A Troubled Family Background

Shen Ding had somehow gathered a remarkably complete set of information. He even knew exactly what Zhou Yuwen's parents did for a living. In the end, he summed it up in one sentence: "It hasn't been easy for his mother, raising him on her own."

"That's not right. You say his family doesn't have much money, but Zhou Yuwen seems pretty rich to me," Dong Xue said, puzzled.

"Well, maybe his father gave it to him. His father's pretty rich, but all that money doesn't do him any good. His father got married a long time ago and even has children of his own."

That explanation seemed reasonable enough. Dong Xue and Shi Zhenzhen nodded thoughtfully.

Shi Zhenzhen added, "I never imagined Zhou Yuwen had it so hard. Sigh..."

Shen Ding said, "I heard that kids from troubled families all have somewhat odd personalities, so it's understandable that Zhou Yuwen is like this. But we're all friends, so we should be tolerant of each other. Don't you think so, Chen Rongrong?"

As he spoke, Shen Ding turned his gaze toward Chen Rongrong.

"?"

Chen Rongrong seemed to be thinking about something else. When Shen Ding called her name, she froze for a moment. Once she registered his question, however, all she said was, "How boring."

"I never said Zhou Yuwen and I were friends. It's getting late. I'm going home."

With that, Chen Rongrong got up and left.

For some reason, Shen Ding felt a surge of happiness when he heard that. He promptly rose and said, "Hey! Rongrong, I'll take you home!"

That left only Dong Xue and Shi Zhenzhen in the KTV private room.

Shi Zhenzhen asked curiously, "Huh? What's wrong with Rongrong? Wasn't she pretty close to Zhou Yuwen? Why is she being so materialistic?"

"I don't know. Maybe she saw herself in him?"

The two exchanged a look, then both burst out laughing.

Chen Rongrong hadn't said that because she was materialistic. Rather, when Shen Ding said that children from troubled families all had somewhat odd personalities, she had instinctively shied away from the subject.

Shen Ding took a taxi to see Chen Rongrong home.

Shen Ding figured that, after everything he had told Chen Rongrong, someone with her personality probably wouldn't have anything more to do with Zhou Yuwen. Feeling very pleased with himself, he kept talking in the car. "Hey, Rongrong, although I think Zhou Yuwen's personality is a little odd, he's still a pretty good guy. Besides, we'll all be studying in Jinling from now on, so we should keep in touch."

"We'll all still be friends."

But from beginning to end, Shen Ding was the only one talking.

Chen Rongrong couldn't even be bothered to respond.

Only when they reached the entrance to her residential complex did Chen Rongrong say, "I'm home."

With that, she got out of the car.

"Chen Rongrong."

"Hm?" Chen Rongrong turned around curiously.

Shen Ding grinned and said, "Get some rest early when you get home."

Chen Rongrong felt upset when she heard that. How was she supposed to get any rest early?

She walked to the entrance of the apartment building and looked up at the lights on in her apartment. For some reason, an inexplicable bitterness welled up in her heart.

She called it going home, but did she really have a home anymore?

In another two months, she could leave this home. She only had to hold on for another two months.

Comforting herself this way, Chen Rongrong arrived at this "home" that didn't belong to her.

"You're back?" Her uncle and aunt were watching TV in the living room. When they saw Chen Rongrong return, they merely greeted her.

"Mm."

Chen Rongrong lowered her head, intending to hurry back to her room.

The moment she pushed open the door, she froze.

All the wardrobe drawers had been pulled open, and the clothes she had neatly folded were now piled haphazardly on the bed and floor.

The books and notebooks from her desk were scattered all over the floor.

Even the photo album hidden in a corner of her desk had been opened.

Her cousin Chen Mengyao, who was in her second year of junior high, was sitting in front of the vanity mirror, trying on her makeup.

Chen Rongrong's eyes instantly reddened.

"What are you doing!?"

Chen Rongrong's voice was sharp and shrill, as though she had been driven mad.

Her voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for her uncle and aunt watching TV in the living room to hear every word.

Chen Rongrong's aunt Liu Mei was thin and scrawny, with a sallow complexion-a typical middle-aged woman from a small county town. Hearing the strain in her niece's voice, she merely nudged her husband with her elbow. "They're at it again."

"Mm." Her uncle Chen Jianjun was in his forties, with a bloated figure and an unkempt beard. He held the remote and flipped through channels, turning a deaf ear to his niece's voice.

Seeing no reaction from her husband, Liu Mei couldn't help asking, "Aren't you going to take a look?"

"What's there to see?" Chen Jianjun muttered. He shifted his body and continued watching TV comfortably.

Liu Mei cocked her head and peered toward the room. Finally, she said, "I'll go take a look."

With that, she got up.

"What's wrong with looking through your things? You're leaving to study in another city soon anyway. My mom said that once you're gone, this room will be mine, so why can't I have a look in advance and see what I can use?" Chen Mengyao spoke as if it were only natural.

"The problem is, I haven't left yet! These are my things!" Chen Rongrong gritted her teeth, holding back the anger in her heart.

"Your things?" Chen Mengyao found that amusing. "Who bought them for you?"

"How are they your things? Without my dad, you wouldn't even have a place to live, and you still call them your things? You're so thick-skinned!"

Chen Rongrong's face turned ashen with anger. Her lips moved, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything.

"What's going on? What's going on?"

Only then did her aunt Liu Mei finally arrive. She took one look at the room and knew what had happened. Putting on a helpless expression, she said to her daughter, "Honestly, Yaoyao, how could you go through your sister's things without asking?"

"Look at the mess you've made!"

Watching her niece's expression, Liu Mei said, "Rongrong, your sister is still young. Don't hold it against her. You're leaving anyway, and you won't have any use for these things. If your sister likes them, pick a couple of things to give her."

"We're all family. Don't be so petty."

Chen Rongrong looked coldly at her aunt, who was trying to smooth things over, and said in an icy voice, "We're family, but you have to keep me from finding out when you eat KFC?"

"What do you mean, keep you from finding out? You were in your final year of high school, and we were afraid of disturbing your studies. Honestly, you child."

"Why are you so narrow-minded!? You even remember something that trivial?"

"All these years, you've eaten our food and lived under our roof, and we've never held it against you. Yet you even remember a little thing like that!" Liu Mei immediately began airing her grievances.

As the saying went, when the upper beam is crooked, the lower beams will slant. With Liu Mei behaving like that,

Chen Mengyao naturally followed her example. She immediately jumped up, pointed at Chen Rongrong, and cursed, "She's an ungrateful white-eyed wolf who'll never be loyal, no matter how much we feed her!"

"We'd be better off feeding a dog than feeding her!"

"She's worse than a dog!"

She pointed at Chen Rongrong as she approached. Irritated by what she was hearing, Chen Rongrong finally couldn't help snapping, "Get lost!"

With that, she shoved her cousin backward.

Chen Mengyao went along with the shove and fell to the floor.

She froze for a moment, then burst into tears with a loud wail.