Cao Mengfan was stunned by the push and even forgot to cry. She looked at Bai Yirou and said aggrievedly, "Mother, what are you doing?"
Bai Yirou asked coldly, "Am I really your mother?"
Asked this question, Cao Mengfan felt a little guilty. "Didn't Mother say that she raised me all these years, and even though I'm not her biological daughter, she's always considered me her own daughter?"
[Tsk tsk tsk, the way she's saying these things now only makes the old Bai Yirou seem like a fool.]
yes.
Bai Yirou closed her eyes in pain.
The deity was right; she was a fool before, not only mistreating her own daughter but also treating her husband's child with his lover like a treasure.
She had long forgotten that her initial intention in raising Cao Mengfan was to ensure her Lanruo's safe and sound growth.
The child she poured so much heart and soul into turned out to be her husband's child with someone else. Perhaps while she was struggling in despair, that other family was enjoying a happy time together.
Bai Yirou's voice grew colder and harder. She said, "Leave, and I'll pretend I never had a daughter like you."
Cao Mengfan panicked, "Mother, why?"
[Yes, why? Could it be that Bai Yirou discovered something?]
Su Zhouyue: "..."
With Aning here, it's hard not to notice something, isn't it?
This was guidance from an immortal, something Bai Yirou couldn't reveal. She said, "You actually said that there's nothing wrong with that bastard Cao Yunjie going out to find a lover? Where do you put me?"
"Mother," Cao Mengfan bit her lip, saying innocently, "I'm only doing this for your own good."
"For my own good?" Bai Yirou was shocked. How come she hadn't realized before that this guy was such an ingrate, completely ungrateful? She pointed at Cao Mengfan's nose and said, "Ask yourself honestly if you really are doing this for my own good?"
"Mother..." Cao Mengfan looked at Bai Yirou with teary eyes, hoping to Bai Yirou her heart.
Will Bai Yirou forgive him?
If she still chooses to forgive after all this, she would be incredibly stupid.
"Get lost, how many times do I have to say it?"
Bai Yirou appearance frightened Cao Mengfan, so Cao Mengfan had no choice but to leave.
Bai Yirou looked at Su Zhouyue and said, "I've thought it through. I want a divorce from that person."
Su Zhouyue raised an eyebrow, sighing that this person wasn't beyond redemption. "I'll make plans for you."
Bai Yirou nodded. She had been traumatized and had been forcing herself to stay upright, but now she was on the verge of collapse. Cao Lanruo quickly supported her.
Looking at her well-behaved and sensible daughter, whom she had always neglected, Bai Yirou stroked Cao Lanruo's hair and asked, "Was my decision right?"
"Right!"
Cao Lanruo leaned gently against Bai Yirou, "I will always support Mother."
Bai Yirou's heart softened at her daughter's unwavering support, and at the same time, she realized how awful she had been before.
[Of course she supported it; she was a ruthless woman who planned to shoot her own father.]
Bai Yirou was startled.
Cao Lanruo was raised in the countryside from a young age. The couple who lived there were hunters, so Cao Lanruo was five years old.
Both parents praised her, saying she was the most talented child.
But this person isn't prey; how can you just shoot them?
Bai Yirou said worriedly, " Lanruo, don't go hunting these next few days. Just stay by your mother's side."
Cao Lanruo's eyes lit up. "Okay."
Bai Yirou was puzzled; why was Cao Lanruo so happy even after she said that?
It turns out her mother knew she liked hunting; it seems her mother was secretly watching over her.
That's enough.
As for her cheapskate father, if the divorce goes smoothly, fine; if not, don't blame her for aiming her arrow at him.
*
"Mother, is this really okay?"
Su Zhouyue nodded.
Tong Aning: "Isn't there a more respectable way?"
Su Zhouyue: "No."
Tong Aning's eyes widened. Su Zhouyue pulled her hand and said, "That's why I told you to dress nicely. Wouldn't that make you look more presentable?"
Tong Aning: "..."
Where exactly is the dignity?
However, Tong Aning was known for being obedient; she would do whatever Su Zhouyue asked her to do.
Tong Aning took out the burning firewood, and Su Zhouyue poured water on it, which immediately produced a lot of smoke.
Su Zhouyue urged, "Hurry up and throw it in, throw it in."
Tong Aning covered her mouth and nose and threw in three pieces of firewood, guaranteeing that the stench inside would make people cry and sneeze.
[So tragic.]
Tong Aning didn't believe that Su Zhouyue didn't have other methods. The reason she used this one must be because Su Zhouyue didn't like Cao Yunjie.
"Are you out yet?"
The mother and daughter tried to cover their faces, peeking out their eyes through their fingers to observe secretly.
"They're out."
"Which one?"
Tong Aning: "That's the one running around naked, wrapped in a blanket."
Su Zhouyue: "My goodness!"
She quickly reached out and covered Tong Aning's eyes.
Su Zhouyue said, "Now it all depends on Bai Yirou."
"Ouch."
Cao Yunjie fell down, and as he got up, he cursed and asked, "Who did this?"
Cao Lanruo walked up to Cao Yunjie, brandishing her slingshot, and said with her hands on her hips, "Me."
Cao Yunjie said angrily, "You unfilial daughter!"
"You unfilial son, Father, what are you doing?" Cao Lanruo peeked inside. "You're not having a secret rendezvous here, are you?"
"What secret meeting? What nonsense are you spouting? Are you jealous of your father's success, you brat?"
Bai Yirou: "Who are you calling a brat?"
Upon seeing Bai Yirou, Cao Yunjie's imposing manner diminished considerably. "Madam, what are you doing here?"
"I've come to see who you're meeting in secret."
"Madam, that's not true at all. I just came here to eat."
Bai Yirou glanced at him. "Do I need to take off my clothes to eat?"
Cao Yunjie smiled sheepishly, "I'll take a nap while I'm at it."
Bai Yirou was speechless with anger. She said, "You really think I'm stupid, don't you?"
The two women were locked in a stalemate, and behind them, two other people were arguing.
"Are you crazy? You eat my food, use my things, and now you're even using my money to find someone else outside. Why don't you just die?"
Cao Yunjie twitched his ears; the voice sounded somewhat familiar.
He looked over, then suddenly opened his mouth wide and shouted, "What are you doing?"
Oh no!
Peng Wenhua was so angry that he completely forgot that Cao Yunjie was also there.
She stepped forward with a smile, " Yunjie..."
Before he could finish laughing, Cao Yunjie dodged away.
Peng Wenhua: "?"
" Cao Yunjie, what do you mean?"
[Hahahaha, Cao Yunjie's eyes are practically disappearing from his gaze, how come she still hasn't noticed?]
The scene was already chaotic enough, and then someone else had to interfere—the very man who had just been scolded by Peng Wenhua.
" Peng Wenhua, don't speak so harshly. What do you mean by 'your money'? Wasn't all that money obtained through fraud?"
Peng Wenhua ignored Cao Yunjie and turned to him, yelling, "You're talking nonsense!"
Cao Yunjie silently walked to Bai Yirou and Cao Lanruo's side, and said earnestly, "Madam, Lanruo, let's go home."
Bai Yirou glanced at him indifferently, "Go back where?"
"That's right," Cao Lanruo kicked Cao Yunjie's leg, "Dad, your home is over there."
Cao Yunjie bumped right into the man's arms.
The man said disdainfully, " Cao Yunjie, are you trying to get yourself killed? You like men, but I don't."
Cao Yunjie: "?"
[There's even more juicy gossip!]
[Tsk tsk tsk, besides Cao Yunjie, Peng Wenhua actually has three other lovers outside. One day, she met with another lover, but the man saw them in the act. Peng Wenhua then said that she was only there because someone asked her to, and she wouldn't have come if the other party hadn't paid her a lot of money. She really finds homosexuality disgusting.]
[That sucker was Cao Yunjie, and the man actually believed it, thinking that Cao Yunjie would do anything to be with the man he truly loved.]
Does Cao Yunjie himself know that he likes men?
Cao Yunjie had just found out when the three of them started fighting.
Bai Yirou had no interest in watching this farce. She nodded to Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning, then left with Cao Lanruo.
Tong Aning stayed where she was, watching with great interest for a while.
Su Zhouyue pulled Tong Aning away, "Let's go, don't go astray with them."
Tong Aning: "..."
[But throwing firewood into the room seems even worse.]
Su Zhouyue touched her nose guiltily.
*
In early February, the Empress held a flower-viewing banquet in the Weiyang Palace.
Su Zhouyue and Tong Aning were among those invited.
Upon entering the palace, Su Zhouyue discovered that this was a banquet specially organized by the Empress to select a Crown Prince's consort.
Su Zhouyue glanced at Tong Aning, who was eating pastries, and secretly wondered when the Empress would include their Aning among those to be chosen.
Su Zhouyue hasn't considered Tong Aning's marriage yet.
The thought of Tong Aning leaving her was like a knife to her heart, but now that she was facing the front lines, Su Zhouyue had to think it over carefully, even if she didn't want to.
It would be inappropriate, no matter what, to make Tong Aning the Crown Princess.
Noticing that the Empress had been glancing in their direction several times, Su Zhouyue began to worry.
"What's wrong with you? Why are you looking so worried?" the Imperial Concubine asked curiously.
Su Zhouyue said, "Don't tell me you didn't see through the Empress's intentions."
"I can tell."
"Then why..."
"Why are you worried about these things? Your Aning is like a goddess. You're afraid she'll be deceived and embark on a relationship that isn't meant for her?"
The Imperial Concubine's words made sense, but Su Zhouyue still couldn't put her mind at ease.
[ Xixi, you have to admit, this Crown Prince is really strange. He clearly already made arrangements with them in private, and they're even expecting a child, yet he still had the Empress prepare a grand banquet for him. Isn't he just playing with these girls?]
[That way it will be legitimate.]
But I don't think that person came at all.
Tong Aning looked around, completely unaware that her words had caused a huge uproar.
This is the crown prince! Before he even had a crown princess, he was already with someone else and had a child?