Chapter 511 - 174: The 80s Drama Queen Is Forced to Operate as a Top Student (9)
Chapter 511: Chapter 174: The 80s Drama Queen Is Forced to Operate as a Top Student (9)
Ren Xingchen was taken aback. Before she could figure out what was happening, her troublesome daughter trotted over and held out a hand, asking for money.
"Mama, I did what you said. I didn’t want to waste food, so I only ordered one meat dish and one vegetable dish. They’re both combo platters, so I can definitely finish them all."
"But they said they don’t usually sell them like that, so they charged me the price of two dishes for each platter. I said that was fine. Mama, hurry and give me the money!"
The people around them stared at the mother-daughter pair as if they were some kind of spectacle.
Ren Xingchen gritted her teeth. "Sheng Leyun, can’t you use your head? Did you really have to be so gluttonous that you’d spend twice the price just to eat what you wanted?"
"It’s not like this is the only time we’ll ever come here! If you want something we can’t have this time, we can just get it next time."
The onlookers nodded in agreement. That was right—who would spend so much extra money just to satisfy a craving? It was an unnecessary expense!
Sheng Leyun’s lips tightened. "Mama, it’s just... I’ve never had food like this in my entire life. Now that we’re finally here, I wanted to try a little of everything. Who knows if there’ll even be a next time."
She practically whimpered the last sentence, her small, frail body trembling. Her fearful, panicked expression was truly heart-wrenching to see.
After all, who didn’t have a child of their own?
Especially now, with the family planning policy in effect, most families in the city had only one child. Parents were willing to give their kids the very world.
But then they looked at Ren Xingchen’s clothes, and then at Sheng Leyun’s. TSK TSK. The details revealed quite a lot.
Looking at the girl’s age and her little face, the onlookers had already cooked up several dramatic backstories in their minds.
’The little girl was being thrifty enough. If it were us, we’d have ordered a whole table of food, whether the kid could finish it all or not, just to let her eat her fill! Did she really need to get ripped off like this?’
Ren Xingchen sensed the shift in the crowd’s expressions and knew this little brat was starting her act again.
She took a deep breath and threw a ten-yuan bill at her. "Fine, go eat! I suppose you won’t be happy until you’ve eaten me into the poorhouse!"
The bill fluttered gently to the ground.
Sheng Leyun’s lips tightened, and hot tears welled in her eyes, but she held her back ramrod straight and refused to bend down and pick it up.
The restaurant suddenly fell silent. Ren Xingchen’s expression was thunderous.
Under the pressure of everyone’s stares, she had no choice but to pick up the money and shove it into Sheng Leyun’s hand, saying with false sweetness, "Buy whatever you want to eat."
Sheng Leyun clutched the money and glanced at Ren Xingchen. A faint question surfaced in her mind. ’How many mothers in this world are so selfish that they constantly push their own daughters away?’
’Even parents who beat their children have moments of weakness, don’t they?’
’But Ren Xingchen was so cruel that, for as long as this body’s original owner could remember, there had been an endless amount of chores...’
’Was it really just because she was a girl, and because Ren Xingchen had damaged her body and was unable to have a son?’
But she didn’t dwell on it. Her small mouth set in a stubborn line, she forced a smile and walked to the counter to pay.
The server looked at her with pity and whispered guiltily, "I’m so sorry, little girl. I got you into trouble. It’s just... we’re only supposed to make those platters for relatives."
Sheng Leyun smiled and nodded. "I know. It has nothing to do with you, miss. It was... it was my fault for making my mom unhappy."
She ordered the two combo platters, one meat and one vegetable, and also got two milk-scented steamed buns and a bowl of soup with dried shrimp, egg, and seaweed.
The tiny girl couldn’t control the little beast in her stomach. She clutched the steamed bun and tore into it, shoveling food into her mouth at a rapid pace. She ate with the ferocity of someone who had been starved for three to five days.
And yet, despite her haste, she maintained an ingrained sense of dining etiquette. The onlookers didn’t find her crude at all; instead, they felt a pang of pity for her.
’Look how starved that child is.’
Ren Xingchen sat on pins and needles under the crowd’s disapproving, accusatory glares, wishing she could just get up and leave. But she was afraid Sheng Leyun would pull another stunt, so she could only wait quietly for the girl to finish eating.
Thankfully, she’d had two or three days of normal meals to prepare her stomach. Otherwise, having gone years without meat or other rich foods, she might not have been able to digest it all.
Feeling wonderfully content, Sheng Leyun patted her slightly bulging stomach. After waving goodbye to the server, she announced that she wanted to go to the public bathhouse to take a bath.
Ren Xingchen had spent the morning getting a lecture at the Lan Family’s house, and then she’d been running around with Xiao Xuezhen and the children. She was already exhausted. At this point, she had no energy to argue and could only nod in agreement.
"Change into your new clothes later. Don’t wear something so shabby. Who do you think you’re embarrassing, anyway?"
She grumbled out of habit.
Sheng Leyun snorted. "You think I don’t want to? I’m a nine-year-old child with no money, and I never leave the house. Who’s supposed to be buying clothes for me?"
"If I hadn’t managed to fashion a few outfits for myself out of your old clothes, I’d look like a little beggar right now. If you’re so embarrassed, then buy me more clothes. I certainly won’t refuse."
Ren Xingchen gritted her teeth in frustration. Every single time she said one thing, the girl would come back with a whole lecture!
Watching the woman stomp away in a huff, Sheng Leyun just shrugged and followed at a leisurely pace. She gathered a change of clothes, a washbasin, a new towel, soap, and a bath ticket, and headed for the bathhouse.
Ren Xingchen planned to just have a quick wash at home. As the weather warmed up, she rinsed off daily. It was mostly just to wash away sweat and dust, so a quick rinse was all she needed.
The two Hai Family children slipped directly into their own small room, refusing to talk to their new stepmother.
But Sheng Leyun had seen this body of hers. The little girl was covered in years of accumulated grime. Without a long soak and a hard scrub, she feared it would be impossible to get truly clean.
Of course, before she left, she held out her hand again and asked for another fifty cents for a body scrub.
Sheng Leyun rinsed under scalding hot water for half an hour. Now, she was lying blissfully on a towel-covered bench, letting an attendant scrub the grime from her body, head to toe.
When the bath was over, she felt as if she’d lost a few pounds. The stuffy, clogged feeling in her skin was gone, replaced by a clarity so refreshing she felt like she could dance the disco!
The body’s original owner had been malnourished. Her hair was sparse and yellowish, and she had inherited her father’s natural curls. When she was unkempt, she truly looked like a stray dog from the streets.
When she got home, Sheng Leyun took a pair of scissors and, SNIP SNIP, cut her long hair to shoulder length before tying it in a low braid.
The two Lan Family children had played all day and were now fast asleep; their soft, steady snores could be heard even from outside their bedroom.
Sheng Leyun had also been running around all day, and after the bath, she was completely exhausted.
She fell asleep the moment her head hit the pillow. Before long, she was also letting out soft snores, proof of just how exhausted she was.
Only then did Xiao Xuezhen dare to roll over, pinning the woman beside him. He whispered in a low voice, "You heartless thing... you don’t feel for me at all..."
As their skin met, they both felt the other’s deep, desperate longing.