Bullying The Sister-In-Law - Chapter 32

After the photo session with the principal and their child, the parents who had received the admission tickets immediately presented the flowers, holding and hugging their children.

Su Zhiluo didn’t know if Liu Chengxu still wanted the flowers. With every step and every approach, Liu Chengxu was anticipating it. She wanted that bouquet, even if it was just a bunch with the symbolic meaning of “blessing.”

The first time Liu Chengxu received flowers was in ninth grade. Evening self-study finished at nine, and Su Zhiluo came to pick her up from school, holding a single rose. She said, “Got this at the annual party. Do you like it?”

Liu Chengxu said, surprised, “I love it.”

Su Zhiluo replied, “I knew you would.”

She suddenly realized that the thriving flowers at home—the sunflowers, the Chinese roses, and the plump jewel flowers (Sedum Pachyphyllum)—had begun to fill the entire balcony starting from that single word, “love.”

The balcony had the best light, and she often sat there doing her homework. Every time she turned her head, she could see Su Zhiluo sitting in the living room, looking down at her phone, reading novels. She loved those poignant, tear-jerking romances.

Liu Chengxu, clutching the rolled-up A4 paper, walked ahead. Finally, Cha Baomei came over, raising her camera. “Hey, let me take a picture of you two! I rushed over specially.”

Liu Chengxu stopped. Su Zhiluo took a step forward, standing behind her. Cha Baomei said, “Sister-in-law, take one step forward.”

Su Zhiluo stepped forward.

Cha Baomei said, “Sister-in-law, give the flowers to Chengxu.”

Su Zhiluo handed the bouquet to her.

Liu Chengxu took the bouquet and sniffed it lightly. The initial joy quickly faded because it wasn’t handed to her by Su Zhiluo herself.

She abruptly pushed the flowers back into Su Zhiluo’s arms. Su Zhiluo froze, her heart feeling a sharp blow. Liu Chengxu pretended to adjust her trousers, then stood up again. Su Zhiluo once more offered the flowers to her.

Su Zhiluo’s heart ached, and even her expression was stiff. She belatedly realized that she was actually afraid of Liu Chengxu rejecting the bouquet. This fear was subtle but stung like a needle.

“Come on, smile!” Cha Baomei raised her camera to smooth things over. “Chengxu, you used to smile so well in photos!”

Liu Chengxu managed to pull up the corners of her mouth, but they quickly drooped again. That bitterness was impossible to hide, much like the complicated nature of their relationship, which was always mixed with too much helplessness and overly clever probing.

They were so close to a perfect moment, yet they took the most unpleasant photo.

It was a hot summer day, the sun blazing, and both their expressions looked on the verge of tears.

Cha Baomei showed the photo to Su Zhiluo, who looked away. “I’ll go buy milk tea for you both.”

There was a shop right next to them. Su Zhiluo queued up to collect her emotions.

Just as she reached the front, Liu Chengxu said, “The watermelon juice is good.”

It was a new shop at the school. Liu Chengxu had wanted to bring her here several times, but hadn’t had the chance.

Su Zhiluo held the straw in her mouth. Just as she was about to say “it’s delicious,” Liu Chengxu spoke, “Not willing to drink it? Are you starting to save money for a house again?”

Su Zhiluo was stabbed by her words again. She looked at Liu Chengxu with a very hurt expression. In the past, Liu Chengxu would sometimes say stimulating things, but she would quickly apologize, like a puppy that accidentally bit a hand and would wag its tail out of guilt.

This time, Liu Chengxu didn’t apologize. Her words were sharp and grating: “You used to scrimp and save to raise me, living miserably. Now, to buy a house related to my sister, you finally have a little money and you’re going to scrimp and save again.”

“Su Zhiluo, do you know why your life is so hard?”

The yogurt watermelon she was drinking suddenly tasted bitter.

Su Zhiluo remained silent.

“You’re too kind,” Liu Chengxu said. “You can’t see the bad in others. My sister left, and my parents bullied you so much, yet you endured it. I shamelessly stuck with you, and you raised me. Shouldn’t you hate everything with the surname Liu?”

Hearing this, Su Zhiluo did seem foolish. She clenched her teeth. “Stop talking. I don’t feel good listening to this.”

Liu Chengxu’s left eye was red, while her right maintained a mocking look. The palm of her hand, shoved into her pocket, was raw from pinching. She continued, “You clearly have a better way to live, but you reject it and you don’t want it.”

Su Zhiluo offered the watermelon juice to Liu Chengxu, but the other woman turned her head away, refusing to take it. Su Zhiluo could only continue to hold the cold drink. Water droplets slid down the cup, wetting her fingertips.

“How I live is my choice,” Su Zhiluo’s voice was very soft. “You’ve grown up. You can do whatever you want. You are excellent now and have a great future ahead. Move forward.” She paused, then added, “I won’t take care of you anymore.”

Liu Chengxu’s heart was stabbed twice more by these words, and panic washed over her. In this moment, she desperately wanted to grab Su Zhiluo’s clothes and plead like a child: Please take care of me.

But was she truly afraid of the “not taking care of” part? What she feared was the accompanying neglect, the being put aside in a corner and ignored.

They had both become experts at knowing how to hurt each other, every cut drawing blood. Su Zhiluo raised her hand to wipe away a tear from the corner of her eye. When her vision was clearest, she looked deeply at Liu Chengxu. “I’m going back.”

Every step of her turn and walk away landed directly on Liu Chengxu’s heart. The box of yogurt watermelon was tossed into the trash can.

Like a child who had never tasted candy, jealousy peaked at this moment. Was she not crying loud enough? They say the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

The more painful it was, the more she envied. The colder and more rejecting Su Zhiluo was toward her, the more captivating that love for her sister became. Liu Chengxu desperately craved that love Su Zhiluo had for her sister, because she had never tasted it, never… So she wanted it, she wanted it so badly, even half of it would be enough.

She had cried and begged, and now she’d made a scene, but Su Zhiluo was utterly heartless. All her candy was prepared for only one person.

She was so jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous, jealous, that the scorching sun felt like it would melt her.

Su Zhiluo walked away, shedding tears all the way until she walked out of the school gates. She boarded a public bus and found a window seat. The window glass was covered with a layer of grimy dust, making the world outside appear blurry.

Back at the rental house, she mechanically packed a few items, finally collapsing on the floor, exhausted. The afternoon sun slanted through the window frame, casting streaks of mottled light on the floor.

Why was Liu Chengxu being so fierce?

She had been tired for so long.

Couldn’t she have just one thing she wanted?

Yes, it’s not good to live in the past, but the memories here weren’t only painful. Did she have to throw away a beautiful candy box after eating the candy?

It wasn’t that she didn’t know how to choose and let go; she just wanted to think about it. Couldn’t she even think?

Did one have to be perpetually clear-headed, unable to even dream?

To force a person adrift to abandon her first home, her first love, was tantamount to tearing out her heart.

Did Liu Chengxu think she didn’t feel hatred?

She certainly hated Liu Chengxu’s parents.

If they hadn’t hidden Liu Jinhuan’s ID card, Liu Jinhuan wouldn’t have thought about taking the household register and wouldn’t have impulsively gone to the Civil Affairs Bureau.

Su Zhiluo scrolled through her phone gallery, her fingertips trembling as she selected all the videos. A second before pressing the delete button, she snatched her hand back, curling up and crying hysterically.

Those images contained both Liu Jinhuan’s gentle smile and Liu Chengxu’s radiant figure.

She finally released her fingers, letting the phone drop. She couldn’t bring herself to part with those memories of love and loss.

Her hand shaking, she randomly tapped one.

“See you later, okay,” Liu Jinhuan told her. “My dearest Miss Su Zhiluo.”

“The other side emphasizes economic foundation, yet ignores the cultural bedrock. A city is not just a pile of steel and concrete, but a vessel for the human spirit. The disappearance of hutongs (alleys) and gardens is precisely the price paid for blindly pursuing GDP…” Liu Chengxu, dressed in a suit, was full of spirit and vitality.

Su Zhiluo looked up at this house. Were the memories here only hers and Liu Jinhuan’s?

Weren’t she and Liu Chengxu family? They had lived here for five years, too.

How could I not love you? In what way have I not loved you??

That evening, Su Zhiluo packed her bags and headed straight back to Guangzhou.

Liu Chengxu returned the next day. Standing at the door, she saw the note pressed against the windowsill. Su Zhiluo: I didn’t know if you’d come back. I’ve returned to Guangzhou.

The punctuation mark after the word le, indicating a completed action was heavy with ink, as if she had paused for a long time before finally putting down her pen.

Liu Chengxu carefully folded the note and tucked it into her pocket.

Inside the bedroom, next to the rolled-up quilt, was a gift box containing a new phone and tablet. In the refrigerator was a cake with a note: Xiao Xu, Congratulations on your graduation. May your future be brilliant.

Back in Guangzhou, Su Zhiluo threw herself into work.

With the development of mobile technology, many new industries had emerged. They hired a few attractive young women for live streaming, and their orders exploded starting in May.

She worked three days straight to rush the design drafts to the workshop. She bought a train ticket directly to Foshan, arranging to meet Liu Chengxu’s parents at a fast-food restaurant near the factory.

The pair had already bought plane tickets for July and were clearly not willing to let themselves suffer.

The meeting was originally set for 2 PM, but the two dragged their feet and showed up at 3 PM. Even in their downfall, they were still dressed brightly, standing out from the surrounding factory workers. Liu Chengxu’s mother had very fair skin; the mother and daughter looked like they were cast from the same mold.

Liu Guoqiang forcefully pulled out a chair and sat down. The look in his eyes towards Su Zhiluo was filled with contempt. Just that single look brought Su Zhiluo back to the day she was slapped, and her cheekbone began to throb faintly.

In this moment, Su Zhiluo just wanted to escape.

She clenched her hands tightly and said, “I’m here today to ask you not to bother Chengxu. She just graduated, and the employment pressure is huge right now. They won’t be able to support you.”

Liu Guoqiang immediately retorted, “Who are you to say that? Chengxu is our daughter. We are going back to reunite with her. She will be very happy!”

Cheng Sui said coldly, “You ill-fated person, what standing do you have?”

“Standing?” Su Zhiluo said, “I raised Chengxu. You abandoned her back then. Don’t go looking for her in the future.”

Cheng Sui argued, “Shouldn’t you be raising Chengxu for us? If it weren’t for you, would Chengxu have nowhere to go?”

Su Zhiluo felt a tightness in her chest, almost unable to breathe. Waves of nausea and dizziness washed over her.

Cheng Sui’s voice was sharp and piercing: “It’s all because of you! If it weren’t for you, Jinhuan wouldn’t have died, and our family wouldn’t have gone bankrupt!”

All these years, they had firmly believed that Su Zhiluo was the source of all their tragedy. If Liu Jinhuan were still alive, with her elite education and intelligence, she could certainly have helped the family through their difficulties, and they wouldn’t have lost everything.

“You won’t let us see Chengxu, are you trying to make her support you in your old age?” Cheng Sui pressed aggressively.

Liu Guoqiang followed up, demanding, “You didn’t pass on those bad habits of yours to Chengxu, did you?”

They looked at Su Zhiluo as if she were a virus.

Su Zhiluo had suffered all the necessary hardships over the years. She raised her head. “Yes. Your younger daughter likes me, too. So what? I raised her. Why shouldn’t she like me!”

“I am a bad person. Did you ever take care of her? You walked out without a word. Did you know she was driven out, beaten by creditors, and hid in a dog kennel for a whole night? She was even so scared she slept overnight at her sister’s grave.” Su Zhiluo gritted her teeth. She hadn’t cried when she was beaten so badly back then, and she wouldn’t cry today either.

Su Zhiluo raised her voice, her eyes fierce. “If you dare to look for her, I’ll have your creditors track you down! The statute of limitations is still in effect. You just wait for the court to find you. You haven’t sent her a single penny all these years. What right do you have to make Chengxu support you now?”

Liu Guoqiang cursed, “We were saving it for her! If we sent it to her, wouldn’t we have been discovered? She’s the only daughter we have left. We belong to her! What do you know!”

Cheng Sui pointed a finger at her nose. “You, did you seduce Xiao Xu?! You hussy, she’s Jinhuan’s sister!”

When Chang Ruyin walked in, Liu Guoqiang was about to hit Su Zhiluo. He grabbed a cup and threw it at Su Zhiluo. Su Zhiluo didn’t dodge, and it struck her forehead. Chang Ruyin grabbed a chair, ready to fight them.

Chang Ruyin cursed, “Do you know what kind of school she put Liu Chengxu through? A private school! The tuition alone was thirty or forty thousand yuan a year! She gritted her teeth and paid for five years! Do you know what she ate and drank herself?”

“How much did you two ever give Liu Chengxu? Since Liu Chengxu went to university, she’s never worn ragged clothes or gone hungry once. To save her tuition and fees, Su Zhiluo ate only one meal a day, starving herself into hypoglycemia! When Liu Chengxu had growing pains, Su Zhiluo starved herself to buy her calcium tablets and meat! What does she owe you? She’s never been guilty of anything! She’s only 20 years old and she raised a top student for you!”

Su Zhiluo had seen Liu Chengxu lying on the wooden board, constantly patting her shoulder and saying, Sister-in-law, this bed is very comfortable to sleep on. She had also seen Liu Chengxu staying up late to study, her hands red from the cold in winter. She had seen her jump up and shout her name outside the factory when she received her acceptance letter, and she had seen her… standing on the stage, shining as the principal conferred her degree.

That was a person whose brilliance forced Su Zhiluo to close her eyes, so why did they have the right to drag her down?

Cheng Sui called her a “jinx,” and Liu Guoqiang tried to jump up and hit her. Su Zhiluo closed her eyes. Her forehead was throbbing.

She was no longer the person who wouldn’t fight back, even when she was slapped or beaten back then.

Su Zhiluo pulled out the knife she had prepared from her bag, gripping it tightly. “I’m telling you, if you dare to look for Chengxu, I will fight you to the death! I raised her! I put her through school! If you have the guts, let’s fight to the death!”