Zhang Rui glanced at Ning Hongze, puzzled. "Why do you dislike me so much? Don't you want to be my brother?"
"I'm not looking down on you. I just... I've taken a liking to your daughter and am waiting for her to grow up. If she gets registered in your household, it will be troublesome when she gets married in the future."
That would be incest.
Ning Hong shook her head vigorously, "I don't want to disturb your lives. I'm fine on my own."
Are you still blaming your mother? Your mother—
“Mr. Zhang, the situation between my mother and me is different from that between you and Zhang Rui.” Ning Hong gave a bitter smile. “Although you remarried, you didn’t abandon Zhang Rui. Zhang Rui was also lost by her mother.” Although in the end, you didn’t really care about her anymore.
However, the two are different in nature.
“I’m different. I was abandoned by my mother.”
"Red then—"
“When my father died, the Lu family instructed the police officers who came to help my family to send me to an orphanage.”
“I wanted to live alone, so I turned them down.”
"How old were you at that time?" Zhang Zhanxuan's feelings were complicated.
“I’m eight years old.” Ning Hong shrugged nonchalantly. “It turns out I was right. I think I’m very happy living on my own.”
At least, he doesn't have to suffer or have to put up with anyone's attitude.
"Did the Lu family really say that? Lu Xiu doesn't seem like that kind of person." In Zhang Zhanxuan's eyes, Lu Xiu was extremely kind.
When he was running around for Zhang Rui, she never got angry. Instead, she would advise him and comfort her.
She treats his children well, so why can't she tolerate her own son?
"Is it really that hard to understand?" Zhang Zhanxuan's expression was extremely strange, his face was distorted, while Ning Hong found it quite funny.
"ah?"
Was he making it that obvious?
"Mr. Zhang, it's understandable when you think about it."
How should we understand this?
“My mother wasn’t married yet at the time. How could she get married with me, a child she was already carrying?”
Besides, being a stepmother is not easy, and being a stepfather is not easy either.
"I--"
"Honestly, if my mom really wanted to take me with her to get married, I wouldn't do it."
Upon hearing Ning Hongze's words, Zhang Rui fell silent.
To be honest, that period wasn't easy for her either.
Her mother was acting like she'd gone mad. Even though they were already divorced, she kept pestering her father, which was truly heartbreaking and made her feel very upset.
She really didn't expect that her mother would go to such lengths for her father.
But the problem is that in the end, her mother still married someone else, had another child, and lived a very happy life.
Therefore, there is no one in this world who cannot live without another person.
"So, Mr. Zhang, you don't need to persuade me anymore. When I was eight years old, I didn't need anyone to take care of me. Now that I'm an adult, I need even less."
Zhang Zhanxuan hadn't expected that Ning Hong would refuse to acknowledge them no matter what.
Not only him, but Zhang Rui also didn't want to go to their house.
In Zhang Rui's view, that home no longer belonged to her. She didn't see that the twins were very hostile towards her and kept glaring at her.
They didn't like her, just as she didn't like them—
If you find each other repulsive, it's best to keep your distance.
On the day Zhang Rui was discharged from the hospital, Zhang Zhanxuan, Lu Xiu, and the twins all came.
The scale of the operation was quite impressive.
Zhang Zhanxuan, as a father, wanted to help his daughter carry things, but Ning Hong naturally didn't try to take them. He silently held Acha's hand, a complex look flashing in his eyes.
Zhang Zhanxuan felt sorry for the girl, and he believed it, but his mother's eyes were darting around, and it was clear that she was somewhat restless.
The joy of this long-awaited reunion lasted less than a month before his mother had other ideas in mind—
"Aze, when is it time for me to take you back to meet your uncle and his family?"
As they were leaving the hospital, Lu Xiu suddenly grabbed Ning Hongze's arm.
"My uncle? Do I have an uncle?"
“Hongze? How can you say that? Your uncle was so happy to hear that you were found and he really wanted to see you. You've never met your uncle before, have you?”
Lu Xiu hesitated before speaking.
"Forget it, they won't want to see me."
They made it so clear back then, their disgust for him was blatant, and he's not shameless enough to offer his warm face to someone who's cold to him.
"They're the ones who asked to see you." Lu Xiu tugged at Ning Hongze's clothes again. "Why don't you go and meet them?"
“I’m not going.” Ning Hong shook her head. “To put it bluntly, they and I are like strangers.” Not to mention that they had never met before, their behavior back then was enough to chill her heart.
"Go where? You're not allowed to go. What are you going there to suffer for?"
"It's ginger tea," Jiang Cha said in a childish voice.
The sound stunned everyone present.
"Cha Cha—"
Zhang Rui spoke first, "You have to be tactful when you speak; you can't be so blunt."
Zhang Zhanxuan: "..."
Lu Xiu: "..."
Lu Xiu felt a little embarrassed after Zhang Rui and Jiang Cha said that.
Like Zhang Rui, she had been abducted and suffered greatly.
However, the difference is that when Zhang Rui left, she desperately took her child with her, while she chose to abandon her child in that place, and even let the child grow up alone in order to remarry.
So every time she saw Lu Xiu, she felt inexplicably guilty.
The Lu family is considered a wealthy family.
There is a listed company.
Lu Xiu has two older brothers. One inherited the company, and the other lives off the company's dividends. Of course, he also runs his own bar, which is neither good nor bad, but it's enough for him to live on.
Her two sisters-in-law, the elder sister-in-law runs a milk tea shop and quietly tends to it every day, while the younger sister-in-law is her elder brother's capable assistant, shrewd and competent.
As for her parents, they are no longer alive.
Lu Xiu had a good relationship with her two older brothers and their wives. This time, when she brought her twins back to her parents' home, during a meal, Zhang Rui, one of the twins, couldn't help but complain to his uncle about Lu Xiu.
It was at this time that the Lu brothers learned that Ning Hong had gone to Beijing.
“Our parents didn’t consider our feelings at all. We are students, how can we accompany them to Beijing all the time?”
"That's right, we can't just transfer schools for some stranger, can we?" He doesn't have that right. He's just some guy who popped up out of nowhere. Humph, they'll never acknowledge him.
Lu Xiu's eyes lit up immediately; transferring schools was a good idea.
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