The Reborn Scummy A and the Sickly O Got Together - Chapter 59

When the other person repeatedly claimed to have been killed by Lu Jia, if Bai Ming could dismiss the first instance as exaggerated rhetoric, then the second, the third.

Her hands and feet turned icy as she asked in bewildered despair, “Are you trying to say,  you actually died once?”

The moment the words left her lips, she found the idea utterly absurd. Without waiting for Luo Mingyue to respond, she dismissed it herself: “You’re right here beside me. Stop saying such strange things.”

Stranger still, as soon as she spoke, a suffocating wave of emotion surged through her. In an instant, she bent over in overwhelming sorrow, large teardrops rolling down her cheeks.

Luo Mingyue didn’t see this. She merely turned away and said, “I told you, even if I explained, you wouldn’t believe me.”

Then, with her back to Bai Ming, she walked out, leaving only an apologetic murmur: “I have to resolve this. It’s all because of me.”

“How do you plan to resolve it?” Bai Ming clutched her chest, forcing herself to endure the untimely heartache as she strained to look at that stubborn retreating figure.

But the other woman left with unyielding determination, her departure carrying the reckless air of someone ready to burn everything to the ground.

“You never should have been dragged into this. Please trust me, I’ll come to pick you up from the hospital tomorrow as scheduled.”

Yet Bai Ming’s vision blurred with tears. Gradually, that figure dissolved into a monochrome silhouette, indistinct and unreal, like the mermaid princess who chased love only to dissolve into fleeting foam.

Suddenly, she couldn’t hold back the flood of tears. A thousand words condensed into a single, terrifying thought: The waterbird perched at her window was about to fly away forever.

The caregiver had tactfully excused herself during their conversation. Seeing Luo Mingyue’s resolute departure, she returned to find her employer pale and slumped against the bed. She immediately called for a nurse, but all they could offer were routine reassurances, rest and calm were the only prescriptions.

That same day, Luo Mingyue returned home to see her grandmother, but the old woman’s expression held no joy. It was clear things wouldn’t go as Lu Jia had hoped.

When Luo Mingyue asked for Zhang Zhuoran’s mother’s contact information, her grandmother’s face darkened. “Are you really so eager to grovel before the Zhang family?”

Playing ignorant, Luo Mingyue replied, “Shouldn’t Lu Jia have her family’s support right now? Isn’t it only right for me to visit her?”

But the old woman’s expression turned inscrutable. “Since the Zhangs have taken her in, act as if she never existed in the Lu family.”

Such words demanded scrutiny. Shooed out of the study, Luo Mingyue wandered the house until her mother cornered her in a room, locking the door behind them. The Third Miss Lu checked the room like a thief, pressing her ear to the door to ensure no eavesdroppers before marching over with a stormy expression.

“You went straight to your grandmother the moment you got back was it about that Lu Jia girl again?”

Frowning, Third Lu snapped, “You already have Bai Ming. Why are you still wavering? Besides, that girl’s about to become a wealthy socialite. Are you planning to play the homewrecker?”

Her mother’s words were blunt and crude. Luo Mingyue had no patience for it. Cutting to the chase, she asked, “Did something happen to Lu Jia?”

Third Lu averted her daughter’s gaze. “What could happen to her? She’s living the high life now. Don’t tell me you’ve heard some rumor and are itching to fight her battles again.”

Luo Mingyue steadied herself. In the silence that followed, Third Lu hesitated several times before gritting her teeth. She was on the verge of revealing what she’d overheard, anything to stop her reckless daughter from courting disaster for Lu Jia’s sake.

Luo Mingyue had already spoken up: “Is there surveillance footage or some trace of evidence that links Zhang Zhuoran’s death to Lu Jia?”

Lu San nearly turned into a screaming chicken: “How did you know about this?”

Luo Mingyue then began to laugh, first a barely contained smile, then an unrestrained, utterly cathartic laughter, as if this was the first genuine laugh she’d had in years, so genuine it bordered on madness.

Lu San thought her daughter had gone insane. She first snapped angrily, “For Lu Jia’s sake, are you trying to drag our entire family down with her?”

But when she saw Luo Mingyue’s unrestrained laughter, she suddenly sensed the taste of long-awaited vengeance. She stared at her daughter in disbelief, as if only now, in this moment, was she truly seeing her for the first time.

Just then, the landline in the living room began ringing incessantly. Old Madam Lu answered, her face darkening. Outside the mansion, black business vehicles had already parked, with towering bodyguards standing in a row, politely requesting Old Madam Lu and Luo Mingyue to accompany them to meet Madam Zhang.

As Luo Mingyue stepped out, Old Madam Lu’s assistant was already making frantic calls. Old Madam Lu hissed, “Lu Ping, Lu Xi, and Lu Le have all been ‘invited for tea’ by Zhang Fengli.”

It took her a moment to process before realization struck, Zhang Zhuoran’s mother’s maiden name was also Zhang. Married, she was called Madam Zhang; divorced, she naturally wouldn’t be addressed as such. So Zhang Fengli must be her given name.

Though she kept a low profile in the mainland, she made a point every year to bid exorbitantly for top-tier jewelry, reminding the wealthy socialites that she remained a formidable figure.

Old Madam Lu, a seasoned player in business circles, understood the stakes far better than the younger generation. Watching Luo Mingyue’s calm demeanor in the car, she unexpectedly saw a glimmer of unyielding spirit in her granddaughter. Rarely showing kindness, she lowered her voice to explain, “If anything happens, Lu Jia alone will bear the consequences. No matter how powerful Zhang Fengli is, she can’t run rampant in the capital. Handing Lu Jia over is already giving her face.”

The drive lasted nearly an hour. Luo Mingyue estimated they’d long left the city, expecting to head deep into the mountains, only to disembark at a waiting private jet. By the time the plane landed at a dock, the sun was rising, dawn of the next day.

Both women were exhausted, Old Madam Lu leaning heavily on Luo Mingyue. Only then did attendants politely usher them to guest rooms, serving hot water and easily digestible congee while considerately adding, “Madam Zhang says there’s no hurry to meet. After your journey, please rest first.”

This calculated mix of intimidation and courtesy left them with indescribable feelings upon waking. Luo Mingyue was escorted with Old Madam Lu to the deck to meet the elusive Madam Zhang. Suppressing her confusion meeting Old Madam Lu made sense, but her own summons surely tied to Lu Jia, she noted how this woman seemed the polar opposite of Zhang Zhuoran.

On deck, she first saw the woman’s back, seated upright in a chair. Across from her, Lu Jia shot over a venomous glare, her face twisted with hatred as her gaze swept between Luo Mingyue and Old Madam Lu before settling on Luo Mingyue with a vicious smile.

The woman facing away still hadn’t turned. She simply gestured to the seats before her and said succinctly, “Please, have a seat.”

Whether the Lu matriarch was down on her luck or not, her imposing presence remained undiminished. Luo Mingyue neither cowered nor overstepped as she took a seat beside the elderly woman.

Ms. Zhang appeared to be in her early forties, likely having given birth to her son at a young age. Her meticulously maintained face now wore an expression of disdain. Luo Mingyue briefly observed her and noted the complete absence of grief one might expect from a mother who’d just lost her son.

An assistant-like figure turned a laptop on the round table toward them and pressed play on an obviously post-processed surveillance video with enhanced clarity. Though brief, Luo Mingyue had to admit the footage was ambiguous, Lu Jia’s hands were always obscured by her body. One could interpret it as her tampering with the safety buckle, or simply as ordinary couple’s intimacy.

The Lu matriarch’s face darkened. “Watching it repeatedly won’t change anything. I’ve said you can take her whether she lives or dies hereafter has nothing to do with our Lu family. But if you touch even a hair on Lu Ping’s children, I’ll tear flesh from your bones even if it means mutual destruction.”

Only then did Ms. Zhang properly look their way, still with that contemptuous air. “Oh my,” she tittered, “at your age, you shouldn’t get so worked up, old lady. Your precious grandchildren are already on their way home.”

As the matriarch relaxed slightly, Ms. Zhang scanned the three faces before her. “All your descendants, yet you play favorites. No wonder this granddaughter of yours turned out so ruthless.”

The old woman’s gaze hardened. “You’ve already dug up her entire background. What connection does she truly have to me? Should I dote on her like my own flesh and blood? The world doesn’t operate on such greedy logic!”

Suddenly, Ms. Zhang fixed her eyes on Luo Mingyue. “You were closest to Lu Jia. What kind of person do you think she is? Would she kill my son for personal gain?”

The matriarch slammed the table. “Zhang Fengli! Stop bullying the younger generation!”

Ms. Zhang’s hawkish eyes abruptly darkened. “However worthless my son was, I raised him for twenty-four years. Now you tell me he ‘accidentally’ fell to his death, and your Lu girl conveniently announces a two-month pregnancy as if I should be grateful?”

She turned to the pale, fragile-looking girl. “And didn’t the hospital confirm it at one month? Why pretend you only learned of the pregnancy after my son’s death?”

The deck winds howled as the sunlight grew intense. With these words, Luo Mingyue’s heartbeat became a frantic drumroll. Her own voice sounded foreign, as if coming from another dimension when she heard herself say:

“Lu Jia has always been intensely jealous and ambitious. Two weeks ago she told me about the pregnancy, that Zhang Zhuoran would never agree to keep it. She planned to go abroad and deliver the baby before telling him.”

Zhang Fengli narrowed her eyes as if stung by the light.

But Lu Jia, like a drowning woman clutching at straws, cried desperately: “Sister Mingyue can confirm! I was going to quietly have the baby overseas, I had no reason, no courage to consider murder!”

Luo Mingyue licked her seemingly parched lips as she heard herself continue, “But we had a terrible argument. I firmly opposed her keeping the baby, and Grandmother planned to send her abroad early. Then she ran away from home and disappeared for over half a month. The next time we saw her was now.”

“Luo Mingyue!” The girl’s already shrill voice became piercing as she screamed.

The fragile-looking girl suddenly lunged at Luo Mingyue, pounding on her with hatred: “Why are you doing this to me? What have I ever done to you that makes you repeatedly try to kill me?!”

As Luo Mingyue stood up, black-clad bodyguards swiftly restrained Lu Jia, who then turned to Zhang Fengli, pleading: “You can’t do this to me! I didn’t kill Zhang Zhuoran, how could I possibly have that kind of courage? At least for the baby’s sake, you can’t treat me like this.”

Zhang Fengli glanced at Old Madam Lu: “Precisely because there’s no evidence, I’m holding only her responsible for this accident.”

Old Madam Lu’s face darkened, and Zhang Fengli’s expression turned cold. The deck fell silent except for Lu Jia’s desperate pleas.

She begged Old Madam Lu, then Madam Zhang, and finally Luo Mingyue, who watched her with the keen curiosity of a child, a faint smile playing on her lips.

“How do you plan to deal with Lu Jia?” Luo Mingyue asked.

Zhang Fengli seemed equally curious about her, hinting meaningfully: “She’s mentioned your name constantly, clearly trying to drag you down with her. Seeing how much she hates you makes me even less inclined to grant her wishes, what would you suggest? Remove her gland, my family always needs laborers. Send her to mine or build railways, let her experience falling from grace firsthand.”

Removing the gland would naturally terminate the pregnancy.

Luo Mingyue studied Lu Jia again. The girl appeared unable to accept this future, swaying unsteadily before Zhang Fengli, her pleas heartbreakingly pitiful. Yet everyone present remained stone-hearted. Looking around, Lu Jia seemed to realize:

These people either despised her, hated her with a passion, or had never regarded her as significant.

Lu Jia then began cursing wildly. After observing for a long while, Luo Mingyue suddenly laughed in relief: “So this is all you amount to.”

Looking back now, she wondered how she could have been so absurd, deceived by such a despicable person for half her life, ultimately losing her own life.

Zhang Fengli seemed to have invited Luo Mingyue to this confrontation banquet meant to show Old Madam Lu Lu Jia’s fate, merely out of curiosity.

The two women reached an agreement: Old Madam Lu would completely wash her hands of Lu Jia’s fate, while Zhang Fengli would take her people and leave the country, with no further interference from the Lu family.

The cruise ship circled near shore before returning to port. Only Luo Mingyue and Old Madam Lu disembarked. As the elderly woman got into her car, Luo Mingyue stood on the dock watching the departing vessel. Behind her, her grandmother’s impatient urging made her suppress all emotion.

Was there satisfaction in vengeance achieved? Or just the melancholy realization that it ultimately meant little?

Sitting in the backseat, she distractedly wondered: When picking up Miss Feng from the hospital tomorrow, should she bring sunflowers, forget-me-nots, or lilies?

White lilies would suit her perfectly, but perhaps forget-me-nots would be more meaningful.

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