Chapter 50: The Previous Generation’s Entanglements of Love and Hate (Part 1)

Having a little ghost I can’t see in the house makes sleeping alone truly terrifying.

But I’m even more afraid of Wen Ye and me sharing the same bed but dreaming different dreams.

His cold words tonight have completely shattered my delusions about him.

That’s right, Le Xiaomai, do you really want something to happen with a beast?

Wake up, it’s impossible between you two.

He’s aiming to ascend to immortality; he’s spent five hundred years cultivating and building his career. He hasn’t even bothered to find a female fox. How could he let you become a stumbling block on his path to immortality?

Le Xiaomai, you should just honestly find someone to date, marry, and have children with.

——————

The next day after breakfast, we set off. Xiao Dao was originally chattering non-stop on the way, but seeing that the atmosphere between Wen Ye and me was off, he made small talk with me for a while before wisely shutting his mouth.

After a four-and-a-half-hour drive, we arrived at my home, which I hadn’t returned to in twelve years, at two in the afternoon.

The wicker gate had been replaced with a metal one, the mud walls were now high red brick walls, and the dirt courtyard was paved with blue bricks. The wide courtyard and rooms in my memory now felt incredibly cramped.

Xiao Dao said that when the apartment in the city was renovated and they moved in, they would renovate the old house again.

By then, this place would be completely unrelated to my childhood memories, and to me.

“Why are you back?” The woman in front of me was darker, older, and fatter.

The only thing that hadn’t changed was her frosty attitude towards me.

“Mom, I was the one who asked my sister to come back!” Xiao Dao jumped onto the porch, opened the door, and told Wen Ye and me to come in.

“You little rascal, you’re actually siding with outsiders, even deceiving your own mother! Don’t expect me to believe a word you say in the future!” The stepmother slapped Xiao Dao and glared at me.

A slap that made a lot of noise but didn’t hurt much, a glare that was subtle but pierced right into my heart.

I softly called out, “Mom,” and regardless of the cold looks and glares, I stepped inside.

The layout of the rooms had changed. My old room and the one next to it had been knocked through to create a small living room.

Xiao Dao was busy washing fruit and pouring water, while my stepmother sat motionless on the sofa.

“Xiao Dao, don’t bother,” I called out to him. “I’ll leave after I’ve asked what I need to know.”

Xiao Dao placed the washed grapes on the coffee table in front of Wen Ye and me, frowning as he said, “Sister, it’s not easy for you to come back, you should stay at home for a few days.”

Wen Ye, a fervent fruit lover, didn’t care where he was and picked up the grapes to eat, sneering, “Is there even a place for her to stay here?”

Xiao Dao sat on the plastic stool next to me: “She can stay in my room! I’ll sleep on the floor in the living room!”

My stepmother huddled on the sofa, lazily swiping through her phone, treating me like air, and said coldly, “Knowing that you’re not welcome, why come back?”

I tried my best to maintain a polite attitude: “Mom, I’m back just to ask about something.”

“What do you want to ask?” My stepmother raised her eyelids warily.

I smiled: “About Dad’s disappearance… Although I haven’t been home for the past ten years, he is still my father. Whether he is dead or alive, missing, or kidnapped, I have the right to know.”

“What right do you have to know?” My stepmother slammed her phone on the sofa, glaring at me fiercely, “From the day you moved out of this house, you have nothing to do with it anymore! I’ve kept a record of every penny of the living expenses and tuition fees your dad gave you.”

“The two thousand you send back every month is for you to pay off those expenses. Once you’ve paid them off, we’ll be even! Your dad and I don’t need you to provide for us in our old age… I’ve made myself very clear.”

Xiao Dao anxiously roared, “Mom, what are you doing!”

“Money is money, and feelings are feelings,” I took a deep breath, suppressing the bitterness in my heart.

“How much more is left? Give me the bill. I have a habit of keeping accounts, so I can see if it matches up,” I deliberately lied.

Before college, my monthly living expenses were considerable, and I lived comfortably. I never kept accounts.

It wasn’t until I went to college and had to stretch every dollar that I developed the habit of keeping accounts.

When my stepmother heard this, she actually went to the room to get the account book. Inside were the remittance slips for my father’s living expenses and tuition receipts, a thick little booklet totaling 526,327.60 yuan.

Looking at the numbers that were accurate to the decimal point, I was both angry and amused. She really treated me like a stepdaughter, keeping everything strictly accounted for.

I used my phone to take a picture of the final amount and pushed the account book away: “I will gather the fifty-odd thousand yuan as soon as possible and return it to you. I spent it, so I won’t deny it… Okay, we’ve finished talking about money, now it’s time to talk about feelings.”

“Since you don’t want me as your daughter and have personally admitted that you don’t want me to support you in your old age, I agree… But I have to ask my dad what he thinks.”

“What if the two of you disagree, which would not only affect your marital relationship, but also toss me around.”

“If he says he wants me to support him in his old age, I will fulfill my responsibilities accordingly. If he personally admits that he agrees with you, I will never step foot in this house again. Just pretend I died outside.”

“Sister! You…”

I raised my hand to interrupt Xiao Dao and continued, “Who exactly were those men in black? Where is my dad now? I want to ask clearly. Once I’ve asked clearly, I’ll be satisfied.”

When my stepmother heard me, she was a little stunned at first, but after realizing what I was getting at, she laughed and said, “You’re setting a trap for me, waiting for me to jump into it, aren’t you?”

“Le Xiaomai, after not seeing you for ten years, you not only look more and more like her, but even your mouth is becoming more and more like hers! Just as glib and annoying!”

She looked at me with hatred, breathing heavily, the muscles on her face twitching.

I feigned ignorance: “Like who? My dad?”

“Your mom, that vixen!” she couldn’t help but explode.

“Mom, what are you saying? Sister’s mom isn’t you…” Xiao Dao was stunned, looking blankly at me and my stepmother.

Seeing that I was unfazed, my stepmother sat up straight and sneered, “It seems you already know about your dad and your shameless birth mother…”

Before she could finish speaking, Wen Ye flicked his fingers slightly, and the fruit bowl and water glasses on the coffee table shattered. Caught off guard, I flinched in shock.

My stepmother and Xiao Dao screamed and ducked for cover.

He looked coldly at my stepmother: “Watch your mouth, or the next thing to explode will be your head.”

“Who, who are you? What kind of sorcery are you using! Get out of my house!” My stepmother’s aura weakened slightly as she pointed at Wen Ye, glaring at him angrily.

“Xiao Dao, look at what kind of people you’re bringing into the house?!”

Xiao Dao was at a loss, not understanding the situation, stuttering, “I, I… Sister… What, what’s going on? What are you talking about?”

Seeing that Wen Ye was about to lose his temper again, I grabbed his wrist to stop him and said to my stepmother, “We don’t care about your affairs, and you don’t need to interfere in ours. Honestly tell us where my dad is, and you won’t have to chase us away; we’ll leave on our own.”

“You really are a jinx who brings misfortune to your father, mother, and relatives!” My stepmother stood up, pointing her finger at my nose and cursing, “You’ve only just come back and already caused trouble in the house!”

“Your birth mother’s fate is uncertain because of you, and your dad is being held captive, his life also hanging in the balance! Next, it’ll be me, it’ll be Xiao Dao! Get out! Get out of my house! Don’t ever come back!”

Held captive?

I suppressed my anger and smiled coldly: “Who is holding my dad captive? You and my dad were taken away by strangers together, so why are you the only one who came back? Why didn’t he come back!”