Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Once she got off Ji Ziming’s car, Pei Ge slowly walked away without a backward glance. She looked deceptively calm on the outside, but she was actually filled with worry on the inside.
“Aiii…” It dawned on her that she had hit a record high on her number of sighs recently.
She had not sighed as much in the past 20 years of her life as she had sighed in this week.
“Pei Ge, are you dumb?” she scolded herself as she walked along the pavement.
That annoying person offered you 200,000 yuan, yet you actually rejected it! What’s wrong with accepting his money? After all, it doesn’t matter who you’re borrowing from!
What nonsense is this about not having any relation with him in the future and treating him as a stranger? Does refusing his money let you be clearer of the gap between you and him?
Why did you reject? Is your mother’s sickness more important now than your damn pride?!
Actually, she regretted her decision the moment she alighted from the car.
She had no means to find the money, but now that he was offering her 200,000 yuan straight up, she actually rejected it. One must say that she was depressed beyond words right now.
“Forget it; forget it… I’ve rejected him already. In any case, I can still ask money from my second uncle tonight, so just… let it be.” She shook her head and comforted herself with this thought.
Whatever happened, she must get money from her second uncle tonight!
With this thought in mind, she regained her usual calmness, and the regret and self-blame in her eyes disappeared.
She quickly boarded a public bus heading to her neighborhood once she arrived at the bus stop.
When she reached home, her mother did not inquire after her company and merely chatted with her about casual stuff as they prepared dinner in the kitchen.
Done having dinner, she watched TV with her mother for a bit before going to her room. Inside, she pretended to be on the phone with her colleague and then left her room again.
“Mom, my colleague is looking for me; I’ll head out for a while,” she informed helplessly.
Having just heard her daughter talk on the phone, she did not suspect her of lying and simply nodded with a smile. “Alright, you go now. Remember to come back early.”
She nodded and returned her mother’s smile before leaving home in a hurry.
As it was already late in the night, she called for a taxi to her second uncle’s house.
As she watched the retreating scenery outside, her mind replayed what Ji Ziming had said to her earlier.
‘I’ll give you the 200,000 yuan.’
At that time… his tone seemed to be very gentle, and his usual frostiness was absent.
Did he like her?
Was that why… he paid so much attention to her and… would always appear at her side when she felt the most helpless?
Her eyes filled with happiness and expectation that she did not know of.
This feeling did not last long, however, and was soon disrupted.
“Miss, we have arrived.”
The taxi driver’s voice brought her back from her daydream.
Eyeing the familiar view, the elation and wonder in her heart dissipated without a trace. In that instant, reality caught up to her.
“Ke!” A bitter smile formed on her lips as she chided herself internally.
Pei Ge, what are dreaming of?
How many times have you told yourself that Ji Ziming is out of your league? Wake up. Now is not the time for such unrealistic thoughts.
After paying the fare, she alighted from the cab.
She was jolted out of her pensive thoughts by the cold win, and her whole being became alert.
She lifted her head and looked at her relatives’ villa; coldness flashed across her eyes as she walked toward it.
Ding dong! Ding dong! The doorbell rang for so long, but no one opened the door.
Just as her expression grew somber, someone from inside the villa finally responded.
“Pei Ge, is something the matter?”
In the past, whenever she stood outside the door, the housekeeper, who saw her through the security camera, would always open the door without any questions asked. Today, however, she did not open the door.
Hearing the voice through the intercom, her forehead promptly scrunched up.
“I’m looking for second uncle,” she replied calmly, though her face was nothing but cold.
Could it be that I was not even able to pass through the door?
“Oh, sir is not in yet,” the housekeeper informed without thinking, as though it had been pre-rehearsed.
He he… Not in, huh.
She snorted and calmly said through the intercom, “Then, I’ll look for second auntie. She can’t be out, right?”
“That…” The housekeeper seemed not to have expected such response, and a flash of panic could be seen in her eyes.
This panicky reaction confirmed Pei Ge’s guess that her second uncle was at home and that the housekeeper was lying.
“Hang on.” Saying this, no other sound came through the intercom for a while.
She stood out there in the cold until the housekeeper returned to inform her.
“Pei Ge, Madam said she has nothing worth saying to you and asked you to leave.” Her voice was full of sympathy.
Her look of ridicule intensified at the housekeeper’s words.
“Nothing worth saying?” She let out a cold laugh and said with ridicule, “Then, you tell them that I am here for money – the money that they owe my family.”
In the future, she and her mother would really take it that they never had these relatives…
Thinking of this, she felt a little sad inside.
“Pei Ge, you should leave. Sir and madam are actually at home, but they don’t wish to see you. Madam already instructed me not to deliver any message on your behalf. She also said… that you can stand outside for however long you like, and it will have nothing to do with them even if you freeze to death out here.”
The housekeeper confided with sympathy when she saw the hurt in her eyes.
“I advise that you go and don’t waste your time here.”
She sighed helplessly at the housekeeper’s words and knew in her heart that it would be as her second auntie had said; even if she stood outside the entire night, the cold-blooded family of three would not open their door for her.
“… Thank you,” she expressed her gratitude to the housekeeper after pondering for a while and then turned to walk away.
They were clearly such close relatives previously, so how did they become like this today?
With this thought in mind, she turned to look back in sorrow at her relatives’ villa and happened to spot Pei Shishi looking silently at her from the second-floor window.
From afar, she could see her cousin’s apathetic smile… that had a visible tinge of… schadenfreude.
Heh…
She looked her cousin in the eye with much indifference, and her lips curved into a smile before averting her gaze.
From now onward, it would be as her mother had said; they would have nothing to do with them.
