Chapter 44 Grandma Zhu's Decision
The sound of the vehicle starting and driving away put Zhu Fan's mind at ease.
She refused Aunt Shu's offer to call a family doctor for her, saying, "It was just a sprain, and I've already applied ice. There's no bone damage."
Zhu Fan was helped into the elevator by Aunt Shu.
The elevator in the villa is used very few times a day; it was specially prepared for the elderly lady.
Although it was prepared for the old lady, she was in good health and preferred to take the stairs.
With Zhu Fan's foot injured, the elevator came in handy.
Upon reaching the third floor, before she even reached her own room, she saw Zhu Ci standing outside Zhu Wan's door, holding a pink petal-patterned mini dress and shouting, "Why do my sister and I only have two dresses, but you have three?"
“I’ve got my eye on your light blue and green one. I’ll trade you this pink one for it.”
Zhu Ci spoke in a condescending tone, as if exchanging this pink dress with Zhu Wan was a great act of charity.
Zhu Wan was drying her hair when she heard a knock on the door. She thought it was her older sister returning.
Upon seeing Zhu Ci, the smile on her lips faded. "I won't change."
Zhu Ci grabbed the door that Zhu Wan was about to close and said, "You switch places with me. I won't tell my family about what you did at school this week. Otherwise, I'll tell Grandma you stole something at school."
Zhu Wan remained calm, saying, "I didn't steal anything; you're framing me."
Zhu Fan stopped at the corner of the stairs and did not continue walking forward.
Ji Shu looked with some concern at Zhu Wan and Zhu Ci, who were arguing in the corridor.
Zhu Fan wasn't too worried and didn't continue walking. She planned to go with Aunt Shu when A Yuan needed help.
Zhu Ci sneered, "You're just a country bumpkin from the countryside, you've never seen anything good before. If you see someone else with something nice, and you say you didn't steal it, who's going to believe you?"
"We framed you, do you have any evidence?"
Zhu Wan pursed her lips tightly, her thin back ramrod straight: "I didn't steal anything."
“You accuse me of stealing, so you should be the ones to prove that I actually stole something.”
Zhu Ci threw the pink dress in her hand on the ground and pointed at her: "Shu Jing's brooch was found in your schoolbag, that's the evidence, and you still dare to argue."
After Zhu Ci returned to school from the hospital, she would deliberately target her with people every day.
Time and time again. She could endure the hurtful words and choose not to hold them against her.
But Zhu Ci falsely accused her of stealing.
She could no longer hold back and said to Zhu Ci, word by word, "Zhu Ci, you put that brooch in my bag. Someone saw it."
"You're brainless, don't assume everyone else is as brainless as you."
Zhu Ci's eyes seemed to spit fire. "Who are you calling brainless?"
What proof do you have that I put it in your bag?
Zhu Wan replied calmly, "Whoever answers first, that's who it is."
Zhu Ci's assertiveness, under the calm of Zhu Wan, seemed like that of a clown.
Zhu Wan looked intently into Zhu Ci's eyes, "Next Monday, I will show Teacher Jiang the video of you secretly putting a brooch in my schoolbag to frame me."
Zhu Ci scoffed, touching her newly done, beautiful manicure: "You want to blow me up? I didn't put the brooch there, you stole it. You don't even have the video."
Zhu Wan smiled and said, "We'll know next Monday."
Zhu Wan's calmness and composure made Zhu Ci's eyes turn cold.
Her face was cold. "Tell me, who gave you the video?"
"Give me the video, and I won't change your dress. If you want the party and banquet to go smoothly tomorrow, give me the video."
Zhu Ci's show of weakness and her attempts at coercion and enticement chilled Zhu Wan's heart.
Since she returned to the Zhu family, her repeated forbearance has only resulted in Zhu Ci becoming increasingly ruthless.
Zhu Wan's expression made Zhu Ci realize that she had been deceived.
Without the video, she became arrogant again.
Zhu Ci pushed past Zhu Wan and entered her room.
Zhu Wan leaned against the door, her eyelashes drooping: "Grandma, please do me a favor."
Zhu Ci didn't believe at all that her grandmother was still in Zhu Wan's room.
She overheard her grandmother and Aunt Shu saying they were going back to their rooms to rest.
"You lied to me once, and you want to lie to me a second time? I think you're the idiot—"
Zhu Ci froze when she saw her grandmother sitting on the bed in the room, and the arrogance and arrogance in her eyes instantly vanished.
Grandma Zhu raised her eyes, her gaze showing neither disappointment nor any other emotion. She only asked Zhu Ci one question, "Zhu Ci, our Zhu family has raised you for seventeen years. In these seventeen years, have we ever mistreated you in the slightest?"
The old woman's words and eyes made Zhu Ci's tears stream down her face in fear.
Grandma is angry.
Zhu Ci cried and tugged at her grandmother's clothes, "Grandma, please let me explain..."
Grandma Zhu brushed her hand away and looked at Zhu Wan, who was standing quietly.
She had planned to go back to her room to rest, but A-Yuan asked her to pretend to leave her room.
She didn't refuse the little girl's request, and that's how she saw and heard this scene.
Grandma Zhu got out of bed. "Ah Wan, go dry your hair first, then go to sleep. Leave the rest to Grandma. Grandma will make the decisions for you."
Zhu Linjun and Meng Yin were called out of their room by the old lady. They thought it was a little quarrel between the Zhu Ci and Zhu Wan sisters, but they frowned when they heard what the old lady said.
Grandma Zhu picked up the tea on the desk and took a sip. "Next week, Zhu Ci will transfer to No. 2 High School. After you finish your senior year, you will move out of the Zhu family home. Your living expenses for the four years of college will be given to you in one lump sum. After that, the Zhu family will have no further relationship with you, Zhu Ci."
The old lady's words silenced Meng Yin and Zhu Linjun for a while.
Meng Yin felt reluctant, but also thought Zhu Ci should be taught a lesson. However, she couldn't bring herself to be harsh. "Mom, senior year is a crucial period. Suddenly transferring schools..."
Grandma Zhu raised her hand to stop Meng Yin from speaking, "There's no need to discuss this further."
Zhu Fan met her grandmother's gaze, took a sip of her hot tea.
She and Aunt Shu were called to the study by Grandma.
Zhu Citian felt like her world had collapsed. She knelt at Meng Yin and Zhu Linjun's feet, crying, "Mom and Dad, I was wrong, it was all my fault. I shouldn't have framed Zhu Wan, and I shouldn't have joined everyone in bullying Zhu Wan. I'm scared, I'm so scared... I'm afraid you'll send me away..."
Meng Yin, her eyes red, turned her head away, unwilling to watch this scene.
Zhu Ci's voice trembled with fear.
Her mother wouldn't help her.
"Grandma," Zhu Ci crawled to Grandma Zhu's feet, "Grandma, please don't send me away. I promise I'll behave from now on... I'll never bully anyone again. You've raised me for 17 years, and I haven't repaid you, Grandma, and Mom and Dad. Please, please don't send me away..."
"I will study hard, get into a good university, and take good care of you..."
"Waaah, don't send me away..."
She cannot be kicked out of the Zhu family; she must not be kicked out of the Zhu family.
Zhu Ci cried and knelt down, kowtowing repeatedly to her grandmother.
"Grandma, please... please don't send me away..."
If she is kicked out of the Zhu family, she will have nothing left.
From birth, she lived the life of a pampered young lady, and she could no longer live the life of an ordinary person.
Meng Yin's heart clenched painfully.
I was both disappointed that Zhu Ci had developed this kind of personality and disappointed by what she had done.
Zhu Linjun felt sorry for his wife and knew that she had been heartbroken because of Zhu Ci. But this was their daughter whom they had raised for seventeen years.
He spoke up, "Mom, Xiao Ci is young. She already knows she was wrong. Let's give her another chance."
The old lady slammed her teacup on the table. "She only acts so erratically and lawlessly because she takes advantage of your pampering."
“Since A-Yuan came back these days, I see that you only have eyes for Zhu Ci, your daughter, but do you have eyes for A-Yuan, your own daughter?”
Under the old lady's words, Meng Yin and Zhu Linjun saw guilt in each other's eyes.
During this time, all their energy and attention were focused on Zhu Ci.
On the contrary, he rarely inquired about or cared about A-Yuan and his eldest daughter.
Seeing that her parents had stopped talking, Zhu Ci crawled to Zhu Fan and hugged her leg. "Sister, please, please beg Grandma for me. We've been together for seventeen years, you don't want me to leave, right, sister..."
The leg that Zhu Fan was being held by Zhu Ci was the one with the injured ankle.
As Zhu Ci clung to her legs and shook her, her face turned pale with pain.
Ji Shu knew she shouldn't speak up at this moment, but seeing Zhu Fan in so much pain that she couldn't speak, she still spoke up to remind her, "Miss hurt her foot when she came back tonight. Miss Ci, if you keep hugging and shaking your leg like this, it will make Miss's foot injury worse."
Zhu Ci was pulled away by Ji Shu.
Meng Yin and Zhu Linjun both looked at Zhu Fan's swollen ankle.
The old lady's expression softened, and she said to Ji Shu, "Call the family doctor."
Zhu Fan swallowed back the words that were on the tip of her tongue under her grandmother's serious and concerned gaze.
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