"Because they are all the second or third sons in their families! They all have capable older sisters and brothers, and the family companies don't need them to lift a finger, so no one cares if they become celebrities! You are the only child in our Ji family, how could I not care!"
Ji Rong's last words slammed onto the table like a heavy hammer, and the two remained locked in a stalemate.
Lin Zhipei, who had been quietly listening to the arguments, stiffened up. However, no one noticed her strange behavior because no one was paying attention to her.
"So you think I should major in finance in college, get a job after graduation, and then get married according to your arrangements when I'm older, right?"
“I don’t object to you studying acting. If you like it, your family will hire a teacher to teach and nurture you. But you should treat these as hobbies, not a lifelong career. Do you think you have such high talent that you can become an artist?”
Lin Leyao coldly questioned, "You've been advising me on studying acting since my freshman year, but you actively help others who study oil painting. Do you think they can become great artists, or is it because they're not your biological children that you don't care what they study?"
Ji Rong was so provoked that she jumped to her feet. "Lin Leyao! Peipei is your sister!" Lin Zhipei was studying oil painting.
Seeing Ji Rong's furious expression, as if her vital point had been hit, Lin Leyao replied calmly, "I know, I didn't mention her name."
"Alright!" Ji Hongchen spoke again, breaking the tense atmosphere between the two.
"Yaoyao, go back to your room and rest. You come with me to the study." After giving these instructions to the two arguing people, Ji Hongchen went upstairs first, and Lin Leyao turned around and followed him upstairs without looking back.
Before going upstairs, Ji Rong walked over to Lin Zhipei, who was sitting at the dining table, and explained softly, "Peipei, Mom never thought of that—"
"I know, Mom." Before Ji Rong could finish speaking, Lin Zhipei smiled broadly, looking at Ji Rong with innocent almond-shaped eyes as she comforted her.
"Okay." Ji Rong nodded absentmindedly. "It's good that you know. Mom is going upstairs now. You continue eating."
After the three of them went upstairs, only Lin Shujun and Lin Zhipei remained at the once lively dining table.
Lin Shujun picked up a piece of rabbit meat and put it into Lin Zhipei's bowl, saying, "Your mother didn't mean that, don't overthink it."
"Hmm." Lin Zhipei's body, which had been taut, relaxed and slumped slightly after everyone had left.
She glanced at the rabbit pieces in the bowl, thinking that over twenty years had passed, and her father still didn't know she didn't eat rabbit meat. Of course, what could a father who didn't care about anything possibly remember?
Tomorrow is Friday, it's visit day again—
For some unknown reason, Lin Zhipei's face no longer held the docile expression she usually presented to outsiders; instead, it looked extremely gloomy.
Lin Shujun is naturally oblivious to everything and doesn't notice anything. His wife and stepdaughter are arguing, and his father-in-law asks them to go upstairs for a talk. Even at this point, Lin Shujun is still able to eat.
While he was eating, he kept putting food on Lin Zhipei's plate, but Lin Zhipei didn't touch her chopsticks. In order to maintain her current thin appearance, she hadn't eaten a full meal for many years.
Upstairs, Ji Hongchen called Ji Rong into his study and gave her a severe scolding. Perhaps because it was the first time Lin Leyao had talked back to him so forcefully, Ji Rong did not silently endure it and argued with her father.
"Dad! You saw how she spoke to me today! Is this how you talk to an elder?!"
"When you wanted to elope with someone, and later remarried this Lin Shujun, did you ever speak to your elders well? Yao Yao's meaning is also very clear: you criticize her job every day, but what reason do you have to be picky? You're over forty and still rely on my money to support your whole family!"
"Dad!" Ji Rong's face turned bright red. "Do you know how many rumors circulated online after she became a celebrity, saying she was being kept by this person and was that person's mistress! When I went to ladies' parties, those people would often say bad things about this female celebrity in front of me. Who can understand how ashamed I felt when they spoke ill of my daughter to my face?!"
Ji Hongchen slammed his hand on the table. "So when others speak ill of your daughter to your face, you only feel ashamed and unable to speak up? As a mother, why don't you loudly tell them that Lin Leyao isn't what they say! Why don't you refute the rumors about your daughter? Why don't you protect your daughter and instead let others insult your child in front of you?"
Ji Rong didn't take Ji Hongchen's words to heart. Hearing the continuous questioning tone, she retorted defiantly, "Dad! Are you going to protect her like this? If this continues, she'll become completely unruly!"
Ji Hongchen's face turned red with anger, and his hand trembled as he pointed at her. "I don't think you listened to a single word Yao Yao said! You can let your stepdaughter study oil painting and run around for her every day, so why do you oppose your own daughter studying acting? You've been so lenient with your stepdaughter all these years, so why are you constantly pushing your own daughter? She's your daughter, you can't use your blood relationship to pressure her at every turn!"
Ji Rong was rendered speechless by Ji Hongchen's harsh words. She hesitated for a long time before Ji Hongchen waved his hand, stopping her from continuing.
“I often regret spoiling you too much when you were little, which made you selfish, whether towards your parents or your daughter. You think Yao Yao’s attitude towards you is bad, but have you ever reflected on the reasons from your own perspective? Don’t you really know the root of what she said?”
After saying this, Ji Hongchen looked exhausted. He waved his hand, signaling Ji Rong to leave.
Ji Hongchen sat in his study for a long time, thinking about how the current family relationships had gradually changed since his daughter chose to remarry Lin Leyao's uncle, his brother-in-law.
Lin Leyao, on the other hand, returned to her bedroom and stared blankly for a long time.
Downstairs, she asked Ji Rong if she didn't care about Lin Zhipei studying oil painting because Lin Zhipei wasn't her biological daughter. The reason she asked this question was because Lin Leyao knew that Ji Rong wasn't indifferent; on the contrary, she cared a lot about this stepdaughter.
Over the years, Ji Rong has tried her best to make her stepdaughter feel that her stepmother treats her like her own daughter, so Ji Rong supports whatever Lin Zhipei does and even paves the way for her.
Lin Zhipeng started learning art in her third year of junior high school. Ji Rong, using her maternal grandfather's name, arranged for a renowned oil painting master in China to take Lin Zhipeng as his apprentice. To cultivate Lin Zhipeng's artistic sensibilities, Ji Rong would take her to various art exhibitions around the world every holiday.
Ji Rong's actions have been praised by everyone, who see her as a selfless stepmother who loves the child as if she were her own. Online, her story would undoubtedly be widely circulated and praised by various marketing accounts as a model of genuine human kindness, without anyone considering what would happen to her biological daughter in this situation.
Ji Rong is undoubtedly a selfless stepmother. Because she was afraid that Lin Zhipei would feel wronged, she gave Lin Zhipei a lot of love. Although she claimed to be fair and would buy two identical gifts for the two children every time, her intentional tolerance towards Lin Zhipei in other aspects had gradually turned into favoritism.
Lin Zhipei has a biological father, her biological mother is still alive, and now she has an extra loving stepmother. However, she no longer has a father, and her biological mother is giving away half of the love that originally belonged to her to someone else.
As a child, Lin Leyao was very bothered by the fact that whenever the two of them made a mistake, Ji Rong would often criticize Lin Leyao harshly, but she would calmly reason with Lin Zhipei. The adults didn't notice, but this huge difference had a great impact on Lin Leyao's young mind. However, by then she had already learned the adults' "speak less" and "remain silent".
Lin Leyao's stepfather, Lin Shujun, is the younger brother of Ji Rong's husband. After her husband's death, Lin Shujun divorced her because his wife had intermittent mental illness. However, Ji Rong and Lin Shujun remarried within a year.
Ji Rong was unaware of the numerous rumors that circulated after her remarriage to her brother-in-law.
Those wealthy wives were polite to Ji Rong on the surface, but behind her back they said Ji Rong was immoral, having an affair with her brother-in-law before her husband died; they also said Ji Rong was inhuman, driving her brother-in-law's wife insane. These rumors, passed from adults to children, meant that Lin Leyao, having been returned to the Ji family not long ago, had few friends and was often bullied at private schools frequented by wealthy families.
Ji Rong was unaware of this. After remarrying, she only paid half the attention to Lin Leyao as before, spending the rest of her time on her stepdaughter. She was so concerned about Lin Leyao that she was afraid her stepdaughter would feel that she was being biased and that it would hurt her. As a result, she didn't notice anything unusual about Lin Leyao.
One day, after being driven to school, Lin Leyao ran away again. When the school teachers discovered that the student was missing, they contacted the Ji residence. It was Ji Hongchen who first noticed something was wrong and transferred Lin Leyao to another school.
Ji Hongchen was furious about this and made the newly remarried family of three move out. Ji Rong left the old house and spent even less time with Lin Leyao.
Ji Rong also took Lin Zhipei back to the old house. Holding Lin Leyao's hand, she gently asked her if she wanted to move out with her mother. She said she could play with her younger sister and have company when she went to school. They could help each other and not be afraid of being bullied.
Lin Leyao looked down at the slender Lin Zhipeng, whose naturally almond-shaped eyes and perpetually innocent expression made her seem harmless. Lin Leyao would always remember the way Lin Zhipeng stood indifferently watching from a distance the day before she ran away from school.
Lin Leyao refused to move out with Ji Rong and stayed at the Ji residence until she grew up.
After this incident, Ji Hongchen considered many things. After transferring Lin Leyao to another school, he also strictly protected her information. No one at the new school knew that she was a child of the Ji family. She never attended the gatherings of these young masters and ladies in the industry. Ji Rong usually only took Lin Zhipei out. Therefore, these wealthy people in the industry only knew about Lin Leyao in the year she was taken home. After that, they had no idea what Lin Leyao looked like.
Lin Leyao was still lost in her memories when suddenly her phone vibrated; someone had sent her a WeChat message.
Xin Ying: [Have you rested?]
Upon seeing the message, Lin Leyao's heart, which had been tightly gripped by memories, suddenly relaxed.
She typed two words and sent them.
【No.】
Staring at the chat interface, Lin Leyao gripped her phone, lost in thought. Many people didn't know who Ji Hongchen's granddaughter was, what she looked like, or why the Xin family had initiated the marriage alliance.
Chapter 9
8 PM, Huanning Group Building.
Most of the company's employees had left, but Xin Ying was still sitting in front of her computer processing the remaining work from the day.
Xin Ying's phone screen lit up, and she picked it up to see Lin Leyao's reply.
Lin Leyao: [No.]
The two of them chatted too infrequently, and their chat window was practically empty.
The daytime trending topics had barely faded away. In the evening, Xin Sinan made a special trip to the company, subtly inquiring about Lin Leyao. He was particularly interested because this was the first time in his life that someone had asked him for help.
When she asked Kong Anqing to ask her fourth brother for help, Xin Ying already knew about this, but she still asked her fourth brother for help.
Xin Ying frowned as she recalled the vile and offensive comments she had seen trending on Weibo during the day.
She didn't know what had happened to Lin Leyao over the past ten years. Through their brief time together at the apartment, she could sense Lin Leyao's reserved and silent personality when facing others, which was very different from the lively and cheerful girl she had met before.
And Wenwen—
Thinking of her niece, Xin Ying frowned briefly before relaxing her brow.
Xin Ying deleted the text she had just edited one by one, and then sent a new message.
"Are you free this weekend? Let's go out for dinner together, and then go try on wedding dresses."
【good.】
Lin Leyao's reply came quickly.
Xin Ying lightly touched the screen with her fingertips, editing the text.
Okay, then you should get some rest.
Goodnight.
Lin Leyao replied to the message, the chat interface lit up for a while and then went dark. She held her phone and stared blankly for a while.
Xin Ying's interruption helped Lin Leyao easily pull herself out of her chaotic emotions. She slowly exhaled, picked up her clothes, and went into the bathroom.
The WeChat chat page between the two, which was empty before today, has started to fill up because of these few words, just like their relationship, which has begun to be gradually enriched stroke by stroke.
·
After being scolded by Ji Hongchen, Ji Rong stormed downstairs. Lin Shujun and Lin Zhipeng had already finished dinner and were sitting on the sofa in the living room waiting.
Seeing that Ji Rong's expression was not good, Lin Zhipeng quickly stood up and asked with concern, "Mom, are you not feeling well? Drink some honey water to warm yourself up."
A glass of honey water had already been prepared on the table. Lin Zhipei picked up the glass, and Ji Rong took a sip from Lin Zhipei's hand. She then sat down on the sofa, her face still showing displeasure.
Lin Zhipeng carefully observed Ji Rong's expression, considering how to begin, when she heard Ji Rong grit her teeth and curse, "That brat—"
"She was so well-behaved when she was little, but now she's been spoiled rotten by her maternal grandfather and has developed all sorts of bad habits. Her mother can't even say anything to her!"
Lin Zhipei said carefully, "My sister is all grown up now, she'll have her own ideas."
"Just because she's grown up doesn't mean I'm no longer her mother! I'll still be her mother when she's eighty! I have the right to take care of her for the rest of her life since she came out of my womb!" Ji Rong shouted angrily, then glanced at her obedient stepdaughter sitting next to her and muttered under her breath, "I should have taken her in back then. I don't know what triggered her to refuse to live with me. My biological daughter is not as close to her stepdaughter as her own mother. People will laugh at me if they find out."
Whether or not Ji Rong heard her words, Lin Zhipeng's expression remained unchanged. She picked up her phone, glanced at it, and said, "Mom, I saw from the sales assistant at the boutique that the accessories for the bag you bought have arrived in stock. Do you want to go check it out now?"
"Really?" Ji Rong straightened up instantly. The moment her favorite bag was mentioned, most of her previous displeasure disappeared. She quickly stood up and said, "Let's go, let's go to the boutique!"
"Okay!" At this point, Lin Shujun, who had been indifferent to everything, immediately responded and got up to go out.
After taking a shower, Lin Leyao lay in bed scrolling through her WeChat Moments.
Upon refreshing the page, a new update popped up.
Lin Zhipei just posted a message on her WeChat Moments: "I went shopping with my dad and mom. Mom got her favorite bag and was all smiles the whole way." The accompanying photo is of the family of three in front of the store, and Ji Rong in the photo is indeed smiling very happily, just as Lin Zhipei described.
Lin Leyao scrolled through the post on her WeChat Moments without expression, looked at other people's updates over the past few days, and then logged out of WeChat.
The next day, the black van drove into the underground parking lot of Xinghai Entertainment.
When Lin Leyao arrived at the company's floor in the elevator, Xiao Yan was already waiting at the elevator entrance.
As the two walked towards the office, Xiao Yan asked, "How have you been feeling these past few days? Were you affected by the trending topics?"
"It's alright. What impact could those few words have?"
"You're trending again after half a year, and it's a negative trending topic too. I was worried you couldn't handle it," Xiao Yan teased, then became serious and reminded her, "President Li probably called you to the company today to discuss contract renewal. Be polite when you're there, and don't confront him head-on if anything comes up."