Chapter 408 - 355: No Need to Worry
Chapter 408: Chapter 355: No Need to Worry
Wu Xiaowen followed Lin Aizhen back to the Wu Mansion for dinner. As for Tang Yaxuan, she was old enough to take care of herself. Thanks to Wu Xiaorui’s "unique" methods of instruction, Tang Yaxuan was even better at chores and cooking than Wu Xiaowen, so there was no need to worry.
Seeing her sister-in-law and mother-in-law return together, Yang Qianrong greeted them with a wide smile. She shouted at her children, who were glued to the television, to hurry and help serve the dishes and set the table, lest their aunt and grandmother go hungry. Then she nudged Wu Xiaoyang out the door, sending him on his bicycle to the braised meat shop at the end of the alley to buy the stewed pork knuckle and lamb leg that Xiao Xiao loved. Wu Xiaoyang showed not the slightest hint of reluctance and left with a cheerful laugh.
Wu Xiaowen thoroughly enjoyed her brother and sister-in-law’s attentiveness and the cautious gazes of her nieces. She lifted her chin slightly, her arrogant demeanor like that of an Empress. ’See? Even without relying on the Tang family, I, Wu Xiaowen, can still get things done. You were all wrong to look down on me!’
The reason Wu Xiaoyang, Yang Qianrong, and the young girls of the Wu Family had reverted to their previous fawning attitude toward Wu Xiaowen was that they had been harshly disciplined by Lin Aizhen. After all, Lin Aizhen still held the Wu Family’s purse strings. Losing two months of allowance might not be a big deal in the countryside—something one could just endure—but this was Beijing. How could anyone feel at ease leaving the house without a bit of money in their pocket? Besides, in this day and age, the goods in the shops grew more novel and tempting by the day. Life with no money to spend was just too hard to bear.
On top of that, Wu Xiaowen had asked Bai Lihua for a favor, getting Wu Xiaoyang transferred to a new position. Wu Xiaoyang leaped into a mid-to-upper-level leadership role at his factory. As for Yang Qianrong, who had previously refused to work in a factory and had been unemployed, she was given a respectable, high-class job at the city library. The couple was extremely satisfied, so naturally, their affection toward Wu Xiaowen was as warm and welcoming as a spring breeze.
After a comfortable dinner at the Wu Mansion where she thoroughly enjoyed the privileges of her esteemed status, a content Wu Xiaowen hailed a taxi back to her work-provided apartment.
Just as she reached the entrance of her building, a figure suddenly darted out from the shade of a nearby pomegranate tree. It was Tang Yaxuan. Her face was stained with tears, and with a cry of "Mom!" she threw herself into Wu Xiaowen’s arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
Wu Xiaowen’s heart sank. She didn’t have to think to know that Wu Xiaorui must have been bullying Xuanxuan again. A headache already forming, she helped Tang Yaxuan up and comforted her in a gentle voice, "There, there, sweetie, don’t cry. Why aren’t you home doing your homework? What are you doing out here? You’ll get bitten by mosquitoes."
Tang Yaxuan said through her sobs, "My aunt kicked me out. She wouldn’t let me take my keys or any money, so I couldn’t even take the bus to find you, Mom."
"Did your aunt hit you again? Come on, let’s go home. I’m going to have a word with her!"
"Mom," Tang Yaxuan said, wiping away a tear and grabbing Wu Xiaowen’s arm. "My aunt didn’t hit me today, but... but she did something to betray you. She went too far! Mom, why can’t we kick her out? This is your apartment! You should call the police. She doesn’t even work for your company, she has no reason to live with us!"
Wu Xiaowen paused, taken aback. "What did your aunt do?" she asked. "Did she invite a huge group of people over for a dance party again?"
Tang Yaxuan shook her head. Her gaze shifted away from Wu Xiaowen, and she seemed to want to say something but held back, simply biting her lip in silence.
"Just tell me, what on earth did she do?" Wu Xiaowen urged. Although Wu Xiaorui often brought her disreputable friends over, disturbing the neighbors and causing Wu Xiaowen to lose face with her colleagues long ago, she still wanted to minimize the fallout whenever she could. After all, it was her work-provided apartment. Wu Xiaorui was the one causing all the trouble, but Wu Xiaowen was the one everyone gossiped about.
"Mom, just go upstairs and look... you’ll see!"
Tang Yaxuan wrung her hands, her face a mask of conflict. Wu Xiaowen pulled her along and started up the stairs. She hadn’t even taken out her key at their front door when it was pulled open from the inside. Standing in the doorway was none other than Bai Lihua.
Wu Xiaowen was stunned for a second, but her shock quickly turned to delight. A smile bloomed on her face. "When did you get back? Why didn’t you call me? I—I had no idea, or I wouldn’t have wasted time having dinner at my parents’ house tonight..."
Tang Yaxuan’s gaze met Bai Lihua’s for a fleeting, uncertain moment before she deliberately scanned his clothes. ’He’s fully dressed, so there’s nothing obviously wrong,’ she thought. ’But his hair is damp, and he smells of fresh soap. He clearly just showered. That means... he and Wu Xiaorui did it. It’s impossible that nothing happened!’
Bai Lihua looked awkward facing Tang Yaxuan, and he grew even more flustered under Wu Xiaowen’s gaze. But he was, after all, a worldly man with enough experience to handle himself. He regained his composure in an instant, smiled as if nothing was amiss, and said, "I had some urgent business that brought me back to Beijing. I met up with a few friends and we all had too much to drink. I came here to surprise you, but you weren’t home at noon... Anyway, Xiao Xiao, something came up at my family’s place for early tomorrow morning, so I have to stay there tonight. We’ll be in touch. Oh, and I brought you some fresh fruit and supplements. They’re inside... I’ve got to go!"
With that, Bai Lihua stepped out of the apartment, a leather bag in his hand. He swiftly moved around the mother and daughter, and, like a gust of wind from a storybook, vanished down the stairwell in the blink of an eye. By the time Wu Xiaowen came to her senses and ran to the railing to look down, he was gone. Not even the sound of his footsteps remained. The whole thing felt like a dream.
But Wu Xiaowen was no fool. As she slowly pieced things together, her face went deathly pale, then darkened like stagnant water. She dragged Tang Yaxuan inside and slammed the door shut. Her eyes wide with fury, she snarled, "Aren’t you going to tell me? What is going on here?"
Tang Yaxuan was used to being ordered around and scolded by Wu Xiaorui. But Wu Xiaowen was her mother, who was always so gentle with her. To now be yelled at in the same way by her own mother made her feel hurt and wronged. She hunched her shoulders and bit her lip, her eyes red-rimmed like a frightened little rabbit. After another shove from Wu Xiaowen, she finally pointed to Wu Xiaorui’s bedroom door and whimpered, "My aunt warned me... she said if I told you, she would kill me!"
"What do you have to be afraid of? I’m your mother. Do you think I would let her kill you?"
Wiping her tears, Tang Yaxuan explained, "Shortly after I got home from school, Uncle Bai showed up. He’d been drinking and seemed drunk. He waited for a long time, but you never came back, Mom, so I made some congee for us to eat. Afterward, he went into your room to rest, and I went upstairs to Binbin’s to do homework with her. When I came back down, I heard someone crying out from your room. I rushed in and saw... I saw my aunt and Uncle Bai on the bed together... Later, she came out wrapped in a bedsheet, threw me out, and told me to get lost. She forbade me from telling you what happened..."
Fire practically shot from Wu Xiaowen’s eyes. She bit her lip until it bled, oblivious to the pain. She stormed into her bedroom and was met with a scene of utter chaos. The mosquito net above the bed had collapsed, the wardrobe doors were flung open, and bedsheets and clothing were strewn all over the floor. The signs of their passionate struggle were everywhere. One could only imagine how fierce their "battle" had been.