Chapter 29

Narrow-minded yet smug. Sharp-tongued enough to make someone's liver ache with anger.

Lu Manzhen resentfully bit into a piece of fruit, her teeth itching at the roots. Sooner or later, that little brat was going to drive her to death.

Huo Jiu lifted his eyes to look at Lu Manzhen, his smile warm and harmless. "We may not be close, but if you keep slandering my character, be careful—I'll take you to court for abandonment. After all, you haven't paid a single cent of child support in more than ten years."

Huo Jiu's words were like a basin of icy water dumped over her head in the dead of winter. The fire in Lu Manzhen's heart vanished without a trace. She stared blankly at Huo Jiu, unable to say a word for a long while.

"Do you think I'm petty and narrow-minded? Do you think I have a bad personality? Do you think I'm always opposing you and can't understand your difficulties?" Huo Jiu studied Lu Manzhen's ever-changing expression with interest and asked unhurriedly, "Have you secretly complained that we're both sixteen, so why is Su Shiyuan's son so much more lovable than me?"

Without waiting for Lu Manzhen to answer, Huo Jiu continued with a smile, "Maybe it's because when my biological father was abusing me, when I had no money for food and had to dig through trash cans, collecting empty water bottles to save up for living expenses, my biological mother was carefully taking care of someone else's son."

Those cutting words were like a sharp knife driven into her heart. Lu Manzhen's face turned deathly pale in an instant.

Huo Jiu took in Lu Manzhen's expression with great interest. After a while, he said with a pleasant smile, "Don't ever use words like 'ungrateful little wolf' to accuse me again. You think it isn't easy getting along with me? Then you're right."

Because in the original owner's sixteen years of life, nothing had ever been easy.

Lu Manzhen stared blankly at Huo Jiu, feeling as though a breath was lodged in her chest and she could not draw another. She watched dumbly as Huo Jiu stood up, slowly climbed the stairs, and disappeared onto the second floor.

Only after a long while did she slowly let out a breath. "He blames me."

Lu Manzhen tightly gripped Su Shiyuan's hand, tears filling her eyes as her heart brimmed with grievance and nowhere to vent it. "He blames me, doesn't he?"

Su Shiyuan wrapped an arm around Lu Manzhen's shoulders and gently patted her. His expression was thoughtful.

He felt that Huo Jiu did not resent Lu Manzhen. Nor did he seem to be blaming or reproaching her. He was simply fighting back.

Because Lu Manzhen's words had made him unhappy, so he wanted to make Lu Manzhen unhappy too... was that it?

The night passed without incident.

Early the next morning, when Huo Jiu came downstairs for his morning exercise, he saw Lu Manzhen sitting on the living room sofa with immaculate makeup.

—This seemed to be the strongest and most reassuring "armor" the woman could think of when facing possible attacks and harm. It was as though she had put on an invincible mask; no words could hurt her anymore, and no one could break her.

"Huo Jiu," Lu Manzhen called out to him, her tone heavy. "We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about." Huo Jiu leaned against the entryway as he put on his shoes. "The Huo Jiu who wanted to talk to you is already dead."

Lu Manzhen's face was pale. "Don't think that saying something like that can stab me in the heart."

"I admit that abandoning you and leaving that home back then may have seemed heartless to you. But I don't think I was wrong." Lu Manzhen looked directly into Huo Jiu's eyes and spoke slowly but firmly. "Before I was a mother, I was first a woman. Or, more accurately, I was a person. I had my own life and my own dreams."

"Your father drank heavily and abused us. He was not a good husband at all. Of course, he wasn't a good father either. I didn't want to ruin my life on a man like that. Was that wrong?"

"No." To Lu Manzhen's surprise, Huo Jiu nodded after she finished.

"And then?"

Lu Manzhen froze. "What?"

Huo Jiu patiently repeated, "And then?"

Seeing Huo Jiu's attitude, Lu Manzhen found it almost laughable. She had tossed and turned all night, repeatedly rehearsing what she wanted to say. All those earnest words meant to persuade Huo Jiu now felt like a punch landing on cotton. Huo Jiu's response left her powerless. Perhaps Huo Jiu simply could not understand her hardship and helplessness. Nor did he want to.

"You shouldn't resent me for this." Lu Manzhen took a deep breath, sounding somewhat listless but faintly hopeful. No matter what, Huo Jiu was her biological son. She hoped he could understand the despair she had felt back then.

She had needed to escape that mire, no matter the cost. Otherwise, her life would have been beyond redemption.

"I never resented you—"

Seeing Lu Manzhen's reaction, Huo Jiu raised an eyebrow in realization and said sharply, "I understand. You think I should sympathize with you. I should even be deeply grateful, because after decisively leaving that mire and pursuing your own life's worth, you hadn't forgotten me, your son. More than ten years later, you actually thought to bring me back to the Su family and give me a chance to cross social classes."

"But I clearly don't appreciate what you've done, so you feel wronged?"

Lu Manzhen opened her mouth. Though that was what she truly thought deep down, hearing Huo Jiu put it that way made her feel that something was off.

"It's right that it feels off." Huo Jiu patiently analyzed, "First, you need to understand one thing. From an individual perspective, wanting to escape a terrible life and pursue a better self and a better life can never be wrong."

Hearing that, Lu Manzhen immediately demanded, "If you understand that, then why are you treating me like this?"

"Because bringing me back to the Su family was, in essence, a transaction," Huo Jiu said.

"Putting aside our mother-son relationship, the essence of this matter was that Su Zhuo needed my bone marrow to treat his illness, and you needed my bone marrow to earn merit in front of Su Shiyuan. Based on that premise, you brought me back to the Su family. Exchanging my bone marrow for the status of the Su family's stepson was also your own decision, because you thought this deal was exceptionally worthwhile for me."