CH 12

Modern technology liberates life. Before the arrival of the Winter Solstice, Ruan Su added a sweeping and mopping robot as well as a dishwasher to Ji’s house. Unconsciously, she has been at Ji’s house for almost four months. During these four months, she felt as if time had been accelerated. Before she could react, she had already put on a thick winter coat.

Here, the Winter Solstice is also a day of reunion. Since that day of her homecoming banquet, Ruan Su has never returned to Ruan’s house, and her parents never cotacted her.

On this day, just as Ruan Su finished work and was about to enter the building, she received a call from her mother.

In a cautious tone, her mother said, “Susu, the Winter Solstice is in two days. Come back and have a meal. Your father hasn’t seen you in a long time.”

Sometimes Mother Ruan also felt troubled. If they had found their daughter a few years earlier, things would have been different, and at least their relationship wouldn’t be so distant.

Even for a child raised by their side since childhood, if they are absent for a few years, the relationship cannot be repaired. Moreover, Ruan Su’s absence was not just a few years, but nearly twenty years. Mother Ruan still remembers that when Susu first returned to the Ruan family, Susu wouldn’t even call her mother. The twenty-year-old Susu was no longer someone who could be swayed by a dress or a teddy bear. Before she could repair this mother-daughter relationship, Susu was forced to replace Manman for the engagement.

In fact, she knew very well what she owed her daughter.

She had been with her husband for many years, and the interests and honor of the Ruan family always came first. Initially, it was Ruan Man who didn’t want this engagement, but her husband didn’t object because Ji Mingchong had almost no chance of waking up. Even if he did wake up, the Ji family had already declined, and without power and money, how could he return to his former state… Ji Mingchong was already a waste. But, before Susu came back, the Ruan family had no choice and couldn’t actually cancel the engagement. After Susu returned, they had to choose one of the two daughters to marry into the Ji family. Considering the pros and cons, it was better for Susu to marry into the Ji family.

Sure enough, not long after, Manman got together with Lin Xiangdong.

When Manman marries into the Lin family, the Ruan family will have an extra layer of security and support.

Doesn’t she and her husband know that they owe their biological daughter? Of course, they know… but if they really want to make it up, they have to wait until the Ruan family returns to how it used to be. She has already thought it through. At most, she will wait for two or three more years before she takes the initiative to talk to Mother Ji and bring Susu back. By then, Susu will still be young and can continue to live a happy life.

Ruan Su walked into the hallway and said to Mother Ruan on the other end of the phone, “I might not have time that day.” After a pause, she added, “Will Ruan Man go back that day too?”

Mother Ruan subconsciously ignored the latter sentence and frowned, asking, “You don’t have time? Don’t you finish work early every day?”

Before Ruan Su could say anything, Mother Ruan continued, “I heard that the Ji family doesn’t have a nanny. Is your mother-in-law making you do everything now?”

“No,” Ruan Su said, and it was the truth. She was not idle in the Ji family, but Mother Ji didn’t make her do everything.

Ruan Su realized she was almost home and decided not to say more. “Mom, I’ll call you another day. I have something to do now.”

Mother Ruan had no choice but to hang up the phone. When she checked the time, she knew her daughter had finished work. She knew exactly what her daughter was busy with. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She even lost her appetite for dinner and went straight upstairs to her room to lie down.

Meanwhile, Ruan Su climbed a few steps and looked up at the light in the hallway. She noticed it last night when she went downstairs to throw out the trash. The hallway light flickered on and off inconsistently. Now that winter had arrived, it was dark early and bright late. If the light suddenly went out, it would be easy to trip and fall. She was fine because she was still young, but Mother Ji was already old. If the light went out and she tripped, it would be a big problem.

With these thoughts in mind, Ruan Su no longer wasted time. She took a detour and went outside the residential area to hire someone to replace the light bulbs in the hallway. Only then did she feel at ease.

When Ruan Man returned home today, as soon as she entered the house, she heard the housekeeper say that Mother Ruan hadn’t eaten dinner. She went upstairs to the bedroom and sure enough, she saw Mother Ruan sitting on the edge of the bed sighing.

Ruan Man didn’t need to guess; she knew that Mother Ruan was upset because of RUan Su.

Sure enough, when Mother Ruan saw her approaching, Mother Ruan grabbed her and said, “The Ji family’s house is too old and small. I’ve been thinking, Susu must be uncomfortable living there. How about I just rent a big house for her and find her a nanny? That way, her life will be easier.”

Ruan Man had heard the same words from Mother Ruan in her previous life.

She had a subtle psychological conflict. Even though she knew in her heart that Ruan Su was Mother Ruan’s biological daughter, and it was only natural for Mother  Ruan to take care of Ruan Su, she still felt uncomfortable. Deep down, she felt that Mother Ruan shouldn’t treat her and Ruan Su equally. After all, she grew up with Mother Ruan, so how could she be treated the same as Ruan Su?

“Let’s not cause any trouble,” Ruan Man said. “Aunt Ji would never agree. Didn’t we already discuss providing money for Ji Mingchong to stay in a nursing home? She didn’t agree to that, so how could she agree to move out now?”

In her previous life, she also wanted to move to a brighter and more luxurious house, but Mother Ji never agreed. She wouldn’t mind living alone, but at that time, she hadn’t given up hope yet. She was still fixated on Mother Ji’s hidden assets, so she had to grit her teeth and continue living in that shabby house.

In this lifetime, could Mother Ji really move out and live elsewhere? That’s impossible.

Mother Ruan also became angry after hearing this. She said angrily, “So my daughter will just go to the Ji family and work as a nanny? This is simply too much!”

She just kept thinking about this matter, so she couldn’t eat.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, and she even transferred her anger to Ruan Man, who was standing beside her, looking bright and cheerful.

However, it was just anger in her heart, and she didn’t say anything.

Ruan Man felt speechless and asked, “So what do you want then?”

Mother Ruan pondered for a moment and said, “They can choose not to move, but I want to hire a nanny for Susu. Otherwise, should the whole Ji family rely on Susu to serve them? My daughter is not meant to be a slave or servant for the Ji family.”

“I advise you not to interfere in Ji family matters,” Ruan Man recalled Ruan Su’s words that day and adopted a sarcastic tone, “Susu has made it clear that we shouldn’t meddle in her affairs. Those were her exact words.”

Mother Ruan felt frustrated, “That was just her angry words. You shouldn’t take it seriously.”

Ruan Man felt even more annoyed, but she had to persuade Mother Ruan, “Fine, I won’t mention it anymore. Let me analyze a serious matter with you. If Aunt Ji thinks our family is meddling and blames Susu, what should we do? Besides, Susu has only been married there for a short time, not even four months. This is the crucial time to gain Aunt Ji’s trust. If you suddenly interfere, maybe… Do you really believe Aunt Ji doesn’t have anything in her hands?”

Under Ruan Man’s persuasion, Mother Ruan eventually dropped the idea.

However, Ruan Man didn’t feel much better, especially when she recalled what Ruan Su said at the time, it made her angry.

She didn’t believe how hard Ruan Su’s life in the Ji family is. In her previous life, when she stayed at Ji’s house, the house was a bit dim and slightly rundown, but Mother Ji didn’t let her cook or clean. Mother Ji probably feared that she would rummage through their things. She had to admit that Mother Ji treated Ruan Su much better than her, so it was even less likely that Mother JI would make Ruan Su do anything…

If something happened to Mother Ji, Ruan Su would be the one truly working hard.

This thought flashed through Ruan Man’s mind, and she immediately seized it, quickly turning it into a plan.

Ruan Man remembered that in her previous life, during the winter, Mother Ji woke up early to buy groceries, but the lights in the hallway were broken. Mother Ji accidentally stepped on the wrong step and fell, resulting in bone fractures… At that time, she worried that Mother Ji would delegate all the tasks to her, which she feared would be too burdensome. So she used the excuse of a business trip to leave for a while. She returned only after Mother Ji had recovered.

Calculating the time, Mother Ji’s fall should be about to happen during this period, right?

If Ruan Su gritted her teeth and took care of Mother Ji, then it was her own fault to be exhausted. But if Ruan Su ran away like Ruan Man, would Mother Ji and Maosou still treat her well? Let’s see if Ruan Su dares to act all noble and superior towards her, Ruan Man, again!

Little did Ruan Man know, she waited and waited and waited, but she didn’t receive any good news of Mother Ji falling down from the stairs.

She couldn’t help but wonder if her rebirth had changed these things. After all, everything has a butterfly effect.

If that was indeed the case, it would be terrible.

If the mountain won’t come to me, I’ll go to the mountain, Ruan Man thought for a moment. She couldn’t do such things herself, so she decided to have her younger brother sabotage the lights in the hallway.

Naturally, this younger brother is not surnamed Ruan. He is her biological younger brother. Originally, her biological parents were impoverished and ignorant. None of them had much education. In order to prevent her biological parents from causing trouble, she brought her younger brother here. He doesn’t have much education or skills, and now he works as a driver for Lin Xiangdong. She is somewhat relieved about her younger brother, knowing that he is willing to do things for her and she believes he can keep his mouth shut.

Sure enough, when her younger brother, Zhang Jian, heard about it, without hesitation, he agreed to help her with this matter.

Ruan Man still remembers what the Ji’s house’s residential area looks like. Not to mention that the surveillance cameras are practically non-existent, even the security guards are elderly men who usually prefer to play cards at the entrance. It was too easy to carry out the plan of damaging the hallway lights. Moreover, if she remembers correctly, those lights probably haven’t been changed for several years, and even if they break, it wouldn’t arouse anyone’s suspicion.

After all, Zhang Jian is still young. He hastily looked around the residential area, made sure there were no surveillance cameras or witnesses, and then proceeded to damage the lights in the hallway. When he saw that the light bulb was not covered in thick dust, he felt a bit puzzled. Didn’t his sister say that the lights in this residential area haven’t been changed for years? Why does it look brand new? He originally wanted to tell Ruan Man about this matter once he accomplished it, but the words stopped at his lips. He had finally managed to do something for his sister. If he couldn’t even complete this task, wouldn’t it mean he was useless? Besides, upon further consideration, this matter wasn’t that important, there were no surveillance cameras or witnesses in the residential area…

It should be fine, right?

***

Ruan Su had to attend a dinner gathering with her colleagues tonight, and she couldn’t find an excuse to decline. Moreover, she didn’t want to cancel it since she usually enjoyed spending time with her coworkers. So she called Mother Ji in advance and informed Mother Ji that she would be returning home late today. Mother Ji didn’t say much in response.

However, before she finished her meal, she received a call from her neighbor, Grandma Wang. In a hurried and anxious voice, Grandma Wang said, “Susu, your mother-in-law just went to take out the trash and accidentally slipped and fell. It looks like she broke a bone!”