Chapter 950: Used (4)
Ling Tianya frowned. She didn’t like the smell of cigarette smoke.
w.a.n.g Manpeng could sense Ling Tianya’s distaste, but he inhaled deeply anyway before blowing the smoke into her face. “I’m sorry, I guess I’m really not as good as Ruan Zeyan when it comes to this. Don’t worry, if you decide to be with me from now on, I promise you I will try not to smoke in front of you.”
Ling Tianya couldn’t be bothered to respond to his ludicrous comment. What mattered to her right now was finding out the reason behind his intense hatred for the Ruan family. That was her top priority.
w.a.n.g Manpeng slowly and lazily tipped the ash from his cigarette into the ash-tray on the coffee table. His gaze was forlorn, as if he was reminiscing about the past. “Mandy and I weren’t orphans to begin with, you know? We had parents too. My childhood memories are hazy, but I remember what it felt like when the whole family was together. I could never forget what that felt like.”
“Originally, I had thought that my small family of four would live happily ever after. I would slowly grow up and become the pillar of support in the family. Mandy would grow up as well, get married and have children. However, all my fantasies were broken down once my father pa.s.sed away. Mandy and I were still so small then, and we didn’t know how our father died. We just knew that we would never see our old man again.”
“My mother was broken. She was crying every single day. Finally, on an ordinary day, she decided to jump from the building. There, just like that, she took her own life. Mandy and I were left without parents. In the blink of an eye, we were orphans. Our small happy life was gone, taken away from us.”
“We were sent to the orphanage. Life was cutthroat over there, and I had to take care of Mandy and fight for both of us. I had to fight for everything. We would end up getting beaten by other kids over there as we relied on each other.”
w.a.n.g Manpeng’s cigarette was burning out. He decided to stub the cigarette out as he continued to reminisce. “I can remember this part clearly, Mandy too. I remember how families who came by to adopt were not willing to even look at us. Some of them would want to adopt me without Mandy. Because I was a boy, and Mandy was a girl. The older generation thinks a lot more highly of boys than girls. Every time this happened, I would ask them to adopt Mandy as well. If they were not willing, I would throw a terrible fit, a tantrum, until the family would give me up as well. I didn’t mind that. I was the older brother, and I had to protect Mandy.”
“One day, I met Ruan Qishan at the orphanage. He adopted both Mandy and me. Society was going through dark tumultuous times then. Ruan Qishan was rich and powerful. All he had to do was to give the orphanage a sum of money, and he was able to take us away. He didn’t have to do any paperwork or apply for any doc.u.mentation.”
“Mandy and I started living in the Ruan household. I was extremely grateful to Ruan Qishan then. He was the savior that had brought Mandy and me out of the orphanage. He was kind to us as well. We ate well, and we always had warm clothes. He raised us well in the Ruan household.”
“Then, Ruan Qishan brought me in front of a proud and quiet boy. The boy was Ruan Zeyan. It was my first time meeting him. Ruan Qishan told me that I would have to follow Ruan Zeyan around from then on, although he didn’t tell me explicitly. I knew that I was supposed to be Ruan Zeyan’s shadow from that day on. I was indebted to the Ruan family, and I was grateful to them, so I decided to repay all of my grat.i.tude to Ruan Zeyan.”
“I followed Ruan Zeyan to school and all sorts of other places. I followed him when he underwent harsh physical training and martial arts practice.”