Chapter 46

That day, Wen Nian didn’t contact Jiang Ci until evening, sounding urgent. “I’m sorry, Ah-Ci. Did you wait long? The project I was monitoring suddenly had some issues.”

Jiang Ci replied, “It’s okay.”

Wen Nian asked anxiously, “Ah-Ci, are you mad at me?”

Jiang Ci said, “No, I had something come up last minute too.”

Wen Nian said, “Shall we reschedule then?”

Jiang Ci asked, “When are you free?”

Wen Nian said, “I’ll make you dinner at the apartment in Yushui Nanyuan tomorrow. You have the key, so if you get there early, just let yourself in and wait for me.”

Jiang Ci replied, “Okay.”

By the end of the year, Miss Pan’s community was already filled with the atmosphere of the Lunar New Year. The property management had hung up large red lanterns at the entrance, and each building was decorated with new couplets.

Jiang Ci waited in the car for more than an hour before Jiang Lin came downstairs.

“Who is Miss Pan?” Jiang Ci fastened her seatbelt and started the car.

Jiang Lin ran her fingers through her hair. “Just a friend.”

Jiang Ci asked, “Is she feeling unwell?”

Jiang Lin replied, “Yes, I talked to her for a while.”

Jiang Lin didn’t show any signs of wanting to say more, and although Jiang Ci was curious, she could only leave it at that. She drove Jiang Lin to Songling Road, and at dinner time, Jiang Lin didn’t ask her to stay and instead called Lu Xingxue, asking if she could come over because Ah-Ci was there.

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Lin said to Jiang Ci, “She’s not coming, so you should go home and eat.”

Jiang Ci thought, “What, is Lu Xingxue not eating anything either?”

Jiang Lin knew what Jiang Ci was thinking without having to guess, “What is a family? First of all, you have to be at home, right? Let’s have a meal together, talk about ourselves. You two don’t have children yet, it’s the time to be clingy, let’s go, hurry up and go back to accompany Lu Xingxue for dinner.”

Jiang Ci thought, “Isn’t that rushing me?”

Jiang Ci returned home and heard coughing as soon as she pushed the door open. Lu Xingxue was wearing a mask and cooking noodles in the kitchen. Jiang Ci walked up and asked her, “Are you sick?”

“I have a little cough.” Lu Xingxue turned around, “Why are you back so early? Didn’t you eat at your mother’s place?”

“No, I didn’t. Did you take medicine? Do you have a fever?”

“I took medicine. …I don’t have a fever, I think?”

“I think?” This was a vague answer, and Jiang Ci was not at ease. She reached out to test Lu Xingxue’s forehead temperature.

Half of Lu Xingxue’s face was covered by a mask, and the only pair of eyes facing Jiang Ci curved into a beautiful crescent moon.

Jiang Ci: “…”

Lu Xingxue did it on purpose!

Jiang Ci shook her head helplessly and took the chopsticks from Lu Xingxue’s hand, which she was using to scoop the noodles. “Give it to me.”

Lu Xingxue obediently handed them over.

“Today, I was supposed to meet with Wen Nian, but she had something come up and couldn’t make it. So, we rescheduled for tomorrow night to have dinner together.” Jiang Ci spoke without looking at Lu Xingxue, her attention fixed on the boiling noodles in the pot.

Lu Xingxue didn’t respond, and Jiang Ci finally looked at her. “It’s the apartment in Yushui Nanyuan where I used to live. Wen Nian bought it.”

“She told me specifically,” Lu Xingxue rubbed the back of Jiang Ci’s head. “You’re so good.”

Jiang Ci suddenly felt at ease. “Is the noodle done cooking like this? Can we eat it now?”

Lu Xingxue smiled. “Let me handle it.”

Jiang Ci: ……

The next day, at around 3 pm, Jiang Ci was in the middle of an end-of-year meeting at work when she received several calls from Tong Tingkai. She ignored the first two, but as Tong Tingkai kept calling, she began to worry that something urgent had happened and left the meeting room to answer the phone.

“Come over.”

Before Jiang Ci could even say “Dad,” Tong Tingkai angrily uttered these five words.

Jiang Ci: “I’m in a meeting, I’ll call you back when it’s over.”

Tong Tingkai yelled at her, “You come over here right now!”

Jiang Ci frowned, but Tong Tingkai had already hung up the phone.

Jiang Ci stood still for a moment, then didn’t return to the meeting room. She messaged Xiao Chen and hurried to Songling Road.

On the first floor living room of Songling Road number 3, Tong Junhao was crying on the ground, and Tong Tingkai was pointing at Jiang Lin and shouting angrily, “You did something behind my back! You’re so capable, why didn’t I notice your skills before?”

“Dad, don’t hit Mom! Don’t hit Mom!” Tong Junhao was sweating profusely, his voice hoarse from crying.

As soon as Jiang Ci entered the room and heard this conversation, she shouted loudly, “Dad!”

The living room was quiet for a few seconds, then Tong Junhao said, “Sister! Sister, please save Mom, Dad said he wants to kill her!”

Jiang Ci hurried in and saw broken cups scattered on the ground. Tong Tingkai was standing with his hands on his hips, breathing heavily, while Jiang Lin was lying on the sofa, holding her right face and tears streaming down.

Tong Zhenni stood behind the railing on the second floor, holding her arms and watching coldly.

Jiang Ci didn’t have time to tend to Tong Junhao. She kicked aside the broken cups on the ground and went straight to the sofa, asking, “Mom?”

Jiang Lin’s face was swollen on one side. Jiang Ci was anxious and panicked, turning her head to stare at Tong Tingkai and asking, “Why can’t you talk it out? Why resort to violence?”

“You gave birth to such good children!” Tong Tingkai pointed at Tong Junhao, “He is out of control!”

Then he pointed at Jiang Ci, “The older one follows you in doing bad things! And now you dare come to question me!”

Tong Tingkai was angry and spoke without restraint. Jiang Ci did not argue with him and instead asked Jiang Lin, “Mom, what exactly happened?”

“What happened! Do you have the nerve to ask what happened! Jiang Ci, tell me, where did you and him take Pan Jing!” Tong Tingkai took a step forward, grabbed Jiang Ci’s wrist, and lifted her up.

Jiang Ci was in pain and shouted, “I don’t understand what you’re talking about!”

Tong Tingkai glared at her, his fierce gaze as if she had committed some heinous crime. “Don’t act innocent with me! I’ve checked the surveillance. You two went to Furong Garden yesterday!”

Jiang Lin burst into a scream, “Pan Jing had an abortion this morning! She was sent away after beating me! That’s all I can tell you. Are you satisfied!?”

“… ” Tong Tingkai let go of Jiang Ci, “What did you say? Say it again!”

Jiang Ci’s heart sank. Furong Garden, Pan Jing, Miss Pan.

So that’s how it was, that’s how it was!

Jiang Lin pounded the sofa and cried out in pain, “Tong Tingkai! How could you do this to me, how could you do this to Ah-Ci! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be like a rat living in the dark, constantly being looked down upon! I know how difficult it is to be raised outside, and the children suffer too. Look at Ah-Ci, look at her! Does she want to be close to you? She doesn’t even want to come to this house! She doesn’t even want your surname! Do you want Pan Jing to go down the same path as me at such a young age?!”

Jiang Ci’s fervor gradually cooled. She only realized that the scars she had been trying to heal in her heart were easily used by Jiang Lin as a weapon to attack Tong Tingkai.

Tong Junhao climbed up from the ground and hugged Jiang Lin, using his hands and feet to comfort her. “Mommy, don’t cry, Mommy, don’t cry.”

Jiang Lin was comforted by her little son, and tears streamed down her face. “I sent her away because I felt sorry for Pan Jing. I gave her money and helped her find a new path in life. If she stayed with you and had a child out of wedlock, her life would have been ruined! Haven’t I experienced and seen enough of that myself?”

“Okay, Jiang Lin, hello to you too!” Tong Tingkai was so angry that he shook all over, and his face turned as red as a pig’s liver. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re up to! Stop using righteous words to justify your own selfishness!”

Jiang Lin said, “Do you have no sense of shame? Pan Jing is younger than Ah-Ci! In front of your three children, you’re causing chaos in our home for the sake of a woman. I’m ashamed for you!”

Tong Tingkai stormed out, slamming the door with a loud “bang.”

“Daddy! Daddy, don’t go! Waaah, Mommy, will Daddy come back?” Tong Junhao jumped up and down and cried.

Jiang Ci turned her wrist, revealing a red mark. Tong Tingkai had grabbed her too hard, but fortunately, it didn’t hurt her bones or affect her tuning work.

Jiang Lin complained of a headache, and Jiang Ci poured her a half cup of water and fetched some painkillers from the medicine cabinet before sending her to her room.

Tong Zhenni stood above the stairs, sneering at her. “Feel sorry for your mom? Does it hurt? Who hasn’t gone through something like this before? Your mother is shrewd, at least she killed the baby in the other party’s belly, got rid of the person, my mother is foolish, and ended up killing herself. Instead, you guys got the benefits.”

Jiang Ci ignored her, but Tong Zhenni continued: “What was that again? Karma! The wheel of fortune turns, and now it’s your turn. Hahaha!”

Jiang Ci walked past Tong Zhenni, who didn’t even hear a sound, and deliberately tripped her with her foot, making Tong Zhenni angry.

Jiang Ci asked, “Have you had enough?”

Tong Zhenni remained silent.

Jiang Lin lay in bed with an ice pack on her face. Jiang Ci helped her up and propped up a pillow to take her medicine.

Jiang Ci wanted to ask Jiang Lin if she deliberately asked her to go to the hospital yesterday and used her to embarrass Pan Jing, increase her bargaining power, and achieve her own goals. But when she thought of Jiang Lin’s scratched hands and sickly body, she realized that Jiang Lin had probably discovered that Tong Tingkai was hiding his lover as soon as she returned from S country. She had been digesting it alone for these days and finally exploded today. Jiang Ci dismissed the idea.

For Jiang Lin, defending her own position was obviously more important than respecting her daughter. Why bother to expose it and make both of them unhappy?

“… Don’t tell Lu Xingxue about what happened today. It was your people who lost, you know?” Jiang Lin’s head was dizzy, and she closed her eyes and groaned.

Not hearing a response from Jiang Ci, Jiang Lin opened her eyes slightly and asked, “What are you thinking?”

Jiang Ci said, “For today’s events, you should spend more time comforting Haohao. He’s not like me.”

Jiang Lin opened her eyes and stared at Jiang Ci silently for a while.

After leaving Songling Road, Jiang Ci sat still in the car until Wen Nian contacted her and she remembered that they had made plans. When the wheels rolled into Yushui Nanyuan, Jiang Ci’s numb emotions began to fluctuate. When she opened the anti-theft door at the bottom of the building, the voice-activated light did not turn on for some reason. The inside of the door was darker than the outside, and the oppressive feeling of confinement hit her face.

With each step forward, from Tong Tingkai’s affair to Jiang Lin’s scheming to get rid of the third party, to the family war… Jiang Ci felt an unprecedented anxiety.

The environment here was too familiar, like a square cage, releasing the deep-rooted sense of being despised and spat upon as an illegitimate child and perpetrator in Jiang Ci’s heart.

The surroundings were cold, and Jiang Ci rubbed her arms, waiting for the elevator.

She missed the warmth of home, the fish swimming freely in the tank, and Lu Xingxue, who told her “It’s not your fault, don’t blame yourself.”

“Ding–“

The elevator stopped on this floor, and the door opened slowly. Jiang Ci controlled the urge to turn around and run away, stepped into the car, and pressed the button for the fifth floor.

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