Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Su Yue stopped Xuxu. “Third sister-in-law, we have a mock exam in school today. I want to go earlier to review.”
Xuxu couldn’t bear to force her, and so she relinquished her grip. “Then let me send you to school.”
Su Yue declined. “I can go there myself, you should go have breakfast. Third Brother and the rest are all waiting for you.”
Her eyes were slightly red, and it made Xuxu’s heart clench tightly inside her chest. “It’s alright, I wanted to go to your school to understand more about your progress.”
Though she thinks Fan Jiayin deserved the hot splash on her face—and she felt great thinking about it—she still needed to take Yueyue’s behavior into consideration.
It was already two months away from her exams, and she couldn’t take any more additional pressure. If she breaks down…
Jiang Qinglian broke through her thoughts. “Xuxu.”
She turned around and smiled at her. “First Aunt.”
Jiang Qinglian was wearing her loungewear as she stood at the entrance of the dining room. She looked at Xuxu, looking rather expressionless.
“Let’s eat.”
Xuxu was about to refuse when Su Yue nudged her. She whispered, “Third sister-in-law, go in. Perhaps you can fetch me after school and take me out for a nice meal.”
The more sensible she was, the more Xuxu doted on her. If only she didn’t bear the label of being an illegitimate daughter, if only she was in an ordinary family and was like that of any other girls her age, she would be treated like a precious little princess. She probably would occasionally throw tantrums or whine.
But she couldn’t. She had grown up in an orphanage, and being where she was now doesn’t necessarily mean that it was better than the orphanage.
Just like today, she didn’t even dare to eat breakfast together with them. She must have felt like an outsider, leeching off of them.
Xuxu wanted to console, to tell her that she was also a precious daughter to her parents. She doesn’t want her to feel inferior.
But to Su Yue, she knew that such verbal advice wouldn’t work. Xuxu needed to help her to step out slowly by guiding her.
Xuxu didn’t insist and smiled at Su Yue. “Alright. Let’s watch a movie tonight.”
Su Yue smiled and left.
‘Sigh!’
Xuxu gazed at the tiny figure and sighed heavily. She turned around and walked towards the dining room.
Jiang Qinglian remained standing outside the dining room. She held Xuxu’s elbow when the latter approached her. “First Aunt, don’t pull a long face. She is still a child and you know she is afraid of you.”
Sometimes, towards different people, she had to twist her words around.
She felt bad for Su Yue but she needed to consider First Aunt’s feelings.
Jiang Qinglian quipped, “I didn’t say or do anything to her.”
Xuxu nodded with a smile. “Yes, of course, I know. You’re always so nice to me ever since I was a child.”
Jiang Qinglian finally broke into a smile. “You’ve learned how to coax people.”
She turned and looked towards the main doors with complex emotions swirling in her eyes.
Xuxu said, “Come and eat breakfast. You have lost weight.”
“Xuxu, regarding your Second Brother, can you help me persuade Third Yan?” pleaded Jiang Qinglian as she grabbed Xuxu.
Xuxu already expected that she would come to her if Yan Rusheng wouldn’t agree to help her.
She answered, “First Aunt, let him mull over the matter first. You and I know how important Flourish & Prosper is to Ah Sheng. Grandmother passed the company to him. If it was destroyed in his hands, how would he be able to face Grandmother?”
She sighed. She could only decline in that way.