My Wife is a Frustrating Genius!!! - Chapter 16

Lu Jiahe stared at Cheng Yi with a dumbstruck expression, then swept her gaze around the table. For such a shocking statement not to have frightened everyone present into fainting, she could only thank the heavens.

Seeing the horrified looks on everyone’s faces, she knew she had no choice but to accept this accusation. There was no way to clear her name even if she jumped into the Yellow River!

So unjust! Truly unjust!

“Ah! You unfilial child! You’re going to be the death of me!” Lu Zhengliang clutched his chest with one hand while pointing at Lu Jiahe with the other. He felt as though his heart was about to leap out of his chest, all because of the woman his unfilial son had brought home.

Diao Yuqing, flustered by the scene, quickly set down her teacup and rushed to support Lu Zhengliang, patting his back to soothe him. She never expected that her weak and mediocre stepson could bring home someone whose sharp tongue was hundreds of times more potent than her own.

Lu Jiazheng and Lu Jiahao kept shooting sidelong glances at Lu Jiahe. They hadn’t imagined he had it in him, to go out for a while and return with a child in tow, completely disregarding the Lu family’s rules.

Cheng Yi hadn’t expected Lu Zhengliang to turn his anger on Lu Jiahe instead of her. She concluded he must be a bully who only picked on the weak. To secure her own standing, she decided she didn’t care about the consequences. Even if rumors about her spread like wildfire, she would own it.

“Why are you scolding him? I’m the one carrying the child. If you have a problem, take it up with me.” Cheng Yi glanced sideways at the Old Lady Lu. After all, Lu Zhengliang was her son. If she offended another influential figure, she’d surely face repercussions.

To her surprise, however, the Old Lady Lu didn’t show the same shock and anger as the others. Instead, she covered her mouth and snickered quietly with her old maidservant.

Ever since his last confrontation with Cheng Yi, Lu Zhengliang had known he was no match for this wild girl who seemed to have come out of nowhere.

To assert his authority as the head of the family in front of everyone, he glared at her for a long moment, biting his lip, before finally roaring, “I’m speaking to my own son! What right does an outsider like you have to interrupt?”

“Hmph!” Cheng Yi snorted disdainfully, putting on her most arrogant expression. “Your deceased grandson was once in my belly.”

Cheng Yi’s words struck Lu Zhengliang’s heart like a sharp kitchen knife.

“You! You! You!” Flames of rage burned within him. “If I can’t control you, I can still control my own son!”

“Guards! Bring the family discipline tools!” Lu Zhengliang shoved Diao Yuqing aside and bellowed at his attendants.

Seeing how enraged Lu Zhengliang had become, the Old Lady Lu grew concerned that he might harm himself and stepped in to mediate. “Enough. I already know about this matter. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have brought her back.”

Throughout it all, Lu Jiahe didn’t utter a single word. Her mind was completely blank. She never imagined that her entire life, past and future, would be thrown off course by a single fabricated sentence from Cheng Yi.

Lu Zhengliang had no real intention of subjecting Lu Jiahe to family discipline again. After all, he was his own flesh and blood. The last time he’d used the whip and accidentally injured him, he had felt remorseful for days.

Putting on a pained expression, he narrowed his eyes at his mother, thinking to himself. As expected, my mother is the best. She’s finally given me a way to save face.

“Mother, why did you do this? That was your own great-grandchild!” Lu Zhengliang felt a sharp pang of heartache at the thought of his grandson, lost before he even had the chance to be born.

Old Lady Lu set down the handkerchief in her hand and swept her gaze slowly over everyone at the table. “Do you want He’er to end up like you?”

Her words were sharp as needles, and everyone present, except for Cheng Yi, understood exactly what she meant.

“Mother.” Lu Zhengliang slowly lowered his head. Of course, he didn’t want Lu Jiahe to grow into a heartless person like himself. But that unborn child had been innocent too.

“A child can be conceived again, but Miss Cheng’s sincerity is a one-time gift. Since she has done so much for He’er, it proves her character is beyond reproach.” Old Lady Lu furrowed her brows as she spoke, her tone carrying both authority and weariness. “Liang’er, think of yourself and Yuqing, and then think of He’er’s mother, who lost her life because of a mismatched marriage.”

Lu Zhengliang let out a long sigh. “Mother, that matter is long past. There’s no need to bring it up again.”

“You don’t want to talk about it because it eases your conscience, but what about He’er? Do you think she could be fine without her own mother?” Old Lady Lu was deeply dissatisfied with her son’s lack of accountability.

Lu Jiahe, who had been lost in thoughts about the unexpected revelation of her lost “child,” immediately darkened her expression upon hearing the two discuss her mother.

Old Lady Lu glanced at Lu Jiahe and then gestured for Cheng Yi to sit down.

“If you had been honest about your relationship with Yuqing back then, why would I have allowed He’er’s mother to marry you? Think about what you did afterward.”

“Parents’ orders and the matchmaker’s words. I just didn’t want to disobey you and Father.” Lu Zhengliang didn’t believe he had done anything wrong.

“You think you did nothing wrong, but what did He’er do to deserve this?” Old Lady Lu shook her head at her son, who remained unrepentant. “Do you also believe we did nothing wrong by driving Jiahe’s mother to her death?”

Lu Zhengliang hung his head and remained silent.

Listening to their conversation, Lu Jiahe clenched her fists tightly. What should have been an ordinary family dinner had unexpectedly turned into a sharp blade, reopening the wounds of her childhood.

Cheng Yi, sitting nearby, didn’t fully grasp the meaning behind their words, but from Lu Jiahe’s reaction, she could tell that the topic cut deeply.

“Enough of this. Marrying her was my own choice. If you want to discuss the past, do it behind closed doors, and don’t let us hear another word. You’ve never once considered Jiahe’s feelings.” With that, Cheng Yi shot a glare at Lu Zhengliang, stood up, and helped Lu Jiahe back to her courtyard.

“Are you hungry? Tell me what you want to eat, and I’ll make it for you.” Cheng Yi noticed how dispirited Lu Jiahe looked and knew she was hurting inside.

Lu Jiahe had initially planned to shut herself in her room alone upon returning, but remembering that Cheng Yi had nothing to do with the matter, she shook her head in response.

Unable to bear seeing her so distressed, Cheng Yi comforted her, “We can’t change the past, but we can live our future well. Life is long, do you really want to stay like this forever?”

Lu Jiahe lowered her gaze, biting her lower lip as she shook her head. More than a decade had passed; she thought she had learned to live well on her own. Yet whenever someone mentioned her mother, the pain returned, raw and piercing, as if no time had passed at all.

Cheng Yi watched Lu Jiahe sitting alone on the edge of the bed, a helpless expression on her face.

“Come here,” Cheng Yi said, taking Lu Jiahe’s arm and leading her to the window, where she opened it. “Do you see that brightest star?”

In the cicada-filled darkness of the night, Lu Jiahe lifted her head to gaze at the star-studded sky, searching for a long while before spotting the morning star Cheng Yi had mentioned.

“In my hometown,” Cheng Yi said quietly, “we have a saying: when a loved one passes away, it doesn’t mean they’ve truly left you. They’ve simply found another way to stay by your side, watching over you, accompanying you, and silently encouraging you to live the rest of your life well.”

Lu Jiahe pressed her lips together, her eyes fixed on the morning star. “Is my mother really still with me?”

“Yes,” Cheng Yi said softly. “As long as you hold her in your heart and think of her, she will always be among the stars, watching over you.”

As she listened, tears began to stream uncontrollably down Lu Jiahe’s cheeks. No one had ever spoken such words to her. After her mother’s death, her stepmother and brothers had tormented her for being motherless, while her own father had urged her to forget the woman who bore her—and to accept the one who had driven her mother to her death in her place.

She hated them. Hated how they had tried to erase her mother from her memories.

Seeing her tears, Cheng Yi lifted her sleeve and gently wiped them away. “Don’t cry. If your mother saw you like this, her heart would ache too.”

Lu Jiahe sniffled, her voice trembling. “But I miss her so much.”

“Silly girl,” Cheng Yi murmured, smiling faintly. “Your mother misses you too. She must be up there among the stars, watching over you, arranging your path. Do you think she’d want you to suffer when you eventually go to join her among the stars?”

“Then when can I go to the stars? Do I have to be like my mother to get there?”

Only then did Cheng Yi realize the unintended implication of her words.

“No! Your mother endured countless hardships out of love for you before she went to the stars. You must live on—and only when your life reaches its natural end can you join her. If you die before your time, you’ll never see her again, and she would suffer even more.”

“But I want to see her,” Lu Jiahe whispered, her voice trembling as her tears fell anew.

“You must live well,” Cheng Yi said firmly. “Your mother surely made a pact with the heavens—the condition for her to remain among the stars is that you live a full, happy life. Only at the end of your days will heaven allow you to see her again. If you don’t live well, you’ll never meet her.”

Lu Jiahe pressed her lips together, frowning in thought. After a long silence, she finally nodded with quiet determination. “I will live well, for my mother, and for Grandmother.”

Relieved, Cheng Yi exhaled softly, grateful that her careless words had not caused harm.

“What about your family?” Lu Jiahe asked after a pause, calmer now as she wiped away her tears and turned her reddened eyes toward Cheng Yi.

“My family?” Cheng Yi lifted her gaze to the glittering sky, her voice turning wistful. “They’re probably among the stars too. Maybe they’ve even become neighbors or friends with your mother.”

For a long time, Cheng Yi had forced herself not to dwell on the past. Since heaven had granted her a second chance at life, she would treasure it fully. After all, this body, and this heart, were the final gifts her parents had left her.