After the Fake Heiress Died, She Was Filled with Regret - Chapter 44

Chapter 44: Let the Xia Family Have No Peace. ……

In just one week, a thin layer of dust had accumulated in the rental house. The interior still looked as it was before; photo albums were still on the coffee table, and a sour-smelling sweet soup was on the kitchen counter.

Ming Jing opened the door, glanced inside, and frowned slightly. She then found Tang Yin lying on the bed in the half-closed bedroom. Tang Yin wasn’t asleep, but silent, staring blankly at the framed photo on the wall.

“Didn’t I tell you to get some proper sleep?” Ming Jing put down the lunchbox in her hand and couldn’t help but start cleaning.

Grandma Tang had passed away. The villagers all came to help with the funeral arrangements. They only returned this morning after the cremation and burial. Ming Jing had dropped Tang Yin off at home, urged her to get some sleep, went to return the rental car, and came back later with food.

Tang Yin had agreed when Ming Jing left, but now, it was clear she hadn’t slept at all.

“You haven’t eaten or slept well all week. When you go back to school, Xia Shinan probably won’t even recognize you…” Ming Jing paused. “Not just her, your roommates won’t either.”

Tang Yin’s eyelids fluttered, and she looked down at Ming Jing. “You said Xia Shinan is looking for me?”

On the way back this morning, Ming Jing had told her the news that Xia Shinan had sneaked out, but Tang Yin was dozing, so Ming Jing wasn’t sure if she had heard.

“Mm… Qian Yu told me. She couldn’t contact you and was very worried. Do you want to call her? At least let her know you’re back.”

“Later,” Tang Yin said faintly, looking at the photo of her and her grandmother on the wall, and gently closed her eyes.

After lying down for a while, Tang Yin was pulled up by Ming Jing to eat: “Eat! Please don’t make me worry anymore, okay! I have to go to work at the bar tonight. Take care of yourself. If anything happens, call me, understand?”

“Mm.” Tang Yin nodded. “You’ve worked hard these past few days. Don’t worry about me.”

How could she not worry? The current Tang Yin was like a small sapling that had endured a heavy storm, without the hope of growing upward, ready to wither at any moment.

After the meal, Ming Jing had to return to the bar. Before leaving, she said earnestly: “Tang Yin, no matter what happened, life has to go on. You have to look forward, understand?”

“If it’s too difficult to be alone at home, come to the bar to find me.”

Look forward? Could she still look forward?

Tang Yin looked at the house. She felt like she could still sense her grandmother’s presence, as if everything that happened this week was just a dream.

When the dream ended, Grandma would still cook a bowl of sweet soup for her and tell her to drink it before going back to school.

“Grandma, we’ll come back to see you next time!”

That was the last thing she said to her grandmother there.

Unfortunately, there was no next time.

None of this was a dream. The moment she thought of this, the black hole in her heart would ache, reminding her that her grandmother was gone.

She took out her phone, hesitating whether to turn it on. Once it was on, Xia Shinan’s texts and calls would flood in.

But she didn’t know how to face Xia Shinan right now.

“Knock, knock.”

A knock came from outside the door. Tang Yin looked up, hesitated for a few seconds, and then walked over to open the door. She was stunned to see the woman outside. “Auntie Qi, why are you here?”

The woman walked in, looking at the lifeless and depressed Tang Yin. “You didn’t call me again, so I came to see you.”

Tang Yin leaned against the wall, her eyes devoid of light. “Grandma is gone. I… don’t need that money anymore.”

Qi Ning: “Gone?!”

“Mm, I took her back to our hometown, and she’s buried there too,” Tang Yin lowered her eyes, her tone flat.

Qi Ning was shocked. “Didn’t you say surgery was possible? Did you just let her go without saving her because you didn’t want to agree to my terms?”

Tang Yin blinked, and tears welled up.

“Grandma didn’t want to do it. She wanted to go home.”

Qi Ning sighed in relief, adjusted her glasses, and comforted her: “If it was the elderly woman’s wish, then there’s nothing that can be done. Tang Yin, you must accept your grief. You should have also informed me so I could attend.”

Tang Yin didn’t speak, still looking down at the crack in the floor.

Qi Ning pursed her lips, looking at the once high-spirited girl who was now in this state. Could her plan still continue? She felt very unwilling. The fish she had been raising for so long—was she going to let it go now? Thinking of this, her expression gradually became serious.

“Tang Yin, have you thought about why Grandma Tang passed away?”

“If you had agreed to cooperate with me from the beginning, and not dragged it out until this year, at least she could have lived out her remaining years in peace. How could it have been… so sudden?”

“Look at what you did? You said you wanted her to enjoy her golden years, but at her age, she was still setting up stalls and selling bowls of sweet soup. Who was she working so hard for?”

“What were you doing at that time?”

“You were dating Xia Shinan, coveting that brief happiness.”

“You are responsible for her death.”

Tang Yin clenched her fists, trembling all over.

She wanted to refute every word Qi Ning said, but deep down, she completely agreed with the condemnation.

She had even… dreamed of living with Xia Shinan and Grandma in the future.

Qi Ning walked up to Tang Yin, her voice heavy: “How you want to live your life next is up to you. But I still hope you can pull yourself together.”

“Do you know who your grandmother saw and what they talked about before she passed away?”

Tang Yin’s eyes were filled with hatred. “It was Xie Wan.”

Qi Ning paused for two seconds, then opened her mouth in surprise: “You know?”

Tang Yin looked at her, expressionless: “I never intended to just let it go. She is responsible for Grandma’s death. I won’t let her have an easy life.”

Qi Ning: “What do you plan to do?”

Tang Yin looked up, emotionless: “I’ll make the Xia family have no peace.”

Qi Ning curved a faint smile: “I will help you.”

At night, Xia Shinan had dinner with Qian Yu and then returned to the apartment she shared with Tang Yin.

The apartment was rented under Tang Yin’s name, so Xie Wan couldn’t trace it immediately. Moreover… Qian Yu had found out that Xie Wan thought Xia Shinan had gone to Haicheng and had personally gone there to catch her.

“Suddenly, I’m glad you didn’t go to Haicheng! I didn’t know you were so capable, that you could make your mother run around in circles. Shinan, you’re amazing!”

Xia Shinan smiled at Qian Yu. “It’s hard on her to personally go catch her runaway bride.”

“What runaway bride! Only they took it seriously.”

Qian Yu’s heart ached looking at her smiling friend. Even though she was heartbroken inside, she could still make light of the situation. “Shinan, why don’t you take this chance to escape far away.”

“I can lend you money if you don’t have enough. There’s always a way!”

Xia Shinan looked at Qian Yu. “Little Yu Mao, I know you’re really trying to help me… but I want to wait for Tang Yin to come back, meet her, and discuss it with her.”

She had thought about it. As long as Tang Yin was willing, they would flee far away and never return.

If Tang Yin had concerns, it was okay. They could pretend to break up and leave after graduation. She also wanted to take Grandma Tang with them to a place where the flowers bloomed in spring.

The mention of Tang Yin made Qian Yu anxious.

“What if she never comes back? Are you just going to wait like this?”

“Why wouldn’t she come back? She still has school to attend,” Xia Shinan said confidently. “No matter what misunderstandings there are, I have to wait for her to come back.”

Pausing for a few seconds, she added as if talking to herself: “Tang Yin will come back.”

“What if she comes back but doesn’t want to see you?” Qian Yu continued to press. “You can’t just wait for her, only to have your mother show up and kidnap you for the wedding.”

“I won’t get married.” Xia Shinan’s eyes were firm. “If that day truly comes, it’s better to die.”

Qian Yu was startled by her words. “Bah! Bah! Don’t talk nonsense! If that day truly comes, I’ll live stream it and let the whole country see a rich young lady forced into marriage by her family. I’ll make them lose face completely!”

After saying that, she looked at her friend’s smile and promised: “Tang Yin must come back. We’ll give her a little more time. If she comes back and doesn’t want to see you, I’ll find someone to tie her up and bring her to you!”

Xia Shinan smiled through her tears: “Mm!”

It was getting late, so Qian Yu returned to school.

Once Xia Shinan was alone in the house, she cleaned the apartment and took a shower. After half-drying her hair, she went to the bed in the bedroom, lay down in the spot Tang Yin usually slept, and took a deep breath, as if she could feel Tang Yin’s scent that way.

She tightly hugged the quilt, as if she were holding Tang Yin. After a while, a girl’s soft weeping slowly filled the room.

She had never imagined she would be so dependent on Tang Yin.

In fact, she had been on the verge of collapsing all these days she couldn’t find her.

She wasn’t as strong as she appeared in front of Qian Yu. She was terrified inside but didn’t dare to say it, afraid it would come true.

She was afraid Tang Yin really didn’t want her anymore and would just cold-shoulder her until they naturally broke up. Although she told Qian Yu she wouldn’t blame Tang Yin even if they broke up, she didn’t want to break up.

“Tang Tang, I miss you so much.”

If she could go back to that day, knowing Tang Yin was leaving to find Lin Yu, she would have held Tang Yin tightly and never agreed to let her go.

Tears soaked the pillow. Xia Shinan was buried in the quilt, crying, completely unaware of the movement outside the room.

The moment Tang Yin entered the house, she heard the girl’s sobs.

She walked straight towards the bedroom but stopped at the door.

Xia Shinan was pure and beautiful, innocent. If she really sought revenge against the Xia family, what would happen to Xia Shinan?

But the moment she thought about her grandmother dying right there beside her, Qi Ning’s words replayed in her mind.

“If you were a little more ruthless, perhaps your grandmother would still be alive and well.”

“Heaven is never fair. Kind people never get rewarded. While you and your grandmother struggled for survival, what kind of extravagant life were those people living? Have you thought about that?”

Tang Yin pursed her lips, raised her hand, and turned on the lamp beside the door.

The girl on the bed stiffened, then looked towards the doorway with a hopeful expression. Her sobbing stopped abruptly.

She looked at Tang Yin, who was standing by the door in wrinkled clothes, smiling at her.

“Tang Yin!” Xia Shinan was stunned for two seconds, making sure she wasn’t mistaken or dreaming. Tears burst out again. She rushed off the bed and threw herself into the girl’s arms, holding her tightly, as if she wouldn’t be satisfied until she had molded Tang Yin into her own body.

“Tang Yin, you’re back!”

Tang Yin subconsciously embraced Xia Shinan, and looking at her tearful face, her heart hurt as if it had been squeezed. She breathed deeply, smelling the other girl’s hair, closed her eyes, and whispered, “Mm, I’m back.”

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