Ruan Bei had planned to go to the supermarket today to stock up on some ingredients and New Year's goods needed for the Spring Festival. She had even made a list, but then something unexpected happened.
His godmother, Madam Ran, came to visit and wanted to take him shopping for clothes.
According to local custom in Jincheng, godparents give their godson and goddaughter new clothes during the Lunar New Year. The Ruan family doesn't follow this custom. Madam Ran often gives gifts to the Ruan family's children, always including Ruan Xi and Qin Gu.
I thought Madam Ran didn't know either, but somehow she found out and insisted on taking Ruan Bei to buy new clothes.
She has never been a stingy person, nor would she only invite Ruan Bei; she would insist on bringing all three children of the Ruan family along.
She had originally called for Madam Ruan, but since Madam Ruan's father's leg was still not healed, she was worried about leaving him alone at home, so she sent Ruan Bei and the other two out with Madam Ran.
Mrs. Ran was arm in arm with Ruan Xi on her left, while her tall and handsome godson carried her handbag on her right. She looked absolutely stunning, with an exceptionally radiant smile on her face.
She also knew about Ruan Bei's background. After all, she was Ruan Bei's godmother. Jin Cheng valued godparents quite a bit, and she was included when informing relatives and friends.
However, Madam Ran's mindset strangely overlapped with Bai Miaomiao's. She had never lacked money, so she didn't care much about it and didn't have many feelings about the difference in family background between the Ruan family and the Lu family.
Moreover, for some reason, she didn't have a good impression of the Lu family. When she heard that Ruan Bei didn't want to go back, she could only support him and even bluntly said that it was the right thing for him not to go back.
Ruan Bei's two uncles and aunts, not knowing about his past life, couldn't openly persuade him to stay. After all, the two families were very different in terms of financial situation, and what they said seemed to be stopping Ruan Bei from living a better life.
Madam Ran was bold in her thoughts and words, and Ruan Bei was happy to listen, which made her even happier, as she felt that her godson was of one mind with her.
Coincidentally, when they were leaving, Feng Zhihui and Lu Siyuan happened to arrive outside the Ruan family residential area.
Lu Siyuan reiterated his father's words. His thinking had changed. He felt he had to find a way to bring his younger brother back, so that next time Ruan Bei called someone else "brother," he could rightfully say, "I am your older brother."
So he kept his father's words in mind, looked at his mother, and made sure she didn't say anything unpleasant that would worsen Xiao Bei's impression of their family.
Feng Zhihui was getting a little impatient with his nagging. She was also a graduate of a prestigious university and usually had a lot to talk about with wealthy women.
Her husband and eldest son both seemed to think she was brainless and couldn't speak properly.
She's been completely wronged!
She also felt sorry for her youngest son. What kind of good life could he have in that kind of family? She still wanted to take him back.
To be honest, Feng Zhihui still doesn't believe that Ruan Bei stayed in the Ruan family voluntarily. What is there to stay in that family?
She had already inquired about it. The man in the restaurant was a cook, no, not even a proper cook. He hadn't received any formal training and didn't have any special skills or expertise. He was just someone who had started out as a cook and opened a small, unassuming restaurant.
She wouldn't even look at a restaurant like that, let alone go inside. It's so dirty, a tiny place, and the food isn't clean at all. She can't even imagine going there.
I heard that the woman in that family was a day laborer, and her family was so poor that she didn't even have a proper job.
Feng Zhihui didn't want to mention it anymore, and she didn't want to compare herself to her at all. She couldn't accept that her son had such a mother!
She never took the Ruan couple seriously from beginning to end.
As for what her husband and eldest son said—that Ruan Bei didn't want to come back—she didn't take it to heart.
How could she not want to? The Lu family is so well-off that they can provide their child with the best life and the best education. She and her husband are far superior to the Ruan family couple. She would feel ashamed to be compared to them.
However, children this age are often a little rebellious. Perhaps it's because of a misunderstanding that they felt abandoned by their parents, and they harbor resentment and can't let go of their resentment for a while.
It's also possible that it's because he's truly filial. However, Feng Zhihui thought that if he were truly filial, he should go home earlier and be more obedient, since she and her husband were his biological parents.
With this mindset, Feng Zhihui wasn't there to cause trouble. She wanted to see the child, talk to him, tell him about her pregnancy with him, and make him understand that they didn't abandon him intentionally.
If we can persuade him to come home, that would be the best thing. Before the year ends, we can bring the child back so that the whole family can be reunited. How wonderful that would be!
As for the Ruan family... after all, we helped them raise their child, so we should definitely give them some money.
She could give more, and when she left, she made sure to take two extra cards.
She'd pay the money as long as they agreed to stop bothering her son, in exchange for peace and quiet for her family.
She was terrified of those poor relatives who kept coming to her door to beg for money, shamelessly abandoning all sense of decency!
The mother and son were talking in the car, which took a little while.
Just as Lu Siyuan was about to get out of the car, he looked up and saw a group of people coming out of the residential area. The one in the middle who was smiling happily was none other than his younger brother, Ruan Bei.
He was about to call his mother to look when Feng Zhihui exclaimed, "How could she be here!"
Lu Siyuan was taken aback. Did he know anyone there?
Subconsciously following her gaze, I saw Madam Ran, who had been hidden but was now revealed.
Mr. Ran used to work in the financial industry, while the Lu family was in the real economy. Their businesses didn't overlap much, and the two families weren't very close.
However, the social circle in Jincheng is only so big, and Lu Siyuan would inevitably meet her a few times at banquets. Of course, he recognized this famous noblewoman who held a huge fortune.
Lu Siyuan murmured, "Yes, how come she's here..." and with his brother too.
He suddenly remembered the information he had gathered about Ruan Bei, which mentioned that Madam Ran seemed to have some connection with the Ruan family, but that all happened after Mr. Ran's death.
As everyone knows, Madam Ran is simple and naive, so neither Lu Minghai nor Lu Siyuan ever thought that those incomprehensible conspiracies were related to her. If Ran Yusheng were still alive, they would be more worried.
Because they found out about Madam Ran, the investigators paid special attention to this aspect and discovered that she seemed to have a good relationship with Ruan Bei's adoptive mother. How they met was unclear to those who could find out, and those who knew the details dared not ask.
They let that go and didn't investigate further, but unexpectedly, they ran into each other again.
Feng Zhihui's face was very pale. She had seen Ruan Bei's photo and knew that the boy in the beige long down jacket with a bright smile and flamboyant eyes was her son.
Even without seeing the photo, she could tell just by looking at their faces.
But her son was carrying a woman's handbag, and judging from the style and brand, it was clearly not the one belonging to the young woman next to him.
so.
Her son is carrying that woman Min Zhenzhen's bag?!
Feng Zhihui felt a throbbing pain in her head, and a huge surge of anger welled up in her chest, making her feel like her lungs were about to explode.
To be honest, even if she had gone to the Ruan family with Lu Minghai and Lu Siyuan that day and seen Ruan Bei being affectionate with his adoptive parents, she wouldn't have been this angry.
Because Feng Zhihui was too arrogant. From beginning to end, she never took the Ruan family couple seriously, let alone considered them as competitors, and thought that Ruan Bei would choose them.
Even though her husband and eldest son repeatedly said that Ruan Bei's attitude was very firm, she firmly believed that Ruan Bei could not stay in the Ruan family forever and would go back sooner or later.
How could he get so close to Min Zhenzhen!
He even went out of his way to carry her bag!
On the surface, Feng Zhihui and Madam Ran had virtually no interaction, especially in recent years. They would avoid each other at banquets, let alone sit down for tea and a chat.
In fact, their previous connection was far deeper than most people knew.
Feng Zhihui and Min Zhenzhen are the same age, so it's natural that these two rich girls from similar backgrounds would likely become classmates, and perhaps even playmates in their childhood.
However, at that time, the Min family was not as good as the Feng family. Logically speaking, Feng Zhihui should have a higher status than Min Zhenzhen, but Min Zhenzhen was the only daughter of the Min family and did not even have a brother.
Feng Zhihui has an older brother and a younger sister, so her parents' love is divided into three parts, which naturally makes them less attentive to her than Mr. Min is to his beloved daughter.
When children are young, adults often compare them together. Feng Zhihui and Min Zhenzhen had very similar personalities and temperaments at that time, so they were often mentioned together.
As she kept comparing herself to Min Zhenzhen, Feng Zhihui grew to dislike her more and more, yet she couldn't help but compare herself to Min Zhenzhen herself.
They compare height, appearance, talent, grades, quality of life, parental pampering, and so on.
She compared these things to Min Zhenzhen in her heart, but on the surface she pretended not to care at all, because she didn't want people to think that she was paying attention to Min Zhenzhen.
This constant competition, from childhood to adulthood, has become an insurmountable obstacle in her heart.
Although Min Zhenzhen was not clear about the specifics, she could sense that Feng Zhihui was looking at her strangely, which made her uncomfortable. So, although the two went to the same school, their relationship was just so-so.
They continued to compare themselves until university. Although they didn't go to the same school, they weren't far apart. Feng Zhihui secretly continued to keep an eye on Min Zhenzhen.
Then she heard some surprising news: Min Zhenzhen had actually fallen for a poor boy from the mountains!
So what if Ran Yu is tall and handsome? So what if he's good at studying? He's so poor, so poor that just looking at him makes you feel like he's dragging down the global GDP by a percentage point.
Min Zhenzhen has given up on herself and fallen for such a good-for-nothing poor boy. Who knows, she might bring her whole family over in the future, and they'll be eating and using the Min family's food.
Mr. Min struggled for many years, only to have his efforts benefit someone else in the end, all because he had a daughter with poor eyesight.
Feng Zhihui finally opened her heart and realized that Min Zhenzhen's life was already set in stone, and comparing herself to her would only lower her own standards.
She was then pursued by Lu Minghai. Everyone, including her parents and brothers, thought Lu Minghai was no good. The Lu family was a nouveau riche with little foundation, and their wealth was not obvious. Lu Minghai was also the unfavored second son and could not inherit the family business.
But Feng Zhihui thought that no matter what, the Lu family couldn't be worse than the Ran family. Moreover, she thought Lu Minghai was very good to her. He was very considerate and used all sorts of romantic tricks when he pursued her, satisfying Feng Zhihui's desire to be admired.
Lu Minghai is handsome and capable, and Feng Zhihui gradually fell for him, and she also began to understand why Min Zhenzhen had taken a liking to Ran Yusheng.
No matter how tempted she was, Ran Yusheng's family was too poor, and Min Zhenzhen would definitely regret it!
Feng Zhihui, who was waiting to see Min Zhenzhen's tragic and remorseful end, witnessed Min Zhenzhen and Ran Yusheng's fairytale love story with her enthusiastic attention.
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