Chapter 80: No Turning Back

Chapter 80: Chapter 80: No Turning Back

She recalled Yao Yuzhen’s eagerness when she first entered the house, Shen Zhenwu’s dejected gaze, and Song Shuangshuang’s hesitant expression. When pieced together, these fragments suddenly seemed particularly jarring.

As Yao Yuzhen listened, her face grew paler and paler.

The virtuous mother persona she had worked so hard to build was torn to shreds by just a few words from Song Yao.

The doubt in Sister Qin’s eyes pricked her heart like a needle.

In a fit of rage, her chest suddenly tightened. Her vision went black, and she collapsed limply into Song Shuangshuang’s arms.

"Mom—!!!"

Song Shuangshuang screamed, desperately holding onto the slumping Yao Yuzhen.

Yao Yuzhen woke up in her own room.

The room was pitch-black, so dark you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. All she could hear was Song Shuangshuang sniffling quietly in a corner.

The moment Yao Yuzhen stirred, Shuangshuang sprang to the bedside as if on a spring.

"Mom, you’re awake? Are you feeling okay?"

She reached out to feel Yao Yuzhen’s forehead. Yao Yuzhen’s eyes were vacant, as if her soul had been drained from her body, and her lips were pressed into a tight line.

Song Shuangshuang couldn’t see her mother’s expression in the dark. Seeing her remain silent, her heart leaped into her throat.

"Mom... Are we really going to be kicked out? Where will I live?"

Those words were like a needle, jolting Yao Yuzhen fully awake.

Her eyes turned slowly, bit by bit, toward Song Shuangshuang.

She asked slowly, "Shuangshuang... where are the lights? Why aren’t they on?"

Song Shuangshuang replied, her voice thick with tears, "The circuit breaker tripped, Mom! It must have been Song Yao! She flipped the switch for our courtyard!"

Yao Yuzhen’s temples throbbed, and her ears rang.

She and Shen Zhenwu hadn’t even signed the divorce papers, yet Song Yao already dared to walk all over her like this!

Once they were actually divorced, wouldn’t that girl play her for a complete fool?

Shen Zhenwu hung on Song Yao’s every word. Shuangshuang probably wouldn’t even be able to get a bowl of hot soup!

She bit her tongue, tasting a hint of iron.

"What a venomous heart!"

Her mind was in turmoil. ’If I’d known she would turn out to be such an ungrateful wretch, I never should have let her be born!’

Suddenly, the door was pushed open a crack. A person with a long, thin shadow stood in the doorway.

The person didn’t enter, just stood at the threshold between light and shadow, their figure indistinct.

Song Yao’s voice was as cold as frost. "I heard you fainted, so I made some porridge and brought it over... But what happened?"

She paused, her gaze sweeping past the edge of the bed before finally landing on Yao Yuzhen’s face.

The moment she finished speaking, a food container was thrown into the room. The lid flew off, and the rice and soup splashed all over the dirt floor.

"You don’t deserve this porridge."

Song Yao turned and walked straight out of the room.

Yao Yuzhen’s face instantly flushed purple, then turned deathly pale.

Song Shuangshuang didn’t even dare to breathe, cowering and trembling in the corner.

She knew Song Yao’s methods all too well. She was not someone to be provoked. Absolutely not.

Right now, they still depended on the Shen Family for their livelihood, so she didn’t dare cause any more trouble.

"Madam, it’s fixed."

Xiao Li’s voice suddenly sounded from outside the door. "Would you like to try the switch?"

Xiao Li stood just outside the doorframe, a toolbox in his hand.

Yao Yuzhen jumped, fumbling for the light’s pull cord.

CLICK!

The room was instantly flooded with light.

Xiao Li stood by the door, his expression unruffled. "The circuit breaker in the front courtyard tripped because old wiring blew a fuse. The Young Miss has been busy making ginseng soup for you; she hasn’t even left the kitchen."

His gaze swept over the mess on the floor, paused for half a second, then moved away.

Song Shuangshuang’s face burned hot. "I... I was just saying..."

Xiao Li’s tone was flat. "It’s only natural that the Young Miss doesn’t care for you. You bad-mouth her behind her back and belittle her to her face, causing Madam to feel more and more disgusted with her own biological daughter. How much of that, would you say, is your doing?"

After saying his piece, he didn’t spare the two of them another glance. He bent down and began to clean up the food container, carefully wrapping the few pieces of pork rib and the half-bowl of porridge that had spilled on the ground in a handkerchief.

"The Young Miss washed the rice, cut the meat, and watched over the heat to make this herself. It’s a shame to let it go to waste."

He stood up, holding the food container to his chest.

The room was so quiet you could hear the ticking of a clock.

After a long while, Song Shuangshuang finally spoke, her voice timid. "Mom... are you mad at me too? I didn’t mean it... I was just scared... so scared I couldn’t think straight..."

Her voice trembled, and tears streamed down her face again.

Yao Yuzhen didn’t answer. She just stared at the ceiling, her palms slick with sweat.

In that moment just now, it felt like something was lodged in her heart.

For the first time, she froze, starting to wonder where, over all these years, she had gone wrong.

’Is what I’m doing right? Shuangshuang hasn’t done anything wrong, but my daughter... she hasn’t provoked anyone either...’

But when she lifted her gaze and saw Song Shuangshuang huddled and trembling in the corner of the sofa...

she immediately swallowed her tears, and her voice became soft and gentle.

"Shuangshuang, don’t be afraid," she said, gently taking her daughter’s hand. "Mom understands. You didn’t do it on purpose. You just care too much about this family and are afraid someone will take your good life away."

Song Shuangshuang nodded repeatedly, her nose red from crying.

"Mom! You’re the only person in the world who truly loves me like your own daughter!"

Yao Yuzhen patted her on the back. "There, there, don’t cry. Mom has thought it through. We’re not going to mention divorce to Shen Zhenwu. The two of us striking out on our own? No way! Besides, if you really leave the Shen Family, I’m afraid it’ll be hard for you to even get a foot in the door with Sheng Hui."

Song Shuangshuang also let out a sigh of relief.

Of course she didn’t want to break up the family. Yao Yuzhen was truly good to her, but for years, hadn’t Shen Zhenwu paid for all their food, clothing, and expenses?

She had long since gotten used to it and couldn’t go back.

"Mom, you have to apologize properly to Dad! As long as you can coax him and soften his heart, he’ll take you back sooner or later... And then, I’ll be able to rightfully call him Dad!"

Even if Shen Zhenwu still refused to acknowledge her in the end, as long as he was willing to put in a good word for her for Yao Yuzhen’s sake...

...help pave the way for her to marry into the Sheng Family, then once her name was on the Sheng Family’s household register, she would become a bona fide member of the Sheng Family.

On that day, she, Song Shuangshuang, would still be a prominent figure in Beijing’s social circles!

Shen Songyao might be Shen Zhenwu’s biological daughter, but the husband she finds in the future might not be as successful as Sheng Hui.

When that day really came, she could still crush Shen Songyao so thoroughly she wouldn’t even be able to lift her head!

The more Song Shuangshuang thought about it, the more excited she became. A scene seemed to flash before her eyes: she was standing in the spotlight in a couture gown, her smile dazzling.

And Shen Songyao was cowering in a corner, not even daring to look at her.

Shen Zhenwu was busy at the camp for a full ten days before he finally found time to return home, planning to sort things out with Yao Yuzhen once and for all.

His superiors had recently relented and would no longer interfere forcefully.

As long as the two of them sat down and signed the papers in black and white, the divorce application could be stamped and approved.

As Shen Zhenwu walked, his heart was filled with a mix of emotions.

To say he didn’t miss Yao Yuzhen?

That would be a lie.

He stopped to glance at the old watch on his wrist. It was a gift from Yao Yuzhen; he had kept it together with tape for six months before finally replacing it.

The first time he saw her was at the old Yao family residence. Back then, the eldest daughter of the Yao family was so radiant.

And him, Shen Zhenwu?

Although his family had some old money, among the crowds of Beijing, he was just a small pebble in the mud.

So he never dared to dream of marrying her.

Until something happened to the Yao family...

He stopped abruptly, refusing to let his thoughts go any further.