Chapter 109
Shi Yujia's father, Qiao Xinyue's maternal grandfather, was a very ruthless and stubborn man. In fact, Shi Yujia's personality was very similar to her father's; they shared the same stubbornness.
In her youth, Shi Yujia defied her family's objections and insisted on marrying a man. In response to her father's fury, she eloped with the man behind her parents' and relatives' backs and disappeared without a trace.
Mr. Shi was furious and declared that he would sever all ties with Shi Yujia, stating that they would have no relation in life or death and that he would treat her as if she had never given birth to him.
And Shi's father kept his word. More than 20 years later, when Shi Yujia returned, he still forbade anyone to visit his home.
Shi Yujia gave a bitter smile and accused, "He's my own father! He said he wouldn't care about me, but he just abandoned me. In this blazing sun, Qingping's little face was all red from the heat, and she was about to get heatstroke. But do you know what he said?"
"He said he only has one daughter, her name is Shi Yuling, and he's never even heard of Shi Yujia..."
Shi Yujia will never forget the expression on the face of the security guard when he relayed those words to her. It seemed to be pity, but also disdain, as if he was saying that she was some crazy old woman.
The reason why Shi Yujia hates her father so much is also related to the man she eloped with.
If Shi Yujia had lived a good life after eloping with the man, her resentment towards the Shi family might not have been so great. However, unfortunately, her life after eloping was not good; in fact, it was quite difficult.
The man's surname was Zhou, and his name was Zhou Quan. He was also Zhou Qingping's biological father. He was a handsome and talented man. Otherwise, Shi Yujia would not have been interested in him and would not have eloped with him.
After eloping, the two returned to Zhou Quan's hometown, a dilapidated and backward small county town. It was then that Shi Yujia learned that Zhou Quan's family was not well-off and that he had three older sisters. Zhou Quan was not only the only son in his family but also the youngest son born to his parents in their old age. This meant that when Shi Yujia came to his house, she was practically facing four "mothers-in-law".
Fortunately, Shi Yujia was not one to suffer in silence. Moreover, at first, the Zhou family took into consideration that she was a daughter of a wealthy family and that they could still profit from her, so they were quite tolerant of her. Therefore, in the beginning, Shi Yujia lived a pretty good life.
However, as time went on, the situation gradually changed, especially after Zhou Quan's business failed.
Zhou Quan is a very talented person; otherwise, Shi Yujia wouldn't have been interested in him in the first place.
Shi Yujia placed high hopes on her husband, hoping that he would have a "thirty-year fortune" and succeed in his business, so that she could return to the Shi family with her head held high and her pride intact.
She hoped that by then, she could use the facts to tell Mr. Shi that she had made the right choice in selecting a man, and that Mr. Shi was wrong.
Unfortunately, Zhou Quan was clearly not the hero she dreamed of who could lead her home in glory. Zhou Quan was indeed very talented and capable, but he was weak-willed and unable to handle things. After suffering a setback, he was greatly discouraged and never recovered.
Shi Yujia tried to persuade him to regroup and start over, but Zhou Quan did not appreciate her good intentions. Instead, he resented her and complained.
"...I know you look down on me now and think I'm useless!"
"Oh, by the way, do you regret not listening to your parents and eloping with me back then?"
“I told you from the beginning, don’t be so stubborn. Talk to your dad properly and apologize to him. You’re his daughter, do you really think he can just ignore you? But you just wouldn’t listen to me and insisted that I elope with you!”
Later, Zhou Quan even started blaming Shi Yujia for making him elope with her. In his opinion, if the two hadn't eloped, Shi Yujia would still be the eldest daughter of the Shi family, and the two of them wouldn't have had to go through so much hardship. With the Shi family's care, they could definitely live a comfortable life.
He wanted to take Shi Yujia back to City A, to let her return to the Shi family and submit to Shi's father.
"How can a father and daughter hold a grudge overnight? You just need to go back and apologize to your father, do you think he would really abandon you?" Zhou Quan thought whimsically. "At that time, you will still be the eldest daughter of the Shi family, and I will still be the eldest son-in-law of the Shi family. Isn't that great?"
Unfortunately, Shi Yujia was a very stubborn person who cared a lot about her reputation. She couldn't accept going back in such a disheveled state. If she really went back like that, it would be like telling everyone that she was wrong, which would be like trampling on her dignity.
Shi Yujia could not tolerate this.
Therefore, Shi Yujia refused Zhou Quan's request. However, because of this, Zhou Quan's attitude towards her changed drastically. He began to find fault with Shi Yujia in every way, and would verbally abuse her over the slightest thing.
If Zhou Quan treated her this way, then naturally the other members of the Zhou family wouldn't treat Shi Yujia any better.
Shi Yujia couldn't really remember what those days were like; she only remembered that they were very tough.
As the eldest daughter of the Shi family, she had never suffered hardship since birth. However, after she came to the Zhou family, she had to do everything herself. She not only had to learn to do housework, but also had to deal with her mother-in-law and the pickiness of her three older sisters. Most importantly, the Zhou family was not rich.
As her husband, Zhou Quan watched everything she went through with indifference. He even hoped that Shi Yujia would suffer more so that he would be more confident in persuading her to return to the Shi family.
However, no one expected Shi Yujia to be so stubborn. She actually survived the hard times that the Zhou family had endured, and she even started to learn how to do business.
Shi Yujia is actually very smart, and like her father, she has a good head for business. She started by selling toys at a stall outside an elementary school, and later rented a shop. Just when her life was getting better and better, her shop was vandalized.
The people who smashed the shop were Zhou Quan's creditors. At that time, Zhou Quan had become addicted to gambling.
Actually, Shi Yujia had been pregnant before Zhou Qingping, but because Zhou Quan was addicted to gambling, she miscarried.
After the miscarriage, Shi Yujia suffered a great blow. For the first time, she thought about going back to City A, back to the Shi family, and back to apologize to her parents. However, in the end, Shi Yujia did not go back.
Because she knew that if she went back looking like this, she would only be laughed at.
Upon hearing this, Xu Gui had only one thought: Qiao Xinyue's aunt, Shi Yujia, was truly stubborn! Even in this state, she was still unwilling to come back and bow her head to her parents.
Xu Gui imagined what it would be like if he were in that situation.
...I would have come right back. Oh, no, I wouldn't have encountered this situation in the first place. Whether to elope and live a hard life or stay at home as a pampered young lady, everyone knows which choice to make.
Viewers in the live stream also expressed considerable sympathy for Shi Yujia's experience:
What does this example illustrate? It shows that being love-struck is a bad thing! If you're love-struck, be prepared to suffer.
Many people aren't blinded by love; it's just that some men pretend to be perfect before marriage, only to reveal their true colors afterward, making them incredibly difficult to guard against.
There's no need to generalize and condemn all people. Being love-struck is certainly undesirable, but the most despicable are the men. They're incompetent, making their women suffer. Pah!
Actually, even someone with a romantic mindset can have a good life if they meet the right person; it's just that this Aunt Shi wasn't so lucky.
[You said it yourself, all of this is "what if." What does "what if" mean? It's a hypothetical situation, a gamble. You're betting your future on a man; if you don't suffer, who will?]
Well, it really depends on what kind of love-struck person they are. Look at Miss Tang, she's got a pretty good love-struck mind. I heard the other day that Lin Xu and her father have been kicked out of the Tang family. It's so satisfying!
[Miss Tang is indeed a love-obsessed person, but beyond that, she's also a mama's girl, a father's girl, and a daughter's girl. If we're talking about winners in life, Miss Tang is definitely the one.]
Everyone's statements are too absolute. While there are reliable husbands in this world, there are also unreliable parents. Nothing is absolute.
The live stream chat was buzzing with discussion and extremely lively.
Meanwhile, in Qiao Jiaqin's room, Qiao Xinyue, her eyes still wet with tears, looked at Shi Yujia and asked in a hoarse voice, "What do all these things you're talking about have to do with my mother? You've suffered so much, and it's not my mother's fault at all!"
Shi Yujia sighed, "Yes, all the suffering I've endured is my own fault, it's what I deserve. It has nothing to do with your mother. I'm just jealous of your mother, jealous of how lucky she is..."
Compared to her bitterness and misery, Qiao Xinyue's mother, Shi Yuling, lived a smooth and successful life.
She always followed her parents' arrangements and was always the young lady of the Shi family. Later, she married into the equally wealthy Qiao family, where she was even more loved by her husband and tolerant of her in-laws. Her life was smooth and harmonious.
"When I met her later, we were clearly twin sisters, but I looked older than her mother..." When talking about Qiao Xinyue's mother, Shi Yujia's tone carried a hint of jealousy that was hard to explain, but upon closer examination, it seemed to be filled with affection.
Shi Yujia sighed, "After I returned to City A, she was the only one who was still willing to acknowledge me as a member of the Shi family..."
Shi Yujia has actually been back in City A for quite some time now. She returned ten years ago when Zhou Qingping was nine years old. As for Zhou Qingping's father, Zhou Quan, he died in a car accident shortly after Zhou Qingping was born.
For the first nine years after Zhou Qingping was born, Shi Yujia raised her. The mother and daughter lived in poverty until Zhou Qingping was nine years old, when she fell seriously ill and needed surgery.
If she had a choice, Shi Yujia wouldn't want to return to City A, because returning to City A would be seen as proof of how much of a failure she had been in her life. However, she had no choice but to come back because she didn't have the money to treat her daughter's illness.
"But when I arrived at the Shi family's house with the child in my arms, I couldn't even go inside the complex. I waited at the gate until your grandfather finally came out, but he looked at me holding Qingping with complete indifference..."
Mr. Shi looked at her coldly and said, "I only have one daughter, her name is Shi Yuling!"
At that moment, Shi Yujia felt extremely embarrassed. Holding her child, she practically fled from the entrance of the Shijia residential area. At that moment, she felt deep regret, regretting why she had come here to humiliate herself.
It was at this time that Shi Yuling found Shi Yujia.
When Shi Yujia saw the other person, she was somewhat dazed. The reason was that Shi Yuling looked really young. They were clearly twin sisters born of the same mother, and they looked exactly alike since they were little. To outsiders, it was impossible to tell them apart.
But now, they look very different.
Shi Yuling still looks young and beautiful, with a noble temperament. Even though she is married and has children, she still looks like a young woman in her late twenties. But when I look at myself and her standing together, we look like we are from two different generations.
At that moment, Shi Yujia felt intense jealousy towards her younger sister.
"You killed my mother because of jealousy?" Qiao Xinyue questioned.
Shi Yujia was somewhat agitated. She said, "How many times do I have to say it? I didn't kill your mother. Your mother died in a car accident!"
At this moment, she looked nothing like Qiao's mother. Qiao's mother was gentle and quiet, but Shi Yuling, as the older sister, was obviously more assertive and intense. At this moment, her brows and eyes were full of irritability and anger.
Upon hearing her answer, Qiao Xinyue retorted, "I don't believe it!"
Shi Yujia sneered and said, "Whether you believe it or not, that's the truth... Besides, your mother is my sister. No matter how ruthless I am, I would never harm her. Moreover, when I was abandoned by everyone and no one was willing to help me, it was your mother who stepped in to help me."
She returned to City A because her daughter, Zhou Qingping, was sick and needed a large sum of money for surgery. So she endured the embarrassment and wanted to come back and apologize to Mr. Shi. Unfortunately, Mr. Shi ignored her, and her mother, Mrs. Shi, was a woman who obeyed her husband and did not dare to help her at all.
At that time, it was her younger sister, Shi Yuling, who found her and helped her.
Shi Yuling found a hospital and doctor for Zhou Qingping, paid for Zhou Qingping's surgery, and also arranged a house and a job for her older sister Shi Yujia, and gave her a sum of money. She was very considerate.
However, out of consideration for Shi's father, she did not tell anyone about her relationship with Shi Yuling, and Shi Yuling did not tell anyone around her either, so many people still do not know about Shi Yujia's existence.
Shi Yujia said, "I admit, I'm jealous of your mother, jealous that she's doing better than me, but I've never thought of harming her..."
Qiao Xinyue asked blankly, "If it wasn't you who killed her, then how exactly did my mother die?"
Shi Yujia closed her eyes and said, "That really was an accident." It was an accident that no one had expected.
Five years ago, she and Shi Yuling made plans to go on a trip. Instead of having anyone pick them up or drop them off, they planned it themselves and took a bus for a spontaneous trip. Shi Yuling was very gentle and obedient, perhaps because everything about her was arranged by her parents. Deep down, she had a romantic yearning for freedom.
So Shi Yuling was really looking forward to this trip, but neither she nor her sister expected that this trip would turn into an accident.
“Our tour bus encountered a mudslide on the mountain, and many people died on board…” Thinking of that tragic accident, Shi Yujia couldn’t help but close her eyes again. Her closed eyes trembled violently, and she whispered, “Your mother hugged me at the moment the accident happened.”
So she lived, but Shi Yuling died.
When Shi Yujia woke up, she had become "Shi Yuling".
“At that time,” Shi Yujia began, “I was carrying your mother’s bag, which contained her identification. I also look exactly like her, so they mistook me for your mother.”
When she woke up, her parents were already there. Her mother hugged her and cried, saying, "Lingling, thank goodness you're alright, you scared us to death..."
Shi Yujia chuckled self-deprecatingly. She touched her right eyebrow and said, "Isn't it a coincidence? I used to have a mole here, which is the biggest difference between me and your mother. But during that mudslide, a rock scratched me here and happened to break the mole."
As luck would have it, she accidentally injured that mole, as if fate itself wanted her to take her sister Shi Yuling's place.
Actually, she and Shi Yuling were somewhat different. Because of the hardships she endured in the Zhou family over the years, she was thinner than Shi Yuling. But who could blame her for that accident? Everyone found a reason for her thinness.
So, naturally, Shi Yujia became "Shi Yuling".
They were twin sisters and knew each other very well. Under her deliberate disguise, no one noticed anything amiss. As for her daughter, Qiao Xinyue, Qiao Xinyue was studying at the time, while she was recuperating in the hospital for more than half a year, so the two did not spend much time together.
After she recovered, Qiao Xinyue was preparing to go abroad again. Later, after Qiao Xinyue went abroad, she spent most of the year abroad, so the two of them did not actually spend any time together seriously. Even if Qiao Xinyue sensed something was wrong, she would not think much of it.
Hearing this, Qiao Xinyue finally couldn't hold back anymore. With red eyes, she questioned, "My mother saved you and treated you like her own sister, but you want to take her place? Don't you feel any remorse?"
Shi Yujia laughed and said frankly, "Everyone looks out for themselves. Your mother is dead, but I'm still alive. Of course I have to think about myself!"
Qiao Xinyue looked at her in disbelief.
Fu Xia frowned, her sharp eyes rebuking, "It's one thing to take over Aunt Shi's identity, but you also want to take your own biological daughter as your goddaughter. Aren't you being a little too greedy?"
Shi Yujia said, "You said it yourself, Qingping is my own daughter, so how can I watch her suffer?"
She sighed, "I had already made up my mind. Xinyue is abroad and rarely comes back. She even plans to find a job abroad. I can use the excuse of feeling lonely to take Qingping as my goddaughter... I don't care about the Qiao family's wealth. As long as Qingping can live with me and have a slightly easier life, that will be enough."
She had considered everything, except for Xu Gui's existence.
“When I heard you question me, Miss Xu, about whether I was Xin Yue’s biological mother, I knew that you were a truly capable person.” She smiled at Xu Gui and sighed, “I managed to deceive my parents, my sister’s husband, and even her daughter, but in the end, I couldn’t deceive fate.”
"Perhaps it was fate that allowed you, Miss Xu, to witness this."
If it weren't for Xu Gui, she might have actually succeeded.
Xu Gui: Ah, is it because I'm too amazing?
“It’s not fate, it’s because you’re too greedy!” Fu Xia said incisively, “You greedily became Aunt Yuling, you’ve already succeeded, but you’re still greedily wanting your own daughter to live a good life with you. If you hadn’t done that, I probably wouldn’t have suspected anything was wrong.”
Fu Xia scoffed: "You say you don't want the Qiao family's wealth, but do you really not? If you really don't want it, you can simply give Zhou Qingping enough money. With money, Zhou Qingping can live a life hundreds of times better than before..."
When her name was mentioned, Zhou Qingping couldn't help but raise her head, and then awkwardly lowered it again.
"But you didn't do that. Instead, you wanted to take Zhou Qingping as your goddaughter and have her act all cute and clever in front of Uncle Qiao!" Fu Xia sneered. "Your actions are completely inconsistent with your words!"
"Everything you're doing now is clearly making your daughter, Zhou Qingping, gradually replace Yueyue's position in this family!"
She questioned Shi Yujia: "Can you swear that you didn't want your daughter to replace Yueyue?"
"..."
Wow, Fu Xia's words perfectly expressed what I was thinking. I've been wanting to say this for a while now: Shi Yujia's words and actions are completely different. If she really didn't want anything in return, why would she take her own daughter as her goddaughter? Does she think everyone is a fool?
[Oh, is that so? I didn't think that much about it at all. I really believed what Shi Yujia said was true.]
[When dealing with a matter, don't focus on what others say or do, but rather on the final result. The current result is: Qiao Xinyue is rejected by her "parents," and Zhou Qingping has moved in. Can Shi Yujia really say she's not after anything?]
If Shi Yuling knew after her death that the sister she risked her life to protect not only took her place but also tried to replace her daughter with her child, she would probably be crawling out of her coffin.
[I have to say, Aunt Shi Yuling is really pitiful... Is this what they mean by good people not getting rewarded?]
I feel that Shi Yujia is very twisted. When she talks about her younger sister, she seems to be both jealous and hateful, yet she also seems to love her very much. In short, she gives people a very complicated feeling.
[It's not surprising; people are multifaceted. Shi Yujia's feelings for her sister are a mixture of jealousy and love.]
*
“…If Aunt Shi knew that she saved you, but you treated her daughter like this, she would definitely regret saving you!” Fu Xia said softly.
Upon hearing this, Shi Yujia reacted strongly, shrieking, "I never asked her to save me! She wanted to save me herself. Does she think that just because she saved me, I'll be grateful to her?"
"She's dreaming! I won't be grateful to her."
Shi Yujia sneered: "If she hadn't saved me, how could her daughter have suffered all this? So, everything her daughter is going through now is entirely of her own making!"
Qiao Xinyue's tears had already flowed, and now she had only one thought in her mind.
"My mom, my mom, where did you bury my mom?" she asked in anguish.
Shi Yujia snapped out of her reverie, took a breath, and said, "On a mountain, your mother said she loved looking at mountains and water, so I had her buried there. I think she would have liked it there!"
Upon hearing this, Qiao Xinyue looked stunned.
"How could you do this? Yuling is your own sister!" Qiao's father, who seemed to have finally processed the truth, glared at Shi Yujia with uncontrollable rage. "How could you be so cruel?"
“Yuling, my Yuling…” Qiao’s father was in tears. He cried, “I knew it, how come some of your preferences and habits have changed? But I didn’t think much of it.”
At this point, Mr. Qiao suddenly regretted his actions and blamed himself, saying, "Why didn't I think about it more? If I had thought about it more, perhaps I would have realized your mistake much earlier, and I wouldn't have let you pretend to be Yuling for so long!"
Seeing the father's pained expression, the comments section couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.
So, if we're talking about who's pitiful, Qiao Xinyue's father is the most pitiful. He only just found out that his beloved wife had already died, and the person he'd been living with for the past five years wasn't his wife at all. Anyone would be devastated in that situation.
[Mr. Joe must have sensed something was wrong before, but he didn't think much of it. After all, who would have thought that the wife sleeping next to him would be someone else?]
[Actually, I'm very curious, have Qiao's father and Shi Yujia had a relationship in the past few years? If so, then this brother-in-law and sister... ugh, this is truly immoral literature.]
I suddenly feel a little nauseous...
...
Upon hearing what Qiao's father said, Shi Yujia suddenly burst into laughter, as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world.
Amidst the bewildered gazes of the others, she looked at Qiao's father with disdain and said, "Qiao Yiheng, what are you pretending to be so affectionate for? If you were truly devoted to my sister, wouldn't you realize that I'm not her?"
She scoffed, "Given the current situation, you might as well stop acting!"
Mr. Qiao's expression changed.
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