Reborn in the 80s: My Whole Family Secretly Hears My Thoughts and Goes Wild with Success! - Chapter 127

“Auntie Feng.”

Ye Zhiqiu quickly stepped forward to greet her. But when her gaze fell on Lu Shuangshuang, it noticeably cooled, offering only a slight nod in acknowledgment.

Lu Shuangshuang had been forced by Feng Wan to come and apologize to Ye Zhiqiu. She was already feeling wronged, and seeing Ye Zhiqiu’s attitude made her snap: “Shen Zhiqiu, is this how your family teaches you to treat guests?”

“Shuangshuang!” Feng Wan scolded Lu Shuangshuang.

Tears welling in her eyes, Lu Shuangshuang tugged at Feng Wan’s sleeve: “Auntie, let’s just go.”
“I can just buy her something later, why did we have to come here?”
The mere thought of apologizing to Shen Zhiqiu made her want to die.

Lu Shuangshuang glanced up at Ye Zhiqiu, saw the slight curve at the corner of her lips, and felt certain she was being mocked.

“Shuangshuang, if you do something wrong, you must admit it and apologize!”
“Buying someone a gift is just one way to express your apology. It doesn’t mean that by buying something, you can simply erase the mistake you made!”
“Furthermore, the mistakes you made are things that can’t truly be mended even with an apology or gifts!”

Feng Wan took Lu Shuangshuang’s hand, lecturing her with heartfelt concern. But Lu Shuangshuang, lost in her own shame and indignation, didn’t hear a word of it.

Feng Wan couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. This child had been completely ruined by that stepmother of hers.

Lu Shuangshuang’s situation was similar to Ye Zhiqiu’s: both lost their birth mothers early and were raised by stepmothers.
But there was a difference. Wang Fengqin subtly suppressed Ye Zhiqiu, while Lu Shuangshuang’s stepmother employed flattery.

After returning from studying in the Soviet Union, Feng Wan saw the problem with Lu Shuangshuang the first moment she laid eyes on her.
Unable to bear watching her late younger sister’s only child go down a bad path, she specifically asked the Lu family to let her take Shuangshuang in, raising her herself.

It was just a pity that Lu Shuangshuang was already 13 by then, her personality largely set. Feng Wan could only try to correct her bit by bit through small matters.
Not only were the results minimal, but it also filled the girl with resentment towards her.

Yet, no matter what, Feng Wan couldn’t just give up on her. If she did, the girl would truly be lost.

“Oh, Xiao Feng is here.”

Seeing Wan Jiayin come out of the house, Feng Wan pulled Lu Shuangshuang forward: “I brought Shuangshuang to apologize to Zhiqiu.”

“Shuangshuang!”

Feng Wan signaled to Lu Shuangshuang with her eyes. Lu Shuangshuang bit her lower lip, her face full of reluctance. After a long moment, she mumbled three words: “I’m sorry.”

“Shuangshuang, you are apologizing to Zhiqiu,” Feng Wan said, exasperated. “At the very least, you should look at her.”

“Shen Zhiqiu, I’m sorry!”

Lu Shuangshuang wiped her tears away forcefully and turned to glare at Ye Zhiqiu: “Are you satisfied now?”

“Lu Shuangshuang, it wasn’t me who asked you to come and apologize,”
Ye Zhiqiu replied coldly. “I don’t accept your insincere apology, and I won’t forgive you. This applies to you causing my premature birth and you helping Kang Zhixin slander me.”

“Auntie, you heard her! I told you she’d be like this, but you insisted I come!”

Feeling utterly humiliated, Lu Shuangshuang turned to leave. Ye Zhiqiu’s words stopped her in her tracks.

“Lu Shuangshuang, you did something wrong. You hurt me. This isn’t you condescending to bestow some favor upon me. I’m not obligated to erase all that hurt just because you throw out a flippant ‘sorry’ and then be grateful for it.”
“Put yourself in my shoes. If someone did those two things you did to me, to you instead, could you easily forgive them?”
“Admitting your mistakes is never something shameful. We grow up bit by bit precisely through admitting our errors.”

Ye Zhiqiu paused. “Lu Shuangshuang, you’re not a bad person, but you are really foolish.”
“You can’t see those who are genuinely good to you. Like Auntie Feng—she worries herself sick over you, yet you think she’s too strict.”
“But those who use you, who want to harm you, you treat them like family and close friends.”
“How have Shen Liya and Kang Zhixin treated you lately? Don’t you have any idea?”

“Shen Zhiqiu, what right do you have to criticize me? Weren’t you good to Shen Liya before too?” Lu Shuangshuang turned back, retorting sarcastically.
“Let me tell you, those rumors about you were actually spread by Shen Liya.”
“She told us you’ve been good at seducing men since you were young, that you’ve had several boyfriends.”
“She also told us it wasn’t Yue Mingyuan who actively wanted to marry you; it was you who forced him into it using some method.”

She expected Ye Zhiqiu to get angry hearing this, but surprisingly, she showed no reaction, as if she were listening to someone else’s story.

“I already knew all that. It’s just that back then, I was still foolish enough to consider her family.”
“Lu Shuangshuang, it’s precisely because I was foolish once that I hope you won’t make the same mistake I did.”
“Don’t ruin your whole life because you misjudge people.”

Lu Shuangshuang was stunned. But she quickly came to her senses, waving her hand at Ye Zhiqiu with an awkward expression. “Shen Zhiqiu, don’t think saying this will change anything.”
“I’m telling you, I could never be friends with you.”

Ye Zhiqiu let out a light laugh. “You’re overthinking it. I don’t want to be friends with you. We aren’t suited for that. But we also don’t need to be sworn enemies.”
“Lu Shuangshuang, actually, if you could drop the arrogance and the sense of superiority, you could be quite likable.”

Lu Shuangshuang’s cheeks flushed slightly. She didn’t know why, but hearing Shen Zhiqiu say that actually made her feel rather pleased.

“Also, if you could settle down and seriously practice your basics, you might be able to earn back the position of secondary lead dancer. You’ve been studying dance the longest out of everyone in our troupe. You have an advantage over all of us.”

Before Ye Zhiqiu was selected for the troupe, Lu Shuangshuang was already the secondary lead dancer. She believed that with her skills, she would undoubtedly become the lead dancer in the next newly choreographed piece.
But then Ye Zhiqiu appeared out of nowhere. Despite having only studied dance for a few years, and not even formally, her sense of movement and rhythm surpassed everyone else’s.
Without any surprise, Ye Zhiqiu became the lead dancer, and Lu Shuangshuang remained the secondary lead.

Naturally, Lu Shuangshuang was very disappointed and deeply resentful. With Shen Liya fanning the flames, she found everything about Ye Zhiqiu irritating and always felt she was showing off.
Even now, though Ye Zhiqiu’s words were well-intentioned, Lu Shuangshuang found them grating.

“Shen Zhiqiu, what makes you think I can only be the secondary lead? I’ll have you know, I will become the lead dancer!”

“Lu Shuangshuang, I look forward to the day you become the lead dancer. But right now, you’re not even the secondary lead anymore—Kang Zhixin is.” Ye Zhiqiu reminded her.

Dissatisfied with being the secondary lead, Lu Shuangshuang adopted a defeatist attitude, acting out until she completely lost the position altogether.
Kang Zhixin seized the opportunity to become the secondary lead. Although she received a major demerit for the incident of slandering Ye Zhiqiu, she wasn’t disqualified from performing.