Chiang Qing’s direct question caught Lu Shufen off guard, her complexion changed, and she seemed a bit flustered. Chiang Tian, standing not far away, also looked over, his expression grave.
Swallowing hard, Lu Shufen forced a smile and said, "Qingqing, what are you talking about? We’re just going home, not anywhere else. Don’t you trust your mother?"
Chiang Qing’s face darkened: "Mom, do you also think I’m sick? Everyone says I’m a madwoman, do you think so too? Xiao Tian, and you?"
Madwoman, mentally ill, needing to take medicine, needing to be obedient.
Those medicines were for madwomen; she was no madwoman; she refused to take them.
In the past, she had secretly thrown them into the toilet without ever ingesting them, and hadn’t she grown up anyway? Who was the madwoman? She certainly wasn’t, it was Cheng Su, Cheng Su was the madwoman, the one truly mentally ill!
It was she who insisted on wedging herself between her and Qi Taiguo, she deserved to die!
"I’m not going back; I want to stay here. Qi Taiguo is mine; he can only be mine. Only I am worthy of him, only I can possess him!" Chiang Qing paced back and forth in the room.
Seeing this, Lu Shufen’s head buzzed, and that scene from so many years ago surfaced before her eyes again!
"That puppy is mine; it belongs to me. It can only play with me; it can only keep me company," the doll-like little Chiang Qing said haughtily.
And there she was, sitting in the hollow of a tree, a mouthful of blood and dog fur, smiling at her: "Mom, look, this dog, it’s forever mine now!"
The memory replayed; back then she had killed a dog, what about now?
Lu Shufen felt dizzy and could hardly stand, but Chiang Tian quickly came over to support her.
"Qingqing..." Lu Shufen covered her chest and called out with difficulty.
Chiang Qing looked over.
"Qingqing, come to mom!" Lu Shufen waved her hand with a forced smile.
Chiang Qing approached like a cautious child, and Lu Shufen grabbed her hand; mother and daughter sat down together.
Drawing a deep breath, Lu Shufen stroked her hair and said, "Qingqing, mom knows what’s in your heart. Let’s go back to Beijing first, alright?"
"Mom!"
Holding her tightly, Lu Shufen said softly, "Listen to Mom, be good. Come back with me, and we’ll get you well first. I promise, I’ll make that Qi Taiguo kneel before you and beg you, alright?"
How could it be, how was it possible, for someone as proud as him to kneel before her and beg!
Lying in her arms, Chiang Qing said, "Mom, he’ll be back soon. I really miss him!"
A heaviness settled in Lu Shufen’s heart.
"Mom, I’m so tired."
"How about taking a nap? Let’s have a sleep first, and then we can talk after you wake up," Lu Shufen immediately suggested.
Chiang Qing nodded and obediently went back to her room to lie down. Soon, she fell into a deep sleep.
Lu Shufen looked at her face, tears streaming down.
Chiang Tian felt anxious and asked softly, "Mom, my sister, is she—" he pointed to his head, "sick again?"
Lu Shufen shot him a glare, and Chiang Tian immediately clamped his lips shut. He only knew very little; he knew that his sister seemed to have been ill as a child, something wrong with her brain.
Could it really be mental illness?
"Come with me!" said Lu Shufen as she walked out. "Tell me about these past few days since you arrived. And why did your sister ask you to come?"
Dodging the question, Chiang Tian said, "Nothing much, just came here to hang out!"
Furious, Lu Shufen struck him, "At a time like this, you’re still keeping secrets from me. Do you want to kill your sister? If you won’t speak, I’ll ask your uncle to cut off your financial support."
This was Chiang Tian’s weak spot, and he immediately spilled everything like pouring beans from a bamboo tube.
After listening, Lu Shufen sank into a chair and murmured to herself, "Your sister is even more possessed than I was back then!"