, growing yellow in the fields… Born into this world without a mother…”
By the end, Tang Youyou was sobbing between sniffles.
Seeing her pitiful appearance, Zhou Ping’s heart ached.
She shot Tang Hao a fierce glare and pulled Tang Youyou into her arms.
“Be good. Don’t cry. Your dad must have lost his mind. I’ll apologize to you on his behalf.”
As she spoke, she also shot Tang Hao a meaningful look.
Tang Hao stood frozen in place, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water over him from head to toe.
Tang Youyou raised her head from Zhou Ping’s embrace.
Sniffling, she glanced over and caught the angry expression Tang Hao hadn’t yet managed to hide.
She immediately started crying again.
“Waaah… Mom, look at Dad. The way he’s looking at me is like he’s going to eat me!”
Zhou Ping, who had been about to comfort her, suddenly stiffened.
Her expression froze.
“You… What did you just call me?”
Her voice trembled slightly, and the disbelief in her final words was impossible to conceal.
Tang Youyou pulled herself out of her embrace.
Her misty almond-shaped eyes were rimmed red, and her innocent, doe-like expression made her look incredibly sweet and endearing.
She asked in a soft, almost naive voice:
“You raised me. Can’t I call you Mom?”
“Yes! Of course you can!”
Afraid that Tang Youyou might regret it, Zhou Ping practically nodded her head off.
Her mind was buzzing, her heart pounding, and she felt as though she were floating in the clouds.
None of this seemed real.
“Ow!”
She pinched her own thigh.
It hurt.
So it wasn’t a dream.
Zhou Ping’s eyes immediately turned red, and her voice became choked with emotion.
“Yes, you can. You grew up drinking my milk. I’m your mother!”
Tang Youyou’s heart was beating a little faster.
She genuinely hadn’t expected Zhou Ping to react like this.
It seemed the original owner really had been an idiot who couldn’t tell who was good to her and who wasn’t.
But it didn’t matter.
Now that Tang Youyou had arrived, there was no reason for her to keep being foolish.
“Mm!”
She gave Zhou Ping a sweet smile.
“Mom!”
“Yes!”
Zhou Ping’s response was so loud that people out on the street probably heard it.
Goodness.
Who knew what kind of wonderful thing had just happened!