Chapter 30: Chapter 30
Lu Qing trembled as she spoke.
Originally, Lu Qing didn’t want to believe An Ning, but the attitude of Jiang Hao and the entire Jiang family had changed so drastically and coldly recently.
She could accept the others in the Jiang family, but how could Brother Hao...
He had treated her so well just a few days ago.
Thinking of how he had suddenly started avoiding her, Lu Qing suddenly didn’t dare to think any further.
Unfortunately, An Ning wouldn’t give her that chance.
“You’ve already guessed the truth, haven’t you?” An Ning shattered her last sliver of hope directly:
“What the Jiang family owes from back then is my mother’s very life. If they just randomly came over to call off the engagement, do you think the rumors in the factory wouldn’t drown Deputy Factory Director Jiang?”
Thinking of how that family had been outwardly warm to the original owner but secretly ridiculed and belittled her in every way, An Ning took a deep breath, but the smile on her face only grew more beautiful:
“But Lu Qing, you’re different. Once you get involved, not only might Dad cancel the childhood engagement on some baseless whim, but after the incident, all the public opinion will focus on ‘sisters fighting over one man’ in the Lu family.”
“The real decisive man will remain hidden in the Jiang family, skillfully operating behind the scenes, able to act as the victim and justifiably distance himself from us ‘poor relatives.’”
“As for you, Lu Qing, whose reputation will be completely destroyed by then, what do you have to do with them?”
“Think carefully. After all this time of seeing Jiang Hao, haven’t you always been the one going after him?”
Seeing that he had already planned his escape route long ago.
Hearing An Ning’s implication, Lu Qing’s whole face flushed deep red. She opened her mouth to refute, but no matter how much she thought about it, the facts were hardly different from what An Ning had said.
In all this time, except for food, Jiang Hao hadn’t even bought her a single tin of snow cream.
So Brother Hao never wanted to marry her from the start—he was just using her as a tool to break off the engagement?
Her heart was almost certain, but seeing An Ning’s expression, Lu Qing subconsciously didn’t want to give her the satisfaction:
“You’re just saying these things with bad intentions!”
“No need to doubt it, because I do have bad intentions!”
An Ning shrugged, looking like she had never intended to hide anything. After speaking, she didn’t even look at Lu Qing’s expression and grabbed the cloth bag in her hand, walking into the room.
Through the gap above the cloth bag, Lu Qing clearly saw a small box with particularly exquisite packaging inside.
She remembered that packaging very well; it was a new product from the seaside market. She had seen it at the department store with friends some time ago, and that small box alone cost one yuan and eighty cents.
Touching her increasingly dry face, Lu Qing’s eyes dimmed and grew unclear.
“Host, is this really useful? If those two families really start tearing each other apart, I think your poor stepsister doesn’t seem very brave.”
At least she was far from her mother’s level. Thinking of Jiang Yuhua’s cold calmness when she dealt with the situation back then, Tongzi couldn’t help but shiver.
“Don’t worry, Tongzi, just wait and watch the show!”
An Ning opened the notebook filled with calculation formulas in her hand without even raising her head, replying casually. She wasn’t worried that the provocation would fail.
After all, the other side only had this one path to choose right now.
Although the neighborhood committee had not clearly stated it, it had become a consensus that there must be an eligible young person sent to the countryside from each household.
Under this premise, even Lu Qing’s own biological mother would only be her enemy.
As for An Ning herself, not to mention that she already had a job now, just by being her father’s only biological daughter, given her scumbag father’s current state, the neighborhood committee would never ask her to go to the countryside if they didn’t want to be called heartless or want Lu Huaimin to get into trouble.
Sure enough, facts proved that solving the problem from the root was the most effective way.
As long as the scumbag father fell, life would be incredibly comfortable.
Typically, as long as you strike fast and hard enough, those damn troublesome problems won’t catch up to you.
Tongzi, realizing what her host was thinking, was speechless: “…”
“Well... actually, Host, you don’t have to rush. Let those people gradually reveal their true colors in front of everyone, then expose the cold violence from the couple against the original owner, wouldn’t that be better for the original owner?” Tongzi timidly suggested inside the awareness sea.
An Ning continued calculating the data in her hand without lifting her head:
“Then Tongzi, tell me, why do so many people like to be actors on a stage? Performing ridiculous dramas for a bunch of people who don’t want to watch?”
“Just to receive that little bit of insincere sympathy?”
“Expose them? Dog, do you really think that Jiang Yuhua’s mask as a good stepmother has been so stable all these years that everyone believes it without suspicion?”
Looking at Tongzi’s stunned expression, An Ning couldn’t help but smile a little.
Did she think everyone was an idiot?
This is life. The people around aren’t NPCs in a TV drama; they have thoughts and rich life experience.
Whether it’s overpraising to kill or cold violence, in An Ning’s view, no scheme is truly flawless. No matter how well it’s acted or how sincere it is, you can tell by the children’s mental state after marrying in. Many are quietly aware.
Besides, after more than ten years, no actor could have concealed their flaws for a single moment.
But so what if they know?
Other people’s matters are just a bit of entertainment after meals, at most a light sigh.
As long as it looks acceptable on the surface, who would bother with other people’s family matters? What benefit is there in helping a “lonely girl” unloved by her own parents?
If you pull out the broken, bloodied past for everyone to see, thinking it will earn sympathy, actually what others feel is less than a thousandth of it.
Some who speak without standing in your shoes will even call it pretentious.
“It’s just a cold attitude, right? Just the family deliberately ignoring you, not talking to you. At least they didn’t starve or neglect you, right? They raised you this big after all.”
“Your dad is always so busy, who has time to care about this? You’re just too resentful.”
“He’s still your biological father. You have to treat him well in the future.”
But in reality, the original owner had been pushed to the brink of mental collapse by this silent torment over more than ten years. Even if she persevered, the deeply ingrained inferiority and sensitivity would likely accompany her for life.
In the end, she was forced by almost everyone to die alone in a remote countryside, carrying a pitiful amount of money.
Moreover, the original owner, such a sensitive little girl, would she really want to expose her hopeless past for others to mock and judge at will?
“Isn’t this better now? The benefits that should be taken have already been received, the shame that should be lost has been completely lost by these two. For the rest of her life, she will have to live with the strange looks of those around her.”
“Isn’t it better to watch the show and enjoy life? Why bother going on stage to perform?”
“Uh... alright then!”
Facing her host’s eyes, Tongzi instinctively backed down.