Chapter 337 - 296: Take It Back
Chapter 337: Chapter 296: Take It Back
Tang Renqian quickly removed the hand wrapped around his arm. A daughter-in-law was, after all, different from a daughter, and he was not accustomed to this kind of intimacy.
"You are all adults now; you should consider the consequences of your actions. Xuanxuan is another family’s child. Back then, all the procedures and ceremonies were completed, yet you insisted on taking her in. Since you couldn’t bear to part with her, you should have treated her with sincerity and raised her with care. As for Manman and Hao Hao, you needn’t worry about them. Why would the heirs of my Tang family need to compete for affection with an adopted daughter? The two of them are responsible. Even if you don’t raise them through childhood, they will remember that you gave them life—they will provide for you in your old age!"
The Hongqi sedan carrying Tang Renqian drove away from the Tang Mansion. Wu Yu Xuan, Lin Aizhen, and Wu Xiaowen were escorted out by a female staff member, meeting up with Tang Yaxuan outside the iron gate.
The staff member also handed Wu Xiaowen an orange meal voucher. The voucher was for a luxury private room at the Kyoto Restaurant, she explained, and was good for a meal up to three hundred yuan.
A three-hundred-yuan meal was considered extremely high-end in those days, a sign that Tang Renqian still valued their family connection. Yet Wu Yu Xuan and Lin Aizhen couldn’t bring themselves to feel happy. Wu Xiaowen’s expression was even darker. She gritted her teeth and glared as Tang Yaxuan rushed joyfully toward her. For the very first time, she found her precious daughter to be not so precious at all. She swung her arm, and in a shocking, uncharacteristic move, hardened her heart and shoved the child away.
"Didn’t I tell you to go out and play with your classmates? Who told you to come here?"
"Mama?" Tang Yaxuan stumbled, nearly falling. A look of shock crossed her face, which then turned deathly pale as her eyes reddened. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She resolutely rushed toward Wu Xiaowen again, hugging her tightly around the waist, and sobbed, "Mama, what’s wrong? Please don’t be mad, okay? Xuanxuan will be good, Xuanxuan won’t cause trouble! Xuanxuan was at a classmate’s house just now, and my tummy suddenly started to hurt really, really bad... It’s not Xuanxuan’s fault I don’t feel well. I just wanted to find Mama! Only Mama loves Xuanxuan the most and dotes on Xuanxuan the most. You’ll never abandon Xuanxuan!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Wu Yu Xuan, Lin Aizhen, and Wu Xiaowen were all rendered speechless. Even the female staff member standing nearby was stunned. It took her a moment to come to her senses before she quietly slipped back into the courtyard, and the iron gate promptly closed behind her.
Gazing at the closed iron gate, Lin Aizhen sighed and patted her daughter’s back reassuringly.
Though Wu Xiaowen had said she didn’t care, being denied entry back into the Tang Mansion left her feeling utterly dejected and depressed. Her face fell, and she didn’t want to speak at all. Wu Yu Xuan was sighing in despair, and Lin Aizhen was in no better state. In such a situation, they naturally had no appetite for that fancy meal. Fortunately, the voucher could be saved and used within a month, so the three of them pulled themselves together and took Tang Yaxuan home in a taxi.
Upon returning to the Wu Mansion and seeing the chaotic state of the house, Lin Aizhen nearly fainted from anger, Wu Yu Xuan flew into a rage, and only one word came to Wu Xiaowen’s mind: despair.
Two adults and a boy—Wu Xiaoyang, Yang Qianrong, and Wu Changyi—were sprawled across the large sofa in the main living room. They were laughing and shouting like lunatics, their limbs flailing wildly. The floor was littered with melon seed shells, fruit peels, and candy wrappers, while they continued to toss more shells into the air like confetti. The TV was blaring at maximum volume, but as if that wasn’t chaotic enough, a dual-cassette recorder on a table in the side hall was blasting fiery, explosive disco music at a deafening level. Led by Wu Xiaorui, her three nieces were trying to copy dances from television, energetically twisting their waists and shaking their hips in a truly grotesque display...
Wu Yu Xuan drove them all out, then leaned back on the sofa, clutching his chest and seething. Lin Aizhen poured him a cup of hot water and offered a few words of comfort. Wu Xiaowen picked up a broom and frowned at the piles of trash on the floor, then suddenly felt it wasn’t worth it. ’They make the mess and I’m the one who has to clean it up? What kind of person does that make me?’ She threw the broom down, refusing to clean.
Tang Yaxuan brought a cup of hot tea to her mother, then picked up the broom and began to sweep quietly. Wu Xiaowen’s brow slowly relaxed. Watching the well-behaved Tang Yaxuan, she sighed to herself, full of guilt.
After drinking the hot water, Wu Yu Xuan felt the heavy feeling in his chest subside. He said to Lin Aizhen, "The money Big Brother sent a while ago, plus the back pay we just received—how much is that? Is it enough for 150,000?"
Lin Aizhen was taken aback. "Most of the money your older brother sent was spent back in Feng City. You know about Xiao Rui’s trouble—the Huang Family came to make a scene time and again, and we had to pay them so much before they finally stopped. Then our second son and his wife had a baby boy, a new addition to the Wu Family, so the one-month celebration had to be impressive. Xiao Feng said his wife was weak and needed nutritious food, so we gave them money again and again. And don’t forget us preparing for the trip, treating people to meals, mailing things, and then hosting banquets for friends and relatives for several days straight after returning to Beijing... In short, we’ve been spending money like water these days. What do you need the money for?"
"Of course I have a use for it! I’m going to give it to Manman to get that piece of jade back!"
"One hundred and fifty thousand? Where would we get that much money?"
"We have to have it even if we don’t! So many of our family heirlooms were either stolen or destroyed—they’re all gone! Now one has finally surfaced. Even though it’s a replica, Xiao Xiao herself said it’s good enough to pass for the real thing. We absolutely must get it back. That was left to us by my great-grandfather..."
"I know, I know. Don’t be so anxious. It’s not in the hands of a stranger; Manman is our granddaughter. We can have Xiao Wen and Hao Hao talk to her again. I’m sure we can get it back eventually."
Wu Yu Xuan grumbled under his breath and closed his eyes. "That child, Manman... she’s truly pitiful. It’s too late to say anything now! We are her elders; we can’t take advantage of her. We should do what’s right. Just think of this money as pocket money for her. If you don’t have it, then forget it. I’ll write a letter to Big Brother. Let him laugh at me. When he left all those years ago, he only took a few personal assets, leaving almost the entire family fortune to me. Who would have thought I’d be completely unable to protect it? In the end, I still have to rely on him for support... I’m so ashamed!"
"Sigh, you were forced by the circumstances. How can this be your fault?" Lin Aizhen said. "But, Yu Xuan, your older brother mentioned in his last letter that his health isn’t good. While he’s still lucid, maybe you should write and discuss something with him... Nowadays, many people with connections are sending their children to study abroad. If our children could also..."
"Enough. We don’t even know what Big Brother’s situation is. Don’t think about these things for now. We’ll take it one step at a time."
"Fine. Then you should write to your older brother right away. And don’t be so rigid. Don’t just ask for 150,000 on the dot; you can ask for a bit more. After all, our situation is unique, and we need money for everything. Don’t forget Xiao Feng’s family of four is still in the countryside! Besides, if something were to happen to your brother, who knows if his children would still look after us?"
"..." Wu Yu Xuan wanted to argue, but he couldn’t find the words. After all, such a possibility did exist.
Wu Xiaowen sat to the side, sipping her hot tea. She overheard her parents’ conversation and thought to herself, ’Since I can’t go back to the Tang Mansion, there’s one urgent matter I have to take care of—I need to get the keys to that apartment back from Wu Xiaorui!’