131. Tough Mother-in-law
“If I said my child is gone, and it"s because of you, would you still feel that my hatred for you is inexplicable?” Tong Xiao Jie questioned her. As she looked at An Ran her expression became distorted, hideous.
An Ran was slightly taken aback, and only then knew that her abnormal state was because of her miscarriage. Only, she said that it was because of her that she didn"t have a child anymore, my goodness, doesn"t that make her look like such a great bully, so that was why everyone was blaming her!
“Do you know what it feels like, to hear your husband call out the name of another woman while he is holding you?” Tong Xiao Jie looked at her, and continued to ask, “Do you know what it feels like to do so much, try so hard, waste six years yet you can"t even get close to that man"s heart, do you know that kind of despair? Do you know?”
At the side, Auntie Zhang stood there blankly watching the scene before her, unable to come up with a reaction to this situation.
An Ran looked at her, and had an indifferent expression. She coldly said, “I don"t know. You think my husband wouldn"t hold me and call out another woman"s name, and wouldn"t let me into his heart.”
Tong Xiao Jie looked at her resentfully, nearly gnashing her teeth with anger, “Are you flaunting your happiness with me!”
“Not flaunting, it"s fact. Yi Cheng treats me extremely well.”
Not all men are like that. Even when she was in the honeymoon phase with Mo Fei, he would never even achieve a third of Yi Cheng.
The resentment on her face was so strong it looked like it could eat a person, she had a blank expression and said, “Since you clearly know everything, yet still chose him, then you should have expected this outcome. You made your choice, you pay for it, you can"t blame others.”
Tong Xiao Jie sneered, “Right, what you said is right. I deserved it, all of this is my fault.”
An Ran doesn"t speak, and just looked at her. If everything she had said were true, then she really did ask for it. She"s just blaming others, isn"t that right?
“Don"t you want to ask me how I lost my child?” Tong Xiao Jie looked at her and sneered.
An Ran shook her head, “Not interested.”
“But I want to tell you.” Tong Xiao Jie looked at her and said, “What did you tell Mo Fei last time? He then went after me and we got into a huge argument, if we didn"t fight, I wouldn"t have slipped and fall!”
An Ran frowned, and worked hard to think back. She does not remember ever going out to look for Mo Fei and talking to him…
Wait, she seemed to recall something. There was that one time when she really did run into Mo Fei at the restaurant, and questioned him about the blueprints.
“What, you remember now?” Tong Xiao Jie looked at her coldly.
An Ran raised her head. She really felt that it was funny, these Tong family people really think they are that self-righteous? Tong Wen Hai was that black-and-white, please! She doesn"t want to get involved in his daughter"s marriage, and furthermore with his daughter Tong Xiao Jie, with her own mistake and carelessness pushed it all onto her shoulders!
An Ran takes a deep breath, and only felt furious. She looked at her and was about to say something, but was interrupted by someone else.
“What"s wrong with this woman, you were careless yet you want to put the blame and fault onto someone else, are you out of your mind?”
Qin Yun, unknown as to when she had returned, but it was clear that she had heard what went on. She entered from outside, and looked at Tong Xiao Jie full of disdain.
“Mom.” An Ran was surprised to see Qin Yun.
Qin Yun looked at her and smiled, and waved her hand to her.
Tong Xiao Jie was also surprised to see Qin Yun. She looked at her, and with an agitated voice, asked, “Who are you!”
She turned to look at Tong Xiao Jie and said, “Why do you want to know who I am. I said are you out of your mind, going to someone"s room and making a scene, you think my Su household are n.o.bodies? Is my daughter-in-law someone you can bully as you please?”
“You!” Tong Xiao Jie stared at her. Against Qin Yun, she did seem to be holding back.
“I what? I have never seen such a stupid person before. You obviously chose a person who couldn"t love and married him, you are either a fool or stupid. Happiness is something you create, you don"t know how to value things, who would be able to reason with you!” Qin Yun spoke with disdain, “Your marriage had a problem, yet you say the problem is because of another person. I can see that it is not your stupidness that is the problem, it"s that you don"t have a brain, or shall I say that your head had been kicked by a donkey. It doesn"t matter if you have a brain or not, but don"t be a jerk. Since you have the time to look for people and cause a scene, why don"t you find that man and divorce him? This will give you the upper hand, then at night he will hold and think about another woman, this kind of man, you still think he would give you happiness?”
“I….” Tong Xiao Jie was rendered speechless by her. She looked at Qin Yun, and closed her lips tightly. Her pair of hands also balled up. She glared at her, and her formerly sickly-pale face was swelled up with red. She stared at Qin Yun for a half a day, then choked out a sentence, “My business is none of your business, who do you think you are, why do you think you can criticize me!”
“Chie.” Qin Yun scoffed, “Obviously I have no time to criticize you, who do you think you are to me. I have a lot of stuff to do, I have to take good care of my daughter in law, and take good care of my grandson in her belly, isn"t it you who is without tact, randomly coming to cause a scene, do you think I have the time to watch you. I am disinclined to do so. Whether you want to listen to me or not is up to you, if you don"t want to listen to me then what can we do, but please from now on don"t look for trouble, your words just now were not pleasant to hear. Towards a person like you, even more hateful.” Qin Yun glared at her, not caring if her expression looked dignified or unsightly. She just turned her head, and gives An Ran a gentle smile, “Ran ran, let"s go, the procedures are already done.”
An Ran nodded. She thought about what she had just said, and couldn"t help but smile.
Qin Yun directs her attention towards the Auntie Zhang who stood blankly at the side, “Sister Zhang, let"s carry these things and go. Xiao Zhang has been waiting for quite a while downstairs.”
Auntie Zhang quickly returned to her senses, and stammered, “Hey hey, okay okay.”
Qin Yun pulled on An Ran"s hand and walked towards the hospital entrance, then b.u.mped into Tong Xiao Jie"s mother, Ms. Tong.
“Xiao Jie.” Mrs. Tong saw her daughter standing inside the ward, and bit her lips. She glared at An Ran and Qin Yun, and indiscriminately yells at them, “You guys stay right there!” As she said that she took large strides and walked over to face An Ran and them, her voice agitated, “What did you do to my Xiao Jie!” Her finger nearly hit An Ran.
Qin Yun frowned, and pulled An Ran so that she stood behind her, blocking her. With some contempt towards Mrs. Tong, she said, “You have no manners or morals, can you not speak nicely, blowing up like this, what do you want to do!”
“What do I want to do, I actually want to ask you what YOU want to do, what did you do to my daughter.” She spoke sharply as she pointed at Tong Xiao Jie.
Qin Yun turned to glance at Tong Xiao Jie, and pretended to realize, “Oh so she"s your daughter ah! Really, there is such a saying, if the upper beam is not straight, the lower beam is crooked, this kind of mother would bring up that kind of daughter.”
“You, what do you mean!” Mrs. Tong looked at her, her two eyes were burning with anger.
Qin Yun looked down at her, and mocked, “What do I mean, just look at yourselves and you"ll know what I mean.”
“You!—” Mrs. Tong could not bear it anymore, but she couldn"t speak against her, she could only stare at her.
“I what, what? I have no effort to speak nonsense with you, this is just wasting strength, what kind of family is this ah.” As she said that, she doesn"t even look at them, and just turned her head, once again pulling on An Ran"s hand, she said, “Let"s go, let"s go.” And they straightly left the ward.
“Really, there are all kinds of people, displaying such atrocious behaviour in front of everyone, heng, even against our Su family!” Even as they left the hospital, Qin Yun was still speaking bitterly. She had just finished the hospital discharge. She didn"t know if it had something to do with the time, but the lineup was not long, so she did not have to wait too long. When she returned to the ward she happened to see someone inside, and thought that it was a friend of An Ran"s. She was about to enter, when she heard that woman resentfully questioning An Ran, and even said that she hated An Ran. Once she heard that she wasn"t in a rush to go in, and listened a little more to get to the bottom of the matter, so she stood outside the door for a while. Only, she didn"t expect the more she listened the more nonsensical it was, what kind of person is this ah, she s.n.a.t.c.hed the person yet still had the face to interrogate, isn"t this putting on a face while acting innocent!
An Ran had a smile on her face. She wasn"t fazed at all by Tong Xiao Jie"s insinuation, on the contrary, she was actually secretly delighted, and held tightly onto Qin Yun"s hand. Then she slowly stopped her steps.
Seeing that she wasn"t walking anymore Qin Yun turned her head, looked at her, and asked, “What"s wrong?”
An Ran shook her head, and looked at her earnestly, “Mom, thank you!”
Qin Yun was immediately stunned, and pouts at her, “Thought you were going to say something else.” She pulled her forward, “Is my Su family daughter in law someone anyone can bully, really the audacity!”
An Ran couldn"t help but laugh, even Auntie Zhang beside her started to laugh.
She knew that Su Yi Cheng was on a business trip and will only return tomorrow. Originally she intended for An Ran to come with her to the compound, that way she could attend to her more conveniently, but she was gracefully turned down by An Ran. She knew that as soon as Su Yi Cheng got back he would come get her, and she does not want to make it that hard for him, because the thought of being a burden, since she couldn"t help with work, then she would not create any unnecessary troubles for him, and wait for him at an easy place to find, so that he can see her as soon as he gets home, rather than making him move around.
Qin Yun was someone experienced, so how can she not understand where she came from. Moreover, he was her son, as a mother she also felt some heartache. And it wasn"t like there wasn"t anyone taking care of her, being there these past few days, she could see that this Auntie Zhang was not too bad, An Ran had let her take care of her, and she didn"t seem too worried about it, thus she didn"t continue to insist. She could only remind Auntie Zhang to take good care of An Ran, and did not stay in the apartment for too long, and returned to the compound.
Unlike the others, An Ran was now 2 months pregnant, and until date found out that her pregnancy symptoms were not too bad, only feeling nauseous when she brushed her teeth, other than that it was not too bad. However recently she was obviously fond of sleeping. She went to bed early at night, then gets up late in the morning, yet she still needs to have two more hours of sleep every day.
After Qin Yun left, An Ran went to lie down for a bit, and fell asleep. When she woke up it was almost 5 o"clock. She was in a little bit of a mood as she came out of the room. In order to match her rise and rest, Auntie Zhang happened to finish making dinner. She saw her come out, and slowly asked, “Madam is up, are you hungry, I still have the chicken soup that mother-in-law brought, if you want I can heat it up for you to drink.”
An Ran shook her head. Eating then sleeping then eating again, she"s about to become a pig! She remembered that the doctor said that if she felt fine she could go and take a walk to exercise, so she wanted to go down to take a stroll. She wanted to do so, so she turned to Auntie Zhang and said, “I"m gonna go take a walk downstairs.”
“Uh, why don"t I come with you then.” Qin Yun had made it clear, and Su Yi Cheng also made it clear, that she should take good care of An Ran. Seeing how much the Su family treasured her, she does not dare to have any mishaps happen to her.
“It"s okay Auntie Zhang, I"m just going around the neighbourhood. Besides, I"m not close to giving birth, no need to be so worried.” Su Yi Cheng was anxious, Lin Xiao Fen was anxious, Qin Yun was also anxious, even she was getting close to being neurotic. It wasn"t even that big of a deal, they exaggerated the issue.
Auntie Zhang also thought so. Back in the countryside women weren"t so fragile, they even went to work when they were 7 months pregnant, and were still healthy after giving birth. Nowadays people live too well, thus they are pampered. Thinking along those lines, she nodded, and said, “Then you can first take a walk, I will make dinner. After you come back for your walk you"ll have dinner ready.”
An Ran nodded, grabbed her coat and headed downstairs.
The apartment was located downtown, and the block was surrounded with office buildings. Although the apartment was located in a good area, but right now the land is scarce, so there aren"t a lot of greeneries in the area. As a result, An Ran walked out of the neighbourhood.
At first An Ran simply wanted to walk around, and estimated that half an hour was a good enough time to exercise. Then she walked straight home, but she didn"t expect to run into Xiao Xiao. After she thought about it, she then realized, right, this route was on the way to Jing Cheng. If she continued down the street, and turned the next corner, she would reach Jing Ching"s office.
An Ran wasn"t the kind of person who liked drama and gossip. She saw her surrounded by a group, looking at something. Amongst the cheerful laughter she could hear a woman yelling, a younger person in their arms. An Ran knew that she should be avoiding large crowds, so she turned around to leave. Only, when she was about to cross the street, she could see a black Audi turn a corner and suddenly stop in front of the crowd. Then An Ran saw Huang De Xing emerge from the car, with a serious expression. He angrily pushed the crowd aside and pushed his way in, and everyone who turned to look at him knew that he was one of the party, so one by one they gave him way. An Ran then saw that inside the crowd were two women wrestling each other. A slightly larger woman in her forties and a thinner woman in her 20s, the woman in her 20s was none other than Xiao Xiao! An Ran also recognized the woman in her forties, it was Huang De Xing"s wife. During the company"s annual meetings Huang De Xing had brought her along to attend, and An Ran had always offered her wine.
However, from An Ran"s perspective, Xiao Xiao seemed to be strongly holding herself up but could not win against the madam, as Mrs. Haung was cursing her and calling Xiao Xiao a mistress who stole her husband, while grabbing on to Xiao Xiao"s hair with one hand, and the other hand was holding onto a bag that was used to hit Xiao Xiao. This wasn"t enough to vent her anger, as from time to time she had used her leg to kick Xiao Xiao on the thighs. Xiao Xiao used her arms to cover her head, not resisting, and a huge rip was present on her clothes, exposing her s.e.xy black underwear. She could only use her mouth to scream at her calling her a mad woman, and the people surrounding them were only watching, not even stepping forward to separate the women.
Huang De Xing angrily stepped forward, grabbed onto Mrs. Huang, and just walked over to the car. Mrs. Huang was not willing, and shook him off wanting to go back to attacking Xiao Xiao. She swore, “Heng, I want to beat this s.l.u.t to death, how dare she tempt my husband, vixen!”
“Enough. You are not done, causing a scene like this in front of my company, how could I look at people!” Huang De Xing roared at her.
“Heng, you are afraid of losing face, playing with women at your own company!” Mrs. Huang yelled back at him.
As the two were quarreling, Xiao Xiao who had been taking the attacks started to get up, and glared at Mrs. Huang and was about to strike back, yet was seen by Huang De Xing, and pulled his wife to the side, put himself forward, and raised his hand, “Slap!—” a hard slap hit Xiao Xiao"s face, the strength was large enough to make Xiao Xiao drop again. He looked at Xiao Xiao ruthlessly, and sternly said, “Don"t come to work tomorrow!”
After he spoke, he did not look at Xiao Xiao in the eyes, and turned to pull Mrs. Huang into the car. Mrs. Huang on the other hand did not resist, and followed him. Only, the instant that they were about to leave she turned around, and did not forget to kick Xiao Xiao"s legs, cursed at her, “s.l.u.t, next time don"t let me see you!”
The crowd of people seemed like they had watched a farce, after watching, signed, then turned to leave. No one stepped forward to help Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao was just on the ground like that, her face was swollen red, her clothes were also torn, even her s.e.xy underwear was rolled up. She had tears in her eyes, and blankly looked ahead, without focus in her eyes, and without expression on her face.
The crowd gradually scattered, no one took pity on the mistress, no one would help a bad woman who broke up a happy family, even if she looked pitiful, but at the same one no one thought she deserved sympathy.
An Ran slowly stepped forward. As she looked at Xiao Xiao"s appearance she couldn"t describe her feelings, how much of it was pity. She took off her thin coat, and covered her, then helped her up.
After An Ran helped her up, Xiao Xiao then slowly returned to her senses, and looked at An Ran who was beside her. She was taken a back for a while, then suddenly broke down and cried.
Having seen her like that, An Ran sighed, and shook her head. She couldn"t go anywhere else like this, and An Ran couldn"t bear to abandon her here like that. She wasn"t the Virgin Mary, as she had once hated her for setting her up, especially when her blueprint had been torn up, she truly hated her to death. But seeing her like this now, she still felt compa.s.sion. Thus, she helped her make her way to her own home.
When Auntie Zhang saw An Ran return with an injured person, a woman whose entire clothes was battered up, she couldn"t help but cry out, “My goodness, what happened?” As she said that she quickly stepped forward and a.s.sisted An Ran in helping the person inside.
She settled the person down on the sofa, Auntie Zhang then turned to go pour her some tea. An Ran went into her room and grabbed her own clothes, and was about to give it to her so she could change into them.
When she appeared again Xiao Xiao was still sitting in the same position on the sofa, her expression blank and apathetic. She sighed and handed over the clothes, and softly said, “Go change your clothes.”
After a while, Xiao Xiao then responded. She raised her head and looked at her, asked, “Why… Help me?” She always thought that she had hated her, but for some reason under these circ.u.mstances, it was her who was willing to help her.
An Ran placed the clothes in her hands, and just said, “What about it, we are acquainted with each other.” She couldn"t possibly ignore her, of course, all she could do was this, helping her up, letting her change into clean clothes, at least making her look less messy.
Xiao Xiao doesn"t speak again and accepts the clothes. She looked at her.
An Ran pointed at a direction, and said, “The bathroom is over here.”
Xiao Xiao then got up, and headed to the bathroom.
While Xiao Xiao was in the bathroom changing, Auntie Zhang carried a hot cup of ginger tea over, looked at An Ran, and couldn"t help but be curious and asked, “Madam, what"s going on ah, why was that child such a mess, as if she had been beaten up by someone?”
An Ran looked at her, and shook her head, only said, “Don"t ask.”
Since she said that, Auntie Zhang doesn"t probe any further, and just said that she still had things to do in the kitchen, then went straight back into the kitchen.
When Xiao Xiao appeared from the washroom she was already changed, and freshened herself up a little bit. Her cheek was still swollen, and she had some bruising on the corner of her lip, even her arms had some scratches, her legs looked like it had been hurt by Mrs. Huang, as she was limping as she walked.
An Ran looked at her, and let her come over. She pointed at the ointment that she had just found, and said, “Use it.”
Xiao Xiao nodded, and doesn"t say much, just sat down on the sofa, then took the ointment and rubbed the ointment on her cuts.
An Ran doesn"t ask, doesn"t say much else, and just calmly looked at her.
After a while, after she put a layer of ointment on her wound, Xiao Xiao then looked at her, her expression earnest as she said, “Thank you.”
An Ran nodded, looked at her appearance, and ultimately still asked, “Do you want to stay and have dinner.”
Xiao Xiao looked at her, and seemed to be moved. She nibbled her lips, and asked, “Don"t you hate me?”
---END OF CHAPTER---
Sup guys, I"m back! Big thanks to Joe for helping me out while I was gone. ??
Also, how awesome is Qin Yun lol. Totally owned the Tong women.