Chapter 133: The Toyed-With Goddaughter (8)
After returning from the supermarket, Yu Nian didn’t speak to Su Mingxiu, her displeasure evident, waiting for Su Mingxiu to coax her.
But Yu Nian’s sulking was also… interesting. She still helped with chores, but she wouldn’t respond if spoken to.
Her icy expression seemed to say: I’m giving you a chance to apologize, so hurry up.
“Come here,” Su Mingxiu said, having received no response to her questions about school. She put down her knife and gestured to Yu Nian.
Yu Nian had been reluctant, but seeing the prepared fish, she walked over, ready to help.
Suddenly, Su Mingxiu grabbed a carton of milk and held it against Yu Nian’s cheek. Yu Nian instinctively tried to dodge, but it was too late.
“Hmm?” She reached for the milk, but Su Mingxiu didn’t let go, looking at her with amusement. “With your cold expression, holding this milk against your face is like refrigeration.”
Yu Nian: “…”
Seeing her expression darken, Su Mingxiu chuckled. Knowing Yu Nian was angry, she continued to tease her, until Yu Nian finally snapped, yelling: “Su Mingxiu!”
“So disrespectful,” Su Mingxiu, still smiling, reprimanded her lightly, then asked good-naturedly, “What is it?”
Yu Nian angrily placed the milk carton on the table and stormed out of the kitchen, slamming the door behind her, making Su Mingxiu call out:
“You break it, you pay for it!”
After chasing the child away, Su Mingxiu placed the fish in the steamer and heard her phone ring. The caller ID, “Heartless Woman,” made her raise an eyebrow. She didn’t know who this was, another one of the original owner’s lovers perhaps? She hesitantly answered. A familiar voice: “Is Niannian with you?”
Oh, it’s the mother-in-law.
Su Mingxiu relaxed, covered the steamer, and turned on the heat. “Yes.”
A cold laugh came from the other end, followed by Yu Wanru’s sarcastic voice: “I knew you were shameless, but I didn’t know you were this desperate for money, Su Mingxiu. I underestimated you.”
Su Mingxiu, bewildered by the accusations, looked at her phone. “Ms. Yu, I’m recording this conversation. Please be mindful of your words, or I’ll sue you for slander.”
Yu Wanru was silent for a moment, as if having swallowed a lengthy tirade. Finally, she said: “Give me your address, I’ll have someone pick her up.”
“Yu Nian is eighteen, she can decide where she wants to stay,” Su Mingxiu replied, watching the steam rise from the steamer.
Yu Wanru seemed surprised by her defiance. Then came the familiar sarcasm: “Su Mingxiu, no matter how much you try to please her, our marriage is over. You’ll never step foot in the Yu residence again, give up.”
“Hmm?” Su Mingxiu wondered why Yu Wanru was so confident.
Seeing her silence, Yu Wanru, thinking she had guessed correctly, continued even more aggressively: “Su Mingxiu, don’t let me find out that you’re restricting Niannian’s freedom, or trying to extort money from me by harming her.”
“Finished? I’m hanging up, the food’s burning.”
Su Mingxiu had initially thought that Yu Wanru had guessed the system’s mission and was trying to guilt-trip her. But after listening to her narcissistic rant, she lost interest.
After finishing cooking, she knocked on Yu Nian’s door. “Dinner’s ready.”
Yu Nian hesitated, thinking that if she went too quickly, Su Mingxiu would think she wasn’t angry anymore. But if she took too long, what if Su Mingxiu assumed she wasn’t eating?
Her internal monologue was complex, her timing perfect as she opened the door, her expression carefully controlled, one side showing anger, the other a hint of expectation.
But Su Mingxiu spoke first: “Your mom just called. She doesn’t know you’re here. Call her back later.”
Yu Nian’s expression froze. “Oh,” she replied faintly.
Su Mingxiu, thinking she had conveyed the message clearly, turned to leave. Yu Nian quickly grabbed her shoulder. “Wait.”
Su Mingxiu turned around, her long, thick eyelashes casting shadows, her eyes sparkling with a myriad of emotions as she looked at Yu Nian.
She waited silently, wondering what else Yu Nian wanted.
But the girl remained silent. Only when Su Mingxiu shrugged off her hand and started to leave did Yu Nian finally speak.
“Aren’t you going to explain what I asked you earlier?”
Su Mingxiu, remembering the question, smiled faintly and said meaningfully: “Yu Nian—”
“You’re supposed to be my daughter, not my girlfriend, why are you so nosy?”
For some reason, hearing Su Mingxiu’s hypothetical question, Yu Nian’s heart skipped a beat, a sudden pang of anxiety.
But she replied instinctively: “Because I don’t want a random stranger as my father. Besides… even if you find a new partner every day, at least let me know who they are, so I can recognize them.”
Su Mingxiu was almost convinced by her words.
She looked at the girl intently, then said slowly, as if persuaded: “Don’t worry, I won’t give you a chance to call anyone else ‘Dad’ for now. Can we have dinner now?”
Yu Nian followed her to the dining table, then suddenly asked: “So, who called you ‘Susu’?”
“Are you still on about this?”
Su Mingxiu looked at her, surprised by her persistence.
Under her insistent gaze, Su Mingxiu sighed. “Someone you don’t know.”
“Someone I can meet in the future?”
“Not in this world.”
This finally silenced Yu Nian. She hadn’t expected such an answer. Her expression turned blank, then, after a moment, she touched her nose awkwardly and apologized. “Sorry, I…”
“It’s okay,” Su Mingxiu replied quickly, her expression calm and unreadable.
Yu Nian picked up her chopsticks, took a piece of grouper, and, just as she was about to eat it, praised Su Mingxiu’s cooking, saying it was even better than five-star restaurants.
Su Mingxiu, amused by her exaggerated praise, chuckled and told her to eat.
After dinner, Yu Nian cleared the table, did some homework, then remembered to call Yu Wanru.
She reported her weekend stay at Su Mingxiu’s place in a cold, business-like tone.
But Yu Wanru clearly thought that associating with someone like Su Mingxiu was degrading. She ordered Yu Nian to come home every weekend.
“Being near her is degrading?”
“Then you’ve been degrading yourself for years, and you won’t even let me experience it?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Yu Wanru sensed something unusual in her tone. But perhaps the implication was too absurd, she couldn’t respond, her voice losing its usual sharpness.
Yu Nian, also regretting her impulsive words, quickly said: “Nothing, I just mean you’re prejudiced against Little Mom, she’s not… completely useless.”
“I don’t need you to tell me how to judge people—”
“Anyway, your life is your own, Yu Nian. If you don’t get into a top two university this year, and you miss the opportunity to apply to overseas universities, be prepared to repeat the year.”
Yu Wanru issued her cold warning and hung up.
Yu Nian crumpled the draft paper she had been working on and, reaching for a new one in her backpack, accidentally spilled a pile of envelopes. She picked them up, looking at them, not even remembering who they were from, then gathered them, intending to throw them in the living room trash can.
Su Mingxiu, getting water in the living room, saw the envelopes and teased: “Love letters?”
Yu Nian simply hummed in agreement and threw them away.
“Seems like you don’t like any of them,” Su Mingxiu commented, watching her actions. She took a sip of hot water, the warmth spreading through her.
Putting down her cup, about to return to her room, she noticed that Yu Nian was still standing by the trash can, her arms crossed, looking at her.
Su Mingxiu: “?”
Yu Nian’s eyes lowered slightly, her tone almost a reminder. “Shouldn’t you ask what kind of person I like now?”
“Uh…” Su Mingxiu sensed something in her casual tone and chuckled softly, looking at her strangely.
“What kind of person you like—”
She said, “has nothing to do with me.”
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