“Old Lu, Xiao Xu is a boy, it’s normal for him to have these kinds of thoughts. Shuangshuang is his own sister, so what if he touches her or gives her a kiss? Anyway, when she gets married in the future, she’ll have to endure the same from some other man.”
“As long as she remains chaste and isn’t looked down upon, that’s all that matters. But she insists on acting like some pure and virtuous maiden, making such a huge fuss over this.”
“I think she’s doing it on purpose, trying not only to ruin Xiao Xu but also to ruin you.”
When Sun Lanzi said these things, she didn’t hide her hatred for Lu Shuangshuang at all.
“I felt sorry for her losing her mother so young and treated her so well. All I did was introduce her to a match she wasn’t happy with. Before they even met, she stirred up all this trouble. You’re right, she’s been spoiled rotten by her eldest aunt.”
“Her eldest aunt is something else, too. How dare she accuse us of doting on Xiao Xu? Why doesn’t she look at how she’s spoiled Shuangshuang?”
Lu Guangrong warned Sun Lanzi, “You can only say these things to me. Don’t you dare say them to anyone else, understand?”
“Especially recently. Whether Xiao Xu can get out ultimately depends on what Shuangshuang says.”
“It’s not that I don’t care about Xiao Xu, it’s that this matter isn’t so simple. I can see that the key to all this is still Shuangshuang.”
“Big Sister wants to stand up for Shuangshuang. As for the Yue family, they’re following Big Sister’s lead.”
Sun Lanzi grew extremely anxious: “But what if Shuangshuang refuses to let Xiao Xu off the hook?”
“She won’t completely break ties with us. Burning that bridge wouldn’t benefit her.”
Lu Guangrong said with certainty: “She probably wants something.”
“She doesn’t want a share of the money, does she?”
Sun Lanzi immediately became defensive: “Old Lu, you can’t be foolish. Shuangshuang will definitely marry someone else someday. If you give her money, you’d just be enriching an outsider.”
“When we’re old, we absolutely can’t rely on her. We’ll have to rely on Xiao Xu.”
Lu Guangrong didn’t argue with Sun Lanzi; he shared her view: “When we bring her home, we’ll see what she wants.”
Originally, Lu Guangrong wanted to hold steady and wait for Lu Shuangshuang to come to him. But Lu Xu was causing such a commotion over on his end.
At first, he was still arrogant and blustering. But within a day, he couldn’t stand being inside anymore. When Sun Lanzi went to see him, he cried pathetically.
Sun Lanzi couldn’t bear to see Lu Xu suffer, so she desperately begged Lu Guangrong.
Even though Lu Guangrong talked tough about letting Lu Xu learn a lesson inside, he doted on Lu Xu just as much as Sun Lanzi did.
On the afternoon of the third day, he went to the Cultural Troupe to find Lu Shuangshuang.
Although Lu Shuangshuang’s hand was injured, it didn’t affect her daily training and rehearsals.
However, she hadn’t been staying at the troupe dormitory lately. Every day, she would walk back to the compound with Ye Zhiqiu.
As the two walked out the main gate, they saw Lu Guangrong waiting by his car.
Lu Guangrong waved at Lu Shuangshuang: “Shuangshuang, come here.”
Lu Shuangshuang instinctively turned her head to look at Ye Zhiqiu. Ye Zhiqiu patted her shoulder: “Go ahead.”
“You come with me.” Lu Shuangshuang pulled Ye Zhiqiu along.
“Hello, Uncle Lu.”
Ye Zhiqiu greeted Lu Guangrong. Unexpectedly, Lu Shuangshuang also greeted him, saying, “Uncle Lu, what do you want to see me about?”
“What did you call me?!” Lu Guangrong’s eyes widened, his voice rising sharply.
“Have you forgotten? You were the one who shouted about cutting ties with me. If I don’t call you Uncle Lu, what should I call you? Calling you Brother Lu wouldn’t be right, would it?”
Lu Shuangshuang sure knew how to get on people’s nerves. Ye Zhiqiu, standing nearby, struggled to hold back a laugh.
“LU SHUANGSHUANG!” Lu Guangrong roared.
Knowing Lu Guangrong was on the verge of exploding from anger, and to avoid getting hit for no reason, she pulled Ye Zhiqiu back two steps, putting some distance between them and him.
“Uncle Lu, why are you shouting so loud? I’m not deaf, I can hear you.”
“Oh, and Uncle Lu, I wanted to let you know: since you’ve ended our father-daughter relationship, I’ve decided to change my surname. From now on, I’ll take my mother’s surname, Feng.”
“I’ve already submitted the paperwork. So next time you see me, don’t call me Lu Shuangshuang anymore. You should call me Feng Shuangshuang.”
Lu Guangrong’s brows furrowed tightly: “Change your surname?! Your old man is still alive, and you dare change your surname?!”
“Uncle Lu, changing my surname has nothing to do with you. You said it yourself – we have no relationship, and I should stay far away from you. If you hadn’t waved me over, I wouldn’t have dared to approach you, a big leader, on my own.”
“I definitely don’t want to be hit again. The last time you hit me really hurt. My mother and my eldest aunt never laid a finger on me growing up.”
“People say that with a stepmother comes a stepfather. Now I finally know – it’s absolutely true.”
“No, that’s not quite right. It’s not that I got a stepmother and then a stepfather. It’s that I got a stepmother, and then I lost my father altogether.”
“A real father would never side with his son when his daughter has suffered such a huge injustice, nor would he let his daughter marry someone like that.”
Lu Shuangshuang’s resentment towards Lu Guangrong ran deep. Before, she was only angry at Sun Lanzi and Lu Xu’s actions. But after Lu Guangrong hit her and threatened to cut ties, she understood.
The real root of all the problems was him.
If he hadn’t married Sun Lanzi in the first place, none of this would have happened.
But he brought Sun Lanzi home just six months after her mother passed away.
The reason Sun Lanzi dared to treat her like that was because she knew Lu Guangrong didn’t really care about this daughter.
And influenced by both of them, Lu Xu never learned to see her as family.
Lu Shuangshuang’s words were piercing. But Lu Guangrong didn’t think he was wrong; instead, he felt Lu Shuangshuang was being extremely disrespectful.
“I raised you with good food and drink, and instead of being grateful, you treat me like an enemy.”
“Just watch me beat you to death today!”
Saying this, Lu Guangrong started to undo his belt, ready to strike Lu Shuangshuang.
Lu Shuangshuang wasn’t scared at all. Instead, she stepped forward: “Fine! Go ahead and beat me to death today! That way, you can go keep Lu Xu company in jail.”
Her words made him stop. He remembered why he had come.
“You set Xiao Xu up, didn’t you?”
“Set him up for what? He had bad intentions and hurt himself because of it. What does that have to do with me? If I had that much power, he wouldn’t just be inside – he’d be dead.”
Lu Shuangshuang clenched her teeth: “Why should an animal like him be allowed to live?”
“And he dared to retaliate against Xiao Xiang. If Xiao Xiang hadn’t gotten there in time last time to save him, I would have dragged that bastard down with me!”
Ye Zhiqiu stepped forward and hugged Lu Shuangshuang, gently rubbing her shoulder to comfort her.
She could understand her.
The ones who committed the atrocity were the real animals, yet somehow everyone ends up blaming the victim.
Lu Shuangshuang felt even worse, because that person was her beloved younger brother whom she had always trusted.
She had heard Lu Shuangshuang mention Lu Xu many times before. She was a classic example of a tough exterior hiding a soft heart. While she would complain about Lu Xu, you could tell she truly cared for him deeply.
