ISWMQ – Chapter 114

Xie Xian licked her dry lips and said, “There’s a total of twenty-seven thousand here… You, you take it for now…”

She pushed it to the middle of the table. Rong Guang stared at the small stack of kraft paper envelopes for a moment without taking it, then raised her eyes to look at Xie Xian again.

Xie Xian clutched the strap of her handbag, her fingertips turning white. She said in a low voice, “Guangguang, Mom knows you resent me, that you hate me for not coming to see you all these years… I can understand all of that. But you… you also have to understand, Mom couldn’t help herself.”

This time, Rong Guang didn’t even look at her, her gaze drifting out the window.

It was true that people often couldn’t help themselves, but the power to choose was mostly in their own hands. Whatever state they ended up in was a result of their own choices.

Xie Xian had no right to say those words.

The phone in her hand was a backup, equipped only with basic communication functions for contacting people in case of an emergency.

So she was actually a bit anxious right now, planning to buy another smartphone as soon as she got back and back up all her commonly used apps on it.

Going back to wait for Chu Feiliang’s call was better than wasting time here.

Waiting for a call from the one you love was the kind of thing that made you feel happy just thinking about it.

Rong Guang thought, somewhat lost in thought, as she looked at the snow-covered branches outside the window.

Xie Xian continued, “Once you’ve taken Mom’s money, help put in a good word for me with your grandma. She’s getting older, and her health is surely not what it used to be. She needs the younger generation to care for her…”

Rong Guang’s expression instantly turned cold.

Her face was impassive as she stared directly at Xie Xian, her gaze unblinking and sharp. “What did you just say?” she asked.

Xie Xian’s lips moved twice, but she was too guilt-ridden to repeat herself.

Xu Mingli was indeed getting older.

But she was still in robust health. She never even fought with young people for seats on the bus during rush hour. She often carried groceries back and forth that even Rong Guang struggled to lift. And because of her year-round exercise, her physical fitness was even better than that of many young people today.

Rong Guang placed the cup in her hand back on the table and said coldly, “I don’t know what you’re trying to do by coming to me today, but if you have any designs on my grandma, I advise you to give up on that idea right now.”

“Guangguang!” Xie Xian reached out and grabbed Rong Guang’s wrist, a look of anxiety finally appearing on her face.

She said urgently, “Mom won’t hide it from you anymore—I won’t hide it. You, just help me out. Talk to your grandma and ask her to give me the house your dad bought before he died, okay? It’s… it’s just a matter of changing the name on the deed. Your grandma has so much money, she won’t miss one house… Your stepfather’s investment failed, and now there’s a huge hole in our finances… I really have no other choice…”

Rong Guang understood.

But then her expression turned a little strange.

Just a house?

A three-story villa with front and back gardens in the best part of B City, near the city center, was being described as ‘just a house’?

That was a property that even Rong Guang, as a top-tier star, would have to work for several years to afford with her entire net worth.

Where did her mother get the nerve to ask for it?

She turned her head and said, “Jiang Lianming? His investment failed?”

Could her memory be playing tricks on her?

At this time in her previous life, Jiang Lianming had made a fortune from a successful investment. He was showing off all over the world, even condescending to drive his luxury car on a tour of his old hometown, putting on his hypocritical face for a round at the ancestral hall.

It was utterly nauseating.

Once Xie Xian started talking, the words flooded out, unstoppable.

She pulled out a few tissues and wiped away her tears haphazardly. “Before the new year, he wouldn’t listen to me. He insisted on investing in Star Cluster, saying the company’s boss had signed a high-stakes investment agreement. With their profits from previous years, it was sure to be a win-win situation, as long as they could go public…”

As Rong Guang listened, the faint, mocking smile on her lips faded, and a trace of confusion flickered across her face.

She knew the president of Star Cluster had signed a high-stakes agreement. She even knew that he had attracted a lot of investment because of NO.1.

So was that why, in this final year, they had pushed NO.1 to the point of collapse, packaging each member up for the highest price, waiting to squeeze out the last bit of value before sending them off to other companies to recoup their costs?

Weren’t they just sucking their blood?

Rong Guang said in a low voice, “You know my previous company was Star Cluster, right?”

Xie Xian’s monologue paused, and a flash of panic crossed her face. She said hoarsely, “I…”

“So you do know.” Rong Guang sneered, fiddling with a mint candy she had casually picked up from the table, using it like a stress ball. “Then you should also know that all the money you earned before was obtained through the hands of others, by stepping on me and my teammates, sucking our blood bit by bit, right?”

Xie Xian’s face turned deathly pale. She finally realized she had said too much and let it slip.

She shouldn’t have mentioned Star Cluster.

Now that she had… Rong Guang was so smart, wouldn’t she know everything?

Rong Guang looked a little helpless, but not overly disappointed. “I used to think you were just a bit cowardly. I never thought you were actually…”

Stupid.

Utterly stupid.

Rong Guang shook her head, thought for a moment, and said, “I won’t get involved in your family’s mess, and you don’t need to come looking for me again. You probably already went to my grandma, and when that didn’t work, you came to me to be your lobbyist, right?”

Her grandma cherished her like the apple of her eye, but her own mother treated her like a money tree that didn’t need to be fed.

Rong Guang knew better than anyone which was more important.

She had always known who was most important to her, in her past life and in this one.

In her past life, she had been a step too late to take care of her grandma, which led to her grandma dying from a heart attack brought on by extreme anger. In this life, how could she possibly let that tragedy repeat itself, bothering her grandma with words that even she found disgusting?

Xie Xian was thrown into disarray by her words. Rong Guang paused for a moment, finally having nothing more to say.

She stood up to leave, but Xie Xian grabbed her hand, tears streaming down her face. “Guangguang, you can’t go… I… I’m pregnant… You have to help me. If you don’t help me…”

“Pregnant?” Rong Guang was taken aback, but not at all surprised.

Xie Xian had been pregnant at this time in her previous life as well.

It was just that she had learned the news later than now, after her grandmother’s funeral. Only then did she find out that Xie Xian had lost the baby.

It was congenitally weak, the baby had no heartbeat, and it didn’t even survive to the fifth month.

She said expressionlessly, “If you’re pregnant, then just get an abortion. It’s not like you’re legally married to him anyway. The child won’t be happy if it’s born—you wouldn’t want this child of yours to be like me, pointed at and called a bastard since childhood, would you?”

That one sentence left Xie Xian pale and defenseless.

Rong Guang pursed her lips and pulled her hand away.

She had just come of age; she didn’t need to understand too many things yet.

The convenience of her age was most apparent at times like this.

So what if she wanted to be a willful daughter who completely disregarded her mother’s feelings?

Everyone had a bit of a temper!

On the way back, Rong Guang bought a large bag of White Rabbit creamy candies.

The sweet, milky scent in her mouth improved her mood considerably. When she opened the door, she found her grandma and Chacha both on the sofa, sitting upright and proper.

Rong Guang was quite surprised.

The TV was on but muted, yet her grandma’s laughter had already passed through the door curtain and straight into Rong Guang’s ears.

The frequency of her laughter was strangely infectious… like a flock of ducks that had a weasel in their midst.

Rong Guang’s eyes instinctively curved into a smile. “Grandma, what are you laughing at?”

“Oh, Guangguang’s back?!” Xu Mingli wiped tears of laughter from the corners of her eyes and quickly waved Rong Guang over.

While changing her shoes, Rong Guang noticed that her grandma was actually wearing makeup.

Not only that, but she was also wearing extremely opulent pearl necklaces and bracelets. The pearls were round and smooth, one after another, making Rong Guang’s jaw drop. She thought to herself that her grandma had really brought out all her heirloom jewelry… Look at those strings of large pearls, didn’t her ears hurt?

Beside her, Chacha had a wronged expression on her face.

Bright red lips, monkey-butt blush, and dark eyebrows, she looked exactly like the wealth-bringing child from a New Year’s painting.

Rong Guang looked at Chacha, who was clutching five yuan and on the verge of tears, and fell silent for a long time.

She shouldn’t have had such high expectations for her grandma’s aesthetic sense.

But then again, whose childhood wasn’t spent being dressed up like this by the elders in the family… So Rong Guang logically ignored the distress signal Chacha was sending and even planned to take a few photos later.

“Come here, come here.” Xu Mingli was smiling so wide her eyes disappeared. She said to Rong Guang repeatedly, “Tiantian made a video call for you. She said she just finished work and has the night off. I hadn’t had a chance to contact you, and here you are.”

Now Rong Guang knew when her grandma had gotten all dressed up.

Xu Mingli probably started getting ready the moment she stepped out the door.

She took the phone and went upstairs with it.

After a few hours, the phone was fully charged. Rong Guang confidently turned the screen brightness to maximum and stared at the person on the screen without blinking, her eyes filled with a joy and delight that she couldn’t hide.

“Just got back? What were you doing this afternoon?” Chu Feiliang looked as if she had just removed her makeup. An assistant was combing her hair behind her.

She held chopsticks in one hand, opening a boxed meal in front of her.

Rong Guang glanced over and noticed that the person behind her was actually Yan Congxue. She was the assistant who had stayed with Chu Feiliang until the very end in her previous life. It was said that she was the child of a family that Grandma Chu had sponsored since she was young, and she had settled down in B City after graduating.

Rong Guang’s smile was clear and bright as she said casually, “My mom came to see me this afternoon. I went out with her to talk about some things.”

Chu Feiliang paused, her hand holding the chopsticks still for a moment.

Rong Guang thought the video had frozen, so she tapped the screen to check the signal and asked, “Sister, did you freeze?”

Chu Feiliang came back to her senses and said lightly, “Yes, a message just came in. What did your mother want to talk about? If there’s a chance another day, should I go meet her with you?”

Rong Guang was stunned, then her eyes lit up. “You’re not against meeting my family?”

“Why would I be against meeting your family?” Chu Feiliang raised an eyebrow and smiled, placing her chopsticks aside and taking a sip of warm water. “I wish you would introduce me to everyone.”

Rong Guang was so happy she started kicking her feet against the bed.

Chu Feiliang watched her with a smile and said, “Go ahead and shout if you want to. I won’t laugh at you.”

How could Rong Guang actually shout out loud?

She… at most, she would roll around on her bed a few times after hanging up the video call.

“Sister, what did you and Grandma talk about downstairs?” Rong Guang was holding it in so much that her eyes started to water. She quickly changed the subject.

Chu Feiliang thought for a moment and said, “Nothing much. I told her about things on set and walked around with the video on. She was very happy to listen and seemed quite interested.”

Rong Guang nodded thoughtfully.

Indeed, she should tell her grandma more about her daily work.

“You’re always so thoughtful,” Rong Guang said with a slight sigh.

Then she paused, suddenly remembering her time at the Chu residence these past two days. She felt that her etiquette hadn’t been very thorough and couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed as she quietly mentioned it to Chu Feiliang.

Chu Feiliang seemed to particularly enjoy hearing her talk about these things.

Then Chu Feiliang said, “You don’t need to feel that you weren’t thorough at all. My grandma doesn’t need any of that useless stuff. Just you showing up at the Chu residence is the best gift, better than anything else.”

Rong Guang felt that Chu Feiliang was just comforting her.

Chu Feiliang looked like she wanted to say more but was holding back. “Did you see Chacha today?”

“I did,” Rong Guang said, blinking.

Chu Feiliang shrugged and gave Rong Guang a ‘you’re on your own’ look. “All grandmothers in the world have the same hobbies.”

Chu Feiliang tapped the table and counted, “First, feed the cubs. Second, dress up the cubs. Third, they must look prosperous and blessed.”

Rong Guang’s mouth fell open.

Chu Feiliang smiled brightly. “It’s a pity. Neither Siyue nor I have the kind of prosperous look that elders like. But you’re different… Look at you, you’re so lovable.”

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