Translator: Larbre Studio Editor: Larbre Studio
“I am your father.” Old Master Lu wanted to throw his chopsticks and bowl to the floor. “All I did was take a few of those lousy calligraphy works of yours. Why are you throwing a tantrum?”
“Well, if you think it’s lousy, then you shouldn’t have taken it.” Lu Jin was almost losing it.
“But I’ve already taken it, so what are you going to do about it? Hit me?”
Lu Jin was about to raise his voice at his father, but he quickly gulped down the words that were forming on his tongue. How would he dare utter such words?
In the meantime, Lu Yi was adding more food into Yan Huan’s bowl from time to time.
“Speak less and eat more.”
He did not stop providing more food to her while she simply ate. Since the beginning, the two old ones in the family had not stopped bickering back and forth and throwing glares at each other, not allowing a single moment of silence to fall during dinner.
Alas, accompanied by Lu Jin’s whines of reluctance, Old Master Lu still took one of his calligraphy works. Lu Jin was on the brink of tears. He was even contemplating not returning home at all so that he could keep his remaining poor paintings.
Ye Shuyun was very satisfied that Yan Huan’s complexion had improved. Her skin had turned fairer and she had put on some weight. It also seemed like her blood circulation had improved and of course, her beauty had intensified.
Whoever had Yan Huan as their daughter most definitely had to be gleeful their entire lives as she had been a beauty since a young age.
“Mother, I…” Yan Huan started to speak, but her words got stuck in her throat.
“I know what you’re about to say.” Ye Shuyun reached out and caressed her hair with a gentle smile on her face. Like all mothers, she was very tolerant of her daughter. No matter what wrong she had done, her mother would still have her back.
“Your father and I are already filled to the brim with gratitude for Lu Yi’s return. You can always just adopt a child, or we can have Yi Ling and Qingyi give birth to another. We already have a son, so if we can’t get any grandchildren, that’s fine too.”
“Also…” She sighed lightly and pressed on, “Stop blaming yourself for everything. This wasn’t your fault. Lu Yi is the one in the wrong. It was his job to take care of his wife but he failed to do that, so in the future, you can always take your anger out on him.”
However, this did not help ease the guilt in Yan Huan’s heart. In fact, the feeling grew with every comforting word leaving Ye Shuyun’s lips.
“Alright, alright.” Ye Shuyun halted herself in fear that Yan Huan would burst into tears if she went on. “Come on, watch television with me! I’m gonna watch the one that you recently starred in. What is it called again? Anyway, your performance is still outstanding.”
Yan Huan simply smiled, making no comments.
She may have performed well, but that did not change the fact that most of her scenes were filled with embarrassment when the main actress dragged her down with her.
Yan Huan wondered whether Sun Yuhan was embarrassed with herself in the slightest bit by her contrived actions, her perpetual non-smiling face and the fact that her so-called acting skills simply meant reading off the script.
Yan Huan could barely bring herself to continue watching after a few episodes. Anyway, this was the biggest defective work among all that Linlang had produced in the past few years. Yet even so, it still had the highest number of views. Perhaps people were not tuning in to watch for the plot development, but for these scenes full of shame.
By the time they had made their leave, the three members of the Lu family had not mentioned a single word about her infertility as if they had planned it beforehand to treat her no different than before.
Old Master Lu was still whining for her to buy him shoes, Lu Jin was still worrying about the antiques that he might not be able to keep, Ye Shuyun was still binge-watching pointless soap operas, and as for Yan Huan herself, she was still “speaking less and eating more” as she was told.
In the car, Yan Huan was bored out of her mind. She produced a packet of snacks to eat.
Lu Yi stopped the car all of a sudden, reaching out to stroke Yan Huan’s cheek. “Aren’t you full?”
“I am.” Yan Huan stuffed another handful of snacks into her mouth. “I just felt like eating.” She jingled the pack of snacks in front of his face. “Do you want some?”
“No, it’s alright, you can have it all to yourself.” Lu Yi resumed the car journey without giving it much thought. Yan Huan was exceptionally prone to hunger as of late, so his car would always be prepared with an endless supply of snacks, solely for her. She would literally munch her way through the entire journey. Of course, even though she had been eating more, she had not put on weight. Her weight would always be fluctuating within the same five pounds.
Every single day, Lu Yi would dedicate much of his time to think of ideas for her to eat more rice and drink more soup so that her body would recover quickly day by day, both physically and spiritually.
“They’re celebrating grandfather’s birthday soon.” Lu Yi took a seat and handed Yan Huan another packet of snacks to eat in an attempt to keep boredom away from her.
“Are you going?” Yan Huan interpreted this from Lu Yi’s statement.
“Yeah.” Lu Yi nodded. “If this was any other time, there would have been a choice of not showing up, but this time, the Ye family invited people from all walks of life, and if we don’t attend, we might pose a topic for discussion. These are uncle’s exact words.”
“Oh…”
Yan Huan felt at peace while eating.
He was probably thinking of taking this opportunity to promote his granddaughter. Everyone knew how Ye Jianguo spoiled Sun Yuhan, so it made perfect sense that he would try to make use of his own birthday celebration to advertise his granddaughter. He would also shed light on Sun Yuhan’s identity at the same time, to prove that she was a part of the Ye family. Of course, there was also the fact that the movie in which Sun Yuhan starred in was about to premiere.
It must be nice to have such a grandfather, Yan Huan thought to herself. She herself did not know if this was sarcasm or envy. For him to use any chance he can lay his fingers on, including his own birthday…
As she finished off the last bit of the packet of snacks, her mood turned sour.
Lu Yi pulled out another packet and handed it to her. Yan Huan snatched it over with sparkly eyes, her mood lifted in an instant.
“What about you? Are you going?” Lu Yi asked. No one would really force her to go if she did not want to.
“Of course I am, why wouldn’t I?” Yan Huan laid down on Lu Yi’s lap. “How can I be absent from a scene like this? Aren’t they wishing that I’ll attend too? Perhaps I’d be the top search result on tomorrow’s headlines, again.”
She simply longed for Sun Yuhan to know the lethality of comparison.
This was precisely the Ye family’s idea. If she really did not show up, then she would have disappointed them.
It was quite likely that Lu Yi was clear as to what she had in mind, but he did not make an effort to stop her. If she wanted to go, then so be it, even if her sole purpose there was to seek revenge. He feared that if she remained locked up in that spacious house of theirs, she would simply go mad or turn into a useless ball of flesh.
Fortunately, Lu Yi had not told Yan Huan that and had simply kept that thought to himself. Otherwise, she might have lost her appetite and not eat well.
Yan Huan had gone the extra mile to get an evening gown specially tailored for her. She wanted something that radiated dominance, like for a red carpet event. There was barely anything in the world that could defeat her anymore. When the Ye family sent out the invitation, she hardly had any secrets left. As for others, there had to be a lot of secrets left and she was burning with curiosity to know them.
It took about three days for the dress to be ready.
Lu Yi was working from home and before he could finish typing a sentence, the door was pushed open.
