Chapter 10

“You!”

The thug was livid when he heard that.
“You were the one who told me during the day that that female comrade over there had money. That’s why I tried to make a move. Who knew they were actually broke? I was tricked by you!”

“What were you thinking?!”
“You’re such a vicious woman!” he shouted angrily.

Lu Zhiyao came over with her children to watch the commotion and immediately saw Bai Shui Shui arguing with the thug.
She sneered coldly.

“Bai Shui Shui, oh Bai Shui Shui, I didn’t expect you to follow me here, and even tell others that I have money!”

“What’s the point of doing something like that?”

Lu Zhiyao exposed Bai Shui Shui’s identity with a cold smile, surprising the onlookers even more.
What was going on?

These two female comrades actually knew each other?

So, it was possible that they were enemies. But this Bai Shui Shui seemed worse — that woman over there had two children and no money, and Bai Shui Shui even tried to get a thug to steal from her?

Everyone couldn’t help but curl their lips in disdain, casting contemptuous glances at Bai Shui Shui.

“What’s the truth here?”
“There’s a story behind this!”

As the crowd chattered away, Lu Zhiyao sneered:
“Since she’s here, let me tell everyone a story.”

“She used to be my best friend. My husband serves in the army, and she got into the military as a doctor.”

“Thinking it would be good to have someone I trust around, I asked her to look after him a bit. But what happened? She came back and told my kids that their dad spent all his money buying things for her, and even said my kids were abandoned by their father!”

“Tell me, how vicious can someone be, to say things like that to children?”

“When I wanted to take my kids to find my husband and get an explanation, she plotted to have someone rob me and stop me from going!”

“Clearly, she’s in love with my husband! She wants to ruin a military marriage!”

“Oh, I’ve had such bad luck!”
“I’m not letting this go!”

Lu Zhiyao shouted everything out loud. The people nearby were stunned.
Their expressions toward Bai Shui Shui turned even more disgusted.

This female comrade looked fair and delicate, but her heart was so malicious?

She was supposed to help her friend by looking after her husband — and ended up getting into bed with him?

Hearing all this, Bai Shui Shui couldn’t help but swallow nervously. She was truly panicking.
Lu Zhiyao speaking so boldly meant that she’d definitely say the same when she got to the army base.

What was she going to do?!

“No, I didn’t do anything!”
“You’re all making things up! What’s wrong with you people? Are you in this together trying to frame me?”
“I didn’t do any of that!”

Bai Shui Shui tried to explain desperately, but the crowd didn’t know who to believe.
Still, Lu Zhiyao’s story was the juiciest — and felt the most real.

After all, Bai Shui Shui was just shaking her head and denying everything. That made her look even more suspicious.

The crowd kept whispering excitedly. They didn’t know the full truth but were eager to speculate and fill in the gaps with their imagination.

Even though it was already nighttime, no one felt sleepy anymore. Even after dispersing, small groups continued gossiping.

Lu Zhiyao didn’t care what Bai Shui Shui had to say. She turned to the nearby train attendant.
“Let’s not disturb everyone’s sleep anymore. Please take this person away.”

The attendant, who had also been eavesdropping, finally snapped back to reality and asked a colleague to take the thug away.

They couldn’t do much about the rest, but a thug trying to steal and causing this kind of commotion needed to be dealt with — and disciplined.

Plus, the thug might have sneaked onto the train.

They needed to investigate and take appropriate action.

As the attendants led the thug away, the crowd dispersed.

Lu Zhiyao cast Bai Shui Shui a cold glance and smirked.
“If I’m not mistaken, you’ve only been back for two days. Doesn’t family leave last seven days?”

“Why are you leaving so soon? Could it be you’re afraid I’ll get back to the base before you and tell everyone the truth?”

Bai Shui Shui cursed Lu Zhiyao in her mind.

What’s wrong with this woman?!

Why did she guess correctly?!

Though she was feeling guilty, she didn’t show it. She raised her chin and said,
“The army suddenly needed me for something important, so I’m going back. Why do you care how many days I’ve been here?”

“I don’t care at all.”

Lu Zhiyao gave a mocking chuckle. The meaning behind her smile made Bai Shui Shui feel a chill down her spine.

This…

This Lu Zhiyao really was different from before!

The more she looked, the more scared she became.

Lu Zhiyao chuckled again, turned around, and took the children back to their sleeper cabin.

“Mommy,” one of the children tugged on her clothes, “is Auntie Shui Shui a bad person?”

They hadn’t dared to ask before, because Mommy and Auntie Shui Shui had seemed to get along well.

But tonight felt different, so they asked.

“Yes. No matter what the past was like, from now on, don’t pay any attention to that bad auntie — especially anything she says. Don’t believe a single word!”

Lu Zhiyao knew why the kids asked.

The original Lu Zhiyao had genuinely been close friends with Bai Shui Shui.
Part of that was because she never realized what kind of person Bai Shui Shui really was.

Her husband was stationed far away in the capital, and Bai Shui Shui — her best friend — was the one closest to him. The original Lu Zhiyao never expected that Bai Shui Shui would stir up trouble and drive a wedge between her and her family.

From her memories, the original Lu Zhiyao didn’t even know when Bai Shui Shui had said those things to the children.

So right now, the most important thing was to make it clear to the kids: their mother had been fooled in the past. From now on, they should treat anything Bai Shui Shui says like nonsense.

The children nodded but still looked pitiful.

Lu Zhiyao patted their heads.
“Go to sleep. When you wake up, it’ll be morning. I’ll buy you something nice then.”

She kissed their cheeks.

The two little ones instantly felt as sweet as if they’d eaten honey. They grinned and hugged Lu Zhiyao, then curled up in bed to sleep.

It was already close to dawn. The surroundings quieted.

Lu Zhiyao leaned back slightly on the bed, her mind racing with images, recalling events from her past life.

In that life, she had an abusive stepmother and suffered terribly as a child.

If these kids’ father really turns out to be a fake, hypocritical man — then fine, she’d get a divorce. The kids would stay with her, and she’d raise them on her own!

There’s no way she’d let that man take them, especially not if he ends up marrying Bai Shui Shui.

She had suffered at the hands of a stepmother in her past life — there was no way she’d let her children go through the same thing.

The kids were hers now. A pain-free motherhood? She couldn’t be happier!