The two children hadn’t realized that a person’s appearance comes with a filter in the eyes of different people.
Just like fans looking at celebrities naturally view them through a thick filter.
Zhuang Rouhui looked at Yue Qingqing, certainly, with a pair of distorting funhouse mirrors.
She had always felt that seeing that girl would bring bad luck, so Yue Qingqing naturally looked annoying in her eyes.
How could she possibly think she looked like her own daughter?
In Zhuang Rouhui’s heart, comparing the two was probably an insult to Li Ruyun.
Li Ruyun stared at her brother and warned, "Don’t mention a word about that person’s appearance at home."
Li Ruyu had always been afraid of her and understood his sister’s nature better than anyone else.
As a child, relatives had given him a puppy but hadn’t given one to his sister.
At that time, Li Ruyu was incredibly fond of the little white dog, wishing he could even sleep with it in his arms.
His sister had asked for it, but he hadn’t given it to her.
A few days later, the puppy turned into a cold corpse. The veterinarian said it might have accidentally eaten rat poison, but Li Ruyu knew it wasn’t an accident.
After being refused, Li Ruyun had still smiled at him and said that since her brother was so stingy, he shouldn’t have it either.
Since that incident, Li Ruyu had been very scared of his sister, almost to the point of obeying her every word, fearing that he might end up like the puppy one day, having rat poison forcibly poured down his throat.
Thinking this, Li Ruyu hurriedly promised, "Don’t worry, I know what’s at stake, I definitely won’t say a thing."
Li Ruyun narrowed her eyes, "That’s still not safe enough, in case father gets a whim to suddenly pick us up from school and bumps into her, it would be troublesome."
It would be best if that Yue Qingqing could just disappear from this school.
Before her words had ended, the sound of high heels echoed from outside.
Li Ruyu scrambled up from the floor and greeted Zhuang Rouhui, who opened the door, "Mom, you’re back."
Zhuang Rouhui usually greeted her children, but today she seemed absent-minded.
She responded casually and went upstairs after changing into slippers.
Li Ruyu asked curiously, "What’s wrong with Mom? She doesn’t seem quite right."
Li Ruyun replied coldly, "Let her be, she’s probably had another row with father."
Although she was young, she also thought her mother was quite brainless.
Not thinking about how to capture her husband’s heart, she was always showing off about things like wealth and luck.
These were all nebulous things; who could tell for sure?
Boasting about your wealth and luck when a deal is made.
But if you lose money, others will still blame you.
Zhuang Rouhui was unaware of her daughter’s disparaging thoughts, as her mind was still echoing the words that woman had said to her.
"Getting your husband to return to you is simple, but it comes with a price."
"Money, I don’t need. I want something more sincere."
"Whether this transaction is worthwhile depends on your choice."
Zhuang Rouhui’s throat moved as she carefully took out a wood carving from her handbag.
It looked crude as if a child had randomly scratched a piece of wood.
One could barely make out the blurry shape of a fox from its raised head and pointed snout.
Zhuang Rouhui placed the wood carving beside her bed, her eyes struggling with conflict.
After a moment, she finally made up her mind.
"Just to try it out..."
As she murmured to herself, Zhuang Rouhui took a fruit knife from the kitchen.
With a light slice across her fingertip, a bead of blood rolled onto the wood carving.
A strange scene unfolded.
The spot of red color quickly disappeared, as if completely absorbed by the wood carving.
The crude lines of the wood carving seemed to be moisturized, glistening with an oily sheen...