After Failing To Tame The Scumbag - Chapter 10

“We both need to calm down.”

“Did you hear some sort of rumor, Mother?” Yun Chuxiu remained calm, showing none of the panic typical of someone confronted at their doorstep. Instead, she took the initiative to bring up the sensitive topic.

Madam Ji smiled slightly, patting the seat beside her. Once the other woman sat down, she leisurely took Yun Chuxiu’s hand, saying nonchalantly, “These rumors have been circulating for four years now. Whether they are true or false doesn’t really matter to me.”

Yun Chuxiu expressed a perfectly timed hint of confusion: “Then why did you come looking for me today, Mother?”

“You’re a good child,” Madam Ji sighed. Her dark brown eyes caught small, warm flecks of light, looking melancholic and soft. Combined with her aura, she didn’t look like someone who had already raised a child.

She paused, then said, “Having a partner like you by Ji Jin’s side, I should have been happy for her.”

Should have.

It was a word heavy enough to spark endless speculation.

Yun Chuxiu looked at her without flinching, choosing to play dumb. “So you’re here to celebrate with us today?” She smiled back. “I’ll take that as a blessing then. After all to me, Ji Jin is a quite excellent partner.”

Madam Ji froze for a moment, clearly not expecting to be met with such a firm, albeit polite, rebuttal. The superficial smile on her face gradually faded.

“You are indeed as sharp-tongued as the rumors say.”

Yun Chuxiu maintained her smile. “Rumors shouldn’t be fully believed, but they shouldn’t be entirely dismissed either.”

…Another retort.

Accustomed to her high status, Madam Ji felt an instinctive surge of displeasure. She stopped pretending; her tone dropped off a cliff. “Then I must seek some clarification from Miss Yun.”

“Ji Jin was distracted at the office yesterday, and today she didn’t show up at all. Miss Yun, I am truly curious, what exactly has tied her down so much that even her career, which she never neglects, is suffering?”

Madam Ji curled her lips into a smile, though her eyes remained cold. “I know her well. She’s the type who wouldn’t drop work even with a high fever. Why would she slip up again and again? If I remember correctly, the last time she behaved this way was two years ago.”

“Your supervision of her is very thorough,” Yun Chuxiu replied blandly, her face equally devoid of emotion.

Two years ago. Such a blunt reference to a specific time—Yun Chuxiu obviously knew what she was implying.

A couple of absences might not sound great, but it was ultimately a trivial matter. It certainly wasn’t worth Madam Ji making a personal trip.

…Heh.

Yun Chuxiu lowered her eyes, extinguishing the last trace of a smile from the corners of her mouth.

When discussing such topics with Ji Jin’s mother, she was at a natural disadvantage. Knowing this, she refused to take the bait or push the conversation forward.

But Madam Ji wasn’t willing to let her off the hook. “Do I need to remind you of that date? If I’m not mistaken, it should be quite important to you.”

Yun Chuxiu’s eyelashes fluttered. She didn’t answer directly but asked softly in return, “Is that so? It seems it left a deep impression on you as well. Perhaps the one who cares about it is someone else entirely.”

“…You really are something,” Madam Ji scrutinized the person before her. Panic, anger, resentment… none of the emotions she had predicted appeared on Yun Chuxiu. No matter how she criticized or poked at raw nerves, this young woman accepted it all calmly, facing her head-on.

Like a mirror reflecting a waveless surface.

Madam Ji had to admit: she wanted to humiliate Yun Chuxiu and force her to retreat, but all she saw was the reflection of her own shrill bitterness.

…That casual compliment hadn’t been misplaced. Madam Ji thought that, in her presence, Yun Chuxiu possessed far better emotional control than Ji Jin.

Thinking this, Madam Ji’s expression softened slightly, giving way to a spark of unexpected admiration.

“Since you’re unwilling to face it, I’ll be direct,” Madam Ji looked her in the eye again. The warm sunlight filled her gaze, yet it seeped with a thin, regretful chill.

“You want a stable relationship. Clearly, Ji Jin is not the one for you.”

“Why do you say that?” Yun Chuxiu maintained her nonchalant composure, looking back politely with a blank expression.

“She and her father are the same kind of people,” Madam Ji said softly, as if touching upon painful memories. “…Before they get what they want, they are completely submissive. Once they have it, they stop cherishing it. She is even colder than her father.”

Yun Chuxiu’s brow slowly furrowed. “Forgive my bluntness, but you don’t seem to know Ji Jin at all.” Her voice was flat, but it carried an underlying chill. “Cold…? If that were true, you would only need to wait for her to discard me. There would be no need for you to say all this to me.”

“I used to defend her father the same way,” Madam Ji laughed self-mockingly, her voice sounding as if the cold wind in the room could swallow it at any moment. “Her father at least gave me a few decent years. But her? She can’t even manage that.”

“Miss Yun, Ji Jin now sits in a position more powerful than her father ever did. Right now, you still carry some weight in her heart and can influence her briefly… but what about the future?”

Madam Ji held an uncomfortable, condescending tone, as if she had already witnessed Yun Chuxiu’s ultimate defeat.

She said, “Cut your losses early. You will never be able to control her.”

Influence, control… Yun Chuxiu found it laughable.

She was simply in a relationship with Ji Jin. Even if it had been a long time, why did these “important people” feel the need to mock or pity her, certain that she was the one who couldn’t leave, or that she would fall apart if she did?

This feeling of being completely looked down upon hadn’t occurred since she had pulled herself up from her own lowest point.

The founder of “Yun Jian,” a self-made entrepreneur, a model alumna of Yuncheng University… Yun Chuxiu had many names people praised.

But once the label of “Ji Jin’s Girlfriend” was attached, all those objective accomplishments seemed to turn into a speck of dust that could be brushed away at will.

…How absurd.

“Who can say for sure about the future?” Yun Chuxiu completely lost interest in talking. She said faintly, “If you were truly that certain, then many things would never have begun.”

“Negating an entire process because the result is unsatisfactory… such a biased conclusion would struggle to get a high grade even in a primary school essay.”

Madam Ji sneered. “You think my advice to you is meaningless?”

“Not at all,” Yun Chuxiu glanced sideways. The delicious breakfast on the table was no longer steaming. It sat on the porcelain plate, ice-cold just like her hungry heart.

“At the very least, you’ve ruined my breakfast.”

That was an unexpected strike.

Forget Madam Ji, even the maid who had been hiding in the kitchen was stunned.

…Things weren’t supposed to go this way, were they?

Miss Yun was usually cold but always gentle in her actions. To push her to this point, this “Madam” was clearly no saint.

The maid pulled her phone from her pocket. After a moment of silence, she made a decision and quickly found Ji Jin’s name in her contacts.

Before she could dial, a sluggish voice drifted down from upstairs.

“…A-xiu,” Ji Jin was wearing the same pajamas as Yun Chuxiu. She looked like she had just woken up, her eyes were a bit dazed as she instinctively searched for that familiar figure in the house.

And then….

She ran straight into Madam Ji’s disapproving gaze.

Ji Jin was startled. She hurried downstairs to greet her mother, but stopped abruptly under Yun Chuxiu’s clearly upset expression.

“A-xiu, did someone bully you?” She stopped between the two of them, caught in a dilemma. She carefully watched Yun Chuxiu’s face and repeated her question: “In our own home, someone is bullying you?”

The bias in her words was blatant.

Madam Ji’s face darkened instantly. “Ji Jin, is this how you treat your mother?”

“I’m sorry,” Ji Jin apologized in a low voice, but her gaze never left Yun Chuxiu. It was as if she would kick the “uninvited guest” out the moment Yun Chuxiu gave the word.

“You two talk,” Yun Chuxiu had no interest in being part of this comparison. She had originally been annoyed, but seeing Ji Jin’s indecisiveness turned that annoyance into a burning irritation.

…What a complete mess.

Madam Ji was, and so was Ji Jin.

She stood up coldly, her anger spilling over. She didn’t even bother to look at the two of them again.

“Axium,” Ji Jin caught her arm as she tried to brush past. Her gaze swept over the untouched breakfast on the table, and her internal scales tipped instantly.

“Mother, if there’s nothing else, please leave. We’ve just gotten out of bed, it’s really not suitable for hosting guests.”

Madam Ji was in disbelief. “You’re kicking me out?!”

“This isn’t just my home, Mother. You have already been disrespectful.”

Ji Jin finally shifted her gaze. Her voice wasn’t loud, but it caused Madam Ji who was used to her yielding to shudder.

“Ji Jin!…”

“…Enough,” Yun Chuxiu was the first to break free from Ji Jin’s tightening grip. She looked down to see a faint red mark left on her fair, thin wrist.

Ji Jin froze. The emotions in her eyes were coldly snuffed out, replaced by a panicked helplessness and something bordering on terror.

Always this.

Yun Chuxiu looked up coldly. She didn’t say anything harsh, but she forced herself to re-evaluate this relationship with clinical coldness.

Ji Jin was always like this, wavering until every option was ruined, then putting on an expression as if she were broken.

And then…

“A-xiu, I….”

The begging, again.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Yun Chuxiu’s tone was flat. The exhaustion in her eyes no longer needed to be searched for, it was laid bare.

Perhaps it was her hungry, tired body acting up, but she suddenly felt that this entire conflict had been meaningless from the start.

“Ji Jin, we both need to calm down,” Yun Chuxiu said, placing a hand over the other’s mouth. “Our relationship is currently displaced.”

“I am only your girlfriend. I have no obligation to accept wave after wave of scrutiny from your people.”