Chapter 121: Utterly Devoted

Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Utterly Devoted

Guo Shushu took the opportunity to sit down, insisting she wasn’t tired.

She hesitated for a long moment, but couldn’t hold back any longer.

"Grandma... what exactly happened with Mom and Shuangshuang?"

Yang Wanqing knew she wanted to hear about the morning’s drama, so she didn’t hold back and spilled everything.

After hearing the story, Guo Shushu stared blankly at the fruit platter for a long time.

When she got back to their room upstairs, she grabbed Shen Rongjing by the sleeve.

"Hey, do you know why your mom and Shuangshuang aren’t home?"

Shen Rongjing shook his head, his brow furrowed slightly.

"I don’t know."

Guo Shushu told him everything that had happened that morning.

She clicked her tongue disapprovingly as she spoke, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"This business with Mom... it’s just awful! How could she let Shuangshuang just lock Song Yao in the storage room? That’s completely out of line!"

Behind his glasses, Shen Rongjing’s pupils contracted sharply.

It was just getting dark when Yao Yuzhen and Shen Shuangshuang moved back to the old house.

The moment the door closed, Shen Shuangshuang threw herself onto the sofa and began to cry.

"Mom! Shen Songyao has gone too far!"

"Saying those things in public was like slapping you right in the face!"

"She doesn’t even see you as her own mother! I bet she did it on purpose, just to make Dad see us as annoying eyesores!"

"She won’t even bother to pretend. Her heart must be made of stone."

Yao Yuzhen rubbed her temples, her eyelid twitching uncontrollably.

She had understood this point long ago.

’This daughter I gave birth to is just as calculating as the rest of the Shen family, right down to her bones.’

’Of the three children, she’s the one with the most devious ideas, the one who acts most ruthlessly.’

’Thinking of this, Yao Yuzhen felt even more certain. Sending Shen Songyao away all those years ago had been the right decision.’

’Her only regret was being too soft, insisting on finding a respectable family for her.’

’If she had just severed the connection from the start, she wouldn’t be dealing with all this trouble now, would she?’

The thought made her temples throb, each pulse more intense than the last.

Shen Shuangshuang sat down beside her and asked in a low voice.

"Mom, what are we going to do? Don’t tell me she plans on staying at the Shen family’s house for good?"

Yao Yuzhen clenched her fists.

Shen Songyao wasn’t easy to fool. She would bite back at the slightest provocation, and that was a risk Yao Yuzhen didn’t dare take.

"Go get your dad. I have something important to discuss with him."

Yao Yuzhen mulled it over. ’I can’t take on Shen Songyao by myself,’ she thought.

’I might as well get Ruan Yongxing to help me figure something out.’

’As long as I can get that girl out of the Shen family home for good, I’ll do whatever it takes. Out of sight, out of mind.’

Shen Shuangshuang nodded.

"Okay, I’ll go right now."

"Go on!"

She took two steps, then turned back.

"Mom, can I have some spending money?"

"I need to buy some toiletries—toothpaste, shampoo, and some hand cream."

"Don’t you have any cash on you?"

Yao Yuzhen asked listlessly, her voice weak.

Shen Shuangshuang studied her mother’s face. Seeing she was completely off-guard, she nodded immediately.

"Yeah... I was thinking, since I’m making the trip to Dad’s, I should bring him something. He works so hard, leaving early and coming home late every day."

At these words, a gratified smile touched Yao Yuzhen’s lips.

"Oh, my daughter is finally growing up! Your dad didn’t dote on you for nothing!"

With that, she opened her purse and pulled out a hundred-yuan bill.

"Take this for now. If it’s not enough, ask me for more."

Shen Shuangshuang glanced quickly into the purse. There wasn’t much money left.

’After all, she had already secretly taken a thousand yuan.’

’It looked like if she wanted more, she’d have to get Yao Yuzhen to voluntarily take out that bankbook.’

Shen Shuangshuang schemed internally.

Clutching the hundred-yuan bill, she picked up her small purse and waved to Yao Yuzhen.

"I’m off!"

"Alright, be careful on your way!"

She was in no hurry to see Ruan Yongxing.

The only person who truly thought about him, who truly had him in her heart, was Yao Yuzhen.

As for Shen Shuangshuang?

Even though he was her biological father, she felt no affection for him whatsoever.

If she could choose, she would rather kneel before Shen Zhenwu until the stone tiles wore smooth, just for a chance to be his real daughter!

One was a high-ranking leader who lived in a villa and commanded a vast number of people; the other was a laborer who swung a sledgehammer in a cramped alley.

Anyone would know which to choose; the comparison was clear as day.

But Yao Yuzhen had fallen for that man, and she was hopelessly devoted.

But then again...

’I really have her to thank for it.’

’If Yao Yuzhen hadn’t been so head-over-heels for that man, how could I have ever taken Shen Songyao’s place and become the young miss of the Shen family?’

She pocketed the money, slipped into a Western-style cafe, and ordered a cream cake, which she ate slowly.

Only after she’d had her fill of sitting around did she get up and meander over to Ruan Yongxing’s place.

When she arrived, she knocked lightly on the door three times, but there was no answer.

She then tiptoed to the window and peered through a gap in the curtains.

It would have been better if she hadn’t looked. But when she did...

"AH!"

She let out a scream. Her hand trembled, and the apples she was holding tumbled to the ground with a CLATTER.

Less than two minutes later, Ruan Yongxing emerged, buttoning up his shirt.

As the door opened, a strange, sour, and musty odor drifted out.

Something clicked in Shen Shuangshuang’s mind.

’It smelled just like this the last time I came here with Mom!’

’And back then, a man had slipped out the back door.’

’So...’

She stared at the sallow-faced man before her, her fingertips trembling uncontrollably.

"BLECH..."

Her throat tightened, and she bent over, dry-heaving.

Ruan Yongxing reached for her, but she threw her arm up to block him.

"Don’t touch me!"

Ruan Yongxing, however, acted as if nothing was wrong.

Since she wouldn’t let him touch her, he didn’t press the issue. He simply turned, shut the door securely, and slowly faced her.

"Why don’t we sit and talk?"

She didn’t say a word, which he took as a yes. He led her to a teahouse in the old part of the city.

When the tea arrived, he lifted the pot to pour her a cup, but she turned her head away.

"No, thanks."

Her gaze was filled with a sticky sort of disgust, as if she were looking at a plate of cold, congealed leftovers.

He got the message and didn’t press her, simply pouring himself a cup. Then, he suddenly chuckled.

"I’m your biological father. No matter what, I don’t owe you a thing."

After drinking half his cup of tea, Ruan Yongxing spoke again.

"The situation is what it is. When I married your mother back then, it wasn’t my choice. It was pure family pressure, forced by the circumstances. And as for Yao Yuzhen? I never had any feelings for her, not from the very beginning. She was the one chasing after me the entire time."

"And why didn’t I ever push her away? It was for you. I was afraid people would gossip about you, afraid you’d have a hard time in life. That’s why I gritted my teeth and put up this act for so many years."

"If you really think you’re closer to her than to me, go ahead and tell her what you just saw. But I’m not taking any responsibility for the scene she’ll make."

Shen Shuangshuang’s throat felt tight, and her voice trembled violently.

"...You don’t like women at all?"

Ruan Yongxing shook his head without hesitation.

"Not a single one. Your grandfather was the same."

"Years ago, a man from a wealthy family could have a personal male attendant, take a few concubines to have some children, and nobody would care who he actually slept with. But I had the bad luck of being born too late. The rules are stricter now, with no room left for cover."

When he finished, he looked up and stared at his daughter’s deathly pale face.

"So, don’t look like you’ve just seen a ghost. For people like me, this is nothing out of the ordinary."

Shen Shuangshuang was speechless.

She clenched her fists, her lips trembling as she asked.

"Then my mom... how did she really die?"

Ruan Yongxing answered immediately.

"She died in childbirth. That part’s true. Think about the conditions back then. We were in the middle of nowhere, it was a home birth, and the ’midwife’ was just some old woman from the village who didn’t even know how to use a stethoscope. Who could you blame?"

But what was the truth?

It was because, deep down in his heart, he never even saw women as people.