Chapter 1025: Answer Is ClearOnce everything quietened down, Yue Yue first turned to the maid who had become her voice just now and gave her a thumbs up, 'You're good. I'll give you a good bonus for this performance.'
"Thanks for the compliment, Mistress Yue," said the maid. "There isn't a need for a bonus since it's my duty but I won't decline it either."
Her reaction amused Yue Yue while when Raelle looked over at the maid, she went silent and even lowered her head. It was always like that. The help at home would be acting quite casually with others but when it came to Raelle, they'd turn serious. They wouldn't dare joke or talk so casually with Raelle.
'Okay, you can get back to work.'
The maid nodded and turned to leave. Yue Yue then shifted her attention to Raelle with a wide grin plastered on her face. She looked at Raelle's face for a long while in silence and Raelle neither broke this silence nor did she avoid Yue's eyes. She was standing just as usual. The confident, the unbothered, the indifferent. Everything about her was exactly the same.
Yue Yue stepped up and hugged her. Her slender arms wrapped around Raelle's body enveloping this awkward girl in her arms. Raelle was momentarily stiffened but soon, her body eased up as she allowed Yue Yue to hug her. It seemed it was difficult to train her body to accept hugs. Her body had gotten used to Shui Xian's hugs though since he loved to act clingy. But others rarely hugged her so her body wasn't used to this intimacy with anyone else.
After a full minute, Yue Yue stepped back, 'Sorry. I know you don't like hugs.'
"I don't like hugs from outsiders," said Raelle. "Family is still okay once in a while. And you're family."
Yue Yue nodded her head as tears brimmed in her eyes, 'Yes, yes. I know. I'm family. How can I forget that? This family is the reason I'm so courageous now.'
"Don't," said Raelle. "Don't let those tears fall. If Hyson learned that I let your cry while he wasn't around, it won't end well. I don't wanna listen to him nagging for hours. No, he'd nag me for a whole year or maybe till the end of time."
Yue Yue laughed at that, 'He is a clown.'
"He is your son," reminded Raelle.
'He is my son that's why I know he is a clown,' was Yue Yue's response. 'Did you get what you needed? I'm gonna pack the cream puffs and you can then take them to Xian. Okay?'
Raelle nodded to show that she understood.
Shui Koshing walked over to Raelle and asked, "Are you going somewhere?" Since he couldn't understand what Yue Yue was saying, he didn't know the plan between Raelle and Yue Yue.
"I'm going to deliver cream puffs to my husband," she answered.
"You have to do it yourself?"
"I want to," she said.
Shui Koshing sighed, "Right. Who can argue with that? Fine. Fine. Go and deliver it to him. Just be careful, he might ascend to heaven with happiness."
"Don't worry, he won't be willing to go anywhere without me," said Raelle.
Raelle turned to enter the house while Shui Koshing looked at Yue Yue and smiled, "I'm so proud of you today."
Yue Yue smiled back at him as she took out the phone from her apron to type, 'I'm also very proud of myself today.'
"Even I couldn't listen to what your mo... Ahem... What that old lady said," he didn't want to call Madam Yue as Yue Yue's mother anymore. She really didn't deserve that title. "And I guess I wasn't alone who couldn't swallow it down. Even my daughter-in-law wasn't willing to just listen. I have never seen her act like this before." He paused and frowned, "No, I've seen something similar." He was reminded of the time when Raelle stood up for him in front of Amelia. He was also feeling so warm at that time. The feeling of being protected was really something else.
'She had always been protective of her own people,' said Yue Yue. 'But she rarely shows her might in such a straightforward way.'
Zhai Kuijun also walked over to their side and looked at Yue Yue with a pang of guilt in his eyes, "I'm sorry. It seems whenever I'm around, I bring your trouble and only trouble."
"As long as you know it," said Shui Koshing.
Yue Yue held Shui Koshing's arm to stop and he rolled his eyes before he went silent and looked away.
Yue Yue gave Zhai Kuijun her usual kind and gentle smile as she said, 'But it isn't your fault. In fact, I told you plenty of times that none of it had ever been your fault. I should be apologizing to you since I dragged you into this messy family. Zhai family would have no interaction with Yue family if I hadn't met you. If I hadn't helped Yue Lan, you wouldn't have even gotten together with her either. So, at the end of the day, it is truly my own fault for pulling you into this.' Yue Yue didn't think she was being kind by saying this, she was actually very clear about everything. She had long understood that she had more things to be guilty about than him. She owed him more than he owed her.
In fact, he hardly owed her anything. She never thought he owed her for the night they spent together. Although she wasn't clear about that night much, she was still cleared that if she hadn't found him accidentally, she'd have been r*ped by those men. She had never spoken a word about that because she never wanted to recall that time.
But it was also true that she was actually willing to be with him that night. Even if she wasn't in her senses, she was clear about who was with her and she was happy about it deep down.
She owed him for hiding the existence of his son from him as well. She owed him for bringing a psycho like Yue Lan into his life and ruining him. She couldn't just extract herself from that situation at all. It was her insecurity and lack of confidence that made her push Yue Lan into his life.
'Kuijun, she knew you and I have no such relationship. Do you know why she brought it up?' Zhai Kuijun looked at her inquisitively. 'Because she wanted me to feel guilty and she wanted to use it against me to make me give in. After all, she is my mother. She really knew how to manipulate me well. She did it for all my life. So, she knew that once she threw mud at us, I'd give into her demands to prove my innocence. And if it was 20 years ago, I might have done exactly that. But now, I'm not longer that easily manipulated. She can think about me however she wants. Her opinion means nothing to me. Nothing at all.'
She patted his hand as she typed with only one hand, 'And you don't have to fall for her words either. Her opinions shouldn't matter to you either since she is no longer your mother-in-law. You're free to do whatever you want. I know you got this freedom after a long and tiring battle, so don't waste this freedom by giving importance to the words of people like her. Chenyan says, life is too short to live it for others. No matter what you do, the world will never be happy. So why bother making everyone happy? The only person's whose happiness matters is you. Don't deprive yourself the right of happiness for the sake of living up to others' expectations of you.'
While Zhai Kuijun was stunned by the sincerity and conviction in her eyes along with her words, Shui Koshing placed his hand on her head saying, "Yin'er would have been over the moon to see that her Yue actually grew up so much."
'Ge, I have an adult son,' reminded Yue Yue.
"And he always seemed the mature one between you and him."
Yue Yue gaped at him in disbelief while Shui Koshing laughed at her reaction. Then he slapped Zhai Kuijun's shoulder saying, "Knock it off. Why are you lost now? Didn't you understand what she said? We are already old now. What's the point of living for others?"
Yue Yue nodded in agreement.
Zhai Kuijun didn't speak anything at this time because he wasn't certain about what he could say. After hearing what Madam Yue said, he didn't think about distancing himself from Yue Yue. He actually wanted to be closer to her now. It reminded him of the question Zhai Yanjun asked him to figure out. What did he really feel about Yue Yue? The answer was very clear now. It couldn't be any clearer than this now.