Chapter 85.1

“I don’t have the good fortune to be your nice big sister.”

Wen Wenkang looked at Wen Nuan in disbelief. In his memory, Wen Nuan had never spoken to him so harshly.

He was the darling of the entire family, the youngest and the only son. Ever since he was a child, his sisters and parents had always indulged him, fulfilling almost every one of his requests.

His sisters especially doted on him. Whether it was food or supplies, they would always leave it for him, even if they didn’t eat or use it themselves.

And Wen Nuan, his third sister, was even more indulgent. From childhood until now, whatever he said, she would pretty much comply with it.

Before Wen Nuan came to the North, she had sent a lot of money and tickets back home. Although her behavior had become somewhat puzzling later on, she was still easy to deal with and had a soft heart.

Carrying a snakeskin bag, Wen Wenkang shamelessly approached Wen Nuan with a mischievous grin and said, “My dear sister, it wasn’t easy for me and Mommy to come all this way. Why are you saying such hurtful things?”

As he spoke, he directly put down the snakeskin bag from his back and proudly said, “I even brought you a lot of dried vegetables and fish. These are all for you. Oh, and these are for General Lu—no, I mean, for our grandpa.”

Wen Wenkang and Mother Wen had already guessed that Wen Nuan would definitely come to Beijing to spend the New Year with General Lu this year. So, they decided not to celebrate at home, found someone to help them get an introduction letter, and then took the train straight to Beijing.

Over the past six months, they had written many letters to Wen Nuan, but she hadn’t replied to a single one. That shameless woman must have known she was General Lu’s granddaughter, and now she was being ungrateful and turning her back on them!

As for General Lu, he was even more ruthless—he directly returned their letters. The promises he made back then were probably long forgotten.

Wen Wenkang’s parents were infuriated by this. No matter how they looked at it, they felt it was unfair. After all, they had raised Wen Nuan for over ten years. Even if they didn’t have great achievements, they had worked hard.

Besides, they had helped her marry a pilot, and not long ago, they even helped her reunite with a grandfather who was a general in Beijing. Now that she was living the good life, she couldn’t care less about their fate.

There was no way they could swallow this insult. So, a month in advance, they found a dealer, bought an introduction letter to Beijing, and specifically came during the New Year to confront her.

Wen Nuan looked at Wen Wenkang, who was carrying all those large and small bags, and after hearing his words, her expression grew even colder. She laughed mockingly, “Wen Wenkang, stop trying to claim some fake family connection here. My grandfather doesn’t have an ungrateful grandson like you.”

Wen Wenkang and her adoptive parents were shameless scoundrels. Wen Nuan had long anticipated that they would come looking for her one day.

She had indeed received a letter from Mother Wen before, but Wen Nuan knew that even if she wrote to sever ties with them, their thick-skinned nature would eventually lead them to her doorstep, looking for benefits before they would back off.

Now that they were aware her biological grandfather was a general, they were undoubtedly scheming to squeeze whatever advantages they could from him.

What Wen Nuan didn’t expect was for them to come during the Chinese New Year. Judging by the timing, they had probably spent the holiday on the train, all just to achieve their goal. The lengths to which they would go to manipulate things were truly unmatched.

Wen Nuan didn’t want to waste any words on them. But before she could leave, Mother Wen blocked her path. Smiling, as always, she began her usual attempt to manipulate Wen Nuan: “Xiao Nuan, we’re all family. We were before, and now we are even more so. Back at home, I think about you every day, wondering if you’ve adjusted to life in the North. But you… You don’t even think about your family, and now you say such hurtful things. You’ve broken your mother’s heart.”

After finishing her words, Mother Wen pretended to be heartbroken, even wiping at the corner of her eyes where no tears were present.

Wen Nuan let out a cold laugh after hearing Mother Wen’s speech. “Family? How ridiculous. When did you ever treat me like family? Was it when you forced me, under threat of your own life, to replace Wen Wenkang and go to the countryside? Or was it when you secretly accepted money from Zhang Mazi as a bride price and sold me off?”

Mother Wen was an expert at playing the victim and knew very well how to manipulate her children. She had made her daughters willingly sacrifice for their younger brother, Wen Wenkang.

The original Wen Nuan had been thoroughly brainwashed by Mother Wen. Anything good was always reserved for Wen Wenkang—whether it was food or anything else, it went to him first.

The girls in the family were left to use whatever Wen Wenkang didn’t want or eat what he didn’t like.

Even after Wen Nuan had married, she still willingly sacrificed for Wen Wenkang, giving him money and ration tickets. Even when she had nothing left for herself, she would help support the family.

Mother Wen was momentarily stunned by Wen Nuan’s aggressive response. In the past, Wen Nuan would never have spoken to her like this.

“You child… What happened before is in the past now. Besides, how could I have ever let you marry Zhang Mazi? Didn’t I later arrange for Gu Qinghan to marry you instead?”

There was some guilt in Mother Wen’s voice as she spoke, but remembering the purpose of this visit, she quickly put on a thick-skinned smile again and looked at Wen Nuan. Then she asked, “By the way, we came all this way to pay our respects to General Lu for the New Year.”

“You know, don’t you? General Lu visited our home a few months ago. He said we are all family and that we’re welcome to come to Beijing anytime. So, taking advantage of Wen Wenkang having some free time, our family travelled all this way, bringing a lot of local specialities, just to pay our respects to General Lu for the New Year.”

Wen Nuan listened to Mother Wen’s words and quickly deduced that their purpose for coming was to get close to her grandfather. This realization made her even more determined not to let them succeed.

Wen Nuan straightened her face and smiled, “My grandfather doesn’t want to see you. You should go back.”

“Besides, I don’t have time to waste with you. You treated me like a cash cow before, so don’t dream about that now!”

With that, Wen Nuan turned to head back to the compound, not wanting to engage in any more pointless chatter with them. Even if Mother Wen threw a tantrum and called her an ingrate, she no longer intended to deal with this family.

Mother Wen let out a cold laugh, her previously warm smile disappearing as she stepped forward to block Wen Nuan’s path. She sneered and said, “Wen Nuan, don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking. Now that you’re living a good life, you plan to ignore us?”

The look in Mother Wen’s eyes turned a bit sinister as she continued, “If I hadn’t brought you into my home, you would have long been food for the wolves. Now that you’ve acknowledged your biological grandfather, you’re planning to be ungrateful? Don’t forget, if it weren’t for me raising you, you wouldn’t have what you have today!”

She had been waiting for this day of triumph and wasn’t about to let it slip away so easily.

Wen Nuan looked at her. “So you’re finally speaking the truth? All this talk about New Year’s greetings was just a cover; what you really want are the benefits.”

“You can go back now; we have nothing for you to take advantage of.”

Mother Wen smiled. “Otherwise, why would I have raised you for over ten years?”

“Whether there’s any benefit or not is not up to you to decide; General Lu is the one who can actually make decisions. Your antics will only make him think you’re unreasonable.”

Mother Wen had never considered that her adopted daughter could be the child of a general. Now that she knew, she would not easily let go of this valuable relationship.

Moreover, when she last saw General Lu, she felt he wouldn’t be an ungrateful person. After all, how could he accept a granddaughter without any effort at his level? Was he not afraid she would spread rumors that he was ungrateful?

Mother Wen must have felt confident enough to make this trip.

Wen Nuan looked Mother Wen up and down before saying, “You really think too highly of yourself.”

After saying that, Wen Nuan truly turned to leave.

Seeing that his mother had dropped the pretense, Wen Wenkang threw all the bags he was holding onto the ground and quickly stepped forward to grab Wen Nuan’s arm. “Trying to leave? It’s not that easy! Let General Lu come out to see us!”

Wen Nuan saw Wen Wenkang’s aggressive action and shouted, “Comrades, help me! There are people here trying to bully me!”

At the entrance of the grand compound, the guard had already noticed Wen Nuan’s figure. In recent days, Wen Nuan has become a hot topic in the compound. Everyone knew that General Lu had suddenly found a granddaughter. Upon hearing Wen Nuan’s shout, the guard dashed over as if sprinting a hundred meters.

Wen Nuan shook off Wen Wenkang’s arm and ran towards the guard, pointing at Wen Wenkang as she exclaimed, “Comrade, it’s him! He’s being a rogue!”

The guard looked at Wen Wenkang, his expression serious and stern. Without saying a word, he swiftly grabbed Wen Wenkang, and the latter instantly fell to his knees, panicking as he cried out, “It hurts, it hurts…”

“C-comrade, I am her brother, not a rogue!” Wen Wenkang cried, tears streaming down his face. Mother Wen, who hadn’t anticipated Wen Nuan would call for help, no longer cared about her daughter’s outburst. She hurriedly grasped the guard’s arm that was pinning Wen Wenkang and shouted, “Comrade, this is a misunderstanding! We are the family of General Lu. We came to pay respects to General Lu for the New Year, not to cause trouble!”

The guard was at a loss, unsure whom to believe. He recognized Wen Nuan but did not know these two individuals. So, he continued to hold on tightly to Wen Wenkang’s arm.

Wen Wenkang, usually lazy and well-fed, was no match for the soldier’s trained grip. He began to cry out in pain, “Mom, save me!”

Just as Mother Wen was about to call for help, a familiar figure appeared behind Wen Nuan. She suddenly felt as if she had seen a ray of light and burst into tears, “General Lu, please help! Quickly let him go!”

Mother Wen’s face lit up with the hope of being rescued. Although she was worried about her son, she couldn’t help but feel excited and joyful at the sight of General Lu.

Upon hearing Mother Wen’s shout, Wen Nuan instinctively turned around to look. She saw General Lu, General Shen, and Gu Qinghan approaching.

Lele was still being held in Gu Qinghan’s arms. Lele spotted Wen Nuan and gleefully shouted, “Mommy! Mommy!”

“Mommy! Mommy, come hold me!”

Wen Nuan glanced at General Lu, who nodded at her before saying, “Don’t worry, Grandpa will handle this.”

Reassured that her grandfather would take care of the situation, Wen Nuan walked toward Gu Qinghan and the child.

Lele had already stretched out her arms, wanting Wen Nuan to hold her. Wen Nuan simply took the child from Gu Qinghan and said, “Mommy will hold you.”

As soon as Lele was in Wen Nuan’s arms, she wrapped her little arms around Wen Nuan’s neck and kissed her, saying, “I missed you so much, Mommy!”

Gu Qinghan glanced at Wen Wenkang, who was still being restrained, and asked, “Did he hurt you?”

He recalled the time before he was reassigned to North when he had returned to his hometown and seen Wen Wenkang bullying her. Lele was very young at that time, and Wen Nuan was probably afraid that her child might get hurt, which was why she hadn’t interacted with Wen Wenkang.

Gu Qinghan had thought that the previous lesson would make Wen Wenkang learn his lesson, but it seemed that he had a poor memory, still trying to make trouble at the military gate.

Seeing the cold, frosty expression on the man’s face, Wen Nuan shook her head and replied, “I’m fine. I called for help, and the guard came quickly.”

Gu Qinghan pinched Lele’s cheek and said, “You take Lele home first; we will handle things here.”

“Okay, then I’ll take Lele home first,” Wen Nuan replied.

Just as Wen Nuan was walking away with the child, she suddenly heard Wen Wenkang’s sharp cries of pain and Gu Qinghan’s deep voice.

Wen Nuan turned Lele slightly to prevent her from looking back and quickened her pace toward the compound.

Wen Nuan returned to General Lu’s home with the child.

It was already past four in the afternoon, and the sky looked like it was about to snow again; it was overcast, and the room was dim enough that they needed to turn on the lights to see clearly.

Once they were back in the small building, Wen Nuan played with Lele for a while, then turned on the television for her before heading to the kitchen to cook.

Uncertain about when her grandfather and the others would be back, Wen Nuan decided not to start cooking yet and planned to wait until they returned.

She waited until seven o’clock.

The sky had turned completely dark. Lele was so engrossed in watching TV that she began to feel hungry. She looked at Wen Nuan and said, “Mommy, I want to eat.”

Since Wen Nuan had no idea when they would come back, she decided not to wait any longer. She cooked a little lamb and a few meatballs for Lele so that the child could have dinner first.

Lele, probably feeling very hungry, took the spoon and started eating by herself. Before long, she had finished half a bowl of rice and vegetables.

Lele looked at the meatballs in the hot pot, pointed at them, and said, “Mommy, I want more meatballs.”

Wen Nuan also ate a little with her child and, noticing that Lele still wanted more, picked up a meatball and said, “This is the last one. Save some for great-grandpa and dad.”

Lele nodded vigorously, saying, “Uh-huh, Lele will only eat one.”

“Leave the rest for Daddy and Great-grandpa to eat.”

“Okay.” Wen Nuan poked a meatball with her chopsticks and handed it to Lele. Then she added, “Just sit in the chair and eat; you can’t eat while walking.”

Chopsticks were easy to poke the throat, and Lele was an impatient child who often ran around, so it was definitely not safe to let her eat on the floor.

Perhaps Lele was particularly hungry today, as she was especially obedient. With a smile, she took a bite with her few little teeth and said, “Got it.”

Next, Lele brought the chopsticks with the meatball to Wen Nuan’s mouth, saying in her sweet voice, “Mommy should eat too.”

Wen Nuan glanced at it, unceremoniously took a small bite, and replied, “Okay, I ate.”

Lele looked at her mother, tilted her little head, and said, “You have to say thank you.”

Wen Nuan couldn’t help but laugh at the adorable sight of her child. She bent down and gave Lele a kiss on the cheek, saying earnestly, “Thank you, Lele.”

“Not at all!” Lele replied happily as she continued to enjoy her meatballs.