Chapter 66: Pushing too hard will make her uncomfortable

Yang and Zhou Yishao stayed here for about half an hour before slowly heading back.

In fact, there wasn't much to talk about with a little kid like An An, but Yang just held her and refused to let go. She couldn't get enough of looking at her, and she even thought about taking the child home several times.

But she didn't need Zhou Yishao to dissuade her, she knew that she couldn't do this, as it would only push Chen Lianxiu further away. After all, the Duke of Cheng's Mansion was not the kind of family that wanted a child but not a mother, and did not follow decent rules.

Finally, Yang could only reluctantly leave with Zhou Yishao. After they left, Shen Lianxiu came out.

An An still held the two big red envelopes in her hands, looking at Chen Lianxiu aggrievedly. Yang and Zhou Yishao were completely strangers to her, and An An had never left Chen Lianxiu since she was a child. It was really great that she could meet Yang and the others by herself today.

Chen Lianxiu didn't open the red envelope. Just by weighing it in her hand, she knew it was worth a lot of money. She didn't plan to touch the money, but just put it away for An An first.

At this time, Bi Cha saw this and came over and said, "Madam, it's time to call a few people from home."

Chen Lianxiu said, "No need. There are only two of us, An An and I. We don't need anyone else. I can do it myself."

"The cleaners and the cooks must be hired," Bi Cha had already been told, and he added, "And the security guards, too."

"Can a bodyguard like us stand up to King Hui?" Chen Lianxiu joked after hearing this.

Bi Cha scratched his head and laughed, "Hehe," "My dear, please don't embarrass me. I'll go and invite a few people over right away. Otherwise, if the house doesn't look good, my husband will scold me."

Chen Lianxiu didn't want to make things difficult for Bi Cha. He felt uncomfortable following Zhou Linjin's troubles, so he nodded in agreement.

Soon, Bi Cha brought in six people, four women and two men. The two men were security guards, and one of the four women was used in the kitchen, one was responsible for cleaning, and the other two were for Chen Lianxiu and An An.

Bi Cha said that they were called from outside, but Chen Lianxiu couldn't see that, the guards were fine, but those maids were efficient and methodical in their work, and it would take more than a short time to train them. Moreover, she felt vaguely familiar with one of them, and she should have seen her before in the mansion of Duke Cheng.

Most of these people were directly brought here from Duke Cheng’s Mansion.

But Chen Lianxiu saw it, but did not say it out loud, pretending not to know, so as to avoid trouble and make Bi Cha feel embarrassed.

Seeing that it was getting late, Chen Lianxiu hurriedly took them to tidy up the house again. They had only placed the luggage there, and nothing else had been moved. Fortunately, Chen Lianxiu had few things, and the house had never been lived in, so it seemed empty everywhere, which made it easier to tidy up.

But even so, by the time we could finally rest, it was already dusk.

The food was ready and served. Chen Lianxiu was too tired today, so she ate a few bites quickly and put down her chopsticks. After An An finished eating, she quickly took a shower and washed up. After everything was ready, Chen Lianxiu carried An An to the bed and fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow without coaxing her.

At midnight, Zhou Linjin finally finished his official business and arrived at the door of his private residence.

Bi Cha had been waiting at the gatehouse for a long time, and ran out immediately when he saw Zhou Linjin coming.

Before Zhou Linjin could ask, Bi Cha said, "My ladies have gone to bed early this morning."

Zhou Linjin nodded. Bi Cha wanted to lead him in, but he waved his hand.

"No need," he said. "The yard here is shallow, and going in would inevitably alarm her."

Bi Cha asked, "Where is the young man staying tonight?"

"Go back to the Duke's Mansion."

"Then here..."

"We can't be impatient," Zhou Linjin sighed softly, "If we push her too hard, it will make her uncomfortable."

Everyone has come back with him. He knows that this is the biggest concession that Chen Lianxiu can make. He can't and doesn't have the heart to force her anymore. This is what he deserves. He can only slowly make up for the mistakes he made in the past and repair the rift between them.

Bi Cha added, "By the way, Madam and the others came here during the day."

"What did you say?"

"My lady didn't see them. It was the young lady who saw them herself, so she didn't say anything."

Zhou Linjin didn't say anything when he heard this, but his heart was filled with pain.

He stood at the door for a while, until the night fog grew thicker and the dew soaked his clothes. He left only after Bi Cha urged him several times.

***

Shen Mansion.

With a "clang", Chen raised her hand and smashed a celadon candlestick. The porcelain pieces were shattered all over the ground. Some pieces swayed on the ground for a few times, slowly stopped, and made a harsh sound as they scratched the brick and stone ground.

"How could it be? How could he not be dead?" Two or three veins popped out on Chen's forehead, and her face flushed red with anger. "Didn't they say he died on the road a long time ago? How could he not be dead?"

Although it was impossible to announce Chen Lianxiu's return everywhere, it was obviously not a secret. Everyone in the Chengguo Mansion knew about it, and Zhou Linjin's colleagues also knew about it. The news gradually spread and naturally soon reached Chen's ears.

Shen Ji went to pull her: "Be quiet, it's so late..."

Chen shook off Shen Ji's hand, then pointed at him and said angrily, "Chen Ji, your daughter is not dead, you are happy in your heart, right? Or did you two deliberately collude to trick me?"

"Why would I cheat you? The people who sent her to the manor were yours, and they went to your place. How would I know?" Shen Ji was anxious.

Hearing this, Chen's expression softened slightly.

In the end, she didn't dare to get so angry that she lost her mind and curse too much. She naturally couldn't let Shen Ji know that she asked Nanny Song and the others to get rid of the person on the road. Although she knew in her heart that Shen Ji listened to her and didn't have much love and sympathy for Shen Lianxiu's daughter, some things were hard to say. What if he hated her because of this and it damaged the harmony between husband and wife? It would always be bad.

The coachman was no longer in the Shen family, and after she learned the news, she secretly asked Nanny Song as soon as possible, but the old woman was stubborn and insisted that he died on the way. Now that everyone has returned, there is no need for Chen to dwell on it. She can't insist that Shen Lianxiu is a ghost. She guessed what happened. It was just that the little bitch ran away and it was difficult to explain, so she said he was dead.

But no matter how much I thought about it, I just couldn't let it out.

Chen gritted her teeth and said to Shen Ji, "Okay, okay, you actually speak to me like this now. Is it because your daughter has successfully climbed up the social ladder that you no longer take us seriously? I tell you, as long as I'm around, don't even think about letting that little bitch come home!"

"You...what are you talking about?"

"You are heading for the Duke's Mansion. Poor my daughter," Chen started to cry as she spoke, her voice quite shrill. "What should she do? This Zhou Linjin is really heartless. He wanted our Yu'er in the beginning, but he turned his face and refused to recognize her. It would be fine if he sent Yu'er back, but who is he now? He still wants to marry that shameless woman?" When Shen Ji heard her talk about Shen Wuyu, his face changed. He waved his sleeves and said, "You can talk about other things. Who does Yu'er's affairs have to do with? Does it have anything to do with Zhou Linjin? I'm actually glad that he sent her back, otherwise if something scandalous happened, where would our Shen family's face be? Do you think the Duke's Mansion and Zhou Linjin are fools?"

Chen didn't know whether he had heard it or not, but she still felt very aggrieved and kicked the ground hard a few times.

Seeing that she had nothing more to say, Shen Ji wanted to persuade her to go and rest, but before he could open his mouth, Shen Wuyu came in.

She naturally knew why her parents were making so much noise so late at night. She wanted to hide and ignore them, but she felt uncomfortable tossing and turning, so she had to come over.

It would have been fine if she hadn't seen Shen Wuyu, but as soon as she saw Shen Wuyu, Chen's crying became louder again, and she couldn't stop hugging her.

"My daughter, why are you so miserable? It must be that Chen Lianxiu who took away the blessing that originally belonged to you. It's all my fault. If it weren't for that bad idea I came up with, this wouldn't have happened... I would rather not have had this marriage than let her take it over. If she hadn't seduced Zhou Linjin, I'm afraid Zhou Linjin would still want you when you came back." Chen howled.

Shen Wuyu was held by her, her face turning pale and blue, and she simply couldn't bear to listen to these words. In the end, she just said: "Mother, this is not someone else's fault, let's just forget it and never mention it again."

Chen said, "Who am I doing this for? I'm sad for you! My poor daughter, your life is ruined!"

"Could it be that if Zhou Linjin had accepted me at that time, my life would not have been ruined?" Shen Wuyu gritted her teeth, cruelly pushed Chen away from her embrace, and helped her sit on the soft couch. "I shouldn't have framed my sister for my own selfish interests. Fortunately, my sister didn't get hurt. If something really happened to her, she would have been pregnant at the time. Wouldn't that be against the will of heaven?"

Chen raised her head with red eyes and stared at Shen Wuyu: “You blame me for saying this, right?”

"Mother, how could I blame you? I only blame myself for being so confused back then and doing such a thing. Now that things have changed, my sister has returned to the capital and hasn't bothered us, that's already good enough."

"I can't swallow this insult no matter what. She stole your things, and now she's rich and powerful, while you're stuck at home," Chen sneered. "I'll definitely go talk to her tomorrow!"

Shen Wuyu said anxiously: "It's my fault in the first place. It's been so many years, why can't my mother let it go?"

"Hey, what are you doing!" Shen Ji saw that Chen was getting stuck in a dead end. She was also hot-tempered by nature and didn't know how to persuade her. She paced around the room anxiously.

Chen said fiercely, "I just want to ask her how she seduced Zhou Linjin away!"

"Mother!" Shen Wuyu's voice was already hoarse. Upon hearing this, she took a few steps forward and walked in front of Chen, almost hysterically saying, "I beg you to save some face for me!"

"You useless thing!" Chen said, "I told you I'm doing this for you. Life is all about fighting for your dignity..."

"Fight for your life, and then what?" Shen Wuyu stumbled back two steps and was supported by Shen Ji. "You fought for your whole life, but what was the result? You fought for our father, and made my sister's mother a concubine, and then treated my sister harshly. What then? Can you fight for all of our lives? Can you control everything? Why do you have to do so many things that hurt people?"

"Snap"

Chen stood up, raised her hand and slapped Shen Wuyu in the face.

Looking at her daughter whose cheeks were swollen from being beaten by her, Chen was angry and distressed, but she still said, "You have no right to say that to me!"

Shen Wuyu covered her face and sobbed.

"Chen Wuyu, don't forget, what would have happened to you in these years without me, without this family I supported? After you were sent back by Zhou Linjin, I asked you to abort the child, but you refused and tried to keep the child. I was afraid that something would happen to you, so I had to agree to give birth to that evil seed. I originally agreed to give the child away to someone else after it was born, but you changed your mind at the last minute, so I had no choice but to accept it. For the past five years, I have provided you and your child with good food and drink. You said you would not marry again, so I let you live at home with the child. I was even reluctant to let you go to the farm, for fear that you would suffer a little bit with the child alone. I also had to go through the trouble of hiding this family scandal from the outside world. I have done this, and you still blame me? Even if I really scolded Shen Lianxiu a few words, so what? Can she lose a piece of meat? Are you so stingy as to let your mother vent her anger?"

After Chen finished speaking, she no longer paid attention to what Shen Wuyu and Shen Ji said, and turned around and went into the inner room.